riverhigh

"Red flags were placed along the shore, prohibiting swimming and water sports. Despite these warnings, the fatal incident occurred." The article should read "Despite these warnings, middle aged man past his prime went KItesurfing without concern for the potential problems he may cause others. Did he want to show that he had the fitness level of twenty old something? Did he want to show that he knew best and was better than others? Did he have somthing to prove? Who knows? My sympathies go to his family and friends who were left with the mess that he left behind.

I agree with the majority of posters of this thread. Another knee-jerk reactions that addresses the symtoms and not the causes. Complete waste of money! For once, just once, why can't they address vehicle emissions, burning fields, etc. that are clearly the problem. Bangkok is a joke when it comes to pollution and until the hospitals are filled up with people dying of lung cancer nothing will be done.

"Officers fined the foreign man only 500 baht and released him. The foreigner left 5,000 baht in compensation for Arthit and his friends." What happened to the 5,000 baht police fee, oops, I meant the translation fee? Silly me they must have waived the translation fee due to the foreigner's fluency in Thai. No way , he paid only 5,500 baht in total! Lucky for him he was able to pay his way out. Unlucky for us who may run into him when he is is one of his moods. I doubt he has learnt anything from this.

Driving while drunk, no license, stolen motorbike, outstanding debt, resisting arrest, damage to private property ... did I miss anything? In view that he fled the scene of the crime and unwilling to accept responsibility for his actions, one can have little sympathy for this individual even if the rental company was in the wrong. Just another tourist who has to learn the hard way.

Please read the article more caefully. The taxi driver said "They refused to pay the fare. They gave me only 50 baht.” What had happened was that the taxi driver was faced with the unpleasant situation of finding a FX shop for these narcissistic youth or not getting paid. 570 baht may not be a lot of money to you but for a bolt driver it may mean the difference of breaking even that night. After wasting time finding them a supermarket, the driver thoght 200 baht was a fair price for the service. I agree. The arrogrant narcissistic youth thought the driver should be happy with 50 baht. This was an insult. As you have no empathy for the locals and beleive it's okay to get into a cab without money and then demand the driver to find a FX shop for 50 baht, I cannot do business with you. As to your assumption that I have not lived in Thailand that long and do not know how to negotaite with Thais, I will not dignify you with a response. All can I say if you beleive this is the way to negotiate with locals, you are going to get yourself knifed or even worse.

The key sentence in this article is that the trip was booked through Bolt. Let me repeat the word "Bolt" for the foreign tourist sympathisers on this thread. In this case the two entitled-foreigners knew the fare was 570 baht before they got into taxi. This begs the question why did these entitled-foreigners not go to FX shop and exchange the money beforehand . There are plenty of FX shops in Phuket. I will tell you why, these sh%ty young foreigners were just too lazy and beleived the world runs around them. They expected the taxi driver to either accept their foreign currency or find them FX shop. Taking the law into their own hands and attacking a taxi driver over an additional 200 baht fare to find the FX shop is rediculous.

Ahh the invincibility of youth. The adrenaline rush. The look at me, look at me culture. The thrill of making the getaway in Bangkok traffic without concern for the well-being of others. All I see is a bunch of self-indulgent youths who may learn the hard way.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that the bus may have lost control due to excessive speed or abrupt maneuvers" Excessive Speed!! No kidding!! Understatement of the year 2025!! Same old, same old Thai bulls&$t driving. This goes well beyond lack of bus driver training. This ia a Thai cultural problem. After looking at the video it was very fortunate for all concern that no one got killed.

The bolt driver moved his car ... Did I miss something? The tour bus driver is a man baby throwing a tantrum ... needs to go to jail before he hurts someone.

"Mr. Andresen booked a ride to his accommodation near Patak Soi 1, approximately one kilometre from the pick-up point in front of a jewellery store. However, the driver allegedly questioned whether he wanted to go to Phuket International Airport instead." Bulls%$t taxi driver. The taxi hailing company should hand over all the personal details of the driver to the police and ban him for life. The passenger should have got into the taxi, shown the address of the booking, and off to the destination. If the booking showed the destination as the airport then the passenger should be let out. Its not that complicated !! No need for the taxi driver baby tantrum and violence.

Moral of the story don't intervene in someone else's domestic argument. As long they are not killing themselves. Let them continue screaming and shouting. They are not worthy of youur attention, It's not your problem! If you really think something bad is going to happen, then telephone the police. Unfortunately in this situation the Japanese tourist dies and the half thai/ half falang moron, I'm not using the word moron losely, lives another day. I doubt if the moron will do much time in jail as he is not the instigator in this fight.

"foreign man accidentally ignited some fireworks incorrectly, causing an explosion in the middle of a busy street in Soi Buakhao, Pattaya. " The only accident in this article is the foreign man himself. IMHO, he should be the poster child for retroactive abortions. Regardless of igniting the fireworks face down or face up, no one with a modicum of common sense would light a firework on Soi Buakhao. Soi Buakhao is a narrow street with heavy 2 way traffic with little room for pedestrians. A firework could cause multiple accidents.

All I saw in the video was an opportunist mugging. No drunken disorderly behaviour from the Belgian. He was taking a wallk back home from a Christmas event at a respectable time. Stupid Thai kids, a disgrace to their family and community. Not a good look for Pattaya as a family tourist destination. Police will have to get on top of this situation.

" individual, identified as 34-year-old Emmanuel, with "destroying an official document. Turning up at the station in a calm and subdued state, he donned a casual black vest and patterned shorts" 34 years old and acted like an unruly teenager by swallowing a driving violation ticket in front of the police officers. His outfit is a joke and fits his mental age of lets say 15. He needs to grow up. No sense of awareness, still living in high school.

This individual is a joke. Nothing really going on his life other than playing childish games and taking advantage of other people's good nature. Dutch, British, Canadian, American, Russian, Chinese, Romanian, etc .... every nation has them. I had a friend of 40 plus years who demonstrated similar traits. A friend that never really succeeded in life, took advantage of friends/family and never showed any respect to those that helped him out. The type of person that rather pulls people down than pull up his own sucks. Helped him out couple of times, gave him some money and told him to keep the money as I don't lend money to friends. Did he change his life style after being helped out, not a chance. Same old, same old. Cut him lose this year and refuse to talk to him. Ex-friend absolute furious. Keeps sending me rediculous emails talking himself up and critisizing me. There is a good chance that he will go bankrupt, and due to his age will have no family to bail him out. Like the Dutch tourist, a really pathetic person.

Running around naked at 1 am in the morning, knocking on people's doors and causing havok while wielding a knife is criminal behavior and, in my opinion, no joke. No one should be exposed to this behaviour, especially children and the elderly. This self-entitled garbage Individual should be fined, jailed and deported. There is no place for these types of tourists.

Driving without a hemet or valid driver's license. Which part of the ticket does this "entitled" individual not understand? Nothing to do with race, color or religion. Lucky that he was not chjarged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. If this clown was thrown out of the country, I would have litte sympathy.

"Without warning, the foreigner headbutted Mr. Chiwun in the face and shoved him onto a sofa. He then removed his leather belt with a metal buckle and struck Mr. Chiwun multiple times on the face and head, delivering punches as well. Mr. Chiwun fled to the back of the shop to escape the assault." If true, this behaviour is completely unacceptable ... drugs or no drugs. Doesn't matter even if his precious little ego was provoked, this behaviour is unacceptable. The excuse of I was having a bad day OR the drugs or whatever made me do it OR I'm normally a really nice guy ask my friends ... this behaviour is still unacceptable. This individual must be held responsible for his unacceptable behaviour and punished accordingly to prevent this from happening again.

Being Asian himself and from this part of this world, he should have known better. If a Korean friend of his said he was not 100% mentally okay, I would beleive the friend. 4 years of being scammed, that's a long time regardless of the curcumstances. Just my thoughts.

Destiny the stray dog strikes again!!! Another pair of chewable shoes have gone a missing. I think this serious matter should be reported to the local police and all cttv footage in the near vicinity be examined. Photos of Destiny posted in the beach areas effected, warning the innocent foreigners of this shoe-grabbing villain.

Get your popcorn ready for the re-run . Count down to the next coup.

Agree. Even a low paying entry job could get him 10,000 p.a. I feel sorry for his parents. Do I think his intentions were to pay his mother back the money he owed, get off drugs and get job? No, my gut feel is that if he had been successful he would be doing whatever he was doing before. His mother wouldn't have seen a penny of the 10,000.

What's happened! Has Aseannow.com turned into a gay site? For the purpose of gender equality and neutrality, I recommend Aseannow include some young toppless women. This is to cofirm that Aseannow.com is both progressive and inclusive. Failing to do so I will report this serious matter to the Thai Constitutional Court.

Thaksin doesn't understand boundries. Politics and BOT must be kept separate. The primary justification for an independent BOT is that it's necessary to insulate system from short-term political pressures. Without a degree of autonomy, the BOT would be influenced by corrupt election-focused politicians.

“Call out! A Russian man sped out of an alley and crashed into the victims’ motorcycle. The foreigner refused to pay compensation and dared the victims to take the matter to court if they wanted the money.” If this statement is true, this is an act of utter arrogance and intimidation. This behaviour may be the norm in Russia but he forgets, or refuses to accept, that he is a guest of Thailand. Stupid man if he goes to Thai court, it will not turn out well. I have no sympathy for him if he gets shaken down, deported, and black listed.