When pictures of a large group of Asian tourists frolicking naked at night on the sands of a Hua Hin beach hit the Internet earlier this month, locals seem to have jumped to the quick conclusion that the “immoral” tourists must be from China.
A Thai Twitter user @KomsakAddams first brought the incident to the judgmental light of day by posting the photos on his page:
In a message that was retweeted more than 12,000 times, he wrote: “I was having a meal with friends at a seaside restaurant when all of sudden dozens of a Chinese male group tour stripped naked. Do you think I can eat anything now?”
กำลังกินข้าวกับเพื่อนที่ห้องอาหารริมทะเล จู่ๆทัวร์จีนเพศชายหลายสิบชีวิตก็เปลื้องผ้า คิดว่าเจริญอาหารไหมล่ะ /วางช้อน pic.twitter.com/J25lesRtYj
— คมศักดิ์ แอดดัมส์ (@KomsakAddams) March 5, 2016
However, following a careful police investigation, Komsak’s accusation has proved false, the 20 to 30 men that ruined his dinner were in fact from Japan instead, Khaosod English reports.
After Thai news corrected initial online reports, Komsak took once again to Twitter, this time to apologize for hurting the feelings of the Chinese people: “I would like to apologize to China for accusing your tourists of stripping on Hua Hin Beach Saturday.”
Apology accepted?
In jumping to his conclusion, Komsak was likely influenced by stereotypes of unruly Chinese tourists reinforced by regular reports of mainland tourists behaving badly across the world, and particularly in his home country.
Just in the past year, Chinese tourists have been spotted in Thailand, washing their feet in sinks, sticking diamonds up their butts, bungee jumping naked, peeing in public, singing the Chinese national anthem, stealing luggage, getting bitten by pythons, washing their feet in sinks again and getting ranted at by angry Thai celebs.
Additionally, last year, Chinese tourists in Malaysia got in a bit of trouble for taking some nude pics on a beach, which locals worried might cause a devastating earthquake.
However, it now appears that China may not have a monopoly on misbehaving tourists after all. Surprise, surprise.
[Images via Twitter]
