Sunday, December 28, 2008

Transportation in Bangkok - high adrenaline options







There are many ways to get around in Bangkok.  You can take a taxi (and, if you're a hello kitty fan, you can find a pink one to take).  Taxis in Bangkok drive... well... like Batman.


You could watch that pink taxi go by, and walk instead.  Here's the alley I walk down when I go to work each day.  In the morning it's full of cars going both ways.  How do you get down the alley without getting run over by a pink hello kitty taxi?  Hug the wall, my friend.  Fortunately Thai drivers are very understanding and try to give you as much room as they can in situations like this.


After this alley, there is a busy intersection.  At some intersections like that one, you're on your own.  Sometimes there is a traffic cop, and sometimes you grab a flag like this and hold it as you cross in the hopes oncoming traffic sees you and slows down so you can cross

If that's too slow for you, you can hail a tuk-tuk - sort of a three wheeled motorbike.  They are not known for their safety, so you may not get there in one piece, but you'll get there quickly.














If you're really in a hurry, you can flag down a motorcycle taxi.  This is like a taxi, except the taxi driver is on a motorcycle with you on the back, so you're both much thinner, and can fit between things like two cars side-by-side, or a car and a wall, or two cars, two other motorcycles, and a tuk-tuk.  This added maneuverability comes at the cost of safety, generally, so pick your poison.  This picture shows someone on a motorcycle taxi - note the orange vest of the motorcycle taxi driver, which, given how they drive, presumably makes the driver and the passenger completely immune from harm.





No comments: