The Most Shocking Thing You Saw Recently

[finninuk]

[ Martin,  the handsome, slim owner commented,

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I don't believe that

[Sir Burr]

On the 9th September, waking up at two in the morning to hysterical screaming from my wife's niece, then finding three strange Thai men in the house, all with knives and one of them pressed to my throat.

That is scary! I'm amazed you made it out of that situation. Why were they in your house? I hope you've sorted out the situation so that they don't return.

They were masked and they were there to rob me. They tied my hands and blind-folded me. The only reason they left, was that they set off the car alarm.

Seven stitches on my head where they chopped me with a machete.

As we speak, a company is installing motion detectors and alarms. Putting up grill-work on all the bedroom windows.

There were three of them in the house and two outside.

The scariest ten minutes of my life.

Edited September 29, 2005 by Sir Burr

[Soph]

Wow - that is hardcore. Five of them as well. Glad you and your family are ok.

[kat]

On the 9th September, waking up at two in the morning to hysterical screaming from my wife's niece, then finding three strange Thai men in the house, all with knives and one of them pressed to my throat.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is scary! I'm amazed you made it out of that situation. Why were they in your house? I hope you've sorted out the situation so that they don't return.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They were masked and they were there to rob me. They tied my hands and blind-folded me. The only reason they left, was that they set off the car alarm.

Seven stitches on my head where they chopped me with a machete.

As we speak, a company is installing motion detectors and alarms. Putting up grill-work on all the bedroom windows.

There were three of them in the house and two outside.

The scariest ten minutes of my life.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is truly horrifying! You've been so quiet about it all this time. You are very lucky to be alive. I'm glad you're taking action by fortifying the security of your home, but I wouldn't stop there. The police unfortunately are useless, but you still need a plan. I'm sorry to say this, but I think they will be back.

I hope you can seek both personal security and legal advice (in the event that you have to kill them if they enter your home again).

Edit: and I think you need a couple of really good, intelligent watch dogs.

Edited September 29, 2005 by kat

[Sir Burr]

Yes Kat, getting a couple of dogs too.

Actually, the MIB were very good. The night after the attack, two police hung out in the sala all night, just in case they came back.

Also, have got a couple of stun-guns that are never more than a few feet away once it gets dark. Don't ask where I got them, but, let me just say again, the cops were very helpful all round.

Asked the cops what would happen if they came back and I "accidently" killed one of them. They said "no problem" if they were on my property and trying to rob me.

The guy whos company is putting in the motion detectors and alarms says that he has never been so busy. There seems to be a crime wave here with lots of break-ins.

These guys were not teenagers, my best guess is that they were in their late twenties, early thirties.

The amazing thing was that all my Thai neighbours came over and apologised. One of them was born in the Soi and he has lived here for 62 years. He says that this is the first incident to ever happen here. It may be the last, but I can't afford to invest in wishful thinking. My house was an easy mark, but, no longer.

[khall64au]

Bad news Sir Burr.. and a machete? So glad you're all OK. Any idea how they broke into your house?

[Sir Burr]

Bad news Sir Burr.. and a machete?  So glad you're all OK. Any idea how they broke into your house?

Thanks K. They got the table and chair under the house (my house is on stilts), used them to climb up to the terrace and then came in through my bedroom window.

My wife's neice heard someone trying to get into her room using a key (her door was locked). She thought that it was my wife just returned home. When she opened the door, they kicked it open and she started screaming which woke me up. Next thing I know, there is a masked man sitting on my chest with the biggest knife I have ever seen pricking my throat with it.

What a nightmare!

[khall64au]

Thank goodness for that car alarm. Did they actually steal much from you?

You've just made me think about getting more bolts on my doors. My windows are barred already!

[LadyinRed]

A bit off-topic but.. I'm glad everyone's ok Sir Burr.

I bought a baseball bat and recently a BB gun (laser guided, with semi-automatic mode, porcelin <sp> pellets) after my house got robbed couple of months back while I was asleep.

How do I test if the BB gun actually hurts someone without killing him/her? The instruction booklet showed me not to shoot myself in the face.

Take care!! And I'm really really glad you and family are fine!

Red

Edited September 29, 2005 by LadyinRed

[Sir Burr]

They didn't actually get away with much. About 4000 Bt in cash, a one baht chain, Visa and Mastercard, and my binoculars. The worst was they took all the keys for house, car and motor-bike. Cost a fortune to change all the locks.

I'm just grateful myself and the niece weren't seriously hurt.

Cops haven't caught them, though we went through mug-shots and checked out a few miscreants that were caught for other crimes.

[kat]

As a single woman, I refuse to live in a house even if it's a better deal for this reason. I was told that house break-ins are very common. However, I realize that it is just a matter of time before they figure out how to break into security-condos.

Edited September 29, 2005 by kat

[StateSix]

The Bangkok Post has a story today (page 5) about 4 little sh*ts who were caught for a series of burglaries in Bangkok. The police seized approximately Bt29m worth of cash and stolen items. They were brothers and ranged from 29 to 33.

I hate burglars with a passion especially since 2 guys broke into my Nans house a few years ago and one ransacked the house while the other sat in the front room with her. I would have given anything to get hold of them. My left wing, liberal views would have gone out of the window. Closely followed by them

[kat]

I have to agree. Once a stranger enters your house, they raise the stakes to a potentially life or death situation for you; enter at your own risk.

[sbk]

God, that is terrible, I would say you certainly win the prize for most shocking thing, and wish you hadn't!

We had something kind of similar happen here, but not to a farang, to a local thai man, he was the "bank" for the local high rollers card game. Someone waited outside his home for him and shot him dead. Then they stole the money. They ended up arresting some local guys for it but it certainly shocked me.

[Sir Burr]

In a way, I'm glad it's happened. I have been far too trusting and complacent about security of the house. If it hadn't of happened, I would never be getting all the security stuff I am now. The next set of burglars might not have been so gentle.

[jackr]

Geez! Sorry to hear about your ordeal, SB, and glad you're all ok. I've often thought about this situation and, although the moo bahn I'm in has loads of guards, it wouldn't take much for any would-be A-hole burglar(s) to get passed them; and, furthermore, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that certain robberies in a nearby estate a few months back was an inside job anyway.

Would there be any recourse if you were to use a stun gun (illegal) on them?, although you did say the cops said no problem if you killed them. If the stun gun would be deemed illegal, how do you knock them out? Baseball bat? I started a gun thread a while back envisioning myself in this situation and how would I go about getting one. Lengthy and expensive process apparently and a lot of in-forum arguing about the relative merrits versus disadvantages, including "if I feel threatened enough to want to own a gun in Muang Thai, perhaps I shouldn't be here" etc; but if the shit hit the fan, as it most definitely does here as your case proves, I'd like to know I could hopefully have a chance in fending off, or knocking off, 5 or 6 machete-wielding attackers from doing me and mine in.

[Sir Burr]

I think somebody said it best on another thread.

Better to go through all the legal problems after killing your attacker(s) than be dead.

[Sporting Dog]

I was riding home from work the other day - thru the rice fields - and there was a fella sitting in front of a big television. Right in the middle of the paddy!!

&lt;deleted&gt;!!??? Must've had a long extension cord for it!!

Still haven't been able to figure out what he was doing.

[craigt3365]

I think somebody said it best on another thread.

Better to go through all the legal problems after killing your attacker(s) than be dead.

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My cousin was an oil exec in Mexico City for many years. His company had everything setup and ready for his immediate depature if something like this happened. They had tickets they could use on a moments notice and had everything necessary for a quick exit. Obviously, this was in case they got in trouble with the law or had somebody after them. He explained it was easier to deal with it outside the country than inside....

Glad to you are OK.

[PETERTHEEATER]

your spider looks a bit like:

Aplopelma minex

Did you trap it/keep it? An online store is selling them for US$167 for a mounted one.

I would like to have a couple but not mounted - just holding hands

[Totster]

your spider looks a bit like:

Aplopelma minex

Did you trap it/keep it? An online store is selling them for US$167 for a mounted one.

I would like to have a couple but not mounted - just holding hands

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he he .. funny !!

totster

Edited October 1, 2005 by Totster

[PETERTHEEATER]

I often tend to find I start to take for granted the shocking or funny or just plain weird things that I see every day here in Thailand.

The other day it was an elephant in the back of a lorry, whizzing down the street, down to the simple things like 4 drunken lads on a motorbike.

Or a not so funny story of the todler running out into the main road and being millimetres away from getting plowed down by a pickup filled with about 30 worked doing about 130km.  Right in front of my eyes - with the father just whisking him up with a big grin on his face as if to say "Mai pen rai" 

Whats the most shocking/weirdist/freakyish thing youve seen recently?

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About 28 years ago, I was standing on the rail platform at Surin station - with wife - waiting for the late night train to BKK. I was carrying our (then 18 months old) son and walked down the platform to show him the 'bang and clang' as the two halves of the train were joined up. The loco with about 10 cars was backing up to the stationary train when people on the other side of the track started running and jumping across the track and climbing up onto the platform. One guy came through just too late and tripped and fell across both lines just as the train came together. After the bang and clang and a lot of shouting the loco pulled forward to reveal three pieces; head and shoulders, torso and hips and legs.

I was aghast until my son pointing said 'man sleeping daddy'.

The train left on time!

Edited October 1, 2005 by PETERTHEEATER

[DeDanan]

Hi All,

The most chilling thing I heard (not seen) was a description from my ex-Thai GF of how her ex-husbands friends (mafia type) dispose of a body without a trace… feed it to the crocodiles in the zoo!!!

No DNA to test after that! Play it safe….

DeDanan.

[lampard10]

This freaked me out a week or so ago when I nearly trod on it in my kitchen.

Any help identifying the spider would be great.

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This one crawled on my knee in the car the other day. I've looked it up and apparantly its the spotted dchoak spider.

Back on topic though, surley the most revolting thing I have seen in Thailand recently was Yorky in swimming trunks

Edited October 8, 2005 by lampard10

[kurgen]

He'd look better in speedos

[Gazza]

I've seen healthier looking corpses.

[craigt3365]

This freaked me out a week or so ago when I nearly trod on it in my kitchen.

Any help identifying the spider would be great.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This one crawled on my knee in the car the other day. I've looked it up and apparantly its the spotted dchoak spider.

Back on topic though, surley the most revolting thing I have seen in Thailand recently was Yorky in swimming trunks

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Man, if that was on my knee while driving, I would wreck for sure! Is it dangerous? Also, great looking pool!

Edited October 8, 2005 by craigt3365

[Gazza]

Man, if that was on my knee while driving, I would wreck for sure! Is it dangerous?

Those spiders make good pets as children like to play with them.

They're actually edible too, although I found the meat to be a little rubbery.

[craigt3365]

Man, if that was on my knee while driving, I would wreck for sure! Is it dangerous?

Those spiders make good pets as children like to play with them.

They're actually edible too, although I found the meat to be a little rubbery.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was going to ask if it was dangerous...I guess not. But definitely scary looking!

I have not gotten into eating bugs...yet. My wife eats all kinds of stuff, but I have only tried ants and ant eggs so far. And that was because she tricked me! And a quick bite of some strange looking bug.

But like she says, everything is served with spicy sauce...so hard to taste anything but the sauce!

[lampard10]

Man, if that was on my knee while driving, I would wreck for sure! Is it dangerous?

Those spiders make good pets as children like to play with them.

They're actually edible too, although I found the meat to be a little rubbery.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was going to ask if it was dangerous...I guess not. But definitely scary looking!

I have not gotten into eating bugs...yet. My wife eats all kinds of stuff, but I have only tried ants and ant eggs so far. And that was because she tricked me! And a quick bite of some strange looking bug.

But like she says, everything is served with spicy sauce...so hard to taste anything but the sauce!

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The Spotted Dchoak Spider is one of a family; There is the Durtee Dchoak which a lot of forum members have met. Then a recent edition is the Tom Mee Cu Purr Dchoak. Of course the most popular is the Jai Dee Dchoak.