Central Thailand
Snake bites teenager using the toilet
An 18 year old university student in Nonthaburi, just west of Bangkok, was bitten by a python while using the toilet. The 1 metre long python was in the toilet bowl when it bit the student’s penis, splattering blood all over the wall and toilet seat. Luckily the student is okay and only needed 3 stitches (which begs the question, what was worse, the bite or the stitches?!).
The student’s mother says she’s confused as to why the snake was in the toilet in the first place, adding that the town house is not in a rural area. The snake was trapped and released in the wild.
There have been numerous reports about snakes making their way into a toilet and biting people, usually after they’ve taken their pants off. Last year, a man in Bangkok was bit in the penis by a 3 metre long python when he used the bathroom. He went to the hospital and ended up with 15 stitches.
Another large snake in Central Thailand bit a woman as she went to use the toilet.
“We all think that it’s something that won’t happen to us, I thought that was too until now when this happened in my own home. How can a snake this size be in the toilet? Let me tell you what happened to Anna, my mother. She went to use the toilet as usual. Our home is a village, not in the forest or the middle of nowhere. The snake bit my mother as she sat on the toilet.”
Just last month, a 4 year old was bitten by a snake while sitting on the toilet at a condo near the On Nut BTS Station.
Snakes usually end up in toilets because they’re looking for rats, Geoff Jacobs at Queensland Wildlife Solutions in Australia told BBC in an earlier report. He says the snakes hunt down rats and follow their trail. Many of the rodents go down in sewers.
“There’s only a small amount of water in the bottom of your toilet bowl. They come up through a dry pipe and there’s a small bit of water in the S-bend – he’s only got to go down an inch-and-a-half or two inches and straight back up, so it’s quite easy once they learn how to do it.”
Keep in contact with Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following Thaiger.
The TAT, ever the optimists regarding anything tourism related, even domestic tourism, predict that the Bangkok clusters that have emerged in the week before the Songkran break could reduce traffic and spending by up to half.
Today the CCSA is reporting 789 new infections and one additional death. 522 were local infections, mostly walk-ins to Bangkok hospitals, 259 were discovered through track and tracing. The remaining 8 were found in quarantine from overseas arrivals. In Phuket, another 17 cases have been reported today, taking the island’s week total to 43.
GRAPH: Worldometer figures for Thailand, up to April 9
A 68 year old man from Nakhon Pathom province died on April 4 but wasn’t reported until today. The CCSA report that he died from Covid and “complications”. 33 other former patients have recovered and been discharged.
Last week the TAT estimated 3.2 million domestic trips would circulate 12 billion baht for the Thai economy. But the Tourism Authority has now slashed their estimates by half after hotels, airlines and bus companies reported mass cancellations in the last few days. Other provinces are reporting less than 20% cancellations. Although this weekend will see a lot of travel, Songkran doesn’t formally start until next Tuesday and the TAT expect there could be additional fallout as travellers decide to have a staycation for Songkran instead heading home.
Bangkok Post reports that 70% of travellers to Prachuap Khiri Khan and Hua Hin have already cancelled hotel bookings. Similar cancellations have been reported in Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai. Many other provinces, particularly in the north east and north, are also enforcing quarantine on arrivals or additional paperwork to try and protect their provinces from any of the Bangkok clusters.
8 north eastern provinces rare now requiring 10 or 14 day quarantine periods for anyone arriving from areas where new clusters have been reported. Chiang Mai provincial officials say that tourists from Samut Prakan, Nakhon Pathom, Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi – basically Bangkok and surrounding provinces – must complete a 14 day mandatory quarantine or conduct a test for Covid when they arrive.
The reality is that the travel and quarantine changes are outstripping the ability to communicate them all. Anyone crossing into other provinces in the next few day, especially if you’re travelling from Bangkok and surrounding provincial ‘red zones’ can expect some additional paperwork or a Covid test. Or even quarantine.
Keep in contact with Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following Thaiger.
While protesters against the Thai government are continuing as they have for endless months, attendance is lessening in the face of crackdowns, coups and Covid-19. The throngs of 10,000 plus protesters, mostly energetic youth, that waved The Hunger Games 3 finger salute and demanded change in Thailand last summer have thinned to a few thousand or less these days.
The government isn’t in the clear yet though, as the protester’s calls to replace the current government, lessen the power of the Thai monarchy, and draw up a new constitution are still popular ideas. But a number of factors are causing protester size and vigour to wane.
The second wave of Covid in December quickly curbed the daily demonstrations for fear of spreading the virus. After that, the coup in Myanmar on February 1 has brought massive protests with international attention shifting to the growing humanitarian crisis just across the border. On top of the pandemic and the Burmese coup, the Thai government has taken a much more hardline approach to protesters in recent months.
Police began fighting back against mass demonstrations, dispersing crowds with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. And after 2 years of leniency, the government has begun prosecuting people under the strict lèse-majesté laws, where offending the monarchy can carry harsh punishment including a jail sentence of up to 15 years.
Anon Nampa, a human-rights lawyer, and Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, a student activist, have already been arrested under this law and held without bail. Arrests like these have been demoralising for the pro-democracy movement, and have scared away a lot of Thai protesters. Many have shifted focus to more immediate efforts to demand the release of the detained protest leaders.
Even with the crowds shrinking, the protests have already brought about change, bringing once unspeakable conversations into the national conversation, and keeping pressure on Thailand’s leaders. Opposition is growing, with efforts to push no-confidence votes and amendments to the constitution being constantly proposed and advocated.
SOURCE: The Economist
Keep in contact with Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following Thaiger.
A third Covid-19 wave surging through Thailand is spreading through entertainment centres, including high-end VIP clubs rumoured to be popular with elite government officials. 559 Covid-19 infections and 1 death were reported today and the outbreak, which began in bars and clubs in the Thong Lor area of Bangkok among other nightlife hotspots, is surging, reaching 20 provinces throughout Thailand. Outbreaks in Chon Buri, Pattaya, and Phuket have also been linked directly to evening entertainment venues, such as the dance music festival in Phuket last weekend that resulted in 10 infections. Now, evidence is emerging that the wave is spreading through Bangkok’s wealthy elite and government officials.
In Phuket, where 70% vaccination of residents has been a primary focus in order to re-open to desperately needed tourism, the new outbreak has brought bar closures and new restrictions. And it looks like Songkran celebrations across the country will be muted, if not cancelled.
With nightlife and hospitality workers being disproportionately affected by the third wave of Covid-19, many are airing their frustrations with the VIP elite class contributing to the outbreak, including a trending hashtag #CovidThonglor. Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob was one of the first cabinet members to test positive for Covid-19, amid rumours that he had recently attended or been in proximity with someone who attended Krystal Club, an upscale entertainment business. Though he denies being there, the club is allegedly so popular among politicians and officials that it is often referred to by the nickname “Government House 2”. Nearly a third of cabinet ministers are now self-isolating for fear of Covid-19 exposure.
With 200,000 baht minimum spending limits, it’s a high-society hotspot that may be spreading Covid-19 from the rich VIP customers to the poor staff and everyone they come in contact with. Calls for government officials and other elites who attended VIP clubs like this to disclose their potentially embarrassing timelines have so far been mostly unheeded.
In Bangkok, hospitals and private medical facilities have been warning of a shortage of testing kits and Covid-ready hospital beds. Field hospitals have been erected to prepare as the outbreak expands with surging cases. Experts think the new outbreak may be contained in a month or two, but fear in Bangkok it may take much longer to recover.
SOURCE: SCMP
Keep in contact with Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following Thaiger.
Pattaya police warn restaurants not to act like bars, and bars not to pretend they’re restaurants
More bitter clashes yesterday in Myanmar with the toll rising to 618
Cambodia threatens jail for Covid-19 quarantine violations
7 Thai dogs find a new home in California
Chon Buri: 141 new Covid-19 infections, 54 linked to nightlife
Nightlife continues to play a major role in Thailand’s Covid-19 third wave
Elephants walking from Pattaya to Surin get a lift
Big Covid-19 numbers today: 789 new infections, 1 death
Tourism officials slash Songkran travel expectations by half
Thai Airways cuts another 4,250 staff, offering them early retirement
UN special envoy in Thailand to meet Foreign Minister about Myanmar crisis
Privatising Covid vaccines – Thai government gives private hospitals the go-ahead to buy vaccines
Thailand News Today | Bars closed for 2 weeks start tonight, monitor lizard in 7-11 | April 9, 2021
Attendance on the wane for Thai democracy protests
VIP clubs may be spreading Covid-19 from rich to poor
Tourism officials slash Songkran travel expectations by half
Thai Airways cuts another 4,250 staff, offering them early retirement
Thailand News Today | Bangkok nightspot Covid clusters, Tesco/CP merger goes to court | April 5
10 rebel groups in Myanmar throw their support behind anti-coup protesters | VIDEO
Firefighters’ bodies retrieved, 100,000 baht to families
Immigration police arrest Frenchman on drug charges, 3 other foreigners for overstay
Weekend party event in Phuket reports positive Covid attendee
Labour union angry over changes to Thai Airways staff contracts under rehab plan
Nightlife shut down in 3 Bangkok districts following rise in Covid numbers
Police chief orders staff to work from home after 42 officers test positive
Bangkok prepares to open field hospital as officials warn of a rapid rise in infections
Some Bangkok international schools close following rise of Covid-19 cases in the area
Thailand allows entry to 11 groups of travellers, cuts quarantine down for those vaccinated
Leading Thai virologist warns of third wave, says herd immunity will take 2 years at current vaccination rate
Thai Health Minister pictured without mask, sitting next to infected Transport Minister
Thailand News Today | Thai Airways in rehab, All go for Songkran | March 4
Phuket’s nightlife. Yes, bars and clubs are still open | VIDEO
Thailand News Today | Covid passport talks, Thai Airways heads to court | March 2
Phuket Thai food treats you need to try | VIDEO
Thailand News Today | Bars, pubs and restaurants ‘sort of’ back to normal | Feb 23
In search of Cat & Dog Cafés in Phuket Town | VIDEO
Thailand News Today | Gambling crackdown, Seafood market to reopen, Vlogger challenge | Jan 21
Thailand News Today | Covid testing for visas, Business impact, Vaccine approval | January 19
Thailand News Today | Weekend Bangkok bombs, Thailand fires, Covid update | January 18
Thailand News Today | Stray car on runway, Indonesian quake, 300 baht tourist fee | January 15
Thailand News Today | Governor off respirator, sex-trafficking arrest, condo prices falling | January 14
Thailand News Today | Chinese vaccine, Thailand ‘drug hub’, Covid update | January 13
Thailand News Today | Bangkok may ease restrictions, Phuket bar curfew, Vaccine roll out | January 12
Thailand News Today | Covid latest, Cockfights closed down, Bryde’s Whale beached | January 11
Thailand News Today | Southern floods, Face mask fines, Thai Air Asia woes | January 8
-
Bangkok21 hours agoTourism officials slash Songkran travel expectations by half
-
Thailand23 hours agoThai Airways cuts another 4,250 staff, offering them early retirement
-
Crime3 days agoImmigration police arrest Frenchman on drug charges, 3 other foreigners for overstay
-
Coronavirus (Covid-19)2 days agoPolice chief orders staff to work from home after 42 officers test positive
-
Bangkok3 days agoBangkok prepares to open field hospital as officials warn of a rapid rise in infections
-
Bangkok3 days agoThai Health Minister pictured without mask, sitting next to infected Transport Minister
-
Coronavirus (Covid-19)3 days agoThai tourism operators slam government’s inefficient vaccine rollout
-
Bangkok2 days agoUPDATE: Thai PM orders closure of bars and clubs in 41 provinces
Keith Fitzgerald
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 1:43 pm
Is this news, or just toilet-reading?
First of all, let me just remind you and your cohorts that compound adjectives require a hyphen between each word. Things like this are totally wrong, and just alert people right off the bat that the standards at The Thaiger are bottom-of-the-barrel:
“The 1 metre long python”
“a 4 year old was bitten”
Hyphens are free, right? Just like commas, periods, question marks, and apostrophes.
Now, in terms of content, something like the following is what one expects to see in Facebook or Twatter chatter: ” … (which begs the question, what was worse, the bite or the stitches?!)” You may personally find yourself to be humorous, but such chatter does not even enter the mind of a good writer, let along end up in print.
Let me ask you about this strange sentence: “There have been numerous reports about snakes making their way into a toilet and biting people, usually after they’ve taken their pants off.” — Are you familiar with situations in which people sit on a toilet seat with their pants on?
A final pointer for you regarding writing, since it appears that there is no editing happening there: Because you used the phrase ‘making its way into a toilet’ two sentences before the one I quote above, you might try being a bit creative, if that’s possible, and changing the phrasing, instead of just repeating yourself.
Tobias Krantz
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 2:42 pm
Take it easy Kieth Fitzgerald, I see your English correction comments here and I find them offensive. I was born in an English speaking country, I am an English teacher and my English is not perfect. Go and show-off somewhere else. Communication is about being able to get your idea across and to be understood, it is not about perfect English. I have known some of the most stupid and dysfunctional people speaking perfect English.
TS
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 3:59 pm
Throttle down Mr. Fitzgerald,
it’s just a snake in a toilet story fer f’cks sake. If you’re so anal about grammar, go apply for job at thetiger, show us how it’s done. sheeesh…
The Thaiger & The Nation
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 4:27 pm
As we’ve mentioned to you before Keith, it’s a style thing and we don’t use hyphens in the compound adjectives. It bothers us not if you consider it correct or otherwise, we ain’t changing it just because you keep sending us tiresome emails. You’re welcome to whinge and complain about the accuracy of the facts or some glaring errors. Of course we will correct things we get totally wrong. We will make spelling mistakes and we have our own ‘style’ which uses a lot of conversational English and occasionally some of the abbreviated English we see appearing in social media… it’s just the way it is. English is a fluid language and keeps evolving. We would also recommend you migrate from The Thaiger’s bottom of the barrel news and find something more to your liking that doesn’t offend you. Tim, The Thaiger
Chipemberi
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 5:59 pm
I think the 3meter one and 15 stitches was an excuse for spending the night in soi cowboy with a not so happy ending
Rinky Stingpiece
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 8:06 pm
I’m trying to think of a crack about the response to the “toilet reading” being so anal, but I can’t squeeze one out.
James Pate
Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 7:16 am
Much better than having an appendix removed;that scar is sure to, ahem, “give rise” to many a tall tale. “That SOB was 3 meters long and he bit me out of jealousy!”, etc.
Keith Fitzgerald
Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 3:32 pm
“The Thaiger and The Nation”(Tim) falsely claims that his ads platform posing as a digital newspaper does not use hyphens in compound nouns. Apparently, he doesn’t even read the thing he’s in charge of. Here are some random examples of The Thaiger’s use of such hyphens, though such punctuation is willy-nilly missing in the body of most articles:
Top 10 English-language news sources in Thailand (2020)
Plan for long-term visitors set for October
Thailand is the fourth most searched-for destination for your next holiday
BTS release their first all-English track ‘Dynamite’, and it’s a disco bop!
Police identify Phuket rush-hour killer, move to make arrest
So, in a nutshell, we get back to the basic truth that there is hardly any editing of this thing, and that some compound adjectives will be hyphenated, while some will not. Why is that? Because most of the writers don’t know how to write, and the boss doesn’t care.
Proper punctuation is not just “a style thing.” No serious writer would make such an absurd statement. The fact that many people don’t care does not render a principle null and void. Periods are for full stops. Commas are for breaths, pauses. Just because Tim uses a comma in his reply to me above, where a full stop occurs, does not make him correct. Likewise when he superciliously tells me that I am “welcome to whinge and complain” (as if I need his permission to do so), when those two verbs mean the same thing. That’s called redundancy, as any competent writer and editor knows. Would he approve of some nitwit on his staff writing something like “Mary was tearing up and crying”? Given what we see here every day, I guess the answer is yes.
It just reveals ignorance and laziness, which is everywhere to be seen in the articles he approves.
Isn’t it telling that none of the defenders of Miss Ashworth’s latest pabulum did not comment on my question regarding people sitting on a toilet with their pants on, or of the writer’s juvenile chatter within parentheses at the end of her first paragraph?
Those are matters of content, not mere “style.” But it’s easier for the CEO and Toby Cramps to “whinge and complain” (duh) about what they perceive to be inconsequential matters of mere punctuation.
As regards Mister Cramps informing us that he’s an “English teacher” from an “English speaking country,” as if that somehow qualifies him to hold forth on English written for publication by a self-proclaimed journalist, well, simply reading what he pooped out in all his high dudgeon gives us a shining example of the English and intellectual level of a high majority of English teachers from countries where English is the mother tongue. Thailand, like much of Asia, is notorious for hiring as “English teachers” inarticulate posers who are never seen with a book. They don’t read. They just surf the net. Surprise surprise.
To wit, at an English center near Asok, two of the three full-time teachers did not even go to a university. One of them claimed in an online article for the center that Sydney is the capital of Australia. Another said that he had been a real estate appraiser in Melbourne, and then decided to take his money to Bangkok so he could live it up with bargirls. When he ran out of funds, he decided to get into “teaching,” as that’s the easiest job for any old white foreigner here to get.
Anyway, whining Cramps is “offended” and he can’t spell my name and he thinks that the simple verb phrase “to show off” requires a hyphen.
Where would we be without Mr. Thaiger pontificating about English being a “fluid language” which “keeps evolving,” as if that second major redundancy somehow excuses the detritus he publishes?
The Thaiger & The Nation
Friday, September 18, 2020 at 9:51 am
Thanks for all your earnest research Kieth. What WOULD we do without you?! (Is it ok to use a question mark and exclamation mark at the same time?)
Randall Hill
Friday, September 18, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Hello,
I have written comments to several articles in the last few months. I don’t think any of them were disrespectful or not in good taste. However none of my comments was published, and also there has not been any communication from The Thaiger as to why they weren’t deemed acceptable to be published. Why is this?
Randall Hill
The Thaiger & The Nation
Friday, September 18, 2020 at 3:20 pm
We’ve only ever received 2 comments from you Randall. Both have been published.
Keith Ritzgerald
Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 1:03 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHA! XD XD XD
Keith Fitzgerald… Absolutely amazing. I mean, I thought the NEWS story was good, but then I got to the comments section and received a better pay-out than a snake biting a guy’s penis. My God! I didn’t know the human race could produce people like this! Soooo sorry you guys at Thaiger have to deal with him.
(oops, sorry keith, I meant HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA lol please don’t stop posting, your opinions are golden)
Keith Ritzgerald
Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 1:12 pm
Awwwww I’m sad now, please publish it 😀
Just kidding. Anyways, at least I can talk to the comment moderator. Thanks for your hard work moderating Keith, he made me laugh my butt off. It’s too bad that he sucks.
I’ll leave now, no worries and please have a great day.
Best of luck during COVID, and I wish you all the best!