Merry Christmas Eve, Bangkokians!
Just because we’re at peak festivity here doesn’t mean that Thailand has slowed down at all.
We’ve had the usual tales of trashy tourists, tigers used and abused for tourist revenue, a Harry Potter themed opening at Siam Paragon, a bride killed by her cheating groom a few days before their wedding, and food workers caught on video processing chicken feet with their teeth.
Ew.
Let’s see what else has been entertaining and enraging Bangkok over the past 7 days…
Post Contents
News
Irish tourist has leg amputated after motorbike accident in Pai
Irish tourist Ross Davidson has had his leg amputated above the knee after suffering a motorbike accident in the northern town of Pai this week. The 23 year old is apparently recovering in intensive care following the operation and, according to his mother, coping well with his life-changing injuries. His father and mother have joined him in Thailand to help with his recovery.
Despite Ross taking out two insurance policies before his holiday, neither are prepared to cover the accident (although one has apparently contributed a ‘good will gesture’), so his parents are fundraising online to help cover the costs of the surgery and recovery. You can view and donate to the effort on the JustGiving page here.
Dutchman denies stabbing ex-girlfriend’s mother and brother to death
Rene Meeuswisser was accused of murder this week, after the mother and brother of his Thai ex-girlfriend were found stabbed to death in their family home in Surin province. Apparently the ex-girlfriend had recently dumped and cut off contact with Meeuswisser. Police believe that Meeuswisser visited her family home in a bid to find her, before getting into an argument with the family members, resulting in the double stabbing.
Meeuswisser was located by police in a hospital where he was seeking treatment for lacerations on his left arm, which the suspect said was due to a motorbike accident. He denied his part in the deaths and hasn’t answered any questions.
Foreign pair caught on camera ‘tagging’ Silom Road
Social media was alight with outrage this week after a blonde woman and her male companion were filmed tagging graffiti on various public properties, including phone booths, on Silom Road this week. The footage was shared on Facebook, generating an avalanche of inevitably hyperbolic responses.
The couple were later arrested and fined, and it was revealed that both are from Georgia in the USA.
Blogs
The biggest Bangkok food fads of 2017
BK Magazine has compiled this list of the city’s most-hyped foodie fads that we endured during 2017, including ridiculous novelty dinners (Dinner in the Sky, anyone?!), the moving-in of ever more American junk food outlets (Cheesecake Factory and iHop gracing Paragon), and goddamn purple sweet potato everywhere.
The best 21 Thai dishes in Thailand
Staying on the foodie train for a while, we enjoyed this list of the best Thai dishes enjoyed in Thailand on the Culture Trip site this week. A good read for Thai food newbies who want to branch out beyond the usual Pad Thai and Khao Pad.
Spotting the Naga Fireballs of the Mekong
A great guide to the mysterious ‘Naga Fireballs’ which can be seen around a certain stretch of the Mekong River annually around Buddhist Lent. This guide tells you about the local beliefs, legends and superstitions surrounding these enigmatic glowing orbs, as well as how to see them for yourself in Thailand.
Forum Threads
Infuriating Chinese tourist situation…
Chinese tourists behaving badly is a favourite topic on many a Thailand forum, and this is a bit of a doozy. The poster — himself an American Hong Konger — details some pretty epic food wastage he spotted at a Thailand all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. A young Chinese couple were getting through incredible numbers of grill-yourself shrimp, catching the eye of the poster. Upon closer inspection, he saw that they were simply taking just one or two bites of each shrimp and leaving the rest as waste. There are plenty more similar incidents detailed in the comments if you fancy feeling a bit of second-hand food waste rage.
A guide to relationships with young Thai ladies…
We’d advise taking this ‘Greenhorn’s Guide’ with a large pinch of salt, but it is a classic Thaivisa post for the ages. The poster details the experiences of a newcomer retiree he’s met in Pattaya, who has predictably fallen in love with a darling young Thai girl, adorned with a variety of tattoos and bleached-blonde streaks in her hair. Classy broad. The poster then proceeds to school us on the newcomer’s mistakes: namely, taking the girlfriend gold shopping in Pattaya, and visiting her family — who just happen to have a large tract of land to sell!
Not wanting any other newcomers to make the same mistakes, he’s compiled a guide to conducting a successful relationship with a Thai woman, which essentially boils down to not telling her how much money you have.
He invites further snippets of wisdom from the commenters, who deliver, although we suspect that there’s not enough advice in the world to convince some newcomers that the love of their life might not be fully reciprocal of their feelings:
YouTube
Train track along perimeter of a Bangkok slum where carpenters make furniture from recycled wooden pallets. pic.twitter.com/mhUZGRrPmw
— Christopher G. Moore (@cgmooreauthor) December 20, 2017
Good grief. I’m a Welshman carved from stone and mountains. I’m wearing two coats and a hat in Bangkok. What’s happened to me?
— Chris Thailand (@chris_bangkok) December 19, 2017
If you were planning on visiting a national park over the new year holiday then you might want to rethink that. The government has just announced that they are all free for Thais #Thailand pic.twitter.com/QRPD9HrzAT
— Richard Barrow in Thailand (@RichardBarrow) December 20, 2017
Kidlet: it’s like Blackpool !
Me: yeah babe. Keep that innocence a bit longer. 😂 #Pattaya. pic.twitter.com/ObUyTa7qme— Birdie (@BirdieBangkok) December 20, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!
