My Day Out In Patong Phuket.

[Jai Dee]

Nice story tax.

There are good people as well as bad out there... as there are everywhere in the world.

[jdinasia]

Be prepared for a lot more of these incidents.

Thai Nationalism/Xenophobia is increasing at disturbing levels. You can feel it just walking around. You can see it in the news. You can read about it in the papers. You can hear about it from your friends.

*** The only people still pushing Thailand on this forum are those with a vested interest in the Tourism industry there, and thus, trying to protect their diminishing investments from going under. Don't be fooled.

I've only recently got out, moved to Sihanoukville. You can feel the relaxed atmosphere as soon as you arrive.

What a relief.

LOL ... that's more than just a BIT of silliness

[LoveDaBlues]

I'd like to hear the other guys account.

Guy driving a big pick-up truck recklessly hitting his car and doesn't stop.

I wouldn't be too happy, although I wouldn't try to knife the guy, although at times felt like it.

Reckless? How do you figure that? Please explain how Tornado was "reckless"?

[qualtrough]

Let's say you are American and this happened in the US. Would you think, "###### Americans, what scum"? I doubt it very much.

Let's say you are a foreigner in the US and a bunch of Americans beat the sh*t out of you. I'm pretty sure you would think "###### Americans, what scum"

Having lived in the US as a foreigner i can tell you there were quite a few times that i did infact think: "###### Americans, what scum"

Oh I see, that makes it right then?

On another note, I have had a few minor bumps with my truck and one major one.

1. Ran into guys open tailgate. It was an old truck, he didn't care.

2. Pickup ran into back of my truck. No damage to mine, considerable to his. He was very apologetic.

3. Ran into back of another old truck. A few scrapes. Guy was very nice about it, mai pen rai.

4. Flipped my truck up on two wheels, 45%, ran into rear corner of car and ruined that quarter panel and door. Very fortunate nobody was hurt. Driver much nicer than she should have been about it. Insurance came out and promptly handled everything, that was it.

No crowds, no threats, no Thais freaking out about farangs. YMMV.

And yes, I am making an effort to keep a bit more space between my truck and other vehicles.

I do agree that in areas where there is an over concentration of farangs the relationship is sometimes not so hot. That is exactly why I choose not to live in one of those areas.

[LoveDaBlues]

I don't think this has anything to do with the coup, but rather another special date.

Nov 16 -2006!

They changed some of the police leadership and the new guys have brought a new meaning to the word corruption. They don't do anything anymore unless you flash some cash in front of them.

Saw this article: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_19_03_50_4.htm Are you allowed to stop them from entering your bar/restaurant?

Worst part with is that behavior like described in this thread opens the door for foreign "mafia", like the russians. Not very promising....

I love it. Looks like a Thai with some balls stood up to the coppers. Of course, he may have very well been allowing something illegal to happen inside. The point is the cops have to follow proper procedure and not make up the law as they go.

[bobbytwoshoes]

If this had happened in the streets of NYC I guarantee you would have had plenty a New Yorker or two more happy an anxious to help you out.

Sorry again. get well soon.

Uh, not in Chicago apparently. Just saw a video of a tiny female bartender getting the shit kicked out of her by a 6 foot 4 inch drunken off-duty Chicago cop enraged because she wouldn't serve him any more liquor. I mean really beaten. Several men in the bar just stood around looking stupid or fiddled with their phone. If you think people are going to automatically jump in and help you in the US I think you might be surprised sometimes. Might happen, might not, it all depends.

Can't help but notice that Posts like this really bring out the Thai bashers. Not that I expect such reports to cheer people up, but if this happened in your home country, as it well could, most people would write the attackers off as jerks, <deleted>, or the like. Let's say you are American and this happened in the US. Would you think, "###### Americans, what scum"? I doubt it very much. But when it happens here, suddenly the fact that they are Thai is all important and apparently indicative of some racial or social shortcoming shared by all Thais, e.g. they all all violent, are just waiting to attack a farang, and all Thais will instantly jump in to help them do that. That may be true sometimes, but I have seen farangs bash Thais and nobody jumped them, so that is not some unwritten law. In fact, on several ocassions I have seen Thai men cry because a farang shouted at them. So let's cut the crap about all Thais being the same, OK? I wonder why the people who really feel this way stick around here? Hopefully some of them won't be for much longer. Place will be better for their leaving...

And one more thing in case I haven't said enough already. If a group of young men in a car motion you to pull over you probably shouldn't do that just about anywhere in the world. For fcuks sake, who in their right mind would do that??

Ah, finally a thinker, refreshing!

yep makes a change!

Great post!

[Galong]

Things are changing here againts Foreigners. About four months ago a BMW didn't think I got out of the way fast enough and threw something at my car. I followed them to get their license so my wife could tell the police and they tried to run me off the road. We both stopped and then three thai guys came out, one with a machete and one with a scabbard and the other just jumping around. The fat guy kept yelling in thai, "do you know who I am?" I did not. Before the police showed up, I had smashed in the back window of the BMW, smashed in three dents with my fists and ended up chasing the guy with the machete around the the BMW while the fat guy was hiding in the machete. The guy with the scabbard had run down the road. The police showed up, we want all to the police station and the "do you know who I am guy" wanted money for his banged up car. The police said would I pay and I said yes if A. he went to jail or B. I got another whack at him. My wife's whole family showed up and the fat guy's bravado (limited somewhat, by now) went down even further. In the end, I paid nothing. Oh yes, I went Trailer Trash on him and ripped my shirt off while I was trying to chase them all down. I did get a nice cut on my wrist and hand from defelecting away a machete chop and smacking him down. There we a dozen thais watching seemingly cheering me on and giving me the thumbs up sign. They momentarily ran when I was in my blood rage and went at them but then tried to calm me down. The guy had money as it was a new BMW and the costs to fix it must have been pretty high but I think the police told them that what they did was assault and battery or something but my wife's family kept me out of the proceedings and kept saying to me that they "would take care of the 'do you know who I am' guy later on". I feel for you, buddy because what are you supposed to do when you are attacked? You were smart to flail away and get in the open for everybody to see you. As for the farangs who did not help, well, that is another story.

Absolutely the way to handle stuff like this! It's not like you're going to be able to reason with them.

Isn't it a shame that civilized men have to resort to school yard crap in order to either get justice or to protect themselves. This is one of the downsides of living in a third world country (third world mentality and third world police protection at least).

I say FIGHT BACK!!! They are counting on us backing down... FIGHT BACK!!!

Oh, and dude, loved the "I went Trailer Trash on him" bit... well done!

[Galong]

On a related note I'd like to tell my story; I live in Udon Thani and I REALLY BELIEVE the anti-farang sentiment is much more concentrated in/around the tourist areas.

I collided with a Thai who was driving a motorcycle. I was in my Fortuner. A crowd of course quickly gathered; no one at the scene threatened me in any way. I did find out later that the kid's father (the guy on the motorcycle was 17) made the comment "if he tries to leave....." referring to me.

Anyway my insurance paid for everything. The kid's father made a complete ass of himself; demanding 1 million baht blah blah blah. I ended up paying 5K baht for "nam jai". The police were professional and fair. I was cited as was the kid; we both paid fines. The cops said we were both careless in our driving.

My point is: had this happened in a tourist area would the scene have played out the same?

I'm not a coward but believe Tornado has provided a service by posting this. I've just advised my wife NOT to stop for anyone (I won't either) and drive to the police station should something like this happen. And don't get out of the car until their are police around.

I'm 50 now but when I was younger would fight in a second. Only won one fight though; I whipped her ass when she slipped on a wet sidewalk.

Yes, even though I've had some very situations after an accident, I've also had this sort of thing happen. The point is NOT that these events aren't handled like adults, it's that you have to be prepared in case it goes the other way... which in touristy areas seems to be fairly common. A Thai runs into you, then wants to screw you up. Um, what would you do if attacked? Try to reason with someone who is coming at you with a knife or a bunch of his buddies?

Simply not getting out of the car won't work if they break the glass and drag you out now will it?

You did remind me of a fairly funny thing that my wife did. She came home in a bad mood one time and asked me for 500 Baht to pay the police. I asked her what it was for and she told me that a woman in a Benz ran a light and forced her to slam on the brakes. She yelled at the woman driving the Benz. The lady said something that my wife didn't appreciate and as she (my wife) was on a motorbike with her daughter and felt that this woman endangered both of them, decide to bitch-slap the woman. I gladly gave her the money and told her that if she can slap her again in the police station, I'd pay that too.

[penzman]

Real sorry to hear that Tornado.

I really lose it sometimes on the roads when the road viruses pull off their stupid stunts around me. I have to learn to cool down, not easy when insane manoeuvres are performed about every 3 minutes on average. My wife keeps saying I'll get shot someday...

Anyway, you're always welcome if ya wanna move to my moobaan on the East Coast.

Penzman the obotor.

[Robski]

Revenge? Police? Justice? Don't make me laugh. Take it to court and then tell us how it went.

You Farang. Say no more.

[ourmanflint]

well, well....

what a bunch of terrible stories!! It comes as no surprise though as I always suspected that at some point the half wit, half brain mentality of many of these young thai guys would eventiually show itself for waht they really are...

small dick thugs who deserve nothing from anyone, not from farangs returning their ire, nor from those good Thais who helpfully stand around and then disappear when needed to corroborate stories..

What a sad year for Thailand this is turning out to be!!

[Tornado]

Cheers for all of your best wishes, I am back at home now.

120k later for the plastic surgery , I wish I had paid my insurance on time . Breathing a lot better on one side, will probably take a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down and Ill back to being my ugly self.

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters. Anyway it will all work out in the end.

again cheers for the support.

mods feel free to close the thread if you like.

[Prakanong]

Cheers for all of your best wishes, I am back at home now.

120k later for the plastic surgery , I wish I had paid my insurance on time . Breathing a lot better on one side, will probably take a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down and Ill back to being my ugly self.

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters. Anyway it will all work out in the end.

again cheers for the support.

mods feel free to close the thread if you like.

Glad you a feeling a bit better - the swelling will go down - had it a few times myself!

Take care

[bkkmadness]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters. Anyway it will all work out in the end.

again cheers for the support.

mods feel free to close the thread if you like.

Good to see you are getting some research done on the offenders Torny, I can only presume why.

Art of War dude, know your enemy and then go ###### them up.

120 K and still coming out ugly, well I guess they aren't miracle workers!

[dgoz]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

[bkkmadness]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Does Thailand scare you so much dgoz? You need to muster up a set up balls mate.

[kenk3z]

The only theory I can come up with for the two-minute wait before the driver exited his vehicle to confront you - was to make phone calls to his friends for reinforcements to beat up the farang. Would be interesting to have those phone records.

Best wishes for your speedy recovery.

kenk3z

[andook]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Things are sooooo much better in Cambodia then? The country that murdered 25% of its own population....

[KhunMarco]

The only theory I can come up with for the two-minute wait before the driver exited his vehicle to confront you - was to make phone calls to his friends for reinforcements to beat up the farang. Would be interesting to have those phone records.

Best wishes for your speedy recovery.

kenk3z

I would be interested to know why Tornado waited those 2 minutes too...

[terry57]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

dont get to carried away with this dgoz,

you been back to the western world lately as this <deleted> goes on daily where i come from.

and my city is considered one of the safe ones.

[dantilley]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Does Thailand scare you so much dgoz? You need to muster up a set up balls mate.

Good one!

And, anyway, of course it's an isolated incident.

[dgoz]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Does Thailand scare you so much dgoz? You need to muster up a set up balls mate.

I'm a lover not a fighter.

That's why I left Thailand.

Do the new wave of family tourists also need to "muster up some balls" to travel to Thailand?

I'm afraid the answer is "yes they do".

[dgoz]

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters.

Potential tourists beware. This is not an isolated incident.

Things are sooooo much better in Cambodia then? The country that murdered 25% of its own population....

aah, the Khmer Rouge were defeated 28 years ago.

But, be careful if you're a Jew. Don't go to Germany. I hear they're doing some awful stuff to Jews there. Although, I also haven't been keeping up with the news lately so this might have stopped. But don't go just to be on the safe side.

[CarlBkk]

If this had happened in the streets of NYC I guarantee you would have had plenty a New Yorker or two more happy an anxious to help you out.

Sorry again. get well soon.

Uh, not in Chicago apparently. Just saw a video of a tiny female bartender getting the shit kicked out of her by a 6 foot 4 inch drunken off-duty Chicago cop enraged because she wouldn't serve him any more liquor. I mean really beaten. Several men in the bar just stood around looking stupid or fiddled with their phone. If you think people are going to automatically jump in and help you in the US I think you might be surprised sometimes. Might happen, might not, it all depends.

Can't help but notice that Posts like this really bring out the Thai bashers. Not that I expect such reports to cheer people up, but if this happened in your home country, as it well could, most people would write the attackers off as jerks, <deleted>, or the like. Let's say you are American and this happened in the US. Would you think, "###### Americans, what scum"? I doubt it very much. But when it happens here, suddenly the fact that they are Thai is all important and apparently indicative of some racial or social shortcoming shared by all Thais, e.g. they all all violent, are just waiting to attack a farang, and all Thais will instantly jump in to help them do that. That may be true sometimes, but I have seen farangs bash Thais and nobody jumped them, so that is not some unwritten law. In fact, on several ocassions I have seen Thai men cry because a farang shouted at them. So let's cut the crap about all Thais being the same, OK? I wonder why the people who really feel this way stick around here? Hopefully some of them won't be for much longer. Place will be better for their leaving...

And one more thing in case I haven't said enough already. If a group of young men in a car motion you to pull over you probably shouldn't do that just about anywhere in the world. For fcuks sake, who in their right mind would do that??

If I didn't think I made any driving mistake and was getting flashed, I'd probably stop too. I have stopped many times and it's normally for good reason...boot open, lights not working etc. Tornado's not to blame for stopping in this situation.

Thais get verbally bashed because they fight an unfair fight. If a Thai was getting beaten in a western country would all the locals jump in and beat him too as he's a foreigner?

What are the chances of this happening in our homeplace? Ok, you might get an angry chav and his mates asking you to get out of the car, but one guy with a knife actually trying to use it, and then random local bystanders helping the armed man out?! No, I don't think so.

There aren't many stories where a group of farangs beat a Thai up here. Farangs can generally keep their aggression bound a little longer in a bad situation and think before they end up going too far.

A four-on-one fight is an exception in our home countries, and usually, not always quickly results in bystanders or security breaking it up. Here it's the norm - there have been many times where I instictively felt like helping out a Thai guy outside a pub who was being kicked on the ground, but in this country I'd be risking my life to do so alone. I saw it twice last night on Ratchada. It only stops when the police come running.

I'd like to think that a group of farangs would help out a lone farang being beaten unfairly (help out as in shield him/break it up). I wonder how many able farangs were watching Tornado's attack? Lucky he could handle himself...many of us would probably have frozen.

[IraqRon]

Im not sure if I will press charges, due to not wanting a court date in another 2 years (thats how slow it is) and do I need more grief with this sadistic bastard that has no regard for life. The police have given me 1 week to think about it - what would you guys do?

Sounds like a nightmare. Sorry tho hear wats happened to you. I would go to court, it's not so important how long you have to wait for. If you don't do it, this guy will try this again, knowing that the stupid Farang anyway will duck and do nothing. And his friends maybe will do the same. And in time you are waiting for the court date, you may look for a more friendly country to spend your time. Wish you a spedy recovery.

that is insane.

i believe under the law here you can choose to go civil or criminal, not both, pleas correct me if i am wrong, that is how is was explained to a freind of mine who was attacked.

good luck with that nose.

[IraqRon]

Im not sure if I will press charges, due to not wanting a court date in another 2 years (thats how slow it is) and do I need more grief with this sadistic bastard that has no regard for life. The police have given me 1 week to think about it - what would you guys do?

Sounds like a nightmare. Sorry tho hear wats happened to you. I would go to court, it's not so important how long you have to wait for. If you don't do it, this guy will try this again, knowing that the stupid Farang anyway will duck and do nothing. And his friends maybe will do the same. And in time you are waiting for the court date, you may look for a more friendly country to spend your time. Wish you a spedy recovery.

that is insane.

i believe under the law here you can choose to go civil or criminal, not both, pleas correct me if i am wrong, that is how is was explained to a freind of mine who was attacked.

good luck with that nose.

[IraqRon]

I lived in Patong Beach in 05 for 3 to 4 months. I experienced a lot of nasty remarks and snide comments from many of the taxi drivers and other locals. It seems there was and is a lot of angry hostile locals there. I won a few stare downs with many of them, but always felt afterwards that I was foolish to get into that sort of thing with them, since I was on crutches at the time. Sounds like this guy was setting you up for an easy pay off for "damage" to his car. Anyway I live in Chiang Rai now, when not working, and never, ever experience any of this type of thing. Makes me wonder if the guy was Muslim as are many in the south.

Thanks for all of the kind words, it really is appreciated.

To make a few things clear, the guy was still there when the police came, so yes I know who it is and yes I do have his number of his car.

I just met with the police an hour ago and they are still waiting for my say so on pressing charges or leaving them. My Thai friends, say press charges, but now I know where the guy lives/works, thanks to the police telling me exactly where it is - so I have to think hard whilst Im in hospital tomorrow for 2 days.

The police also checked out my car and although I have no damage to the panels of my car, I did have a swipe mark on my back left tyre, it has been rubbed, so maybe I did "hit" his car and wasnt aware of it as my truck is quite large and with the music / bass on, I wouldnt of felt it.

They showed me the alleged collision mark on his car, it is about 4 cm long, no dent, just a black mark on his back colour coded bumper. Typical young hero car with Never Die crap on the back windscreen. I think what has happened is he was backing out and actually hit my car as I was going along, basically he must of backed into me as I was going past, although so slight I didnt feel it, or was changing the music or something. who knows, I didnt feel it anyway and was none the wiser.

so basically I think he would be in the wrong anyway as he was backing out and hit me as I went past. Not that it matters now.

The reason I dont want to press charges is I dont want to put my wife or myself in harms way or have the stress of thinking about bad things. As many here know, my wife was kidnapped last year over a house I was purchasing went sour because of a greedy little thug, who wanted to extort money from us. (that is a whole other story itself) That is being tried next June. It nearly ruined our marriage and we have just reconcilled over the last two months and then another ######ing problem comes.

Sometimes its better to flee and fight another day when things quiet down. One thing I have learnt in life is if someone causes you grief, let it blow over and then one day knock on the door with a bat and say remember me. Fist fights are for the hot headed (many in my younger life), revenge is best served cold.

I suppose the last 9 months has been very difficult for my family here and I am just sick of it, Im sick of the disregard for peoples welfare and Im sick of being stressed over keeping my family and myself safe from really bad people. Since the kidnapping, we have had 24 hour security, we bought two guns and we have a police check point out the front of my house. Even with some of the most powerfull people in Phuket as my family/friends/colleagues you cannot be safe 24 hours a day unless you are away from the problems.

My wife and I have decided to leave Phuket and head upcountry to our land and build a house.

To me Phuket has become a very violent place and Im sick of being nice/looking the other way, when some prick decides to take thier frustrations out on you. I realise its not just Phuket, but it is immaterial to me as this is where I live.

sorry for the sob story, but Im just sick of the people in Phuket and Im sick of the way we get treated even after all of the staff we employ, the taxes we pay and the donations we make to schools etc - I have tried to fit in for to long and this broken nose has made me re evaluate what is important to me and what I am prepared to put up with.

cheers to all.

[bkkmadness]

Makes me wonder if the guy was Muslim as are many in the south.

[chuchok]

Cheers for all of your best wishes, I am back at home now.

120k later for the plastic surgery , I wish I had paid my insurance on time . Breathing a lot better on one side, will probably take a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down and Ill back to being my ugly self.

My mate visited me in hospital last night and said that it was only 1 friend of the guy that jumped in, the rest were farang haters. Anyway it will all work out in the end.

again cheers for the support.

mods feel free to close the thread if you like.

Hope it all goes well me old china.

'spose you could have paid the doctors a bit more, so you could now pass for a Kiwi...

[Ijustwannateach]

Belated best wishes, Tornado... what happened really sucks. Sounds like your plan just to get out of that place is the best thing, from the whole story of your wife and everything. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

From what I've heard and seen over the years, as time goes on, the worst places to be in Thailand are the ones with the highest populations of tourists/foreigners. They attract the worst kind of crowd and in some cases are the worst kind of crowd... present company excluded, of course.

"S"