Thai tourists dump boxes of garbage at Swiss waterfall, netizens outraged

[bassman]

_{An act committed by a punch of self centered PIGS! No one else in their world...whether the bus driver or the tourist, whoever is responsible. But most evidence leans one way.}

[sabaii69]

They were just making themselves at 'home'.

[Guitar God]

They're upset about the Thai tourists littering but they have no problem with the Thai men peeing against the trees?

[soistalker]

Third world garbage leaving garbage in the first world. Switzerland is a beautiful country. The Swiss are very careful about keeping their country beautiful. Thais...not so much.

[Tuk Dua]

Easy to track down the group, as the baggage tags will identify the owner of the boxes (passenger involved).

Interesting to note that there is a Thai Airways "Priority" tag attached, and these are only issued to Business Class passengers.

"Management sets example to all employees"

[kwak250]

I recently went to a temple fair that had a small mound of rubbish on the floor next to empty bins .

By the time i got back it had grown huge but bins were just meters away not even full.

I still remember my brother-in-law showing off his newly built house which was spotless and i was impressed until we walked around the back of the house and it looked like a skip where they threw all there rubbish.

They had the big blue bins at the front so why would you throw garbage there?

[sharpjwe]

50000 baht fine for all the guilty and give them a bright t shirt .with .I litter I have no human respect .and put them to pick garbage in shame

[Bobotie]

Easy to track down the group, as the baggage tags will identify the owner of the boxes (passenger involved).

Interesting to note that there is a Thai Airways "Priority" tag attached, and these are only issued to Business Class passengers.

"Management sets example to all employees"

No they are not..someone who has a Thai airways gold card gets a priority tag as well...so stop talking rubbish

[wabothai]

Foreigners bring little food to Thailand.They only bring things they cannot get here.

Asians go to Europe and like to bring their food because it is too expensive for them. Plenty of Thai restaurants all over Europe.

And Switzerland is the most expensive country in the world. At least 3000 baht pp for an evening out at a restaurant.

Probably scared the hell out of them.

Thais litter, Europeans don't.

[joebrown]

Imagine the absolute outrage if the tourists happened to be Chinese...

Chinese don't eat Thai food. They bring their own as well.

Not strictly accurate. I've seen them descend on a 7/11 shop to buy pot-noodles, soon after arriving back at their hotel from a day out sightseeing.

[Jimbo2014]

Just one look at any tourist resort area around Thailand and this is not a surprise. Drive 10 meters up the back of any hotel and you might as well have entered a registered garbage dump. Sooner or later the penny will drop that foreigners actually dont like to holiday in the middle of garbage and refuse. Most beaches are appalling. Anyone game enough to swim bumps into plastic bottles, gets draped in plastic bags. Its insane.

Wake-up Thailand - have a keep Thailand clean campaign, educate the population. Police do your job and fine the crap out of anyone dumping garbage.

[SOTIRIOS]

....quality tourists....don't you know......

[jamie obda]

Did they get charged double to visit the waterfall?

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[Briggsy]

They brought their own food with them from Thailand!!

[Remi080]

Hey .. its about the garbage, not what they bring in from thai. The point is that these people litter where ever and however they can. Educate those fools!

[Bobotie]

Foreigners bring little food to Thailand.They only bring things they cannot get here.

Asians go to Europe and like to bring their food because it is too expensive for them. Plenty of Thai restaurants all over Europe.

And Switzerland is the most expensive country in the world. At least 3000 baht pp for an evening out at a restaurant.

Probably scared the hell out of them.

Thais litter, Europeans don't.

Ah that western superiority shines on through...

Go and look up a Guardian article from jan last year entitled "British litter worst in the world"

Of course i am expecting the retort that this is immigrants and refugees

Edited March 17, 2016 by Bobotie

[augustwest]

Get the cctv tapes and fine everyone 1000 euros each and the parent company 10000euros

[Prbkk]

I also find it ridiculous that they evidently have to bring their own supplies of sticky rice and grilled pork from 8,000+ km away (the tag on the carton says BKK-ZRH), otherwise they probably would starve to death, because Swiss food is oh so terrible - not.

I was on a group tour with Thais to Europe - they even brought the water from Thailand...200 bottles.

How big where the bottles and how many in the tour group ?

About 20 people, 1.5 liter, caused some issue with the custom in Germany

So your saying 20 people boarded a plane in BKK with 300kg of water which is 15kg per person or 10 X 1.5l each...sorry struggling to belive you, as one suspects they wouldnt even be let on the plane in BKK

Sorry but this was a business trip with officials from Thai government and private sector

Of course...the box has a priority luggage tag on it so they were either in business class or are Star Gold in Thai.
Taking food is quite common because of the per diem system whereby a daily allowance is paid for meals ( rate varies by country). Taking food, snacks, being hosted for some meals...they can save big money and straight to pocket. It's a silly system and wide open to abuse.

[dieseldave1951]

Swiss should charge them double to look at attraction too lol, help cover the damage :-) Best place for thais is thailand, they travel badly & are unwilling engage in cultural differences hence why need pack big boxes of thai products .

should charge then the same way western or any visitor from another country that does not look Thai get charged to visit thai tourists areas,maybe the back lash from Thais to their own tourist authority would give some sort of realisation of how un fair this double charging really is ( but i doubt it)

[Gweiloman]

Reading through the posts, it is obvious that most of the posters are not travel experts.

TG970 Bkk - Zrh arrives at 6.55 am. For a lot of groups, not just from Thailand but all parts of Asia, the Rhinefall is the first destination as there isn't much else for tour groups to do at that time of day. As such, they will then drive from Zurich to Schaffhausen and furthermore, admission to the Rhinefalls is free. There is a cafe selling croissants, pastries etc which doesn't open till about 9 or 10 am. The passengers need to have something to eat, a simple breakfast and therefore, the travel agent organising the tour has brought along sticky rice and roast pork for their clients.

This would have been distributed by the tour leader accompanying the group. After the clients have finished eating, they would return their litter to the TL. Chances are that it is the TL who has just left the box there and not the individual clients. It absolutely will not be the driver as the driver would not even be accompanying the group down to the waterfall.

[dieseldave1951]

I also find it ridiculous that they evidently have to bring their own supplies of sticky rice and grilled pork from 8,000+ km away (the tag on the carton says BKK-ZRH), otherwise they probably would starve to death, because Swiss food is oh so terrible - not.

Probably because street food carts over there don't sell sticky rice and pork at the waterfalls. If they did, the Thais wouldn't need to take their own.

If you cannot survive on local food while on an overseas trip lasting a few days, you better should stay home. I think it's one of the great pleasures of traveling to explore and discover the local food.

You think.. ah cultural superiority raises its ugly head again. Different cultures different values, but of course white skinned people are always right. Thai religious rituals are ridiculed while Christians believed someone came back from the dead. All things that don't conform to OUR way of thinking is wrong. Different does not mean wrong, shows actually that your quite inflexible yourself.

what the hell has what you have just written got to do with littering, these dirty people need a reality check (ie) bought to task pay a lumpy fine and made to go back and clear it up

maybe then they might clean up there act in thier own country and pass the experience on to other litter bugs

[dieseldave1951]

I also find it ridiculous that they evidently have to bring their own supplies of sticky rice and grilled pork from 8,000+ km away (the tag on the carton says BKK-ZRH), otherwise they probably would starve to death, because Swiss food is oh so terrible - not.

Is it any more rediculous than the posts i have read on TV were the all knowing farangs are bringing back suitcases of food to Thailand from their own countries ?

Are those farang on 4-day trips?

Maybe my eyes are getting bad, or my comprehension skills are not what they should be, so could you direct me to bit in the article which mentions a 4 day trip...thanks

and the only reason we bring back food from our own countries is because the same sub standard copy here in Thailand is so heaverly taxed or unavailablle

[Gweiloman]

Knowing how prim and proper the Swiss can be, and assuming the coach driver being Swiss, somehow cant see this being the driver somehow..

And sorry to say in Thailandthis MO fits, been to many tourist spots in Thailand and seen the locals just dumping stuff when finished with it

So with all things being equal, could driver have dumped this ?..yes but the higher probability sits with the tourists

The driver can be from any EU nationality i guess. Most Thai visit 7 EU countries in like 4 days. They sit in the coach ALL DAY long....And even bring their own cheap food it seems....maybe it's time for some attitude adjustment?

You are completely outdated on the touristic scene in Europe.

There are very few pajama tours from Thailand these days. Tours that cover 4 countries or more typically lasts around 10-12 days. Agents are also selling a lot of what is known in the trade as mono destination tours ie single country (Italy, Germany etc). So a lot of them don't sit in the coach all day long - they do however shop all day long.

As to bringing their own cheap food - as I mentioned in my other post, this is just breakfast on arrival for the group. This is very common for a lot of tour groups. Furthermore, a lot of Thai groups are spending as much as 25-30 Euros or more per pax for group meals. There are also a lot of Thai groups eating at Michelin starred restaurants all over Europe.

Maybe you should get your attitude adjusted instead.

[Gweiloman]

I also find it ridiculous that they evidently have to bring their own supplies of sticky rice and grilled pork from 8,000+ km away (the tag on the carton says BKK-ZRH), otherwise they probably would starve to death, because Swiss food is oh so terrible - not.

Actually, Swiss food is quite terrible. Spaetzle, roesti, schnitzel, bratwurst......

[Bobotie]

I also find it ridiculous that they evidently have to bring their own supplies of sticky rice and grilled pork from 8,000+ km away (the tag on the carton says BKK-ZRH), otherwise they probably would starve to death, because Swiss food is oh so terrible - not.

Actually, Swiss food is quite terrible. Spaetzle, roesti, schnitzel, bratwurst......

The chocolate is nice...thats a swiss vegtable

[ttthailand]

It's so nice that the Swiss make the Thais fill right at home. They act like they never left Thailand.

[dieseldave1951]

Foreigners bring little food to Thailand.They only bring things they cannot get here.

Asians go to Europe and like to bring their food because it is too expensive for them. Plenty of Thai restaurants all over Europe.

And Switzerland is the most expensive country in the world. At least 3000 baht pp for an evening out at a restaurant.

Probably scared the hell out of them.

Thais litter, Europeans don't.

Ah that western superiority shines on through...

Go and look up a Guardian article from jan last year entitled "British litter worst in the world"

Of course i am expecting the retort that this is immigrants,and refugees

AHH so you must be from somwere around asia then (Ah that western superiority shines on through...)"British litter worst in the world" written by an American humourist yeah that carries some weight, ( they can talk) people in glass houses should not throw stones

[ThaiKneeTim]

As has already been pointed out, it's their culture, it's all they've ever known. How are you supposed to know what's wrong if you've never known anything different?

One of the things you have to be aware of, if you're a seasoned traveller, is local customs, who among us can say they've never unknowingly transgressed local customs! Only recently my gf has to tell me to uncross my legs as I say waiting for her in the local temple; I'd completely forgotten that showing the souls of your feet in certain situations was deemed rude.

In my culture it's normal to raise your hand with the palm facing forward to indicate refusal, but in some cultures it's considered to be a rude gesture.

Just maybe the Thai visitors were unaware that something they do normally at home was considered rude.

I've known too many people in the UK who routinely throw litter on the ground, and some have become obnoxiously aggressive when I point it out. Take a drive around some of the beauty spots near large towns or cities and witness the fly topping. Take an early morning walk through city centre streets on a Sunday morning and see the mess left behind.

Before you criticise the ways of another country try taking a closer look at the way things are in your own country first.

[outsider]

Really? They can't live without sticky rice and (presumably grilled) pork for a few days? Sheesh...

[HooHaa]

sadly this is too typical, i once hit a desrted beach in rayong after songkran, and there was a huge area covered in rotting seafood in sytrofoam containers that had been left behind. the stench was unbearable, and the owners of a small resort nearby said it happens every major thai holiday.