Why do Thais almost never use intentional body language or hand gestures?

Why does it seem that Thais so rarely use intentional body language or hand gestures to supplement verbal communication?

They never point, beckon, shrug, raise their eyebrows, roll their eyes, point with their head, raise their arms in frustration, etc. They simply aren’t expressive.

I can often recognize when someone who looks Thai isn’t actually Thai, because they’ll give themselves away by being more expressive than a Thai would be.

Example: Yesterday I was walking in the rain and stopped at a place where tuk-tuks were supposedly coming regularly. I stopped upon a small group of people and asked them if this was the place to catch a tuk-tuk and one of them immediately answered in quite good English, “yes it’s here, you have to wait in line.”

Then, to my surprise, she energetically beckoned with her arm for me to come stand underneath the rain shelter where it was dry, and then pointed above me where the edge of the tent shelter was dripping. To me these hand gestures were dead giveaways that she wasn’t Thai (although she looked Thai). I asked her where she was from and she said, unsurprisingly, “I’m from Laos, I work for an international company”.

Anyone have any good explanation for this? I know that pointing is rude. Are all forms of hand communication considered rude as well? Or is it simply due to Thai shyness?

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