The legacy of the British

Ironically because of my British heritage, their legacy may lead to my dismemberment here in Mae Sot. Prior to arriving, it had never occurred to me that the Thais would drive on the left. Though I have spent time previously in several former British colonies that drive on the left (Bahamas, South Africa, India, Jordan), Thailand is the only southeast Asian nation never to have been colonized, so one wouldn't necessarily expect this driving convention to have been adopted. Actually, I'm not entirely sure if it was adopted, or is traditional here (many places used to drive on the left so you would pass strangers on your right, within reach of your sword hand if need be, and so your whip wouldn't get caught on on anything when you spur on your animals). The common thought amongst the expats here though, is that it is a result of the British influence during the seventeenth to nineteenth century, which was a time of significant infrastructure expansion. Most of the locals I know are Burmese, and thus not extensively informed in Thai history, and the Thais just know it as the way it is.

At any rate, they drive on the left. Which is fine, I drove in SA, India, and Jordan, but Mae Sot has a number of odd intersections, and all too frequently, I enter the turn on the correct side of the road, and exit the turn on the wrong side. I think there's something in it about being on a bike, so I'm always off to the side. I am hoping I adjust before meeting too closely with a motorbike, truck, or other unsuspecting vehicle. Or small child, which, given the average mass of bicycles here, would prove must worse for them than for me.