stupid action by me

[HeijoshinCool]

"Has anyone ever been in a fight over here with the police involved ? I am real curious what could have happened ?"

The only time you should wait to see what the police will say is if you lost and you're unconscious.

P.S. Good job. A child was involved.

[robblok]

you did right.....

And you were lucky that the taxi driver didn't know that all he has to do is jumping on your toe....

Yes if he had done then it would have been over and out... or over and out for him.. not sure .. but it would for sure hurt so much that it either incapacitated me or made me real angry.

I was wearing my motorbike half boots they have a bit of toe protection. But this was the first day i could actually go out since i broke it.

[Jubes]

I don't like to get involved in thai disputes/domestics because of not knowing the language so well and the the misunderstandings that can create, if I had been there I would have thought the Thai guy was angry at the two old ladies for bringing/getting a child involved best to stay out of it

[NoshowJones]

Thailiketoo. I have just written a long reply to you and it was blocked because of "blocks of text" I will just say this. All those "keyboard warriors" as you call them, cannot all be wrong.

[amykat]

Good job Robblok ...of course! I just want to put out there a few situations I found myself in ..and I am a lady, with no fighting skils at all ..other than verbally ...

Once, a German/Swiss policeman, visiting here, took a liking to me, and at a small concert, after chatting with me quite a lot, decided to pick up my chair, on the roof of a high rise building, and try to make me dance with him, in this fashion. The "singer" shouted something in Thai to others, which I could not understand, and a pack of guys went after him, kicking him in the gut and trying to take him down. I was so shocked! I jumped out the chair, and went to his defense, because I could not really understand that the other guys felt they were defending me ...and even if so, it was way too much. A few words from me, and I am sure he would have stopped. He was just a bit drunk, thought I was some Swiss woman he met before, and I tried to speak with him in French, as he was to speaking to me, etc. The guys backed off right away when I went and stood in front of him and shoved off the attackers.

Anyway, it was the typical (I know now) pack of Thai guys, against him. I jumped in the middle, and tried to protect him, and they backed off. Before, I used to feel that men wouldn't hit women, and so thought I was a bit safe.

But this has proved NOT to be true, as in another case, I was KICKED IN the FACE, by a guy, with a big boot on and I was severly injured. Although at that point, the guy, tried to apologize, by getting on his knees and wai'ing me ...at which point I picked up a handful of dog shit which happened to be on the ground and ground it into his head!! He ran off like a baby! Actually I can't remember doing it, as I was out of it, from the hit to the head! I was really injured, but that is what people said I did. I have a few missing moments in my memory there.

3rd story of violence, a foreign guy was seriously harrassing me for hours. He seemed out of his mind, didn't know me, and kept swearing at me, calling me a whore, and every name and insult in the book. Just a total stranger! I asked the restaurant people to do something after maybe an hour or two of this. I moved tables, I ignored, etc. He seemed to be an Indian guy who had lived in the US and was taking his resentments against the world, to me, and against women. Anyway, when some guys tried to eject him, he fought back in a feeble way, and then the PACK of Thais attacked like nothing I have ever seen! They were at least 6 guys, beating him, kicking him, and then started picking up the plastic (thank God plastic) chairs and beating him with that! And the chairs were getting broken. At that point, the guy was totally down on the ground, I stepped in between and started yelling at everyone to stop. They stopped! I helped him get a tuk-tuk. Then the stupid ass, came driving by several times yelling threats at us all! He finally left, and nothing more happened.

I have learned, that I will never call on Thais to "help" me unless I feel I might want someone killed! But that they can and will stop, sometimes, if someone intervenes? Is a girl better than a man, not sure. I do feel sure though, that I am not more protected from a beating because I am female. But I guess I would still try, depending on the circumstances.

And if you are getting a beating and have a pile of dog poo around, use it ...they seem scared of it, at least in my case. Although, in my normal frame of mind, not sure I would have done that.

My point is, you don't always have to back down. If I haven't backed down, some of you men might not need to ...but I did think females might have a "pass jail, get $200 free card" as far as this, but as you can see, I didn't have it when I got kicked in the head/face. And that was only in response to a few calm words, while I was sitting in a chair ...not up and fighting. So you never do know, but I guess most of us react on instinct and do the best we can??

And a PS, I have never been in any fights of any kind, ever, anywhere in the world, before here.

[thailiketoo]

AmyKat, if I got your post correctly two or three Farang men abused you and a group of Thai men came to your assistance and you are upset about that?

[robblok]

Thailiketoo. I have just written a long reply to you and it was blocked because of "blocks of text" I will just say this. All those "keyboard warriors" as you call them, cannot all be wrong.

Anonymous posters on Thai Visa can't be wrong? Apparently you don't know about the Thai volunteer pilots who flew T-6's. Or the Thai's that trained the SGU's and fought in Laos during the Vietnam war.

I gave you three/thousands of concrete examples of courageous Thai men that can be easily verified. Will it overcome your prejudice? Probably not. Prejudice is a hard thing to overcome. I gave you facts and you give me rumor and innuendo. I gave you Muey Thai training camps and the Thai volunteer units that fought in Laos during the Vietnam war.

Just as I have seen cctv of a group of Dutch guys kicking an other Dutch guy while he was down on the floor. I am pretty sure that kind of behavior happens everywhere. Though some groups do seem to be more group minded as others.

[amykat]

Well the first one, the German/Swiss guy, I did not consider "abuse" at all, and I doubt he did. The other Indian guy, yes was abusive, but I didn't expect him to get beaten to a pulp,. just to get forced to leave.

And well, yes, I was upset at the level of "defence" they thought was needed. I was new here, and had no idea, about the packs, the people piling on, not even knowing what was going on, etc.

And let me remind you, that when I was a victim, because I calmly said a few "harsh words according to Thais" that nobody defended me, and NOBODY would take me to the police as I wanted. They offered to take me only to the hospital. The police, after I called them, offered a 500 baht fine to the guy, and that was it!

[Robininbkk]

LOL amykat, putting dog shit on someone's head is the worst thing ever for a Thai. The head is considered the most holy body part and a dog is considered one of the lowest creatures, and dog shit, well... That's like kryptonite to Thais.

No kidding here BTW.

[amykat]

I suppose I should just say what my verbal crime was, that needed a kick to my face ... I was sitting on a sofa, and said to someone, "I am really starting not to like you"

BAM!

[amykat]

LOL amykat, putting dog shit on someone's head is the worst thing ever for a Thai. The head is considered the most holy body part and a dog is considered one of the lowest creatures, and dog shit, well... That's like kryptonite to Thais.

No kidding here BTW.

Yes, well, in my right mind, I suppose I would NEVER do that. What are the chances that a pile of dog shit happens to be nearby anyway? So, I did it, it freaked out everyone, and I guess I was the winner, no more kicks or hits, and people running away??

That was just my instinct or something?? But it worked out for me okay! LOL! for sure.

[Beetlejuice]

Good job Robblok ...of course! I just want to put out there a few situations I found myself in ..and I am a lady, with no fighting skils at all ..other than verbally ...

Once, a German/Swiss policeman, visiting here, took a liking to me, and at a small concert, after chatting with me quite a lot, decided to pick up my chair, on the roof of a high rise building, and try to make me dance with him, in this fashion. The "singer" shouted something in Thai to others, which I could not understand, and a pack of guys went after him, kicking him in the gut and trying to take him down. I was so shocked! I jumped out the chair, and went to his defense, because I could not really understand that the other guys felt they were defending me ...and even if so, it was way too much. A few words from me, and I am sure he would have stopped. He was just a bit drunk, thought I was some Swiss woman he met before, and I tried to speak with him in French, as he was to speaking to me, etc. The guys backed off right away when I went and stood in front of him and shoved off the attackers.

Anyway, it was the typical (I know now) pack of Thai guys, against him. I jumped in the middle, and tried to protect him, and they backed off. Before, I used to feel that men wouldn't hit women, and so thought I was a bit safe.

But this has proved NOT to be true, as in another case, I was KICKED IN the FACE, by a guy, with a big boot on and I was severly injured. Although at that point, the guy, tried to apologize, by getting on his knees and wai'ing me ...at which point I picked up a handful of dog shit which happened to be on the ground and ground it into his head!! He ran off like a baby! Actually I can't remember doing it, as I was out of it, from the hit to the head! I was really injured, but that is what people said I did. I have a few missing moments in my memory there.

3rd story of violence, a foreign guy was seriously harrassing me for hours. He seemed out of his mind, didn't know me, and kept swearing at me, calling me a whore, and every name and insult in the book. Just a total stranger! I asked the restaurant people to do something after maybe an hour or two of this. I moved tables, I ignored, etc. He seemed to be an Indian guy who had lived in the US and was taking his resentments against the world, to me, and against women. Anyway, when some guys tried to eject him, he fought back in a feeble way, and then the PACK of Thais attacked like nothing I have ever seen! They were at least 6 guys, beating him, kicking him, and then started picking up the plastic (thank God plastic) chairs and beating him with that! And the chairs were getting broken. At that point, the guy was totally down on the ground, I stepped in between and started yelling at everyone to stop. They stopped! I helped him get a tuk-tuk. Then the stupid ass, came driving by several times yelling threats at us all! He finally left, and nothing more happened.

I have learned, that I will never call on Thais to "help" me unless I feel I might want someone killed! But that they can and will stop, sometimes, if someone intervenes? Is a girl better than a man, not sure. I do feel sure though, that I am not more protected from a beating because I am female. But I guess I would still try, depending on the circumstances.

And if you are getting a beating and have a pile of dog poo around, use it ...they seem scared of it, at least in my case. Although, in my normal frame of mind, not sure I would have done that.

My point is, you don't always have to back down. If I haven't backed down, some of you men might not need to ...but I did think females might have a "pass jail, get $200 free card" as far as this, but as you can see, I didn't have it when I got kicked in the head/face. And that was only in response to a few calm words, while I was sitting in a chair ...not up and fighting. So you never do know, but I guess most of us react on instinct and do the best we can??

And a PS, I have never been in any fights of any kind, ever, anywhere in the world, before here.

I would advise anyone who has a social night out with you, to take out life insurance and make sure their will is up to date.

[thailiketoo]

Dear Mr. Possum,

You have always struck me as a decent bloke. I think reading the above posts not Beetle but the others pretty much makes my point.

[amykat]

Hi Beetlejuice,

That is funny ...but I know you don't mean it? I am pretty much a recluse, with a young child, and pretty damn conservative in all measures! And still I ended up with these experiences. Although I did not have a child when I was out in those situations. Now I am even more reclusive then that period.

But I did want to show, that WE can make a difference, here and there, maybe, who knows, but the risks are big of course. I feel I could not have acted any different way than I did, in my particular cases. And in those cases, I was the winner, more or less. I did save some people from some serious problems I think? I hope I did. And if a similar thing happens again, I will do the same, try to protect the farang. Would I try to protect the Thai ...probably not! But maybe, depends.

I have found it isn't good to be scared here, as a woman ...I have no idea for men. I am only saying, that as a single woman, I have had to fight a few fights, not listed above, with employees trying to extort me and various other things, and I never gave in. And I always pretended to take it to violent extremes ...even though I didn't mean to do that, I just preteneded ,,,and for me it worked! I thought of this as the wild, wild west, and how would a cowboy/girl, deal with that? And then I took those actions. For me, they worked. Maybe I just had weak opponents, and have been lucky?

So far, next week, might be different, but I have no more problems that I know of!

[metisdead]

Some off topic deflection posts have been removed.

[mogandave]

I'm a pretty big guy, but I've been whipped a few times (not in Thailand, and not in the last 25 years) and it was never by anyone bigger than me, and it was always by someone I was sure I could handle.

But you just can't stand by and let some a-hole pull that crap. I'd rather take an ass-whipping then feel like I should have done something and didn't. Good on you.

[CharlieH]

As the saying goes, all it takes for evil ( or bullies) to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Its a tough call, no one can truly say what they would or wouldnt do, until they were in the same situation or faced with identical circumstances, even then, we "think" we might do this or that but actually often instinct and your individual morality/personality etc may override that in the heat of moment.

Hindsight is great, everyone has perfect vision, but sometimes inaction can be more painful, than doing what feels right.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer, its an individuals response.

The OP did what "he" felt was correct, it was (IMO) both admirable and foolish and "could" have had a tragic ending, I am pleased for him it didnt.

[David48]

I'm a pretty big guy, but I've been whipped a few times (not in Thailand, and not in the last 25 years) and it was never by anyone bigger than me, and it was always by someone I was sure I could handle.

Very honest post above ...

I'm an ex-Rugby League Prop ... been in a few scrapes, worked Security occasionally.

Number 1 rule ... tis not the size of the dog in the fight ... but the size of the fight in the dog.

[David48]

BTW ... from me ...

[chrisinth]

Question Rob.

If you hadn't stepped in to pacify the situation, and something bad had happened to the women, would you be able to sleep with that hanging over your head?

Well done mate, calm, assertive, no violence.................................

[yourauntbob]

i try to keep to myself, but if someone maight get hurt due to my inaction, 99% of the time i feel compelled to step in and do the right thing. i may regret this someday, but if i dont i will regret it everyday. think of how different if the post would have been "i saw a taxi driver beat the crap out of an old lady and a young girl while everyone including myself stood their and watched"

you did great in my book dont let this country or any other make you afraid to help someone in need.

Edited February 9, 2014 by yourauntbob

[seajae]

any man that would do this to old women and children is not a man but a gutless coward which pretty well sums up red shirts. They only show balls against defenceless females and run when confronted by a man unless they are in a pack. Mate you did what any man would do, way to go, I would have done the same myself, I cannot handle pathetic arse wipes that do this shit

Edited February 9, 2014 by seajae

[sdanielmcev]

Well done, rob.

[EyesWideOpen]

Was the right thing to do, and what I would have done. If a man was in his home country

and saw some women being abused, he would go to their aid. Why in the world would you

not do it here? Why creep around like a scared mouse in Thailand? But if the taxi driver

starts cursing you in Thai, and goes to the back of the taxi to open the trunk and get a samuri

sword, run like hell... :-)

[thailiketoo]

Was the right thing to do, and what I would have done. If a man was in his home country

and saw some women being abused, he would go to their aid. Why in the world would you

not do it here? Why creep around like a scared mouse in Thailand? But if the taxi driver

starts cursing you in Thai, and goes to the back of the taxi to open the trunk and get a samuri

sword, run like hell... :-)

I think one would. If you were a lot bigger than the abusive person you would. If he was a lot bigger than you; you'd try and get help to go after him.

The only thing that makes this post unbelievable is the OP tried to turn it into a political post by mentioning the abuser was a red shirt for sure.

That in my mind takes away from the believability of the whole post. If he had only left politics out of it then I doubt many would question his motives.

Edited February 10, 2014 by thailiketoo

[Showbags]

Why did you not just rip off your shirt and pucker up those pecs..just like 'The Rock' does.....that would have had him running a mile and the ladies all gaga

[robblok]

Was the right thing to do, and what I would have done. If a man was in his home country

and saw some women being abused, he would go to their aid. Why in the world would you

not do it here? Why creep around like a scared mouse in Thailand? But if the taxi driver

starts cursing you in Thai, and goes to the back of the taxi to open the trunk and get a samuri

sword, run like hell... :-)

I think one would. If you were a lot bigger than the abusive person you would. If he was a lot bigger than you; you'd try and get help to go after him.

The only thing that makes this post unbelievable is the OP tried to turn it into a political post by mentioning the abuser was a red shirt for sure.

That in my mind takes away from the believability of the whole post. If he had only left politics out of it then I doubt many would question his motives.

Sorry mate, but it really was this way. But if it makes you feel better maybe he was just crazy on Yabbaa and the fact that the ladies and child were in protesters dress (you know how flag ribbons and yellow and such obviously protesters) had nothing to do with it.

I believe in the easiest explanation and that is guy was a red shirt as many taxi drivers are.

I was bigger as him that was for sure, but as i said before it was not conscious decision, it was just some older woman (2) and a child getting threatened by a crazy guy. If the guy was wearing a yellow shirt and the child and woman red I would probably have responded the same.. cant say for sure as i did not think.

The fact that i mentioned red shirt was that in my mind that was the reason.. either that or the guy was crazy on drugs but i doubt he had given up that easy then. It was just my way of looking for reason and i find that people usually do things for a reason pure crazy is a lot less common.

[Carl64]

Great work. Maybe next time take a few seconds to think first.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Let the Thais sort it out amongst themselves. How many times do foreigners in Thailand have to be warned!

Perhaps some of us have morals, when we see women and children being confronted by cowards. Perhaps the OP might come to your aid some day eh............

Let the Thais sort out their political problems between themselves. Don't stick your big farang nose where it doesn't belong. But I'm sure all you keyboard white knights feel good posting brave things on anonymous internet forums. Query: If it had been three men or three ladyboys going at it over politics would you have felt the urge to intervene? If not...why? If not, I would suggest your motives are not all that admirable.

[geriatrickid]

So there you are and you state "they pass a parked taxi and the guy gets out shouting at them threatening them I could follow part of it".

OK, so you followed part of it, but you didn't understand all of it did you? Maybe the guy was frustrated? You don't know the events that led up to his outburst do you? What if the man's taxi had been attacked previously, or if he had suffered a loss of business and added expense because of the protests? What if he was barely making ends meet before the protests and now was on the edge? Consider his mindset. Of course he would be angry.

He didn't physically assault anyone, but just let loose a volley of words, right? Well, it is highly doubtful that the chap would have physically attacked those people, but you concluded that he presented a threat, based upon your own bias about presumed redshirts. You had the option of holding back, of restraining yourself until such time as needed, but you moved the event into a possible physical confrontation. Other people were not intervening, but perhaps they too were holding back, waiting. Please understand that you would be doing the right thing had there been a move towards physical assault. However, within the context of the charged atmosphere, I believe you erred. You erred in a good way though. Only you can judge your actions and if it was my wife or daughter, I'd want someone to do the right thing if required, assuming the right thing was needed. The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not there was an actual real chance of a physical assault. I wasn't there, so I don't know.