We know the newspapers and online news-sites in Pattaya can be pretty trashy but I felt really angry today at seeing this on the Pattaya Daily News website.
Under the headline ‘Here We go Again, Another Foreigner Seen Walking Around Naked’ the website shows an eighty year old man semi-naked in a police station.
Quite clearly, and it seems to even be admitted in the report, this man had lost his memory. He probably had Alzheimer’s. What’s the bl**dy joke Pattaya Daily News? Prey tell me.
Would you do this to an elderly Thai gentleman?
The report looks like it has been written by a foreigner. There must be some decent foreigners down there who can string a sentence together without resorting to smug human debasement.
Just a thought as we bunker down for the night.
I feel the same with the gruesome photos that often accompany crash stories. The editorialising of PDN reflects poorly on them though but it's not exactly Woodward and Bernstien with the pattaya press.
Pattaya Addics again (!) but there was a thread about this guy before the story went up on the net as someone had encounered the guy and tried to help him without success. The poster confirmed it was the same person as on the PDN website.
From the website…
Posted Today, 04:03 AM
This morning about 9:30 I was walking down Third Road to get some brunch at the lovely southern curry place. In front of Bliss there was a Farang on a motorbike being detained by a couple motorcycle taxi guys. As I passed, one of the taxi guys appealed to me to help speak to the Farang. I asked what was going on (in Thai) and they explained the guy was trying to take the bike which belonged to Bliss.
The guy was apparently drunk and kept trying to turn on the bike, though he had no key. I talked to him asking if it was his bike and he said no. I noticed he had a pretty bad scrape on one of his arms, though it wasn't bleeding any more. It needed attention, however. He was wearing only shorts and shoes. He looked to be about 70 or so (hard to judge) and seemed not all there. At some point I believe he told me he's from Wales.
He got off the bike and I started walking him up towards Central Road. As we walked I asked him where he lived and he said he had no home nor any place to stay in Thailand. I asked him how I could help him and he mentioned his wife. I asked if he had a phone, but he didn't. I asked if he had the phone number for his wife, but he didn't, though he gave me a name for his wife, which I don't remember. It was a western name. I asked his name at some point and he said John. He actually gave three names, I guess first, middle last but I only remember his first name was John; he spoke so quietly and it's so noisy on Third Road I didn't pick up everything.
I asked how I could help him and he said he'd like to go to a hospital. I told him the hospital wouldn't take him if he didn't have any money and he said they could contact his wife. I decided to try to get him to Pattaya Memorial Hospital, though I didn't have a lot of faith that they would take him in. We started walking and I asked if he had money for a motorbike taxi to Pattaya Memorial. He didn't. I approached a taxi guy and asked if he would take John to the hospital (I figured I'd just pay the 30 baht or whatever), but he said he didn't want to. I'm still not sure why, he said something in rapid Thai that I couldn't get.
We continued towards Pattaya Memorial (at this pace it would have taken another 20-30 minutes to walk), and he started talking to a lady selling Kao Gaeng off a cart. I don't know what he was saying, but at this point I felt that there was nothing more I could do for him. I went up to John and said 'I want to help, but don't know what I can do. The hospital is over that way. I'm leaving now, good luck.'
I bought my lunch and walked back home. In total I spent about 20-30 minutes with him. Still don't know what I'd do differently. I wasn't prepared for this.
Edited by expatdude, Today, 04:05 AM.
All part of the xenophobia in Thailand. They are so oblivious of just how utterly crass they can be and unfortunately these " stories " by equally moronic falang, bottom feeding their way through life here, will persist.
Finding sport in some poor man so clearly unwell is a fair indication of just how childish the Thai and falang stooges can be. Mortuary photographs, scenes of crime depicitng death and mutilation, video/photographs of confrontations between victims and the alleged perpetrators are all fodder for this ghastly circus.
One of the many reasons why I despise Thai society.
Are these the same trashy news outlets that wont hesitate to show pictures of 'recently deceased elderly farangs in a state of undress after suffering a coronary on top of some short time bird in Soi 6?? The ones who so famously claim they are promoting Thailand's image abroad?
Pattaya…populated in the main by "pond feeders", it's unfortunate but like it or these trashy local rags have to cater for a specific local readership!
However trashy, they're probably the only Pattaya news site to have this:
http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2012/03/13/american-pattaya-newspaper-owner-nabbed-charged-of-extortion/