Uzbekistanis no. Romanians. Yes. Kazakhs no Ukrainians Yes

[Famous Grouse]

Well I hope it doesn't happen to you Bibblies.

 

When a 23-yr-old Welsh backpacker was raped in Chiang Mai in 2000 the local press published her naked body - face down - at the place she was killed. In the act of being strangled she had defecated.

This last picture I can guarantee you did have an emotional affect on her parents and all around her. Of course being told she was dead was the biggest shock of all.

 

[Julian2]

One of the worst examples of tasteless reporting I've seen was in the PI while I was there. A local news crew arrived at the scene of a suicide, paid off the police to stand back for an hour and got one of the neighbors to ring the victim's wife at work. She was told to come home straight away without being given the correct reason; the film crew set up in the room with the body and filmed her reaction when she came in unsuspectingly.

Real Pulitzer Prize stuff.

[panadolsandwich]

You know I thought the Pattaya City News was a breath of fresh air in comparison to the canned advertorial style of many Western newspapers.

 

After reading a copy or two, I was scared about even being in Pattaya. Until I realised that a lot of shit like this is going on *all* the time in most cities - except you never hear about it.

 

I was shocked by how many dead bodies I saw. I was delighted by many stories. For instance there was this one about an extremely drunken German man who invoked a highly comic police car chase on a Mio Automatic motorbike. The story told how he triggered the chase by colliding with another motorbike then fleeing the scene; in doing so he upset several stalls set up on the side of the road; scratched and dented many vehicles; hit a couple of pedestrians; and generally raised high hell. He was found by the police praying to Buddha on a footpath with a curious Thai crowd standing well back from the man. He got a slap on the wrist apparently.

 

These stories are golden to me. The other one I liked was the English guy that stole a gold bracelet from a girl that he'd picked up on the beach. Showed pictures of him too, including the obligatory one of the passport.

 

Such is life. I think the Pattaya City News appears ghoulish, but it's certainly interesting to see a newspaper in such stark contrast to the (mostly) rubbish we get here in Australia.

 

 

[carew66]

LOL! That's the one!

 

Pattaya City News on the telly is so bad it's brilliant. It's the rank amateurish-ness (?) of the whole enterprise that appeals though.

 

That strange reverb/echo on the voiceovers on adverts and the total lack of any imagination in the content. Let's interview the 'punters', eh?

 

"It's the best steak in Pattaya."

 

"It's great"

 

...say the gastronomes. In their vests.

 

 

Does anybody really give a flying fuck that it was Police Major General Vice Air Marshall Somchai that attended yet another tedious falang-drunk-in-street incident? Rhetorical question innit, someone does.

 

I always LOL (really LOL.I would ROFL if I wasn't in bed) at Pattaya City News. One half qualified TV type could come over and do a proper job and make a real TV station rather than this frankly bizarre series of home videos.

 

And that would make me sad.

 

But Famous Grouse, it's the Pattaya Mail that I turn to every week to read the resident intellectual's musings on World Peace and International School Management (talk about an agenda!)

 

Then straight to The Square Ring. I'm not interested in boxing one little bit but I'm a great fan of the writer's novel 'use' of shock quotes in almost 'every' sentence of every 'paragraph'.

 

Letters from the readers: Baht buses, baht buses, baht buses....I have always come to Pattaya on my holidays but will now be going elsewhere...baht buses, baht buses...water shortage ... I hate Songkran...baht buses.

 

But for sheer Wildean wit - the prize goes to Dear Hilary and her long running chocolates and champagne jokes. (Not half as good as my biscuits and tea gag I might add.)

 

TV and 'newspapers' (thanks Howie) in Pattaya are just so wonderful.

 

You really wouldn't want to fuck your career up by working with them anyway, surely not?

 

Yours,

 

Mother Theresa; Ambassador for Accrington and District; Person of absolutely fuck-all influence anywhere in the world, least of all Thailand.

 

 

 

[panadolsandwich]

Yeah Carew, I guess that's the point I'm trying to make. It's so amateur it is highly entertaining.

 

I remember watching the telly and seeing the coverage of the Pattaya Pool Challenge. The interviews were pure gold. Guys from all over the world were hamming it up for the camera - saying stuff like "Gazza's got a bull finish, no doubt 'bout it; but he's yet to face the stark determination of the Terminator - yeah that's me btw, the Terminator, no, no, the Terminator - that's me". Camera pans to an extremely obese man in his late forties - "Gazza, how does team Fucker respond to the challenge laid down by the Renumerator? (in the background - "that's Terminator"); etc.

 

Really comic stuff, and I for one will be sad to see it go.

[Flashermac]

The Thai press is actually better than it used to be. In the 1970s the front page of Thai Rot and its competitors tended to be ghastly. The government finally stepped in and told them to be more responsible. They are ... just barely.

 

There was an American prof from Thammasat who died of a heart attack whilst pumping a BG after NY Eve about 3 years ago. His nude body -- with his crotched blacked out -- appeared on the front page of the Thai dailies. The reporting was rather graphic too. I'm sure his sister and parents really appreciated that.

[Flashermac]

I forgot to mention the "battle of the boobs". Happened about 1976 or '77. One Thai paper found a woman with four huge pendulous boobs and displayed topless pics of her on the front page. They paid to have the extra ones whacked off. When they were, the paper carried photos of smiling nurses at the hospital holding up the detached mammaries.

 

A rival paper then found a woman with five boobs, and a third found a cute young girl with three. Not to be outdone, the first paper found a girl born without eyes. From then on the newspapers became a daily freak show. That is when the government stepped in and told then to knock it off and get back to serious news.

 

[panadolsandwich]

There was an American prof from Thammasat who died of a heart attack whilst pumping a BG after NY Eve about 3 years ago.

 

That's the way I'd like to go, as long as the BG is from a reputable establishment of course.

 

[Sukhumvit]

So FG, what's the low down on Howard Miller? He gets right on my nerves. What is it with him? His dumb bovine looks coupled with his odd syntax and love of alliteration. Why does he do those stupid adverts, seems like he has a personal interest in half the businesses in Pattaya... "and after a refreshing dip in OUR pool you can relax with a cocktail or two or play pool in OUR comfortable lounge" closely followed by "WE have special deals on new motorcycles in OUR custom built show room on third road. Pop down and see US" etc. Does anyone really believe that he's a major player in these businesses or is he just making it up? :alert: :nahnah:

[panadolsandwich]

p.s. I forgot to mention the "battle of the boobs". Happened about 1976 or '77. One Thai paper found a woman with four huge pendulous boobs and displayed topless pics of her on the front page. They took up a collection to have the extra ones whacked off. A rival Thai paper then found a woman with five boobs, and a third found a cute young girl with three. Not to be outdone, a paper found a girl born without eyes. From then on the papers became a daily freak show. That is when the government stepped in and told then to knock it off and get back to serious news.

 

Perhaps the government stepped into quick. Imagine if they found a guy with three penises for instance?