Young map-maker of Bangkok bus system (video)

Riding Bangkok's confusing bus system until he memorized it, this award-winning Japanese language student produced colour maps in English & Japanese to help tourists.

TOURISM

Mapping out his future

He's already mastered two foreign languages and mapped out Bangkok's difficult bus system; a young man who is bound to go far
8/09/2014
Melalin Mahavongtrakul

Somwasin Udomphol may look like your average 18-year-old; he favours T-shirts worn loose over jeans and slings a tattered bag over his shoulder whenever he's out and about.

But if you hand him a piece of paper, a pencil and some coloured markers, Somwasin could draw you a map of Bangkok's major bus routes in 30 minutes or less, with the details neatly handwritten in both Thai and English and each route coded in a different colour.

He is quite skilled in getting to different destinations around Bangkok by public bus.

Over the years, he has encountered many people, both locals and foreigners, who really have to struggle to make sense of Bangkok's maddeningly confusing bus system, where bus stops list route numbers but rarely supply any other useful information. There are no signs or maps to tell tourists, or inexperienced Thais for that matter, which bus (or buses) to catch, or on which side of the road, in order to get to a particular part of town...

Somwasin's hand-drawn map of bus routes that is on display at Chatuchak bus station.

While regular commuters are familiar with certain routes, first-time travellers are usually left to their own devices. If they have not researched in advance which bus number to take, they will have to try and read the names of stops listed on the sides of rapidly passing buses....

"I've met farang [Westerners] who wanted to get to Khao San Road [from Chatuchak]... Mostly, the foreigners just have to guess. They may have to walk around a bit before they find the right bus stop,"  Somwasin recalled...

...In order to make things easier for everyone, Somwasin dedicated almost two years of his life to producing a series of maps showing all the bus routes departing from major hubs in Bangkok like Victory Monument and Chatuchak.

He compiled the information from personal experience of each route, noting down details as he rode the buses. He presented the fruits of his labour to the BMTA (Bangkok Mass Transit Authority), the body which operates most of the city's buses, and one of his maps is now on display at Chatuchak bus station where passers-by can benefit from all his painstaking research.

Somwasin Udomphol. Photo by Chumporn Sangvilert

Aside from making maps, Somwasin also made a name for himself as a volunteer who provides information on bus routes at the bus station in Chatuchak area. He can speak Thai, English, Japanese and Chinese, and has been helping Chatuchak's BMTA staff in guiding bus travellers for a while now...

Somwasin recently finished secondary school and still pays visits to Thep Leela, his alma mater and the place from which he graduated, majoring in English and Japanese....

...He earned excellent exam results in Japanese, according to his teacher, was placed second in a nationwide Japanese (kanji) writing competition and won a scholarship two years ago to spend time in Japan on a cultural exchange program.

Somwasin is currently working part-time at a convenience store and is hoping to make it to university at some point in the future. But that may have to wait for a  while. At the moment he is still saving up the money for tuition fees.

"I want to study humanities and major in Japanese language," he said when asked about his goals. "I could then get work as an interpreter or a tour guide."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/interview/431062/mapping-out-his-future

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