BANGKOK (AFP) -- They have been boiled, fed to ducks, even attached to hot air balloons and cast into the night sky -- when it comes to permanently depriving a cheating lover of a recently severed penis, the imagination of the wronged Thai woman knows few bounds.

Thailand has become the world centre of penis reattachment surgery, but then it has been forced to be. While not unique to the kingdom, penis severing has been honed here to its most devastating effect through a heady mixture of routine infidelity, assertive womanhood and a national cuisine that lends itself to a kitchen full of sharp knives. [...]

The latest case was reported Tuesday when a 29-year-old farmer in northeastern Thailand was admitted to hospital for surgery with a severed penis, claiming that his wife kicked him. The couple had fought, she then denied his requests for sex and kicked him when he complained, according to his account to doctors. Such were the length of her toe nails, she severed his penis.