The Week That Was in Thailand News: Living in Thailand can be a serious business

[rooster59]

The Week That Was in Thailand News: Living in Thailand can be a serious business

 

 

The writer of this review was roundly criticized in several quarters last week for not being serious enough – why no mention of the referendum, what about the need for police reform – Thailand is just one big joke to you isn’t it, they hollered.

 

Er yes, but what is your point exactly? No one in their right mind would spend their entire adult life here without seeing the funny side in virtually every aspect of Thai life – I mean that is exactly what the Thais do – how else do you think THEY get through the day?

 

Besides, living amongst Thais is like being in a perpetual state of chortling childhood.

 

Most with a blessed life sentence in Thailand recognize this salient fact but while the last week certainly had its funny side there were some dark forces at work to stretch even the most ribald of residents.

 

Late Thursday night those forces reared their ugly heads with the bombing outrages that started in Soi Bintabaht in Hua Hin, the site of the infamous attack on the Owen family back at Songkran.

 

The twin bombs claimed the life of a somtam seller and injured many others including some ten tourists. Other blasts in the city and further south swiftly followed  that left a total of four innocent people dead and many more seriously injured.

 

Whoever is behind these clearly connected plots is as yet unclear but many will not be surprised that they occurred. Thailand still prides itself as being a country with relatively free movement and for many Thai watchers it will be no shock that bombers have brought their terror to popular cities and tourist destinations. 

 

Indeed for many who have lived here for decades it is surprising that such attacks are not more frequent.

 

Why not Chiang Mai or even Pattaya - after all it could even improve the latter.

 

“Thailand under siege” screamed Thaivisa as PM Prayut asked the press not to sensationalize the events – but it was hard not to think that the perps had raised the bar to siege status and they may feel emboldened to strike again. 

 

For once the police did not say an arrest would be made before lunchtime perhaps remembering the errors of Erawan.

 

Ok, I hope the serious brigade are happy – you can go now and listen to Thai government radio for the latest cassava quotas – the rest of us have some real news to gawk at.

 

And where better to start than with a glorious contradiction – while the whole nation were tramping about like zombies discovering Pokemon forum doom and gloomers were screaming ‘Big Junta is watching you’ as plans to track all visitors by sim cards were unveiled. 

 

The contradiction is that in a game like Pokemon Go people will be only too happy to give their exact location 24/7 yet they can’t bear to think that in other spheres they are being monitored.

 

Anyway, I also felt outraged that they would try to spy on someone as respectable as me – until it was suggested that residents might be exempt. Then I came round to the idea – funny that…

 

In a week in which about 25% of all stories related to Pikachu and his chums one story stood out – the top brass directive ordering all cops to download the game and get acquainted with it! As if they hadn’t done already. 

 

It was meant to be so they could increase national security and stop opportunistic crime but the smiles on the faces of the cops suggested otherwise.

 

Best police quote of the week had to be the Don Muang airport officer asked for help by a passenger who had lost her wallet on a flight.

 

“Don’t ask me, “was his observation, “If you want to get something done…go online”. Not overly helpful, but he was probably busy catching Pokemon.

 

Other police news that caught my eye was the initiative to train Bangkok officers about traffic. Geez – I learnt the expression “rot tit” before I could even say “sawatdee” and here they were being trained in the art of being stuck bumper to bumper for three hours.

 

As some forum posters observed just getting them out of those booths and arresting a few traffic violators might be more helpful – but then maybe that is what the top brass had in mind when they started confiscating their mobile phones at the start of the training.

 

One good way to avoid the horrendous Bangkok traffic is to park and have something to eat instead of trying to get home to the wife – and this week it was great to see that Bangkok has been given the accolade of number one in the world for street food by CNN.

 

Now that made such a change from being heralded as the number one spot on earth for street racing and street walking – I am sure that the tourism and culture ministers must have been delighted.

 

It was quite a serious week for 7 – 11 with the store featuring in no less than three news stories though their bosses will undoubtedly question the mantra that all publicity is good publicity.

 

First up was the 80 year old Thai man who thought a convenience store meant you could just drive in without getting out of your car. 

 

His Civic ended up amid the crisps and chocolate milk while the only excuse he could give was, incongruously, that he was out getting eye drops – eye glasses would have been more beneficial. 

 

The headline “Seventh Heaven Avoided” was one of at least eleven headlines on Thaivisa that tickled the funny bone this week.

 

Later in the week came an altercation caught on CCTV of an irate policeman who wanted to drag someone off from the back of a store in the south for not wearing a helmet. The manageress stood up to the ranting sergeant refusing to let him have his way. 

 

Thailand, times are a changing – I swear this strength in the face of authority is something you wouldn’t have seen years ago. Maybe camera evidence is emboldening the public.

 

Finally came a grisly murder at the counter of another 7-11 in Thonburi when a man shot a mother four times in the stomach. She died and the police know the shooter who had blackmailed her by sending her now estranged husband a video of them having sex.

 

It all sounded vaguely like the drama of the week – the saga of the wife who came home to find her cheating rat of a husband in bed with a girl he found on the internet. 

 

The girl was tossed out without so much as her undies for cover but the wife made the serious mistake of filming the entire thing then sharing it online.

 

She should have known that while the Thais forgive virtually every kind of infidelity known to man and beast they reserve a special dislike for defamation. So while the loss of knickers was one thing the loss of face was quite another.

 

It was hilarious to see all three protagonists lying through their veneered front teeth on TV, radio and in the press - I wondered if the viewing figures for the Thai soaps were down this week as a result with the Thai public spending the entire week slathering online over

the latest developments.

 

The expats on Thaivisa forum got into the “naked sideline girl” as much as the Thais but it was the story of the visit of the cruise liner to Koh Chang that really peaked their viewing figures. 

 

The problem was no one had told the well-heeled passengers who disembarked expecting to be showered in kisses and joy that there was a price to pay – namely the entrance fee to the national park. 

 

I didn’t quite get it myself – having visited the island about 20 times I don’t remember ever paying to step foot on it. Anyway, 320,000 baht was demanded by the park officials to park the boat there for the day and let everyone off to buy tacky elephants and have overpriced khaw phat.

 

The local tourism authority were foaming at the mouth at all that “quality tourism” while the boat staff were furious that no one had told them about the fees. Five bucks a head didn’t seem like much but it was the thought that counts – or the lack of it that left a bad taste.

 

If the Thais were branded as money grubbing by some of the forum posters who hate the idea of anyone being richer than they, their retirement job of moaning about tourists was done for them by a Chinese woman who posted a rambling condemnation of her own nation in a video. 

 

“No wonder everyone hates us,” she bellowed, as her friends tidied all the coral up from the beach and regurgitated their lobster.

 

It was easy to see her point.

 

Seeing the point – in fact seeing virtually every point - was the story of the farang tourist in a see thru dress parading at a Phuket temple. 

 

Outraged Thais could barely turn the other cheek in the face of such outrageous bum cheeks. She was banged – to rights – and ended up doing the ‘wai and apology’ routine that has become standard for all naughty tourists lately.

 

Finally my favorite story of the week was the taxi driver whose passenger left him a male fighting cock on the back seat instead of paying the 400 baht it said on the meter.

 

It may have been fowl but it was funny.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-08-14

[givenall]

For past 10 year here I have avoided most of thais except my wife. Don't really care to be friend with thais and it worked well for me so far

[vukovar77]

I avoided mostly foreigners  and it worked well for me so far.It is much better to speak Thai and socialize with Thais  here!

[draks]

I think I will avoid Thailand they obviously don't like foreigners even the visa situation is aweful.

I have been told Vietnam is better as a foreigner you can even buy a house. Philippines is always said to be dangerous but I tell you as a foreigner here its far safer than Thailand. Not sure where Thailand is heading but it don't look too good does it. With bombs going g off and foreigners getting killed mysteriously falling out of hotel rooms not a good sign. I was going to settle in Thailand but all this is changing my mind . there is more to this than your being g told I am convinced. The tourist industry will suffer after all this I am sure. But they can come to Philippines in relative safety not as good infrastructure as Thailand at the moment but times they are a changing. Gonna stay where I am now. I heard actually quite a lot of foreigners were already leaving Thailand and coming here . its cheaper safer for. Foreigner the visa situation is easy,  as a visitor you can stay 36 months renewing your visa then leave for a day then come back start all over again,simple. Shame cos I have always thought Thailand really was the land of smiles.

[BaiLao]

Unless absolutely necessary, avoid nearly everyone most of the time wherever you are. It's certainly worked for me.

 

But let's not avoid 'rooster59' - at least, in text format! With carefully measured paragraphs, ''The Week That Was" can be a welcome relief. Clearly the author is a cheeky young devil having a whale of a time, as s/he rides roughshod down the humorous corridors of life. Hooray!

[louse1953]

5 hours ago, draks said:

I think I will avoid Thailand they obviously don't like foreigners even the visa situation is aweful.

I have been told Vietnam is better as a foreigner you can even buy a house. Philippines is always said to be dangerous but I tell you as a foreigner here its far safer than Thailand. Not sure where Thailand is heading but it don't look too good does it. With bombs going g off and foreigners getting killed mysteriously falling out of hotel rooms not a good sign. I was going to settle in Thailand but all this is changing my mind . there is more to this than your being g told I am convinced. The tourist industry will suffer after all this I am sure. But they can come to Philippines in relative safety not as good infrastructure as Thailand at the moment but times they are a changing. Gonna stay where I am now. I heard actually quite a lot of foreigners were already leaving Thailand and coming here . its cheaper safer for. Foreigner the visa situation is easy,  as a visitor you can stay 36 months renewing your visa then leave for a day then come back start all over again,simple. Shame cos I have always thought Thailand really was the land of smiles.

You can buy a house in Thailand and a condo.No mystery about falling out of windows,pissed or depressed or accident,or combination of all three.Plenty of bombs and murder in PI And they will never catch up in infrastructure,ever, and the food is the worst in Asia.Visas are easy,if you have half a brain,if not get an agent.I will tell you about Vietnam next month,going for a catchup.I have been a few times and liked it,but couldn't live there.You have heard a lot of things that are wrong.Police and vigalantees going around murdering people doesn't sound like a country i would like to live in.

[Goonerboy]

On 8/14/2016 at 0:37 PM, givenall said:

For past 10 year here I have avoided most of thais except my wife. Don't really care to be friend with thais and it worked well for me so far

Pathetic if you ask me. A true waste of space.