seanthepilot

Where I come from in Thailand, the well dressed Thais are just faking it. The richer they are, the 'poorer' they dress. I've seen tons of multimillionaires (dollars) wearing flip flops and shorts.

dsquared37

But but but, no self respecting Thai wears shorts (said by someone).

/sarcasm

SunLover

IMO wearing shorts in beach locations is different than wearing shorts in metropolitan Bangkok. Different contexts. I define shorts (when standing up) as landing:

above the knees
at the knees
slightly below the knees

Many men wear long shorts which fall well below the knees. They are referred to as board shorts in the USA because they were made popular by the surfer community. These seems to be generally acceptable most everywhere farang tourists would visit except for Temples, upscale nightclubs, and fine dining establishments.


SunLover

dsquared37

And ordinary Thais will go to temples but not upscale nightclubs or fine dining establishments. So what exactly are we talking about here?

SunLover

Thread title: Reports of increased stops of Westerners in certain Bangkok police jurisdictions

I guess my points were:

* location/context is pertinent to the discussion
* the definition of shorts varies and can be in the eye of the beholder
* regardless of ethnicity and in some venues - shorts are inappropriate at all times


SunLover

dsquared37

And my points are all these attributes of "slovenly" farang can equally be seen in Thais.

Further upscale nightclubs and fine dining are private establishments and can make their own rules. If you think going into most temples with shorts is inappropriate then I'd say you haven't been in many temples. I commonly see more locals in shorts in temples than foreigners.

Or are you saying its OK to do this if you are Thai but not as a foreigner?

Tchiowa

I'm not sure "inappropriate" is the correct word in many instances. However, it is certainly the correct word in temples. Many temples bar men in shorts from entering. The more tourist oriented temples don't.

I have never seen a Thai man in a temple wearing shorts.

As far as 2lovelife's comments, that's Phuket. Different area. Different situation. Note that when I first commented on Thai men wearing shorts it was (and still is) specific to Bangkok.

aBroadAbroad

Hey all. This thread is wandering and becoming excessively argumentative. Perhaps everyone can simply agree that those police who are shaking down westerners probably tend to single out the ones in attire that is more typical of tourists, and return to the thread topic…

Thanks.

Moderator

transpac

Article prompts Prawit to order probe into police action

The Nation January 23, 2015 1:00 am

In response to an article in Time magazine about Thai police's extensive extortion tactics and mistreatment of foreign tourists, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday that he had ordered Royal Thai Police chief Somyot Poompanmoung yesterday to scrutinise and deal with the issue.

He said such allegations damaged the country's reputation, and that the image of police should improve with the ongoing reform.

The article in Time's January 20 edition quoted people who had either directly experienced or had knowledge about Thai police extorting money from tourists. The article quoted UK Ambassador Mark Kent's tweet about him meeting officials from the Tourist Ministry to address complaints lodged by British tourists about random police searches and demands for bribes.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nati...-30252482.html

whackyjacky

Bad press works sometimes. It sure stopped the police's King Power shoplifting scam. For some reason jet skis seem immune.

whackyjacky

The Time article looks like it was half true & half bullsh*t. LINK: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/01/2...a8488-81279529

Tchiowa

Which is the way I view almost all of these kinds of claims. Something happens. You get mad. You tell the story. Each time you tell the story you "enhance" it a bit.

I treat stories about Thailand written by foreigners in the same manner that the Olympics judges divers. Throw out the best and worst scores and average what's left.

whackyjacky

Because of personal experience you know I'm hardly on your side of the fence on this topic, but we both agreed on 1 thing - this Time article had an barnyardy aroma to to it from the git-go.

Tchiowa

I agree on both parts of your comment. Perhaps you'll understand when I say that your description of the aroma was exactly how I felt about the article that started this thread in the first place.

Cheers.

Diplomatico

"BANGKOK: Police in the Sukhumvit area have been ordered to halt all searches of foreign nationals without due process following concerns of police harassment.

Pol Col Khajohnpong Jitpakpoom, the newly-appointed Thong Lor police superintendent, said unless a foreigner is acting suspiciously, his officers are prohibited from conducting random searches.

“I have instructed policemen under my command to strictly refrain from searching foreigners or asking to see their passports unless necessary,” Pol Col Khajohnpong told the Bangkok Post Sunday.

If a search is considered necessary, such as in a case where a foreigner appears to be “startled” by the presence of police, the search must be conducted in a public area under the supervision of two officers with the rank of sub-lieutenant or higher.

“But if the person sees an officer and appears to be calm, then we are not allowed to conduct a search,” Pol Col Khajohnpong said.

Previous complaints following a notable increase in random searches last year ranged from police demanding money from foreigners not carrying proper ID to bag and body searches and humiliating urine tests in public."

http://www.thephuketnews.com/police-...ital-51026.php