Why can't Thai's give/follow travel directions?

[dao16]

First, having known a lot of taxi drivers from "upcountry" working in BKK, I never met one who couldn't read (maybe not at PHD level, but hey). Not to say there aren't illiterate taxi drivers, but still, a whole bunch of them managed to learn to read and write thai at their extremely rural schools.

Anyway, just an anecdote....took a trip once to a beach town...was about 800 kilos or something crazy (I was lured by gas money, booze, food and a room at the beach to drive). I had a very good map in Thai with me. I used it, but if I asked someone to just double check for me, it was like throwing them into the deep end of an alien pool.

There was even a discussion of how falangs use this strange tool. Someone actually explained it to someone else by saying "they look at the line and the numbers in that book and then they look for numbers on the road to get places." It was an entirely new (and, to them, inferior) way of going somewhere.

[cooked]

is there such a thing as a hand-held sat-nav? I don't need a smart phone.

Oh yes you do. Only way to go, GPS in Thailand only comes in Thai script now. I read somewhere. ...google maps have got me thousands of miles in Thailand.

[MrBrad]

It seems to me that Thais FEEL their way towards their destination (and maybe through their entire lives), as the landscape (and its previously noted landmarks) unfurls before them. Farangs try to conceive of the whole journey at once.

This is perhaps the most profound and insightful statement I have ever read on Thai-Visa. The parenthetical reference to their entire lives fits nicely into their mai pen rai way of being.

[rusdenys]

Ask them multiply 8 with 20 and add 10% to that without using calculator. Blackout.

[johnstew]

Ask them multiply 8 with 20 and add 10% to that without using calculator. Blackout.

What has mental maths ability got to do with map navigation skills?

Other than the fact that both are learned behaviours that require training and practice, both taught a lot more in the western past than in Thailand?

[rusdenys]

Ask them multiply 8 with 20 and add 10% to that without using calculator. Blackout.

What has mental maths ability got to do with map navigation skills?

Other than the fact that both are learned behaviours that require training and practice, both taught a lot more in the western past than in Thailand?

Just a simple education. Maths,geographic,chemestry,etc. even history, all are out of order.

[xenophon]

It is really no consolation, but Thais of varying social classes complain about exactly this same subject. The difference is that their knowledge of the language and 'mai peng rai' gets them thru with far less stress.

I guess it is that wonderful education system

[osiboy]

This topic amuses me because it is so true. It really surprised me when I showed a tuk-tuk driver a map written in Thai, and I knew exactly where I wanted to go, but didn't want to walk. The driver didn't have a clue how to read a simple map, even when written in Thai. Eventually I just had to tell him somewhere that I knew was close to where I wanted to go and I just walked from there.

I've drawn a simple map to show Thai friends where I live and they didn't understand. Obviously, rural Thais are not taught about maps in school and when they move to the city they still don't understand. That does not mean they are dumb. They just haven't learned the concept. It is like a farang raised in a city being put in the wilderness and expecting them to survive.

Maybe you should give them a geography lesson on where Vancouver island is first then a map to your city and then a map to your home.

The map was of Chiang Mai in Thailand and not anywhere in Canada. Maps are a simple concept, but unless you are taught as a child then it's not going to be important as an adult.

I've been all over Canada and I've yet to meet an educated Canadian who could not read a map. The key word is "educated". I've never asked a Thai if they know where Canada is and would not expect them to. However, I have met Canadians who mix up Taiwan with Thailand. I've also met Americans who mix up Australia and Austria, and think they are one and the same.

But, this topic would not even have been mentioned if it wasn't so common for the average not to understand the concept of a map. To deny it shows a lack of understanding of the average Thai.

But, as I said before, it has nothing to do with intelligence or street smarts. It has everything to do with the Thai education system which is lacking in many things the rest of the world takes for granted.

yes , nice post, though the other reason is Thais are thick !

[alanferdi]

I've never understood this either. When we are upcountry and ask for directions, locals always just point and say that way. When I ask the missus how far?? she says "you know these are country people, they don't know distance"

Not only upcountry....... few weeks ago went to my Dentist with bad pain, only to find he was closed for 4 days, drove home walked across the road and asked a neighbour, she said go to the Hospital across the road......... ?? never seen any hospital been here 10 years....... she called her Husband, so out of Village go left, over bridge and right is on left....... easy asked how far answer about 1 km... Funny is only a small road 2 cars can just pass, truck and car cannot, go that way often... 3 km down this road looking to turn around thinking must have missed it, coming towards me was a Hospital Mini Bus that turned up a dirt track, so I followed, people working in the rice fields both side, at the end of the dirt track was a 5 story building = Hospital, !!! out in the fields, no houses anywhere near... NO sign anywhere even on the building to say it was a Hospital.

To a Thai, Just up or down the road can be many km's away

THIS IS SO TRUE - I have driven many times in Thailand - Bangkok to Rayong, Bangkok to Roi Et, Bangkok to Suri over Chomprah and Bangkok Chiang Mei. Trusted only my GPS. my passengers who were natives and who were the ones I was driving to their home town.... did not have a clue, let alone, that roads had numbers and that their were many ways to get there if combined properly. Memories and landmarks - ? Thais do not remember streets, landmarks or towns in any sequence. The ladies remember temples, the men mostly eating places. I have travelled in 38 countries and lived in more than 8 of them for more than 3 years. I have found some interesting observations how locals remember places... Take London for Instance... a multi-cultural society. If you asked a Londener or Brit directions he would either use traffic lights, churches and pubs as land marks to get to a place. Ask and Indian and he would refer to stations, shopping malls and asian stores. Ask a punk and he would send you in circles ask a Jamaican and he would probably walk with you. Accessing a region is only fully understood when people have a varied interaction with their envioroment.... Thais do not.... sorry Thailand you do have to develop a little more being conscious who and what is around you.

[Paolobkk]

I realized this almost 7-8 years ago..

"If you ask and follow directions from thais, be prepared to be like a pinball ball during a professional game.. eventually, you'll get in to the hole, but mostly you'll get stuck on the top bumpers."

If I really have to, I ask the same directions every few minutes to different people and I make and average.

About giving them directions to reach you, well that's another story, it really depends on who you are talking to...

[Padova44]

Never show a Thai a map, in Thai or not. [in Burma, any Burmese holding a map could have been tortured to death for that recently. There, pop into a temple, that will get you closer.]

I asked a motorcycle taxi in Lampoon for the bus station. This has to be one of the most requested destinations. I refuse to accept my Thai was so bad he didn't understand the words. Was he just flummoxed by a tall low-voiced farang saying them? Which is not the problem. The problem is the motorcycle taxi driver can not admit he has no idea what you're talking about. So off we went. When we came to a T-junction facing a rice field, he turned to me and asked "Right or left?" Thanks to me, we got to the station where the price was the same as if he had known what I was saying, this is NOT like many places in the world where you're being cheated. He got his fare and Methusalah flashed a big toothless smile.

Also, remember it's rude to point.

[bigdod]

hahaha yeh, this post strikes a chord The usual directions I get are " No ploblem - only stlaight, turn lef" hahaha

I reckon they're genetically $hit at directions coz they've only been born with tunnel vision which tails off after 10' or so.... My inlaws are absolutely astonished that I can drive all over Thailand and find my way to where I'm going and back again and I'm not even Thai...!!!

I bought myself a GPS a while back, and its brilliant. I can even punch in shop names for instance and it'll take me right to the door.

[retell]

hahaha yeh, this post strikes a chord The usual directions I get are " No ploblem - only stlaight, turn lef" hahaha

I reckon they're genetically $hit at directions coz they've only been born with tunnel vision which tails off after 10' or so.... My inlaws are absolutely astonished that I can drive all over Thailand and find my way to where I'm going and back again and I'm not even Thai...!!!

I bought myself a GPS a while back, and its brilliant. I can even punch in shop names for instance and it'll take me right to the door.

aint got no gps and travel drive anywhere without troubles , only look the map for final directions , some time i even look at my compas in the car for rough directions never failed to find my destination

[bigdod]

hahaha yeh, this post strikes a chord The usual directions I get are " No ploblem - only stlaight, turn lef" hahaha

I reckon they're genetically $hit at directions coz they've only been born with tunnel vision which tails off after 10' or so.... My inlaws are absolutely astonished that I can drive all over Thailand and find my way to where I'm going and back again and I'm not even Thai...!!!

I bought myself a GPS a while back, and its brilliant. I can even punch in shop names for instance and it'll take me right to the door.

aint got no gps and travel drive anywhere without troubles , only look the map for final directions , some time i even look at my compas in the car for rough directions never failed to find my destination

yep, I hear ya. Its not rocket science. I suppose the GPS is a luxury item really - it is however REALLY handy...

[soomak]

Reading through this thread it's like listening to some old ladies nattering over the fence about what's wrong with everyone else in the neighborhood in order to make their pathetic lives seem somehow superior. Of course to some extent that applies to many threads on TV.

I wonder why most farang, no matter how long they live here, can't read a sentence in Thai that any Thai child could?

Even more telling, why are ALL farang fat alcoholics? I know these things are true because if I put my blinkers on and walk along the bars west of 2nd Rd in Pattaya at 10:00 in the morning, all the farangs I see are fat alcoholics who can't read any Thai and therefore it must be true of ALL farangs. Golly now I really feel so much better about myself.

Reading a map or drawing one to someone else has nothing to do with a specific country, reading Thai certainly is.

I am sure you and me are not even from the same continent, yet I can read a map and follow directions, and so could my father and grandfather.

It's just a lousy education system, coupled with some laziness to learn a useful skill (how hard can it be to learn to read a map? certainly a hundred times easier the learning to read Thai...)

[rene123]

Earlier this year I drove from Songkhla to Nakhon Phanom - I have a GPS but didn't use it - I find them distracting - and didn't listen to my wife's directions at all because by the time she would have got to the info I needed , we would have passed the road I wanted. This is not because she is stupid or superficial , it is just the way Thai people explain things.

The answer to road navigation in Thailand is planning - I printed out the entire route from Google maps , memorised the road numbers and we got there and back with only one wrong turn in Bangkok on the return journey.

Moral - if you want it done right , do it yourself as there is no help out there that is of any usewhen it comes down to getting from A to B - even the road numbers seem to disappear and change at will on some routes......

I do exactly the same thing before I go anywhere, even in Canada where multiple, unmarked roads can make turns confusing. However, I really value my GPS, and especially in Thailand when I want to find accommodation in some village or city where it's not obvious. I've ALREADY learned not to ask a local Thai and expect to get to where I want to go.

I've learned to love riding my motorbike all over Thailand for the very reasons mentioned in this topic. It is a personal challenge that gives me great satisfaction. On a 900 km ride from Chiang Mai to Kanchanaburi last December I did a lot of prior planning and didn't have any difficulties until passing through Suphan Buri where there was no obvious route, and no signs to highway numbers on my map or GPS. I didn't get too lost, but I had to back track a few kilometers before getting on the right route. My GPS was not much help in that section.

[retell]

Earlier this year I drove from Songkhla to Nakhon Phanom - I have a GPS but didn't use it - I find them distracting - and didn't listen to my wife's directions at all because by the time she would have got to the info I needed , we would have passed the road I wanted. This is not because she is stupid or superficial , it is just the way Thai people explain things.

The answer to road navigation in Thailand is planning - I printed out the entire route from Google maps , memorised the road numbers and we got there and back with only one wrong turn in Bangkok on the return journey.

Moral - if you want it done right , do it yourself as there is no help out there that is of any usewhen it comes down to getting from A to B - even the road numbers seem to disappear and change at will on some routes......

I do exactly the same thing before I go anywhere, even in Canada where multiple, unmarked roads can make turns confusing. However, I really value my GPS, and especially in Thailand when I want to find accommodation in some village or city where it's not obvious. I've ALREADY learned not to ask a local Thai and expect to get to where I want to go.

I've learned to love riding my motorbike all over Thailand for the very reasons mentioned in this topic. It is a personal challenge that gives me great satisfaction. On a 900 km ride from Chiang Mai to Kanchanaburi last December I did a lot of prior planning and didn't have any difficulties until passing through Suphan Buri where there was no obvious route, and no signs to highway numbers on my map or GPS. I didn't get too lost, but I had to back track a few kilometers before getting on the right route. My GPS was not much help in that section.

yep thats about the same way that i do it , but usualy i do not even use the google map i just make a small list with towns and road numbers , however road numbers are terrible if they are there at all but say route 2012 goes from north to south but the same from south to north that's not a problem but also every intersection the roads on the left and right are the same number that can get confusing but hey usually when i travel i am not in a hurry and with a bit of creative sightseeing can get back on route anyway

[ABCer]

Probably the same reason they give estimated distance.

When I am told 1 km it usually is anything between 300 m to 3 km.

"FACE" is another reason. When I don't know - I say 'sorry, not a clue' and my face is still with me. Not for Thais.

[rene123]

yep thats about the same way that i do it , but usualy i do not even use the google map i just make a small list with towns and road numbers , however road numbers are terrible if they are there at all but say route 2012 goes from north to south but the same from south to north that's not a problem but also every intersection the roads on the left and right are the same number that can get confusing but hey usually when i travel i am not in a hurry and with a bit of creative sightseeing can get back on route anyway

Yes, but getting lost is just part of the fun! If everything goes too smoothly it's a little boring. And like you say, I'm never in a hurry. When getting a bit lost I've found some interesting places that I want to revisit at a different date. And, it's been my experience that if you have a smile on your face the local Thais will welcome you with open arms.

[DocN]

Best thing I saw so far: brochure of a Khao Lak - hotel....I will not mention the name, but it is a big one.

Phuket Airport....straight line....Hotel....line left....Krabi!

NOTHING ELSE!

[Padova44]

"Reading through this thread it's like listening to some old ladies nattering over the fence about what's wrong with everyone else in the neighborhood in order to make their pathetic lives seem somehow superior."

A stupid remark, vide supra, by someone who is too idle. The question is reasonable. It's a cultural phenomenon I've witnessed on several continents. There was no suggestion of cultural superiority in the question. Those who answered answered with affection. There was no snickering at Thais in the question or in the answers. The real problem lies within the person quoted.

[NoshowJones]

it takes them 20 minutes to say "go down the road and turn left at the next street", they simply cannot explain things, dont know why but I am yet to find anyone here that doesnt prattle on giving a heap of useless info and not getting around to the simple directions needed.

Even the best Thai English speakers find it hard to give you an explanation about anything. you can make out every word they say very clearly. Another way to put it, they will use 100 words when only 10 are needed.

[samran]

Thai's, as a group, are pretty piss poor at reading maps. Not something necessarily to be ashamed of, people still tend to find their way.

Suspect that map reading and orientation skills will fast die out in the west with the introduction of dumb-dumb's, sorry, Tom Tom's in the car.

Still, for the time being, it is rather entertaining watching a foreigner pull out a map and asking a stunned local for directions.

[bigdod]

"Reading through this thread it's like listening to some old ladies nattering over the fence about what's wrong with everyone else in the neighborhood in order to make their pathetic lives seem somehow superior."

A stupid remark, vide supra, by someone who is too idle. The question is reasonable. It's a cultural phenomenon I've witnessed on several continents. There was no suggestion of cultural superiority in the question. Those who answered answered with affection. There was no snickering at Thais in the question or in the answers. The real problem lies within the person quoted.

+1

[SeaVisionBurma]

This thread has too many Thai bashing posts in it.

Time to close.

7) Not to post slurs or degrading comments directed towards any group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

8) Not to post extremely negative views of Thailand or derogatory comments directed towards all Thais.

CLOSED