Bangkok Traffic Love Story Movie Recap

This is such a fun-watch. A perfect combination of innocent humor and giggly romance. The female character, Mei Li is such a darling!

“Bangkok Traffic Love Story”, somehow, mirrors every thirty-year-old woman’s battle for love. Fight-oh! Oh! Reminds me of Yankumi.

Movie Recap

The movie starts off with a young lady (not too young since she’s already 30) making a scene, embarrassing scenes. She had too much to drink and she kept on puking around the place!  You see, it’s Valentine’s Day and wedding night of Ped (Panisara Pimpru), her best friend. She invades the newlywed’s supposed honeymoon and sleeps inside their hotel suite. Haha! Talking about insensitivity.

Now, before you guys misunderstand, she’s not drunk becoz she’s depressed. On the contrary, she’s happy. It’s just that after this, she knows too well that everything will change.

Early in the morning, she decides to drive back home. But with all those fears and insecurities bugging her head, she takes a wrong turn and meets a frightening car accident. Good thing, she’s not seriously injured.

In a disheveled and drunken state our heroine, Li (Sirin Horwang), meets THE one.

THE one goes by the name of Loong (Theeradej Wongpuapan). He comes to her rescue. He even returns her side mirror, but she declines and gives it to him instead.

She arrives home safely, but the car is totally wrecked. Her parents and grandma ain’t a bit happy about the incident. She’s the only child so it’s understandable that they are a bit strict. Dad forbids her to drive any car, and she’s forced to ride public transports.

Li shows up at work with a very bad hangover. Worse, her company has this morning exercise routine and everybody’s obliged to perform. The exercise itself is super funny. The tossing and turning proves too much for Li. She can’t hold it. Bam! She pukes right at her boss. Mwahaha! I wouldn’t dare do that. Not even in my wildest dreams!

Without her car, life is such a hustle.  Imagine, she takes 5 different means of transport just to get home! A van, a boat,  the skytrain, a motorcycle, and a tricycle. Phew! You’ve got to be kidding me!

Li wakes up in the middle of the night. She has trouble sleeping, so she grabs a can of beer and goes to the roof for some air. She then accidentally finds their maid and her boyfriend doing “it”. She shrieks, waking up the family. Dad is so angry, he orders the boyfriend to call his “elder”. And to Li’s astonishment, Loong (also means uncle in Thai) appears right in front of her doorstep. It turns out, Loong is the boyfriend’s guardian.

Once again, Li reports to work with hangover. While talking with the client, she just holes up and sleeps behind the solar cell thingy.  Tsk! Girl, lessen the booze will yah. But I must admit, she’s freakin’ hilarious! Mwahaha! Her boss is pissed. Well, that’s a given.

Ped just resigned from work. Too bad for Li, she’ll be eating alone from then on. It was then that Li finally realized something. She’s the only single woman around. All her friends are married. Darn, even Ped’s dog has a mate. Haha!

She comes home and asks Mom for some advice.

Li: How did you fall in love with dad?

Mom: Just by looking at him.

Li: No one else hit on you?

Mom: Nope. I always hit on them first. But they rejected me.

Haha! Way to go Mom. That’s the best confession I’ve heard so far.

Li is dumbfounded. Didn’t Mom said that it’s unladylike to make the move first? Mom denies saying such things. It can’t be! That’s what she believed for 17 years! Ahhh, all those wasted time.

By chance, Li sees Loong at the BTS Skytrain station. She begins to follow him around.  Alas! He notices her. She then learns that Loong is a night-shift engineer at the BTS . The first “accidental” meeting is actually working to Li’s advantage, well, until she clumsily breaks Loong’s sunglasses. He seems not to mind, saying that the sunglasses were old anyways. 🙂

That night, Li runs into her neighbor, Plern (Ungsunalynn Sirapatsakmetha). Plern suggests that Li better give her mobile phone number to the guy. Who knows? Maybe he’ll call and she’ll have her happily ever after.

Mulling over Mom and Plern’s advice, Li buys a replacement sunglasses for Loong and writes her number inside the box.  She staged the second “accidental” meeting and gives him the sunglasses. Mission: successful!

Li waits for the call, but nothing. She goes to the CR for the nightly rituals, but then… gosh! Dad is there! And he’s doing the number two!  Hahaha!

I love, love this random comic scene. Mwahaha!

Seems Plern’s technique didn’t work. Li consults her again. This time, Plern goes with her. They went to a Video Rental shop where Loong is a regular. They were  so focused on finding Loong that they didn’t notice him standing behind them. Haha!

And becoz Loong is such an irresistible handsome and available young man, Plern gets an instant crush on him. Pretending that she lost her phone, Plern borrows his mobile and dials her number. Presto! She gets his number. Old school! But instead of giving it to Li, Plern  keeps the number to herself and works at the same video shop.

Li plots her revenge. Using Plern’s phone, she sends messages to Plern’s 3 boyfriends, telling them to come to the store at the same time. And when the 3 guys met, all hell breaks loose. They start to argue and fight. Loong happens to come by the shop. One of the three boyfriends punch him right at the face, thinking that he is also Plern’s boyfriend. Loong is caught off guard and drops his laptop.

Feeling guilty, Li offers to get his laptop fixed. He kindly refuses. But she insists and drops the laptop. This time, it’s completely ruined. What else is new?! She’s a tragedy on the works.

Li takes Loong’s laptop to Ped’s husband, but it can’t be helped. She goes to the BTS office to return the laptop, but he’s too busy with work. She decides to leave him a message with the security. She’s too sleepy and tired that she isn’t aware she’s reciting lyrics from a song. Ahaha!

It’s already late, so the good security guard let her rest inside the guard-house. By the time Loong gets off from work, she’s already asleep. He tries to wake her up using her ringing phone, but she’s a heavy sleeper. Loong can’t help but laugh at her “cuteness”. Men dig cute, neh?

The next thing they knew, it’s already morning. They share the BTS, Li is off to work while Loong is bound to go home. Funny how Li arrogantly “claims” that Loong is her man. Guess, it’s her way of telling all the ladies to back off. Haha!

Inside the skytrain, Li falls asleep. And it’s cute how Loong stares at her on the opposite side. Yay! He has a crush on her too. 🙂

And becoz Loong’s laptop bag was so old and faulty, he decides to throw it away. Li, however, digs the trash and picks it out. At home, Li finds some things inside the bag, including film negatives. She had it printed and finds out that Loong’s ex-girlfriend is a famous actress, Kob Kavita (Taksaorn Paksukjareon). But then, the printing shop owner posts the pictures on Hi5 and the next day, the pictures were published in local newspapers.

Li is consumed by guilt. And so, she asks Dad what to do.

Li: If we did something wrong and confessed to it, our guilt would be lessened right?

Dad: Not necessarily. If you did something THAT bad, just keep it to yourself.

Haha! Okay, THIS is no doubt the best parental advice. Li has decided. Just to shun from any confrontation or accidental bumps in with Loong, she agrees to go to China during Songkran (New Year).

But no matter how Li avoids Loong’s presence, destiny seems to make its way. She finds him sleeping on the skytrain. She can’t leave him alone, so she watches over him. When she’s about to go, he wakes up. She’s forced to tell him the truth and admits she printed the pictures that’s why it leaked.

Loong doesn’t mind though. It’s true that they had a relationship before, but they broke up becoz of distance barriers and conflicting schedules. Coincidentally, a group of children has a field trip at the Bangkok Planetarium. Li then invites Loong to visit the planetarium together,as both have never been there before. Loong agrees.

The two went to the planetarium, alright. But they just slept the whole time. Haha! As it happens, the planetarium features the Mcbright comet. It is said to pass Earth on April 16th. Li asks him to watch it together. But he seems unsure. She doesn’t get his answer, as she’s busy finding her house on the  map printed on the floor. Haha! Oh dear!

And since Li spends her time fooling around. She’s been demoted and is assigned to sell solar bras. Haha!

Before the Songkran holidays, Loong surprisingly asks Li to celebrate the occasion with him. The problem is, she already agreed to go to China with her family. She makes every possible excuse not to come. She prays that the taxi break down, that the traffic delays their arrival. All these were to no avail.

At the airport, she throws away her passport and pretends she left it at home. Funny thing, a girl scout gives it back to her. And what did she do? She carries the girl scout far, far away. And with the little girl out of sight, she feigns forgetting her passport. Mission: Successful Part Two!

Li spends her day preparing her flashy, sparkling dress and itinerary. Good thing she remembers that celebrating the Songkran festival involves water games. Goodbye flashy, sparkling dress and hello simple casuals.To her dismay, Plern joins them. So much for quality time! Li is clearly NOT enjoying it. She’s being edgy, and so when the children playfully throws water at her, she retorts with full game-on battle stance. Haha!

The trio decides to go home. Before they part, Loong whispers that he’ll be picking her up for dinner. Li waits for him. He’s running late, so she goes to his guesthouse instead. She finds him sleeping and she too, falls asleep next to him. After a few hours, she wakes up and Loong is already geared up to tour Bangkok.

They are having a good time. They even enjoyed answering each others personal questions. On the way home, Loong asks Li to come with him at the BTS family day. Li is beyond ecstatic.

At the BTS depot, they take some pictures. One time, Loong clicks the camera and catches Li in an embarrassing pose. She wants to delete it. But he doesn’t want to. They push and pull until the camera slips from her hands and gets broken. Loong shrugs it off, saying that the camera’s oldso it’s okay. Aww!

But the day goes bad when Li finds out that Loong is leaving in 2 days time. He’ll be studying in Germany for 2 years. She’s heartbroken and disappointed. He has known for a while but didn’t bother to tell her. Li is not in the mood and so, they call it a day.

Li fills her day thinking about their present and future. She goes to Loong’s house to get things straight. She finds his stuff packed and it hurts all the more.

Loong explains that he didn’t tell her becoz he hopes that even when they’re not together, they could still be able to date. Li isn’t that optimistic. She must be crazy for letting him go, but she can’t commit. Maybe, Kob was right. A relationship like this won’t work out.

Li: I think that if we’re really going to be apart, let’s just be acquaintances.

The next day, Loong goes to Germany. He leaves a box. Inside are the things that reminds him of Li.

The rear view mirror.

“Last Valentine’s Day, if this thing had landed on my head we wouldn’t probably meet becoz I would have had to got to the hospital first”.

The broken sunglass.

“If this hadn’t broken, I would probably never seen this (her number). I’m sorry. I really didn’t have the courage to call. Even if I use it now, it’s probably too late”.

The broken laptop.

“I want to hear you sing this song”.

The Bangkok Planetarium tickets.

“People usually go watch a movie on their first date. But we watched the stars during middle of the day. Wasn’t that romantic?”

The broken camera.

“Although the camera’s broken, the memory is fine”.

Isn’t he the sweetest?! My heart melts.

Li opens the memory card and sees her pictures. He’s been taking her pictures! She rushes to the airport, but it’s too late. Duh! His flight left at 8am, she arrived at 4pm! Unless she’s superman, of course, she can’t catch up.

That same day, the McBright comet passes the earth. Loong watches the comet on board his plane, while Li watches from the roof top.

Two years passed, Li is working as a night-shift stock analyst. While going to work one evening, Li meets Loong on a BTS Skytrain. Loong has changed his sched to the day shift and has been back in Thailand for a few months.

And that’s it, their brief encounter. Li changes to a different line. She gets on her train, but suddenly, the electricity goes out. Passengers call their friends or family. But sadly, she has no one to call to or no one bothers to call her. 😦

Surprisingly, her phone rings. It’s Loong. He tells her not to worry as it is only a temporary setback.

Loong: Khun Li, are you still free this Songkran?

Li is overwhelmed. Yes, she is. The electricity comes back and Loong is standing right next to her. Yay!

Loong: That’s my number don’t forget t save it.

And the crowd cheers! He has her number and he followed her! Like I said, he’s the sweetest. 🙂