Mid 90s traffic in Bangkok was a totally different beast to the traffic today. Last few years of the Asian Economic Miracle so loads of cars, no sky train, no underground, fewer expressways and relatively much more expensive tolls so fewer used them, no coordinated traffic signals and the road widenings, tunnels, changes in lane directions hadn't been worked out.

It wasn't unusual to grind to a halt and not move for 3-4 hours at a time. I used to have to get out of the car and go to the nearest shop house by the side of the road to ask to use the toilet.

People used to stay in the office until 9 p.m. drinking and eating together to avoid the traffic.

Nobody would give anyone a lift anywhere as you could get stuck at any time in any place and possibly not move for hours.

The longest I was ever stuck in traffic was over 6 hours. And I was just going from Hyatt Erawan to Sukhumvit 13

Sorry to barge in here, but I started a parallel thread in the Chiang Mai forum, where most of us said that we hardly ever come to a grinding halt in traffic (for more than one change of the signal lights). For the majority of us on motorcycles, it's even faster in Chiang Mai. I guess that even with skytrains, metro, and expressways, Bangkok is still far too congested.

...another non-BKK contribution. Just before New Year we drove up to the country home (outside KK), I thought we would be clever and miss the bulk of the traffic from BKK by leaving Chon Buri at midnight. Sadly we just had the pleasure of five hours of slow moving traffic between Saraburi and Nakhon Ratchasima. What I expected to be a four hour run through the night turned into a ten hour endurance experiance. Next year we'll have Christmas and New Year early, and take more CDs.

Longest day I had was in 1994 in the rainy season when it took 6 hrs from Ruam Rudi to Ramintra for a 15 min meeting and then 6 hrs back. That was after the 1st stage expressway but before the 2nd. Fortunately back then I used a driver.

I also missed a plane the night they had the terrible petrol tanker accident on the bridge over Petchaburi that burned the slum down.

Other memorable days was the day in 1994 ( i think) when there was around 240mm of rainfall one evening, there were cars floating down Sukhumvit or forced onto the pavement by the wake of buses and trucks.

I had a 6 hr trip to Pattaya when they had the 3Baht toll and the reversible lane.

Overall since about '95 the traffic is appreciably better with the opening of expressways , the elevated roads to Don Muang and Chonburi , the Skytrain and the underground. We've never had it so good!

Cheers

Edit Changed years

Percy, you've sure been in more traffic here than I have! Cars floating down Sukhumvit would be a memorable event, but I would hate to be the owner of those cars. The typhoon which hit BKK in 1999 (May I think) during my first visit to Thailand caused lots of flooding. We managed to make it home in an old Toyota (now my car) after driving nearly 2km in a foot or more of water.

Percy, you've sure been in more traffic here than I have! Cars floating down Sukhumvit would be a memorable event, but I would hate to be the owner of those cars. The typhoon which hit BKK in 1999 (May I think) during my first visit to Thailand caused lots of flooding. We managed to make it home in an old Toyota (now my car) after driving nearly 2km in a foot or more of water.

On that night I left my car at work and took a pick up.

Before I got home at some points the water level in the car meant I was sitting in it!

The boss wasn't too happy the next day when I returned the truck. I'd managed to burn the clutch out

Cheers

I'd be more worried about the electronics than the clutch With all the computer gadgetry under the hood these days, you could have quite a mess if the water came up high enough. I wonder how many of the used cars at these roadside tents have been flooded. Rusted metal in the trunk and under the seats, plus water marks may be a dead giveaway.