Why planes leaving Thailand weigh so much less
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It could be the perfect advertisement for the Tourism Authority of Thailand! An Englishman shed so much weight while training at a boxing camp in Phuket for a year that he got stopped at the airport while trying to fly back home. He looked completely diff
Britain’s Daily Mirror reports that 33-year-old Ross Connor from Peterborough underwent an ordeal by questioning at Phuket airport. (“Who are you and what have you done with Ross Connor?” we imagine). The Mirror is immensely popular because you really only need to read the headlines. This one said, “Obese man lost so much weight in Thailand border guards refused to believe he was same person”. Metro, a London free-sheet paper, was just as helpful: “Fat boxer who shed 8 stone at Thai training camp DETAINED at airport because he was unrecognisable”.
Connor told the Mirror that he realised he’d lost a lot of weight but never expected to be stopped from getting on the plane. He’d spent £6,000 (Bt330,000) in Phuket over the year, mostly on the muay thai training, which he specifically undertook because he knew he was getting dreadfully chubby. He started lessons in March last year and spent four hours a day sweating out the kicks and the elbows. The result was that 50.8 kilograms melted away and he “looked like a new man”. That’s what made Immigration suspicious, of course.
“When they showed me the picture of me taken on arrival even I had trouble recognising myself,” Connor told the Mirror. He looked at the photo, then looked down at his body, then looked at the photo again, and was even more anxious to get back home for some industrious showing-off. Luckily he had on his iPod a slew of pictures taken over the course of his training that showed his shape steadily changing, and was finally sent on his way.
The story’s gone round the world a few times already and Connor’s Twitter account (@Rossconnor1981) has been flooded with congratulatory messages and forwarded newspaper articles about him. Even Norway’s national broadcaster had a chortle, prompting @BjornKjelstadli to tweet, “You gained some fame in Norway today!” From @rawfoodbliss came, “Awesome story, Love this!”
So, what we have here is a promotional pitch ideally suited to the needs of the Tourism Authority or any muay thai association. No foreign celebrities demanding hefty fees, not even Tony Jaa – we can get this Connor guy’s before and after shots and tourist traffic will quadruple in size (even as the tourists themselves shrink).
