One of the things that we expats definitely don't like to see is when other foreigners do something really stupid and it ends up making the news. One aspect of Thailand tourism that really stinks is that there is a large group of people that come here and just get absolutely trashed out of their minds and then end up doing really stupid things like getting into fights, crashing bikes and cars, and also making problems for the locals.
When someone foreign does this on a regular basis it kind of looks bad for all of us there are here even though we had nothing to do with it.
Pattaya is a dump. I regularly say this about the place and how I feel it really has no redeeming qualities. When you hear about stupid crimes involving intense levels of drunkenness, there is a pretty good chance that it took place in Pattaya, and well well well. That is exactly where this story comes from.
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I've been really drunk before. I have passed out in a yard and slept there before, I have lost the ability to speak or been really loud at a party too. Mostly my offenses in this category are pretty tame and I can't even imagine the mental health state of a person who upon getting absolutely wrecked on booze and thinks it is a good idea to take all of their clothes off and then shout at strangers.
This guy, who isn't being identified by the news (he should personally thank them for this) thought it was and was seen by many shouting at passing motorist and spitting at them. There's CCTV footage of him getting into an argument with a decorative statue and then breaking it. According to the owner the statue is worth 30,000 Baht (nearly $1000) and I don't believe that for a second but still, bashing up a statue while naked is probably a lot lower than almost all of us will go in our own lives.
Apparently police had to subdue him and transport him cuffed in the back of a pickup truck and then find him some shorts once they got to the police station. He at no time was making any sort of sense and the last I bothered reading about it he still hadn't been identified. I think they are trying to protect him though. I bet they know who he is by now but realize the damage that this sort of information getting out could do to a person. If that is the case, I congratulate the Thai Police on being very decent human beings.
Unfortunately for our overweight and clothes-less drunken traveler, social media has not been anywhere near as kind to him and at least among the Thai communities, his images are being spread far and wide.
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is that a smirk on the cop's face I see?
This sort of thing happens frequently in Pattaya and I think the police are honestly, too kind to the people that commit these lewd acts. This guy is facing a "disorderly conduct in public" charge for his behavior and the maximum penalty for this is 5,000 Baht which is roughly $150. This is not enough of a punishment if you ask me.
This making somewhat of a splash in some media circles doesn't do much help to Thailand's already struggling tourism sector and I can speak about this by having seen it with my own eyes that Pattaya, and certain other parts of this country simply need to be avoided. No matter what the tourism department tries to lie about or how nice they photoshop all the scenery there are some places in this country that are just downright awful.
If you do travel to Thailand, and I really think you should at some point in your life, you need to just cross Pattaya off the list. Unless it is your objective to do drugs and get drunk while hanging out with prostitutes, there isn't really any reason to go there.