What a fantastic though unfortunate case study in intercultural misunderstanding and conflict! Different cultures have different rules and values around acceptable conversational volume and the need (or not) to be considerate of others. The article notes that the Thai norm is: public transport is generally treated as a shared, relatively quiet space, unlike New York or Mumbai or Napoli. We all have experienced this conflict usually at mild annoyance or resentment, viz. English and Americans, Thais and Chinese. So when a Latin macho culture, especially in the form of young, foreign, perhaps "entitled" tourists, comes up against East Asian culture in the form of an adult local woman commuting and feeling disrespected, you might expect more conflict. I have sympathy for her as my best friend as a kid was an Italian. When I first went to his place for lunch I though his loud, Italian family were arguing and that violence might break out at any moment. I learnt that it was just there normal family conversational level. Tourist companies and tourists obviously need to understand intercultural communication but intercultural competence is not valued and unlikely.
