One thing I have to say about public transport in Bangkok, and that is that it is excellent. I also include that the bus is one of the cheapest ways to see the city, it will also give you an insight into the real Bangkok that perhaps you wouldn’t know if you were using other forms of transit.
I have a very dear friend called Richard, who I had the good fortune to meet at my favourite hostel in Bangkok, and since our first encounter, we tend to hang out together whenever we coincide in the city. Now I have to tell you a little bit about this wonderful man, apart from being drop-dead gorgeous (oh to be a hundred years younger) never mind I won’t dwell on that thought any more, and I will get on with this story. As I said, apart from being beyond handsome, he is also amiable, extremely kind, outgoing and intelligent. On top of all these dons, Richard is an absolute expert on the buses in Bangkok. It’s is incredible how he knows all about the air-con buses, the fan buses and the no air-con, no fan, nothing at all buses, he knows which number buses go to where and from what point they start and where they terminate. Plus, he will even tell you what rates they charge for your chosen journey! Which incidentally is minimal.

Naturally being aware of Richards vast knowledge on Bangkok’s cheapest form of transport, when he suggested that we take an enjoyable ride from Sukhumvit to Chinatown and go to a fabulous Chinese restaurant near a specific bus stop I was all for it.
One bright and sunny Sunday at almost mid-day found us waiting on the main road near Soi 38, to catch the 205 bus, as luck would have it the number 45 arrived first. Richard informed me that this would also take us to Chinatown. Since I was very confident in my friend’s know-how, I happily boarded the bus and spent a great time with the two of us chatting and taking in the views of the city, and I was so looking forward to the yummy lunch. Forty-five minutes later (estimated time for arrival to our designated bus stop) we were finally going through Chinatown. Richard assured me that he would know the point of decent as soon as he saw It.!
Well, it was extraordinary!!! The stop that we should have got off at! Didn’t appear!! Now If Richard weren’t such an expert on the buses, I would have thought he had made a mistake, but please that was impossible, without question it had to be that Thai bus driver didn’t know where he was going!! Anyway, to continue we went the whole way through Chinatown and still no sign of our stop, I began to ask myself, “did they move the stop sign to some other part of town??” I mean, you never know what can happen in a city, do you!!! We were now leaving that part of the district accompanied by a bus conductor giving us black looks and irately saying something in Thai, which could only mean that we had overstayed our journey for the fare that we had paid. Then Richard had a simply brilliant idea! He suggested that we get off the bus and return to our starting point to wait for the 205 bus.

Believe me; it was at this point that I started to have serious doubts about my friend’s brain logic! I mean honestly, why we would go all the way back to Sukhumvit, when we so relatively near our destination! my poor little stomach that is so used to being fed regularly was starting to scream “Feed me woman I am famished” with all this in mind, I started to make tentative suggestions about trying to catch the 205 from a nearer point. Which in the end, was exactly what we did. Oh, God you will never believe it. The flipping 205 had yet another bus driver who didn’t know where he was going… (please take note that if I wasn’t such a trusting soul, I might have thought that Richard was mistaken, but of course I knew that was impossible! and it was totally and unquestionably the bus drivers fault!”) Once again, we still didn’t pass the dam bus stop!!!

By this time, it is now about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I am about to stab Richard to death as I am practically on the point of dehydration and starvation. Fortunately for my friend, just in time he saw that the usually happy backpacker granny’s face was transforming from sweet to sour and he realized it was time to simply go and eat just anywhere

Thank God, we finally ate at a little stall near the Grand Palace, it wasn’t the fabulous Chinese restaurant, but it was good and at that moment in time any form of alimentation was welcome. Once revived by food, I started to feel much better when my lovely friend Richard ventured to give me the option of either going back to our hostel by bus (excuse me! did I hear correctly? or catching the river boat and sky train… I will give you three guesses as to which option I took!!!!

Thank you, Richard, despite what I have written, I really had a great day riding around with you on the BKK buses. Take care and I love ye loads.

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Believe it or not! Several years later, I toured Central Europe with Richard. We had a fabulous time, but I most definitely did not allow him to take control of our transport. LOL