Local Expat Beaten Down By The Tukmaf

[thaigerd]

*sigh*

Another farang gets drunk and ends up being stabbed or beaten up by the dreaded tuk-tuk mafia.

It's curious that the common denominator in all these war stories is the farang being pissed out of his head.

It's also curious that he's now fighting for his life in a Bangkok hospital, but was able to flag down another driver to take him home where (lo and behold) the wife paid his fare.

The story might be true. I dont doubt it. But I suspect there is more to it than we have been told.

Why do these things never happen to people i know?

Just a bit off topic but that's what happened to a very good friend of mine some weeks ago in front of his house:

His little kids are playing on the street(a very small Soi in a village off Chaofa Road).

Suddenly a car(Airport Limousine Service) came speeding through that Soi. My friend jumped on the street and forced him to slow down to protect his children.

The driver started shouting at him but drove away........

Couple of minutes later the driver returned with three "friends" and they started to beating him up with wooden sticks. Neighbours called the Police and the could arrest the driver later, my friend stayed for 2 days in hospital for treatment.

Phuket temper!?

Gerd

[Wolfie]

Especially as Chalong circle is just a stones throw away from the police station. If he was able to get a moto taxi home it probably wasn't that late either so there would still be a fair amount of people and activity around there.

Have you ever been past Chalong Circle after about 9-10pm? It may only be about 50mtrs to the Police station but theres no one on the circle excpet for a few motobike taxi's. You seriously think the motobike taxi riders would interfere if a group of Thais are kicking the sh1t out of some farang for not being able to pay a fare?

I've seen all kinds of stuff going on at the circle, after 10pm, and the cops are no where to be seen. If anything being that close to the police station offers them some kind of protection (the old adage about the safest place to speed is near the police station cos they wont stop you in case your one of them!)

[Wolfie]

The army was used for a coup of the country, I think it'd be a bit overkill to use them to clear out a few Tuk Tuk drivers.

Definitely need to do something about this though, Phuket must be losing a lot of money because of this kind of rubbish going on.

I dunno, removing Toxin would be a brease compaired with ridding phuket of the tuktuk mafia. In fact scrap the idea of the thai army, its not big enough! - Lets draft in the sepos!

[Wolfie]

Most Taxi drivers around the world do not gang up on people and put them in hospital.

Exactly, which makes one wonder if there is more to this story than has been revealed.

but its common knowledge that the Thais fight in mobs, especially the tuk tuk drivers.

[Wolfie]

Believe me, Vespa, there is more to this story, but it just hasn't happened yet. I am stuck on a drilling rig south of Udon Thani, so the story will continue. I am EX-Spec-Ops US Navy, and when the guys from my previous team come down for my wedding in January, the story will continue.

Lol - ive got images of some cheesy Steven Segal Movie where a load of dudes with pony-tails come down to phuket in their black combats and start kicking off against the mafia with a butter knife and a plastic spatula.

Would be funny as h3ll to see, my money is on the tuk tuk drivers!

In all seriousness, as 'EX-Spec-Ops US Navy' i would hope you'd have a touch more intelligence than to come here and kick off some kind of war.

But then maybe that oxymoron "military intelligence" thing holds true

[bkkmadness]

The army was used for a coup of the country, I think it'd be a bit overkill to use them to clear out a few Tuk Tuk drivers.

Definitely need to do something about this though, Phuket must be losing a lot of money because of this kind of rubbish going on.

I dunno, removing Toxin would be a brease compaired with ridding phuket of the tuktuk mafia. In fact scrap the idea of the thai army, its not big enough! - Lets draft in the sepos!

Don't panic Wolfie, we have the Special Ops guys coming in.

[Wolfie]

Don't panic Wolfie, we have the Special Ops guys coming in.

Don't Panic Mr Mannering!

They don't like it up 'em, Mr Mannering!

[smartecosse]

the trouble is that as they "always get away with it" the fcukers think they are invincible

maybe a nice pick ax handle or something round a couple of their heads might convince them otherwise.

we could start a whip round to pay for a speacial outing for some football casuals - actually you could probably sell ringside tickets to offset the cost..............

[Wolfie]

the trouble is that as they "always get away with it" the fcukers think they are invincible

maybe a nice pick ax handle or something round a couple of their heads might convince them otherwise.

Nah, our very own Delta Squadron will go round there and perform some black ops on their ass and the streets will flow with the blood of...

[kasi]

Especially as Chalong circle is just a stones throw away from the police station. If he was able to get a moto taxi home it probably wasn't that late either so there would still be a fair amount of people and activity around there.

Have you ever been past Chalong Circle after about 9-10pm? It may only be about 50mtrs to the Police station but theres no one on the circle excpet for a few motobike taxi's. You seriously think the motobike taxi riders would interfere if a group of Thais are kicking the sh1t out of some farang for not being able to pay a fare?

I've seen all kinds of stuff going on at the circle, after 10pm, and the cops are no where to be seen. If anything being that close to the police station offers them some kind of protection (the old adage about the safest place to speed is near the police station cos they wont stop you in case your one of them!)

Well I'm just agreeing that there is more than meets the eye here.

I've tangled it up once with a gang of thai guys. I would have ended up in the hospital too(actually I did got to the hospital to get some glass removed from my ear, I had the windows of my car smashed in while I was in it) had it not been early in the evening and plenty of people around and the police showed up quick.

I was a bit drunk and provoked the altercation.

And around 9-10 pm there are still quite a few people around Chalong circle. There's the restaurant, the little market and kareoke crowd.

This unfortunate guy was drunk and pushed the wrong buttons.

These thai tuktuk jerks are <deleted> but you have to do something to set them off.

[smartecosse]

perhaps just being a farang with more money than them?

[bkkmadness]

Or just for fun, since they know how easily they can get away with it.

[slackula]

<snip>This unfortunate guy was drunk and pushed the wrong buttons.

These thai tuktuk jerks are &lt;deleted&gt; but you have to do something to set them off.</snip>

Exactly!

[chuchok]

<snip>This unfortunate guy was drunk and pushed the wrong buttons.

These thai tuktuk jerks are &lt;deleted&gt; but you have to do something to set them off.</snip>

Exactly!

Since when was being drunk and "pushing the wrong buttons" be a free for all beating by 4 or 5 guys?

[slackula]

<snip>This unfortunate guy was drunk and pushed the wrong buttons.

These thai tuktuk jerks are &lt;deleted&gt; but you have to do something to set them off.</snip>

Exactly!

Since when was being drunk and "pushing the wrong buttons" be a free for all beating by 4 or 5 guys?

Chuchok, old bean, I do not recall stating that it was right for the poor unfortunate victim to have been beaten.

I merely stated that I think there may be more to this story than currently meets the eye and some other posters have stated similar thoughts, did you even RTFT before going off?

Chill Pill dude, take 2 and call your shrink in the morning

[khall64au]

Or just for fun, since they know how easily they can get away with it.

Totally Maddy - they so get away with it every time. I guess some of these guys have not read the similar 'tuk-tuk violence' thread... where my associate was gang-beaten with a wooden club (a favoured weapon it seems) and ended in hospital for a week with head injury for parking in a "mafia-space". He was NOT drunk by the way. I too was threatened with "trouble" and physically assaulted for the crime of asking where the No Parking sign was after being accosted for the nth time and had carefully avoided their "special zone".

[bkkmadness]

Like I said before, got parents and brother and his girlfriend over in January and Phuket's a place to avoid which doesn't make any sense at all really since it should be Thailand's best destination. It seems they are really making a mess of that island by not solving these relatively simple problems.

Edited December 4, 2006 by bkkmadness

[kasi]

perhaps just being a farang with more money than them?

That's probably a big reason the fuses are so short sometimes.

But a lot of the farang tourists act like complete tits too sometimes.

I've seen a couple of drunken brawls between some brits or aussies. (probably started as disagreement over the number of dimples a certain football player has!)

The veneer of the Land of Smiles is very thin sometimes.

With the amount of amphetamine and alcohol consumed it's a wonder more incidents don't happen.

[simon43]

Since opening my little hotel by the airport, I've chatted to guests about Patong. To a man/woman, they all say that they can't stand Patong, especially the tuk-tuk mafia.

Luckily, there is a lot more to Phuket than just Patong

Simon

[cdnvic]

In all seriousness, as 'EX-Spec-Ops US Navy' i would hope you'd have a touch more intelligence than to come here and kick off some kind of war.

But then maybe that oxymoron "military intelligence" thing holds true

Authentic "special ops" are easy to spot. They're the ones not telling anyone about it.

Edited December 5, 2006 by cdnvic

[Berty]

Things'll never change chaps. Same as the Baht bus mess in Pattaya. Shame really as these people will never learn, however the tourists continue to flock.

[cdnvic]

Things'll never change chaps. Same as the Baht bus mess in Pattaya. Shame really as these people will never learn, however the tourists continue to flock.

...but the Taxi drivers are pricks

What choice do you think the (male) tourists will make?

[pap]

"He had "fallen asleep" in the back"

Why did you put "fallen asleep" in parentheses? Doing so indicates that's not what happened.

"He begged us not to involve the police, or the newspapers."

Why would he do that? That doesn't make sense at all.

Your story does not seem right, and it appears to be simple fear-mongering. Why would you do that?

Say flip, are we on the same island? Do you even live here? Fallen asleep in QUOTES, not parentheses, (geezer) is meant to say, passed out. As I said, had you been paying attention, he went to Patong after a grueling day at work. As far as your grammar, use spell check before you send notes from now on. These ( ) are parentheses, these are quotes " ".

http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/parentheses.html

http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

Why would I engage in fear-mongering. Why would I need to? With all the violence in and around Phuket, there needs to be little story telling, just look around.

("He begged us not to involve the police, or the newspapers."

Why would he do that? That doesn't make sense at all.)

Makes perfect sense. To alert the police would mean the possibility of one of the police knowing one of the assaliants, and maybe informing him. Same with the newspaper. It's funny that you would think someone would to such lengths to strike or attempt to strike fear in people. It is people like you, who choose to turn a blind or in fact, ignorant eye to what is going on. This is why violence happens here. Because people like you choose to ignore it when it does and will continue to happen. People like you need to wake up and realize that not everything around them is smiles and fresh fruit.

If you alert the police you limit your response possibilities.

If your buddy isn't going to bring in the cops, (and pay them handsomely to make a point) or write something in a paper hitting them in the pocket book that leaves few options.

Accept it and move on... or don't ....If you choose don't, and you really were trained out, then you already know not to post anything here. Since you are posting I assume you're hoping there's a way to fix this. There are no good options. Let me say that again. There are no good options.

If its known who the tuk is then any course of action you choose is fairly simply. Once you choose police you are limited to only that option. It would be a bad idea to pretend to be drunk and pretend to fall asleep while having him take you somewhere dark. Bad things happen in the dark.

Be smart and get on with your life. If you choose to be stupid....good hunting....but be sure you are aware of ALL the facts. You may not really have them. Then again it may not matter.

[BkkAnimalover]

I don't live in Phuket but I live in Thailand more than 15 years already , from the experience I get during this time I strongly believe that the only way that can give some good and direct results , is not the newspaper even if is an international ones, is not the Police all of us we know well why , I don't like violence and I hate who use it against the others expecially when not happy enough of having stolen His money they use the number ( 4 to 1 ) the situation ( tired , drunk and in a land far 10000 km. or more from His hometown ) to outcome and badly beat a person that is simply asking them to bring him back home . In this country they respect You only if they skare of You . If they think that You are a little man they will always give You tons of s...t . The nice part of the story is that here is not so complicate become a big man , skare them and get respect . Not only in Thailand money is " God " as foreigner I think that one of us by average earns money 20-30 times more than ONE OF THIS B.....D , so simply collect some donation from all of us , contact the right group of people from a different province , give them the requested amount and then simply go back to our activities , they are really professional and at the right time they will explain to the four B.....d that what they had done is " NO GOOD ! " . I'm sure that after that most of the others will get the strong feeling that the game is over and they will simply put their head down the sand as usual without complain , reactions and probably even smiling . N.B. I'm not suggesting to start a war , I'm simply give my opinion on how to stop someone acting against the others as the worst of the crimanals , ( I don't say as animals because I'm worry to get complain from dogs , snakes , Jenas , Condors , shark ecc. ecc. If Your friend will not come back to Phuket anymore tell him to not be worry so much about them , they are not so smart and powerfull to reach him and hurt Him more , also because who is behind them limit their freedom in the island and they don't want rumors came up somewhere else , could be not safe for them .....Hope He will recovery soon . I live in Bkk , so in case I can be helpfull for Him in someway let me know , will be a pleausure. p.s. I can speak Thai fluent. Regards

[Padkapow Guy]

In all seriousness, as 'EX-Spec-Ops US Navy' i would hope you'd have a touch more intelligence than to come here and kick off some kind of war.

But then maybe that oxymoron "military intelligence" thing holds true

Authentic "special ops" are easy to spot. They're the ones not telling anyone about it.

Exactly cdnvic

My short military career was supporting these guys. The one thing I learned is they never talk about it.

Never admit to it. They are not there to try to impress drunken bar flys.

My best friend stayed in the Army. Now he is a command sgt major of a special forces group. If you did not know him you would not even know he is in the army. They have a code not to talk about what they do.

And they honor it.

They dam sure would not get involed in a tuk tuk mafia war.

Best bet is to call up Steven Siegal

PKG

[Tony Clifton]

Best bet is to call up Steven Siegal

PKG

Anything to keep the lamer from making more movies.

[BkkAnimalover]

Best bet is to call up Steven Siegal

PKG

Anything to keep the lamer from making more movies.

I'm here to discuss and try to find solution to solve our problem and not to judge the tips , the suggestion or the ideas of someone else . Nobody is perfect and nobody always give a good or the best advise ( point of view ) . Probably my reaction in the eyes of other member is considered as " kick off a war " or a " movie " and I respect their ideas but I repeat that the reason why I'm here is to discuss and try to find out a solution , so I write my point of view . Sometimes the road to solve a problem is not nice and not confortable and You have to choose. Accept the situation and live with that problem always near You or solve the problem . I read many post that suggest to report to the Police or write on an international newspaper and I wonder if we are in the same place or not . The first solution make smile and who live here longer know why , the second is a polite way to let many people know that we have a problem but 3 days after all the reader already forget it ( our friend sure will not forget it for all his life) and nothing change. Question : we want solve the problem or we want have some fun judging the opinion of other member that from our point of view are funny , crazy or even stupid ?

[Padkapow Guy]

Best bet is to call up Steven Siegal

PKG

Anything to keep the lamer from making more movies.

I'm here to discuss and try to find solution to solve our problem and not to judge the tips , the suggestion or the ideas of someone else . Nobody is perfect and nobody always give a good or the best advise ( point of view ) . Probably my reaction in the eyes of other member is considered as " kick off a war " or a " movie " and I respect their ideas but I repeat that the reason why I'm here is to discuss and try to find out a solution , so I write my point of view . Sometimes the road to solve a problem is not nice and not confortable and You have to choose. Accept the situation and live with that problem always near You or solve the problem . I read many post that suggest to report to the Police or write on an international newspaper and I wonder if we are in the same place or not . The first solution make smile and who live here longer know why , the second is a polite way to let many people know that we have a problem but 3 days after all the reader already forget it ( our friend sure will not forget it for all his life) and nothing change. Question : we want solve the problem or we want have some fun judging the opinion of other member that from our point of view are funny , crazy or even stupid ?

I am here for the fun

But in all seriously, do you think Thailand is going to change its ways to protect foreigners when it does even care about its own people.

The rich rule thailand and they do not want us here. So just come to los spend your money as fast as you can and leave!

These problems will never be fixed in our life time. If you take off the rosey glasses and realize this you will not be so disappointed when it happens again. Thailand is still a beautiful place and a cheap vacation destination with some of the nicest people in the world. But farangs are nothing more stupid people who part with their money very easily.

Don't get me wrong I love Thailand, and except it for the way it is. A Farang will never have any rights in LOS.

So there is no need to get bent out of shape over something you can not change. The only thing you can do is have lots of money when you are in Thailand. Money will solve most of your problem in Thailand.( I know this is not unique to Thailand)

sorry could not sleep may sound a little grumpy

PKG

[BkkAnimalover]

Best bet is to call up Steven Siegal

PKG

Anything to keep the lamer from making more movies.

I'm here to discuss and try to find solution to solve our problem and not to judge the tips , the suggestion or the ideas of someone else . Nobody is perfect and nobody always give a good or the best advise ( point of view ) . Probably my reaction in the eyes of other member is considered as " kick off a war " or a " movie " and I respect their ideas but I repeat that the reason why I'm here is to discuss and try to find out a solution , so I write my point of view . Sometimes the road to solve a problem is not nice and not confortable and You have to choose. Accept the situation and live with that problem always near You or solve the problem . I read many post that suggest to report to the Police or write on an international newspaper and I wonder if we are in the same place or not . The first solution make smile and who live here longer know why , the second is a polite way to let many people know that we have a problem but 3 days after all the reader already forget it ( our friend sure will not forget it for all his life) and nothing change. Question : we want solve the problem or we want have some fun judging the opinion of other member that from our point of view are funny , crazy or even stupid ?

I am here for the fun

But in all seriously, do you think Thailand is going to change its ways to protect foreigners when it does even care about its own people.

The rich rule thailand and they do not want us here. So just come to los spend your money as fast as you can and leave!

These problems will never be fixed in our life time. If you take off the rosey glasses and realize this you will not be so disappointed when it happens again. Thailand is still a beautiful place and a cheap vacation destination with some of the nicest people in the world. But farangs are nothing more stupid people who part with their money very easily.

Don't get me wrong I love Thailand, and except it for the way it is. A Farang will never have any rights in LOS.

So there is no need to get bent out of shape over something you can not change. The only thing you can do is have lots of money when you are in Thailand. Money will solve most of your problem in Thailand.( I know this is not unique to Thailand)

sorry could not sleep may sound a little grumpy

PKG

I agree that money will solve most of your problem in Thailand and I add almost every where , the difference is only on the amount. I live permanently in Thailand more than 15 years already and I deeply love this country and the Thais , personally I have hundreds of local friends of all categories and I get a different point of view . Probably my view is different from Yours first of all because I'm living in Bangkok that is not a tourist minded city , in so many years I heard about similar story of violence against strangers not more than 3-4 times and in all the cases the criminals has been dicovered , arrested and hardly sentenced within few days . Than thanks to the fact that actually I can say that I'm able to understand and speak Thai fluently ( better than English ) I realize that what I was thinking about Thais and Thailand during the my first period here ( 3-4 years ) was almost wrong and I also understand that the best way to manage any kind of situations ( I mean to get the best result ) is simply , just do exactly what a Thai man of a similar level do in in the same situation ( Thai Society and relationship between person are always based on their status and cross the borders is very hard and could be very dangerous ) . You know why this tuk tuk drivers criminals ( don't call them mafia please , some sicilian will take it as an offence ) they do this kind of thinks not only to stole Your money sometimes just for fun or for revenge against someone that they don't like because their status is much more lower and they think that Your wealth depend exclusively from Your good luck . They do it so easy and without any reason just and only because they know well that is not risky and You will never react . They will never even think to do it to a similar level of Thai man , they know very well that they could face sometinghs even harsh immediately after . Is not nice to say and not funny to do it but the only way to stop this kind of crime and keep them calm and smiling is to skare them and to do this there is only one way , their way , also because their ignorance prevent any kind of pacific and mutual benefit solution . N.B. I'm talking about stop it , then there are also other solutions ( probably more smart solutions ) as try to minimize the danger avoiding as much as You can places and person like that , or completly avoid any contact buying a one way ticket . Sorry if my answer is so long and my first replay was a bit hot but I was really very touched and my blood temperature suddendly become very hot reading the story of a man that has being assaulted in a such bad way and now is suffering in an hospital badly injured , skared at the point to ask to not talk about his story to the press , not enough they had also stolen his money . My best regards to You and my best wishes of a prompt recovery to Him .

[StickKettleOn]

Can someone explain to me what the crack is over there in Phuket? I browse this forum now and then, and often find posts about tuk tuk guys kicking of or local Thais going mental for no reason.

Seriously - i realy want to know.

&lt;deleted&gt; is going on over there? I lived in Samui for over two years, we also had a taxi mafia. The difference was, that the only mafia activity they employ is to stick together to ensure none of them use meters. Thats as far as it goes. It would be a cold day in hel_l before a Samui taxi driver so much as shouted at you, let alone beet the fark out of you. Never in my two years there did i hear of one taxi driver getting tasty with anyone. Never.

We also had a proper mafia there - but they had jack &lt;deleted&gt; to do with tourists or ex-pats. Never did i hear a story of mafia bullying bar owners, business etc.

And whats the deal with the references to lady boys over in Phuket? Cant walk on the beach at night and all that? Again, in samui they pester you a little but if you tell them to piss off, they do.

So why is it so crazy over there? They are both simmilar islands - phuket is just bigger. I dont get it.

How many tuk tuk drivers are there in Phuket? Are there so many that the powers that be cant give them a slap now and then when stuff like this happens?

I hope the poor bloke gets well. And to the guys here that have said 'must be more to it', im sorry but thats bang out of order.... a poor bloke got beat to hel_l. He may have gave them a bit of lip but did not deserve 4 blokes battering him.