One big demerit for my new commute is that it has eliminated the majority of my commute knitting. Of course, on the upside, it also implies less time stuck in traffic. But I now take the same boat from home, get off around half way at Wat Chalaw, walk out to the small local road there (used to be the only road we had!) and wait for a song taew, which is a very Thai mode of transportation - a small pickup outfitted with a roof and two benches along the side for passengers. Unlucky people stand in the middle (hanging on to bars put there for the purpose) or hanging off the back end, not as dangerous as it sounds because they also build a bit of a platform on the back end. (I should take a picture - worth a thousand words, right?) Anyway, even at 5 a.m. the thing is tightly packed and absolutely no way to knit. I ride this to the end of its line, which is across the bridge to the Bangkok side of the Chaopraya River), wait some more, then take a regular (air con) bus to the office. Fifteen minutes, about, in not-too-badly-jammed traffic. So - max of 15 minutes to knit. Then on the way home I take that same bus to Nonthaburi market - which is a longer ride, giving me possibly a half hour of knitting - where I then take a different song taew that crosses a different bridge and lets me off at the main highway across from the area my house is located in.
I guess you could say there is a plus in the fact that the commute involves a LOT more walking - very far from bus stop to office and then another good distance from highway to house.
The distance is less, as the crow flies (or as the personal car drives) - but takes me just about exactly the same amount of time in the morning. Homeward bound is quite a bit faster.
Life in Bangkok - so much fun!
