Bus Blog Beginnings

Hello to you anonymous person reading my first ever Bus Blog adventure. Thanks for stopping by. You may need to forgive me for the amount of bus puns I’ll be putting in this newly birthed blog – but can you blame me? I need to take every golden opportunity out there.

You’ll also have to further forgive me as this blog will not be conventionally proof-read or consist of perfect grammar. It will include an obnoxious amount of dashes and commas. Maybe you’d expect the opposite of this from an English teacher based in Korea, but no…fair warning that your English will do nothing but decline should you decide to venture Far-East (anywhere where English is not a native language I'm sure), and whilst I’d like to say just kidding, I’ve had quite a few questionable words and statements that have made their way out of my mouth.

Okay, so why a bus blog of all things? Oh? but why not a blog about busses my dear friend. (Anonymous friend that is). You see, this blog is going to be about my share-worthy adventures that happen to occur on the highly used transportation of Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Korea. The buses. Why a bus? Well because we only have one Subway Line here in Gwangju. A line that cuts straight through the city and provides minimal convenience to someone like me – so being the lucky duck that I am (I say with as much sarcasm as I could possibly conjure), I get to take the buses.

Now what you should know about me first and foremost – most of you already do I’m sure, but I’m from South Africa – a country where the public transportation feels somewhat non-existent and very much questionable.…and whilst I understand there are people who have no other choice but to use it, I was never one of them. (I say this with utmost regret because I at least think I would have been better equipped for the PTSD I have now obtained from using the buses here in Korea.) Yes, some of them are just that bad. They are simultaneously the best and worst thing I could ever possibly imagine. A love-hate relationship if you will. The bus drivers here really allow you to live out your dream of experiencing the thrill of Need for Speed… Fast & Furious and GTA in real life. Any video game or movie where driving is beyond both questionable and realistic – you can certainly live out those experiences here in Korea.

Now if you’re here on a tight timeline and you want to ensure that you get these said experiences, take a taxi instead. Whilst the buses here can most certainly live up to the brief stories I have shared about them – there are definitely angel bus drivers out there... who will actually even WAIT for you to take a seat. Wild. A taxi driver, however, has a tighter schedule than yours and they are somehow seemingly invincible when it comes to driving regulations and road safety. Buckle up buttercup. You're in for hellfire.

Anyway, back to the bus! (The metaphorical bus that is - that you’re taking on this metaphorical adventure with me.)

So, yes – I have decided to start sharing my most worthy and maybe slightly less worthy bus adventures with you. From bus ratings to bus passenger interactions and everything in-between, I hope that I can share some of my weekly amusement and pass it on to yours. This first blog post is obviously not about a single bus adventure but rather an outline of what is to come and whilst I really would love to make this a weekly commitment, I know that may not always be the case.

I have however been wanting to make this for a while now for my friends and family and simply anyone who stumbles upon this. I hope to share some helpful tips too about navigating buses here and simple bus etiquette because Oh BOY was it embarrassing learning that stuff on my own. I felt like a fish out of water floundering around for air – and flounder in the bus I did…many, many times. But it's been over a year now since my move to Korea and although I'm not the bus oracle - I still hope to provide some things worth mentioning and hopefully helpful for when you decide to venture this side of the world.

If you made it this far, thank you. I’ve always enjoyed writing but I’ve never been perfect at it. I hope with this little project, I can have another means of documenting small parts of my time here in South Korea and take you along for the ride. (Hehe, got you AGAIN).

That’s it for now. We’ve made it to the end of the route.

Until the next stop,

Bus Blog Driver Tay