Thailand

Thailand uses large, white licence plates on passenger vehicles, and yellow ones on commercial vehicles.

NOTE: Within Southeast Asia, yellow commercial plates are only found in Thailand. Be careful, however, as Laos uses yellow licence plates for regular vehicles.

Thailand drives on the left hand side of the road.

NOTE: Cambodia and Laos drive on the right hand side.

The Thai bollard is square shaped with a pointed top, and has black-and-white stripes.

NOTE: In Southeast Asia, these bollards are also found in Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia.

Signposts in Thailand are square and bulky in shape, usually white, and often have the bottom painted black.

NOTE: In Southeast Asia, this design is unique to Thailand.

Concrete roads are common in Thailand. They often have a large square shaped pattern.

NOTE: In Southeast Asia, these can also be found commonly in the Philippines, and less commonly in Indonesia.

Thai poles are square and have small holes running vertically up the pole. 

NOTE: You will see similar poles in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Make sure to look for other clues before guessing.

Thai script is compact and in many fonts has tiny circles within most letters.

NOTE: The Cambodian (Khmer) script often has longer lines and more accents underneath the lettering, as opposed to the Thai script. The Lao script looks similar to the Thai script. Make sure to check the driving side before guessing.

Thailand has yellow middle lines. These middle lines are either solid or dashed lines.

NOTE: Malaysia only has white middle lines.

Street light poles have red-and-black or black-and-white stripes on the bottom.

Thailand has very distinct long, thin lamp posts that hang over the side of the road.

Directional signs on smaller roads are white, and are composed of two signs: one with an arrow at the bottom, and one with the information at the top. These can have place names. When they do not, you will see them as just the road number with a Garuda. Moreover, highway signs are green, and frequently feature the place names in Latin script below the Thai name.

These two road markers are generally found in Thailand. They will either have a white or a black Garuda on them.

NOTE: White Garudas are found on country roads and black ones are found on province roads.

Thailand often has many flags lining the side of its streets. Aside from the national flag, you can often see royal flags, which are usually yellow.

These distinctive green signs can be found all around Thailand, often in small villages.

NOTE: You will not find this sign in any other country.

Thai landline phone numbers have 9 digits. The first digits of phone numbers are the area code. The Bangkok area code is 02, the other area codes have three digits. The area codes are grouped, so even just learning the first digit is useful.

NOTE: Mobile phone numbers start with 08 or 09 and have 10 digits. None of these numbers overlap with the area codes. Numbers starting with 06 are also not regional.

Thailand has two regions that are relatively flat and dry compared to other areas. One north of Bangkok, the other more east.

NOTE: The eastern area feels sometimes a bit drier than the area north of Bangkok.

Tall mountains are most often seen in northwestern Thailand.

NOTE: Some parts of the southern peninsular part are also mountainous.

Over 90% of the palm oil in Thailand is produced in the south. This means that palm plantations are most often seen in southern Thailand.

Dark red soil is commonly seen near the city of Vientiane in Laos.

NOTE: Although particularly common in this area, this soil colour is also occasionally found in other parts of the country.

Rubber wood plantations are typically seen in Thailand. Most of them are located in the south. You can recognize them by the small, black taps on the bottom of the tree's trunk.

A majority of Thailand’s rice cultivation occurs within the highlighted area.

You will often see these nets on poles in the highlighted areas, especially the darker regions. Not all poles will have them, but a lot of them will. They are especially common in flatter coastal regions. This specifically applies to wire nets, not metal or plastic ones, which can be found elsewhere.

NOTE: You may see nets in other regions, but they are very unlikely to be found in a region that is not highlighted.

If you see insulators with 7 or 8 ridges, you will most likely be in the state of Chiang Rai or the southern half of the peninsula (Red and Light Red). In the southernmost provinces, you may even see 10 or 11 ridges (Light Red).

NOTE: In these regions, you may still find 5 or 6 ridges on insulators, as these are the standard amount throughout the country.

This rare Google car with a visible mirror is only found in far southern Thailand.

NOTE: Due to most of the coverage being overwritten by new Generation 4, this car is rarely seen.

This rare Google car is only found on the island of Ko Sichang. It is recognizable due to the bar(s) protruding out of the blur.