The Thai lady that made headlines yesterday after a clip of her trespassing in an American National Park on July 27 went viral gave a phone interview with Thai Channel 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kA-sQAIHks
The woman, identified as Anna Orawan, defended her behavior in the video, in which she refuses to leave the protected thermal area at Yellowstone National Park, poses for pictures, smiles, and announces that she’s from Thailand, even as the tour guide taking the video tells her the area is protected and she should leave, reported The Nation.
In yesterday’s interview, she said, “No, I didn’t violate any rules. Had I broken a rule, I would have received a warning from park officials.”
However, she contradicted herself when she admitted that there was a sign and she had seen it. In fact, she used the interesting logic that she thought the area must not be very dangerous since the sign was small.
“Had it been dangerous, there would have been a big sign or fence to prevent tourists from going into the area.”
Ummm, most people don’t want to see a giant fence in the middle of a national park.
In fact, the area is dangerous, people have died after falling into the extremely hot thermal pools in the protected area.
And people have been heavily fined for trespassing in the area as well. In 2016, a Canadian trespassed in area and was fined USD3,500 (THB116,515) while two more people spent a week in jailed and paid fines of USD2,000 (THB66,580) each for using a drone, bicycle, and doing commercial photography in the protected area.
The woman got much backlash online, with some Thais saying that she was an embarrassment and that she is part of the reason it’s hard for Thais to get visas to visit the U.S.
The woman claimed she was not arrested or fined.
Verneita Boonlom says
She is no different from many who have learned that this is what should be done. Rules are for others (not me) and if i get around a rule, i will be called ‘clever’ (unless i get caught. . .then i must give every reason why it isnt my fault).