Looking for a Photographer, Accommodation for Rent, and A Thief, Thailand.

Things here have been a little hectic; this isn’t great as I am meant to be on holidays. I have been trying to get permission from a lady to use some photos that she took on an elephant ritual where baby elephants and taken away and from their mums and their spirits are broken over a week of brutality.

It is funny when you have the persons name but cannot contact her directly, have contacted magazines she has written articles for but she doesn’t have her own website. Also I have made plans to do some travelling after the Thai New Year. Some trips are not too far from our home but one trip to an elephant sanctuary in Chang Mai which is a long drive away. I am just waiting for a reply on permission to take pictures and also interview the lady who founded the park.

I have spent a little time driving around the streets of Ubon Ratchathani as some friends are looking at moving to the area and want accommodation. So a 3 bedroom house and also a 2 bedroom apartment are wanted to rent.

The problem here in Ubon Ratchathani is there is no such thing as a rental agency or real estate agent. Pretty well the only way to find a place is by word of mouth or driving around the streets looking for signs on fences of properties.

Asking people you know is the best way though. If you ask a few people, all of a sudden it is like the jungle telegraph system has come into action with drums beating out messages starts to beat.

It doesn’t take too long and you have people who have a friend of a friend or brother, sister or cousin who wants to rent a place. At the moment though I have problems with this as all the parents and teachers from school I don’t see as it is holidays.

I have made a few calls and also put the word out on the grapevine and hope to have some houses and apartments to look at over the coming weeks.

Also I had a friend ring me the other night who lives in an apartment complex. It is small complex of only 14 rooms and 2 levels. He is on the top level and at the end of the hallway.

He has lived there for a long time now and never had any problems. He went out of his room and down the stairs to the owner’s apartment to pay the rent. He has done this many times before and was gone for 3 to 5 minutes. He returned to his room to see the door was open and he had been burgled.

This was a very opportunistic crime as the person had to have watched him leave his room and know he wasn’t going to be very long. He walks past about 5 rooms to go down the stairs and we thought that it was definitely someone from in one of them.

The reason being is the thief opened his door (he is stupid as he pulled his door closed but didn’t lock it) and went straight for his laptop. The thief unplugged the mouse and left it but took the laptop and power cord. Nothing else in the room was touched.

If the thief had opened a draw he would have found a nice sum of cash, this draw was a metre away from the laptop. The huge flat screen TV wasn’t touched. Not another thing had been rifled through, opened or taken.

The person who committed the crime knew that had a very small amount of time as otherwise they would have opened the draws and also wardrobes, wouldn’t have they?

After I got to his place I was keen to bash on a few doors but was told the police were coming and a policeman did turn up within a few minutes of me arriving, maybe 20 minutes after the crime had been committed.

With the policeman we then searched the rooms near my friends and also asked if they had seen anything, which they hadn’t. My mate knew that the laptop was gone and would probably never be seen again. He was pissed that he hadn’t locked the door but was also really peeved that someone had the audacity to do this crime in such a way. It was a real risk; the person could have been easily caught.

So a police report was made and if the police come across the criminal or criminals and find a stash of stolen goods he would be called to identify his computer if there. The chances of that happening are zero.

I still remember when Noot’s motorbike was stolen from Big C shopping centre. I wrote about it and called it The Day our Luck Ran Out. Noot was very upset at having her bike stolen and I understand this. I told her not to worry as it was only a motorbike and can be replaced. I was of course really pissed off and wanted to smash the heads in of the dogs who stole her bike.

I hate thieves, really detest them. I know that many people say ‘they had to steal because ……’ well, I don’t give a flying fuc# why they stole and how they got into the position of having to steal.

I can tell you there is only one way to deal with petty thieves. That is giving them a good flogging; make them remember the experience for a long time.

When I first started working construction there was a golden rule of never steal for another person. Power tools are expensive and sometimes tradies would turn around to find a $1,000 drill gone.

I still remember so clearly a guy who was caught on the Royal Brisbane Hospital jobsite in 2000. He had walked in off the street dressed as a construction worker, had a backpack and then foolishly stole a laser, cordless drills and tried to get away.

I remember the call on the radios going out about the thief and in no time all exits were covered from leaving the jobsite. A search started and they found the guy in a stairwell.

Two of our guys, Scott and Davo who had gear taken gave this guy a big touch up. I can tell you he walked off the site, but he wouldn’t be coming back in a hurry. I think this was the best way to deal with it. The court systems are pathetic and judges are just so out of touch when sentencing.

I remember when police arrived on the jobsite on the Gold Coast, some tradies had touched up a scumbag thief and he stupidly went to police. Of course the unions were called and representatives turned up. Of course all was denied and everyone said they had never seen the guy and he was kidding himself. No charges were laid.

Here in Thailand I have never been burgled, at home. I believe this would be the most invasive thing that could happen to someone. A person entering your house to steal your things disgusts me. I have always lived by and still do here. If I ever caught a person breaking into my house I would use whatever force needed, be that lethal.

I have told Noot that is the time ever come we would not call the police, I am not being a big chested and using bravado; I am talking about what I would do. The court system is too lenient on criminals for me. They don’t learn from the piss weak sentences and fines given to them.

I think some good old fashioned justice is needed at times, but that is just my opinion. What do you think?

Brunty