I'm starting to get used to the madness that is transportation in Bangkok. There are so many options and they all take some getting used to.
There's a monorail train (raised train) that runs around the city, boat taxis, car taxis, tuk tuks, motorcycle taxis, bicycle taxis, even people taxis. And every one of them (except the train) goes fast a furious.
The boat taxis are very cool. Long boats with wooden bench seats packed to the gills (maybe 80 people in a boat that would be illegal at 15 in America). The boat makes it way quickly down the canals that run through the city, stopping at "boat stops" just like a bus would. But unlike a bus the boat doesn't actually stop.
it just slows down, then two ticket takers who perpetually hang from the outside of the boat jump from the moving boat and rope the boat intoward the dock as it continues to move forward. The customers quickly leap onto the boat (old and young alike learn to be quite nimbble,, can you imagine this in the "West",, it would be a letigation nightmare). Then as quick as a blink everyone is on trying to squeeze onto the benches, the workers unrope and jump back on... All this before the boat can cross the width of the dock. The ticket takers somehow keep track of everyone on the boat and where they got on,,, and eventually they will stick their heads under the canvas tarp and ask you where you are going and then charge you. They make change and move on... still while hanging off the side of the moving boat. It all really quite amazing.
Next option are the car taxis. These are no a great deal different than anywhere else but for two things. They are absoutely everywhere. Just "think" taxi and they appear. This I really love. Then there is the driving... it's insane, and not restricted just to taxis... There is no rules when it comes to traffic in Bangkok. A two lane road means two lanes for cars, three lanes for the motorcycles which fill every little gap between the cars down to inches, and unlimited lanes for people who scurry through it all like ants. The taxis drive at absud speeds and dodge and dart in ways that will make you want to scream.
tuk tuks, are three wheeled cart/scooters which make a great deal of noise and race about the steets like tiny ice cream carts on steroids. They are cheap and oddly less scary than being in the car taxis ,, at least to me.
Motorcycle taxis are by far the most dangerous I think. You pay some kid a small fee. They sit on corners all over the city in little "bike taxi gangs". They put on their helmets (you do not get one usually) and you hop onto the back of their bike. Off they go, darting through traffic, wiz, zoom in between the cars. They will even take short cuts down sidewalks and back allys (walking allies not roads) to get where they are going as quickly as possible.
I didn't take the other two options so I can't comment on them.
But suffice it to say, it's a whole different world and takes requires a Westerner to grow a bigger pair.
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written by Railbuff, April 11, 2009
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written by WanderLust, March 07, 2009
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