Travel Talk

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.

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,

Leave a Reply