Adventures in Busing

Last week at our lunch with Marti, she told us about the new(ish) CM Transit bus system. There are four routes, two of which basically circle the city, one clockwise and one counter-clockwise. The other two are on the north side of the city, going between a large mall and the far northwest.

So on Sunday my neighbor and friend Barbara and I decided to try out the bus, planning to ride the red circuit and see where it went. There is a bus stop very near us on the moat road and the sign says the bus comes there every 20 minutes. We got there at 10:09; were about to give up at 10:45 and it finally arrived at 10:50! The bus is very nice, air conditioned and spacious. We were almost the only ones on it the entire trip. We headed south with a stop at the Airport Plaza Mall and then the airport. The driver told us we had to get off and go to the other bus that was parked there, so we did (he gave us transfer slips). We got settled on the new bus and soon realized that it was going the opposite direction and we would shortly be right back where we started. We talked to the driver, got our transfers back, and headed back onto the first bus. The driver probably thought we were a bit crazy, but oh well.

After a bit of a wait we headed off again, past the Airport Plaza Mall and up the west side of the old city, which is just over a mile square. We turned on Suthep Road as expected, but then had terrible traffic. After sitting for quite a while (thank goodness for air-conditioned buses), we saw students walking down the sidewalk wearing academic robes and hats. It was Chiang Mai University graduation day and we were right in the middle of it! It took at least 45 minutes to get through there and to the Maya Mall.

After the Mall we did a turn into the old city and came out near Tha Pae Gate. Usually the route goes through the Chinatown and Night Market area, but because it was Lunar New Year weekend, we headed straight back to our starting point, almost two hours after we started. I will definitely use this bus again, probably to go to one of the malls.

We went to the Cozy restaurant and had lunch; mine was a club sandwich on good bread and a mango yogurt smoothie.

Monday evening we tried a new restaurant, the Organ Bar (not sure if that is the instrument or a body part...). Dan had garlic shrimp and I had broccoli with shrimp. Both had rice, too, and were very good.