Thai Wives As Backseat Drivers

[corkscrew]

After we bought our first car in Bangkok my Thai wife took delight in pointing out my 'mistakes': I was driving too fast, too slow, not in the correct lane, too close to the car beside me, etc. It got to the point where if I had to go somewhere in BKK where I had never been before I would ask one of her friends to be the navigator. Now that I have the Garmin I can do it alone.

My question to farangs: Do their Thai wives make more assertive backseat drivers than their farang counterparts?

[taxexile]

yes.

my wife is constantly pointing out my "mistakes" and drawing my attention to things on display in shops or at the roadside as we pass , which is even more disconcerting as the natural first reaction is to take a look.

however , it is sometimes useful to have her riding shotgun as she is quite good at pointing out motorcyclists buzzing me on the inside etc. and she has a good eye for locating parking spots.

but the "backseat" comments are annoying and if i comment on them then i am treated to a period of prolonged silence , which is even more annoying than the comments.

once again , with thai women , you just cant win.

[Rinrada]

yep..all the Time..

You say that you got 10 driving licenses and a pilots lic.but you still cant drive..

me-WOT?

UK/Eu-Saudi-bahrain-Nigerian-Cambodian-Vietnamese-Algerian....others plus others incl. 5 year Thai...

but still cant drive in T land??... ...

....half deaf my my poor old ears cant take it any more ..........

..just put it down to being overtly over protective...suppose...

[DragonLad]

yes.

my wife is constantly pointing out my "mistakes" and drawing my attention to things on display in shops or at the roadside as we pass , which is even more disconcerting as the natural first reaction is to take a look.

however , it is sometimes useful to have her riding shotgun as she is quite good at pointing out motorcyclists buzzing me on the inside etc. and she has a good eye for locating parking spots.

but the "backseat" comments are annoying and if i comment on them then i am treated to a period of prolonged silence , which is even more annoying than the comments.

once again , with thai women , you just cant win.

Your not kidding, My wife tells me I'm too close to the car in front all the time even though i'm about 2 car lengths behind. I know all too well about the prolonged silence part also.

Although when that happens it's nice sometimes

[taxexile]

................. and .......... shes always telling me to overtake anything slower moving or anything in front that is producing diesel smoke .

[pistonpilot]

Well, I have a US Pilot Certificate and US drivers license and my wife has not a license for motorbike or car and yet she thinks she knows how to drive better than me.

I always shut her up by stopping the car, and telling her to get out and drive it herself.

Someone will please tell me how to get her to look for traffic? Tonight I pulled out on Sukumvhit from soi where a truck was parked to my left. I almost ran over a Thai dumbass (women) on a motorcycle who was coming from the wrong direction. I told my wife her one job was to look left all the time and warn me about motorbikes.

What is about these people that makes them drive so stupidly? Why do they want to die?

[pistonpilot]

After we bought our first car in Bangkok my Thai wife took delight in pointing out my 'mistakes': I was driving too fast, too slow, not in the correct lane, too close to the car beside me, etc. It got to the point where if I had to go somewhere in BKK where I had never been before I would ask one of her friends to be the navigator. Now that I have the Garmin I can do it alone.

My question to farangs: Do their Thai wives make more assertive backseat drivers than their farang counterparts?

Tell us more about the Garmin, how do you use it here and what are its limitations? I own a Garmin GPS for aviation - Garmin is the best but what kind of database do they have for Thailand? Does it cover the whole country?

[swain]

Yes, and it gets very old very fast. Of course there is the one or two times she did warn me about some insane person driving crazy that might have saved our lives. She keeps telling me her back seat driving is for my own good and the reason she does it... is because she is concerned about when I am driving alone and with out her words of wisdom, what might happen to me. THANK GOD she is preggers now and can't even handle being in the car for two blocks much less a real drive. Now I have to drive alone.. even do the shopping alone.. go and have a beer alone.... again THANK GOD...

[DragonLad]

Yes, and it gets very old very fast. Of course there is the one or two times she did warn me about some insane person driving crazy that might have saved our lives. She keeps telling me her back seat driving is for my own good and the reason she does it... is because she is concerned about when I am driving alone and with out her words of wisdom, what might happen to me. THANK GOD she is preggers now and can't even handle being in the car for two blocks much less a real drive. Now I have to drive alone.. even do the shopping alone.. go and have a beer alone.... again THANK GOD...

Of course your happy she's pregnant though!!!

[taxexile]

..................and ...........she turns the air conditioning down.

and sometimes the music too.

[corkscrew]

yes.

my wife is constantly pointing out my "mistakes" and drawing my attention to things on display in shops or at the roadside as we pass , which is even more disconcerting as the natural first reaction is to take a look.

however , it is sometimes useful to have her riding shotgun as she is quite good at pointing out motorcyclists buzzing me on the inside etc. and she has a good eye for locating parking spots.

but the "backseat" comments are annoying and if i comment on them then i am treated to a period of prolonged silence , which is even more annoying than the comments.

once again , with thai women , you just cant win.

Absolutely! When I say "why don't you drive?"....at that point the dreaded silence kicks in.

[corkscrew]

After we bought our first car in Bangkok my Thai wife took delight in pointing out my 'mistakes': I was driving too fast, too slow, not in the correct lane, too close to the car beside me, etc. It got to the point where if I had to go somewhere in BKK where I had never been before I would ask one of her friends to be the navigator. Now that I have the Garmin I can do it alone.

My question to farangs: Do their Thai wives make more assertive backseat drivers than their farang counterparts?

Tell us more about the Garmin, how do you use it here and what are its limitations? I own a Garmin GPS for aviation - Garmin is the best but what kind of database do they have for Thailand? Does it cover the whole country?

I think there are a couple of threads about the Garmin on the forum. I bought the Garmin Street Pilot 2720 at Pantip Plaza. It comes pre-loaded with maps of Thailand and the verbal and written directions are in English. Though I have used it as far north as Ayuthaya and southeast to the new airport 99% of my driving is here in Bangkok. Another poster has used one up in Chiang Mai.

I have found it to be very useful in BKK. It has lots of POIs (ATMs, restaurants, hotels, museums, etc.). Shortly after buying it I drove to an area of BKK where I purposely became very lost. I pushed the "HOME" button and it guided me back home easily.

Sometimes it thinks I am on a motorway when I am actually on a street right next to it...but that is not a big drawback.

It is very sensitive to the satellites....very rarely do I get a "Lost Reception" message....usually only when I am stuck at a long traffic light under a motorway.

In short, I love it.

[pistonpilot]

It ought to be sensitive, it's Garmin. I relied upon mine for aviation - never let me down.

For aviation it needs 4 satellites but should only need two or three for yours. It has to be able to see the satellites. I see where you place it, does it come with an external antenna?

[corkscrew]

It ought to be sensitive, it's Garmin. I relied upon mine for aviation - never let me down.

For aviation it needs 4 satellites but should only need two or three for yours. It has to be able to see the satellites. I see where you place it, does it come with an external antenna?

Yes, I usually get 4 or 5 satellites when driving around Bangkok....as it always gives me the altitude as well as location. You really do not need an external antenna unless your windscreen has a lot of other stuff in the glass. It reads perfectly through my SLK glass but I need to use an external for the S. The external is a relay that transmits to the Garmin wirelesly. I am very happy with the set-up.

I set it on my dash in the SLK using the bean-bag device as it is easy to adjust for best viewing...also I can hide it out of sight quickly if parking in dodgy places. But, it comes with standard fittings as well: windscreen suction cup and dash sricky thing.

[Gary A]

My Thai wife is normally very sweet, EXCEPT for her suggestions as to my driving. I have mostly solved that problem by putting her on the bus back to Loei instead of taking her back with me. I went on alone. That was more than a year ago and she is now getting brave again. I doubt that you can totally eliminate the problem but a bus ride back up country DOES get their attention at least for a while.

[Loz]

My Thai wife is normally very sweet, EXCEPT for her suggestions as to my driving. I have mostly solved that problem by putting her on the bus back to Loei instead of taking her back with me. I went on alone. That was more than a year ago and she is now getting brave again. I doubt that you can totally eliminate the problem but a bus ride back up country DOES get their attention at least for a while.

shoot, I'd hate to read of a falang being killed in his sleep...