5 Thai Horror Stories to be Aware of Before You Visit Thailand
Everyone talks about the great times in Thailand, rarely the Thai horror stories though. Like most ocean paradises, there are undercurrents. There are more than a few Thailand horror stories floating around. Below are some of the common scams.
If you aren’t careful these currents can bring you out to sea. Sadly, no one can help you at that point. These are 5 all too common nightmares that happen. These horror stories happen to more tourists than you think in Thailand. I like to tell it like it. Below I share with you 5 horror stories I’ve heard of all too often.
Table of Contents
Behold: Top 5 Thailand Horror Stories
1) Full Moon Party
Tourists from around the world hit the beach and there are drugs everywhere to be sold. A large portion of the “sellers” on the beach asking you if you want everything and anything are actually police or work for the police. They can earn X for selling you narcotics or way more if they catch someone and get a portion of the bribe money. This can be a real Thai horror story in a hurry.
That’s just the ones working, some are just straight up cops. Every full moon party, while people are partying on the beach… There are others who are just starting their incarceration in a penal system that “is not like home”. A friend of mine has seen a guy getting busted at the party we were at on November 2nd, 2009.
2) Bangkok Street Walkers aka Prostitutes
Many tourists come to Bangkok for the “Thai Ladies”. There are countless bars that are overflowing with them. Ever wonder why some women choose to work the streets? Met a gent in Hoi An, Vietnam who owns property near Khao San. These ladies are around late at night and come on to intoxicated tourists. You’ll find yourself in a hole deeper than Mel’s Hole and that’s for real.
The long and short is they drug you in some clever way and you wake up days later in an apartment or hotel, usually found by a maid insanely dehydrated and without anything of value. The gent said “they’d take your head if it wasn’t attached”. He also said you’ll never really hear about these stories because they are just too embarrassing to tell. There is a term he uses for them that I won’t share here.
3) Narcotics in Major Cities
This could happen anywhere but is more common in major cities. Buying drugs in Thailand is usually not a good idea, obviously. Someone offers to sell you something, then ironically within 2 minutes the police comb the street and of course search you. You go through h3ll and have to make a large payment usually $500-$1000US to the police to avoid the “Bangkok Hilton. If you can’t pay, you’re screwed. Its typically not even a narcotic to begin with. This is one of the major Thai horror stories, unthinkable the suffering.
4) Casual Thai Girlfriends
I have heard countless stories of people who “meet a nice Thai girl”, usually at a bar and they usually speak very good English. Know gents who have moved in with these ladies only to move out and have it turn out that the condo is in her name, giving her claim to deposit. The bike they thought they bought is in her name. Also they will want to go shopping, all the time but always show up in the same outfit saving it for “something” special.
They will insist you shop at expensive department stores where they get receipts… Same for cell phones, no that 5000 baht one isn’t good enough, need the 30,000 one. The next day it of course gets stolen. Most nice Thai girls I’ve met are rather shy, would never come onto you in a bar and don’t speak much English, we’re in Thailand remember.
Met several gents who have lost ~$1-12,000US over a period of a few months.
5) Night Buses
You hear the horror stories of people being robbed blind. I had never heard any first hand. A friend of mine from Vietnam was on a bus that she booked on Khao San Road en route to Chiang Mai. She woke up and noticed something was off with her purse. Her boyfriend noticed his bag was rezipped in a way he would never do it. Side note, Chiang Mai is a great place to live, you should visit.
They looked and found the ladies wallet inside the bag, not her purse. It was missing $450us. She made a huge deal saying her father was a diplomat and managed to reclaim the money. Most other tourists grabbed their bags, jumped in a tuk tuk most likely to find out later.
Don’t think it can happen to you? Be careful.
I’ve been to a full moon party, had those narcs offer me stuff. I’ve been walking in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and had same offers as well as from random “women”.. Watch your back here people. It’s fun, it’s cheap and you can have the time of your life. Just remember where there are tones of fish having fun, there are always sharks looking for a meal.
Tips hat,
Nice post Rob! Every young tourist coming to Thailand should be forced to this before they come.
Indeed, good sir.
Guys, you have summed it up perfectly and it is a pity every embassy did not issue these comments to every tourist before they enter Thailand or any other exotic location. That said, it is difficult to warn the uninitiated.
I personally met a very wonderful Thai woman and have been with her for some years now. I didn’t go out to find her or meet anyone, it just happened. We have common interests and this girl actually worked physically on her family’s farm and whilst they are not rich, they are what we term as ‘middle class.’ Her English was far from excellent and my command of Thai language was quite good, so we were compatible. This woman never demanded money nor came up with the worn out ‘rubbish’ I have heard about abject poverty, family illness or the like.
The warning signs I would advise foreigners to look for are these:
(i). The person comes from the province of Isaan and this speaks volumes about the person. Firstly, Isaan speak a peculiar dialect aligned to Laotian. Linguistically this is not Thai and genetically they are NOT THAI as historically they consist of a mixed population of original Thai with migratory Southern Chinese, Vietnamese and a heavy influence of Loas people. So if the woman comes from Isaan turn on the ‘alarm bells.’
(ii). The woman is lazy and spends too much time doing her nails, putting on make up or the like.
(iii). The woman speaks English very well. This indicates that she is a bar girl unless she has a good job that requires English. Check that out.
(iv). She spends too much time on her telephone.
(v). She does not like you learning Thai or tries to dissuade you from learning her provincial dialect. Start learning some Thai words and see if her response is positive or negative. A true scammer will do anything to keep you in the ‘dark.’
(vi). Meet her family and if they are all essentially unemployed, forget it. Take the attitude that there are losers the World over and you don’t need to support Thailand’s Social Security.
(vii). The woman tries to dictate times when a person can visit, phone etc.
I have read the comments about women who try and take their family on holidays at the boyfriend’s expense. Forget anyone like that because it is abnormal for someone who is ‘in love’ to want family disrupting the ‘love nest,’ totally abnormal whether it be England, America, Vietnam or even Thailand. Also, if the woman only can take calls at certain times when you are away, ‘rubbish.’ What harm can a 5 minute call do?, none if she is not at a bar or with someone else. Get real people! Anyone who says it is a problem is a liar. I never have issues like “don’t call” or call at certain times. The guys who have those restrictions are associated with tricksters.
So what to do? Either just enjoy your holidays and leave it at that but if you want more or ‘things get serious.’ Invest a few dollars in both an English Thai Dictionary and also buy a Phrase Book. That $20 or $30 you spend will be quite a cheap investment. Above all, look for a woman who is not always done up to the nines and is natural. If she comes from a decent family, they don’t want her done up like a prostitute. Get the idea.
If you’ve taken this all in, now the downside. A good family in any Country does not want the future son-in -law hanging around bars nor do they want him to sit around like a lazy drunkard. They will want to know that you can work, especially rural people. I had the advantage of growing up on a farm but if you are not rural then do some work, carpentry whatever. If the other half tries to tell you that farang don’t do this, again rubbish. A woman who wants a future will want someone who can make a home and she will want you to act like a man, not an ATM.
Her family will inquire and she will inquire of your intentions and believe me, if you start ‘fooling around’ with a non-bar girl, the Thai Royal Police may come visiting if your intentions are not sincere and you have mislead her. Thai Society is very structured and hierarchial once away from the bar scene. Actually the better class of Thais I associate with will not even be seen on the same Street as an establishment like the Soi Cowboy. So be warned.
Apart from all that, enjoy your holiday or your new life, whatever.
Cheers,
Howard.
You summed it up great Rob! I think a lot of farangs really need educating before they step one foot in Thailand. What seems to cause the most problems between English speaking guys and Thai women are as follows…
1.Too many blokes are looking to pick up girls and some are serious dudes that pick on Thai bar girls. They believe that these women will make good parteners – but bar girls are just pa 4 plays!
2.They see the warning signs and ignore them. The silly buffalo stories and the grandmother that has died ten times this year – but they still hand over the cash.
3.They believe that they are the only ones. Most Thai bar girls are married or have boyfriends.
Many guys try their hands at romancing these women when they should be avoiding them. And there is no exscuse for being naive!!!
There are lots of very good ebooks on the market that deal with all things Thailand – especially romantic phrase ebooks that can be bought cheaply and save a lot of hassle.
Anyways that’s my ten cents worth Rob. Keep the great posts coming!
Thanks for the kind words my friend and good tips!