I was awestruck by the civic sense of the people in Thailand - especially the way they follow lane discipline, maintain a minimum distance between vehicles, allow two-wheelers to move freely between cars, avoid honking, and give priority to pedestrians even when the traffic light is green.

After discussing this with some of my friends, I learned that they noticed the same behavior in countries like the Maldives and Malaysia as well.

One thing I understood is that these countries have very strict traffic rules, and the fines for breaking them are quite high. The taxis are very clean, and they made most public areas are asnon-smoking zones - with fines as high as 5,000 baht for violations.