Happy Sunday, Bangkok!
Another busy week in the Land of Smiles as we ramp up to the Christmas and New Year period — what with Floyd Mayweather riding elephants and channeling James Bond in Phuket, the launch of the metered UberTaxi in Bangkok, and a Western woman dangling from the rafters at Suvarnabhumi airport, there’s almost been too much going on.
Let’s take a look at what else has been entertaining and enraging Bangkok this week…
Post Contents
News
Headless corpse found in Phuket drain
In one of the most gruesome news stories we’ve seen for a while, a headless corpse was found in a drain in Thalang, Phuket, this week. The body was found by a man searching down the drain for his missing car key on Thepkasattri Road. The police were unable to ID the body, but have now opened a murder investigation.
Chiang Mai man arrested for masturbating while driving scooter
In what seems to be an ever-common occurrence in Thailand, yet another Facebook video has gone viral this week showing a man on a scooter pleasuring himself while driving. 48-year old Buncha Nunti was arrested in Chiang Mai after being identified from the damning footage, claiming that he was drunk and had been turned on after spotting a woman in a songthaew.
Just to be clear, we only support sober, non-masturbating scooter drivers. Thailand’s roads are dangerous enough as they are; do we really need to add to the circus?
Profile of the Mekong Review, magazine covering SEA’s literary scene
A fascinating profile in the New York Times this week on The Mekong Review: a literary magazine that eludes censors as it publishes poetry, fiction, reviews and reports on the culture, history and politics of Southeast Asia. Founded, published and edited by Minh Bui Jones, it has the noble aim of emulating similar literary rags The London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books: “brave, trenchant critics of their respective governments.”
Blogs
Where are the high-paying teacher jobs in Thailand?
Another interesting blog post on the Ajarn site this week, questioning where to find those quasi-mythical $6-8,000 a month teacher positions in Bangkok’s international schools, without having to take on a slew of time-consuming and exhausting extra jobs. Read the comments for further discussion and tips on making the big bucks in Bangkok.
Are these really the top 5 places to live in Thailand?
Inspire is taking aim at the International Living website this week, after they published a list of 5 of the best places to live in Thailand: Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Bangkok, Hua Hin and Phuket.
While they agree with Chiang Mai and Hua Hin, the author has big issues with the other three — particularly the roads and claustrophobia with Bangkok. He suggests swapping out Phuket for Pattaya, a city he claims is ‘wonderful’ for expats.
We’ll reserve judgment for now.
12 restaurants on Sukhumvit that support local giving
Charitable website Socialgiver has collaborated with 12 restaurants in the Sukhumvit neighbourhood to help you give back to the community when you eat out. Essentially, you need to buy a gift card via their website or the app, show the gift card code to the restaurant, enjoy a discount on your food, while 100% of the profits are donated to a number of local charities, focusing on education, health and the environment.
Participating restaurants include Pattisez on Soi 39, Broccoli Revolution on Soi 49, Mrs Balbir’s on Soi 11, Harvest on Soi 31, Peppina on Soi 33, La Boeuf on Thonglor Soi 9 and more. Read the article for full details including the charities supported.
Forum Threads
How to handle disrespect in Thailand
A bizarrely hysterical Reddit thread here on one expat’s reaction to a number of perceived slights against him from the local Thai population. He lives in a low-foreigner area in southern Bangkok, and lists his grievances, which includes staff not greeting him, not receiving a sincere ‘krup’ or ‘ka’ at the end of exchanges, people grabbing various body parts, pointed laughing and giggling at him, a lack of waiing, and refusing to speak Thai to him.
Some good advice in the comments about letting things go and ignoring any apparent anti-foreigner bias, although the original poster continues to insist that his experiences are even worse than what he’s already described.
While we’d attribute one or two of these to a couple of xenophobic bad eggs, if everyone is treating you a certain way, perhaps the issue actually lies with you.
YouTube
Welcome to Koh Chang! pic.twitter.com/q0XoZ8srDZ
— Ian (@iamKohChang) December 12, 2017
Tourists, be extra careful when renting a motorcycle in Thailand because your parents might not know how to start a GoFundMe page.
— Phil / Ajarn.com (@Ajarncom) December 13, 2017
Motorbike anti-theft device #Thailand pic.twitter.com/EvcooztvhH
— Thos Major (@ThosMajor) December 14, 2017
1/2
In my 30 years of driving in Thailand, it’s misleading and lazy to say all Thai’s drive recklessly or irresponsibility. The problem lies with the 20% +/- 5% who drive like Ayn Rand indoctrinated superheroes on steroids.— Christopher G. Moore (@cgmooreauthor) December 13, 2017
#Leo lamp. For the classy #Bangkok consumer. pic.twitter.com/9OYeYvKJV6
— Somchai the Dog (@bkksomchai) December 13, 2017
And that’s been The Week On Sukhumvit — see you next time!
