Roger Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 About six months ago I arrived at my office to find blood sprayed up the walls. One of our quieter members of staff had finally cracked after months of apparent taunting by a colleague. The outcome was that he got a knife from his locker and stabbed the other guy to death, right in the office in front of everyone. He took off and was eventually caught at his uncles’ house upcountry. A rather extreme case of bottling everything up until you snap. I still get chills when I see the fresh paint covering the bloodstains. The Thai staff are convinced my office is haunted by the way… Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhordPhan Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Scum_Baggio: It must be the headquarters of the Ruamkatanyu Foundation at the crossing of Si Phaya Rd./Rama 4 Rd. Their main aim (as they define it)is to afford burials/cremations to unclaimed victims of murders and accidents, and to collect these bodies in the first place. SB, Not to go off on a tangent, but perhaps you could enlighten me. I visited a place near the Mandarin Hotel. You went in, contributed some money, put your name on a piece of paper, pasted half of it to a wooden "coffin" and took the other half to the next room where you burned it. I understood this organization used the donations to bury indigents, etc. Is this the same place whereof you spoke? If so, I'm happy to say that the gruesome pictures are no longer there. That sounded pretty bad and if I'd seen them I certainly wouldn't have stopped in. PhordPhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Roger: About six months ago I arrived at my office to find blood sprayed up the walls. One of our quieter members of staff had finally cracked after months of apparent taunting by a colleague. The outcome was that he got a knife from his locker and stabbed the other guy to death, right in the office in front of everyone. Roger BTW, the expression "runnin amok" comes from the malay language. i do think what fascinates a lot of us traveling thru Asia is that there are many layers, seen and unseen, in these societies. Indeed, that's why this board is piling the threads by hundreds everyday. Our western/cartesian minds just love to decipher (or try to decipher) the signification behind facts and behaviour. We just won't accept things until we put our individual stamp to it. And our misconceptions can as interesting as our insights. In France we call that "masturbation intellectuelle". never losing sight of the prize!... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 PhordPhan, The Ruamkatanyu Foundation is indeed financed through donations, but I'm not sure if the gory pictures have been removed. Got to have a look next time I pass by. The lowly employees certainly lived off looting the victims very often. I've even heard from reliable sources - I don't have proof - that the victims'organs, kidneys and the like, were harvested for sale. I wouldn't be surprised. Some people may remember that Air Lauda crash near Kanchanaburi (early 90's?), in the wake of which local people, police and rescue services all joined hands to loot the bodies of the poor buggers who had been burned to a crisp. There are many good things about Thailand, but civil behaviour and integrity are all too often conspicuous by their absence - anything's OK to get rich. A few days ago, there were reports that part of the donations to benefit the landslide victims in Petchabun were pilfered by a village head and a monk. It would be a major scandal in the West, but in Thailand it's a one-day news item, a few lines in a small article, and then it's laid to rest. People just have got used to crookedness and dishonesty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 Thailand a crime-ridden country? Bullshit! USA is the dangerous place. I'd feel safer anywhere in Thailand at any time of night than in my own hometown of Washington, DC. The murder capital of the USA until recently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 Dan, you will see that the stories involve mostly thai people doing violence to to other thais. Events that tourists only learn about thru the media, if ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 Originally posted by Dan Hughes: "Thailand a crime-ridden country? Bullshit! USA is the dangerous place." Dan, sorry, but you obviously don't know what you're talking about. Ponder these statistics: The murder rate in the US (pop. 280 million) is currently around 17,000 per year; in Thailand it's officially 5,200 per year (2000), but since many crimes, including murders, are not reported (the families of the victims go on a vendetta with the blessings of the police), a reasonable estimate would be 10,000/year. Thailand's population is 62 million. So get out your pocket calculator and you'll find out that the Thai murder rate per head of population is more than double the US's. As for other crimes, I'm certain that the rate of armed robberies and random violence are higher in the US, but if you think Thailand is harmless place you've obviously been misled by all those superficial smiles. And if you don't believe that many murders go unreported I could give you some examples that I know personally of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2001 Report Share Posted August 26, 2001 quote: Originally posted by PhordPhan: SB, Not to go off on a tangent, but perhaps you could enlighten me. I visited a place near the Mandarin Hotel. You went in, contributed some money, put your name on a piece of paper, pasted half of it to a wooden "coffin" and took the other half to the next room where you burned it. I understood this organization used the donations to bury indigents, etc. Is this the same place whereof you spoke? If so, I'm happy to say that the gruesome pictures are no longer there. That sounded pretty bad and if I'd seen them I certainly wouldn't have stopped in. PhordPhan if it was in the chinatown area then you must have walked into the "poh teck tueng foundation", same as ruamkantanyu, only a bit older. before the volonteers of these two foundations were in war with each other, with constant large scale fighting, sometimes involving hundreds. since a few years when the whole rescue system was changed, the situation is very friendly. they alternate the areas on daily base, one day "ruam", the next "tueng". another conflict started coming up with the watchila volonteers, already many fights. also there are often conflicts between different outfits of the same foundation. it is very difficult to control all groups, most are very dedicated, but there are some bad ones there, especially in the suburban areas. these foundations are very different from the western rescueservices, as they are merit based. they are not only picking up the dead and wounded, they also donate things to the poor, go to disaster areas all over the country, take care of the funerals of the unclaimed dead in very elaborate rituals. there are all these rumors around of them stealing from the dead and wounded. most of these offenses were commited by fake outfits. in the more faraway areas it might take a while until the services reach the accident scene. there are outfits who also listen to the police radio and snatch the wounded away before the official services arrive. usually they dump them after stealing the valuables in front of hospitals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted August 27, 2001 Report Share Posted August 27, 2001 Shaggy, You are smart enough to know that Scum did not mean that thais are never happy and did smile only to hide discontent,or never show sadness or displeasure when unhappy. It happens too . His post was spot on as to the general attitude of thais in social situations. I can pledge for the fact that when you talk with a thai fluent enough in english he/she will tell you,if the discussion points to that subject, that tourists/farangs may see the smile and the girls having fun, but they do not often see what's behind the smile. Social attitudes and "face" can be very complex in thai society, within thais and from thais to farangs. i think i am not saying anything new to you. [ August 27, 2001: Message edited by: pattaya127 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhordPhan Posted August 27, 2001 Report Share Posted August 27, 2001 Scum & fly, Thanx for the enlightenment. All I know for sure is that this place was within walking distance of the Mandarin Hotel on Rama IV, and was quite near a small, very colorful, wat, in which, BTW, we had a pleasant conversation with a monk who was practicing his English. I'm surprised I remember even that much. It was my first time in LOS, first day off the plane, it was 350 degrees in the shade and the humidity was hovering aroung 1,000% (honest!). I was lucky to make it back to the hotel Thanx again. PhordPhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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