สนุกกี้ ตอนที่ 2 มาม่าซัง

ชีวิตที่ยังต้องดิ้นต่อไป

ชีวิตรักของฉันและทอม เต็มไปด้วยความสุข จนกระทั่งเมียของทอมบินมาจากอังกฤษและโผล่พรวดเข้ามาในคอนโดวันหนึ่ง พระเจ้าช่วย มันเป็นประสบการณ์ที่ฉันไม่มีวันลืมเลือนที่เค้าเรียกผู้หญิงเวลาโกรธว่า tigress!( อ่านว่าไท้เกรสส์ แปลว่าเสือตัวเมีย โหดร้ายและพร้อมที่จะตะปบเหยื่อนั่นแหละ) ยายคนนี้นี่ สุดยอดน่ากลัวยิ่งกว่าเสืออีก ฉันไม่มีทางเลือก นอกจากเก็บของย้ายออกจากคอนโดของทอม ตั้งแต่นาทีนั้น  นายนั่นไม่ทำห่าอะไรเลย นั่งจ๋องอยู่มุมห้อง!!

พอล ไครน์ ฆาตกรโหดซุกซ่อนตัวในพัทยา ถูกรวบติดคุก 32 ปี !!

นัก ฆ่าเมืองผู้ดี นาย พอล ไครน์ [Paul Cryne] อายุ 62 ปี แอบแฝงหากินอยู่ในเมืองพัทยาโดยล่าสุด เปิดบริษัทเซฟตี้ รักษาความปลอดภัย เจ๊งเป็นหนี้เป็นสิน รับจ้างเพื่อนวางแผนฆ่าโหดเมียเอาเงินประกัน ในที่สุดถูกรวบตัวจนต่อหลักฐาน ศาลสั่งติดคุก 32 ปี ฆาตกรโหดยอมรับชะตากรรมว่าต้องตายในคุก

ไม่มีหลักฐานปรากชัดว่านาย พอล ไครน์ และ นายเกรแฮม เบิทชวูด ผู้จ้างวานเป็นเพื่อนกันมานานเท่าไหร่

นาย พอล ไครน์ ผู้รับคำสั่งฆ่า ได้บินออกจากสนามบินสุวรรณภูมิเมื่อปลายเดือนตุลาคม 2007 โดยเขาได้ไปพักอยู่ที่บ้านแม่ของ นายเกรแฮม เบิทชวูด ผู้จ้างวาน สองเดือนก่อนที่จะลงมือสังหารโหดโดยในขณะนั้นนายเกรแฮม เบิทชวูด ผู้จ้างวานเองก็อยู่ในบ้านหลังเดียวกันนี้

สองวันก่อนที่จะลงมือ นายไครน์ ทำทีเป็นว่าจะออกไปอยู่กับเพื่อน ๆ ในเมืองอื่น แต่ก็ยังคงอยู่ในเมือง Surrey เมืองที่เขาก่อเหตุ

นายไครน์ ก่อเหตุสยองต่อเหยื่อหลังจากเธอกลับจากการเดินทางไปช้อปปิ้งในเมือง Guildford หลังจากนั้นอีกสามชั่วโมงเขาก็มานั่งในสนามบิน Heathrow รอบินกลับเมืองไทย

นาง Birchwood ผู้เป็นเหยื่อ อายุ 52 ปีเป็นคนพิการ ขาไม่ดี ต้องเดินด้วยไม้เท้า ศพของเธออยู่ในสภาพที่สวมใส่เสื้อผ้า มีม้วนเทป ที่ใช้ปิดกล่องพัสดุ พันรอบข้อมือและข้อเท้า ปิดปากเธอแน่นด้วยเทป ศีรษะถูกพันด้วยสายไฟฟ้าหลายรอบและมีโลหะขนาดเล็กจับมาใช้ในการ กระชับสายไฟทำหน้าที่เป็นสายรัด ตำรวจสันนิษฐานว่าเธอเสียชีวิตอย่างทุกข์ทรมาน

สามี ของเหยื่อ คือนายเกรแฮม เบิทชวูด (อายุ 54 ปี) ได้บอกตำรวจว่า เขาได้ส่ง Message ไปหาเธอแต่ไม่ได้รับตอบ จึงไปหาเธอที่บ้านและพบศพเธอในสภาพดังกล่าวจึงแจ้งต่อเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจ แต่ตำรวจสอบพบพิรุธหลายอย่าง ในที่สุดจากการสอบพยานหลักฐานต่าง ๆ ก็มากพอที่จะมัดตัวนายเกรแฮม เบิทชวูด ผู้สามีซึ่งเป็นผู้บงการ อย่างเหนียวแน่น การต่อสู้คดีในศาลเป็นไปอย่างต่อเนื่อง ในที่สุด เขาก็ถูกสั่งจำคุกตลอดชีพ และจากผลของคดีดังกล่าวทำให้สาวถึงตัวนายพอล ไครน์ ฆาตกรผู้ลงมือสังหารโหดในที่สุด

นายเกรแฮม เบิทชวูด ผู้สามีซึ่งเป็นผู้บงการ เปิดธุรกิจอยู่ในเมืองพัทยา และล้มเหลวในธุรกิจทุกอย่าง มีหนี้สินประมาณ £ 150,000 ( เกือบ 7 ล้านบาท) ทำให้เขาวางแผนชั่ว จ้างวานนายไครน์ ให้ฆ่าอดีตภรรยาโดยหวังว่าจะได้รับเงินจากประกันเนื่องจากการตายของเมียเก่า จำนวน £ 475000 (ประมาณเกือบ 22 ล้านบาท)

ทางด้านผู้ใกล้ชิดของนาง Birchwood ผู้ตายเล่าว่า เธอถูกทรยศเพราะความโลภของคนที่เธอเคยแต่งงานและอุทิศให้ถึง 30 ปี

นาง Birchwood อาศัยอยู่คนเดียว ใช้ชีวิตเรียบง่าย เธอมีสุขภาพไม่ดีนัก มีสังคมกับเพื่อนฝูงน้อยและไม่มี ศัตรู เธอได้หย่ากับนายเกรแฮมมานาน 20 ปี แต่ไม่เป็นที่เปิดเผยกับคนจำนวนมากและเธอปิดเป็นความลับกับครอบครัวและ เพื่อนของเธอ

พยาน บอกตำรวจว่านาง Birchwood ยังคงรักและซื่อสัตย์ต่อสามีของเธอถึงแม้ว่าเวลาจะผ่านไปนานปี และเขาก็ยังคงกลับมาเยี่ยม หรือตรวจดูทรัพย์สินทุกสัปดาห์ตอนที่เขายังอยู่

ในที่เกิดเหตุ

ตำรวจค้นพบ DNA และรอยนิ้วมือของนายไครน์ฆาตกรรับจ้าง ในถ้วยที่บ้านของผู้ตาย ซึ่งลายนิ้วมือตรงกับบันทึกตำรวจจาก เมื่อปี1972 ซึ่งเขาเคยติดคุกถึงเจ็ดปี คดีกักขังหน่วงเหนี่ยวแฟนของเขาเองเพื่อเรียกค่าไถ่

ตำรวจสากล Interpol ได้บินมารวบตัวนายไครน์ถึงเมืองพัทยา โดยสืบสวนสอบสวนได้จากสมาคมชาวต่างชาติในเมืองพัทยา

นายไครน์ ฆาตกรชั่วรายนี้ เป็นนักดำน้ำระดับโลกเจ้าของสถิติ ที่ยังคงลงบันทึกใน Guinness บุ๊ค แต่สามารถสวมวิญญาณฆ่าโหดอย่างเลือดเย็นกับผู้หญิงพิการ !

เปิดโปง!! สินบน 12.7 ล้านบาทคดี”ตุ๋ยเด็ก” ในเมืองพัทยา

สุดฉาว!! เขย่าวงการตุลาการ เกิดขึ้นในเมืองพัทยา กรณีคดีอาชญากรข้ามชาติ จอมตุ๋ยเด็ก ประวัติโชกโชน รวบได้คาหนังคาเขาถูกขังชั่วคราว ผวาคุกไทยดิ้นสุดตัวหาทางรอด ยื่นขอประกันตัวนับสิบครั้งไม่ผ่าน เจอเส้นใหญ่อ้างกิ๊กผู้พิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์ เรียกค่าน้ำชา 12.7 ล้าน ประกันตัวพร้อมล้มคดีสะอาดหมดจด  จอมตุ๋ยติดเบ็ดฮุบคำโต กินได้ครึ่งทางเรื่องแดง เด้งยกทีมถึงผู้พิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์

เมื่อวันที่ 14 พฤษภาคม 2552 นาย สมิธ [นามสมมุติ] อายุ 60 ปี ชาวสวีเดน และเพื่อนชาวสวีเดนอีก หนึ่งคน ชาวอังกฤษอีกหนึ่งคน ถูกจับในวันเดียวกัน ในคดีมีเพศสัมพันธ์กับเด็กชายอายุต่ำกว่า 15 ปี ถึง 3 คดีด้วยกัน ทั้งหมดถูกรวบโดยเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจหลายฝ่าย ที่สำคัญ เป็นผลงานของหน่วยปราบปรามข้ามชาติที่ร่วมมือกันระหว่างตำรวจสากลจากกลุ่ม ประเทศสแกนดิเนเวียและยุโรป เรียกว่า หน่วย “Snapper” อันเป็นหน่วยที่เอาจริงเอาจังกับการกำจัดพวก “ตุ๋ยเด็ก” โดยเฉพาะ !! ทั้งสามอาชญากรถูกรวบที่บ้านเลขที่ 404/118 หมู 12 หนองปรือบางละมุง

นายสมิธและเพื่อนถูกจับกุมและขังไว้ในคุกชั่วคราว โดยนายสมิธได้ว่าจ้างทนายความจาก บริษัท สำนักงานกฎหมายที่ตั้งอยู่ในซอย D, หมู่ 10 พัทยาใต้ โดย มี น.ส.วนิดา (นามสมมุติ) เจ้าของสำนักงานได้พยายามยื่นขอประกันตัวนายสมิธ ถึง 10 ครั้ง แต่ไม่ประสบความสำเร็จ

วันหนึ่งน.ส.วนิดาถูกเพื่อน ๆ ทนายจากบริษัททนายความอื่น แนะนำให้รู้จักนางสาวลินดา (นามสมมุติ) บอกว่านางสาว ลินดา สามารถขอประกันตัวนายสมิธได้แน่นอน เพราะรู้จักและสนิทสนมเป็นการส่วนตัวกับผู้พิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์รายหนึ่ง โดยน.ส. วนิดาได้ตกลงเรื่องเงินสินบนกับนางสาว ลินดาเป็นเงินจำนวน 3,500,000 บาท ซึ่งต่อมามีการทำเป็นข้อตกลง (ไม่มีมูลหนี้) ระหว่าง นายนภดล (นามสมมุติ) ญาติของนางสาว ลินดา กับน.ส. วนิดาโดย น.ส. วนิดากับนายนภดล ได้นำเงินตามข้อตกลงดังกล่าวไปเปิดบัญชีเงินฝากธนาคารไทยพาณิชย์ จำกัด (มหาชน) สาขาเซ็นทรัล ลาดพร้าว ร่วมกัน หมายเลขบัญชี 157-217895-3 เมื่อวันที่ 14 กันยายน 2552 เป็นเงินจำนวน 3,500,000 บาท

โดยทั้งสองฝ่ายต้องลงชื่อถอนเงินด้วยกัน หากการประกันตัวสำเร็จทั้งสามคดี นางสาววนิดาจะต้องลงนามเพื่อเบิกเงินให้กับนาย นภดล ถ้าการขอประกันตัวไม่สำเร็จ นายนภดล จะต้องลงนามถอนเงินกลับไปให้นางสาววนิดา

ต่อมาปลายเดือน 30 กันยายน 2552 ผู้พิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์มีคำสั่งอนุญาตปล่อยชั่วคราวจำเลยชาวต่างประเทศตามข้อตกลง

และในวันที่ 3 ตุลาคม นางสาวลินดาก็ได้สั่งให้นางสาว วนิดาและนายนภดล ไปเบิกเงินจากบัญชีดังกล่าว จำนวน 100,000 บาท (หนึ่งแสนบาทถ้วน) เพื่อเป็นรางวัลค่าตอบแทนแก่นายนภดล

Exclusive: Inside the Mind of a Legal Interpreter

Exclusive: Inside the Mind of a Legal Interpreter

Often people wonder how Thai court cases are decided, time and again we see minor or none existent charges going to court, where there is often a decidedly negative outcome. As you may be aware PDN have assisted in a variety of cases over the years, with an outstanding success record to date.

None of these positive outcomes could have been achieved without the aid of PDN’s professional translator, who has worked closely with the same honest and reputable Thai lawyer for many years. The negative press that appears in the media in regards to the Thai judicial system is largely warranted; however it is PDN’s experience that with the aid of a good legal team and a strong argument, the chances of success are no better or worse than in any other country in the world. But it is clear that once involved in the judicial proceedings of a foreign country, aquiring the means to communicate accurately and clearly must be the highest priority. As in any other culture, Thai magistrates do not consider ignorance an excuse.

The following is a brief interview conducted with PDN’s translator, where we discover what it is like to work in the midst of the Thai judicial system, attempting to achieve a successful outcome, at times against extreme prejudice and corruption.

Do you ever get frustrated or disappointed when you’re assisting foreigners with their legal battles?
Yes! Many times – actually, all the cases. Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be the victim of a crime, or be accused of committing a crime? You don’t speak Thai, you don’t understand the legal system, and you’re trying to communicate as best you can with lawyers and police. Sounds like a nightmare. Once you have hired a lawyer, you seem to expect your lawyer or your interpreter to answer your phone, spare time for you 24 hrs, so this is what I call a “Nightmare” for me.

The reasons I get frustrated are:

1. The foreigner [involved in the case] hasn’t studied Thai law and even, in some cases, shows complete ignorance of the law in their own country. So they don’t know the procedures. They expect everything to be done quickly. They’re not aware that Pattaya is the busiest court in Thailand handling a large variety of foreign nationals. I also have to make sure that I don’t translate or explain to them incorrectly. For example, there were three different interpretations of the same thing; like when you say “I dont care” it has a much more aggressive meaning in Thai.

2. Our lawyer doesn’t speak any English at all, so most of the time they have to rely on the skill of the interpreter – which is me! Also, contrary to the generally accepted image, our lawyer is a relaxed character, who smiles a lot and is always polite. He is one of the best lawyers I have ever worked with. Sometimes his explanations to me, particularly on points of law, are not enough to convey the full meaning to our clients so I have had to learn to trust him - and so far so good.

3. The foreign clients fail to respect the rules of the court. On so many occasions I’ve had to tell them not to their cross legs, not to laugh or smile when they’re supposed to be sad, not to ask sarcastic questions, not to speak out of turn, not to try and educate the lawyer or the judge and, most importantly, not to act like some big shot farang.

Why don’t you work with an English speaking lawyer?

Because then they don’t need me. There are good and bad lawyers everywhere in the world. Many of those lawyers operating in Thailand who are fluent in English call themselves professional but have no idea of how the courts work. In Pattaya, there are many foreign victims who have heard about all the bad things that can happen to innocent people.

So if they are involved in a case and they have money, they just go straight to the so called “professionals” and they don’t mind paying a fortune, even if they don’t win the case.

The professional lawyer will manage to come up with a nice apology and sometimes persuade the client to continue the case at a higher level even though they know they will lose anyway.

I’m not saying there are no good lawyers in Pattaya. They do exist. The same goes for the court judges in Pattaya and Chonburi but it’s unfortunate we can’t publish the names of those who have shown genuine professionalism and integrity.

So you prefer to work with good lawyers who are smart, honest and dedicated to their work but don’t speak English, why?

Because at least then it’s easier for me to see if he’s greedy, over charges or unnecessarily prolongs the case just to make more money. He has to work with me as a team and he knows that I can never support such malpractices because my intention is to prove to foreigners that our Thai justice system is not that bad. There isn’t corruption everywhere all the time as is the general opinion. I think often the problem is all to do with poor communication.

Is your prime motive as an interpreter to make money?

No, not intentionally, just coincidently through my routine job as the owner and Editor of PDN. I try to improve on my work each day. I’d had enough of reporting the same things over and over again every year. All of our news comes from the same group of Thai reporters and we are all friends [except ones that they might not like us much because we upload news late and they cannot copy on time!]

I, myself have been cheated in a few cases and received unfair and bad treatment from the police and government officers just like every decent Thai who tries to survive in this town. I have been teaching English to Thais and vice versa. I have also become aware of the corruption and monopoly systems in this town, not to mention Thailand as a whole.

For example, I see poor people who rely on the tourist industry for their survival suffering each day. The rich and the powerful don’t seem to care. They just want to make as much money as fast as they can, including foreign investors.

The difference between locals and the visitors is that the visitors can leave anytime they choose, just as many are doing now, fed up with our political unrest, perceived high crime rate, corruption, global economics, gangsters, mafia, and whatever other problems there are. The investors are marching out of Thailand or Pattaya, that’s what we’re hearing now but I can see it from another point of view and I’m sure one day things will get better for Pattaya IF the officials spare more time to fix the really serious problems rather than spending so many resources on trying to promote the city like they are doing now.

I have changed my attitude a lot since helping people in the court. I am proud to say that we do have generous and fair judges. In the recent case with Barry, the female judge presiding was so straight and independent. She gave him a lot of opportunity to talk and even act out the events in his case even though most of it was irrelevant. I think she allowed it because she seemed to know that he was angry and disappointed. She calmly and patiently listened to him and I had to tell her I had to translate every word and act like him as well. She tried to hold her smile and said “okay, no need, I understand, tell him that the story he just told has nothing to do with the case so it won’t go on record.”

For me it has often been just like the “chicken and the egg.” Sometimes I don’t know what I should do first. My priorities are changing every day. Sometimes I have to drop my routine job and rush to interview a subject more interesting to me even though it won’t be published, but that’s just my nature.

These cases all involve a lot of running around but I also have to pay my bills too! Our income comes from our sponsors who have been growing in number each year. My lawyer normally charges a very reasonable fee by Thai standards. Barry nearly paid a lawyer in Bangkok 2 million baht after paying his first lawyer 200,000 baht up front, none of which was returned to him. We charged him only 100,000 baht. So it’s not about money, you know. Though I can’t say it’s for fun, either. These cases can involve a lot of homework and searching for and researching information. This incurs cost, both in time and effort, and at times we put ourselves at risk, so I suppose it’s only fair we should receive some funds for what we do.

The case of Barry And The Plastic KnifeHow did you meet Barry?He sent me an Email and his long story What did you think about his first Email?
I didn’t like it. Actually I forwarded it to one of my editors to correspond with him. He suggested in his email that he would be doing us a favour by letting us publish his story. Things may work that way in his home country, but not here. He even said in the mail that “we will let you publish my story for free, we won’t charge you for it!”

So why you decided to take his case?
It was interesting and I had a feeling Barry had something to hide and wasn’t telling me the whole truth.

After I looked at the documents and listened to the whole story and observed his acting showing me how it all happened, we then decided to have a meeting with my lawyer, who lives in Bangkok, on the next day in my office.

The lawyer read through the entire document and said immediately “easy case, take it!”

I couldn’t really tell Barry exactly what the lawyer said because he would shake his head and ask too many questions. I know I would run out of patience if I had to carefully explain to him. I just told Barry and his wife that we have never lost a case so far, not because we are that good or we have connections but because we only choose cases which we have more than an 80% chance of winning. In his case, he had been wrongly charged, which we cannot criticize here as it was due to his first lawyer. So Barry sent me all the emails of correspondence with his lawyer and I could see that there were some communication errors which had made Barry so frustrated.

What were the specific difficulties with this case?

1.Barry didn’t believe or trust us 100%. He expected us to report to him everyday what we were doing in his case, which is impossible. We had studied his case, and the main point was that we saw that we could win.

2. The original translation by his wife was good but we knew that the truth about what happened may be not useful in court. It was also difficult for me to tell him the judge would not take into account his background.

3. The strange thing was that Barry re-shaped the knife. He made it look different from the original pictures taken by his first lawyer. Even now, I don’t understand why he did this, but my lawyer said it didn’t matter. All we had to do was prove it wasn’t a case of attempted murder.

4. Most of the time they were expecting me to act like a machine, translating Thai into English word for word, both accurately and quickly without any breaks or problems “that’s just not the way it works.” I know if I get it wrong the consequences could be enormous on Barry’s life, this is why I had to handle every question and response with great delicacy. If such care is not taken in every case an innocently accused person might be found guilty, or a criminal might escape conviction. For example; Barry was asked a question by the prosecutor, which I interpreted for him. In a roundabout way he began to answer; however his answer was not directly in response to the question. I proceeded to whisper to him, “That’s not what they asked you,”before I interpreted only the relevant details back to the prosecution. Although it was the wrong thing to do, I was confident of Barry’s innocence and that he was aware that I was trying to present his case in the clearest possible way.

I chose not to publish his two part articles on PDN into Thai because it may affect his case. However, working with Barry was interesting. We turned out to be friends, especially with his wife Bee. I will join her for her next meditation. I would also like to thank Allan, Barry’s friend, who turned up to be his witness and also Bee – she did a pretty good job describing her husband’s character which almost made us burst out laughing in the court! And our goddess, the judge, my favourite judge, I owe her a bunch of flowers.

The most important thing that I must mention here is thank you both, Barry and Bee, for sticking with us till the end to prove that Thai justice is not that bad. You were good fighters and chose to do the right thing. I know of so many cases where the Thai wives have told their Farang husbands to give up and pay money under the table to drop the case.

Barry has now been found innocent and is free, but he has a record of assault and was fined 3750 baht. The judge did ask me to tell him : “Next time, don’t try to solve the problem yourself. You must inform the police.”

Allan’s case

How did you meet him?
By email.

Why did you decide to help him?
He had all the documents to back up his case. Each time I interviewed him, he never changed his story.

His lawyer could not communicate with him and also he [the lawyer] admitted that he was afraid of Mr. H [Allan’s defendant]

What were the specific difficulties with this case?

1. It involved government officials and powerful people within the Pattaya community. I’m sure that there are many brave interpreters here in Thailand, who are aware of the dangerous positions that we put ourselves in at times. In some cases these positions could be life-threatening, when the other members of the community around us don’t in fact understand what our role is.

2. After I started to get involved, I had to run around alone – I put “alone” here delibrately - in Pattaya to find more information while Allan did likewise in Bangkok. Okay, by doing that he did help quite a lot, but also it was quite risky to spread his plan around, which made me get even more frustrated.

3. He had 8 months to arrange a new lawyer but he didn’t contact me except to keep posting comments on the similar cases we were reporting in PDN, intending to inform the readers that he was facing big corrupted officials or mafia in the court case in Pattaya. The more he posted the more he put people off because it became tedious and nobody really cared to help anymore. This also included the likes of the DSI, the ministry of transportation, the previous Chonburi governor, etc. Everyone was busy and his case was never the first thing on their priorities anyway.

So what’s the situation now?

On the 3rd December, his previous lawyer had dropped the case and we found out that the case was actually out of date. I knew he was working in collusion with someone else, whose name I can’t mention here. But the judge was very understanding and wondered why the lawyer would do that. He said it wasn’t fair, so the judge let the case be postponed until May 2010. Allan now has a Thai lawyer friend who has volunteered to help him.

After the court, during our lunch, I talked to his new lawyer and we both knew his chances of winning were very slim. So I decided to take Allan to the Pattaya City Mayor’s office that afternoon.

This time, I called my reporter friends from all the national newspapers in Bangkok telling them that Allan would be holding a press conference about his court case related to the boat accident and the loss of his brother. Also, we had coincidentally reported about another boat accident 2 days before.

That afternoon, in Khun Ronnakit Ekasingse, the deputy mayor’s office, we printed out Allan’s stories both in Thai and English and took a video tape of his interview. I had noticed that none of those officers were interested in reading the one in English which was quite strongly worded. They had a quick look at the Thai version which contained some photos of the involved people.

We had to explain through many officials [ his secretaries, many involved deputy mayors including Mr. Sanit Boonmachai] and finally Khun Ittipon sat down casually to listen to us. Allan’s story had actually never been sent to the Mayor. Khun Ittiphol asked me, ”I have never heard this before, who is Mr. H, what does H stand for?”

I was really impressed to see his eyes gently looking at Allan and asked him some warm questions as to what he could do to help. I told him that 400,000 baht is nothing for Mr. H, but if he feels it’s too much, somehow the city or an organization must share the responsibilities.

Khun Ittipon promised us that within one week he would get back to us!
And I loved when he told us, “No one can be above the law!!”
We left the city hall with hope.

I’m going to fill my belly and have some money in my pocket again.

I've always been a great reader. You can completely loose yourself in books. I?ve got a broad range of interests, but I particularly like literature, politics and philosophy. I suppose I really developed my interest after my mother died of cancer when I was 10.

Being a well-known real estate developer, my father was always out, at meetings, visiting sites and travelling to see my uncle in Hong Kong. I had to occupy myself for much of the time and in those days, Thai TV wasn?t much to write home about, so I started reading in earnest.
I suppose you could say I was spoilt as a child. My father obviously felt sorry for me after my mother died, so he indulged me, buying me virtually everything I ever asked for.
As I was nearly 11 when my mother died, I didn?t have long to wait before transferring to my secondary school. I went to an international school because they had a strong languages department and my father wanted me not only to improve my Cantonese, which I already spoke, but also to learn Mandarin and English, of course. The teachers really appreciated me, partially because they felt sorry for me being motherless, but mainly because I was a really conscientious student. I always completed my assignments before the deadline and I was creative in my approach.
I romped through school, forming many friendships because I?m a likeable sort of person and was always ready to help if any of them ever had a problem. I had no trouble with the exams and passed my IGCEs with flying colours and embarked on my A level courses.
Half way through my second year, everything changed again. My father met a glamorous young lady called Rung from Chiang Mai like my mother, but her family was slightly higher up the social ladder. I had problems with her from the very start. I was always a bit of a Daddy?s girl even when my mother was alive and I suppose I resented the fact that my father?s new lady monopolised his time and thrust me into the background.
Things got even worse when they got married and whenever we were together you could cut the air with a knife. Rung was hyper-critical of me, but not to my face. She used to wait until I?d left the room before she complained to my father about me. I suppose I also resented no longer being the young lady of the house as I?d enjoyed that position for nearly 7 years. I wasn?t the only lady of course towards the end, because my father?s mother had come to live with us.
I was almost ready to take my A levels and had a tentative offer from the Bangkok university, so my father decided the best solution was to set me up in my own place in Nawanakorn. He was even more generous than usual, probably because he felt guilty. Apart from the lavish condo, he also bought me a BMW 323 and gave me a driver and a maid. There was one drawback, however, because I was still relatively young, nearly 18, Thai middle class custom dictated that I had to have a chaperone, so my father persuaded my grandmother to come and live with me.
I had passed my A levels with extremely good grades, so the university was pleased to offer me a place. We all moved into the condo in Nawanakorn just before I went to university and things settled down for a while.
The next development was that Rung had really wanted to start a family quickly to consolidate her position and nine months after she and my father got married, she had twin girls. That didn?t really put me out as I was considerably more mature by then. What really upset the applecart was that my father collapsed in the bathroom one day. He was rushed to hospital and, after tests, the doctor informed us that he?d had a stroke and his condition was serious. Later that day, he had another, which paralysed him and left him unable to communicate.

That was when the grim reality really began to dawn upon me. For the first time in my life, I was forced to catch public buses. A complete nightmare as I?d never even travelled on one before and had no idea even how to pay. The people on the bus were completely unsympathetic, assuming I was fresh from the most remote village in Esarn.
The next day, my world almost fell to pieces. It was 14th May 1997, the start of the East Asian Financial Crisis. Over the next few weeks, things went from bad to worse, until one day, my step-mother came round to my condo looking very grave. Apparently, my father?s assets had suffered a complete catastrophe. He was effectively bankrupt and all his developments were impounded. Rung, with tears in her eyes, told me that we would have to sell the car, the condo and virtually everything I owned.
The next week was my graduation, at least one thing had come right. Celebrating later that day with some of my friends, I looked into my purse to discover I only had 20 Baht. Going to the nearest ATM, I inserted my card and punched in my requirement of 5000 Baht. My card was rejected, I only had 2000 Baht in the account and that was the only money I had in the whole world!
We sold the condo the following week, but my step-mother took most of the money top pay my father?s medical bills. I was forced to borrow money from friends to pay the necessary 3 months? deposit on a very small condo in Ekkamai. The next few weeks were among the most unhappy of my life, until a ray of sunshine banished my gloom.
I received a phone call from my uncle in Hong Kong who had heard of my sad plight and as he had promised my father he would take care of me in the event of anything bad happening to me, he was eager for me to come to Hong Kong right away and he would give me a job in his company. He transferred enough money into my account to pay the airfare and buy some new clothes and off I went to start a new adventure.
Uncle met my plane at Hong Kong Airport and took me straight to a condo he?d rented for me. It was very nice, but no frills. As there was no maid service, for the first time in my life, I had to do my own laundry, clean my room, make my bed and basically live like ordinary people. My uncle said it would do me a power of good as I had been living in a dream world and needed to come down to earth. I started work with my uncle?s company full of optimism.
My luck had only marginally turned, however, and bad luck was still haunting me. I caught pneumonia which rapidly developed complications due to my depressed state, so much so that I had to return to Bangkok for treatment. Thankfully, my uncle paid all my expenses and medical bills. He gave me an allowance which allowed me to rent a small condo in Sukhumvit Soi 33 and even to hire a nurse to look after me while I recovered.
After a month, I had sufficiently recovered to contemplate going back to work in Hong Kong. The date was February16th 1998, I was about to phone a local travel agent to book my return flight and went over to turn down the TV where I had been watching CNN when a breaking news item caught my attention. China Airlines Flight 676 from Bali to Taiwan, carrying 182 passengers, had disappeared from the radar screens, presumed crashed. I don?t know why, but a chill dagger of fear ran down my spine. I couldn?t understand it. I didn?t know anyone who lived in either Bali or Taiwan. No inkling of the significance of the news registered, until later that evening my uncle?s secretary called me from Hong Kong and told me my uncle had been on the plane, returning from a business meeting in Bali. There were no survivors. My uncle was dead. The phone just dropped from my hand as I stood in stunned silence, the implications slowly sinking in.
That was the longest day of my life. I had lost everything: my favorite uncle, financial support, prospects for the future, effectively my whole life.
We attended the funeral, but it was one of the saddest occasions I have ever experienced. They didn?t even have a body to bury, just a photo. Uncle hadn?t included me in his will and I was left nothing. I had 20,000 Baht in the bank. I felt dreadful. Would nothing ever go right for me? Would this train of bad luck ever end?
I decided to go and visit my father in Chiang Mai. I felt the wings of the Angel of Death hovering and determined to get up there as soon as possible, before he died, too. When I got to my father?s house, I was astounded by the condition of the house and especially the state of my father. He looked pale and wan; his hair was lank and bedraggled. His clothes looked as though they hadn?t been changed for a week. Rung was really neglecting him. So much for true love, when the money went, so did Rung?s care and attentiveness.
My father?s nails were long, brittle and dirty. I decided the least I could do was cut them for him. When I started cutting and looked closer, I was appalled to see that at least half of my father?s nails were already dead. I turned to Rung and really laid into her, accusing her of being callous and uncaring. ?How could you leave my father in such a dreadful state? You?re just a gold digger, a heartless bitch,? I shouted at her. She for her part wasn?t about to take my criticism lying down and we started a full scale argument. Eventually, I just stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind me. Totally drained and despondent.
Still livid, I went back to Bangkok to my condo in Soi 33. When I got there I went straight into the bedroom and just collapsed on the bed and cried my eyes out. I was totally exhausted, no family, no money to talk of, and no-one to turn to. I had to stand on my own two feet. I had to get a job to support myself. I had a degree; it couldn?t be that difficult, could it? But it was. It was the aftermath of the financial crisis and no firms were hiring. I went from one interview to another, feeling worse after each one, until I was virtually suicidal. Then my luck turned, a friend told me about a PR job paying 12,000 Baht a month that was vacant at a hotel at PluenChit area. I telephoned and rushed over, feeling that this was my last chance.
As luck would have it, the interviewer was a farang in his late 40?s who didn?t seem at all interested in my qualifications; he just kept looking at me slyly from the corner of his eyes. He asked me to start the next morning and I went home feeling the happiest I?d felt for ages. My happiness didn?t last though. I worked for the first week all the time with the feeling that the boss?s eyes were boring into my back and mentally undressing me. He flirted outrageously. I had an awful time trying to stop him groping me at every opportunity. Then in the Friday after work, he asked me out to a nearby bar for a drink. My fist instinct was to decline gracefully, but in Thailand employees don?t refuse their bosses? requests, so what could I do but go?
I should have known better, but I was so naïve, never having drunk alcohol to any great extent before. My boss kept plying me with Marguerites, telling me they were slightly stronger than beer, when in fact they were loaded with tequila. By the end of the evening, I didn?t know whether I was coming or going. I couldn?t focus, slurred all my words, couldn?t think straight at all and could hardly stand up.

I woke up the next morning in his bed. I was shocked and blazingly angry. I had been taken total advantage of by an unscrupulous bastard. I had only had one steady boyfriend before when I was in the 2nd year at university. We?d had furtive sex a few times, always hurried and nervous about being discovered. I wasn?t a virgin, but I wasn?t a bad girl either. My boyfriend, however, didn?t stay the course; he beat a hasty retreat when he discovered my father was bankrupt. He said that he couldn?t cope with my depressions and all the problems I was having.
I?d always thought love was beautiful, probably from reading too many romantic classics, but now I don?t know what it is anymore. I was totally disillusioned at the time. But there was no love involved with my farang boss. He?d just raped me when I was incapable.
I quit the job that same day. The boss tried to find me to apologize. He wanted to be my regular boyfriend, he said. But I was having none of it, I could have taken him to the police for forced intoxication and rape, but I didn?t. I just wanted to forget he ever existed.
It was then that I started to drink and smoke. I?d never smoked before and I should have known better, but I just didn?t care. I just lazed around my condo for a week, watching TV half-heartedly, but not really taking anything in. I was in a real state. I woke up with 500 Baht in my pocket, the rent of 6000 Baht to pay and absolutely no means of paying it.
It was then that my friend Tammy, who worked in an escort agency, came to the rescue. She brought round a video called ?Madame Beverley Hills? about the life of high class hookers. I watched it twice and finally understood what was involved in Tammy?s job. It was an impressive movie, not in the least bit sleazy, quite a work of art, actually, even though it was essentially about prostitution.
Right, I said to myself, I?ll do it. I?d been shocked quite frankly when Tammy had told me what she did, but now my circumstances had radically changed, I was no longer a poor little rich girl toying with the perimeter of life. I decided to forgive myself for my naiveté and parochial attitude. I was beginning to appreciate Maslov?s theory. No food, no money, clothes, but no means of washing them. I couldn?t even afford washing powder. I?d had enough of poverty and destitution. No matter what I have to do, I?m going to fill my belly and have some money in my pocket again. And that was how my descent into the maelstrom began.

Story by: Snookie
Translated by: Warina

Point of View of a Bar Girl

We hear frequently about the farang’s experiences with Thai bar girls, but rarely hear about what things are like for the bar girls themselves, or hear the truth of their opinions of or life with farangs. I’d like to take this opportunity to enlighten all you farangs out there and show you that you aren’t too badly done by. The first story concerns a bar lady who was invited back to her farang client’s hotel room. As soon as she was ushered into the room, she saw 6 farangs sitting expectantly on the bed. Now she’d heard of such things with ladies who had been with Arabs, but never before with farangs. Her first reaction was to try and escape, but the farang client who had engaged her held onto her arm tightly. She was lucky to escape with minor bruising after effectively being gang raped by the 7 men. Hopefully, she’ll know better next time.

This incident also illustrates how trusting Thai ladies are. If it had been a Russian, or one of my minders in Dubai, checks would have been made at the start and finish of the proceedings and someone would have kept a watchful eye on the client, but here in Thailand such things are not commonplace. Which leads me onto the next story.
One sometimes hears of ladies being kidnapped by Thai taxi drivers in Bangkok and whisked off to foreign climes. The next incident concerns a lady who shared a taxi with a Russian. Sharing is not usual in Bangkok, but she was in a hurry and didn’t think twice about it. The Russian started speaking to the taxi driver in Russian and he apparently understood him. The next thing she knew was a cloth containing chloroform being put over her face and losing consciousness. The next thing she knew she was on a freighter on her way, it transpired, to Dubai. She was forced to work in a hotel as a sex-hostess for six months before she managed to escape with the help of one of her clients. Moral, don’t share a taxis with strange men.
Thai men have a bad reputation of sending out their wives and girlfriends to work in bars, but not usually farangs. The next story shows even the supposedly jai dee farangs are not always so. A farang had been living with a Thai lady for six months and all had gone well, initially. She had been treated well, gold and other presents bought for her, taken out to expensive restaurants and on day trips to various exciting tourist venues. Then one day, it all turned bad. The money ran out and the first thing was that her boyfriend asked her to sell all the gold he had bought her. Then he asked her to borrow money from her friends, who rapidly turned into enemies, as a result. Then her farang boyfriend forced her to go to a mafia money lender to borrow money at extortionate interest rates. She was lucky to escape with her life over that one, when they were unable to pay and her boyfriend went into hiding. He reappeared 3 weeks later and it was then that the inevitable happened. He forced her to go and work in the beer bars to support them.
If Thai guys have bad reputations, this particular farang was ten times worse. He was an absolute tyrant. He made her work all hours god sends and forced her to go on as many “offs” as possible. So much so that she was battered and bruised. Eventually, she wised up and found another lady for him to take her place. She was lucky to get off the hook.
The next story is equally bad. A farang was so jealous of his live-in Thai girlfriend after hearing stories of how Thai ladies have innumerable Thai boyfriends that he effectively kept her imprisoned in his room. When he was there he wouldn’t let her go out and when he himself went anywhere, he kept her chained up to the bed by a chain and padlock. Needless to say, she sought help one day, phoning one of her friends who brought the Tourist Police round to free the lady. A similar story concerns a Thai girl that her farang boyfriend knew smoked speed or “yah ba”. He, too, was hyper-jealous and to keep her contained threatened to phone the police and report her every time she wanted to go out. Thankfully, she managed to escape one day when he was out. He didn’t contact the police because she found out he was a wanted criminal in England and turned the tables on him.