Loving Public Transportation is a Process

So far, my travels here in Thailand have consisted of being picked up and dropped off at places by either my big brother, or friends. Now that I've been here a month and I need to be more mobile, I am learning how to be independent and get around on public transportation.

My dear sweet Thai friend came over to give me a crash course on how to use Song Tawes and Tuk-Tuks. So we begin by standing at the entrance of my neighborhood in the super hot sun waiting for a Song Tawe to come pick us up. Finally it comes and we pile on, and just as we do, it starts to rain. As it's pouring rain and I'm sitting in a taxi full of Thai people staring at me because my snow white skin is probably blinding them, Tdan starts to explain to me how the transportation system works. "If you take a red one, it takes you wherever, but it's super expensive, so no. If you take a brown one, it has it's own route it goes," and as she's explaining, I'm thinking, "How on earth am I going to remember this?!"

Finally, about two Song Tawes later we're on the street I would have to get off on to go to school. Then we realize we don't have the side street number. So we start walking aimlessly down this street trying to figure out where we're going, which as you can imagine is giving me buckets of comfort.

Finally we give up on trying to find my school and we start on our way home. She shows me where to walk to get a taxi home and she says, "Okay! You got this, call me when you get home!" And she put me on the Song Tawe. I'm like, "WHAT?" And I get on and go home. It drops me off a few hundred feet from the entrance of my neighborhood and as I start walking home, I start to cry, just from the stress of learning how to do all that. (How embarassing)

So as you can tell, learning to love public transportation is a process.