Pattaya is nexus of bizarre crime

Anyone who has been to Pattaya can attest to the freeform spirit and relative debauchery of the place. It lures some of the stranger elements in the kingdom, both domestic and foreign, and rarely fails to offer up equal doses of tragedy and comedy.

In recent news, a 52 year-old Frenchman slashed his wrist and committed suicide over his Thai girlfriend’s insistence on keeping her job at a local beer bar. The woman, aged 34, came home from work and found her boyfriend lying on the bed in a pool of blood. She told police that they had argued frequently about her work at the beer bar, citing “disappointment” as the likely cause of his suicide.

On the following night, a 32 year-old Thai transvestite was arrested for a series of grab-and-run thefts along Pattaya’s famous walking street. He was finally caught when he tried to steal the purse of a Thai woman at Lucifer Discotheque as she finished paying her tab. The ladyboy grabbed the bag and ran, but was apprehended by other customers before he/she could even get out of the bar.

Ladyboys continue to be a problem in Pattaya, as the next night a Turkish man had his pockets picked while being hugged by two ladyboys who tried to solicit him for sex. Although he refused, one of them made off with his wallet containing 70,000 baht without him noticing.