Most people have heard the horror storries of Bangkok traffic, supposedly it's the worst in the world. The legend goes that the police are trained in midwivery, because women end up having to give birth in traffic. Our first day in Bangkok, we saw massive, well-paved highways without potholes, which made us wonder whether the traffic could live up to the hype.
After coming back to Bangkok from Ko Samui, we finally got to witness the horror first hand. Despite the high quality of the roads, and even a decent public transport network, there are still waay too many vehicles on the road. Cars can be at total standstill for 10-15 minutes at a time, so if you're in a regular taxi and relatively close to home, you might be better off just getting off and walking. What adds to the chaos, however, is the large number of motorcycles and tuk-tuks, which take up less space on the road, and can maneuvre between regular cars, disregarding lane markets. This makes the roads much harder to navigate - any car game afficionado would tighten the grip on his controller. But this complexity doesn't phase Bangkok's finest motorcycle and tuktuk drivers. They're agressive and quick on the turns, they know the back alleys, and detours in case traffic gets more unbearable than usual. We were repeatedly amazed at how well the drivers knew the city, a skill forgotten in the western world since the introduction of GPS.
While we felt OK renting a moped in Ko Samui, riding around in one in Bangkok traffic would have been virtual suicide.
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