Good morning, Bangkok.
Gong Xi Fa Cai! Welcome to the year of the rooster.
What a week it’s been for expats in Thailand. First, we saw the Pattaya shooting of British ‘web designer’ Tony Kenway, and then the meltdown of an older Aussie in Surat Thani who set fire to his sofa after his young Thai girlfriend left him. Jeepers.
Of course, there’s been plenty more going on besides, including Thailand’s ‘corruption perception’ score sinking lower than last year (it now shares the same number of points as such countries as Niger, Gabon and Peru…) and the Russian YouTuber who’s been persuading women in Pattaya to take their tops off with the promise of a (fake) $100 bill.
Stay classy, Pattaya.
Here’s the best of the week’s news, views, videos and social media updates…
News
Brit murdered in Pattaya shooting
The news in Thailand this week has been dominated by the story of 39-year old Brit Tony Kenway who was shot dead in Pattaya while sat in his red Porsche Cayenne on Tuesday. The suspects are fellow Brit Miles Dickens Turner and South African Abel Caldeira Bonito, both of whom escaped to Cambodia following the murder.
Since his death, it has become clear that Kenway was connected to various illegal activities, and perhaps not the website designer his wife described him as.
Dumped Australian sets fire to sofa, wields kitchen knife
Yikes. Here is the video of Edward Woodward — a 65-year old Aussie — wielding a kitchen knife behind his gates as his sofa and bed burn in the background in Surat Thani province. Woodward’s girlfriend had apparently left him, taking with her their son, and the heartbroken expat turned on his own belongings as a result. He eventually allowed firemen to put out the fire and police managed to withdraw his knife.
Canadian woman dies after her pink Jeep rolls over
This is the tragic story of Ali Lambert, a 22-year old Canadian, who died during a road trip from Bangkok to Phuket when the pink Jeep she was driving rolled off the road during a heavy rainstorm. The girl she was travelling with, another young Canadian, was sent to hospital with serious injuries and is struggling to pay her medical bills after not taking out any insurance.
Blogs
Culture clashes in Pattaya
An interesting blog post here from the American owner of a Pattaya bar, outlining some of the reasons for cultural conflicts down in the city of sin. He covers everything from the wind up culture prevalent in British and Australian circles that can rub their fellow Westerners up the wrong way, to cultural misapprehensions of Arabs, Indians and Russians.
Why is everything so loud in Thailand?
This is a short and funny post on the myriad of ways that Thailand is so bloody loud. From the pretties that yammer nineteen to the dozen into their microphones at the mall to the loud temple music from 5am on Wan Phra — settling down for a quiet life in Thailand can be difficult.
Thailand then vs now
Here we have some vintage photos of Thailand from the 1890s compared to modern photos of the same scene. The album is thought to have belonged to a member of the Royal Engineers and has some truly beautiful old photos within it.
Forum Threads
If you were in charge of immigration…
This is a long and humorous Thaivisa thread on what policies you would implement if you were in charge of Thai immigration. Everything from abolishing the need for 90-day reports, an absolute ban on everyone with a criminal record and sacking all the current staff are all suggested.
Seems to us that this is the most on-the-nose comment:
YouTube
There are 3 parts to a discussing food with Thais
1. Delicious or not?
2. Where you bought it?
3. Cheap or expensive?— Glenn (@_GlennCollier) January 26, 2017
Thai Twitter is full of moaning old foreigners — let’s have a tweetup, lock them in a room, throw the key away and cut the wifi
— Jon Russell (@jonrussell) January 24, 2017
Bus stop in Bangkok, Thailand 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/R2agGwdD5i
— Only In Asia (@Crazyinnasia) January 19, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!
Featured image is by Aleksandr Zykov and used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
