Major myth. In Thailand, they like to say ‘It’s not far’. In reality, "it’s not far" always translates into at least an hour's drive. Crows won't have a problem, but us two-legged creatures like you and me in an automobile do. Part of the reason is that they don’t have cloverleaves on the highways. They probably take up too much real estate. Instead, there are U-turn bridges every 5 miles or so. Maybe it’s only every 5 kilometers. There are only left turns off many of the highways and major streets. So if you want to go on a street to the right, you have to drive past the cross street and take a U-turn bridge or U-turn turnout so you can turn around and go back in the opposite direction. Then you can make a left turn when you get to the street you are looking for. So it is easy to see how ‘It’s not far’ can translate into a major cross-country trek. I first experienced this when we got to Bangkok. The plane arrived around 11:00 in the evening and we planned to stay at a hotel near the airport and then take a flight the next day to go to Chiang Mai. We took a hotel van to get to the Asia Airport Hotel. The driver pointed it out as we drove by. Then the driver kept driving. And driving. And driving some more. At first, I just thought there was an intersection just past the hotel that the taxi was going to turn on. But he kept driving for what seemed like 10 minutes. I was starting to worry but Lucia seemed to be unconcerned. Finally, the van got to one of the aforementioned U-turn intersections so the driver could turn around and go for another 10 minutes so he could make the left turn onto the street that lead to the hotel. The Asia Airport hotel was ‘not far’ from the airport but it took forever to get there. Bangkok is like that.