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Road Rules in Thailand (Part 1)

5 December 2005, the King's birthday

The Rules of the Road are actually pretty straightforward: drive on the left*, obey the speed limit*, smaller* vehicles have te right of way, follow posted* signs, and it's ok to make left turns on red.

It's just those damn asterics that get you.

Simply stated, the asterics mean that rules change when the situation changes. For the "smaller vehicles," the practical rule is that the biggest or fastest cars get the right-of-way.

So we rented a motorcycle for the first time (this trip) on Samui. I had a bike for a couple days on Koh Tao and built my confidence back up. (Yes, mom, we both wore helmets. The pictures were destroyed to protect the guilty-- we looked funny!). I was riding in perfect form: teeth clenched, and hands gripping the handlebars sufficiently tight to make knuckles white. Farang Style!

As we generally walk places, we had grown accustomed to cursing the stupid drivers for splashing us. On a motorbike, it gets worse.

I'm going to go to hell. We'll get into that later, though.

One of the "special situations" that must be taken into consideration when applying the rules of the road is rain.

Momma told me never to drive through puddles you if didn't know how deep they were. So did the newsman. So did the rental guy. It doesn't really work that way here, though.

I never heard of a "bow wave" referring to a car before. But, it is an important concept to understand here when riding through a "puddle." Let me clarify that term: (NotMomSafe) the road is flooded 6-8 inches, typically for the whole width of the road, and generally for 100m or so. If you didn't drive through the puddles, you couldn't get anywhere. Driving through them is considerably safer than the long-term health effects of wading through. We'll just leave it at that.

6 Inches of water is no problem* to get through on one of the little motorbikes. Ah, there's that pesky asteric again. Usually, the roads are pretty well crowned or sloped so you have a shallow line either in the center or at one end. Riding in this position you might actually stay dry!

But, if you recall earlier we wanted to leave Samui for Koh Tao to escape the traffic.

That's where the bow wave comes into play.

Boats create two waves: a bow wave caused by the front of the boat entering the water, and a stern wave caused (for simplicity) by the back of the boat leaving the water. For a given boat, the faster it goes, the bigger the wave. The natural fastest speed for a boat is the speed at which the bow wave "catches" the stern wave.

For a car, it is kind of similar. While the depth of the "puddle" might not be too unruly, the depth and force of the bow wave must be taken into account. Without getting into all the grizzly details, you have to steer into the wave to avoid getting swamped.

The real risk in driving through "puddles" is that you can't see the pavement, and plan ahead to avoid (say) a pothole. Potholes are just jarring. When roads flood in Thailand, they open up the trench drain covers at the sides of the road to reveal the 3 foot deep drainage ditch. This improves drainage- no pesky things to impede the flow of water (like motorbikes). This gives you additional incentive to stay in the middle of the road.

The best strategy for riding in these conditions: follow someone smarter than yourself! Generally, this person will be driving slowly, and to outside observers, erratically. This person knows every bump and point of danger, as well as the best way around them.

We found such a person for the last leg of our journey. Life was good.

The rules change a bit when you rent a car rather than a motorbike. You have to realize that the motorcycles aren't quite as protected as yourself. That's why I am going to hell.

Often times, you see people riding a motorbike with an umbrella. Does it help? What do you think?! A poncho affords much better protection, but isn't too comfortable in the tropics.

So, in our rental car, we head off: left side! Left Side!

Unlike a motorcycle, cars have four wheels. This tends to make them wider and less able to dodge obstacles (like say, a closed side of the road). Left Side! Left Side!

This is actually the first time I ever drove a car on the left side of the road. It's wierd- I can get over the "wrong side" thing, but all the controls are screwed up as well(some mirrored, some not), and you have to look over your left shoulder when backing up. I like to think I am a fast learner. Marie likes to laugh. I am religious about using my blinkers (turn signals). In this case, though I become religious about turning my windshield wipers off or on when turning.

I'll have to share my other lessons with you after the drive to Phuket is complete in Part 2.

Patrick Driving: One Happy Camper. White knuckles cropped out of picture to improve contrast...

Thai taxi driver plying the flooded streets of Koh Samui. Note the tribute to the spirits for his hood ornament.

So, this is why we left Samui. A little rough for two weeks straight. Call us wimps; we do!

What a car - The Honda Jazz. It's all that!