A monitor lizard invaded a noodle shop in central Suphanburi province today, scaring all the customers who were eating there, but leaving the restaurant’s owner feeling like a blessed man.
Wiroj Jadpanin, 50, called rescue volunteers this morning after a two-meter-long monitor lizard quickly clawed its way inside his restaurant in Donkamyan subdistrict and decided to take a nap in the back of the kitchen under the sink.
Not knowing what to do, Wiroj — in a mild panic — said he simply took a video of the beast while he waited for the volunteers to arrive.
Sanook reported that the beast was peaceful, even as volunteers hooked it with a red rope, but when they tried to tug the lizard from its hiding place, the creature began to freak out and tried to hit volunteers with its tail.
In the end, the monitor lizard lost and was escorted out of the restaurant to a waiting pickup truck. It was ultimately released back into the wild.
Wiroj said that he never encountered a monitor lizard in the three years he’s been running the restaurant. What’s more, he said he considers this event a blessing and believes the monitor lizard will draw more money to his biz.
Despite its unpleasant appearance, a monitor lizard is generally considered a good luck charm (a very ugly one, we might add) in Thai culture. The scaly creature is often called by its nickname “tua ngern tua tong,” which translates to “the animal of money and gold.”
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