Hua Hin officials confident of safety for tourists ahead of Songkran festival

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Hua Hin officials confident of safety for tourists ahead of Songkran festival

 

Picture: Thai News Agency

 

HUA HIN: -- Local government officials and police in Hua Hin have said they are confident of safety for tourists ahead of the Songkran festival in the holiday town.

 

Last year the resort was rocked by several incidents. In August one person died and around 20 were injured in bomb blasts, reported Thai News Agency.

 

While at Songkran itself world attention focused on Soi Binthabaht when the Owen family from the UK was assaulted by a gang of thugs in sickening street violence.

 

Jirawat Phramanee of the Hua Hin authority said that while CCTV coverage improvements are not yet finished there is still a vastly improved number of high resolution cameras in operation compared to last year.

 

Some 450 points around the town are now under watch of the cameras.

 

A specially designated area set aside for Songkran water play has 60 local authority cameras in 22 places and a further 94 cameras operated by police.

 

Cameras are linked to the local station so that quick responses can be made.

 

Jirawat said that that tourists could be confident of their safety in Hua Hin.

 

Some 52 million baht is being spent on improving CCTV coverage in the town.

 

Meanwhile Phansa Amraphitak of Region 3 Highway Police said that a force of 200 men were being mobilized for work on the Petchkasem highway during Songkran.

 

There are 20 planned checkpoints where motorists will be advised to slow down and given information about alternative routes.

 

Source: Thai News Agency

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-03-30

[clockman]

An empty bucket, makes the most noise. They cannot keep there mouths shut.

[craigt3365]

Sadly, they might be proven wrong.  Again.  Impossible to control the crazies during Songkran.  Well, possible, but not with this police force.

[inzman]

Denial is not just a river in Africa. 

[Scouse123]

A stomach turning diatribe by a Thai apologist for one of the worst acts of violence captured on CCTV. I have never read so much garbage in a post!

 

"The kick to Mumma Owen was brutal, but they started it "What a crock of absolute garbage to justify such viciousness!!! The sort of playground excuses dreamed up by children. '  He/she started it sir "

 

So, this OAP came marching down the street in her ' bovver boots ' did she???

 

You justify what happened to an old man and woman and the level of violence leveled at them by young men, an attack which was relentless, against OAPs?

 

You make me want to puke. " What if that had been your mother and father?

 

You then proceed on with  " 99.9% of Thais are lovely during Songkran " I suggest you tell that to the bereaved families and the victims, past, present and future of the drunk drivers. Let's brace ourselves for the annual two weeks nearly of complete stupidity, violence and death. Go say that to the families at the bedside of the next victim of this out of control lunacy.

 

we are due carnage as usual coming up and into Songkran. The facts and deaths will be released, the usual spin will be put on it and then ' back to normal ' until next year, unless one of the victims is from a Hi-So family or member of the sacred military, police or clergy. Then there will be a flurry of activity, police statements on TV and the same old, same old.

 

Your next quote "

 

"The festival has a beautiful vibe, tai rak tai. Millions of smiling, happy faces. Try pulling off such a festival back in England, it would be impossible. It would end up being a mass brawl."

 

Have you been on the streets of Bangkok and Pattaya at Songkran?

 

And a mass brawl is exactly what it is under the guise of people enjoying themselves, you omitted the word ' drunken " brawl

 

Finally, you refer to the integrity of the British press reports of the incident.

 

There is no media more capable of fudging statistics, doctoring film footage to suit events,and biased reporting, now even more so as they are firmly under the grip of the junts in Thailand.

 

I suppose you believe 99.9% of Thais are happy with a military government as well?

 

[maoro2013]

20 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Sadly, they might be proven wrong.  Again.  Impossible to control the crazies during Songkran.  Well, possible, but not with this police force.

Not only that, but, while cameras might be somewhat of a deterrent, they actually only are valuable after the event.

[Philthyphil]

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

A stomach turning diatribe by a Thai apologist for one of the worst acts of violence captured on CCTV. I have never read so much garbage in a post!

 

"The kick to Mumma Owen was brutal, but they started it "What a crock of absolute garbage to justify such viciousness!!! The sort of playground excuses dreamed up by children. '  He/she started it sir "

 

So, this OAP came marching down the street in her ' bovver boots ' did she???

 

You justify what happened to an old man and woman and the level of violence leveled at them by young men, an attack which was relentless, against OAPs?

 

You make me want to puke. " What if that had been your mother and father?

 

You then proceed on with  " 99.9% of Thais are lovely during Songkran " I suggest you tell that to the bereaved families and the victims, past, present and future of the drunk drivers. Let's brace ourselves for the annual two weeks nearly of complete stupidity, violence and death. Go say that to the families at the bedside of the next victim of this out of control lunacy.

 

we are due carnage as usual coming up and into Songkran. The facts and deaths will be released, the usual spin will be put on it and then ' back to normal ' until next year, unless one of the victims is from a Hi-So family or member of the sacred military, police or clergy. Then there will be a flurry of activity, police statements on TV and the same old, same old.

 

Your next quote "

 

"The festival has a beautiful vibe, tai rak tai. Millions of smiling, happy faces. Try pulling off such a festival back in England, it would be impossible. It would end up being a mass brawl."

 

Have you been on the streets of Bangkok and Pattaya at Songkran?

 

And a mass brawl is exactly what it is under the guise of people enjoying themselves, you omitted the word ' drunken " brawl

 

Finally, you refer to the integrity of the British press reports of the incident.

 

There is no media more capable of fudging statistics, doctoring film footage to suit events,and biased reporting, now even more so as they are firmly under the grip of the junts in Thailand.

 

I suppose you believe 99.9% of Thais are happy with a military government as well?

 

I suggest you watch the whole video. Now you may think it ok for us to come to Thailand and slap and punch the locals during their festival, but I don't. 

 

If if you want to start fights with Thais you wanna actually be able to fight, the son struggled to even stand up. Mumma Owen was probably the toughest in that family.  The son and dads punches were ineffective and they both went down from one punch from a Thai who was many weight divisions lighter and a foot shorter.

 

I am not a Thai apologist, but aren't a Brit apologist either. I just stick to the facts.

 

Yes, seven Pattaya songkrans, one Bangkok, one hua hin, one samui and several in Issan. This year doing Issan then back for the big day in Pattaya, unfortunately won't make it back for the Naklua day.

 

Do you actually do songkran? I doubt it. With your attitude I reckon you would struggle.

 

It is fun, the water play, the powder on the face, the songkran music. A great huge party, everyone happy and smiling, To deny that people don't have fun during the festival is clearly wrong.

if you don't like iit, then you could stay home or leave. People don't get killed by water pistols, the deaths are a result of traffic accidents.

Considering the amount of travel the Thais do to visit their families at this time of year, last year was actually a success with a slightly lower toll than on normal days. 

 

From your comments I assume you have only seen the edited version. Do yourself a favor and checkout what really happened. Maybe even get amongst it this year, you might actually enjoy yourself. If you don't start slapping and punching the Thais, you will be ok.

[Philthyphil]

1 hour ago, roo860 said:

 

 

I know the guy quite well, went to his wedding long time ago in Hua Hin, I've not been back there for over 4yrs, still keep in touch with mutual friends there, not one of them ever brought up the actions he took with the girl. By the way he is a big lad, 6ft and we'll built. I reckon he was embarrassed about getting a thumping from the little guy, he needed a bit of dental work.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

Well one thing we all agree on is the Thais are tough little buggers.

Your big mate cleaned up by a little guy, and the little girl he slammed into the concrete got straight up. 

The son struggled to get up and was down for longer after he tripped over his mother!

 

Then all the Owens went down in a heap. Mumma Owen I actually rate the toughest in that family. She got the best hit in and kept getting up until that final brutal kick finally floored her. I bet she has a few brawling stories to tell, looks like she has been around. I am tipping the son would have copped a bit as a child from her. She was certainly quick to resort to violence. 

 

I actually feel a bit sorry for your mate, like the little girl he slammed, he was only trying to stop all the trouble caused by the Owens.

[Scouse123]

craigt3365,

 

I feel two of these posters, are just trolling/ baiting on TV for some juvenile amusement with silly arguments befitting a school playground and are purposely ignoring or distorting the facts.

 

One that claims to have been visiting Thailand since the seventies, which at an educated guess if he was traveling solo, would put him in his sixties at least, has resorted to sending me unwanted PMs in Thai script, which are now blocked. The  immaturity of the content resembles something I would expect from a person in their teens or twenties.

[metisdead]

I don't think this topic should be an invitation for the rehashing of the events last year.  If there is a need to re-hash the events of last year's Songkran events, then revive that topic to continue. 

 

If a member receives abusive PM's from other members, then report the abusive PM as there is a Report button available for PM's a swell. 

[Squeegee]

Withdrawn.

[geriatrickid]

I consider Hua Hin to be far more sane and much safer than Phuket and Chiang Mai for Songkran and I have been in all  3 places during the festival. At least in Hua Hin, it's only a day or so and the stupidity  ends at night.The Market Village  foam party is tame voluntary fun. The trouble makers are almost always outsiders: Foreigners and jerks in from the villages or Bangkok.  Fortunately, Hua Hin is expensive and the riff raff can't afford it.  That being said, I am on an evac flight April 9.