Why No Rule Of Which Side To Walk In Thailand?

[jcbangkok]

A quick google search re: sidewalk etiquette in the US

http://sidewalketiquette.com/rules/stay-to-the-right/

http://www.kulturblog.com/2006/04/sidewalk-etiquette/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2231687075

http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/si...-etiquette-101/

jc, this only proves that there are others in the world as anal-retentive as you are. They're not normal. I can honestly say that I've never even heard of a conversation involving "sidewalk etiquette." By observation, going with the "flow of traffic" seems to be the order of the day. Frankly, I'm a tad embarrassed to even be having this discussion right now. Board Gods, forgive me!

In the US have you noticed that every double door you go through you will go through the right? If manners and etiquette are considered anal to you then so be it. I by no means am upset at this but simply trying to educate you on these practices in the US as have many posters educated me about customs from other parts of the world. I like knowledge even trivial knowledge sometimes but to each his own.

Edited May 20, 2010 by jcbangkok

[jcbangkok]

Article regarding a law of walking to the right to avoid a nation from being percieved as rude where they specifically mention this perception by US Servicemen ...

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section...p;article=65490

or you can take a look at some school kids who in a video to remind people to walk on the right compare not doing it to such common sense things as not screaming in a library or attacking another person ...

OR

Sidewalk Etiquette for New York City

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1...ity.html?cat=16

I really hope this helps in understanding for those who visit the US and wish not to be perceived as rude.

Edited May 20, 2010 by jcbangkok

[JohanV]

So..

like almost everything managed by human beings this thread managed to deteriorate from a innocent leisure-talk to an argument..

Good try jcbangkok, but it might work better if you just left some commenters to ring out in silence..

On the other hand - some people like to argue and maybe that's all well..

I was kinda hoping we would eventually morph into light ray scattering..

like "does a ray of light keep to the left or right when being bent by gravitation ?"

Cheers

Edited May 23, 2010 by JohanV

[jcbangkok]

So..

like almost everything managed by human beings this thread managed to deteriorate from a innocent leisure-talk to an argument..

Good try jcbangkok, but it might work better if you just left some commenters to ring out in silence..

On the other hand - some people like to argue and maybe that's all well..

I was kinda hoping we would eventually morph into light ray scattering..

like "does a ray of light keep to the left or right when being bent by gravitation ?"

Cheers

I've always doubted the claim that only a black hole's gravity pull can bend light. IMO, if light is affected by the gravity of a black hole then it is affected by all gravity and we are just not able to measure the effect.

But clearly the natural desire of light is to move to the right

[ETatBKK]

just feel an interesting topic !

unless you are not cutting in front of Thai, would Thai care about the walking etiquette ? or we non-Thai care ?

Thai even drive their motorbike in an opposite direction of the traffic, who care ?

land of smile is just saiba saiba . . . Thai are not German who are good in deploying rules. no mible phone while driving, who care ? will be soon seat bell for back seat passengers, lets see !

[misterjag]

This thread was a fascinating read. A benefit of standardization that hasn't been considered is the economic benefit. When a nation can agree on what side of a walkway to walk on, not only is there less frustration but everyone moves faster. That results in more efficient use of time, greater productivity and enhanced economic output.

Another benefit of standardization can be the psychological benefit. It's easier for right-handed people to walk on the right.

A couple years ago the South Korean government decided that everyone would walk on the right. There had been a lot of confusion in South Korea before due to the conflicting historical influences of Japan and the United States. During the Japanese Occupation, everyone was to walk and drive on the left. When U.S. forces entered Korea in 1945, most vehicles were right-hand drive American models so driving on the right was standardized.

Last year the Seoul subway system changed the walking directions in its stations to conform to the government's new walk on the right initiative:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/natio.../117_51745.html

The Korea Transport Institute says psychological burden will be reduced 13-18 percent when walk right. It also expects the switch to increase walking speed 1.2-1.7 fold, reduce pedestrian collisions 7-24 percent and pedestrian density 19-58 percent.

"It is unreasonable to encourage walk left when cars drive right," said a researcher of the institute. According to the institute, traffic accidents involving pedestrians will be reduced about 20 percent when they walk facing the oncoming vehicular traffic.

[draftvader]

johanv..

re .... And - of course - it also explains why the British are still clinging on to left-side traffic

good thinking ... maybe ???

but thais and cambodians drive on the left .... but ... laos and myanmar on the right

how do you explain that ?

did naplolian have an influence there ?

dave2 : )

Because somebody has to. This is from Wikipedia. It would seem that about 1/2 of the world's population drives on the left, 1/2 on the right. Of course, we're right....to be left....I'm confused

Total: 76 countries, territories and dependencies

Today road traffic in the following seven European jurisdictions drives on the left: Cyprus, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malta and the United Kingdom. None shares a land border with a country that drives on the right and all were once part of the British Empire. Some Commonwealth countries and other former British colonies, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and South Africa drive on the left, but others such as Canada, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the United States drive on the right. Other countries that drive on the left in Asia are Thailand, Indonesia, Bhutan, Nepal, East Timor and Japan. In South America, only Guyana and Suriname drive on the left. Most of the Pacific countries drive on the left, in line with Australia and New Zealand, with Samoa joining most recently, on 7 September 2009, the first country for three decades to change the side on which it drives.[13]

[JohanV]

I've always doubted the claim that only a black hole's gravity pull can bend light. IMO, if light is affected by the gravity of a black hole then it is affected by all gravity and we are just not able to measure the effect.

If I understand it right, we actually are.

It can be observed as optical phenomena called 'lenses' when a star/galaxy/object appears twice - one on each side

of a gravity source ( mostly a star ) placed in the path of light between the light source and the observer.

I think it was first measured during a solar eclipse in the early days of the last century, and seen as a major indicator

on the correctness of Einstein's theory of relativity.

However, black holes would bend the light ( actually bend space itself ) more noticable since their gravitation is stronger.

Edited May 24, 2010 by JohanV

[chadintheusa]

Have you notice how much difficulty Thais have getting on an escalator? They have to stop and and takes them a couple tries to get on. Also a fair number of people will stop at the entrance of the escalator to think about whether they want to get on, and will often turn around and walk away instead.

[Tod Daniels]

Actually when exiting a place there are usually signs in thai which say ทางออกชิดขวา or "Exit stay to the right side", and on most foot-bridge crossovers the phrase เดินชิดขวา or "Walk to the right side" is painted on the rise of at least several steps.

However I've never ever in over 5 years here seen a single thai follow the directions on one of those signs..

This leads me to only one conclusion; that thais can't read thai.

I too am flumoxed at the thais penchant for stopping before getting on an escalator and seeming to count the passing steps or wait to get it right before walking on and simply adjusting your footing before the steps seperate.

It's the strangest thing I've seen other than when they gather sheep-like at the foot of an escalator at 6PM when the national anthem plays.

They're a strange race of people these thais. But hey, this being thai-land I have come to accept that's why there's so many of them here. ..

[JohanV]

But clearly the natural desire of light is to move to the right

This is especially true if it is pronounced by an asian person who can't say 'r'..

Move to the light, please

[Svadhistana]

anybody have a clue why in a city with so many people and such small areas to walk that there doesn't seem to be a common understanding of which side to walk?

clue #1: because their mind is more free than ours (western people)

[JohanV]

anybody have a clue why in a city with so many people and such small areas to walk that there doesn't seem to be a common understanding of which side to walk?

clue #1: because their mind is more free than ours (western people)

clue #2: because minds don't 'walk', they drift..

Edited May 24, 2010 by JohanV

[George4]

Must admit if i'm crossing a bridge or even walkin on the footpath I find that Thai girls always keep to the left..... and the right and the middle as they usually run in packs.........in England e.g. usually one woman fills all 3 places so what's the difference

[Myaimistrue]

Of course you stay to the right in the US! In Thailand, stay left, same as driving.

[DickFarang]

In Europe, except for 4 islands (Great-Britain, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus), they drive to the right and pedestrians tend to walk to the right too on pavements and so on, especially when they cross each other.

In Thailand there is little uniformity.

In shopping malls the moving staircases sometimes ascend at the right side and sometimes at the left side.

In some buildings the floors are counted European way (ground floor (“G” or “0”), 1^st floor (“1”), etc.), while in some other buildings the floors are counted American way (1^st floor (“1”), 2^nd floor (“2”), etc.).

[jcbangkok]

Since this thread was started, I am more aware of this issue than ever before and keep running across or noticing strange things.

Like the other day I assumed the subways were all built to keep right but then I noticed once I was passed the gates (were you pay / slide card) ) the two sets of escalators going up & down to the actual trains were running in a direction to walk on the left. It would seem in the design of the subways, the engineers & architects, they were built to walk to the right but that MRT staff believe people should walk to the left and set the escalators to run this way.

Then I was doing fine walking down a small sidewalk (two people width) staying to the right with my GF behind me. Then when the sidewalk was fairly clear a young women was approaching in the distance and as she saw us already occupying our right side of the sidewalk, she moved into out path. What was odd is she was already walking on her right and everything was fine until she saw us and moved to the left, directly in our path. I decided to hold my ground and see what happened. To my astonishment, we both came to a complete stop. No dancing or shuffling, we both just stopped facing each other for what seemed like an eternity (likely a couple seconds) staring at each other until I finally moved to the left. Of course my GF asked me why "I" didn't move even though this women saw us and moved into our path. After trying to figure out why she thought it was solely my responsibility to move .... It seemed to come down to Thai's (especially women) being scared to interact w/Westerners .. kind of like one might fear a boss. So, out of this fear they sometimes act stupidly or in this case like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Sadly, I am sure my experiment didn't help this women any with her being scared of farang.

As for reading public signs ... this is just not something typical for Thais to do but they do seem to follow verbal instructions. They had a campaign for at least a month reminding people on the MRT to stand to the right/left (on the arrows) as people exit the subway and they wait to board. I finally thought they all finally got it until I road yesterday and now without the announcements they are almost ALL standing directly in the path of exiting passengers. The very strange part is that they wait on the arrows until the train come and the doors open ... then they stand directly in the path of exiting passengers.

The other thing I have noticed is Thais have no issue what-so-ever with being bumped or knocking shoulder while walking on the sidewalk where this would be considering extremely aggressive behavior by many people in the west. Funny thing is I think they almost enjoy the contact here.

The other observation is that it is almost easier (mentally) walking on a small busy sidewalk than a near empty one. Regardless of busy or not, I have found that nearly all Thais will not make up their mind to which way they way yield to oncoming pedestrians until the very last minute. And if when you see them approaching in the distance and decide to move to one side, they will often mimic your move and move to the exact side you have moved then once again only moving out of the way at the very last minute resulting in some sort of body contact.

[jcbangkok]

In Europe, except for 4 islands (Great-Britain, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus), they drive to the right and pedestrians tend to walk to the right too on pavements and so on, especially when they cross each other.

In Thailand there is little uniformity.

In shopping malls the moving staircases sometimes ascend at the right side and sometimes at the left side.

In some buildings the floors are counted European way (ground floor (“G” or “0”), 1^st floor (“1”), etc.), while in some other buildings the floors are counted American way (1^st floor (“1”), 2^nd floor (“2”), etc.).

How about the way they run the escalator here in terms of having to walk from one escalator to another as you descend or ascend floors? Is this common in the UK? I assume the point is to force you to walk by shops and vendors on each floor as opposed to allowing you to quickly reach the floor you want to visit by not having the escalators continue in one direction in the same location. This also goes to my point that Thais almost enjoy bumping into each other since they have both people coming from down and up getting off in the same spot as well as having people trying to go down or up trying to enter in the same spot while coming from different directions.

[jcbangkok]

anybody have a clue why in a city with so many people and such small areas to walk that there doesn't seem to be a common understanding of which side to walk?

clue #1: because their mind is more free than ours (western people)

Might help explain the high rate of road fatalities in Thailand.