Traffic

Alright, so living in Bangkok, a post needs to be devoted to traffic.  It is quite normal to have an hour, hour and a half, even two hours or more commute simply to get to the suburbs.  I read in one of my guidebooks that the average city has 25% surface area of roads, sidewalks, etc.  Bangkok's layout including 10% roads, sidewalks, etc.  And new cars are rolling out onto the streets every day.
Students rarely go to visit their friend's homes, instead they hang out in the school yard before and after school because traffic makes it nearly impossible to hang out anywhere else.
The commute from my host's home to school also goes directly by the royal palace, the current palace where the royals actually live.  Cool, right?
Well, actually, since it is surrounded by a huge white washed wall, and every member of the royal family gets the royal treatment (as in, traffic stops to let them pass), in practice it simply means the traffic jam is worse and time spent on the bus is extended.
The presence of motorcycles and motorbikes is high here, and for good reason.  It can seriously cut down on the commute time if you can weave in and out of the larger vehicles.  Personally, I'm planning on being a pedestrian for the foreseeable future once I have an apartment close to school.  Speaking of, I'm off to get that sorted out.  Hopefully successfully this time.