Latest Udon Mugging

[marshbags]

Today 19-03-06 at 16. 45

I,ve just heard of another mugging near the Tessabahn school ??? in town, where ever that is.

It happened in the daytime and a Farang was hit with a lump of wood, knocked to the ground and had all his money, gold, mobile and other stuff taken.

He is in hospital somewhere i was told but don,t know the location.

He was in a very distressed state i am also told, which is to be expected.

No further info but wonder if anyone else can add to this and possibly give the hospital details so we can check he,s o.k.

Again lets be careful, alert and keep in the busy areas unless your in lots of company, if you don,t mind me saying.

marshbags

[LoveDaBlues]

Marshy, the TW knows where the school is. I don't have a clue but then again I don't know downtown very well. Probably saw a gold chain and that launched the attack. I've never worn jewelry in the states and not here either.

A 2 baht gold chain is 6 months wages for some Thai. Imagine walking alone in the states with a gold chain worth $25,000.....you might as well be shouting....rob me, rob me!!!

I hope no permanent damage to the fellow.

[BKK90210]

Hope he gets well soon....but other than that don't have anything else to add.

Silly to be walking around with the gold chain in that region. With more and more farangs moving to the area. Just like kids in the candy store.....But in this case the candy is the farang!

It's bad enough they viewed you as a walking "ATM"....but now as a walking "Ran Thong" too?

Hope the next one will be a bit more careful and more sesible than the last.

[ray23]

I've noticed a huge change in Udon in the last few years some have been positive, some not.

The more tourist we get the better for business but along with that come the bad folks. Up until this everything seemed to be restrictive the late drinking crowd. I'm sorry to say that this not look good for us. To bad, Udon was one of the safest places I have ever lived. If were lucky this bandito will get caught if not he will be bragging to all his buddies how easy it is and we will have copy cats out doing the same thing.

A little heads up in what you are doing these days isn't a bad idea, but it's still the safest area I have ever lived in. I hope that doesn't change.

The other thing I'm seeing is the Thai's really don't seem to be ingnoring our behaivor as much as they used to, much quicker to confront farrangs then they used to be. Sometimes they don't even bother to smile anymore and I have some very angry looks not because of anything I did, but simply because I'm a farrang. Someone has really gotten the locals attention, remeber if they don't know us they just assume that bad behavior by one means we all conduct our lives in the same way.

It's a shame I'm happy I got to see Udon five years ago, what a wonderful place it was.

We still have people that we conduct business with from over the years adn when I finally get to know the neighbors it's like being ehre five years ago. But these days they really have to get to know you first.

Also today it cost more to fill the tank on my bike then construction workers make per day, getting money can turn almost honest people into dishonest people to survive, and I don't see an end to that quickly. I think it is good idea to be a bit more careful these days.

[scooty]

hi all,

I am in Udon now and one of the lads who got mugged about 6 weeks ago told me that the police had now arrested 6 more youths recentlly in connection with the muggings. altogether now 11 have been arrested so i guess that this is some good news.my advice is if you are walking alone at night and you see a gang of youths , turn back and walk a different way, dont risk walking past them

good luck all

scooty

[LoveDaBlues]

scooty, not meant as a slight to you....but I'm wondering......when you were mugged were you wearing any visible gold?

Hope you weren't hurt too bad.....you call yourself a 'lad' ....how old are you?

[TokyoT]

I am not saying that not wearing a lot of visible gold is not good advice. (wow thats a lot of nots) But to me saying that wearing it is just asking to get robbed, is like people who say the lady wearing the short skirt is just asking to get raped.

It is all about respect. Respect for other people, and respect for rule of law. Something that appears to be lacking with a lot of youths in Thailand and around the world.

[scooty]

scooty, not meant as a slight to you....but I'm wondering......when you were mugged were you wearing any visible gold?

Hope you weren't hurt too bad.....you call yourself a 'lad' ....how old are you?

Love DaBlues, it wasnt me who got mugged, but i understand how you thought it was me as a didnt word my posting very well.

[LoveDaBlues]

scooty, not meant as a slight to you....but I'm wondering......when you were mugged were you wearing any visible gold?

Hope you weren't hurt too bad.....you call yourself a 'lad' ....how old are you?

Love DaBlues, it wasnt me who got mugged, but i understand how you thought it was me as a didnt word my posting very well.

Your post is okay I just mis-read....sorry.

[LoveDaBlues]

I am not saying that not wearing a lot of visible gold is not good advice. (wow thats a lot of nots) But to me saying that wearing it is just asking to get robbed, is like people who say the lady wearing the short skirt is just asking to get raped.

It is all about respect. Respect for other people, and respect for rule of law. Something that appears to be lacking with a lot of youths in Thailand and around the world.

Wearing gold for whatever reason (fashion, ego, etc.) makes a person a more likely target than someone NOT wearing gold; all other things being equal. In Thailand especially it is easy to convert gold jewelry to cash. Why not just wear a threaded necklace of 1,000 baht notes around your neck.......same thing.

I don't know anyone who says that a lady wearing a short skirt is just asking to get raped. Then again, I don't know many people.

[ray23]

Good Point, not the short skirt part

But on the other hand most Thai's are going to assume as farrangs we will have more money in our wallets then the average Thai and we probably will. It must be very easy to sell or convert cell phones here, as they seem to be a target as well.

There are many things that can make you an attractive target. Keeping those to a minimum is a good idea as well as always being aware of what is going on around you, if it doesn't look like a good situation it probably isn't. The same rules apply here as they do any large City.

I find it intersting that we are talking about a teenage gang here, not unlike the group that raped the young girls in Bangkok last week.

Is there something changing in Thai society?

Are both parents working parents because they want more for thier famalies, and youngters don't have supervision? That sounds a bit like America where most famalies have two working parents and kids don't have the same supervision.

The incident that happened as I recall around 4:00 A.M. if indeed these were teenagers why were they out that late?

That would not be acceptable behavior for my teenage child here or in America.

Having had three teenage children I guarantee that you can't always control them unless you have a jail cell in your house.

For those of you are out and about late these days, is that common to see teenagers out, very late at night. It seems to me that I recall it before in my late night days, but they were primarily hanging out around Nam Prajeck Park