Happy Sunday, Bangkok!
We hope you had an enjoyable Makha Bucha Day yesterday (and weren’t too inconvenienced by the booze ban).
It’s been another busy week in old Bangkok — what with a fire in Phloen Chit shopping mall Central Embassy (if a fire burns in a shopping mall and there was no one around to see it, did it make a sound?), the announcement of the imminent construction of the MRT Orange Line extension, and a death sentence handed down to an Aussie who murdered a Hells Angel biker in Pattaya in 2015.
Netizens were tickled by a Reddit thread purporting to be written by a farang, hiding in a rice field in Roi Et, who’d escaped from his machete wielding girlfriend and gun-toting father in law. The account has now been deleted, but you can see the remains of the eye-opening thread here.
That’s not all that’s been entertaining and enraging Bangkok this week — here’s the best of the news, views, videos and social media updates from the past 7 days.
News
Tragic jet ski accident sees Aussie charged with girlfriend’s death
Sad news this week came from Phuket as it emerged a 20-year old Australian woman died in a jet ski accident off Kata Beach. She collided with her boyfriend, also on a jet ski, who was blinded by sunlight as he drove and so unable to see properly. As is apparently common in deaths of this nature, Thomas Keating, the boyfriend, was charged with her death and will need to stay in Thailand for around a month as the case is processed by police. He is unlikely to serve jail time for the accident.
Husband commits suicide in Isaan after wife gets eyebrow tattoo
In one of the more bizarre news stories this week, the family of Ampai Kiangsri, a 44-year old man living in Bueng Kan, Isaan, came forward to tell how he killed himself by drinking pesticide after his wife got an eyebrow tattoo against his wishes. His wife, Sathian, was told that he didn’t want her to get the tattoo and yet she went ahead anyway. Ampai’s friends later teased him that Sathian might now have an affair thanks to her new and improved eyebrows. Ampai was found dead next to 10 empty beer bottles and what is believed to be the pesticide.
Aussie falls to his death from Sathorn hotel
Yet another suicide — but this one concerning an Australian tourist in Bangkok. The 49-year old Aussie is believed to have committed suicide by jumping from his Sathorn hotel room on Saturday morning. A tourist staying on the second floor of the 28-storey establishment found the man lying face down on her terrace when she awoke that morning. A note was left addressed to the dead man’s brother in his hotel room.
Blogs
Advice for teachers in Thailand: just go with the flow
This is a blog from the Ajarn teaching website, offering anecdotes and advice on the some of the hapless goings-on you can expect when working in a Thai school or language centre. Learning to simply take life as it comes, and adopting Thailand’s favourite mantra of ‘mai pen rai’ is advice that should extend far beyond the classroom for all foreigners on Thai shores.
2016: A year in Bangkok dining
This Bangkok 101 piece takes a long-view of the year just passed, focusing in on Bangkok’s ever growing dining scene. From the destruction of street food hub Soi 38 and the indomitable tomahawk steak phenomenon to the growing legion of food-truck-turn-restaurants and expensive Japanese cheese tarts.
A yodelling pickle in Bangkok
This is a fun Bangkok travel blog about one man’s first night in Bangkok — much more readable and interesting than the usual ‘Bangkok is an attack on the senses’ blogging guff. We learn about him being pickpocketed at BKK before being chased by a woman yielding a yodelling pickle in MBK. Sounds about right.
Forum Threads
What’s life like in the Thai countryside for expats?
This is an interesting Reddit discussion on what life looks like for expats who choose to live in the quieter parts of Thailand — away from the hubs of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. The original poster starts off aghast that anyone would willingly transport themselves into the wilds of Isaan without chasing a wife from those areas, but is slowly convinced on the merits of the countryside after farangs lend their opinions on the benefits of living the slow life away from the city.
A classic tale of boy meets girl…
And here we have one for the ages: a Thaivisa classic. The original poster is seeking advice after meeting a girl in a bar (now working as a cashier but with an inevitable back story as a bonafide bar girl), striking up a relationship with said girl, then dumping her after a litany of shady incidents. Such incidents include Facebook messaging with old clients, distancing herself from him in public and 3am phone calls.
Even though he’s finished the relationship, it’s clear that he’s still hung up on her. What isn’t so clear is why he turned to the sages of Thaivisa forum for advice on the matter.
Videos
Hiw mak pic.twitter.com/3OqlGEab0F
— Stickboy Bangkok (@StickboyBangkok) February 8, 2017
Ashamedly, I believe I’m addicted to those ridiculous lasagna flavoured crisps. #Thailand pic.twitter.com/qI9zQk2kZw
— Signore Sammy (@signoresammybkk) February 10, 2017
I bet you’ve never seen Sukhumvit from this point of view #Bangkok 🚁 https://t.co/nZzzTp8JRT pic.twitter.com/8UqUQSvneQ
— Christian Mischler (@Chris_Mischler) February 9, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!
Featured image includes photo by Matthes (public domain)
