(The following is a brief Thai>English translation from various local news sources)

Customers at Melody Karaoke, in the close vicinity of Prachacheurn Police Station, were originally charged an astonishing 30,000 Baht for 3 hours of karaoke. Charges included 100 Baht for a piece of candy.

It all started with a former policeman from Phayao province, Mr Atthaphan, who attended Melody Karaoke along Ngam Wong Wan Road in Bangkok with his girlfriend. After just 3 hours or so of having a fruit snack, a bottle of whiskey and enjoying a bout of karaoke, Mr Atthaphan was astounded to get a bill for approximately 30,000 Baht. After complaining of course, he was given a reduced bill with all the prices on, but it still run at an extortionate 16,350 Baht.

“This is not unique for Melody Karaoke; this thieving establishment has a well-known history for scamming patrons” says the Thai language Manager newspaper

At 12:30, last Tuesday, Pol Lt Col Suraphon from Prachacheurn Police Station received a report from a former Pol Lt cop, Mr Atthaphan, 42, that not only was he physically threatened to pay an extortionate bill, but Melody Karaoke also seized his and her mobile phones. Mr Atthaphan went on to say “We entered the karaoke at about 8:30, asked for a private karaoke room and ordered a bottle of whiskey with water and soda. Since we fancied a bit of company to help sing a few songs we also asked that a couple of hostesses come and join us”.

(After bargaining down the original bill of 30,000 Baht, Mr Atthaphon received a reduced one at just more than 16,000 Baht)

Yet, when Mr Atthaphon finally got the actual ‘correct’ bill he found that the karaoke had charged for the company of 7 hostesses, at an incredible 1-1,200 Baht per girl. With fast mouths, the girls supoosedly drank orange juice worth 3,900 Baht, sucked a few candy at 100 Baht a pop and munched on 3 plates of rose apples at 600 Baht

Even at the reduced charge of 16,350 Baht, Mr Atthaphon just did not have enough money to foot the bill – he only had 7,000 on him. He was then threatened by a bunch of bouncers to go immediately to the ATM machine next to the karaoke and withdraw the remainder. To make sure he wouldn’t do a runner, they seized the mobiles.

According to reporters, Melody Karaoke have been running a scam for a long time – just a few days previous another few gullible teenage customers got a bill for virtually 50,000 Baht – unable to pay the bill, they seized a motorbike.

Prachacheurn police claimed that they could nothing to help get any of the money back, as the couple had already willingly paid the bill. This, however, is in stark contrast to the law which specifically states that any establishment selling beverage or food must have a menu with prices on it. Melody Karaoake did not have one, and so the couple did in fact, not have to pay a single baht - Prachacheurn police looked over the matter though, and told the couple to just go home and forget about it. "16,000 Baht isn't the end of the world" one police guy was reported to have said.

People living in the local vicinity claim that some Prachacheurn police are actually taking kickbacks from scamming karaoke bars like Melody. Prachacheurn police, however, deny this claim.

(The following is a brief Thai>English translation from various local news sources)

At 10 in the morning of 24 September, Mr Sanan, administrative chief of Phatthalung province was in charge of perhaps the first ever televised wedding between endangered Sakai people. The Sakai is an indigenous tribe who live in the deep southern jungles of Phatthalung, Trang and Satun. Most of whom are illiterate and can not even comprehend the Thai southern dialect. In fact, their language is closer to Malay and Thai Sea Gypsy than standard Thai. The Sakai are hunters and instead of rice, yam is their stable diet. They are seldom seen outside of their jungles.

Back to the story. The local tourism board of Phatthalung thought it would be a grand idea to arrange and promote such a rare wedding and so invited a whole bunch of respected local officials and 400 tourists to enjoy the festivities. 54 Sakai tribal people from neighbouring Trang and Satun provinces were also invited.

In the morning, the atmosphere was tense as the bridegroom Mr Aitaoyao (age approx. 35) was led by a local village headman and other respected state officials to nearby Papong village to ask for the hand of his wife-to-be Ms Binla (age approx 18). As the groom’s procession went along there was great frenzy. On arrival at the wedding ceremony, everyone was able to witness the bridegroom making a dowry offering of two pieces of traditional red Sakai cloth, a cow and some local fruits.

All the locals, tourist and relatives and friends of the couple were invited to join in the wedding ceremony. Mr Sanan the administrative chief, next finalized the marriage by putting a crown of red flowers over the heads of the happy couple and gave them each a nice official marriage certificate.

Before the wedding, however, the couple had already been living together as boyfriend/girlfriend, but with the opportunity to boost tourism in Phatthalung province, a proper traditional Sakai marriage was arranged.

(The following blog is a brief/rough translation of a leading report published in the Thai language Daily News newspaper, May 3)

Unbelievable! Hi-so websites now online full of young women with gorgeous bodies, long hair, really fair-skin who boast they come from well-to-do hi-class families are now selling their knickers over the Net.

To hide their identities however, the lasses hide their faces from the camera. Normal hi-so women have turned around and vented their anger at what they see as immoral behavior bent on destroying society and culture. Doctors have said it is just an odd sexual fetish.

Our investigative team has found that pupils, students, other youth and even working folk have been happily forwarding mail to each other of adverts for used knickers for sale. One forwarded mail our team uncovered was of one lass with a nice body and fair-skin (face hidden) who was selling not only her personal knickers collection, but also an array of other naughty items such as stockings and boots. Prices ranged from 400-3,000 Baht per piece.

After further investigation, our team found out that this young woman in particular was named Wan, 23 years of age, a graduate of a prestigious university in Chiang Mai province and currently worked as a secretary. Wan claimed she was from a well-to-do hi-so family who was only using the profits made from her used knickers trade to save up for a car. Wan was adamant that she only sold pieces of her clothing and not her body. Her email address is sweetygirl_hot@hotmail.com

Like Wan, most of the vendors post their phone numbers for a quick sales deal or chat with potential customers on MSN. You can’t see any of their faces, but all the lasses reckon they are clean and good-looking – what you can see however, is that all the women have fit bodies. On top of just receiving the well-worn ‘nice-smelling’ knickers, customers also receive the added bonus of a free video clip of the garments actually being worn.

Dr Prithat, a psychologist in Chiang Mai, explained that this kind of fetish, originating in Japan, was new to Thailand. He said that “Even though the customers have a kind of mental disorder, they do not suffer from anything serious which needs treatment”.

Well-known hi-so lass, Miss Nuanphan, told us that she had also received the email forwards and admitted to being totally shocked and asked herself “Are these vendors really Thai people?” She went on to explain that women like this were an embarrassment to the hi-so establishment and that they weren’t right in the head.

(Below is a rough translation of a report in the Khao Sod newspaper on 8 Feb)

Former ladyboy monk (abbot) Je Dao of Sri Boon Reung temple in the northern province of Lamphun, has quickly and quietly disrobed.

In ladyboy circles, Je Dao had become well-known for changing into a skirt and bra and sneaking out at night to discotheques. On top of that debauchery, Je Dao was known to sleep around with commoner gays.

Je Dao had very recently come under the suspicions of locals who, alongside a female student, informed the cops of the truly immoral behaviour of a monk who takes medicine to grow breasts, goes out at night and enjoys having gay sex. Je Dao had found out that he was under investigation and so quickly disrobed and fled the temple on the morning of the 7th February.

According to some other locals though, Je Dao has their full support and they feel proud of their former breasted ladyboy monk who didn’t quite live up to the expectations of an orange robed-one. According to Je Dao (newly-named Titsaman) in a confidential interview said “I am going to go and work in America within a couple of months”. (as in ‘work’ Je Dao used the Thai words ‘hah kin’ which can also be translated as ‘work as a prostitute’).

Phra Kalaya the monk who conducted the ‘leaving the monkhood ceremony’ said that he it was only his duty. He promised he had no idea of any hidden agenda of Je Dao’s.

Deputy Head of the Lamphun Sangha said that this kind of matter did not shed good light on Lamphun’s temples. In fact, it is even worse than usual stories like this because Lamphun is located in the historically religious Lanna region.

He went on to say that if commoners knew of any other sin-loving monks like Je Dao to inform the local Sangha Committee immediately.

(The following is a rough/brief translation of the leading article in the Thai Raj newspaper, 31 Jan)

(Example edited pic on www.hi5.com)

No pimps, no mamasangs – Thai university students, office women and highschool girls sell their bodies directly on the Internet on two of Thailand’s most popular websites www.mthai.com and especially the social networking website www.hi5.com.

What the young ladies do is simply post a profile of themselves, picture and of course the costs. Most common of all are university students (or claiming to be) who post a photo of themselves in their uniform. An official we spoke to from the Ministry of Culture explained that the university pin/badge on the ladies’ uniforms is often very distinguishable. The targeted market is randy men, young and old.

Not just young women, men also sell their bodies directly on Hi5 and MThai, usually they post a comment which reads ‘massage & excitement – for just 1,000 Baht!’ Their targeted market is both gay men and lonely women.

Selling sex on the Internet like this is a brand-new method – same as direct sales; no pimps and no mamasangs – and so, the young ladies get to keep all the money themselves.

Most of the offending part-time prostitutes woo their potential customers by posing not just in tight and skimpy university outfits, but also highschool uniforms, cute college wear and even sexy office attire.

Another strategy the girls use is sending emails and private messages via Internet forums and web-boards; the girls then hope that the recipients will next ‘forward mail’.

One of our reporters recently decided to check for himself whether this new kind of prostitution really did exist. The first email he opened included all the girl’s vital statistics, prices, services available and the mandatory photo. Her name was Nong Fah, 21 years of age, 32-24-35, 167cm, 50km and charged 1,500 a fling (exclusive of love motel room). She was an office worker. Interested clients had to transfer half the fee to her bank account first and the next half on the day of servicing.

The next 2 emails he got were pics of university uniform clad students called Nong Bow and Nong Nam. Nong Bow charged 1,500 baht short-time or 3,000 all night, while Nong Nam charged 2,000 per bout. Both girls offered virtually all the sexual services under the sun but the wearing of a condom was compulsory.

When we spoke to Pol Lt Col. Sawat Phakdee about the matter, he stated that this was totally illegal and against the prostitution criminal code of 1996. Offenders could be fined a maximum of 500 baht and charged with running an illegal business. He asked that educational institutes, families and the cops work together to clampdown on direct sales sex. In fact, the police and the ICT have already started blocking the illegal pages and apprehending some of the girls.

Miss Ladda Tangsuphachai from the Ministry of Culture told us that they had already found more than 1,000 girls selling sex on the Internet, mainly so-called students. She said the average prices were between 1,500-3,000 depending on length of time and servicing (international program students were more expensive).

Miss Ladda went on to say that the money earned was spent on school fees, room rents, mobile phones and cars.

Police in the north-eastern province of Ubon Ratchathani have opened a case against a randy university professor for supposedly trying to give one of his 3rd year art students (Miss Noi) some private oral tuition in exchange for better grades. After the victim reported the attempted so-called molest to the cops, the hell-belly cops rode straight to scene (author's notes: after a few hours that is) to hopefully find the professor in the act (literally) in his office. Instead of finding him having it off with one of his sweet students, he was instead found to be in complete remorse crying over a bottle of beer smoking a cigarette and looking completely stressed out. What was exceptionally embarrassing for the professor was that his wife, another lecturer at the institute came running in to see what the criminal commotion was all about. One can only guess she wasn't too chuffed when she was asked to witness the victim acting out a re-enactment of the attempted juicy incident (hopefully not with the professor himself that is).

More tears came when he found out the student had secretly video-taped his latest escapades on camera which clearly show him trying to force her to get on her knees and enjoy a banana shake. More embarrassment is to come when he finds out that the naughty homemade video has been watched more by Thais than the Euro 2008 cup final.

According to fellow witnesses, friends of Miss Noi, it seems the randy professor has had a long history of offering 'good sex for good grades', and 'excellent grades for a bit of 'doggy over the desk'. The dean of the university was quoted as saying that he would take the matter extremely serious and take disciplinary action against the professor and any students who have been known to have taken up the randy professor's offer in the past.

Parents have been up in arms these few months at the unprecedented amount of 'good sex for good grades' cases and have asked the Ministry of Education to determine whether or not such a policy is or is not part of the education system.

(A girl dressed as the founder of Loy Krathong, the legendary Nang Noppamas. A legend she really is. Noppamas was in fact, the leading character in a nineteenth century novel)

Beyond a doubt, Loy Krathong is Thailand’s most beautiful festival. Thais and foreigners alike are taught that Loy Krathong originated something like 700 years ago in the northern province of Sukhothai. We are also meant to believe that the person who discovered this tradition was a King’s consort named Nang Noppamas; that she was the first person to make a kratong and float it.

Unfortunately however, there is no evidence whatsoever that Loy Krathong dates back to the era of King Ramkhamhaeng and Sukhothai. That is because it really is all legend, one supposedly completely made up at the end of the nineteenth century by the Department of Fine Arts.

What proof there is however and there is a lot of it, is that the Loy Kratong festival originated from the Loy Khom festival. According to the evidence available, Loy Khom (Float the lantern) surfaced in the mid eighteenth century during the Ayutthaya era and was probably based on a very similar festival which had already begun in Nakhorn Thom in Cambodia. The first person to seriously write about the Loy Khom festival was in fact a foreigner named ‘Lu Lubber’ or something like that (unsure of the transliteration from Thai to English). In contrast to the legend taught, he wrote that the Loy Khom festival was held mid-way through Buddhist Lent and not on the 12th Full month (unlike Loy Krathong in its present form). And unlike the Loy Krathong festival of now, Loy Khom was celebrated for several days to several weeks. What is the same though, is that the Loy Khom festival was a thanksgiving to the Goddess of Water and possibly the Buddha.

A water khom certainly looked different to a present day krathong. They came in various sizes from very small to huge and in them were only lanterns, there were no candles or incense sticks – those were recent innovations!

Now, one of the nicest Loy Krathong festivities is the Nang Noppamas beauty contest which is to pay homage to the one and only Mrs Noppamas, the founder of Loy Krathong, a king’s consort. Again, there is absolutely no historical evidence that Noppamas even existed, and she didn’t. Mrs Noppamas was instead the leading character of a novel released during the nearing of the reign of King Rama III – around 1850. Her character was written as guidance for all women who wished to become civil servants. Prince Damrong Rajanubhap, Thailand’s most influential historian, petitioned the government several times during his exile in Penang to revert Loy Krathong back to its original Loy Khom format and to also educate the people about the truth of Noppamas. His advice was simply ignored.

Several Thai language books concerning the truth history of Loy Krathong have been released over the past few decades, but the Ministry of Education have disallowed them in their Thai history classes. Recently, a few academics have attempted again to encourage the truth to be taught and have continually asked the Ministry of Culture to promote the real facts. They have adamantly asked that Thai school history books be re-written and explain that Noppamas really was just a legend. The Ministry of Culture have failed to even listen to their claims and turned a blind eye. But, as one academic put it, if the truth was taught, then Thailand as a country would….. ‘lose face’.

Steve's views: I never did believe the legend about Sukhothai and Noppamas anyway and so i'm not too sure whether these academics should make such a big rant about the truths to be taught. What i found ironic, was also all the fuss Prince Damrong made, as it was he himself who invented the story of King Naresuan's great battle taking place at Don Chedi in Suphanburi. He also wrote and published a lot of other rubbish. All in all though, it does however prove yet again, how much of the Thai history taught at schools is just clearly made-up.

Source: The Thai language Manager newspaper.