Record-high Pattaya bar fine after Kiwi tourist hires owner’s wife
A tourist from New Zealand has set a new record after paying a bar fine of 30,000,000 baht (US$866,000) at a Walking Street venue on February 1. The man involved in the new record reportedly had never visited a Pattaya bar before and was somewhat naive about how the bar fine system worked.
According to Mr Somboon, the bar’s owner, the male tourist had been in the venue for a few hours and had only ordered one lemonade and beer shandy, valued at THB30, which he was still only halfway through. Mr Somboon approached the customer and told him politely if he didn’t start drinking up or hiring bar girls for some rumpy pumpy, he would have to ask him to leave the bar. Apparently the tourist turned around and pointed at a 53-year old Thai woman in the back office who was counting up the night’s takings, and said “All right, I’ll take her”, not knowing (or caring) that the lady was the owner’s wife. Mr Somboon had to be restrained by several of his own staff members from decking the tourist one in the head.
Eventually, after he settled down, he saw the funny side of it and joked, “If you want her, you’ll have to pay me 30 million baht!” Much to the shock of all onlookers, the tourist reached for his pocket, pulled out his wallet and wrote the owner a check for the record-setting bar fine. The tourist and Mr Somboon’s wife were last seen leaving the bar on a tuk tuk and heading for a nearby hotel. There are conflicting reports that the tourist was the same man involved in last week’s incident, when a newlywed Kiwi man accidentally posted a selfie to Facebook while receiving a tub ‘n’ tug at a Pattaya massage parlor.