Transcript of the above video:

Yeah, you know I didn't ever think I'd be making a video like this talking about foreigners behaving badly or otherwise here in Thailand. I just kind of always thought it went without saying, it's preferred that you go to the bathroom inside, I mean using this great invention we call indoor plumbing and running water that we go ahead and do that. That said, apparently that's too tall an order for some, I guess. 

That said I thought of making this video after reading a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Shock, Horror - two public pee cases in Pattaya. I think there's a level of sarcasm you should read into this article. I'm going to quote a couple of excerpts, I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article for yourself, but I think if you read this right - read it how I'm sort of reading it - there's one level where it's like "yeah okay it doesn't need to be too serious" but at the same time again like I prefaced this video with, I thought this kind of went without saying that the preferred modus toilet is indoors, okay. Quoting directly: "Nobody likes the idea of a comfort break not in a toilet. Public urination is indecent, antisocial, suggests moral turpitude and - especially in Pattaya - can deter family tourists from visiting the city with a certain past. Anyway, that's what the beach police say." Quoting further: "The two cases reported in Pattaya this month have been hyped to a clear case of media amplification: illegal peeing has gotten out of hand. The quality of overseas visitors is going from bad to worse. Told you so."  So again there is some humour to be read into this; there's also levels where unfortunately the social media sort of feedback loop can create hyperbole where maybe it's not necessarily warranted. 

Every time I think of the term social media, I constantly think back of the Russian term 'Glasnost' which was sort of the other side of the coin. When the Soviet Union ended there was 'perestroika' which was sort of economic and then there was glasnost which depends on how you sort of look at the translation of that, some people say "oh it meant transparency." No, really, apparently the direct translation was more like 'publicity'. I often times wonder how much those old school Marxists were very much in favour of what we now call Social Media. That being said, this is the world we live in and unfortunately hyperbole does kind of percolate up through the again, feedback loop that is social media here in Thailand. 

That being said honestly, I remember the film Go, there was the film Go I think it had Jay Mohr in it. There were some other, I believe Timothy Olyphant was also in that movie. There's a great scene where they go to a Gentleman's Club - in the film they are in Las Vegas - and they go to this Gentleman's Club and they come in and the bouncer is this big guy who is like the son of the owner and the guy, like he is eating a lollipop, he pulls out of his mouth, he says “hey this is a Gentleman's Club you're meant to behave as gentleman”. It's kind of how I feel about these stories. It is this like look we've all been in that situation where the pub closes and you're out on the street and there's nothing open and you're just trying to get by. I'm saying try to not put yourself in that position, maybe take a pit stop before you leave but that being said, sometimes you got to do what you got to do - I do get that - but let's again behave as gentleman as best we can when we're here in Thailand. Believe me, it'll make things a lot smoother with the locals because I'm pretty sure nobody likes walking out on the street when they have got to go to work at 7am and the whole place smells like urine because people have been partying the night before. People have to live in these places folks, so again I thought this sort of went without saying, but apparently not so much. That said, quoting further, from again this is rather a funny article, I urge those who are watching it, go check it out for yourself. Quoting directly: "American states are frantically trying to restrain the problem. In California and Arizona public lewdness can swell into a charge of being a sex offender and thus appearing on the dreaded register if found guilty." Yeah, that's not an unheard of thing. Quoting further: "There was a case in Australia of a man prosecuted for peeing through a neighbour's letterbox." Well yeah, I mean obviously; that's like malicious. Quoting further: "Mercifully, that case wasn't in Pattaya or we would never have heard the last of it. What we need are more public toilets and a sense of proportion." Yeah, probably true. 

Again, I don't think that this article is saying this is something to completely dismiss out of hand, it's a problem. I kind of look at it as that great line from Bad Boys 2 where the rats are eating the mob boss's money and he says "this is a stupid problem to have, but it's still a problem." And look, this is a stupid problem to have, but it is still a problem. I think that's well put. More restrooms, more public restrooms and maybe a sense of proportion.