Guest Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 i have never been in manila, so i can't really compare. but what i have heard from manila is that it is not very nice at all in that aspect. the only real comparism i have is how bangkok has developed during the years i know it, and listening to people who have lived here a lot longer than me, both thais and westernrs, especially people who have dealt with that specific part of bangkok social life. common agreement appears to be that inter-gang conflicts were two decades ago much more, but random violence is increasing, especially now since the beginning of the drugwar. for the average person random violence is a lot more worrying, as inter-gang conflicts do rarely target non-involved people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iono Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Sure, however violence is not random, as these people are setup to protect themselves from theives. With that said violence in the PI can probably be attributed more towards the many kidnappings that take place (this doesn't include the conflict in Mindanao (war on thugs). Fly has got it right attributing the violence to the war on drugs, desperate people doing desperate things to feed their habits wether it be drugs or money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Fidel said:Hi Fly, so far we foreigners are not directly targetted was a friend of mine, a 76 year old guy who was attacked while driving home on his motorbike... suffered a busted forehead/eye and a fractured skull. i feel it is dangerous to drive motorbike at night.it happend to me that people with pick-up trucks hassle me in a very hostile and dangerous way.it feels much worse than a bad joke.they simply put me in big danger just to have some fun.i have seen it myself,when thais drive up at the side of foreigners and harrass them by making monkeyface,and police in the traffic just ignore it.is such behavour accepted in LOS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 expect in the future incidents of extreme police brutality which is supposed to act as a deterrent. Actually.. when they hauled those guys in a friend told me that they initially caught one guy from whom they beat the names of the others. So, it seems the extreme violence has been resorted to already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Jo'burg? Yikes! I have a friend who went to the South African police academy and served as a cop there. He's shown me all sorts of interesting holds, how to torture suspects without leaving marks etc. Oh, yeah ... he also thinks Adolf was a great guy. His politics are somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun. Other than that, he's a nice guy though. :: p.s. Did you see how Chuan is slamming Mr T for buggering things up in the south? Says -- as you do -- that the gummint's reaction to everything is to send in the brown shirts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Sounds like Hua Hin is turning into Pattaya ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 thai toughs are very difficult to spot Cmon, guys, exactly what do 'toughs' or 'thugs' look like in your neck of the woods ? I have yet to be attacked by *anyone* fitting the Hollywood profile (whether its scars and tatts or the suit-wearing Mafia type), but I do steer clear of any group of young guys with time on their hands, particularly at night. The whole Machismo thing just gets out of control, and the urge to prove themselves to the group too great for a lot of teens / young adult males, whether you are in Bangkok or Bendigo. 'Just smile and walk away' isnt always the easiest thing to do, but I've had to swallow my pride and do it on several occasions when I could have happily retaliated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Just have a farang staying at my place who told me he got off a Had Yai/Bangkok bus at 4am a few months ago and was trying to find a place to sleep on Khao San road. Two farangs attacked him with knives, one cut the straps of his back-pack from behind, the other front side. He got hurt, bleeding, but no deep cuts. Lost his money and passport. British embassy was not helpfull. Gave him a temporary paper and got rid of him. Got arrested following night by thai police on drunk charges....although he had no money to buy a single beer...When he explained his situation to the officer in charge of the police station that man got upset and sent him to the British embassy on a motorbike with a cop and instructions for the embassy. The thai police also cleaned his wounds with their first aid help kit. The embassy people suddenly became very helpfull and gave him 300 baht/day until he got all his visa papers sorted out by Thai immigration and advanced money for a plane ticket. There are bad farags out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 let me give you an example: a friend of mine here is a very well behaved guy, babyface, very conservatively dressed. he is constant companion of a high ranked copper, carrying his briefcase, organising his day etc. whenever we meet he gives me a very respectful wai. well, that is one side of him. his other side is that he is a (former?) leader of a streetgang. covered in scars of several shootings. his weapons of choice for the streetbrawls were (are?) two machetes - one in each hand. yesterday night brought a guy to hospital who was bottled in his face and head. when the coppers asked the 4 guys who did it why they did it, they answered that he looked them in the face - no argument, no escalation of a drunk discussion, only a fleeting look in one guys eyes. the guy was very lucky that he wasn't stabbed properly or shot. swallow pride, smile and walk away? doesn't work here many times - you ain't got the time. what works here is that people mostly do not go out alone, only in larger groups. also it sometimes helps that if you are known to be connected to a larger group which will inflict gruesome retribution. that is thai life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 >>>There are bad farags out there... <<< they just have generally not a very long career here if they do those sort of things. they are not part of a larger thai network, and generally get made to stop one way or the other very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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