Sunday again, Bangkok! Let’s hope it’s a good one.
Another busy week in Thailand: the BBC World Service stopped broadcasting Thai language news after talks with the junta failed, a rise in taxi prices was finally approved and most apparently, Summer arrived.
Expected to continue into mid-May, the Summer of 2017 should be a little cooler than last year, with highs only (!) expected to reach around 42-43°C.
Sounds sweaty.
Anyway, onwards and upwards: let’s see what else has been entertaining and enraging Bangkok this week…
News
Human remains found in search for missing Russian tourist
It was announced on Friday that dive teams in Koh Tao had discovered 5 pieces of human bone in the hunt for missing 23-year old, Valentina Novozhenova. It hasn’t yet been confirmed if the remains are linked to Ms Novozhenova’s disappearance but they have been sent for DNA testing in Songkhla. A t-shirt and snorkel goggles were also found underwater close to the woman’s hotel.
Wife stabs husband in neck with scissors because he wanted to go to a bar
In a pretty horrendous domestic violence episode, Supaporn Muengchalerm was arrested this week after stabbing her husband, Wichit Laoruen, in the neck with a pair of scissors after he announced his intentions to go out drinking. They started arguing — she wanted him to remain at home with him — before it escalated to him allegedly kicking his wife before she stabbed him. Supaporn apparently told police, “I’m hoping he is safe because after all we are still husband and wife.” Wichit is now in a stable condition.
The end of Thailand’s greatest romance?
Former porn star Nong Nat and her older American lover Harold made headlines last year when they wed, with Nong Nat turning away from the business and dedicating herself to her new husband. However, it appears that things have now hit the skids.
Nong Nat held a press conference this week explaining that her marriage is on its way out and she is planning to head back to porn and get a boob job. Apparently she has asked Harold for a divorce but he is refusing to grant her one.
Blogs
Do Thai students know how to think?
This blog addresses the common criticism that many foreigners have about the Thai education system: that the students are not taught the skills of critical thinking and, consequently, don’t know how to think. The author, a university teacher, attempts to turn this judgement on its head by regaling us with a tale of his motivated and engaged technical writing class.
While that’s all very well and good, it’s one thing to look at a class of students in tertiary education — which students have chosen (and presumably paid) to attend — but quite another to apply that takeaway to the entire Thai education system which, in many schools, does rely on rote learning which is as far from critical thinking as you can really get.
Understanding the culture of work and life in Thailand
This is an interesting blog by a Scottish expat working in Thailand, seeking to explain some of the more ingrained cultural aspects of life here that you wouldn’t necessarily encounter in the West. First, that Thailand is a ‘feminine society’ — i.e. one that values relationships and quality of life over more material achievements — and a collective one too, in which family is put on a pedestal and life revolves around social groups.
Forum Threads
What’s life like in smaller Thai towns and cities?
This is a relatively long Reddit post extolling both the virtues and negatives of living in a small Thai city as a foreigner. Apparently, there’s a world outside Bangkok and Chiang Mai! The original poster is considering a new work position in the town of Phetchaburi, with no Thai language under his belt and no experience of living abroad in anywhere but a large city. You can understand his predicament.
Pros include being forced to learn the Thai language and getting to experience the ‘real Thailand’, and the negatives obvious: possible difficulties making friends and being without the services and other opportunities offered by larger metropolises.
Are you having an affair in Thailand?
Why not make a post on a public forum about if you’re sleeping with someone behind your partner’s back? Oh… Thaivisa. Every time.
This is essentially a collection of posts responding to the original poster’s above question by either telling him to divorce his wife, that he’s sad and pathetic for considering adultery, the odd remark of blatant misogyny, and replies of experience about going, ahem, off the reservation in Thailand.
What a guy.
YouTube
Central Embassy: Bangkok’s Favorite air-con pathway between BTS stations. pic.twitter.com/azNXhWnNbt
— Greg (@BkkGreg) March 6, 2017
Seriously starting to feel like this. Cr: Onan Hiroshi pic.twitter.com/VPRMpNulYI
— Shayan Naveed (@ShayanBkk) March 9, 2017
Circle condos Sukhumvit Soi 11 under construction..for those with serious car separation issues..PLEASE do not confuse brake w accelerator! pic.twitter.com/OoS4QOaY1a
— Gen (@GiantRobot7) March 9, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!
Featured image is by Exephyo (CC BY 2.0 licence)
