Thailand News
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Dark times for black dogs
SRISAKET: Black dogs in Nongsimai Village 2 were slaughtered recently after a local shaman convinced villagers that soaking string in the blood of a black dog and wrapping it around their homes would offer protection from the dreaded phi porp – a female ghost that kills married men and eats their innards. After two village men died in mysterious circumstances,…
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Milkmaid of human kindness
BANGKOK: You won’t find many 71-year-old women bragging about their bosoms, but a fortune teller in Bangkok recently invited reporters to squeeze her breasts to prove that they were filled with milk. And not just any old milk. The woman, whose chest measures an impressive 38 inches, claims to have an abundant supply of “supernatural” milk that can ease pain,…
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The iceman cometh
NAKHON PATHOM: One of the primary targets in the Government’s war on drugs are dealers of ya bah (methamphetamine), one form of which is the highly addictive recrystalised form, known as “ice”. But if the tale told by a man in Nakorn Pathom’s Muang District is to be believed, dealers in ice made from water are now being targeted by…
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Beach blanket bingo
KARON: In an effort to find beer for himself and his new best friend from Burma, the transvestite cashier of a local bar broke into two mini-marts and helped himself. But, high as he was on the twin passions of beer and very close friendship, he left his address book on the beach among the empty beer bottles – allowing…
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Sexist Grim Reaper
RAYONG: Residents of Village 7 of Tambon Baan Laeng, Muang District, held a Buddhist sadaokhro merit-making ceremony on March 11 to try to turn around a string of untimely deaths that has caused the number of male residents to plummet to the point where there are 141 males and 269 females. One might imagine that the surviving males might like…
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Really tough love
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Some parents learn too late that the time to teach their offspring some discipline is when they are still young. The retired cop who pulled a out a .22 caliber pistol and shot his only son on the afternoon of March 4 in Thoong Song District may be one such parent. When police arrived at the scene,…
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Chicken fallout
UDON THANI: As 58-year-old village headman Boonchu Srisingha was leaving his home in tambon Chiang Yuen on the morning of 27 January, he noticed a white plastic bag hanging from the fence surrounding his home. Intrigued, he looked closer and spotted a note attached to it that read, “Please give the contents of this bag to Mongkol Singhamaw, aged 28,…
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Cursed by spirits
BANGKOK: A man from Buri Ram province who went on a three-day drinking binge returned to his job in the capital with a terrible pain in his abdomen – which he apparently tried to cure by operating on himself. The man, identified as a 32-year-old Sanan Jodrum, having three days vacation, did what most low-paid laborers in Bangkok do: he…
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The horror of the morning after
PATHUM THANI: Some people may be familiar with the surprise of waking up on the morning of New Year’s Day to find an unexpected creature lying beside them in bed. Few, however, take the trouble to report such incidents to the police. Fewer still are the cases where police haul the offending bedmate off to jail. Pol Lt Col Sarawut…
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Eye-for-an-eye justice
YASOTHORN: The family of an 11-year-old boy in Muang District’s tambon Khlum-ngen turned up at the local police station to file charges against the boy’s teacher, accusing her of spraying lime juice into their son’s eyes as a form of punishment. Pensri Thongwichai said that her son, Sapasit, developed an eye infection because of mistreatment by his teacher, Ajarn Pannee…
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Not a ghost of a chance
THALANG: When police cremated an unidentified murder victim without first conducting a religious ceremony, their actions came back to haunt them – literally. Fishermen discovered the body in the waters off Ao Por on the morning of December 10 – and it was not a pretty sight. Pol Maj Anan Jingjit of the Thalang Police Station said that they could…
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A definite case of penis envy
NAKHON PATHOM: Phallic symbols have been worshiped by man since time immemorial, and in Nakhon Pathom’s Phra Phathom Chedi district lives one man who is doing his best to keep that tradition alive. Not only has he collected 300-400 wooden lingams, but he proudly wears 100 of them – all at once suspended – from a special belt strapped around…
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Pricey pawing
PATHUM THANI: Udomdech Rattanasathien, Secretary to Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, led a team of department officials and police on a raid at another dubious treatment facility, also in Phatum Thani, on October 7. This raid followed complaints by a female patient that she had been sexually assaulted during treatment – by a well-known monk. The woman said her treatment…
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Massively massaged
PATHUM THANI: When it comes to traditional Thai massage, some like it harder than others. But few people suffering from stiffness or poor circulation want to emerge from massage treatment looking as if they had just gone five hard rounds in a Muay Thai fight – which was the type of service a renegade massage parlor in Pathum Thani had…
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Fight night down at the wat
SRISAKET: Monks may not often lose their tempers but two did go head-to-head in a heated dispute recently over who got to sit closer to the temple abbot during a merit-making ceremony. The unfortunate incident occurred at Wat Jiang Isrimongkolworaraam in Srisaket province, where devotees had gathered for lunch and a merit-making ritual, to be performed by chief provincial monk…
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Man discovers screw worm
NAKHON NAYOK: Watch out Pfizer – a fireman who recently gobbled down fistfuls of live earthworms on TV claims the slimy, dirt-eating creatures give him extra stamina in bed. And unlike Viagra, they don’t cost 400 baht each. Paisit Chanta, 39, said he’d been eating worms since he was 10, when he got hungry while fishing. His wife, Chuleeporn Chanta,…
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Drunk with noose cooks own goose
TRANG: One can cheat death for only so long, as residents of tambon Kok Lor in Trang province learned recently when an elderly villager hanged himself “accidentally on purpose” while drunk. The “accidental” suicide occurred on August 16, when 76-year-old Sian Ninlata suspended a rope from a roof beam, placed his head in the noose and stumbled around drunk on…
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Why love’s a blast
KAMPHAENG PHET: They say you’re never too old to fall in love. But if that’s true, then it must follow that you’re never too old to blow away a romantic rival with a shotgun in a fit of jealous rage, either. When 73-year-old land owner Samraan Imsuwat rented out a piece of land to 71-year-old Nou See-uso to cultivate jasmine…
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Murder 101: lessons in killing
PHITSANULOKE: Region 6 police apprehended three members of a five-man gang in Phitsanuloke province who shot and killed at least three people and injured several others in at least 10 shooting incidents in Phichit and Phitsanuloke provinces. Among their victims were teachers, military personnel, secondary school students and even a little girl. In confessing to the shootings, the suspects –…
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Tiger attack: one dead, two critical
PHRAE: Given the madness and mayhem that afflict Thai roads, it’s only natural that people want to spend as much time as possible in the safety of their homes. But a recent tragedy in Phrae province shows that even being at home in front of the TV is no guarantee of safety from drunk drivers. At about midnight on August…
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Samson takes a fall “for mom’
BANGKOK: Popular Thai kickboxer Samson Lookjaopormahesak has been arrested for allegedly throwing a fight, becoming Thailand’s first boxer to face legal action for suspected match fixing. Samson is one of the country’s most famous boxers, and his fight on the evening of August 5 was highly anticipated. Samson dominated the early rounds, but the referee stopped the fight in the…
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Not wanted, dead or alive
NO MAN’S LAND: A Thai man working at a casino in the Cambodian border town of Poipet died there after Cambodian officials refused to let his wife, Khun Wanna, take him back to Thailand to seek emergency medical treatment. The victim, 23-year-old Samruay Sukpanao, started working at the Princess Casino as a decorator 15 days before his untimely demise on…
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May I take your bags, sir?
PATHUM THANI: The Phuket tourism industry, long hampered by the difficulty of finding English-speaking staff, will be glad to know that help is now on the way – straight from the slammer. Inmates at a prison in Pathum Thani are now being offered three-month English language courses to help them prepare for life on the outside, said a senior official…
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Just an udder criminal
CHIANG MAI: Preecha Chintakessakarn, 19, was finding it tough making ends meet. His family was poor, his wife was unemployed and he couldn’t even afford milk for his two-month-old baby. Out of necessity he turned to crime, and decided to rob the local Foremost dairy warehouse to find fresh milk for his little darling. In the early hours of July…
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Who needs a barbecue?
NAKHON NAYOK: Many people love the taste of charcoal-grilled food, but a young woman in Nakhon Nayok has taken her love for charcoal one step further – bypassing the food and eating the charcoal instead. In Tambon Pakplea, a 26-year-old widow, Urai Setsuriya, carries a bag of the black carbon sticks with her wherever she goes, sometimes munching up to…
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A dish best served boiled
NAKHON PATHOM: Legions of men thought twice about their two-timing ways after watching Fatal Attraction, the movie in which a mistress takes revenge on her married lover by boiling his family’s beloved pet bunny. In the film, wife and children became the unwitting victims in a dangerous love triangle. In Nakhon Pathom, however, it was the wife whose jealous rage…
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Peg-leg snatcher in the slammer
BANGKOK: A two-month, 10-victim purse-snatching spree in Bangkok ended on May 17 with the arrest of a one-legged thief who used a motorcycle to make his getaways. Payao Thongpong, 30, after grabbing the purse of his latest victim, rode his motorcycle practically into the hands of police at a checkpoint, where officers had been given his description. Payao told police…
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Boot camp for idle police
PATTAYA: There has long been debate about whether criminals can ever be reformed, and about the most effective methods to change their antisocial habits. But when those responsible for protecting society from the lawless need straightening out, there’s little question of what needs to be done – at least in the mind of Pol Lt Col Sakrapee Preawpanich, Deputy Superintendent…
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Beware of your underwear
BANGKOK:The government has issued a warning advising women to beware of underwear vendors who claim their expensive, tight-fitting panties can melt away fat and cure a host of diseases. Despite the underwear being sold at more than 10,000 baht a pair, a number of young women have already fallen victim to the spurious claims. Direct salespeople sell the undies using…
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High-tech sprituality
UBON RATCHATHANI: It is well known that when you make a deal with the spirit world it’s best to hold up your end of the bargain – an act known in Thai as kae bon. Perhaps Thailand’s best-known acts of kae bon take place at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine, famous for helping mortals pick winning lottery numbers. Those who hit it…
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