Street fighting Thai-style

Dana says:

Explain to me again how it is the Land of Smiles. I just love to have it explained to me. Oh, and don't forget the part about how they are all Buddhists. That just makes the explanation better. Jesus, this learning about other cultures is great. Oh Oh, I almost forgot--don't forget the best part--you know--how I am an ugly American. So let's put it all together--It is the Land of Smiles and they are all Buddhists and I am an ugly American. Yup, that's about it. Boy, this is just great--this learning about other peoples and such--can't wait for my next trip.

Nicko says:

For such a 'rock hard' race they were very quick to put their hands up and let the Japs walk all over them in 1941.

Oh, but then i forget, the Thais have never lost a war or ever been 'successfully' invaded - right.

YABS says:

never understood this
they are pretty violent and mean sometimes
so yeah why are they such pussies in war.
they have never been invaded as they have never
given anyone a fight. you can't say you've invaded somewhere when there is no fight.
the fact they have to get all their mates involved shows what cowardly pussies they are!

TANAI KWAI says:

It may be apocryphal, but I heard somewhere that the Viet Cong were more fearful of fighting Thai soldiers than anybody else.

(...)

Dr Freud says:

Tanai Kwai :
I met a Thai that was guarding thai border when vietnam got rid of kmer, he told me it took 4-5 thai soldiers to match 1 vietnamese, he had never seen anything like vietnamese soldiers

Dana says:

Oh, for pete's sake let's not wallow around in the trough of revisionist history. The Vietnamese weren't afraid of anybody let alone the Thais. The fact that the Thais have flash tempers and a violent society does not mean anybody is afraid of them. There is no evidence that anyone has ever been afraid of the Thais. The Burmese barely make the index of military history and they used to use the Thais as snack food.

TANAI KWAI says:

"he told me it took 4-5 thai soldiers to match 1 vietnamese"

Okay, Doctor -- I've got no dog in this fight. Glad we cleared it up.

(...)

Dean says:

Jai yen yen.

There is an article in stickmanbangkok's reader's articles. Someone named Mooncat wrote an article called Altercation With Some Thai Men. Good article.

When I was in Thailand some people did make me angry enough to consider getting into a fight with them, but I am too gentle to do that.

I have been told that when one swears to a Thai in English, then it does not really matter. The Thais will laugh and see it as you being a farang in your own self contained bufoonish way.
It might give them an opportunity to witness a bit of a cultural display of North America as I let out a rippling series of swear words. Words they do not get that much of an opportunity to hear and may not understand all that much. They might even pick up a few words.
However, swear to them in their language and the story is different. I once asked a Thai to teach me how to say a few swear words in Thai. He refused and said, "If you do that, then you will have a big problem!"

One time, I lost my temper with a Thai. A Thai called me "Tum ngong ngong." which means "What a dumbass." loosely translated. I got mad, but since I meditated for years, I was careful to not raise my voice, to swear only in English, to walk away when I say it, and plus, they saw that look on my face that I was not really mad; that involuntary William Shatner face. The Thais laughed.

They took into consideration that I well knew how to use Thai words to swear but had deliberately refrained from doing so, which makes a difference.

There is a saying from a movie.
"My father taught me to walk away from things. Not out of fear, or giving up, but simply because there are just a lot more worthwhile things."

Thailand is the most wonderful country in the World to visit, and I would go there again.

Yours, Dean

KDub says:

I hate fighting. I prefer a good grudge fuck, anyday.

Combover says:

Years ago, whilst still fresh faced and innocent, I was on a backpacking trip and staying in Banglamphu.

I emerged from a Kao San Road restaurant late one night with one of those two-week travelling "buddies" that you'll never see again.

As we staggered down the street a Thai guy came up and started punching him (to this day I have no idea what for). Naturally I intervened but quickly found myself embroiled in a punch up with the Thai. The influence of a few Sang Thips resulted in a few faux karate moves on my part and I quickly found there were four of them advancing toward me.

At this point I noticed that my so-called-mate had already legged it down the street and was long gone, leaving me all on my tod.

I decided the best thing to do was to back slowly away with my palms raised in a placatory gesture. A quick nod to the group leader (not the original attacker) confirmed that we were cool, and we all set off in separate directions.

I think I was very lucky.

Whippet says:

Similarly a female farang friend was passing through BKK last year and I had to show her the town for a couple of nights.

One stop on the trail was a night seeing Banglampu. As we took our seats at one of the Khao Sarn bars, my friend was asking me about differences between home and BKK. "Well, I love the lack of casual violence here", I replied (you simply can't go out for a weekend night out where I'm from and not see at least one brawl). As the last word escaped my lips there was the smashing of glass and I turned to see three Thai guys beating seven shades of shit out of each other until the police came to break it up. It didn't even seem to be two against one, more 'every man for himself, fight to the death' kind of arrangement!

It was all over in seconds but I still chuckle to myself over the comedy timing of my sentence and the barrage of kicks and punches thrown to the head! Happy days.

Schizophrenic says:

I find that adopting the "thousand yard stare",
"psycho plotting his next series of gruesome murders" look
(and if necessary talk)
has gotten me out of a lot of shit worldwide,
I havent felt threatened,or paranoid of random violence in Thailand yet
(but I've only been here 5 months)
I was more worried by my gun toting Pattaya ex
(I taught her to shoot myself,BAD mistake,serious irony if she'd blown me away)
threatening to follow me to Bangkok saying "we die together teeruk,I shoot you,then me,then we happy"...
ehh NO!,Baa makk makk!,
I only managed to deflect her by convincing her that my new girl is a Bangkok policewoman with homicidal tendencies who would look up her family if she didnt leave me alone...
Thai bargirls arent the only ones who can lie their way out of trouble lads!

Murphy says:

I have drank alcohol almost every night for 6 years out of doors somewhere in Thailand and have witnessed only 5 fights, even though I'm usually to be found in some lo-so s***hole. Have I been lucky? I couldn't say the same for any other country I've lived in. A farang who fights a Thai without support needs his head examined. Thais are sore losers. If they lose(unlikely), they will track you down and exact revenge - guaranteed. They've been very wiley in war. They barely fired a shot at the Japs because it would have been suicide. Yet the villagers of Bang Rajan managed to hold back 100,000 Burmese heading south towards Ayuddhaya for months. However the western flank got thru. Vietnam was evidently afraid of Thailand because, despite their boast that they could be in Bkk in 2 hours and had good recourse to do so, Thailand having provided the airbases for the US, they stayed put on the Khmer border.

Meow says:

I've been out drinking in bars for the past 8 years in bars around Bangkok, Phuket and Hua Hin, witnessing aggressive behaviours of fellow farangs and thais and conclude even to this day that farang men are nothing but pussies. They walk away or even run when the heat is on making up excuses later like "I'm can take on these local guys on anytime but I'm not so immature like them". Farang men whine and talk alot of shit but when it comes to action, they chicken out.

hentaigaijin@hotmail.com says:

interesting point of view meow. thai males generally have a rather fragile ego and cannot bear to lose face by sensibly walking away. however, this "indomitable courage" is usually expressed in the use of weapons/ and or getting their gang of mates to swing the odds in their favour. the few fights i've seen here in thailand actually involved about 10 thais kicking the shit out of one solitary thai (kicking him in the head, etc.). the only time i've had trouble with thais was in hollywood bar when i was surrounded by five lads and the piss-ant out of the group slapped me in the face trying to be clever. i just let it go, knowing full well i could have put the fart into intensive care with little real effort but i wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of watching his mates do a fred astaire on my noggin. jokers.

i don't consider thai men particularly "hard" if that is the rather childish way you view life. i don't see a massive differece between them and us. i do know that they wouldn't say shit if a minority in a bar in england though. they would almost certainly similarly swallow their pride.

Andy says:

I've seen Thai fellahs kicking shit out of someone before; but only when the odds are well stacked in their favour. There is no "fair play" or Marquis of Queensbury rules with these people either; you'd best be prepared to preferably walk away, or kick off big time, as half-measures will get you a severe beating or worse.

philH says:

Andy,
your best advice is your first, walk away.

Say you kick off big time and beat the living shit out of the fellah (assuming he cannot call up any support) and you "win".

He will crawl away, bide his time and come back with a good few mates. Maybe not tomorrow, or the next day, maybe not even next week but he will be back. Then you'd better hope like hell your Medicare insurance is up to it.

After twelve years in LOS the only fights I witnessed, apart from BG's, were generally farangs on farangs generally over girls. Can you believe it? They come halfway round the world to a place that is wall to wall totty and they choose the same piece. Then they don't have the nous to come to an amicable time share agreement, or toss a coin. A couple of times it got beyond a bit of pushing and shoving and the boys in brown were only too please to offer a nights accommodation in the monkeyhouse. So who was the winner by that?

Thai fights seem to be mainly shouting matches plus a bit of jostling but you never know how or where the final result is decided.

There was one morning on the way to work there was a bunch of ten or so guys outside a night club having a philosophical discussion with various pieces of timber. On seeing me coming down the road (in my car I must add) they stopped, parted either side of the road and waved me through. Once I got past them battle was rejoined. That's what we need in today's gratuitous violence, a bit of decorum.

Names Billy not Silly says:

My names Billy, not Silly !!!

I am Australian. I love Thailand. I've been travelling to the land of smiles for over 20 years, I was lucky my father worked in Bangkok for over 20 years and beside the fact my step-mother and her family are all thai, I believe I have a reasonable understanding of Thai people.

I make good money in my home country and I can also take about 4 months off, every year, naturally I love to visit Thailand in my down time. My Girlfriend and wife to be is thai, we have two homes, one in Australia and one in Bangkok. My girl and I have been together for a considerable time and she has never worked in a bar and for this blog I will referr to her as 'my wife'. My thai is limited, but I can get by, I enjoy visiting the non tourist areas and soforth.

Recently I decided to visit Phuket, Patong, just for a week to get out of Bangkok and enjoy some of the sights Patong has to offer. I stayed in a nice hotel on the beach front and of course one of my many daily activities involved strolling down the beach road looking like a right tourist or a complete twat or a combination of both, I dont really care.

Of course anyone who has cruised the main beach road is familiar with the hundreds of so called 'tuk tuks' that line the roadway. It would appear that every driver of a tuk tuk must announce the words 'tuk tuk' as one appraoches, even though he has seen you decline the next tuk tuk drivers offer. Nothing really bothers me and of course most people just keep walking without saying anything. I often either do the same or politely say in thai "No thanks" or "I dont want" etc etc.

This week vacation was different though, not far from my hotel, there was one Tuk Tuk driver who just couldnt help himself. Everytime my wife and I would appraoch he would start to make comments about my wife and I. Of course on each occassion, we both ignored him, no doubt he was oblivious to the fact I new exactly what he was saying and he figured he was only giving a 45kg thai lady a hard time. I spoke with my wife about it and she was content to ignor him, stating on several occassions that he was "NO GOOD", of course I didnt need that explained to me. THIS HERO OF COURSE HAD A GROUP OF ABOUT 4 TO 6 MATES standing by everytime he spoke and I've witnessed these things before, so I was somewhat content to ignor him myself.
On some occassions we would walk down the road and cross the street to avoid this individual.

On our last day in Patong, a few hours before departure we were walking down the road towards the pharmacy and as we approached our 'favourite' tuk tuk driver he said something to my wife in thai but I didnt quite pick up what was said, but I was startled to see her reaction to this. I later found out that he used derogitory remarks regarding my wife and Buddha. However, not knowing this at the time, I spoke back to this arsehole for the first time. I spoke thai and questioned him regarding his problem. He immediately jumped up from where he was sitting and took 3 or 4 swings at me in an attempt to punch me. Of course convienently I was holding my digital camera and was wearing expensive sunglasses. I couldnt even hand these to my wife because she had smartly moved further up the road, calling for me to follow her. I again spoke with this peice of crap in thai and asked him to calm down, however my request was met with one of about 10 kicks to the back of my leg. Each time he kicked me I would move further up the road but he continue to follow us. At some point during this time I called him a cunt face in thai before he finally moved back to where he was sitting.

Very annoyed, yet smart enough not to get further involved in this, my wife and I crossed the road and walked briskly to the Police Station (Traffic post) near Bangala Road. I spoke with the Policeman at this location, he was excellent and he arranged for two other Policeman to return to the Police Station and I went with them whilst they obtained the tuk tuk drivers ID Card (A GOOD RESULT....WELL MAYBE NOT).

I was then directed by the Police to attend the main Police Station where I was to be spoken to by the Officer in charge regarding the matter.

My wife and I attended the Police Station and thats where everything went wrong.

In summary and to cut a long story short, it turned out the tuk tuk driver was Muslim and of course, so was the Policeman in charge of the station at the time. The Policeman listens to his Islamic brother before hearing about 2% of my story out, at which time I got a long and complicated lecture. It turns out that if I chose to pursue the matter then the tuk tuk driver would receive a 3,000 fine, by way of some type of infringement notice. However, if I proceeded with my complaint, I would be criminally charged with calling the tuk tuk driver a 'Cunt Face', which strangely enough occurred during the assault.

Both my wife and I repeadily attempted to clarify the situation with the Police Officer only to realise this is one of those typical rascist/religion based situations that was never going to change, no matter what we said. Needless to say we decided to leave the Police Station and a few hours later we departed Phuket probably for the last time.

Isnt it sad, that a fool like this tuk tuk driver can be left in the main tourist area of patong to assault and harrass the very hand that is feeding him and his little mohammed children.

The worse part of the whole thing is, the attitude of the ranking Police Officer involved. He is a disgusting human and this entire incident has thrown new light on the situation in Southern Thailand where things are going "BANG" on a daily basis. It appears the most gutless thai people are those of the 'Other" thai religion, which seems to reap so much devestation around the world.

Of course, with everything, there is normally a lesson learnt. This time I am sure the lesson is, "Farang people, don't go to the local Police in situations like this, goto the Tourist Police, the outcome will be almost entirely different.

Its amazing how gutless some thai arseholes really are and on the other hand its amazing how beautiful this race of people can be.

I hope comment to this blog, helps someone else in future.

No comments are needed by those big men who will say, "I would have shown him" or similar, Just remember, theres always someone bigger and better around each corner and I am sure that Karma will eventually have its way with the angry little tuk tuk pleb!

cheers
billy

jim says:

Well,

I have to say I read all these letters out of morbid curiosity. I wonder if there is acrimony on the thai side as it seems like there country is touristed (sic) in a very different way to most other country's say Europe etc??
Staying in Malaysia I cant understand people from western countries need to be in this area anyway. Its hard to see the point of living tough to have a holiday with less features than at home.