Happy Sunday, Bangkok!
Another busy week in Thailand, with a lot of international attention being rained on the death of a 26 year old Canadian in Thai custody, thought to be the owner of huge dark net marketplace AlphaBay. Alexandre Cazes apparently hanged himself with a towel in his cell.
Also tickling netizens were the photos that emerged of a dog and his snake friend:
Sure.
Here’s what else has been entertaining and enraging Bangkok this week…
Post Contents
News
Freshman at Korat university shows her hazing injuries
Hazing at Thai universities has had a spotlight shone on it in recent years thanks to the physical and mental injuries some students have sustained from it. This week, a student at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University showed her family injuries on her legs apparently brought about by being forced to slap and clap them all day. Her sister contacted an anti-hazing Facebook page with photos. The university are apparently unaware of the incident.
Search for Thai woman becomes murder investigation, boyfriend attempts suicide
This is the tragic tale of Pischa Nampadung, a beautician working and living in Phuket with her boyfriend, German Nico Papke. Pischa was reported missing on July 6th and her dead body was found bound with tape, wrapped in a blanket and holding a stuffed animal in the jungle last weekend.
Papke is apparently the prime suspect and made an attempt on his own life on Sunday, attempting to cut his throat with a box cutter.
My Mate Nate’s latest stunt comes under fire
Notorious YouTuber ‘My Mate Nate’ is once again in hot water with one of his videos, after he filmed himself and friends taping coins to train tracks in order to flatten them. The video — now deleted — has been heavily criticised, one for potentially encouraging his viewers to go out and try the same dangerous activity, and two for even potentially causing derailment and broken wheels.
Nate apparently confirmed that he had researched whether coins were in a position to derail trains before filming the stunt and that he did not use Thai coins.
There’s already a police summons out for the vlogger after his last YouTube furore which saw him pit a cat against a scorpion.
Blogs
The very strange story of the Atlas Twins in Chiang Mai
The digital nomad community in Chiang Mai is large but still relatively tight-knit — if you make a name for yourself as a bad egg, that reputation is going to spread pretty quickly.
With that in mind, this is the strange story of Travis and Aaron Atlas, twins who turned up in Chiang Mai and started to peddle their Digital Nomad Campus, which sounds like teaching other digital nomads how to be digital nomads. Their past can be traced back to the US, from an underprivileged childhood, to evangelicalism, Republican congressional campaigns and multi level marketing schemes before they ended up in Chiang Mai, where they quickly made a name for themselves. This piece documents their fall from grace and what eventually caused them to flee Thailand.
Who knows where they’ll turn up next.
Forum Threads
A day in the life of a Thai child
An interesting Reddit thread here on what a typical day looks like for a Thai school student. Redditors weigh in with an array of different experiences — from former students themselves, to teachers at government schools, international school students and everyone in between. It’s surprising to note how long the school day is for many students, how many periods are stuffed into a day and those little Thai quirks that we all come to expect.
If it weren’t for the women, would you still live in Thailand?
A nigh-on classic Thaivisa thread here, asking members whether they would still live in Thailand if all the women disappeared.
We said classic thread, not a realistic one.
Answers vary between posters saying they would leave, some saying that they’re only still here because of their wives and children, and a good few bitter posts as well, begging the question of why those posters are here in the first place. There’s a certain weakness in a man that chooses where to live based on where he’s most likely to get his dick wet and a sadness in people just existing rather than creating a good life for themselves in a great country.
We assume most readers fall in line with this answer:
YouTube
Nailed it.
(Pic cr.Benjamin Frank Lyn) pic.twitter.com/isXHkxywg7
— Stickboy Bangkok (@StickboyBangkok) July 13, 2017
You can find some comedy gold on some of these expat FB groups. Gold, Jerry, GOLD. pic.twitter.com/WuNMSd4rRr
— Greg (@BkkGreg) July 12, 2017
Filming underway for ‘Snakes on a Ferry’ a low budget sequel set on Koh Chang. pic.twitter.com/SOZzgfwAop
— Ian (@iamKohChang) July 11, 2017
I lived in Spain for a year & now living in Thailand I see many similarities between the two nations sense of urgency
— Glenn (@_GlennCollier) July 14, 2017
Ok Twitter, quiz time. What’s the strangest thing a Thai has tried to sell you as you’re sat on the beach?
Me? A hair dryer.
Yep.— Signore Sammy (@signoresammybkk) July 15, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!