Two days ago, Nalin came in the house and told me while she was playing out in front of our house, that a Thai man in a truck told her to get into the truck. She said that she grabbed her toys and her sister, and ran into the house.
Needless to say, it gave me a bit of a scare. I'm not one prone to believe in the child predator roaming the neighborhoods of America (or Thailand). This wasn't a second or third hand story though. This was from my daughter.
So I call Tim and walk with the girls to the guard at the entrance of our complex. I wanted Tim to explain to the guard what happened. As we approached the guard station, Nalin points to a man talking to the guard and says he was the culprit (my word not hers). He started waving and smiling at them. I mentioned that fact to Tim, and gave the guard my phone. Tim, however, thought that I had given it to the driver and asked him about his conversation with the girls. There was general confusion at that point.
When Tim returned from work, she talked to the guard and by that time, I had gotten a little more of the story from Nalin. It turns out that the stranger was actually the driver for my neighbor across the street. The driver and his wife have worked for the neighbor for many years and live there. Nalin later told me that he was actually walking towards the neighbors house when he spoke to her.
I don't believe that the guy was trying to abduct the kids. I'm not sure if he was telling someone else to get in the car, if Nalin misunderstood him, or he was trying to make some sort of joke. It just doesn't add up to an abduction. He wasn't trying to grab her, and wasn't even in the car when he allegedly said to get in. There are a lot of people playing and walking about, so it would be a huge risk to try to take someone in broad daylight. Doing it on front of your own house where you will be easiy recognized would require a monumental leap of stupidity.
Although she was never really in any danger, I let Nalin know that she did the right thing in getting herself and her sister to safety. I told her that next time she should leave her toys behind and just worry about getting to safety. I also let her know that it is a good idea to yell her head off at that point. She didn't seem to mind that suggestion too much.
1 comment:
I know you'll take this very seriously... but, please don't think it's all just a misunderstanding. Probably is? The market for kids, especially foreign kids - must be astronomically high. That driver - that probably makes less than 5,000b a month driving could make a couple hundred thousand baht with one of your kids. And, Thai criminals ARE that stupid to do it in daylight in front of your house. Drugs or debt makes Thais do amazing things. Read the Pattaya City News online and see daily what whacky things are happening there. It's the highest rate of craziness in the nation - but, representative of what goes on in Bangkok and the rest of the country. In 2005 I saw a 12 yr old being pimped out on Beach Road in Pattaya. She was from africa I'm guessing. Please be really, really careful.
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