An early start - the bus left on time but the 10 hour journey ended up being 12 hours.
At least the bus was comfortable though. We got given snacks and water and had a few stops. Traffic in road works, just outside the city slowed us down.
There was a Canadian lady on the bus, from Vancouver Island. She is a retired nurse, also called Lisa.
We chatted a bit - the Thai lady sat next to her was really sweet.
At first she thought we wanted to sit next to each other and offered to swap seats, but we both wanted to keep the window seat. Then she communicated that if you take the bus ticket to the cafe, where we stopped, you could get a free iced coffee or equivalent.
I say communicated because she basically spoke no English, and we were no better, speaking no Thai. Somehow though - it is possible and Thai people often will try to be helpful, even if they don't speak any English.
What I learnt, from reading up a bit, is that generally Thailand is one of the lowest ranking in the world for speaking English - despite having a massive tourist industry. They rank well below other countries in South East Asia, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
I found this video which was quite interesting and entertaining.
It goes through some of the possible reasons for this.
Thailand was never colonised by the Dutch or English so English is not ingrained into the system.
The way it is taught in schools is very poor - the students just copy out text - and the exam can be passed without speaking a single word.
Culturally, it is thought shameful to make a mistake, so this puts off Thai people from practising, for fear of getting it wrong and being laughed at. (I kind of have this problem too, which is why I'm so bad at languages - silly I know)
Also, google translate doesn't always help as often (I've heard), Thai people can't read what's on the screen.
It got me thinking though. There I was, complaining that my experience of Thailand was feeling a bit shallow and yet - thinking about it - you only get out what you put in!
I think, being a little tired of travelling, I had stopped making an effort and was not really trying to engage with anyone. I have mainly just been doing the 'tourist thing'.
And I didn't even really notice that Thai people don't speak so much English! When I think back I suppose the taxi drivers never spoke, like they did in Malaysia. I think I got lucky too, with who I met, like the Thai lady who helped me with the bus. She was older which is something pointed out in the video - the situation may be getting worse with younger people speaking less English.
Often, at hostels, the owners had the same script, which they would say to everyone.
Mon spoke some Thai, as he did a course in it. Funny though, in one taxi, the driver loved that he spoke Thai, but in another, the guy was silent & ignored him - almost taking it as an insult.
And of course the tour guides speak good English. The one that took us to the River Kwai was having a long discussion with the Polish guy about the conflict with Cambodia - which is still going on, over the border. This is a land dispute, which he claims is the fault of the French colonials, who made an error when they defined where the border was to be placed. I believe this flares up often.
I started to try to learn a few phrases - but it goes in one ear and out the other with me! Still, better late than never!
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