Cycling altercation

[Black arab]

Just come back from a local cycle ride up here in chaiyaphum province and my mrs is raving on about a falang that was doing pretty much the same yesterday and was approached by 7 teenagers demanding money.He didnt have any so they beat him up.I was told he went to hospital and police .Rounded up these a holes but not much going to happen i bet. Cant even keep fit without having problems, guess i am back on the bike trainer at home again.

[bluesofa]

That's an odd story?

I cycle around in town and also out in the sticks, never having felt threatened before.

The most that happens to me is people wanting to say hello or wanting to know where I'm going.

I can understand there might be a few undesirables occasionally, usually in built-up areas where Thais are used to dealing with falangs, but not so much in more rural locations?

 

Having said that, I was accosted by a kid (perhaps ten or twelve?) 'demanding' in appalling English that I give him money to top-up his phone.

 

[Black arab]

Well i havent been accosted yet but these teenagers are probably the same ones that have been breaking into people homes  in this village where this other incident happened.Ask the thais in my village and they alledge they are on yaba

[bluesofa]

6 minutes ago, Black arab said:

Well i havent been accosted yet but these teenagers are probably the same ones that have been breaking into people homes  in this village where this other incident happened.Ask the thais in my village and they alledge they are on yaba

OK, that's a fair comment, but worrying if that's the sort of situation that may arise.

 

 

[Black arab]

I am sat outside my house now and some of the village locals have come around and dont want me to cycle out of our village.The parents of some of these boys want to pay some money to the falang apparently so no police action will be taken

[bluesofa]

9 minutes ago, Black arab said:

I am sat outside my house now and some of the village locals have come around and dont want me to cycle out of our village.The parents of some of these boys want to pay some money to the falang apparently so no police action will be taken

At the risk of going slightly OT, it seems the parents want to pay 'some' compensation, rather than the boys accept responsibility for demanding money, followed by assault.

 

I know this is easy to say having no involvement with this, but my thinking would be the assaulted guy should either say no outright, or whatever is offered multiply it by ten - to make the parents suffer financially, thereby the parents would give their kids a hard time that way.

 

[Black arab]

I entirely agree was thinking exactly the same thing.

[wildewillie89]

Quite a few people (including farang) pass through my village on their bikes - so much so that their is a bike path planned to be built. The village has a few drunks/drugged up teenagers in it, but either they know me or are too scared of my dogs to bother me. Usually just try and say hello, take photos of the dogs. I will ask the family if they have heard anything similar happening. My uncle and cousin both are police in Chaiyaphum Muang, did this happen there? Or another area? 

[Black arab]

10 hours ago, wildewillie89 said:

Quite a few people (including farang) pass through my village on their bikes - so much so that their is a bike path planned to be built. The village has a few drunks/drugged up teenagers in it, but either they know me or are too scared of my dogs to bother me. Usually just try and say hello, take photos of the dogs. I will ask the family if they have heard anything similar happening. My uncle and cousin both are police in Chaiyaphum Muang, did this happen there? Or another area? 

We are up in the north east of the province the village was Baan phet amphore phu khiao.Nothing has ever happened to me but i am wary of said teenagers.

[dotpoom]

Even if this did happen....are you going to let a single event dictate the course of your life?

   Strange how we humans focus on a bad event and let all the lovely ones (like people smiling at us and saying hello) drop quickly from our thougjts....why not make them our focus point?

[Andyfez]

I've been warned about walking outside the village perimeter .

Maybe a bit OTT, but yaba  addicts are very unpredictable, and need money for their habit.

 

Edited October 15, 2017 by Andyfez

[wildewillie89]

1 hour ago, dotpoom said:

Even if this did happen....are you going to let a single event dictate the course of your life?

   Strange how we humans focus on a bad event and let all the lovely ones (like people smiling at us and saying hello) drop quickly from our thougjts....why not make them our focus point?

Would tend to agree. By all means live with common sense, but once fear starts to dictate life, then it is time to re-think options. 

[Black arab]

2 hours ago, dotpoom said:

Even if this did happen....are you going to let a single event dictate the course of your life?

   Strange how we humans focus on a bad event and let all the lovely ones (like people smiling at us and saying hello) drop quickly from our thougjts....why not make them our focus point?

No it wont dictate my life, and i assure you thete quite a no. Of nice thais in my village that i get along with daily.But im 55 and i dont really want to chance my arm with half a dozen idiots.Perhaps i will wait until the holidays are over and then resume an early am cycle

[Thaidream]

Compensation is appropriate- but if it was me- I would require the teenagers come and wai me and the parents also wai as they present the compensation-  no wai- the case goes to the police. A thai would expect no less.

[bluesofa]

3 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

Compensation is appropriate- but if it was me- I would require the teenagers come and wai me and the parents also wai as they present the compensation-  no wai- the case goes to the police. A thai would expect no less.

Perhaps they should be made to wai the bicycle too - same as in BKK and the motorcycle taxi driver who was forced to wai the spoilt brat of an actor's Mini Cooper.

That should be humiliating for them...

[thecyclist]

It is not uncommon at all in LOS.I been biking all over Siam for over 25 years, can't count the times I encountered aggressive and threatening behavior,usually just name calling like Farang khee Nok ,Farang kuai(p...k), ahia(monitor lizard)Farang kwai,or they make use of the only English swear word every Thai knows  f... Youuuu , but have also been pushed off the bike by a passing motorcycle, and once hit over the head with a stick in a robbery attempt, one teen in Prachinburi tried to set my ar.e on fire with a lighter etc 

Usually this is not money driven but deepseated racism:It doesn't matter what they say or how nice their smiles, deep down inside they hate/envy us.This is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world.

[Thaidream]

Rather strange- in my 50 years  associating with Thailand and in many interactions with Thais- I have very seldom encountered anything like the poster described. The worst incident I had was from a Bank Manager who described her dislike of foreigners by using a term in Thai that describes foreigners as 'it'- meaning subhuman.  I bit my tongue as my Thai spouse and I needed her approval on a check which we got,  There have been a few times while walking into a restaurant with my Thai spouse that some intoxicated Thai men spoke derisively in Thai which I ignored and made sure we sat nowhere near them.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

1 hour ago, thecyclist said:

It is not uncommon at all in LOS.I been biking all over Siam for over 25 years, can't count the times I encountered aggressive and threatening behavior,usually just name calling like Farang khee Nok ,Farang kuai(p...k), ahia(monitor lizard)Farang kwai,or they make use of the only English swear word every Thai knows  f... Youuuu , but have also been pushed off the bike by a passing motorcycle, and once hit over the head with a stick in a robbery attempt, one teen in Prachinburi tried to set my ar.e on fire with a lighter etc 

Usually this is not money driven but deepseated racism:It doesn't matter what they say or how nice their smiles, deep down inside they hate/envy us.This is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world.

Unfortunately, if you put yourself 'out there' in any way in Thailand, over a number of years incidents will occur to you. I expect it's no worse than in some countries, no better than in some others. The universal mix of bone ignorance, xenophobia, 'otherness' (the dark side of 'Thainess'), intoxicants - these combine in varying degrees to produce ugly scenes from time to time. But that is far from the rule, even in the Internet age; away from tourist areas (which are venal, deceitful and sordid in most tourism-saturated countries), Thais on the whole remain friendly, welcoming and generous of spirit, in my experience. 

[jesimps]

Jeez! They say Pattaya's dangerous. I cycle every other day here and the only probs I have occasionally are with dogs.

[moe666]

I am not buying a couple of stories here, I have only met Thais who were nice and interested where I was from on many of my scooter trips around the country. I Surin I was followed by a Thai kid while I looked for a room. When I stopped he ask me if I had actually ridden from Chiang Mai and when I said yes he was awstuck. He gave me his phone number if I had any problems give him a call.

 

But as every where there is always people who attract trouble, they donot need to instigate any thing it just seems to follow them

[jgarbo]

On 10/14/2017 at 5:00 PM, bluesofa said:

That's an odd story?

I cycle around in town and also out in the sticks, never having felt threatened before.

The most that happens to me is people wanting to say hello or wanting to know where I'm going.

I can understand there might be a few undesirables occasionally, usually in built-up areas where Thais are used to dealing with falangs, but not so much in more rural locations?

 

Having said that, I was accosted by a kid (perhaps ten or twelve?) 'demanding' in appalling English that I give him money to top-up his phone.

 

When accosted by beggars, smile and say (roughly) "Proong nii, sunyaa"  = Tomorrow, I promise. But don't go back for a week. You never say No in Thailand.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, jgarbo said:

When accosted by beggars, smile and say (roughly) "Proong nii, sunyaa"  = Tomorrow, I promise. But don't go back for a week. You never say No in Thailand.

It was me who was accosted by the kid after money. I told him in no uncertain terms to go away.

I noticed he didn't say a word to Thais walking past him on their way in to the 7 Eleven, he only spoke to two ferangs.

 

[Jonmarleesco]

On 10/14/2017 at 5:00 PM, bluesofa said:

That's an odd story?

I cycle around in town and also out in the sticks, never having felt threatened before.

The most that happens to me is people wanting to say hello or wanting to know where I'm going.

I can understand there might be a few undesirables occasionally, usually in built-up areas where Thais are used to dealing with falangs, but not so much in more rural locations?

 

Having said that, I was accosted by a kid (perhaps ten or twelve?) 'demanding' in appalling English that I give him money to top-up his phone.

 

I trust you helped him out? 50 satang should have sufficed.

[greenchair]

On 10/14/2017 at 6:03 PM, Black arab said:

I am sat outside my house now and some of the village locals have come around and dont want me to cycle out of our village.The parents of some of these boys want to pay some money to the falang apparently so no police action will be taken

He really should not let them pay. 

He can ask for compensation at the court and the will get prosecuted to boot. Otherwise they will go on to beat someone else up. The sentence will not be too bad, usually a fine and probation. He in fact will be helping them to learn a lesson. 

[Deserted]

Most cycling clubs have one or two foreigners and I have never heard of this before from all those I have met. I have never encountered it myself and people are usually courteous to cyclists. I suspect it was a sad case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time.