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In Thailand you may hear a person who arrives late for an appointment joke about being on Thai time' as punctuality is generally a more fluid concept than some Westerners are used to. But there is a specifically Thai way of telling the time which you'll need to learn if you want to avoid being late yourself.

The day is broken up into four periods. From midnight to six in the morning times begin with the word dee (strike), from six in the morning until midday they end with the word chow (morning), from midday to six in the evening they begin with the word bai (afternoon) and from six in the evening until midnight they end with the word tum (thump).

So 3.00 a.m. is dee sahm (lit: strike three) and 9.0 p.m. is sahm tum (lit: three thumps)

Hok tum  or  tee ang keun

Dee neung

Dee sorng

Dee sahm

Hok mohng chow

Neung mohng chow

Hah mohng chow

Tee ang

Bai mohng

Bai sorng mohng

Bai see mohng

Hok mohng yen

Sahm tum

12 midnight

1 am

2 am

3 am

6 am

7 am

11 am

12 noon

1 pm

2 pm

4 pm

6 pm

9 pm