Thailand Travel Tragedies

[sunsetter]

^ its just a ridiculous thing to do,no sense whatsover, i cant find the contact us button on the site, but when i get round to it i will join up and spam the place like a forward bombardier with stories about how i was horrorfied all over thailand

[genghis61]

^ I'm with you. For starters:
one of the worst tragedies I've had here was about 2yrs ago in Phuket Town, an uneven paving stone, ripped much of the nail off my big toe. Blood! Almost bled to death. Hot day of course, sweating it out in pain, flipflop now glued to underside of my foot with dried blood.
Get to the place I was heading for and of course it was a shoes-off cafe. Still bleeding, hopped across to my friends at their table leaving a lovely little trail. They could only laugh. No one cared. Tragic.
Really, much worse than it sounds. I believe uneven pavers deserve more attention than they get. People need to be aware of these risks.

[Periphiral Vision]

I once cut my foot on some razor sharpe Coral in the Andaman sea. Was also pissing through my arse after eating chicken at a late night service station somewhere between Chumporn and Bangkok.
Havent managed to get myself killed yet though, thats up to the higher powers.

[alwarner]

A certain chap from the Stoke area can testify to the near severing of ones foot in an *ahem* drink related accident a few years back.

[sunsetter]

^ not even half way through ya poove

[alwarner]

lol

*walks it off*

I drunkenly tried to escape from the hospital....3 times. 3rd time unlucky, twisted my ankle and burst all the stitches, including the ones inside. 100 stitches in total and a permanently 1/2 dead foot. Oh and nearly 20,000b lighter. <skint smiley>

[Lorenzo]

This website has been set up to list all occurrences of fatalities or serious illness contracted while visiting Thailand.

Plenty of material for sure. Wonder if a 60 year old getting his head bashed in by half a dozen Thai teenagers will count.

I wish them well.

[somtamslap]

I drunkenly tried to escape from the hospital....3 times

Last seen frantically wheeling himself in the direction of Lamai...from fucking Chaweng..gotta go down as a classic!!

[sabang]

'Thailand travel tragedies' do not concern me much at all. Cover-ups do.

[donald36]

The value of the life of any tourist arriving here is the same as a Thai almost nothing --The cover ups are to avoid having to do anything regarding tourist safety --we are all grown up and can decide what risks to take but Thailand ably assisted by the various embassies is successful in concealing just how dangerous things are
EG road safety --almost non existant when you see minibuses crammed with tourists and no seat belts flat out in the fast lane driven by some teenager who often has not slept in 24 hours
Speedboats too and from the islands -personal experience of one that was so overloaded --the driver/captain could not see forward --he phoned the owner before loading the last 15 people and was told to do it anyway
Fire safety --just dont go near nightclubs they are deathtraps,
Alcazzar ,the world class ladyboy show in Pattaya first fills all its seats up and then lines up loose stacking chairs in not only the central isle but down both sides-its incredible-an absolute death trap

Tourists think that the standards here are the same as Europe --if there was more publicity and it affected tourist numbers the Thais would start to put their house in order ,residents take their own chances because they should know the score,the Embassies are complicit in this organised mayhem

[alwarner]

I drunkenly tried to escape from the hospital....3 times

Last seen frantically wheeling himself in the direction of Lamai...from fucking Chaweng..gotta go down as a classic!!

Jack Bauer Lite.

[sunsetter]

nice one, care to elaborate?

[alwarner]

nice one, care to elaborate?

Moi? Or the lad above?

[IceSpike]

The Con:
This scam is often pulled on tourists, and involves authorities accusing people of committing a crime. The victim is then held for the offense until a large sum of money is paid as 'bail'. Fake CCTV footage is sometimes used to provide further 'evidence' of the crime. It is sometimes known as the Thai Zig Zag scam, as it has been frequently reported in Bangkok.
How to avoid it:
As this scam can be perpetrated by the authorities, it is difficult to prepare for. If you’re a tourist, it is best to make sure you’re accompanied by a trusted guide, to ensure that any danger spots are avoided.

[sunsetter]

you mate

[hillbilly]

The Con:
This scam is often pulled on tourists, and involves authorities accusing people of committing a crime. The victim is then held for the offense until a large sum of money is paid as 'bail'. Fake CCTV footage is sometimes used to provide further 'evidence' of the crime. It is sometimes known as the Thai Zig Zag scam, as it has been frequently reported in Bangkok.
How to avoid it:
As this scam can be perpetrated by the authorities, it is difficult to prepare for. If you’re a tourist, it is best to make sure you’re accompanied by a trusted guide, to ensure that any danger spots are avoided.

I really have no idea what this con is about.

[Ratchaburi]

The Con:
This scam is often pulled on tourists, and involves authorities accusing people of committing a crime. The victim is then held for the offense until a large sum of money is paid as 'bail'. Fake CCTV footage is sometimes used to provide further 'evidence' of the crime. It is sometimes known as the Thai Zig Zag scam, as it has been frequently reported in Bangkok.
How to avoid it:
As this scam can be perpetrated by the authorities, it is difficult to prepare for. If you’re a tourist, it is best to make sure you’re accompanied by a trusted guide, to ensure that any danger spots are avoided.

I really have no idea what this con is about.

I think the same HB I have been here for 7-8 year alone OK with the TGF
some times but most of the time by my self.
I have clocked 300,000 Klm in 5 year most of the time by my self.
I have only come a cross small scams.
Like buying a new tube for the scouter you have to stay to make sure they do use a new tube, as I have been dune 2 time already

[alwarner]

you mate

Ok, where to start?
Lets just say I've never been much a planner, and my critical analysis of situations tends to be "done tomorrow" and when i do it, it tends to be piss poor.
So much so that i wake up one day in 2003 and I've overstayed by 9 months.
I didn't try to hide the fact but, I'm proper in the shit:
Owe money out
Struggling to keep a roof over my head
Girlfriend Pregnant
No Visa
Not enough money to pay for said Visa / overstay.
Oops.
I can see things a lot clearer now, but looking back I was a disaster zone, a disaster of such proportions that the UN would think twice about giving me a hand. In fact, they'd probably have imposed sanctions.
It's at this low ebb that I meet Somtamslap and the erstwhile Withnallstoke as well as Mr. Moo and a whole host of Thai people I'll never be able to repay. The kindness they showed me is heartwrenching.
^More of that later, if anyones interested...
So one day I'm just sat at home shooting the shit with the Mrs. and singing badly to the baby ( I've fast forwarded a bit here) and I decide to pop out for a packet of fags, and who do i bump into? Yup, Withnallstoke.
"fancy a beer. Al?"
"skint mate"
"I'm in the chair"
"What are we doing talking about this then?"
I jumped on the back of his bike, and off we went.
Few beers later, and we head into Lamai.
Then we ended up ( so i'm told) in a bar doing shots called motherfuckers. At least that is what I hope they were called cause they certainly motherfucked me.
Next thing i remember; I come to in a hospital. This isn't right I thought.
I look down and I'm having this huge gash in my leg (ankle) sewn up.
"hhhhmmmm"
<realisation hits>
"fuuuuuuuuuuck"
No money to pay for the hospital, no visa in my passport. I'm deep in ths shit, so deep in fact it felt like i was drowning.
The Mrs. having my son Alex who is the apple of my eye and everything i now live for hadn't been (for reasons unknown) as big a wake up call as this. I'm done for, as soon as they find out i'm skint the police will come and that's me off to the local jail for a bit until I'm deported.
I'll never see my son again, at least not in the country of his birth. I've blown it.
I know what I'll do - "I'll fucking escape!"
Attempt 1: Crutches. "yeah mr security man, i'm just popping out for a cigarette" Security man catches up with me just as I get to the main road. "bai nai?" "errr...just looking for a telephone mate" Back to the hospital.
Attempt 2: Wheelchair - Got to the main road this time before they caught me. Security guy getting a bit tense. He's good at his job.
This is starting to get a bit Steve McQueen in the Great Escape, and I'd love to be able to tell you that i jumped the hospital walls on a Honda Wave, but actually attempt 3 didn't go down at all well.
Attempt 3: Crutches again - stick to what you know al. Got just out of the stoop of the hospital and the now enraged security guard shoves me in the chest "why you keep try to run away, you fucking stupid" i go backwards and there we go I've ripped all 40 stitches out of my foot. Got to be sewn back up.
Even though it's every POW's duty to try and escape, my foot is now mightily pissed off with me and I have started to sober up. I decide to see what the next day brings.
The next day:
I get presented with an itemised bill for nigh on 20,000 baht. Including and this remains clear to me 260baht for food. I didn't eat a bean in the place.
"yeah about the bill"
"can i pay next week, I'm er...yeah that's right i'm just waiting for a cheque to clear in my bank"
"no problem, we'll drive you home, and you can give us your passport and just bring the money in next week"
"OK"
and that was it. they didn't check my passport and the next week i got some money together and paid them. They couldn't have been cooler. Scary time though, and it did bring me back to reality and a couple of months later i went home, paid for my overstay - which is another story in itself and away i went.

[DJ Pat]

^Would like to read more. I thought I was the only one who got into such adventures.

In 2008 whilst drunk, I slipped in the rain and crashed to the ground breaking the bottles in the bag I was carrying. Sliced fingers on left hand and big open gash in the palm of my hand too.

I try and put pressure on the hand but it's bleeding like a tap. Thai friend and security put me back in a pick up to Lat Prao hospital.

I got no cash though. It's not much, about 400 Baht. They stitched me up well.

My Thai mate shouts at the staff that life takes priority over cash, and uses the word 'muthafucka' quite often.

They told us to go. No security called, anyting. Doctor shrugs at me and says in english ''only took us ten minutes anyway''..

Lost nerves / feeling in my left index finger still to this day.

[genghis61]

latest TRAGEDIES on the website

Scooter scams. Renters beware! 4/26/2011
It's simple really: rent a scooter, bring back a few days later, operator notices a "new" scratch or dent, refuses to give back your passport until you pay a fine = instant win:lose situation (they win:you lose)

Jet Skis and Insurance 4/21/2011
links to a thread on that other forum
Don't rent jet skis in Phuket .

No help available 4/27/2011
I was a witness to a serious accident involving an elderly Australian. On attempting to assist the man I was confronted by so called...tourist Police who were only interested in getting money from me. The man sadly passed away from his broken leg & hip, and to this day my 15,000 baht has never been compenstated.

Buy Your Water from a Supermarket 4/26/2011
Don't drink the 'sealed' water the hotel supplies for free.


oooooh jetskis and scooters, police and bottled water . . . .scary

The website itself has become, imho, 'tragic'

[the dogcatcher]

Aarrrrhhhh, fucking did dums.

[hillbilly]

Personally, I think the website was setup because a father was angry as I would be. It is true that Thailand can be ignorant at times; but the same could be said for where I grew up in the states.

I hope the father comes to a resolution with this situation.

[genghis61]

I hope the father comes to a resolution with this situation.

I think he's losing it - this from NZPA today - quote from Richard Carter

"The Thais are very good at sending off Western drug traffickers to the gallows, so this will be the test of how serious they are when it comes to looking at criminal negligence involving their own people and will really show the world whether there's one standard for everyone or whether there are two different standards - one for Westerners and one for their own people."

um . . . Singapore/Malaysia . . . not Thailand.

No gallows here - was by auto gunfire since 1934; only two executions since 2003 and both Thai men, by lethal injection.
Thailand has never executed a 'westerner' on drug offences - other Asians yes, but no 'westerner'.

[DJ Pat]

Smeg would have a few sentences to add on this thread.

[genghis61]

^ he's not Jesse Smeg is he?

latest theory on the Tragedy site

10 May 2011
Jesse said
I wonder if the parents ever look into supernatural angle. Even the hotel owner had to invite monks to perform religious ceremony to ward off bad spirits. Chiangmai is a city of the very old kingdom and back then there were lots of black magic being performed everywhere. Please dont laugh at this, but i would also look into this angle too !