Swiss Tourist assaulted by street vendors close to Pattaya Port

[wangsuda]

...so why bother with ridiculous speculation?

To show contrast to all the victim-blaming.

[Baerboxer]

So in your worlds, a Thai street vendor has every right to physically attack someone? If a Thai street vendor doesn't like the way a potential customer acts, or doesn't like to be denied a sale, the proper recourse is to physically attack someone?

Let me give you another scenario: the man was walking and didn't respond to the various vendors hawking their wares. When the vendors became more aggressive in their sales pitch, the man told the Thai vendors (in his native language, of course) to leave him alone. The Thais deemed a refusal as a loss of face and attacked the man. This is probably more along the lines of what happened. And no, I wasn;t there. Neither were you.

"And no, I wasn;t there."

...so why bother with ridiculous speculation?

Probably the same reason as to why you constantly challenge other people wanting to post comments on an open public discussion forum.

No one forces you to read.

[Baerboxer]

Please stop making excuses for the violent thugs and blaming the victim.

Shouldn't do either, without knowing all the facts.

[Jingthing]

Please stop making excuses for the violent thugs and blaming the victim.

Shouldn't do either, without knowing all the facts.

It seems well established he was violently attacked.

[Sviss Geez]

Amazing, all these conjectures from people who were not even there............................

You have to expect the responses you get from a lot of them on ThaiVisa. They got nothing else to do.

Neither do they know how to do anything else.

[Sviss Geez]

How's this for another scenario. I have lived in both Thailand and China and I like the people from both places.

However, just the other day I was asking a Chinese guy who had the obvious appearance of being lost, if he was ok.

He responded to me in some Chinese that you didn't need to understand to understand.

So I responded with the toe of my Australian boot right in his wallet pocket.

And I like the Chinese. My wife was one...

Rule number one: Never believe anything that you hear (or read) and only half of what you see.

Not all farang are polite good guys.

Evidently. "So I responded with the toe of my Australian boot right in his wallet pocket."

[Sviss Geez]

"He had sustained a deep laceration to his head and told Police that the men used a stick to attack him as he was preparing to leave the area on his motorbike"

If he had his helmet on he might not of gotten the "deep laceration" to his head...hang on why wasn't the falang fined for .preparing to leave the area on his motorbike...and not having his helmet on...missed opportunity me thinks

Were you wearing a helmet when you typed your post? Obviously not because the law does not require you to wear one in that situation. Neither does the law require anyone to wear a helmet whilst preparing to use a motorcycle.

[petercool]

Please stop chatting between yourselves and stay on topic. Thank you,

One such post removed and more may follow from here on in.

[watcharacters]

"Police are now urgently attempting to locate and arrest the three men at this time".

This belongs in the TV archives. Those wanting a laugh could read it again.

I have in the past on a few occasions "urgently" needed to use a toilet but I generally manage to plan well enough to not face a crisis stage.

​For me the final thing I take away from the story is to simply not deal with vendors and if one is in Pattaya especially not there.

[Jeremy50]

Yes I agree with the others that said, something have fueled the anger of the street vendors.

Okay no excuses of beating up the guy but at least they didn't use knifes.

Be polite and respectful and this is very unlikely to happen.

Yeah right, be polite, respectful even if someone is bothering you non stop. You could add to the list "be submitted and a total pussy".

Gosh some expats have totally lost their balls.

My grand father's expat neighbor was attacked after he was badly bitten by a men dogs and, after he denied paying for pay for the hospital bills, he reported the fact to the police.

Just because you have never had problems with locals it does not mean others don't. Besides, being a tourist in Thailand does not require one to be informed of every behavior a local may find "disrespectful".

In normal countries if a vendor bothers you just tell him "take a hike pal".

If tourism to Thailand requires an instructions manual it's not the tourist wrong, it's a country gone crazy.

In other words: Thainess.

Well said. Walk firmly and with strength and purpose. Be proud of who you are. Don't take sh>t form the locals, at the end of the day they couldn't give a toss about you, unless they are on your payroll. Thailand is proudly racist, and nobody it seems is telling them how bad that is.

[gandalf12]

What ever the reason and there is more to it than is being disclosed, it doesnt help the tourist industry to grow that is for sure.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Please stop making excuses for the violent thugs and blaming the victim.

Get off your high horse, we're all just speculating. How do you know he didn't take a swing at the vendors first? Maybe they were just defending themselves from a drunk and aggressive farang...such types have been known to visit Pattaya on occasion you know.

[Alan653]

So in your worlds, a Thai street vendor has every right to physically attack someone? If a Thai street vendor doesn't like the way a potential customer acts, or doesn't like to be denied a sale, the proper recourse is to physically attack someone?

Let me give you another scenario: the man was walking and didn't respond to the various vendors hawking their wares. When the vendors became more aggressive in their sales pitch, the man told the Thai vendors (in his native language, of course) to leave him alone. The Thais deemed a refusal as a loss of face and attacked the man. This is probably more along the lines of what happened. And no, I wasn;t there. Neither were you.

How's this for another scenario. I have lived in both Thailand and China and I like the people from both places.

However, just the other day I was asking a Chinese guy who had the obvious appearance of being lost, if he was ok.

He responded to me in some Chinese that you didn't need to understand to understand.

So I responded with the toe of my Australian boot right in his wallet pocket.

And I like the Chinese. My wife was one...

Rule number one: Never believe anything that you hear (or read) and only half of what you see.

Not all farang are polite good guys.

Neither are the vendor's!

[how241]

Humm, I've had 15 years of interactions with Thai street vendors and never been lacerated...and some bloke comes on a holiday and gets smacked in the face. I imagine he threw the F-bomb at them to which they didn't take kindly. Some people have to learn things the hard way.

+1...Same here, have had many dealings with street vendors and Never had a problem or even a bad face given to me. It's all how you act.

[petercool]

Some troll and/or off topic posts removed

[chrisinth]

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That time of night around the pier area these "vendors" could well have been out of their skulls on yaba or whatever.

So could the 'tourist'.

I know he has just been through a traumatic experience and clubbed, but he doesn't look too clever in the OP phot.

Note: not trying to stick up for anyone here (all wrong in my opinion) but there are two sides to the coin. Again, IMO and experience, it takes a lot for a street vendor to resort to violence, although i will admit i don't know them all....................

[alocacoc]

Such incidents - also robbing - happen more often then you think. But many of these stories never reached the press. A friend of mine got attacked for no reason. Luckily he survived. But now he have to live with ugly scratches in his face.

[gandalf12]

What is this "Thainess" that everyone loves to band around these forums? Every country has its own personality and rules as to what is and what is not acceptable. Go to the Middle east and you will see "Arabness" (if I can call it that).

It is an easy get out using the phrase I know but it says nothing in real terms. The UK has the stiff upper lip or is this "Britishness" I don't know and have given up on trying to interpret the way this is used.

Every country has its own uniqueness and whilst we may not agree with it we either accept it or go home. They choice is simple. Maybe we should include "Indecisiveness" in the list

[Basil B]

i very much doubt venders are going to attack you because you didnt buy, he probably provoked them to get the reaction he did

Yes, telling them that their junk is junk...

Edited January 3, 2015 by Basil B

[petercool]

Another off topic post removed

[alex8912]

Humm, I've had 15 years of interactions with Thai street vendors and never been lacerated...and some bloke comes on a holiday and gets smacked in the face. I imagine he threw the F-bomb at them to which they didn't take kindly. Some people have to learn things the hard way.

Its mostly Americans and the lower class of Brits that use a lot of curses in their language not so sure if its the case of Swedes. I know that in my own language (Dutch) in general its not done a lot (unless you work in construction or something like that)

But dropping that word would certainly have angered them, its a good assumption for sure.

You are joking - right?

I know one German PhD candidate who uses the word in virtually every sentence when speaking in English. Many other Europeans I know, including Dutch, use that word far too frequently as they've picked it up from American TV series and movies. Indians use it regularly and its frequency in Australian English is by far the most I hear.

It's an offense to use offensive language in Britain - but a law seemingly rarely enforced these days as it used to be. Low class behavior is not restricted to nationality or by education.

Words that are no longer considered offensive in the West by many, are still considered very offensive in many other areas and will provoke a reaction.

Your post is wrong. You can not say the f word and many other swear words on American series. BTW if you hang out with some Brits it's almost every third word coming out of their mouths. I just spent 9 hours on a flight with a bunch and I had to tell them to shut up as well as a few others did on the plane. It was ridiculous but they finally shut up until we landed and then just started again. Oh yeah and the Dutch rarely swear. (deleted)

Edited January 3, 2015 by petercool
deleted profanity

[Jingthing]

Please stop making excuses for the violent thugs and blaming the victim.

Get off your high horse, we're all just speculating. How do you know he didn't take a swing at the vendors first? Maybe they were just defending themselves from a drunk and aggressive farang...such types have been known to visit Pattaya on occasion you know.

You have a vivid imagination.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[kingalfred]

There are the usual Posters who will defend a Thai whatever the situation and likewise a farang whatever the facts were.

[Jingthing]

There are the usual Posters who will defend a Thai whatever the situation and likewise a farang whatever the facts were.

In this case there was clearly no excuse for violence. If the Swiss dude broke a law the vendors could have called the cops. Stop defending thuggery.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[wow64]

Judging by the point this man poses he has been in LOS for a long time.

Some of the vendors mentioned when they were trying to sell him something he produced a Swiss Army knife. Would you like a fork? would you like a screwdriver? How about some tooth pikes? After three attempts they got violent.

[alocacoc]

Judging by the point this man poses he has been in LOS for a long time.

Some of the vendors mentioned when they were trying to sell him something he produced a Swiss Army knife. Would you like a fork? would you like a screwdriver? How about some tooth pikes? After three attempts they got violent.

Where did you read that? I doubt very very much that a Thai would know how a Swiss Army Knife looks. I guess, rather he produced some Swiss Cheese.

[wow64]

Judging by the point this man poses he has been in LOS for a long time.

Some of the vendors mentioned when they were trying to sell him something he produced a Swiss Army knife. Would you like a fork? would you like a screwdriver? How about some tooth pikes? After three attempts they got violent.

Where did you read that? I doubt very very much that a Thai would know how a Swiss Army Knife looks. I guess, rather he produced some Swiss Cheese.

You are correct they didn't know what it was. Just called it a red thing with everything we sell.. The farang had it. So we had to bash him for not buying our goods. Edited January 3, 2015 by wow64

[Suradit69]

Since we're all just throwing out fact-free observations ... from his arrogant look as he "fingers" the alleged "culprits" in the photo, It's a pretty good bet he tried being just as arrogant and rude with the vendors. As OMG in P said, after fifteen plus years here I've never encountered a street vendor who was especially interested whether or not I bought something ... and certainly the Swiss guy wasn't the only person in the area who didn't buy something.

Doubt he learned anything from the experience.

Humm, I've had 15 years of interactions with Thai street vendors and never been lacerated...and some bloke comes on a holiday and gets smacked in the face. I imagine he threw the F-bomb at them to which they didn't take kindly. Some people have to learn things the hard way.

There seems to be an unwritten forum rule that, absent the facts, or often despite the facts, that the farang in any story is presumed to be an innocent victim ... no proof of innocence or guilt ever required or desired.

[Suradit69]

There are the usual Posters who will defend a Thai whatever the situation and likewise a farang whatever the facts were.

In this case there was clearly no excuse for violence. If the Swiss dude broke a law the vendors could have called the cops. Stop defending thuggery.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

But you are assuming that the Thais were thugs simply because they are Thais and they came away from the conflict unscathed. The Swiss guy, if he felt threatened or verbally abused and before the matter elevated to the level it did, could also have run to the police and complained. It seems he thought he could play tough guy and, like most bullies, ran to mommy or the police in this case when he didn't win.

That scenario doesn't require any more of a vivid imagination than your automatic assumptions.

In the photo, even while talking to the police, he seems to be astride his motorbike, probably so he can make a quick retreat if the "thugs" say boo.

[petercool]

some argumentative posts removed