Thai thief caught with 10,000 pairs of women's underwear

BANGKOK, January 25, 2012 (AFP) - Police in Thailand said Wednesday that they had apprehended a thief with more than a thousand pairs of women's underwear in the trunk of his car.

Police also found more than ten thousand pairs at the house of the 48-year-old Thai suspect, who was arrested late Tuesday with an accomplice after breaking into a building in Bangkok's Chinatown.

They said the man admitted to stealing and collecting women's underwear since the age of 18.

"He smelled them all the time even while driving," said police Major General Saroj Promcharoen.

The suspect will be charged with stealing property, though not the underwear for now because there is no plaintiff, police said.

Photos of Naked Casino Dealers Shock Police

Photographs of naked women dealing cards and facilitating gambling have hit Thai internet pages. The photographs show the women surrounded by gamblers with Thai signs explaining gambling rules and Thai money being used to bet at the tables. It is, therefore, believed the illegal casino is located in Thailand.

These photographs have been widely forwarded on the Internet these past couple of days. In one of the shots, the woman, standing bare chested in a group of gamblers, has the duty of rolling the dice. However, so far, no one has been able to identify exactly where the casino is located. If it it found, local police officers in the area could be found guilty of malfeasance.

Acting Deputy Metropolitan Police Commander Police Lieutenant General Pisit Pisutsak said he is still unsure if the photographs are genuine. If the photos are real, it signals a significant evolving of illegal gambling dens in Thailand which are now using naked women to lure gamblers into their establishments. If the dens are found in Bangkok, perpetrators will be convicted according to the law.

Blair 'very confident' about Thailand's future

Thailand, despite suffering through a severe flood crisis and other difficulties, still has great potential for business and growth in the face of a fast-changing global environment, former British prime minister Tony Blair said.

Speaking to hundreds of Thai and foreign executives yesterday at the CEO Forum organised by the Board of Investment, Blair said he was confident about the future of Thailand because there were many positive factors bolstering its growth. "Thailand has better investment potential than other countries in Asia and it's ready for the future despite its current difficulties," he said.

Blair also said that Europe was to blame for the current global economic crunch and that long-term structural reform was needed to solve the euro crisis. To do this, the European Central Bank should stand behind the single currency and focus on creating a new economic system. He added that the European financial crunch was a good lesson for the rest of the world. "The world is changing fast, and the challenge is not just for a company but also the country and the government."

He said that to keep up with changes and technological developments, countries needed to adopt four strategies.

First, each country should be strongly committed to providing clear regulations and rules of law for the business sector.

"Governments need to create an environment in which businesses are confident," he advised.

Second, social welfare, the government and service enterprises should grow together and change to support the private sector. He said public service would only work if it was flexible and kept up with technology.

Third, both the government and private sector should focus on the development of human capital, which is key to a bright future. He said a competent set of human resources needed not just education, but also an increase in creativity, respect of intellectual property and the development of job skills.

Finally, Blair said, governments should teach their people to be more open-minded, especially in terms of trade and investment, which would help promote stronger global economic growth.

New year, new me: “I'm giving up my nine to five and moving to Thailand”

For most of us, the New Year is a time to begrudgingly haul ourselves to the gym, embark on a rigid diet or take up salsa dancing, but for Elly Earls, January 2012 marks the beginning of a whole new life.

While the rest of the country kickstarts fitness regimes and frantically bins the evidence of festive excess, Elly Earls, from Derby, is starting 2012 by ditching her nine to five job, selling her possessions and pinning her hopes on a one-way ticket to Thailand. She tells us what was behind this life-changing decision.

Life before the change
For Elly, a magazine editor, and her partner Tom Frearson, an online entrepreneur, deserting their office jobs and moving to far flung East Asia was a decision that needed to be made. Elly, 25, admits: “I couldn't stand to live another year in the UK. Life is too complicated here. There is too much going on that doesn't need to be.”

“Tom and I were both miserable. We would get home from work and not be bothered to do anything because there didn't seem to be any point. I was so sick of being lethargic and watching telly every night. And I hadn't been feeling like myself in my job.”

“I had come back to England after having lived in Dubai straight after University. I came back because I thought I wanted to settle down and lead a more normal life. But after two years, I couldn't stand the nine to five drudgery anymore.  A lot of desk jobs are about administration, doing things for a company that aren't necessarily benefiting you. There were good things about my job, but I was asking myself 'why am I doing this?'”

“We both felt that there is more to life than sitting at a desk for forty years. We reached a point where we had to do something about it. January 2012 was just time.”

The decision to transform my life
“I remember the actual moment,” says Elly. “We were standing in our kitchen. We had never discussed the idea of moving abroad, but my dad, who lives in Thailand, came to visit. Suddenly it was in our heads. I had also lived in Thailand when I was a teenager. There is nowhere like it, life is much simpler there. Within half an hour we thought 'Let's just do it,' 'We're going to do it'.”

“The plan is to go for six months initially and then see what happens. We'll probably stay there for longer, maybe go to other places in South East Asia, maybe somewhere else in the world, we really don't know. Is this it? I am hoping it is. You never know, but there is no plan whatsoever to come back.”

Making sacrifices
“It was a really hard decision to make, I've definitely been on an emotional roller-coaster. With leaving my job to go freelance and my boyfriend starting his own business, we haven't had much money and that does get you down. There were times when I got really down about that.”

But while many overspent at Christmas and rushed to the January sales, Elly and Tom, 31, forewent presents and sold the contents of their home in order to afford their air tickets.

“We didn't get each other Christmas presents or doing anything for New Year. We were saving everything. We sold everything we own,” says Elly. “All of the furniture, the car and most of our clothes. All we have left is a holdall each, a backpack each and our laptops.

“It was scary at first because I felt attached to some of it, but it was liberating to get rid of all that stuff. We are going to Asia, you don't need much. My holdall is just going to be full of summer dresses and flip flops.”

It was former Engineer Tom, who made the greatest change career wise. Says Elly: “It was a lot harder for Tom. He had to quit what he had been doing for the last five years. But he is now running an online business so he can work from anywhere. He was the one who encouraged me to do it.”

To save money, the couple also moved back to Tom's family home. “We've been living just outside Preston, at my boyfriend's mum's house. It's in the middle of nowhere, so for the last three months we have been hermits. We have hardly done anything, we have been sitting in front of our laptops, not going out.”

“You have to make sacrifices but we think it's worth doing nothing for a few months for what we will be doing in the next few years.”

How people reacted
“Our parents have been really supportive. It wasn't an option for them when they were our age, so they want us to make the most of it. My mum took a bit more convincing, but now she has already booked flights out to visit me,” says Elly.

“When you talk to people about it, everyone says they are jealous and that it's amazing. But most people wouldn't actually do it themselves. It is scary. It's like 'this is actually happening, are we insane?' We have decided that we probably are a bit insane but it is definitely the right thing to do.”
Our new life
“We will be staying at my dad's house for the first few months, and the cost of living is so cheap in Thailand, so I am hoping to lead a more varied life. I will have more time to do things like charity work, learning a language, doing sports.”

“The thought of going somewhere where we don't know that many people is nerve-wracking, but we know what it's like to live abroad and to have to make new friends.”

Does Elly have any advice for those contemplating such a move?

“Just do it. What is the worst that can happen? We might have to come back to England and get another job, but I think it is worth giving it a go.

“You only live once, so you may as well get the most out of life that you can. There's no point in staying in one place for the rest of your life, especially if it's not where you feel happy or comfortable. I want to see as much of the world as I possibly can and I guess it will be a good way to find myself. It's corny but it's true.”

Moved Back To Uk Recently.....Arrrgghhh!Stay where you are...trust me

I am in the UK now, for 2 months, after being in Thailand on and off for 8 years. I can't wait to get back to Thailand and stay away from the UK for probably another 4 years... After which it will hopefully have started to pick up again by my next visit. When I see guys I went to school with who are the same age as me (50+) and look 10 years older than me, lumbered with a moaning, fat and ugly wife, while I have a 24-year-old gorgeous slim Thai girlfriend, and to see the miserable expressions on everyone's faces in the UK (even at Christmas) staring at me (as if I was from a different planet), as I walk down the street laughing with my Thai girlfriend, not to mention the appalling cost of living here (35 pounds or over 1,500 Thai baht for Thai food which my girlfriend said was inedible), boarded up shops, yobs fighting and shouting in the street drunk every night, broken glass and smashed phone boxes on almost every corner, I just can't wait to get back to |Udon Thani. Thailand seems like the First World compared to the Third World of the UK.

The annual monkey buffet festival at Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Thailand

A long-tailed macaque eats fruit and vegetables during the annual monkey buffet festival at the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi

The Monkey Buffet Festival is held annually in Thailand to promote tourism. In 2007, the festival included giving fruits and vegetables to the local monkey population of 2,000 in Lopburi province north of Bangkok.
The festival was described as one of the strangest festivals by London's The Guardian newspaper along with Spain's baby-jumping festival. A photograph from the Monkey Buffet Festival at Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi Province shows a monkey trying to get at fresh fruit and vegetable captured in blocks of ice.

A long-tailed macaque licks an ice block with fruits encased in it. The festival is held every year on the last Sunday of November to promote tourism in Lopburi

Bangkok losing its sex appeal

A bar girl waits for business in Bangkok's Patpong - a place that's lost its attraction for this reporter. Picture: Getty

The bright lights of Patpong in Bangkok, Thailand.

BANGKOK'S Patpong red-light district is fast losing its appeal.

It used to be a tourist hot spot - a place where you could be shocked, and awed, as you wandered the parallel side streets in the area celebrated for its sex trade, found between Silom and Surawongse roads.

The strip joints and bars offering girlie shows flank the night market where you can buy a knock-off Gucci bag or a Polo shirt on your way home from watching one of the shows.

At one time this was all done with a sense of theatre. And a sense of fun. It was a "must see" part of the Bangkok culture for visitors to Thailand.

But it is definitely losing its lustre.

I was in Patpong on the weekend and yes I did end up at one of those girlie bars after being dragged there on a hen's night.

OK, dragged may be too strong a word - I admit I went along willingly in a group of five women and two guys.

What we saw though was not "fun", it was not even bad theatre.

The undercurrent in the bar felt nasty, with the girls angrily demanding money after every show.

It was like we had been sucked into a freak show and we were now part of the performance.

We were all uncomfortable and the women on stage looked bored out of their minds.

There were more women guests in the bar than men, something that surprised me. Most people had one quick drink, and left.

We were approached seconds after we set foot on the pavement and asked if we wanted to go to the girlie bar.

Our tour leader, a Bangkok veteran, negotiated the entry fee deal right there on the street before we entered the venue.

This, we later discovered, was essential if you didn't want to get ripped off.

For 300 baht (about $10) each we were allowed in, given front row seats and one beer each.

Three young South African backpackers paid 2700 baht each for the same thing.

They entered the bar without negotiating a price first. As soon as they sat down, they were swamped by six bikini-clad women who hassled them for money. The young South African girls handed over the money out of fear, they felt they had no choice.

It was an expensive lesson to learn for travellers on a budget.

The plan was to spend an hour at the show but left after 25 minutes. The bride decided that she would actually rather look for a bargain at the night market.

Sadly, the vendors here were also nasty. The idea of markets, I thought, was to bargain.

But the prices were double that of other Bangkok markets and there was no sense of them wanting to bargain.

It is certainly not a shopper's paradise. The vendors just laughed when you offered a price.

For a tourist mecca there was not a lot of people around and nothing much was being bought and sold.

There was also little happening in the bars down Silom road.

They had one or two white males holding court with Thai girls pretending to hang on every word.

Business was not booming.

Bangkok will always have Patpong.

Despite what anyone thinks of the morals of a place like this, it will continue to exist.

It is a part of the fabric of the city.

Its days of prospering however may be over.

I would never go back.

Today's Bangkok has so much more to offer tourists.

Patpong is now an oddity rather than a attraction.