the BBC just published this:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50015982y 

 

now i guess they are  only talking specifically about one group for as many can attest walking behind Asians OMG
no spatial awareness 

now though its ten times worse coz they are usually glued to their phone

i could swear the chinese couple in front walking single file on the thai pavements weaving through the strategically placed posts and signs were texting each other

plus this whole fast walking thing does it  take into account of ambient temperatures or footwear 
as flip flops are the footwear of choice in Asia in general

 

and footwear also dictates which muscles become defined

 

 

"Doctors often measure gait speed to gauge overall health, particularly in the over-65s, because it is a good indicator of muscle strength, lung function, balance, spine strength and eyesight.Slower walking speeds in old age have also been linked to a higher risk of dementia and decline. "

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50015982

 Amazing discovery!!  some were in such a bad shape that they  moved awkwardly, when poked with a stick refused to react and showed terrible spatial awareness.All they did was mumble something about "Brains "

 

So, people who are not in a hurry will live short lives and have small brains. Got it.  

That's why they drive so fast, to make up the time from walking slow.

21 minutes ago, andy72 said:

plus this whole fast walking thing does it  take into account of ambient temperatures or footwear 
as flip flops are the footwear of choice in Asia in general

 

and footwear also dictates which muscles become defined

From my many years of association with Asia, I have concluded that they do indeed tend to walk much slower than those of us from temperate climes for the very reasons that you state. We are, I feel conditioned to walking faster simply to keep warm and it has become an ingrained habit.

 

But oh yes, the bloody smart phone. Grrrr! Just yesterday I had to prod a young lady from behind who was stood texting at the bottom of an elevator in the mall. 

 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Ebumbu said:

So, people who are not in a hurry will live short lives and have small brains. Got it.  

But will the quality of their shorter, unhurried lives be any any worse than the frantic frenzy that is associated with a western lifestyle?

 

There are two sides to every story.

wife often says to me "why you walk same run" ...????

 

I call it walking with purpose not dawdling(sp)

1 hour ago, andy72 said:

the chinese couple in front walking single file

Not 3 abreast (Indian style) soi spread mode?

Consider yourself lucky.

1 hour ago, Ebumbu said:

So, people who are not in a hurry will live short lives and have small brains. Got it.  

Life  has become short. No time to think. 

( Thinking is  dangerous ! ) 555

This is Thainess personified.

 

I can’t tell you how many times two Thai women out together will completely shut down a sidewalk with slow ambling and less than casual sauntering while they chat and hold hands like a couple of aliens who infiltrated earth and stole some human bodies.

 

The entire concept that their slow, snails pace walking might inconvenience others is as foreign a concept as quantum physics is. Not only that, they don’t step aside, they don’t give way, they just continue in their own little world, completely oblivious to others around them.

 

I have just reached a point where I make sure they lose face and tell them loudly in Thai, if they are really blocking badly, “you are preventing others from passing you, you are blocking our way with your slow movement” and not even giving a damn what they respond with. There’s no way these toxic cultural norms will change if someone doesn’t regularly shame them and call them out. 

 

????

 

on the reverse though, I have seen many Thais power walk past me even though I don’t walk slow, so not all Thais are guilty of this at least. It’s usually just the women who are with friends and engaged in conversation.

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

wife often says to me "why you walk same run" ...????

 

I call it walking with purpose not dawdling(sp)

Absolutely correct. The slow walking, glued-to-the-phone obliviousness is maddening here.

 

If someone on their phone is about to collide directly with me, I stop dead in my tracks and look them straight in the face. When they finally get a few inches from me and realize they’re about to collide with someone because they aren’t watching where they’re walking, the look they give is always priceless. 

22 minutes ago, HLover said:

Not 3 abreast (Indian style) soi spread mode?

Consider yourself lucky.

when i drove round india watching some folk cross the road was like a video game
they see traffic start going back a few steps change their mind go forward back its like a first gen video game.

they cant judge speed distance

 

or even in Thailand country folks first time to a shopping mall and the moving stairs

im not slagging anyone its these things we take for granted but even if you watch kids those first tentative steps on the moving stairs.

but i was in bangkok a month ago early morning and was really surprised 
they are like any major city now i think the coffee beans are kicking in

 

it wasnt like that about three years ago it was still just a little more relaxed this time around it just felt different 

 

im not sure its a good thing they have lost their chill maxxed out the mastercard/visa work work

 

you know like eight years or so ago the BTS was empty and they started the cheap cards for the uni kids and so forth 
so that's like they have matured done their schooling got the degrees and now its the norm bts work driving towards what we in the west term as developed yet intrinsically losing just a little bit of their own identity along the way maybe we all do in the long run.

 

i found that i was the one in the way tables turned  but then again i was not going to work i was a watcher of them doing that of which i had escaped yet where i had escaped from had now came here 

damn i was the slow walking zombie

 

but in a way i feel sorry for them, for us all

 

most of my time is in CM it still runs a little slower all around someone is trying to walk fast 

the inevitable developed status be it good or bad

 

someone mentioned in another post about the  onslaught of meeting dick heads and how that is leveled by meeting one diamond 

 

i think the same can be said for many places

 

ive got a lot of experience of india and its the same formula just in differing ratios

 

many on this forum have found a happiness with a thai woman, its a predominately male forum

 

as for the others lets just equate it to living in amsterdam but cheaper

 

the whole walking thing the start of this topic it equated slowness to iq levels

 

like any test conclusions it is specific to region, race education 

 

try not to judge others by your standards until you understand who and what they are 

 

i won't go is down the politics route that determination i  would like to say is down to country choice but this is a global world and history has repeated itself in this way  many times 

 

tvf is a small cosmos and by being overly cynical in that which is not yours  is a fundamental flaw.

 

if i direct my cynicism back home its omg

 

usa d,trump

 

i guess there is no perfection and  you know what they say about people who live in green houses

it goes something like this;

 

dont indulge in a lot of chang and start on the internet

 

????

 

 

20 minutes ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

Absolutely correct. The slow walking, glued-to-the-phone obliviousness is maddening here.

 

If someone on their phone is about to collide directly with me, I stop dead in my tracks and look them straight in the face. When they finally get a few inches from me and realize they’re about to collide with someone because they aren’t watching where they’re walking, the look they give is always priceless. 

Being  tall  is  obviously  to your advantage.

Handsome?

Ok. I will acknowledge the  declaration. I too have   big  nose . 555

9 minutes ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Being  tall  is  obviously  to your advantage.

Handsome?

Ok. I will acknowledge the  declaration. I too have   big  nose . 555

It’s a bit of a tongue in cheek name, although I am pretty handsome, not gonna lie. Although being tall with blue eyes automatically makes you handsome in Thailand, it seems.

 

I was in a cheeky mood when registering ????

3 hours ago, Ebumbu said:

So, people who are not in a hurry will live short lives and have small brains. Got it.  

I must be dead then

If you walk too fast in Bangkok, you get a wet shirt, then you freeze on the BTS, in the office and in the malls.

 

How long can u stand on one leg with ur eyes closed?

At work I've noticed a direct correlation with the speed and focus with which people do every day activities (such as walking around) and their general intelligence and capacity to do their job... 

 

 

15 hours ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

There’s no way these toxic cultural norms will change if someone doesn’t regularly shame them and call them out. 

 

that doesnt work, they dont learn.  what u r proposing would require a new edu and culture syatem.

wear jesus shoes for speed, 3,000 Dollars for trainers containing holy water and we laugh about their amulets !

I have alll my life walked quite quickly, however spare a thought to people who have health issues, for example I have back issues and muscle atrophy and literally cannot walk quickly at all, if I try then over I go!  So please just remember its as annoying for me as its it might be for you.  Thanks

19 hours ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

Absolutely correct. The slow walking, glued-to-the-phone obliviousness is maddening here.

 

If someone on their phone is about to collide directly with me, I stop dead in my tracks and look them straight in the face. When they finally get a few inches from me and realize they’re about to collide with someone because they aren’t watching where they’re walking, the look they give is always priceless. 

You seem to have anger issues, you should chill a little about things that

really don't matter that much.

Appreciate that some people have health issues, but although I’m in my sixties, I walk so much faster than 99% of people in Thailand that it almost seems that I’m living in a different time dimension. On the very rare occasion that I see a Thai lady moving fast, I make sure to completely get out of her way, as it must be a matter of life-or-death.

"no spatial awareness"

  What's that when it's at home?

1 hour ago, dotpoom said:

no spatial awareness"

  What's that when it's at home?

youve heard of google right ?

if not google is  a web page where people like yourself can go and ask questions to things they would like to know 
 

21 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

although I’m in my sixties, I walk so much faster than 99% of people in Thailand that it almost seems that I’m living in a different time dimension

And my dimension let's you pass quickly to your destination because your likely going to die sooner than later.

21 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

Appreciate that some people have health issues, but although I’m in my sixties, I walk so much faster than 99% of people in Thailand that it almost seems that I’m living in a different time dimension. On the very rare occasion that I see a Thai lady moving fast, I make sure to completely get out of her way, as it must be a matter of life-or-death.

 

16 hours ago, andy72 said:

 

Synchronicity or what, 10 mins ago I was looking at this. Slow walking in Thailand is obviously a climate thing, watching the Farangs rushing from air-conditioned environment to air conditioned environment is a bit of a spectator sport with me, it gets especially interesting when they meet that motorsi coming down the road the wrong way. Ten years here has made me a sloth, a lizard; do I lose by it, probably not. Like, as a retired guy, I have all the time in the world. Now ain't that strange, as a young guy, with all the time in the world, almost immortal really, I was rushing everywhere; and as an old guy, with mortality pressing on me, from deaths of family and loved ones, I take my time.

I walk so fast when young, that even slower when old I will still be faster than 90% people...