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Published: August 7th 2008
Floating Market Long Tail boat
Very noisy, very fast but not our style!I have decided that this aspect of life in Thailand deserves an entry all by itself as it a bit different to anything we had experienced before. Firstly, the general feel of the traffic in Bangkok is still manic - noisy, crowded and seemingly without rules. Last time we were here (2004) we noticed that the traffic lights had little effect on the traffic flow as everybody ignored the red lights until actually forced to stop by the green-light traffic pushing out onto the road. This seems to have evolved a little as most of the major intersections have timer clocks counting down the seconds until the light is due to change so the traffic sort-of takes notice - although I guess the policeman standing in the middle of the road keeping things flowing at busy times probably has a bit of an effect as well.
The motorbikes are still just as numerous and noisy as ever - and seem to be able to carry up to 3 passengers not including the driver. The driver, by the way, seems to be the only one who has to wear a crash-hat so it is a bit ironic to see 4 persons on
a bike with only one helmet and perhaps two children in front of the driver without. Heaven only knows what happens to them if there is an accident!! It was also quite common to see the young ladies riding side-saddle on the back of the bikes with the shiny high heeled shoes sticking out to the left and waving in the breeze as they were weaving in and out of the traffic. The motor bikes are also used a lot for moving goods around town - a load of propane cooking-gas cylinders was quite common - with the rear shock/spring units doubled up to take the extra strain. The Honda bikes with the automatic clutch are also popular - this allows the rider to carry a large package balanced on the shoulders and steadied by the left hand as it is not absolutely need to operate the clutch. Some of the bikes had been converted to 3 wheelers with a cargo platform to the left of the bike - the front brakes were generally disconnected so they only had one rear brake for something which could possibly be laden with a couple of hundred kilos of goods. Hmmmm.
Some of
Wendy Tour ???
Only been there a week and has her own company! the Vespa-type scooters had been built as/converted to TukTuks - a 3 wheeled taxi which could take up to 6 adults on the two seats which faced each other at the rear. With the original engine they struggled alarmingly when loaded and going up any sort of hill. Most of these ran on LPG and had a BBQ bottle for the gas strapped behind the rear axle under the passenger compartment - although we never saw it ourselves it is apparently not unheard of for the TukTuk to go around a corner and the bottle to keep going straight ahead! A variation on this theme in the Northern parts was called a SkyLab and these appeared similar to the TukTuk but based on a conventional MotorBike rather than a scooter. I thought the brakes were a bit noisy until I discovered that each rear wheel had a Vee pulley attached, around which was fastened an old belt with one end attached to the chassis. When the brakes were applied the belt tightened and gripped the pulley, slowing down or stopping the machine. Anyone who has used this type of arrangement before can understand why the brakes were noisy and tended
Loud Bus
Not the exhaust - the paintwork!! to grab a bit!! However, they did stop us when needed - even with the 6 of us in the back.
The carriage of freight in Thailand is as important as anywhere else in the world and while there were regular Weigh Stations for Heavy Vehicles, there seems to be no limit on how much could be carried by the smaller Pick-up/Utility type trucks - they were mainly the Toyota Hi-Ace or similar type vehicles. I guess the more produce can be carried in one trip to the market the less expense and greater profit so it was not uncommon to see these vehicles fitted with a huge cage and loaded with watermelons or corn trundling along the roads into the city - driving very carefully in a straight line as it always seemed they would tip over the instant they turned a corner. Closer inspection revealed they were fitted with extra springs at the rear, most having about 3 times as many leaves as standard to cope with the weight.
The buses and trucks deserve a special mention - while some are plain and boring there are a lot which are richly decorated. The trucks with geometric patterns in
bold greens, yellows and reds while a lot of the tour buses had colourful air-brush work of characters from Disney, computer games and comic books, as well as wild animals - eagles were rather popular. One decoration on the trucks which had me a little puzzled at first was the bunch of rubber strips from inner tubes fastened above each wheel - the real purpose was to flap against the walls of the tires as the truck drove along to keep them shiny and black! I managed a few photos of some trucks and buses but it was difficult to get a clear shot with all of the traffic.
Another unusual sight on the roads away from the cities was the range of agricultural vehicles. Although there were showrooms with large “conventional” tractors for sale, the main vehicles were smaller units used for towing the various implements - they all looked rather old but the engines were always shiny and new looking. Seems each farmer would own one really good diesel engine and this would be moved among the various vehicles as the needs changed! We were sometimes slowed on a main road by a farmer towing a trailer of
goods while sitting on a tractor made mainly of wooden beams (and a shiny engine) with an old car seat strapped on for a bit of comfort - but once again I was too slow to get any pics.
The roads are generally good. There is a very good system of road and rail throughout the country - a legacy of King Rama V who had the foresight to invest hugely in transport and communications more than 100 years ago. The motorway system in and around Bangkok is great - although even with 4 lanes each way it still gets clogged at peak times (which seem to last most of the day - at which time the 4 lanes squeeze up a bit to fit 5 plus another on the shoulder if there is one). In some places the motorway runs way above the buildings on huge poles (sometimes it is a toll road built and operated by a private company) with a local main road underneath at ground level. A more advanced design we saw under construction also has the Light Rail under the motorway as well as a pedestrian walkway so this makes maximum use of the land.
Loud Truck
Even the trucks have intricate decorations. I was astounded at the lack of concern for safety of Road Workers - there were no safety barriers between traffic and workers and I once saw a man with a bucket of water and a rag cleaning the reflectors on the median barrier - while the traffic whizzed past at 120km/h just a metre or so away.
The highways through towns have another local road running each side so you come off the main road to access the local area - and the thru’ traffic just keeps zooming along the highway. If you need to turn right and there is no intersection you do a U Turn at the next junction and go back to turn off - same if you want to use the opposite side of the main road from a side road - turn left until there is a U Turn to get you back the way you want to go. Means a bit more travelling but makes it much safer without having to cross two lanes of fast movingtraffic at once.
I have already mentioned the road-hog tactics of the Inter-city buses at night so will not repeat it - suffice to say that I
What the ..... !!!
Different sort of decoration. was glad we didn’t have to travel at night more than the once!
There was one driving habit which had me puzzled for a while - it seems that no vehicle in Thailand can be driven with a steady throttle. When we were traveling with Pom he would accelerate to maybe 140Kph then change into “6th gear” (it was a 5 speed) until the speed dropped to maybe 80 then engage 5th again and build up speed again - that is when he was not giving the car a Full Power Trial - got to 180kph and still climbing before he backed off. Which I suppose is not bad for a 1500cc running on LPG. The taxis were also very non-steady - I did wonder for a while why my head was sort of nodding back and forth as if I was dropping off to sleep until I noticed the driver’s leg moving up and down pumping the accelerator in time to my nodding. I was just relieved I had not caught some sort of tropical sleeping disease!!
The final observation concerns the very pushy driving style which is so necessary to get around Bangkok - unless there is a
Even in the Fields?
Yep, even the farm machinery gets the treatment. policemen on the intersection it is nearly impossible to make a turn or enter a traffic flow without pushing so far that the other car has no choice but to let you in. Often there are only inches to spare as the cars jockey for position (and the motorbikes still manage to get through the gaps). However, the observation is that there are very few dents on the corners of the cars as you might expect with such close quarter manoeuvring - seems that when they have a smash it is a good one and the usual fender-benders seldom happen.
The next Blog will be about our arrival in England and the first months - how to survive the late-winter weather when your boxes with the warm clothes have not yet arrived.
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