Here’s a recipe for adventure: a long weekend visit to family in Nakon Patom, Thailand.

Naturally nobody has a map, but the general instructions seem to be, “head west to the big road, then head south; turn right just before you hit Bangkok“. Uh-huh. Great instructions to cover a 900km trip!

Thai Group Consciousness (TGC) - it’s for real!

So it’s 4am, off we set westerly into the darkness. Sure enough after an hour or two we hit “the big road,” and duly turn south. A few more hours, and the dreaded murmur begins to make its way around the car: “shortcut!”. Everyone’s getting restless, so it’s time for a Thai Shortcut. “Turn right,” go the instructions, so off I turn, away from “the big road” heading east.

Naturally, no-one’s taking personal responsibility, but the on-board Thai Group Consciousness (see below) is giving instructions: ‘right’, ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘right’; with the roads slowly getting smaller each time. I’m getting a wee bit (!) frustrated, as I don’t fancy doing a 900km trip via village back-streets, and would really like to arrive before the week is out. “Relax,” says Ann, “people know where they’re going”.

Sure enough, half an hour later, we end up in the carpark of some forlorn temple, in the middle of nowhere. “Maybe we should ask for directions,” I suggest.

So we consult the guard, and ask him how we get to Nakon Patom. And he tells us “sure, turn left, right, left and left, get on the big road, head south a few hundred kilometers, turn right just before you hit Bangkok”

The next day everyone chipped in and bought me a map.

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Thoughts About Thai Group Consciousness (let’s call it TGC)

It’s a strange thing, and none of the other farangs (Westerners) here can explain it either, but Thailand seems to operate on a different plane of consciousness. Firstly, no-one can ever make an individual decision. Any decision is always given to the group (there’s always a group), and collectively, after much sitting around, arm-waving, pointing in odd directions, the ‘group’ collectively arrives at its decision, with no-one accountable for blame.

Secondly, the TGC has brilliant long-range communication. Case in point: last year David (who’s English) and Noi, friends of ours, decided to visit my wife’s mum to collect some chickens. They live about 120km away, and had never been to her place. So they set off with vague instructions, and about half way there they decide they’d better bring a gift. So soon they pass a plant nursery, and pull in to buy a pot-plant for Ann’s mum. Meanwhile, Ann’s mum has become worried that maybe they might get lost, so decides to get in contact with them. But she doesn’t know their mobile number.

So David’s standing in the nursery, somewhere between his place and Ann’s, when the owner of the nursery approaches him with the office telephone. “It’s for you” he says, handing the phone to David…

–Jordan Digby

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s things to do in Thailand, Bangkok tours and activities in Phuket.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Asia, Best of the Viator Blog, Destinations, Travel Inspiration, Weird & Wonderful. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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