Pattaya Mail Reaches Lucky Number 9!

 This week Pattaya Mail celebrates our Lucky 9th Anniversary, so we dedicate our center pages to the number 9. We’ve chosen a handful of news stories that have run over the years, but due to space restrictions, the following is nowhere near a complete listing – just a small sampling of how the number 9 has appeared in some of its various forms in the Pattaya Mail over the years. Have fun and see if you can catch where the #9 appears in the following excerpts – some are obvious, others are not. Good luck and Happy 9th from the entire staff of Pattaya Mail. Chai Yo!

Nine strange “hole-dwellers” leave police at a loss December 1997: Police out on their usual patrol in Soi Jurarat saw a group of odd people who appeared to be engaged in a strange ritual. The seemingly hypnotized group was intoning incantations and processing around a hole in the earth. Members held knives, peacock feathers and fly swatters. There were 7 adults and 2 children in the mysterious cult. Police cautiously moved in and observed from time to time a group member descending into the hole. When police asked the group their faith, they rudely said they worshipped Lord Garuda. “Don’t worry, no-one will kick you in the face,” they shouted to puzzled police. They then began to beat wild and arcane rhythms on their knives and fly swatters. Police, worried about the public’s safety and the group’s sanity, took them into custody for questioning. Sum Sae-Ng, 47, the leader, told officers that the cult worshipped ghosts and land spirits. The cult members were disheveled; some clad only in under shorts. All nine were suffering from dehydration and malnutrition as they apparently did not believe in eating. Police officers tried to induce the children to take water, but the leader forbade them, telling them that nasty ‘water ghosts’ would possess their bodies. The children refused to accept water or nourishment. Police were at a loss as to how to handle the situation, as the cult members were totally under the control of the leader, who appeared psychotic and actively hallucinating. The whole group would wai into the air, and then babble incomprehensibly. All attempts to communicate with any group members failed. When spoken to, the people would press one baht coins to their foreheads and temples. Without a court order and a doctor’s certification, officers could do nothing but release them.

Fangs a lot!

February 1998: Two thieves, thwarted by a fearless man and his canny K9 cronies, were delivered to the Pattaya police station, suffering from fright and shock, with two dogs snapping at their heels.

The victim manqu้, Phorasak Phiromkij, said he awakened to the barking of his 7 Pit Bull terriers. Descending to the first floor of his house, he found two men cowering on a credenza, high above the bone-crushing jaws of his prize pets.

The thieves had a gun and threatened to shoot the man if he didn’t call off his army of 4 legged storm troopers. Phorasak told officers he reminded the men of some facts: 1. He wasn’t afraid of death, 2. They only had six bullets and there were seven angry dogs, 3. If they did shoot him, the dogs would do them in sooner or later, and 4. They were in no position to bargain.

The thieves saw the logic in this and threw themselves on Phorasak’s mercy. Telling the men to throw the gun away, he called off five of the dogs and put them in another room.

Phorasak and two dogs then escorted the thieves to the police station. Officers were a bit suspicious that a personal vendetta might be in action, asking Phorasak how the men got past the dogs in the first place. He proudly told officers the dogs were quiet, very well-behaved and only killed people after they had determined they were intruders.

The thieves fairly jumped into officer’s arms to get away from ‘Puffy’ and ‘Sugar’.

The would be cat-burglars then began a breast-beating litany, complaining about the failing economy, no work and dozens of children to feed. Rather timorous officers seemed very anxious to get ‘Puffy’ and ‘Sugar’ out of the station, so they requested Phorasak take the dogs home and return alone to file his complaint.

Does anybody know where my hotel is? December 1997: A lost tourist from Finland, who apparently could not find his hotel and who spoke no English, approached a police officer and spoke to him in Finnish. The confused officer did nothing but stare at the confused tourist. Instead of taking the man to the police station, the resourceful officer tried Thai accented English combined with ‘sign language’. Of course, sign language is different from country to country. This increased the confusion. The persistent officer then began a mime session which looked like a combination of Marcel Marceau and Swan Lake. The tourist was highly entertained but not the least enlightened. The police officer did not yet know what the tourist wanted. After a few more attempts, it was understood that the tourist could not find his hotel. The two then went looking for the man’s hotel. Neither knew the name, so the officer pointed toward the Tourist Police Headquarters. The tourist police managed to communicate that they would like to look at the man’s hotel receipt. Unfortunately, the hotel’s name was not printed on the receipt. It merely said “Room 419” and “paid, 500 baht.” The police took the Finn on a tour of Pattaya in their squad car, hoping they might run into the hotel. After approximately 1 hour, the tourist became frustrated, got out of the police car and went to drink beer on Soi 9. At the time of going to press, no-one knew whether the Finn made it back to his hotel or not.

German expat busted with contraband

9 a.m. November 9, 1998: Police officers from the Pattaya Police International Crimes Division arrested a German national living in Banglamung, who was suspected of selling contraband electrical equipment.

Armed with a search warrant from Chonburi court, the two officers and a squad of police raided the condominium, finding computers, circuit boards, and other electrical equipment. Over 1,000 bottles of contraband liquor were also found. The confiscated contraband filled five police pick-up trucks and was valued at over 10 million baht. All was taken to the police station for safe keeping.

The suspect was taken in for questioning, and when asked for the bill of lading and permit for the goods, he stated that it was all for his own personal use. Police were skeptical…

Large scale drug dealer caught - Owns 4 homes and has 4 wives May 28, 1999: Banglamung Police had been monitoring a suspected amphetamine dealer for nine months, and by May 21st they felt they had collected enough information to arrest the suspect, Sangwan Phothiwad, aka “Keo”. Sangwan, age 30, was stopped by police while driving along Greenway Road in front of the Khao Sao Thoong Thong Temple. Police searched his vehicle and found 1,600 amphetamine pills (type orange) in a blue plastic bag. Later, further searches were conducted by police at Sangwan’s four homes where each of his four wives resided. However, no other drugs were found… After a full year of dealing drugs and making huge profits that afforded him four homes and four wives, he is now taking a break…

Chonburi releases 9,999 seahorses

April 9, 1999: Pichai Sonjaeng, managing director of the Institute of Marine Science, Burapha University Chonburi, organized the release 9,999 seahorses into the ocean to commemorate His Majesty the King’s 6th Cycle Birthday on December 5, 1999.

The first time that the seahorses were released was in February 1999. The releases will continue every month until reaching the target number of released seahorses.

The releases are being sponsored in part by Kunsadung Buaprasert of Esso Thailand. Esso donated 100,000 baht in order to preserve the seahorses and protect them from extinction.

Age is only a number - love conquers all Appeared in the June 9, 2000 edition: Mr. Udom Hongsamut met Miss Pachara Butranoi at a fishing park in Nong Prue and liked her right away. But at first he was afraid to let his feelings be known to her. He thought she would be embarrassed by their age difference. Udom is 73 and Pachara 21. Nonetheless, Udom followed his feelings and often returned to visit Miss Pachara. Miss Pachara said she was not interested in Udom at first, thinking his advances were in jest. But in due time she became familiar with his good nature and realized his intentions were genuine. The happy couple married, despite the 52 years difference in age. She admitted she was concerned with what her parents and relatives would think of the age difference, but said Udom made her realize that age was merely a number. What was truly important were honesty and understanding. Their relationship developed to the point where she gladly accepted his marriage proposal. The marriage took place at Udom’s chicken farm in Moo 1, Nong Prue on the morning of June 1st. The groom presented a dowry of 10,000 baht and a gold necklace to Miss Pachara’s parents before the wedding ceremony. At the end of the proceedings, Udom demonstrated his strength for the crowd by walking up to a can and giving it a good swift kick sending it flying off into the air.

Korean restaurant raided after serving endangered snakes for 9-years

April 2000: The Hi-D Restaurant on Soi Chaiyaphruk had been serving exotic snakes for over nine years. Unfortunately, many of the types of snakes they served were on the protected species list. On April 10, the forestry police finally became wise to the situation and raided the restaurant, arresting the owner and 20 employees.

One of the restaurant’s best selling dishes was a special python soup selling for 1,000 baht, which the restaurant claimed heightened sexual activity. The pythons were being skinned and prepared in front of the table.

Police confiscated more than 1,000 kilograms of refrigerated snake meat, body rejuvenating elixirs and other strange preparations made from the protected animal’s different organs. Police also confiscated thousands of live snakes kept in containers scattered throughout the restaurant. The live snakes were handed over to animal protection agencies.

Driver arrested for taking voters to the polls August 6, 1999: … The ballot controlling official at Moo #9 noticed that several vehicles full of voters were showing up at the polls in his area. Assuming something might be amiss, he made discreet inquiries and discovered that the concerned voters were paid 200 baht each to come and use their voting privilege. Free transportation was provided as well. Others received amounts of rice instead of cash. Uan, the driver, was arrested and charged with arranging transportation for voters to and from the voting polls, which has a fine of no more than 200 baht, or three months jail, or both. Offenders of such an offence also have their voting privileges removed for four years. Uan told police that he was contacted by a man identified only as Sompong, who had asked him to ferry voters to and from the polls. The voters were to vote for the #1 and #2 names on the ballot for Moo #9, where three people were campaigning for the two positions…

Burglar arrested with odd choice of tools

September 2000: Twenty-eight year old Jirapong Khaengkhan was arrested last week for breaking into the Soi Bongkot home of Mrs. Wanida Rungruang. What made his crime slightly more unusual than others of its type was the nine burglary “tools” police found inside his little black bag.

Police were a bit nonplused to find what they described as two “artificial male sex organs” along with six screwdrivers and a cutting tool…

Jirapong was charged with burglary and late night breaking and entering. He did not make it known why he was carrying the sex toys.

Amphetamine Suppository January 2000: 36 year old Sommai Phumpheudphon admitted himself to hospital, complaining of severe rectal pain from a roll-on deodorant bottle he had secreted in his anus. However, doctors from the Pattaya Memorial Hospital called the Drug Suppression Unit when the detailed case history revealed that Sommai had amphetamine pills in the bottle. Sommai was still writhing in pain on the emergency room operating table, waiting for surgery to begin, when police arrived to give the doctors the O.K. to begin their dirty work. A successful 20 minute operation produced a healthy and decidedly large, roll-on deodorant bottle wrapped in black cloth tape. After cleaning up the afterbirth, police confiscated 900 amphetamine (yaba) pills found inside before arresting Sommai and taking him into the station… When he found he could not remove the deodorant bottle he sat on the problem for three days but his clients started insisting he get it surgically removed…

Jilted “Tom” burns ex-lover’s bike

Vol. 9 No 9 March 2001: In a drunken act of revenge, Miss Araya Srikanchana, age 39, set fire to her ex-lover’s Honda Tena motorcycle in the middle of the street connecting Sois 7 and 8.

Apparently, the woman Miss Araya had been in love with for the past few months had been seeing a man.

Blazing saddles the sequel - in the middle of the street.

Miss Araya later told investigating police that the matter had upset her so much she decided to burn the recently purchased motorcycle as revenge for her lover’s change of heart.

The fire was quickly extinguished, but the motorcycle was reduced to a smoking, unsalvageable cinder.

The subsequent police investigation led officers to Miss Araya, who they found still in the area and extremely intoxicated.

The police officer on duty assessed the disturbance caused by Miss Araya’s actions and fined her accordingly before releasing her with a stern warning to behave.

Warning - Crocodiles on the loose Finally, November 9, 2001 is a day many won’t soon forget: Citizens of Naklua, Banglamung and Pattaya (were) warned to stay alert after “many” saltwater crocodiles escaped from the Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm… Search teams with assault rifles scoured the area. Local citizens (were) also being warned to stay away from flooded marsh areas, streams, klongs and ponds in the area, and to be extremely vigilant around the local beaches… Government officials expressed a “grave concern for the safety of tourists on the beaches in Pattaya” should any of the escaped predators make it to the open sea. Flash floods on November 1 broke a hole through the wall of an enclosure at the Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm where 2,000 saltwater crocodiles, 3-5 meters in length, were being penned… An experienced crocodile handler subdues one of the first of the Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm escapees. The director of the park said he assumed no more than 10 escaped, but unconfirmed reports put the number as “much higher”. The actual number was unknown… By Tuesday, November 6, there were unconfirmed reports that up to six were recaptured and returned to the park. Also as of Tuesday, no injuries had been reported, although a witness in Naklua reported he saw a 4-meter long crocodile vault from a small klong and devour a dog. Local authorities organized a massive hunt for the extremely dangerous creatures. Heavily armed search parties worked around the clock to capture and return the crocodiles, or when safety was at risk, to shoot them…