Motorcycles and Public Transportation in Bangkok

I was driving into work today, and as I'm sitting in traffic, I saw three SouthWest Transit buses and a motorcycle gang of five. When I first saw the buses, I thought back to Thailand. Riding the public transportation in Bangkok was stressful yet fun. I've only ridden a public bus here in the US once, but that was about eight years ago. But what I know about the buses here is pay when you get on or you have a pass card to use. In Bangkok, the bus barely stops long enough for people to get off and on. The doors are usually open, making it slightly easier to jump in or out. If you don't hurry, you'll miss your chance. Then, a person comes walking around the bus, collecting your money in exchange for a little ticket. Depending on the bus (i.e. color, AC or not), the fee is different. I think the most I paid, that I remember, for a bus ride was eight baht (or about 27 cents). I'm not sure how much it costs here, but I think it's more than a quarter to ride. The more I rode the buses, the easier it became to know what to do. The hardest part was never knowing how much I needed to pay to ride. We relied on our Thai friends to help us with that :)

The motorcycle gang I saw also reminded me of Thailand. The motorcycles, usually the taxi motorcycles, would ride on the sidewalks rather than the busy streets. They would come flying down the already narrow sidewalks. If they were coming towards you, at least you were given a heads up. If they came from behind, they would often catch you off guard. We learned to listen for the sound of motorcycles, often looking over our shoulders to make sure there was no motorcycle needing to get through. At night, any light we saw from behind us we thought was a motorcycle coming our way. It humored me a bit that they would ride on the sidewalks and it seemed completely normal to everyone. I don't think I got used to it until 2-3 weeks of being there. It was definitely something unique to Bangkok I think.

I enjoy having these flashback moments that interrupt my usual routine to remind me of things I experienced while overseas. They're often things you can't just pick out off the top of your head at will. But sights, smells, and sounds all bring those memories to the forefront of my mind.