Thai Parking ... what were they thinking?

[richard_smith237]

I call it the 'So What' attitude...

I got this name from the Wife of a Good friend... While passengers in her car, I commented that she can't park as she is, she is blocking someone else...

Her response "So What !! ?"... My Wife and I were really quite shocked to hear this from an educated, smart and usually very well mannered young lady.

It explains a lot of the behaviour I see in Thailand. For the majority of time people in Thailand are under the control of 'Kraengjai' - there is always someone else around them more senior in front of whom they have to show deference, respect and manners... My take on this is that the release of pressure from being in this situation all day leads to 'subconscious rebellion'.. thus when not in a situation where they have to be very careful of their behaviour some / many / a few act with complete indifference and carelessness of those around them.

Hence poor parking and general poor road manners of some... "So What ?"... there is no one around that they 'have' to be respectful of.

[Baerboxer]

You will see examples of bad parking all over the world - go at look at any airport car park if you want to see some really bad examples.

In Thailand, IME, the vast majority park excellently. They have to, to squeeze into the small spaces and frequently overcrowded mall car parks. The security guys, with their whistles are usually very helpful and will guide you in and keep you straight. Where it breaks down are places like Tesco and Big C that have big open car parks. For some reason, people see plenty of space - and just use it how they feel.

My Thai wife is much better at parking than me (in Thailand). She can spot a space at a shopping mall, and squeeze into it incredibly fast. Especially when the sales are on !

[kotsak]

richard_smith237, on 09 Nov 2013 - 10:22, said:

I call it the 'So What' attitude...

I got this name from the Wife of a Good friend... While passengers in her car, I commented that she can't park as she is, she is blocking someone else...

Her response "So What !! ?"... My Wife and I were really quite shocked to hear this from an educated, smart and usually very well mannered young lady.

It explains a lot of the behaviour I see in Thailand. For the majority of time people in Thailand are under the control of 'Kraengjai' - there is always someone else around them more senior in front of whom they have to show deference, respect and manners... My take on this is that the release of pressure from being in this situation all day leads to 'subconscious rebellion'.. thus when not in a situation where they have to be very careful of their behaviour some / many / a few act with complete indifference and carelessness of those around them.

Hence poor parking and general poor road manners of some... "So What ?"... there is no one around that they 'have' to be respectful of.

The "So what" and "It doesn't matter" attitude has turned this place into being FUBAR.. :/

[CIHUAHUA]

Everything in its place and a place for everything. I think it is too funny expecting a neo-industralized group of people to conform. Not too many years ago only the very wealthy owned cars and they did what ever they wanted. When a Thai buys a car they are under the same illusion or is it an illusion.

[Suradit69]

Won't be difficult for more examples, all I have to do is bring my camera out at BigC and point it anywhere.

Or any parking lot anywhere in the world

[Kwasaki]

My favourite is how people park behind/in front of someone else blocking them in. They then lock their car, leave the gear in neutral, and the next person will push it of the way when they want to get their car out.

... or, as in our case.

David48 and MissFarmGirl go off to make David48's licence at the local Transport Dept.

There early enough so get a 'standard' park.

Come back out in the rain ... yep ... parked in both sides.

But no problem ... the one car we can move has done the right thing ... handbrake off.

But not budging.

Yes ... the driver had left it in 'PARK' ...

We can't work the front cars as there isn't enough of a gap and because of the potholes, I can budge them enough ... despite my size.

So a pregnant MissFarmGirl, walks back through the rain to the Office to get a public announcement with the Rego number of the offending vehicle.

Waiting ...

Waiting ...

Nothing ...

There was one other Thai male and on seeing our predicament offered to help push a series of cars at the front to get enough wiggle room for us to get out.

Despite all the negative sentiments towards the Thais and not helping others ... I say everyone's experience is different.

So, to that nice Thai man who helped ... alt=wai.gif width=20 height=20>

We are out.

In the drizzle, I gently roll the cars back.

MURPHY'S LAW ... just as we exiting the lane, the car in front ... the one we could move ... the owner hopped in drove behind us out of the Carpark ... alt=facepalm.gif width=24 height=18>

Time wasted ... bout an hour ... alt=ermm.gif width=18 height=18>

.

Sounds about right, you must not disturb people when they are eating.

[Suradit69]

It's not only Thai's.I see people all over the world park badly

Incidentally some of those cars in Thai parking lots have been parked by farang. Certainly no shortage of verifiable farang examples in my condo's parking lot.

Can you imagine the reaction if I started a thread with the heading (as shown in the emailed link)

American driving skills: Why can't THEY park in between the white lines?

German driving skills: Why can't THEY park in between the white lines?

Brits driving skills: Why can't THEY park in between the white lines?

And supplied some pictures from those countries to support my dubious claim that the entire named country is populated by the parking challenged.

Americans and Germans would be foaming at their collective mouths in righteous indignation and a certain British poster would report me as being a racist (can one be a racist against one's own race ... I guess it's possible). Anyway some examples actually (gasp) from outside Thailand (ye gads).

Edited November 9, 2013 by Suradit69

[ajarnmarc]

Line or no line, what really matters is how close to the entrance you park.

I heard that!

As for parking within the lines...not sure why it matters?

Must everyone comply to someone else's set of morals?

Park the vehicle where you can,

as long as it's not blocking someone else seem perfectly fine to me.

After all, we are truly lucky we made it to our destination safely.

Now we're going to care about how we park,

and if it's within some faded or not lines?

OMG give me a break.

If I had to wait for someone to line up their car...

I would just consider it a waste of time.

Like the cashier that counts the money back to herself five times,

and proceeds to drop it in your hand.

She doesn't care if you know it's correct,

just as long as she does.

[transam]

At Tesco's I saw this guy try and park as close as possible to the entrance , he spent ages trying to get into a space to find he could not open the doors , the real laughable thing was there was loads of spaces a few yards away.

[BookMan]

Line or no line, what really matters is how close to the entrance you park.

I heard that!

As for parking within the lines...not sure why it matters?

Must everyone comply to someone else's set of morals?

Park the vehicle where you can,

as long as it's not blocking someone else seem perfectly fine to me.

After all, we are truly lucky we made it to our destination safely.

Now we're going to care about how we park,

and if it's within some faded or not lines?

OMG give me a break.

If I had to wait for someone to line up their car...

I would just consider it a waste of time.

Like the cashier that counts the money back to herself five times,

and proceeds to drop it in your hand.

She doesn't care if you know it's correct,

just as long as she does.

You might not consider it a waste of time waiting for someone to line up their car it it meant they took only one parking space, instead of two, if you are drivign around looking for a space yourself.

As for morals. I am not familiar with parking code morality. Please enlighten me.

[tigermonkey]

You must understand that the focus for Thais ( and others) is not on the trip or the parking, but the shopping or eating that ensues. The objective is to get there as effortlessly as possible. With that mindset, it is understandable why 'close ' is good enough, and one shouldn't bother wasting time adjusting the vehicle's position. Believe me, it would be FAR worse without the painted lines.

In our local town, they recently painted driving lanes where the parking should be, despite the signs clearly saying to angle park at the curb. The results are more than amusing - I took a random picture this morning.

[Ron19]

Line or no line, what really matters is how close to the entrance you park.

I heard that!

As for parking within the lines...not sure why it matters?

Must everyone comply to someone else's set of morals?

Park the vehicle where you can,

as long as it's not blocking someone else seem perfectly fine to me.

After all, we are truly lucky we made it to our destination safely.

Now we're going to care about how we park,

and if it's within some faded or not lines?

OMG give me a break.

If I had to wait for someone to line up their car...

I would just consider it a waste of time.

Like the cashier that counts the money back to herself five times,

and proceeds to drop it in your hand.

She doesn't care if you know it's correct,

just as long as she does.

I hope this post is tongue in cheek.

[Whidbeyboy]

I never followed any line or rule and will never do !

I have friends that love to key cars like yours, and with your attitude I could care less.

[Whidbeyboy]

Line or no line, what really matters is how close to the entrance you park.

I heard that!

As for parking within the lines...not sure why it matters?

Must everyone comply to someone else's set of morals?

Park the vehicle where you can,

as long as it's not blocking someone else seem perfectly fine to me.

After all, we are truly lucky we made it to our destination safely.

Now we're going to care about how we park,

and if it's within some faded or not lines?

OMG give me a break.

If I had to wait for someone to line up their car...

I would just consider it a waste of time.

Like the cashier that counts the money back to herself five times,

and proceeds to drop it in your hand.

She doesn't care if you know it's correct,

just as long as she does.

Not sure why it's so hard to park so others can find a spot if none exist. It's not about morality, just plain being considerate of others. If you can't see that then being a dick must come natural.

[Whidbeyboy]

It's not only Thai's.I see people all over the world park badly

Incidentally some of those cars in Thai parking lots have been parked by farang. Certainly no shortage of verifiable farang examples in my condo's parking lot.

Can you imagine the reaction if I started a thread with the heading (as shown in the emailed link)

American driving skills: Why can't THEY park in between the white lines?

German driving skills: Why can't THEY park in between the white lines?

Brits driving skills: Why can't THEY park in between the white lines?

And supplied some pictures from those countries to support my dubious claim that the entire named country is populated by the parking challenged.

Americans and Germans would be foaming at their collective mouths in righteous indignation and a certain British poster would report me as being a racist (can one be a racist against one's own race ... I guess it's possible). Anyway some examples actually (gasp) from outside Thailand (ye gads).

Being an inconsiderate jerk is universal. Really don't care what country they grew up in, only that their Parents failed to teach them basic manners. Or maybe the nut doesn't fall far from the tree and jerk parents will continue to raise jerk kids.

[David48]

I must admit, one time, I parked in my local shopping centre (FarangLand) between the lines.

The person next to me had previously parked, a black 4WD with chrome Mag Wheels had parked across his space.

It would have been difficult, but not impossible for him to open his drivers door. His BAD

On returning to my car I had a sarcastic note under my windscreen wiper indicating that I had parked unsympatheticlly ...

Should I also have angle parked to allow him/her unfetted access but also inconveniencing the next parking spot?

Was I at fault ... or the other driver (Black 4WD)?

.

[Tywais]

There are worse parking jobs.

[dunque]

Won't be difficult for more examples, all I have to do is bring my camera out at BigC and point it anywhere.

These must be smart cameras you have that they can determine the ethnicity of the car driver - amazing what they can do these days.

[Kwasaki]

I never followed any line or rule and will never do !

I have friends that love to key cars like yours, and with your attitude I could care less.

Nice friends you have , I use two spaces so I can get out, I wondered how all those scratch lines got on my car.

[Kwasaki]

I must admit, one time, I parked in my local shopping centre (FarangLand) between the lines.

The person next to me had previously parked, a black 4WD with chrome Mag Wheels had parked across his space.

It would have been difficult, but not impossible for him to open his drivers door. His BAD

On returning to my car I had a sarcastic note under my windscreen wiper indicating that I had parked unsympatheticlly ...

Should I also have angle parked to allow him/her unfetted access but also inconveniencing the next parking spot?

Was I at fault ... or the other driver (Black 4WD)?

.

Yes, 4WD 2 parking spaces required no question.

[David48]

I never followed any line or rule and will never do !

I have friends that love to key cars like yours, and with your attitude I could care less.

Nice friends you have , I use two spaces so I can get out, Delboy.jpg I wondered how all those scratch lines got on my car.

Mate ... you should know the Forum Rules ... not good to post photos of yourself on the Forum ...

.

Edited November 9, 2013 by David48

[willyumiii]

Not so much in the bigger villages or towns and cities, but in the smaller villages like mine and those near by, people will park right in the middle of the road as close as possible to the front door of the house or business they are going to!

These roads are not wide enough for one vehicle to pass another, except maybe two bikes.

They will park this way when there is a space to park off of the road less than 10 meters up the road!

It is also common to park the truck or car in the middle of the road while washing it!

Maybe they think they are saving time by parking as close to where they are going as possible and avoiding walking.

Until someone comes along and can not get by.

Then they need to go back to their vehicle, move it up or down the road however many meters to park it off the road to allow passage and then walk back to wherever they were .

Wouldn't it make more sense and save time to park out of the road in the first place??

OOPS! Sense!

I forgot!

I have been told their is no word for the concept common sense in the Thai language. ( don't know if it is true )

I guess it's just more of the "Me,me,me first!" myopic Thai attitude that governs their driving habits too!

I'm glad the Op mentioned this.

It is one of a few things that really do make me crazy in LOS.

P.S. In my country of origin, parking in this fashion would result in an expensive parking ticket, having your vehicle towed and impounded and cost somewhere around 10000 Baht for each instance!

[Tywais]

Won't be difficult for more examples, all I have to do is bring my camera out at BigC and point it anywhere.

These must be smart cameras you have that they can determine the ethnicity of the car driver - amazing what they can do these days.

Yes, my camera has a face recognition mode dial I can select Asian or Farang.

[bbbbooboo]

Stupid IS what stupid DOES ?

[Kwasaki]

Not so much in the bigger villages or towns and cities, but in the smaller villages like mine and those near by, people will park right in the middle of the road as close as possible to the front door of the house or business they are going to!

These roads are not wide enough for one vehicle to pass another, except maybe two bikes.

They will park this way when there is a space to park off of the road less than 10 meters up the road!

It is also common to park the truck or car in the middle of the road while washing it!

Maybe they think they are saving time by parking as close to where they are going as possible and avoiding walking.

Until someone comes along and can not get by.

Then they need to go back to their vehicle, move it up or down the road however many meters to park it off the road to allow passage and then walk back to wherever they were .

Wouldn't it make more sense and save time to park out of the road in the first place??

OOPS! Sense!

I forgot!

I have been told their is no word for the concept common sense in the Thai language. ( don't know if it is true )

I guess it's just more of the "Me,me,me first!" myopic Thai attitude that governs their driving habits too!

I'm glad the Op mentioned this.

It is one of a few things that really do make me crazy in LOS.

P.S. In my country of origin, parking in this fashion would result in an expensive parking ticket, having your vehicle towed and impounded and cost somewhere around 10000 Baht for each instance!

What's the hurry ?? Your a guest.

Just ask them nicely to move so you can be on your way.

As for the P.S. if Thailand got like your country of origin, I'm out of here.

[willyumiii]

parking.jpgYou must understand that the focus for Thais ( and others) is not on the trip or the parking, but the shopping or eating that ensues. The objective is to get there as effortlessly as possible. With that mindset, it is understandable why 'close ' is good enough, and one shouldn't bother wasting time adjusting the vehicle's position. Believe me, it would be FAR worse without the painted lines.

In our local town, they recently painted driving lanes where the parking should be, despite the signs clearly saying to angle park at the curb. The results are more than amusing - I took a random picture this morning.

You are mistaken!

The focus for Thais is not where you are going or what you are going to do when you arrive there.

The focus for Thais is passing as many vehicles as possible on your way there!

[Tywais]

Post removed pertaining to the German man's accident as being off topic. This thread title - "Thai Parking"

[manarak]

I love the way the reverse park and then when they come out with a trolley full of <deleted> they have purchased proceed to pull car out of the park and block everyone from driving though whilst they load up.

this got me shaking my head too

[David48]

Won't be difficult for more examples, all I have to do is bring my camera out at BigC and point it anywhere.

These must be smart cameras you have that they can determine the ethnicity of the car driver - amazing what they can do these days.

Yes, my camera has a face recognition mode dial I can select Asian or Farang.

WOW ... you have a very smart camera indeed!

But somehow ... I think there a wee bit of Fisherman's story in your tale ...

.

[muchogra]

Sometimes, the bad parking isn't done irresponsibly or ignorantly, it's just that there are many loudsy drivers out there. How many times have you gotten stuck in your car when some driver is trying to back up into a parking space.

This is what I call good parking.

Here, I didn't try to park but was forced to stop. My left turn signal light was busted plus some small damage on the bumper.