How to change Thai people's mentality towards bicycles.

[newbiker]

I am a Thai woman living in China. I have been in China for almost 4 years. There are so many things that I admire in Chinese people (Of course there are also many things that I don't like about being here) in which I hope Thai people could have and learn to be more like it. One of the things is the bicycle. People here don't mind to ride a bike. May be they have to! But at least they give themselves more options to live according to their incomes. Chinese can easier accept that they don't have than Thai people.

I have a bike here and I am so happy about it. I can ride a bike and see lots of people doing it. It is a good thing. Why this is not supported in Thai society? What happened to Thai people? The society doesn't support people to ride their bikes mainly because of the mentality that only poor people would ride a bike.

In Thailand there are lots of things that you must do!!!!!!!People are forcing themselves to be what they should be. How to eat, behave, say, live your lives!!!!!

Lots of foreigners said that Thai people and Thailand are sabai sabai. I think Thai people are very lazy. It is a big difference between these two words. I don't understand why. For example;

I was in my sister's shop. I wanted to go to seven eleven to get ice coffee. The 711 is just 5 meters away from her shop. She told me to take her motorbike when I said that I wanted to walk there.

I wanted to ride a bike from home to the park which is about 5 km. It was early morning and I told my sister before I left home with my bike. I was only 1 km away from home, I saw my dad's car. He drove to me and asked me to get on his car. He wouldn't let me ride my bike to the park. He didn't force me to get on his car but you know when I saw my parents asking me to do so, I just had to listen to them.

Think about it!!!!My friends also laughed at me when they knew I bought a 2000 baht bike in Thailand. They said I wasted my money.

last time I told them that I bought a 10,000 Baht worth of bike in China. They shut up!

I think there are so many regulations in Thailand that has limited ways of living of Thai people. I wish they can think outside the box sometimes or not being so tide up. That can be meaning of being SABAI......

Thanks!

[american 2]

I have never been to china. It is good to know that you can ride a bicycle there. I have been to thailand many times. I have ridden bikes in Hua Hin. It was only more dangerous then in america in some situations. I would not consider because of the danger riding in bangkok. I think your family wants to see you live. If you are up country perhaps it is safe to ride. The greater the population the more likely you will be pushed off the road or find yourself under a vehicle. It is dangerous enough on a scooter. Make a good choice as to where you ride. I have a friend planning to bring his bike to thailand to use during a three month stay. Mostly in Buri Ram area. I hope that his dhama is good.

[Ken]

It is too hot to ride a bike in Thailand. I would rather walk instead. Even though riding a bike is very healthy and a good exercise, the traffic in Thailand does not provide any easiness to use that kind of transportation. Well, another thing is that Thai people are happy people. Those Chinese loves to tell other people the way they live their lives is great. Why do they love to stay aboard and never come back to their homeland? Conclusion, it shouldn't be compared the two life styles in two different places because we are not the same. People should not be forced to do what they don't want to do....

[Ken]

"I think there are so many regulations in Thailand that has limited ways of living of Thai people."

And you comparing the Thai society to the Chinese's?? are you serious?

[DocN]

2 words:
heat
polution

Think about it!

[Sean Moran]

The society doesn't support people to ride their bikes mainly because of the mentality that only poor people would ride a bike.

In some ways, I believe that you have provided one of the primary reasons in that statement, and
IMHO that same attitude would seem to cover more than bicycles alone.
To misquote Orwell: FOUR WHEELS GOOD! TWO WHEELS BAD!

One of the few aspects of contemporary Thai society that I fail to understand as a motorcyclist
is the double standards that exist with regards cars and motorcycles, and although one of my
best friend's husbands is an avid mountain-bike racer, the challenges imposed on the motorcyclist
on the highways from Khorat to Hat Yai and in and around Bangkok are fatalistic enough without
attempting to do it under pedal-power.

There does seem to exist a kind of attitude; possibly driven by the significant differences in the
new and used prices of cars versus mosais, perhaps by more traditional causes; that anything on
four wheels has the right of way over anything on two wheels, and if you read Saturday's Muse
column in the BKK Post, you might come to see how running redlights is quite okay providing you
are protected by something large and air-conditioned and steel plated. I've woken up in hospital
on two occasions now, along with all the times I've copped a shove or a whack from the side mirror
of a Mazda Fighter or Toyota Common-rail racing past me at 120km/h but still managed to keep
the bike upright afterwards.

The regulations that bicycles, motorcycles, tractors and livestock should keep to the sidelane out
of the left-hand car lane are little protection if you are not keeping a good eye on your rear-view
mirrors for lunatics approaching at high-speed from behind, and essentially, it would seem that
the general consensus is that knocking someone off a bicycle or motorbike is fair game as long as
you don't get caught, and who's going to tell? The cadaver?

On the other hand, I believe that there have been some measures to promote bicycles around some
parts of Bangkok, which I most likely read about in this newspaper recently, although I don't have
a record of the article on hand. Something related to tourists being able to hire cheap bicycles in
Bangkok is all I remember. That's great, and hopefully it will do a little more for the air quality in
the Big Mango (little being the operative word), but the attitude of the average-to-bad car driver
is also something that IMHO must learn to change if people are expected to feel safe riding bicycles
down Silom or Sukhumvit or, heaven help them, Chaengwattana?

Owning a shiny new Mercedes does not give one the right to run people down in the street, and I
don't know if the environmentally-friendly policies of government will persuade many people to
strap on their helmets and get on their tredleys without the majority of road users realising that
one human life is worth more than 100 Bentleys.

[peaceman]

Tried it! like it! Anyway more continue biking tracks and public parking lots PLS.

PS. Thank you Sean for invited me here.

[Sean Moran]

Tried it! like it! Anyway more continue biking tracks and public parking lots PLS.

PS. Thank you Sean for invited me here.

Thanks mate! The pleasure's all mine as you're the first bloke I've invited to this new forum,
and while it IS still in its teething stages, I'm just chuffed that you resoinded so quickly, and
I reckon it's going to be the BEST forum in Thaiand before Loy Kratong!

:cheers <--chon gao smiley text, not installed yet >

[triptrip]

like someone said earlier. it's just too hot.

if i wear my working clothes and pants, by the time i reach the BTS station, i will be sweating all over. my clothes sticking to my skins and I look horrible and everyone in the train will hate me.

it's a good idea but just too hot!!!! it's ok in China and Japan where the weather is really nice and you should ride a bike just to slowly get to your destination. But here in the tropics, it's not something practical.

when I was a young kid, I used to cycle 10km every day to and fro my school. But now, it's not practical to ride a bike to work simply because i need to meet up with clients and all that.

also, companies may do their part by offering shower facilities at work but again cost constraint is another obstacle.

[fiddlehead]

I agree that it is a matter of people thinking you are poor or not.
That happens in the west too.
People think i have no money because i drive an old car. (or walk to the grocery store)
People think I look like a bum because i don't dress in new clothes.

I learned a long time ago not to care what others think.
I have a house in Phuket, one in Issan, and one in America. All paid off.
I have no credit card debt.

Those that I know back in the states who claim i look like a bum have nice cars, big mortgages and no cash to travel.
They are hopelessly in debt with no end in sight (but they look good in their new car)
Who's to say who's right and who's wrong.

I live in my world, they live in theirs. It doesn't bother me one bit what they think of me.
They are back there working and paying for yesterday's fun. I am here living the life I choose (with money in the bank)

Upto you!