A Thai monk may need some extra meditation sessions after a video was posted to YouTube of him slapping an English teacher for offering his seat to two women on a train.
The video was taken by a fellow passenger sitting across the aisle from the man, who is identified in a Facebook post only as Jeff, who speaks with what sounds like an Australian accent.
It shows the monk standing next to Jeff, who is seated, and slapping him hard across the left cheek. He says something angrily in Thai, but there is no translation.
All the while, Jeff remains in his seat.
A police officer then comes over, and Jeff tells him that the monk slapped him three times. More words are exchanged before the officer asks the monk to go elsewhere on the train.
The video was posted last Friday and had nearly half a million views by Tuesday.
The next day, Facebook user Noojeab Kuntao posted a brief clip of Jeff addressing the incident. He answers questions from an off-camera woman, who speaks in Thai and in halting English, whom Jeff identifies as his wife.
“Thailand is Thailand, I love living in Thailand,” Jeff says, appearing calm and unwilling to make a big deal of the incident.
He notes that he has received widespread support from Internet users who have seen the YouTube clip.
“I appreciate it,” he said. “Everything is okay. Thank you.”
Some media reports have suggested that the monk took exception to Jeff sitting next to him, to which Jeff said, “Fine, fine.” The monk may have misinterpreted that for “Kwai, Kwai,” an offensive Thai slang that means buffalo. However, Jeff did not mention this in his video explaining what happened.
