The week that was in Thailand news - March 27

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The week that was in Thailand news - March 27

Gerry Carter

In the second installment of our new weekly feature, Gerry Carter looks back at the stories hitting the headlines in Thailand over the past seven days.

Part of what makes Thailand so endearing, if not ensnaring, is the quirky news that inspires Westerners and Thais alike to comment on the changing nature of the society in which they live, love, work and play. Examples abounded from the rice fields of Isaan to the cyber world of the rich and famous this week.

But the darker side of the last seven days was also in full view as a series of grisly crimes shook the nation to its core with the local constabulary coming out if not exactly smelling of roses then perhaps perfumed slightly with the kind of fragrant water that will be a feature of next month's New Year Festivities that is Songkran.

So what of the quirky before we get to the grisly?

Certainly the hero of the week was a man with the slightly disarming name of Harold.

He came to light as the, how can we say, slightly older partner in a Thai farang relationship.

However, the grey hair and slightly protruding belly clearly belied great energy as it emerged he had married one of Thailand's foremost young porn starlets.

The buxom and curvaceous "Nong Nat" (alias Kejsarin Chaichaleamphol) revealed her love and admiration for her husband of four years as Harold grinned on, as well he might. And the posted marriage certificate seemed to confirm it.

While posters on Thaivisa lodged comments such as "good luck to him", "there's hope for us all" and the more jealous perhaps with "what's so good at marrying a porn star" relegated to a laughing stock, we can be sure that Harold likewise was looking on highly amused from a distance.

According to Facebook analysis the happy couple seem to have been on a world tour with Nong Nat even welcoming Harold's mum to Thailand with an abundance of kisses a deep wai and a welcoming ride on an elephant.

Nice to see that even the in-laws seem to approve of the union though one wonders what Harold said when he took Nong Nat home to tea. Perhaps mum never inquired about her employment or just didn't care.

We perhaps shall never know as Harold steadfastly refused to answer email requests from Thaivisa.

Suffice to say that a little digging revealed that Harold (Jennings Nesland Junior to complete the name) is an American businessman from Washington state with interests in China who is indeed old enough to be Nong Nat's father though I doubt he cares one jot about that either.

Or indeed Nong Nat who kind of spoiled it all by thanking all her Facebook "friends" after the marriage post for making the story such a great hit on the entertainment sites in Thailand! And there was I thinking it was all about the luuurrve.

Swiftly following on from Harold were the pictures of the Danish man Christian and his bride to be Koko frolicking semi-clad in the paddies of Sisaket in the North East.

The pre-nuptial set of pictures with the bare-chested beefy Dane and pretty Thai amongst the buffalos of her birthplace must have caused a moment's consternation at the Culture Ministry who had complained about the pretties cavorting at the motor show last week.

But maybe Khun Weera, the minister in charge of protecting public morals, was more of a mind to let sleeping soi dogs lie and row in with the overwhelming support that the pictures received online. Or it could have been that seeing the virtual sex show performed at Impact Arena on Friday he was otherwise engaged if not foaming at the mouth.

As far as Koko and Christian go, and they went quite far, even the older generation seem to have just accepted that the days of frowning over holding hands and public displays of affection are over even in a rice field in front of gran.......just so long as a nice dowry is forthcoming, of course.

But alas the happiness and good feeling inspired in Thailand by these lighter cultural phenomena was hardly mirrored in the spate of vicious crimes albeit tempered by some awfully decent police detective work (not an oxymoron for a change) that took place in bringing a variety of villains to a speedy 'fair cop, sorry about that, but I did it to feed my kids, finger pointing, public reenactment' kind of justice.

Top of a ghastly pile of crime was the knife slaying of a pregnant woman that shocked Udon Thani on Sunday.

I suppose it was obvious that the husband did it but officers staked out places as far away as Soi Nana in Bangkok to make a fast arrest and by Thursday they had their man in custody.

Such was the media interest that the press briefing was done in the car park (in the sun no less!) in front of the Udon nick.

Taweesak was paraded around the streets to show his movements in committing the hideous crime though perhaps his "I never thought the police would be waiting for me at home" comment revealed a few gaps in his education of the likelihood of what the local fuzz might do to entrap him.

Other potential master criminals, too, showed they could have paid more attention in crime class.

There was the guy Wuthipong who thought he had pulled a fast one when despite failing to zip up his money belt, losing 50,000 baht in the street and reporting the matter to police he got a lot of it back when a good samaritan handed it in. If Wuthipong was smiling for the cameras then, it didn't last more than a day.

Eagle eyed Chiang Mai officers saw his grinning mug on social media realising he was wanted in a Ya Ba case and quickly clapped him in irons.

Another Darwin award for this hapless dealer.

Other good police work was the swift apprehension of the attempted rapist of a Russian girl in Samui, the alleged child molester brought to book in Ubon within a day, the Phuket bouncers nabbed for killing the Frenchman and the coordinated operation that saw seven Malaysians arrested on a train blockaded south of Hua Hin, as they attempted to export 74 kilos of amphetamines south.

I wonder if they were not just a bit relieved they were arrested here amongst the smiling Thai coppers rather than forces south of the border waiting with a rope in their hands.

No, it was a good week for law enforcement prompting one commenter on the Udon case to say : "I for one am impressed at how quickly the Thai police handled this one." So there was one in the eye (no pun intended on the Russian attacked by a sex show tout in Pattaya's walking street) for all those who think the police just sit about taking bribes.

There is clearly a lot more to the job than just getting an improved salary…

Like the diligence of the off-duty cop dreaming sweetly at home in Lat Prao on Friday.

What more natural thing on hearing a noise outside than to pick up your pistol, lean out the top window and unload eight slugs into the burglar.

Well done all round to the RTP in dealing expeditiously with the the crime problem this week!

Ok, so a whole bunch of undergraduates claimed harassment and assault at the hands of their uniformed protectors and appeared at a news conference in an assortment of bandages; let's face it, they are at uni, so they must have a lot to learn about the big bad world.....

Finally I liked the charming insanity of the irrigation department commenting on the alarming drought situation.

If they thought they were allaying my worries with their comment that "all areas will have sufficient water until July" they had another thing coming.

Maybe I shall just have to switch to drinking beer come the end of June.

-- 2016-03-27