A Bangkok bus journey

Years ago I spent a year living in Bangkok as an English teacher (I will be writing a separate blog on this at some point in the near future, check back on my blog for updates). My journey to work involved catching two buses.

The Bangkok bus system is pretty bewildering for any newcomers, most of the buses still only display destinations and mostly in Thai. There are no timetables at the bus stops so catching a bus can be pot luck, you really need to know what bus to catch beforehand. Fares differ depending on whether you catch the small buses, standard non air conditioned buses, air conditioned buses, minivans, songthaews (pick up trucks with two benches in the back). The drivers and conductors don’t speak English, which is only a problem on the air conditioned buses where the fare changes depending on how far you’re travelling……you get the picture!

Once you’re on the bus the journeys can be “interesting” to say the least, depending on many variables:

- The driver, many fancy themselves as the next Michael Schumacher and think nothing of cutting across 4 lanes of traffic, or pushing their rickety old bus to its limits. Many of them are perfectly good drivers, so you never know!
- The type of bus you end up on. Each route usually has at least two different types of bus operating on it. You might end up on the standard non air conditioned bus, very uncomfortable on a really hot day, with the windows open you get a nice taste of exhaust fumes too! As they’re cheaper they also get very crowded and you can expect to stand for most of the journey, if you’re really unlucky you may be standing on the steps into the bus! Air conditioned buses on the other hand are a haven of cool! Because they’re that bit more expensive they generally don’t get too full.
- The time of day and traffic. Bangkok’s traffic is infamous and of course buses are subject to this as well. Being stuck on a bus with the windows open in the middle of rush hour is never much fun!
- Who you sit/stand next to. As with any country in the world, Bangkok’s buses have their fair share of oddballs!

Which leads me onto my story…

Once you know your way around the system, most bus journeys in Bangkok are as dull and uneventful as a bus journey anywhere else in the world. One morning I was just on my way into work as usual and hopped on the small, green, non air conditioned number 77 bus from home. At the next stop on hopped a group of young Chinese tourists, 2 men and a lady, hopelessly lost they came straight to me! The only problem was they didn’t speak a word of English, only French! I don’t speak a word of any Chinese language and very little French, just what I can remember from school! I managed to establish that they had lost their passports and were in search of the Chinese embassy. However it’s very difficult to describe directions to people in a language you don’t speak and in a city that they don’t know! So I agreed to take them straight there. Now, the Chinese embassy is along the new underground train route, however this was in the days before the underground was open. So we had to hop off the bus and onto the Skytrain to Asok station and then a taxi (since I didn’t know which bus to take!). I deposited them outside the embassy and then realised that, apart from taking another taxi I had no idea how to get to work! Although I knew generally where I was in relation to work, I didn’t really know how far I was or which bus to get. As I had an hour before my first lesson I thought, let’s just get on the first bus and see where it takes me. We approached the Lat Phrao junction and I knew where I was, “please turn right, please turn right”….the bus turned left. Off I got at the next stop, crossed the road and waited for a bus back, at this point I knew which bus to get. At this point I still had half an hour to make it to work, no problem I thought as I got on the next bus. Bus gets back to the Lad Phrao junction and whack…. straight into the back of a limo with blacked out windows. Out gets the burly driver (complete with black suite and shades) and proceeds to argue with the bus driver. After a few minutes somebody gets out the back of the limo to see what’s going on. It’s at this point that I spotted the Chinese flag on the limo, it was none other than the Chinese ambassador (as he shouted at the bus driver as if that would change anything!).

The driver made a quick phone call and minutes later a police car rolled up. They detained everyone on the bus to provide statements, including me even though most Thai police officers don’t speak English. All this on the day that I’d forgotten my mobile! They interviewed everyone else first and a good hour later got to me, decided they couldn’t be bothered and sent me on my way! Frustration was not the right word by this point!

I found a pay phone and called work to give my excuses and got a taxi!

Fortunately this isn’t an everyday experience on Bangkok’s buses, I was clearly having a bad day. But the Skytrain or Underground are preferable and more comfortable if they go where you want to be.

Skytrain stories

Most visitors to Bangkok will have been on the Skytrain at least once, even just out of curiosity. Over its relatively short life it has already become an integral part of the Bangkok landscape, physically and socially. It connects parts of town that otherwise would have involved a gruelling journey by bus/taxi/ferry. As well as providing a valuable transport link it has also provided Thai comedians and TV script writers with a valuable source of comedy, portraying everyday scenes and overheard conversations from the elevated concrete giant.



My first such experience was during one of my first trips to Thailand, 5 or 6 years ago now. I was standing by one of the doors with the train screeching round the corner towards Sala Daeng station, sat down opposite was a scantily clad German lady holding her baby. The baby, as is the way in Thailand, was attracting lots of attention and coo-cooing but then started crying. Lo and behold down went the lady’s dress and out came a breast and she started feeding the baby. Something which probably wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows in Germany but drew a fantastic reaction here! Lots of open mouths (guppy fish at feeding time!) followed by whispering and embarrassed laughter, but of course everyone too polite to say anything out loud. After going through Sala Daeng and Ratchadamri stations (more people getting on the train, more disbelieving looks) events took a surprising turn and one brave Thai lady walked up to the mother and commended her on this act, and her commitment to her child. Mothers all have the same instinct, whichever country they come from.



Tourists to Thailand are probably familiar with the idea that too much contact and public affection between a couple is generally frowned upon. However there does seem to be one exception to that rule, as witnessed on that same skytrain route as above! The relatively common pairing of attractive, slim, long haired Thai girl with a more butch, short haired (also Thai) female partner seems to be able to do what other couples cannot. Getting very touchy feely and kissing would normally get you some rather frosty looks, but not for this couple, nobody batted an eyelid. Thailand and especially Bangkok constantly contradicts itself, but this is a Western state of mind that doesn’t seem to exist here. This allows temples to exist next to huge shopping centres, a government run lottery to exist in a country where gambling is illegal and poverty to exist next door to great wealth.

A more uncomfortable moment than even these two events involved a couple of young American girls. Probably just out of college and fresh off the plane, they were stood in a carriage having a rather loud conversation involving many swear words. It was apparent that they thought these Thai people couldn’t understand what they were saying, how wrong they were! Thai people see enough TV and films to know our swear words! I had a kind word in their ear, whether it made any difference or not I’ll never know.

Whenever Thai people hear a foreigner speaking Thai it always draws a smile and more than a hint of surprise! A fairly elderly American gent was minding his own business riding between Chit Lom and Ploen Chit when his phone rang. Imagine everyone’s shock when he started speaking in fluent Thai, I could see a few embarrassed faces of people thinking “I’d better apologise for what I just said about him, thinking he couldn’t possibly understand”!

And how we all miss the camp train drivers making the station announcements! Those days are gone as it’s now a sanitised recording, the days of drivers mistakenly announcing the wrong station are long gone!

There are many more encounters, too numerous to list here; suffice to say that a journey on the Skytrain isn’t always as mundane as just getting from A to B!