The (In)Famous Bangkok Traffic

Last night, I got a taste of the legendary Bangkok traffic -- and it was worse than I imagined! It normally takes us 15-20 minutes to go from Siam Paragon to Oakwood but last night it took us an hour and a half! Average cab fare is around THB70-80 but last night I paid THB120. It was that bad.

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Worse, Yan and I had to stand in line for an hour just to get a taxi! There was a shortage of taxis at the Paragon station and the ones that were there refused to take us to Naradhiwas because of the bad traffic.

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Much worse, my cellphone battery died just when Richard told me that he'll be sending the driver over to pick us up. I asked him earlier if he can ask his driver to pick us up but they were also stuck in traffic on the expressway so I decided to take the taxi instead. At that time, I had no idea there were no taxis available (good thing I took a bathroom break before we went to the taxi stand!). After standing there for over an hour with bags of groceries on both hands (I swear I tried my best to keep my purchases at a minimum because I'll be carrying them myself, but I still ended up with four bags!), with a tired five-year old who is fast becoming impatient, I had to call my husband for an S.O.S. Luckily, he just arrived at the restaurant so he can send Sangkom over. At that moment, my phone died. It felt like one of those sad movie scenes where the forsaken lover runs after the bus or car in the rain. All the elements were there except for the lovers part: the rain, the car that won't let us in, and the feeling of helplessness.

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The drama queen in me wanted to rush back to the mall to do more shopping to make me feel better because nothing produces endorphins in the body faster than a brand new pair of shoes, but that would be crazy since the line wasn't getting any shorter. Suddenly, I heard the guard shouting "Naradhiwas" over the megaphone. It was like the heavens opened up and a beam of light shone on us -- drama queen again (guess I'm watching too much HBO and Star Movies). We finally got a taxi that will take us home! Bless the kind driver who took us in.

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Lesson: never leave home without a fully charged cellphone!