Have you ever been tripped up by the poor state of the pavement where pedestrians are supposed to try and walk in Thailand?

 

There are so many hazards, one has to watch where the footsteps are landing.

 

I may have inadvertently saved a guy from injury this evening, as we were walking the gauntlet connecting Pattaya's Beach Promenade with Walking Street.  We were walking south, to Walking Street.  We had survived the rickety boardwalk next to the Marine Department, crossed the open area, and even made it past the moto taxis that force pedestrians to walk in the street with the tour buses.

 

The next hazard got him.  At the entrance to Pattaya Beer Garden is a double slope in the walkway;  a covered drain tilts one way, and the adjacent pavement tilts toward it.  This hazard would not be so bad, except that it lurks right at the start of the action.  Suddenly the innocent pedestrian is confronted with a bunch of beer bar girls.  They can be a distraction from watching where your feet are landing, as the farang walking behind me discovered.  

 

As as he fell, he was fortunate to fall into me from behind.  As he hit my back, I effectively broke his fall, so he only knocked over three bar stools at Tukta (Doll) beer bar.  He was not hurt, only embarrassed.  It could have been worse.

 

 

It also could have been much worse for him had he fallen into someone other than yourself--say, a puffing, grunting "tough guy" (Thai or farang) out for a fight...

You're lucky if you get a footpath here.


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It's sometimes bad, but look at the US. Lots of places have no sidewalk at all.