Thaivisa is often criticized for not following up on stories and there are many reasons for this. Not least of all because we are basing most of our content on translations from the Thai press so we are largely dependent on them following up. 

 

There was no danger of the Thai press failing to do that with one of the most followed stories of the year that smacks right at the heart of popular Thai culture. 

 

The interplay between Mia Luang’s or main, legal Thai wives and mistresses or Mia Noi’s sometimes referred to by the gentler minor wife. 

 

Anyone who has been in Thailand for five minutes will know that this is a subject discussed endlessly; something that every soap, every comedy routine and most every liquid gathering of adults features. 

 

Even children get in on the act, though whether Thai adults are children in disguise is a moot point….

 

So no wonder that in February everyone was talking about a wife called Nipapan, in her early thirties, who showed up at her husband’s wedding. 

 

He had been married to her for nearly 16 years, they had two children, but he decided to nip off on the sly and tie the knot in an unregistered Buddhist kind of way with his bit on the side in Chainat. 

 

Nipapan, dressed in highly inappropriate or appropriate black depending on your point of view, took her “tabian somrot” (marriage certificate) that added to the drama. The video included her mother-in-law slapping her son in front of the chanting monks!

 

Soap writers wouldn’t have dared go that far, methinks!

 

But the next episode in the saga was a court date in which Nipapan claimed damages from the woman who wronged her and the court decided to award her 200,000 baht of the 300K she had asked for. 

 

Of course, one suspects that her new “better half” will front up the cash. 

 

Nipapan went online - under her maiden name it appeared - to say she was “sa jai”. This essentially means pleased or satisfied but carries feelings of having put one over on a rival.

 

Sa jai jing jing!

 

She sure did that, telling the media that it was a great day for mia luang’s. Her lawyer Pat said it was a lesson for “third parties”. 

 

The much scorn’d Nipapan went on to say - almost de rigeur - that she’d spend the money on the kids’ education. But also a boob and chin job after she’d shed a few pounds. 

 

Good luck to her, she already looked drop dead gorgeous so it was a wonder why hubby had ditched her in the first place. 

 

Maybe if he has some spare readies he should get a lobotomy in Lopburi.

 

The Soap Opera style of Thai news this week continued with everything related to the Phuket Sandbox - now referred to as the litter box by mischievous onliners. 

 

Friday saw new heights of hilarity when the head of the Phuket Tourism Association was quoted as saying in the Thai press that foreign visitors to the island would have to be legally married in order to share a hotel room. 

 

The report was swiftly followed by a PTA rebuttal saying the chief’s comments were “misinterpreted” during an interview with Thai media. 

 

Miss Interpret, sounds like one of Rooster’s past flings, the “nong sao” of Miss Understanding. 

 

Yes, foreigners would be “allowed to share (rooms) within the framework of Thai legislation”, whatever that meant and all would be revealed when the Government Gazette announces what foreigners can and can’t do on Monday.

 

TAT chief Yutthasak said that was the day when all would be set in stone. In the meantime he told the media that hundreds of flights would be landing in Phuket next month. 

 

It remains to be seen if anyone except the pilot and flight crew is actually on them, however. Several reports suggested 300 tourists (in total) on five flights come Thursday.

 

Barely enough to put any extra prawns on the barbie, especially as none of them will be Chinese. 

 

It’s going to be a doozy of a D-day with Yutthasak and tourism minister Pipat at the end of the red carpet, I suspect. 

 

More sinister than humorous perhaps was the announcement of a command center to track the tourists during their 14 day sojourn in Phuket.

 

Cheeky poster RotBenz8888 said it best referencing the picture: “Let’s see, 8 screens, that’ll be one for every foreigner in the sandbox”. 

 

Not to be outdone amid the madness, Pipat said when he visited the south that his lord and PM was concerned that other PM would ruin the sandbox party - the Phuket Mafia. 

 

Expect another version of the Cosa Nostra, local plod, to be pulling out all the stops to prevent the taxi drivers from charging 1,000 baht to take Johnny Tourist the length of Patong Beach. 

 

Then Yuttasak said that he hoped Brits would be coming as he expected the “angkrit” authorities to stop quarantine for their nationals coming back from Thailand. 

 

As many news stories this week pointed out, the sandbox is just a start but the Thai government has invested heavily in its success and woe betide anyone who gets in the way!

 

On the subject of drugs, the head of the NCB Wanchai pointed out that cocaine was being posted in and heroin and ice was being mailed out of Thailand, mostly to Australia. 

 

It was claimed Nigerian’s were involved in the coke trade but Wanchai’s comment about foreigners being the main customers struck Rooster as a little far-fetched. 

 

Whenever I hear reference to the Narcotics Control Board I remember an occasion more than 30 years ago when in the late night pouring rain I hid out in the garden of their offices in Sukhumvit Soi 15. 

 

I’d just lost my rag with a car that soaked me going through a huge puddle as I walked under my umbrella. I kicked his wing mirror off. I was stalked by the car but was thankful for the NCB undergrowth after I “fled the scene”. 

 

Down in QUOTES - the Queen Of The Eastern Seaboard - it was business as usual. Twenty nine out of work Go-Go dancers (and a hapless farang) were arrested streaming their gyrations with demands for “virtual ladies” drinks at 150 baht a time. 

 

Rooster hasn’t been much of a bar aficionado in the last two decades but I do remember how long is a Nanasecond - the time for a dancer to finish the drink I bought her on Soi 4. 

 

Also in Pattaya 121 Thais and foreigners were arrested and charged with Covid and alcohol violations on Friday night at two “restaurants” and the beach. 

 

The interesting point was that this was at the behest of Chonburi plod. Expect more crackdowns in this regard leading up to D-Day for Phuket on Thursday. 

 

Gambling crackdowns continued nationwide giving the Thai press the chance to mention Euro 2020 at every turn. The delayed tournament is hotting up with the mouthwatering prospect of England messing up again when they play Germany on Tuesday, 11pm Thai time.

 

In lighter news another drama ensued on the Route 36 bypass in Rayong when a roadside durian trader threw a wodge of the smelly fruit at a woman in a car after she reneged on a deal to buy. 

 

You take your chance lady! That’s why across the whole of Asia you see people kneeling to discuss and smell if the fruit is ready or potentially good tasting before the trader cuts it open. 

 

Anyway the local constabulary decided they were as bad as each other and the netizens joked it would’ve been a lot worse if they’d thrown the prickly fruit whole. 

 

That I doubt.

 

Top picture of the week that came from a video, was of a wild elephant that broke into a kitchen in the Hua Hin area. Several worldwide news organisations picked up on the story and it prompted some great photo- shopping.

 

In one Prawit was bursting in to get a midnight snack and in another Burger King decided to replace the pachyderm with a Whopper to advertise their burgers. 

 

Reasons to love the internet rather than castigate it. 

 

In Prachinburi netizens had a field day with a 24 year old corporal who drove his police pick-up through a red light straight into the path of a large truck and was creamed. 

 

His chief fined him 1,000 baht and the trucker - perhaps realizing what side his som tam is buttered - kindly said his insurance would sort out the damage to his ten wheeler.

 

Other noteworthy items this week that caught Rooster’s beady eye were a parrot that swallowed 21 diamonds, a couple of employees who pinched 240 million baht of prepaid phone cards, a 15 year-old girl who needed surgery on her back after carrying heavy school bags and an elephant in Chiang Mai who was painting to raise money for a friend called Dumbo who had eaten some dodgy grass. 

 

Not Anutin’s I might add. 

 

Finally, and to round off the wedding theme this week, there was a story reported by the BBC about a prank advertisement in India that supposedly came from an “opinionated feminist” seeking a marriage partner.

 

They wanted a handsome, young, well-built, rich man who didn’t burp or pass wind.

 

Though I am a man of sorts, Rooster sadly struck out on the other six.

 

Rooster

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-06-27

 

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Where are the pictures?

 

Always look forward to this Sunday read, Rooster. Thank you - please keep up these these few pargraphs of sanity in this increasingly crazy world.

Thank you, Rooster!  Promptly, as always, shared with an editor at the Fortean Times magazine.

17 minutes ago, George Aylesham said:

Always look forward to this Sunday read, Rooster. Thank you - please keep up these these few pargraphs of sanity in this increasingly crazy world.

Ditto...Stuck here in Oz, missing my Durian fix and the odd happy ending together with 3 months in a nice serviced apartment near the beach on Samui and a nice hire scooter. Just priced a holiday on the Ozy tropical coast to find that it'll cost me just as much (which would have included return airfares) for just one lousy week!!

1 hour ago, George Aylesham said:

Always look forward to this Sunday read, Rooster. Thank you - please keep up these these few pargraphs of sanity in this increasingly crazy world.

Thanks for the chuckle Rooster we will see what the Sandbox brings next week. I think the PM have already set the prices, up from 2 years ago, must be inflation!

Looks like you're getting mostly positive reviews this week !   

 

No, Rumak is not going to rain on your party .............. congratulations,  and I will

pass a little wind your way when i stop by

Nice Read as usual Rooster ! ... Thanks !

 

... And 

 

"Nipapan, dressed in highly inappropriate or appropriate black depending on your point of view, took her “tabian somrot” (marriage certificate) that added to the drama. The video included her mother-in-law slapping her son in front of the chanting monks!"

 

Yes what a Great series of articles, Videos and well !!! REAL LIFE ... Thai !!! Drama !!! ...  Those two ? Thai Woman that showed up at that Guys Second ? Wedding gave us !!!  .... Like the Vid of the Mother In-law whacking the Bride Groom ??? Was just Great I thought !!! ... Like almost as good as the Drunken Woman driving through the Expressway Toll Barrier !!! in TV just recently ?  ... 

 

And now for a Great Trinkism !!! "TIT !!!"  This is Thailand !!! ... Thanks B ... And also thanks for keeping it in our littery view also R ... 

 

(Still stuck in Australian, and Wilting again !!! ... as I read about the now increasing Virus Tragedy and the Lock Downs ? ... AGAIN. !!!  ...  With no real certainty either way !!! ...  Liek will I EVER be able to get home with any sort of certainty !!! ... And yes I have drawn a line through the Puhk et Sand Box also, ... Mark mark) ... 

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

a 15 year-old girl who needed surgery on her back after carrying heavy school bags and an elephant in Chiang Mai

Guess I read it wrong the first time! 

Another good read Rooster, Thanks.  I have to wait 90 days to see shat the Thailand

opening of High Season is going to look like.  I do hope that by late Autumn the Thai people will be able to get

a 2nd shot of their vaccine in the local AZ, or mix the first shot with either a Pfizer, Moderna, or even the J & J 

if it is considered okay to mix with. Getting the immunity up against the variants is a bit important.

  I am so happy that I have never been rich enough to even consider a Mia Noi.  As well my old  friend has let me know that,

  one head ache at a time is enough in my life.

  Geezer

Miss the picture of Mia Luang & Mia Noi , just to compare  ....

Bravo ...  Mia Luang handled it elegantly , everybody reasonably happy .

What I am not happy with : the Chief of Phuket Tourist Association 

did NOT ASSURE the tourists -- that the Taxi MAFIA will be stamped out

for eternity .....  a bunch of  .....  ( fill in for your self  ......  )

why isnt the husband paying?  after  all  its  him that cant keep  it  in his  troooosers!