19 hours ago, CGW said:

Planners? is there such a position in Thailand,

I struggled for a word, wondering whether most of my alternates would be removed.

On 10/6/2019 at 10:19 PM, Banana7 said:

Lots of people walk on the roadway because sidewalks on the east side of beach road are too narrow for the volume of pedestrians. Also the sidewalk is blocked by poles, telephone booths, and vendors and their tables displaying their goods.

Also, it's common practice in some countries that people believe that footpaths belong to each shop, house etc., along the street, therefore they walk on the actual road. Very common in China, seen it many times even in very large cities, e.g. Shanghai, the footpath is there, it's paved and guttered but all pedestrians walking on the left traffic lane.