Observations (TIT)

[Vital Spark]

Well said, Bristolian. You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm with you and BB, in that I'll always give way or make way for something with a flashing light. Assuming, usually wrongly, that the driver is going to some emergency. It's damned annoying when the 'make way for me' vehicle is just escorting a van with blackened windows probably full of VSIPs (very self-important people). The trouble living in a land where anything goes is that anyone can buy flashing lights to go on top of their cars, and police jackets, and police stickers, and fake IDs, the list is endless... The best way to tell a real copper from a fake one is the shoes.

VS

[traveller2]

The shoes?

[johnnyk]

All this pales in comparison to the Indian Tailors-- there is one row of 4 next door to each other on PK, whenever I pass I look inside, even in high season I have never seen a customer and by the way does ANYBODY ever go and order a suit at 9pm, so why are they still harassing the passers by-- I must say that there is one improvement here--In pattaya they are skillful in grasping and shaking your hand without your consent. I HATE that.

They tried that with my mate.
When they block the sidewalk he doesn't stop. Few worries for an ex-Los Angeles cop, 6'4" 370lbs. Go ahead, block the sidewalk, dude.

[Takiap]

Two questions:
- Why are they so blatantly ignored?

Simply answer is cynicism. I have seen many “Emergency Vehicles” using their Blues & Twos fighting to get through a traffic jam and when they have achieved this goal they simply switch them off and go about their normal business. i.e. they blatantly misuse their sirens and flashing lights to get through the holdup quicker but with no emergency call, they “Cry Wolf”

- Why do they bother showing/sounding warnings if they know they will be ignored?

Because they can, without question from the police and it makes them feel important.
Like you I always let them pass, irrespective of my distrust that they are on an errand of mercy. I fear that, as is often a feature of living here, the powers that be, ignore the flagrant misuse of sirens and flashing lights. When you can hire a police escort for your bus with flashing lights and sirens what does this indicate to the masses....certainly not an emergency?

Let's also not forget that 99% of Thais have a God given right to be at the front of the queue. They are all, at least in their eyes, the most important person on the planet. They ignore emergency vehicles for the same reason they will pull out in front of you; overtake you and then pull in front you and stop to buy somtam, etc, etc, etc.


SECRET: Just get used to it, and under no circumstances let it get to you.

[Takiap]

As for the tailors.......yes, you never see customers in the vast majority shops, but given their nationalities, I don't for a minute believe they are not earning a decent income in one way or another. How they are earning it I don't know, but from what I've seen, Indians and etc don't like a one-way cash flow, that is, money going out but no money coming in.

[Vital Spark]

The shoes?

Yeh, they're well-polished, black, leather, short boots (no laces). I guess they've got a zip on the side. The only people I've seen wear this kind of footwear in Thailand are the cops. Far too uncomfortable (and probably expensive) for anyone else.

VS

[traveller2]

The shoes?

Yeh, they're well-polished, black, leather, short boots (no laces). I guess they've got a zip on the side. The only people I've seen wear this kind of footwear in Thailand are the cops. Far too uncomfortable (and probably expensive) for anyone else.

VS

I see now. Thanks for the explanation.

[ridgeydidge.au]

"SECRET: Just get used to it, and under no circumstances let it get to you"

Takiak, that is the very best of advice...I endorse it completely in all things Thai because it reflects both my experiences and observations.

but, never cynical and ever grateful for the opportunity to live here.

[Big Boy]

Would never let it get to me - just making observations.

[Ratsima]

I think there are mainly two sorts of Thais: Me First and Me Only

Me First are the sort who always think they have the right of way, deserve to be at the head of the queue, etc. They cut you off on the highway, slip in to the front of the line at Tesco, and so on.

Me Only are the sort who behave as if they were the only human in the world. They drive 40 kph on the highway while chatting on the phone, triple park while they mosey on in to 7Eleven, block an entire aisle with their shopping cart as they ponder the laundry detergent choices, etc. They are oblivious of anyone else.

Now, every society has these sorts, but Thailand seems to have them in spades.

Why?

[Big Boy]

I think there are mainly two sorts of Thais: Me First and Me Only

I think they are one and the same, The common denomonator is ownership of space. If a Thai is in a piece of space, regardless of whether he or she should be there, then they think they own it, and everybody else needs to move around them.

One example that we see all the time is somebody driving down the wrong side of the road. They were in that space first, so you have to drive around them. They are oblivious to rules of the road as us Farang understand them to be.

Likewise, if 2 friends are going in opposite directions down a shopping aisle in Tesco, they will just stop and start talking, oblivious to the fact that they've just blocked the aisle.

The other common one is walking down a busy street. Everybody has their own space directly in front of them. Thais will jump into your space (claiming it as their own) and stop dead.

Personally, I believe once you've taken the ownership of space issue on board, everything else falls into place. You then have 2 choices - move around them, as other Thais do, or barge them out of the way (something I did several times until I understood the space thing). It just comes down to understanding we're in Thailand, and it's what Thais do.

[Ratsima]

The difference is that the Me First are aggressive about "their" space while the Me Only are passive.

[Big Boy]

Aggressive or passive - it's theirs, and they aint going to budge.

[Ratsima]

Aggressive or passive - it's theirs, and they aint going to budge.

Exactly. But where did it come from?

The Lao aren't like that. The Burmese aren't like that. The Khmer aren't like that.

[deepee]

I think maybe you could look back at colonialism for your answer here, Laos and Cambodia with the French and Burma the Brits. Just a hangover from the past but reflects the orderly way in which they dealt with things back then.