DISRESPECT, BAD MANNERS OR LACK OF EDUCATION

Prakhonchai Nick

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Maybe all 3 of above!

This morning took my daughter to the dentist. Nice large waiting room furnished with comfortable sofas. It was busy, but I manged to find space on a sofa.

I counted 15 Thai teenage girls. All, as to be expected were playing with their mobile phones. Of those 6 were sitting with their feet on the sofa, tucked up under their arses. 2 more had made themselves more comfortable with their feet splayed out in front of them on the sofa utilising a 2nd seating area. As new patients arrived, they would not remove their feet, requiring them to sit on hard plastic chairs.

If it were my surgery I would have notices clearly displayed "FEET BELONG ON THE FLOOR" whilst had I not found a seat on the sofa, I would have insisted- quite vocally- that they removed their offending feet!

Like so many things here...THIS IS THAILAND
 
Went out this morning in the car to find a shop to reupholster my computer chair. Since my daughters have been using the computer they tend to sit with their feet under their bums. In times gone by, several generations at least, I guess I could have done the same. That is no longer the case and I guess I am just jealous. Anyway, the leather cloth or faux leather is now peeling away in large chunks, most likely exacerbated by their style of sitting. As I was slowly moving through the village an older Thai person was coming towards me in his pickup. My side of the road was perfectly clear although there were vehicles parked on the other side, his side of the road. I continued in a straight line. Yes, you have guessed it, he had no intention of stopping and swung over to my side of the road. He was now heading straight towards me so I flashed him long and hard. I continued, thinking he may just slow down or even pull back towards his own side of the road. Wrong again, sudden application of the brakes by myself and the ABS sprung into life with a very loud clatter. The poor guy standing by the side of the road almost jumped out of his skin. Apply horn loud and long and raise the middle finger as this arsehole drove past after forcing me to take evasive action. As Nick said, "THIS IS THAILAND."
 
I remember in the early 80's going for a drive in my car purely for the enjoyment. Particularly good on a warm summer afternoon. It's been a long time since I've thought about doing that again.
 
I remember in the early 80's going for a drive in my car purely for the enjoyment. Particularly good on a warm summer afternoon. It's been a long time since I've thought about doing that again.
You should reconsider it then. I've driven the length and breadth of the UK and zig zagged my way through the countryside in more recent times, and don't know what the hell you're talking about. Great drivers, polite and courteous.
How can you knock your own country when it's nowhere near as bad as you're suggesting.
 
I have to agree about driving in the UK.

It was a pleasure to share the road with drivers who knew what they were doing. I also didn't have to watch out for brain-dead morons joining from the left without looking, or imbecilic U turns on major roads.
 
Great drivers, polite and courteous.
Not my recollection of drivers in the UK, I was a wagon driver nearly all my working life (except for 7 years in fire service) and most of them hadn't a clue. Admittedly many times better than Thai drivers
 
Not my recollection of drivers in the UK, I was a wagon driver nearly all my working life (except for 7 years in fire service) and most of them hadn't a clue. Admittedly many times better than Thai drivers


Agree. Wagon drivers were wankers! :laughing:
 
Great drivers, polite and courteous.

As it's almost 15 years since I drove in UK, and then it was only for 3 weeks, I didn't particularly find all of them polite and courteous but many were. Having driven in many countries of the world (I guess about 40) based on my experience at that time and before, I still consider UK drivers within the best of the top five
 
I worked in Manchester, in St Anne's Square. I'm no Scrooge, but hated Christmas shopping, not because of the money spent but because of the crowds. One Christmas Eve, panicking a bit as I had yet to buy the Christmas cards (I'm kidding) I was walking along fast, trying to go to Debenhams, but kept having to dodge the eejit pedestrians - particularly the ones with prams and pushchairs - who would be walking in the same direction as me before stopping dead in their tracks to chat to whoever was walking with them.

After many all too close encounters with their fat arses it was a life-changing moment when it dawned on me that these nutters probably drove cars in the same way that they walked...

How can it be that they all now live in here Thailand???

I doubt that there has been a single car journey that I've made in the last 4 years here when some 1/2 a brain-cell hasn't tried the same manoeuvre that Nomad described. I usually stop to avoid the hassle and hypertension, letting the depleted brain-cell through, but an hour or so ago, near the old Office restaurant, another brain-dead overtook me as I waited and he met his counterpart head-on. Neither of them had the sense to make way for the other, so we all sat there for several minutes until the original idiot reversed (badly, because they can't) letting the other through. However, they didn't open their windows to curse each other, nor did they use their horns. The advent of road-rage in the UK would be less-likely to produce the same outcome.

I recognised a very mild mannered friend's car ahead of me whilst driving towards Manchester. Being a friendly sort, I caught up with him and pipped my horn gently in greeting as we approached some traffic lights - just as they were changing to green. I had never heard him curse in several years of friendship, and was amazed as he gesticulated wildly with his middle finger in his mirror. A few days later, when I next saw him, he completely denied his action, admitting that he hadn't recognised me or my car...

Once, in Argentina, I was behind another driver approaching a roundabout when he slammed into the back of the car in front of him. Knowing that many kept guns in their cars, I feared the worst! Both drivers leapt out - and smiled at each other before shaking hands!

Drive in the UK countryside or in a rural village there, and there's a good chance that the person in front of you will take an age to turn left or right at the next T junction, waiting for a big gap in the traffic before moving. The same person, driving in London or another major city, would - if he hesitated for a split second at a junction or a roundabout - be deafened and blinded by horns and flashing headlights.

It's similar here in Surin too - the crawl away from changed traffic lights can mean that only a very few vehicles go through before they turn back again to red. That snail-like progress might be as a result of their knowing that other vehicles will still be moving across the junction long after their own green light had changed to red. In contrast, driving in Bangkok requires that you be quick and decisive at junctions - or be swamped by vehicles passing from all directions!

I'm not sure that I have seen ANY courteous Thai drivers here. Nervous ones, hesitant ones, dumb ones: yes. There are plenty of those. Despite seeing many video clips of Thai road rage incidents, I've never seen it happen in person - or to anyone else. From that point of view, maybe things aren't quite so bad as in Britain.
 
I worked in Manchester, in St Anne's Square. I'm no Scrooge, but hated Christmas shopping, not because of the money spent but because of the crowds. One Christmas Eve, panicking a bit as I had yet to buy the Christmas cards (I'm kidding) I was walking along fast, trying to go to Debenhams, but kept having to dodge the eejit pedestrians - particularly the ones with prams and pushchairs - who would be walking in the same direction as me before stopping dead in their tracks to chat to whoever was walking with them.

After many all too close encounters with their fat arses it was a life-changing moment when it dawned on me that these nutters probably drove cars in the same way that they walked...

How can it be that they all now live in here Thailand???

I doubt that there has been a single car journey that I've made in the last 4 years here when some 1/2 a brain-cell hasn't tried the same manoeuvre that Nomad described. I usually stop to avoid the hassle and hypertension, letting the depleted brain-cell through, but an hour or so ago, near the old Office restaurant, another brain-dead overtook me as I waited and he met his counterpart head-on. Neither of them had the sense to make way for the other, so we all sat there for several minutes until the original idiot reversed (badly, because they can't) letting the other through. However, they didn't open their windows to curse each other, nor did they use their horns. The advent of road-rage in the UK would be less-likely to produce the same outcome.

I recognised a very mild mannered friend's car ahead of me whilst driving towards Manchester. Being a friendly sort, I caught up with him and pipped my horn gently in greeting as we approached some traffic lights - just as they were changing to green. I had never heard him curse in several years of friendship, and was amazed as he gesticulated wildly with his middle finger in his mirror. A few days later, when I next saw him, he completely denied his action, admitting that he hadn't recognised me or my car...

Once, in Argentina, I was behind another driver approaching a roundabout when he slammed into the back of the car in front of him. Knowing that many kept guns in their cars, I feared the worst! Both drivers leapt out - and smiled at each other before shaking hands!

Drive in the UK countryside or in a rural village there, and there's a good chance that the person in front of you will take an age to turn left or right at the next T junction, waiting for a big gap in the traffic before moving. The same person, driving in London or another major city, would - if he hesitated for a split second at a junction or a roundabout - be deafened and blinded by horns and flashing headlights.

It's similar here in Surin too - the crawl away from changed traffic lights can mean that only a very few vehicles go through before they turn back again to red. That snail-like progress might be as a result of their knowing that other vehicles will still be moving across the junction long after their own green light had changed to red. In contrast, driving in Bangkok requires that you be quick and decisive at junctions - or be swamped by vehicles passing from all directions!

I'm not sure that I have seen ANY courteous Thai drivers here. Nervous ones, hesitant ones, dumb ones: yes. There are plenty of those. Despite seeing many video clips of Thai road rage incidents, I've never seen it happen in person - or to anyone else. From that point of view, maybe things aren't quite so bad as in Britain.


The penultimate paragraph strikes a particular chord with me. I don't believe that they are concerned about cross traffic. That would not cross the minds of most of them More likely is that they are just not prepared for the light to turn green -even those that have a countdown. Light turns green. Observed. Eyes tell brain who then orders hand to engage gear, release brake, check for cross traffic and them move. That can take 5/7 seconds + If they are in the outside lane of 2, they do not then check the mirror to see what is behind, but stay crawling forward instead of moving into the left lane. I look for my imaginary dashboard mounted machine gun!
 
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