Jonathan Swift

That's not fair - you're using common sense, logic, and reason against a bunch of uninformed schlubs whose sense of self importance is tied to the loudness of their opinions, and not the validity thereof.

It's called police work. Standard procedure. The story was very short and contained very few facts, certainly not enough to justify some of the nonsense comments here. There is a lot that is not known or disclosed in the story.

Waste of time trying to reason with people who lack basic reasoning skills in the first place. People who are not seeking to educate themselves will not learn. What we have here is a classic pseudo intellectual.

Is English not your native language? There were no such presumptions implied or stated in the story. It was a clear and simple statement of facts, reported without any bias whatsoever. I read it several times. You have an overactive imagination and a persecution complex on behalf of your poor fellow maligned farangs. Are you one of the ones always complaining about the imaginary "racism" of Thai people? Any farang who lives in Thailand is lucky to be here, and anyone who whines and complains about it should self deport and spare the rest of us any further obnoxiousness. It's you who give the rest of us "farangs" a bad name.

I don't know where you were in Bangkok but I've lived there for nine years (Makkasan) and rarely have I had that occur. It tends to happen very late at night when it does, after midnight in places like Nana etc. All you have to do is wave them off and flag down another until someone does use the meter. Most taxi drivers are decent working people. The bad eggs get a lot of attention though. You really ought not to spread misinformation, and should say nothing if you don't know what you're talking about. And you don't. Maybe you're just not a very nice person, and that's why the taxis don't want you.

Weird sounding headline, in the US we don't call the sidewalks pavements, that's mostly what we call roads and parking lots. Technically anything that's paved can be called a pavement. But then the sidewalks in Bangkok are made of ceramic tiles, so what's up with that? They just finished replacing a whole lot of them all along Ratchaprarop and nearby streets. You can see those tiles in the photo.

Motorcycle rider here, accident free since 1987. I think motorbike safety is not something that is emphasized sufficiently in school or at home. The risks are not taken seriously until something happens. I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence, it is a failure in common sense and awareness. I blame parents and schools mostly. Nobody can change or remedy bad parenting, so the slack needs to be taken up by the schools - schools should teach every pre teen and teen about the dangers of reckless driving, there should be graphic films showing the carnage. The dangers of motorbikes should be emphasized, that is the biggest danger to these kids. But I also know this is Thailand. It's very sad, so much grief. Imagine the other driver, knowing that a young girl died right in front of him as he sat helpless.

"braking", not breaking. You don't know how fast the motorbike was going, do you? A modern vehicle is built so flimsily using mostly plastic, this sheet metal, and very little reinforcement that a front end of a car just about explodes upon any serious impact. At the posted speed limit a motorbike is heavy enough to become a deadly projectile if it hits head on. This is not a fender bender event. Why would you want to shift blame to the driver?

Seized as evidence

"He then crossed the lane and crashed into his taxi from the front and slammed into the overpass railings, which sadly amputated his finger.". Sadly.

I have a better idea. Deport all of the flaming bigots such as yourselves as undesirables.

For those of you concerned about the money being mismanaged, I think it's still better to give with high hopes attached than to withhold because of something that might or might not happen. We shouldn't let cynicism take over our thought process. Then the bad guys win

Next time try "I know you are but what am I". Same level as your comment. Theirs was a legitimate comment. Some people do such things as much for their own egos as the other person. The phrase was some people. Some. Maybe 1%. Maybe 10%. Capiche?

You seem to be as full of prejudice yourself as you are suggesting. I see posts that are very likely as much self congratulatory as not. There is no cause for you to "perceive" the mindset of the commenter to be "Thai good - foreigner bad". The commenter made an observation and a speculation. There was no hint otherwise as to his mindset or opinions. Project much?

Wonderful story, the world needs people like you. More doers and less complainers. I have done similar things for Thai people in need, and will always continue to do so. This country saved me from what would have been a wretched life and a dim future.

Siamese twins

If I donate, I will not broadcast that fact here. Nor anywhere else. I don't need praise and a pat on the back for simple human compassion.

Because they are not always giving out of pure kindness and compassion, sometimes just as much for praise and to make them feel good about themselves. Celebrities do it all the time.

I donated 2000 baht to a fat overweight male bar singer I know who was out of work because of covid and unable to take care of his family. He asked to borrow it, but I refused to require it be paid back. I just told him when you see someone else in need pay it forward. It doesn't matter to me or most decent people what a needy person looks like. There is something seriously wrong with your perceptions mate, especially with regard to 17 year old females.

I don't know where you go, I find no shortage of cheap beers whenever I want one. Do you understand a thing called inflation? It's a math thing. According to a Thailand inflation calculator, 60 baht ten years ago is now approximately 70 baht today. I see 70 baht beers everywhere. And I see nothing but excellent service wherever I go. I've been here 10 years. Mind you, there are choices available, and I make them accordingly. Maybe you get worse service because they don't like you and your attitude. Nobody likes a complainer. Nice of you to tip occasionally. So you might be entitled to occasional good service. There's that word. Entitled.

We apparently have a new word now, courtesy of Aseannow's anonymous writer - "HIV-ers". How do we pronounce it? Like people who hunt beehives? Hive - ers? Did this writer ever ask an HIV sufferer how they would feel about being called that? They make it sound like having HIV is some kind of sport, like divers, hikers, runners. HIV-ers. I won a gold medal in the HIV-ers marathon championship. Or is it a club? The girl now belongs to the HIV-ers' club, having passed the initiation. What an insult to a person who has a potentially deadly disease and who suffers the stigma from it, trivializing it into an insensitive slur. I've never seen anything more ridiculous. I had Covid. Am I now a Covider? If you have the Flu, are you a Fluer? If you have cancer, are you a Cancerer? Is this a non English speaking person pretending he has enough grasp of the subtleties of the language to create such words and have them make sense? We've seen that in the staff writers here plenty of times as they try to sound dramatic in the tradition of imaginary 1940s newspaper reporters from old Superman or detective TV shows, throwing out obsolete English slang phrases that sound cartoonish in their awkwardness.

I'm ready to kick in a few thousand baht, but will wait until Aseannow takes some direct initiative.

Covid?

Well, if it's a Coupe DeVille it might not be all bad. Make mine a '59 in Parisian Pink, convertible

Your secrecy is misplaced. Tristan Nettles, the American boyfriend/drug dealer, has a video on facebook where he discusses what happened. Seems the Thai police presented her with a document written in Thai that turned out to be a “full confession”. The recruitment of naive young girls as drug mules, informed or uninformed of what they were doing, is common in the business, and prisons worldwide are full of such victims.