Jaywalking (and other travel)

You may have noticed that my blog title is no longer "Bangkok Bound". I figured that now that I am here I am no longer bound, and I should make it something more cultural and less cheesy.
But why "Jaywalking Through Bangkok"? Well simply put, that's what we do. The Thai people seem to be experts on making their way through heavy traffic. Jaywalking, is almost an institution here, we do it on every road, right in front of cops.

Other ways that people navigate Bangkok is by the motorcycles for hire at the ends of most good sized Sois (Side roads). These people wear orange vests to differentiate themselves, and charge around 20 baht for a 5 minute ride.
Before comming to bangkok i had never actually rode on a motocycle before. Needless to say it was quite a harrowing experience. I bargain with the driver as to the price and destination. I then get on the back and hold on for dear life. It is important to remember to keep knees close to the cycle. At every stop light it looks as if there is a huge motorcycle gang. This is because the motorcycles operate under less traffic restrictions than a bicycle does in the USA. During traffic jams the bikes weave in and out of the cars, drive down the lane lines and even on the sidewalk.

Driving just as daredevilishly as the motorcycles is the tuktuks, although they are more challenging to bargain with. Tuktuks are the 3 wheeled bastard child of a motorcycle, taxi and a golf cart. Tuktuk drivers are notorious for the scams that they run. Amusingly the tuktuk drivers are very open about it if you call them on it and will talk to you at length about their business. The tuktuk drivers try to take their costumers to suit shops, gem stores and Travel Authorities. They often take people on a 'tour' of different temples and insist on taking the costumer to a shop that has a deal on this day. If a costumer stays in a shop for 15 minutes the tuktuk driver gets a gas card. Some tuktuk drivers who work with a shop for awhile will get up to 20% commission. They often work with a partner who is good at English to convince people to get in the tuktuk, often by standing outside of a tourist attraction and telling people that it is closed.

Other transportation in bangkok is taxis (always make sure that they turn on the meter, they try to charge a flat rate that is usually too high), the buses (that dont run on time, and i still have yet to figure out the routes) and water taxies (which i take across the river to school every day) and the sky-train which I take to the mall.