Controlled Chaos: Driving in Thailand, Part 1

Hey everyone, I have been living in Thailand for nearly four years now, I'm originally from Georgia. I left the US right after getting out of the Marine Corps because I was becoming increasingly disconcerted with the direction of the country. Anyway, I thought I would do a little series of posts about different aspects of life in Thailand. It is truly one of the most random and surprising places I have traveled to, and I highly recommend stopping what you are doing and traveling here as soon as you can to get a new perspective on life. This first post in the series is about driving on Thai roads. I had a lot to say about the experience of driving on Thai roads, so I decided to break it up into multiple parts. I hope it is educational for everyone and gives you some mental preparation for the craziness if you decide to visit this interesting country. Anyway...

If I had to pick one word to describe driving in Thailand that word would be chaos. If I was then asked to elaborate on this I would explain more by comparing Thai traffic laws to the pirates’ code; they are basically more like guidelines than actual laws to follow. The only real rules are what a person can do and what a person can’t do. Do whatever it takes to get from point A to point B as fast as you can without actually hitting someone, though coming close is perfectly fine. You have to constantly be vigilant and never get complacent or you might find yourself as a skid mark on the poorly maintained road. Things like turning signals, yielding to others, right of way, and stopping at red lights are all options that are frequently ignored. To drive in Thailand you can never, ever assume that the other people around you are paying attention to anything but themselves. Most of us farangs, which is Thai for foreigner, have all made the mistake of assuming that Thais are following the same rules of the road that we were taught at a young age, and we all have the scars, AKA farang tattoos, to remind us of the folly of such thinking. It isn’t all bad though, and once you get used to the roads here you actually start to like the lack of rules, and begin to use them in your own favor.

Some friends and their "farang tats"

Motorbikes making their way through traffic

At first glance, one of the things you will notice right away about driving on the narrow roadways is the abundance of motorbikes zooming around. A motorbike is what people in the US would call a motor scooter or a Vespa, though that’s like calling every hot tub a Jacuzzi. Regardless, these things are everywhere. I drive one myself and I love it. Thanks to the lax laws governing the roads, I never have to wait in traffic. I learned, by example of the locals, to weave in and out and in between cars. Why should I waste my life in traffic when I can squeeze between the rows of cars, trucks, and vans, dodging mirrors along the way, right? I admit, this behavior seemed so dangerous and crazy to me at first, but it works and that’s just the way things are, embrace it.

Motorbikes making their way through traffic

If the presence of hundreds of motorbikes buzzing past hasn’t thrown you yet then let’s take a moment to look around and see if anything else sticks out as odd. We are driving on the left side of the road, of course. Thailand has some British influence. Wait, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to drive on the left side, but, why is there a car coming straight at me? Did I get something wrong here? No, you are perfectly right; technically the left side is the correct side, but that pesky pirates’ code is so unbinding. That car coming straight at you needed to take a right turn, but the median got in the way, and no one likes to drive all the way down to the next light and make a U-turn, then come all the way back and finally get to their turn. It is just easier to go down the wrong side of the road and dodge a few oncoming cars and motorbikes for a bit instead. This happens every day. Always, always, always pay attention while driving on Thai roads.

We will continue our educational drive down Thai roads next time. I hope you are getting a clearer picture of the chaos that are Thai roads. See you next time and thanks for reading!

Me on my trusty motorbike on Elephant Island, AKA Koh Chang.