Thailand is probably unique in the world in being the only country not to use either a 24 hour or 12 hour clock. Using a 6 hour clock for 12 hours and a 7/5 hour clock for the other 12 hours makes telling time in the country 'interesting at best'
The system goes back to the old days when each hour was beaten on a drum in villages. There were 2 beats called Tee and Tum, distinguishing between morning and night.
With the arrival of western clocks a more formalised 12 hour clock to bring Thailand in line with western countries was introduced called 'mong' chimes. Each chime was given a times of day ie: morning, afternoon, evening and night. Creating a western style: '1 at night', 4 in the afternoon' and so on....
Thais were unwilling to abandon Tee and Tum and introduce the new system fully so what grew was a hybred of both systems.
Thai time works tike this..... translation are literal.
1am - tee neung - beat 1
2am - tee song - beat 2
3am - tee sam - beat 3
4am - tee see - beat 4
5am - tee ha - beat 5
6am - hok mong chow - 6 chimes in the morning
7am - jet mong chow - 7 chimes in the morning
8am - song mong - 2 chimes
9am - sam mong - 3 chimes
10am - see mong - 4 chimes
11am - ha mong - 5 chimes
midday - thieng wan - midday
1pm - bai neung mong - afternoon 1 chime
2pm - bai song mong - afternoon 2 chimes
3pm - bai sam mong - afternoon 3 chimes
4pm - see mong yen - 4 chimes evening (or less common, bai see mong - afternoon 4 chimes
5pm - ha mong yen - 5 chimes evening
6pm - hok mong yen - 6 chimes evening
7pm - neung tum - 1 beat
8pm - song tum - 2 beat
9pm - sam tum - 3 beat
10pm - see tum - 4 beat
11pm - ha tum - 5 beat
Midnight - thieng koon - midnight
Edited by Paul - 20-Nov-2007 at 02:13