Been in Bangkok for a few days, today is the 1st day I’m back to solo travel. Previously had been spending time with my family and relatives here. So have been traveling more lavishly, and been getting to places by car instead of local commute. During solo travel, I always try to avoid taxi, and take local transit instead. Thanks to Google Map, I know which bus to take when I’m out of metro area.

In Bangkok, most foreigners do not take local bus. As there are plenty of taxi and tuktuk taxi to get foreigners around. Some taxi refuse to use the meter, so it’s taxi heaven. Yet still affordable enough for most tourist. A typical ride will run less than $10 usd.

On the bus, there isn’t a word of English, so it’s pretty much all locals. I truly believe this is when you get to meet the most hospitable of the local culture. The bus driver and the ticket attendant went out of their way, just to make sure I make it to the Grand Palace. Even though I’m well aware where I am and when to exit, (thank you GPS) . It felt nice to be told how to get there (pointing and minimal english) and seeing people are concern that the foreigner might get lost without their aid.