Korean buses have panhandlers, but Houston buses have a weird brown liquid that drips on you.

Here in Houston I ride the bus to work each day. The only other time in my life that I rode the bus this much was in Seoul, South Korea as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And wow, the bus experience is very different here in Houston.

First of all, let me tell you that both Seoul and Houston are very modern cities with good bus systems. But you can see some interesting differences in culture -- both in the people and in the bus system itself.

In Houston bus culture, you never sit next to someone unless there is no other option. When it's time for you to get off, you press the button and remain seated until the driver comes to a complete stop. Then you are free to get up and take your time getting off the bus.

Houston buses will pause at every stop, even when there are obviously no people waiting there. And if the bus is ahead of schedule, it will stop and wait until it's back on time.

If you want to get off somewhere that's not a stop, just tell your Houston driver where you want to be let off. If it's on the route, he or she will gladly drop you off there.

It is common in Houston to know your bus driver's name when you take the same route every day.

But the weirdest thing is this strange brown liquid that sometimes drips from the ceiling on Houston buses. It's woken me up by dripping on my arm once, and today it stained the paper I was writing on.

Contrast all of this with Korea, where bus drivers go as fast as humanly possible. you had better be out of your seat and at the door when your stop is coming or you're going to miss it.

You can never get on or off at a non-bus-stop in Seoul. Each bus stop has good signage of every place the bus stops and when the bus will be coming next.

There's often standing room only in Seoul buses, but the buses come every 3-4 minutes. So if it's too crowded, just wait for the next one. It's totally okay and accepted to be smashed in like a sardine during rush hour.

Which one is better? I don't know. But there is one thing in common in both countries: when you reach the last stop of the route... the driver usually busts out of his seat for a long anticipated smoke break.