NightOwl888

We were burglared 2 years ago on Samui in a small compound with just 7 houses and only 2 occupied (1 manager and 1 occupied by us). My wife has a laptop and a Swedish friend of ours, staying at our place the same time said:

either hide it very high up or very low down.

We did.

They didn't find/see it.

LaoPo

Ahh...security through obscurity. Maybe you were just lucky though. Keeping it locked up is still better.

Can somebody post a link to the news story please?

Those Kensington cable lock sets are flimsy and useless IMO.

It takes only a few pounds of troque to rip it off the laptop I think.

Not much of a deterrent.

Right. This is more of a thing to keep honest people honest.

However, putting it in the safe EVERY time you leave the house is prone to human error, so I was thinking about always attaching the laptop to a solid desk or the wall or something when I am using it. That way if I ever forget I left it out of the safe it won't be totally unprotected.

OK, I lived in Jomtien for 3 1/2 years in View Talay 2 and never had a problem with thieves. I put an extra good lock on the door (mortace) and had a safe in the condo. Didn't have a laptop but had significant cash and a $1000+ PC. ots of other electrical stuff and some jewellery. Normal things for a couple living together.

Now you could buy a XYZ kg safe from Carrefour and the like but the overall security of the building is more important. Nowhere is perfect because the security cannot stop everything. The point is to be less of a target than other people.

Have you thought about an alarm on the condo ? Easy to install and what about colour CCTV ? Perhaps a small easy to remove safe in an easy to find place so they rob that and leave the main stuff behind.

At the end of the day I'd use reasonable security with insurance and intelligence. Choosing where to live is far more important.

Thanks for the info.

It isn't my intention to buy a place for now, just to rent. I intend to look for a place a few floors off of the ground level so window break-ins are (hopefully) not possible. I will definitely add an extra lock on the front door if the one it comes with isn't sufficient and replace the one it comes with.

Not sure if an alarm makes sense if I am renting, and same goes for CCTV. Hopefully I can find a rental that has one or both of these already.

By "choosing where to live", are you suggesting there are areas of Jomtien that are more prone to break-ins than others, or are you only suggesting I look for a building with reasonable measures of security already in place?

I don't know who I feel worse for, the horny sailors or the Pattaya business people.

Let's hope the PAD planned for the subsequent blow to the tourism economy they are causing (NOT). "State of Emergency" doesn't exactly help to sell plane tickets to Thailand. Now it even looks like the Navy will have to change their slogan to "Join the Navy, see the world" to "Join the Navy, see all of the world except Thailand".

It is strange that there is nothing of the "state of emergency" incident mentioned on the travel.state.gov website - seemingly, the most anti-travel website you could imagine.

What would this lady have done had the father of her baby been Thai - assuming he's not? And why should she expect anything different if the father is American - assuming he is?

I agree. Many of those very bar girls that were spoken of on this thread are working there because they have a baby that Grandpa and Grandma are babysitting at home while she is dancing around the pole. The father is usually Thai and the government doesn't have any provision for making the father pay.

This sounds to me like a situation that one should just stay clear of.

Wanting to help someone is always admirable, so the best advice you could give this girl is to hire a lawyer. If she doesn't have the funds to do that, she might try to find one that will consider taking on the case for a hefty portion of any cash settlement that is finally secured. I'm pretty sure that there are lawyers here who work with those terms, and if she talks to one who is typically willing work for a percentage of a settlement but won't take on her case, she's already learned that it's unlikely she's going to get very far going through proper legal channels.

thank you for your advice - but how a lawyer would act in this case?

contacting the us embassy?

You're welcome.

How a lawyer would go about persuing a case like this is a good question. I suspect that it's a very involved situation that would take a lot of cooperation between the Thai and US legal departments, not to mention the man involved. In my heart, I suspect that there's not much this girl can really do within the bounds of legal action. She may be better off trying to appeal to the man's sense of compassion and fairness by explaining that he's left her in a tough situation and sweetly ask that he make some sort of regular financial contribution to help both her and the child.

This is probably the best advice I have heard. I'd say her legal chances (assuming she can afford a lawyer) are slim to none. Things get really tricky when international borders are crossed and the laws are usually not written to govern such cases, making this a grey area. Even if she did win the case, there is little or no infrastructure in place to collect the money on his end and pay it on hers.

Her best bet is to try to appeal to the father. He is probably in denial because he doesn't want to pay a significant portion of his salary to pay for this child. He might not even realize how inexpensive it is to raise a child in Thailand compared to the US. If she sweetly appeals to him and explains how difficult the position she is now in is and if she doesn't get too greedy and ask him for too much, he might be willing to send her a regular payment. If that doesn't work, she might be able to explain to him that she will (most likely) be working as a bargirl from now on thanks to him. If he is not a total a**hole, the guilt might be too much for him.

Lets assume that he does admit the child is his (via paternity test) then who is going to garnish his wages or force him to transfer money abroad every month. Do you realise how many dead beat dads are in the US, whose ex-wives/gf's cant get them to pay? When all the parties in question are living in the US?

Actually, the only reason why some women can't get their baby's father to pay in the US is because the father feels so strongly about the issue that he is willing to buck the system and make money under the table. The law here is so strong that even if the mother doesn't want the payment, the state will pursue the father and send her a check. The only way to avoid the state collecting child support is to drop out of the system or quit working (and some do).

Sadly, there is little protecting men in the US from being defrauded by women that get pregnant on purpose or who lie about who the father is, and this might be what the father is specifically afraid of.

Hopefully, there are some Thai women reading this thread that can learn from this experience. It isn't wise to have the baby of someone who lives abroad. It is easy to abort the pregnancy in Thailand, and probably should be done in most cases when this happens. I am not sure whether giving a baby up for adoption is an option available in Thailand...anyone? Using a condom is sound advice.

What's up with those 2 or 3 year old Thai boys wearing a shirt and no pants or underwear? Not knocking the Thai, but there seems to be a mix up in priorities there.

There have been a few cases of people croaking in the middle of "the act" due to taking too much.

Earlier this year, a Canadian died upcountry in just such a case. He arrived, went on a date, took the woman home and popped a couple of viagra (maybe thinking it would get him up faster, or longer, or stronger, or all three) and then died in mid-act.

Ahh....what a way to go! I always find it mildly amusing when someone dies in an embarrassing predicament because I get these pictures in my head of the officials explaining to the family how the guy kicked off.

I tried viagra and really didn't think it did too much. In fact, if anything it only prolonged the act because there was less sensation. Not for me.

Still, it is a nice thing to have the Rx give you stuff on the spot that will actually cure your ailment whatever it is. I might have had to cut my trip short if it weren't for pharmacies and medical attention.

I think the OP has got a version of the same story I heard about vis-a-vis visa trips to cambodia.

Correct .Buses back to Pattaya from visa runs to Cambodia get stopped a couple of miles back from the border .They search especially for tobacco .People who are found to have too much are taken off the bus and taken away to where they have to pay a large fine .

Ahh....yet another reason why I shouldn't start smoking.

I love posts like this. This is the stuff urban legends are made of.

Did anybody mention this already ?

This system combines a stainless steel cable, motion sensor technology, and a 95dB alarm to create a combination locking alarm system that easily attaches to your notebook or carrying case in any setting.

http://www.targus.com/US/product_details.asp?sku=PA400U

LaoPo

No, that hasn't been mentioned yet. A good idea, since I was contemplating whether to get a rather ordinary looking backpack to carry the laptop in or get a breifcase type case, which will make its contents rather obvious. Using this in conjunction with the rather inconspicuous backpack might make sense.

I would like to hear from someone who has actually caught someone with their hand in the cookie jar using a device like this one, or whether this is just a waste of effort.

Thanks GungaDin for the guidance as well.

How about when you go to a beer bar and all of the girls you saw there a month ago have been replaced by younger ones? But who is complaining...

Where can we find the younger ones? They seem to hang on longer and longer. Some bars on 2nd road look like a geriatric home.

True they are hard to find. There are a few sweet spots, but you have to search for awhile. Some of those go-go places not directly on walking street but on the streets that connect to it are pretty good.

I always love it when I see one of the following:

A Thai lady in her early twenties walking down the street with a farang guy in a wheelchair who has an oxygen tank.

A Thai lady in her early twenties walking down the street with a farang boy of about age 13.

How about when you go to a beer bar and all of the girls you saw there a month ago have been replaced by younger ones? But who is complaining...

My Fiance is Laos so I need to go where she is permitted in one year we will move to the USA. I also went to Laos and was impressed how clean it is but living in Laos even though my soon to be wife is Laos is not an option as studying Thai is still a top priority.

An odd "top priority." Amazing how many foreigners, including Laos, survive knowing no Thai whatsoever. If your fiance is Lao, maybe you should switch to studying Lao. Anyway you can study Thai or English anywhere. Besides, you're moving to the USA in one year! The official language there is (cough) English.

Is this a troll thread?

If I understand correctly, the Thai lessons are for him and the English lessons are for his Lao fiance.

I speculate that learning Thai is probably just out of his personal interest, and although learning it in the US is possible, it is much easier to learn and then remember a foreign language if you are immersed in an environemnt where it is spoken frequently.

I bought a 100kg safe that is large enough to hold my

laptop when I leave for more than a few hours.

It cost 9000 baht and also holds other valuables like

passport, jewelry, important documents, etc.

The 100Kg means that it would take two guys to carry it

out and this is unlikely given our condo security.

I could have gone another step and bolted it to the

floor but did not.

No problems in 4 years now.

Staying in a cheap place to deflect suspicion is

foolish IMO. You do not want a $1000 laptop to

dictate your living standard.

Thank you for the suggestion. 9000 baht sounds very reasonable for this kind of protection, and I will definitely put "buy a safe" down on my to do list. FYI it will be at least a $2000 laptop.

Problem is with a Big Safe is the people you buy it off, then deliver it to your home, they KNOW you have some valuables that warrant having a safe.

Hence you may well become a target by having a safe.

It's Ok having a 100 Kg safe or a 300Kg safe, but if thieves can't open it or remove it, they may just wait for you to come home, and force YOU to open it, then of course that would leave an eye witness ' YOU '.

I could be wrong about this, but based on everything I have read about and experienced in Thailand the Thai are less likely to commit violent crimes like this than they are to commit crimes that cannot be traced back to them. Whether the exact number is 65 million to one is uncertain, but I personally believe it is quite low.

Thanks for your input though, I will take this into consideration.

hi ,

i got 1 of the 2mt plastic coated steel ropes that locks into the back of my laptop before i left the u.k only cost about 10 pounds you can secure it to most places out of the way with a loop thats on 1 end .

but i,ve also got a big nasty dod that helps also ... .

martyn.

Thanks for the tip on the steel rope.

I am uncertain what you mean by "big nasty dod" though....could you elaborate?

Thai tourists usually prefer to go to more developed countries than Thailand such as Singapore and the Chinese are much the same. They want to see something more advanced than they can see everyday in their own country - especially the wealthy classes.

They don't have to go too far to see advancement. Where is more advanced than Hong Kong?

Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul...but you are right, they are not very far. I just think that if time is not a big factor, neither is distance. When I was in Beijing it seemed that the locals had nothing but time...

My guess is that he promised to pay somebody back some money and instead didn't have it so he had to come up with a story.

That's just my guess because no way in hel_l could I fill a wallet with $7000 and if I did, you would not be able to pull that wallet from my pocket particularly if I was sitting down. That is impossible!!!!

How could that woman pull that big wallet out without the guy knowing what was happening.

Maybe it was that new $7000 bill...

Probably they meant 7000 baht equivalent in dollars, which ain't much at all!

I have to agree. 7000 baht = $200 US - this sounds much more likely.

I see wild pigs in Pattaya all the time. But they are not on the road, they are sitting on chairs on the beach under those umbrellas...

ok...they culprit admitted openly having shot the cat. He said this repeatedly in front of witnesses and the reason given was that the cat was on his compound and has knocked over flower pots in the past. I asked him whether he thinks that shooting the cat instead of informing the owner is the appropriate action and the answer was yes. Again, in front of witnesses.

More to come.

It's time to arm your cat with a crossbow.

I bought a 100kg safe that is large enough to hold my

laptop when I leave for more than a few hours.

It cost 9000 baht and also holds other valuables like

passport, jewelry, important documents, etc.

The 100Kg means that it would take two guys to carry it

out and this is unlikely given our condo security.

I could have gone another step and bolted it to the

floor but did not.

No problems in 4 years now.

Staying in a cheap place to deflect suspicion is

foolish IMO. You do not want a $1000 laptop to

dictate your living standard.

Thank you for the suggestion. 9000 baht sounds very reasonable for this kind of protection, and I will definitely put "buy a safe" down on my to do list. FYI it will be at least a $2000 laptop.

Actually, I disagree on all points.

I live in Los Angeles now, and here I feel that the lock on the door is enough to keep my valuables secure. In Thailand, I believe just a lock on the door is simply not enough

Simple solution, stay in L.A. where the crime rate is low.

People here try to give you advice, then you say you disagree cos you know best, so why the fawk are you asking in the first place?

And to cap it all off you state haven't had a laptop stolen in L.A. cos you don't have one !

Well guess what, nobody has ever stolen my Ferrari either, simple reason is, I don't have one.

Jeeeeeez.

I ask for advice about how to safely move my laptop about when I am in Thailand and all I get is a response that says I am not doing enough now. What kind of advice is this?

The fact of the matter is, I have never needed a laptop here. In Thailand I will need one. Why is this hard to understand?

The last time I was in Thailand I was robbed. The perp got all my electronic goods including 2 cell phones, my digital camera, all of my flash memory, quite a bit of cash, and several other items. I am just trying to find out what practical steps I can take to keep it from happening again (other than using more common sense than I did then).

Also, staying here in LA is not practical advice, as it would derail nearly 2 years of planning and preparation. I already know the crime rate is higher where I am going, I am just seeking practical advice to cope with it.

I am one of the (luckily) unaffected CM residents, but I would not advise anybody with a respiratory peoblem to stay here during the month of March. To help you make your own decision, here's a graph of 2000-2008 average pollution (solid particles) for some "popular farang locations":

Best of luck with your decision!

/ Priceless

Just my two cents on air quality in Phuket. Patong beach has sewer gas escaping from the street. While it didn't seem to affect most people, I was sick for 3 of the 5 days I stayed there and I know other people who got sick there too. That said, the air quality on Kata and Karon beaches was reletively good. I imagine the same will be for other parts of the island as they are not as developed.

Wasabi, just out of curiousity have you looked into moving to Pattaya or Jomtien? Lots of people that speak English, probably can find Thai classes (don't know for sure though), and internet speeds are good (although I have read they are subject to occasional outages). Both are right on the beach, Jomtien has less traffic and the air quality is probably slightly better.

Then again, Chiang Mai is a great place. Maybe you could hold your breath for a couple of months out of the year?

I will never understand putting subscription fees on materials that make all of their money through advertising.

And they have the nerve to raise the prices...

I feel more safe leaving my laptop at my condo in Chiangmai than in my condo in Copenhagen. These things can always get stolen if you are careless or simply unlucky. The real point is how you secure your data and how can you recover it with the least amount of stress.

Chiang Mai is a pretty small city and seemed to be a little safer when it comes to this sort of thing than Jomtien. It might just be my perception though and I could be wrong. To be honest, I would probably move to Chiang Mai if they had a beach!

Insurance!?

Good point. Actually I was thinking about doing another post about renter's insurance, but nearly forgot until you mentioned it. Funny, ThaiVisa has an ad that popped up at the top of this page offering specifically laptop insurance. Hmm....it looks like they don't cover the laptop during transit though....probably the most likely time anything would happen to it.

Do you have any experience with ThaiVisa insurance or another insurance company that you can recommend?

There is nothing special about securing your laptop in Thailand that you would not do anywhere else.

Do whatever you are currently doing...if that meets *your* requirements for peace of mind, it will be no different here.

I would submit that if you are thinking that you need to do something extraneous for security of your laptop here, then you are not doing enough there now.

Actually, I disagree on all points.

I live in Los Angeles now, and here I feel that the lock on the door is enough to keep my valuables secure. In Thailand, I believe just a lock on the door is simply not enough - there really needs to be some secondary measure to prevent someone from entry - a guard, secured entry into the building, or perhaps just living in an inconspicuous place.

Additionally, I don't have a cleaning staff here which is quite feasible for me to do in Thailand - I am just curious how wise it is to do considering my circumstances.

I don't currently own a laptop and that is how I have prevented this kind of theft up to this point. So I am definitely doing more now than I will be able to do in Thailand.

I feel more safe leaving my laptop at my condo in Chiangmai than in my condo in Copenhagen. These things can always get stolen if you are careless or simply unlucky. The real point is how you secure your data and how can you recover it with the least amount of stress.

While I am undoutedly going to back up the system, the expense of replacing the laptop itself is probably more worrysome than the actual data on it. Coming home one day to find that I have to cough up 80,000 baht for a new laptop is not a very appealing prospect.

I searched and was surprised to find that the only related thread on this forum is as follows: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Laptop-Security-t49550.html. Although someone mentioned there is another thread somewhere else, I couldn't find it.

I am planning on living and working in Thailand for 1 year (provided Thailand doesn't have a civil war or something before I go). I plan to live in an apartment in Jomtien or South Pattaya. I will be bringing a laptop with me and using it to work remotely doing web development for a company in the US. Being that I will require a reletively expensive laptop to do my work, I have been to Thailand before and was not particularly impressed with security, yet have witnessed several people there staying at budget hotels who had their laptops with them, a few questions regarding security come to mind. Obviously, securing your valuables in Thailand or anywhere requires a bit of common sense, but there are several situations in Thailand that seem like they could pose a particular problem. I would especially like to hear from people living in Thailand (in an apartment or condo) who have their laptop computer with them.

Some questions that come to mind:

1. What type of apartment do you live in? Is it better to live in a really cheap place to throw suspicion off of you that you can even afford a computer, or to get a mid range place that has CCTV, controlled access, security guard, etc?
   
2. When you leave your apartment, what do you do with your laptop? Does it stay on your desk, do you have it cabled to your desk, do you hide it, do you lock it in a safe, or do you take it with you?
   
3. When you travel somewhere (Chaing Mai or perhaps to Koh Chang for the weekend), do you leave your laptop at home or bring it with you?
   
4. Do you live in a "serviced apartment" or otherwise have a staff that enters your room? If so, what do you do with your laptop when you are not around but you know the cleaning staff is going to come?
   
5. Do you bring Thai into your apartment that you don't know (i.e. bargirls)? If so, what do you do with your laptop then?
   
6. When you travel with your laptop, do you stay in budget hotels? If you can lock you hotel room from the outside with your own lock, is it better to leave your laptop in your hotel room (thus not alerting anyone you have it) or to hand it to the hotel staff to put in their lockbox? Or do you just pay for more expensive hotels so as not to worry?
   
7. Is it worth it to buy a cable lock for your laptop?
   

While I plan to make backups and keep my important files on a server here in the US, I would prefer if the laptop didn't disappear while I am there. I know that to some it may sound like I am being paranoid, but losing my laptop basically means losing my income until I can replace it and laptops have a tendency to vanish worldwide if you are not careful.

Thanks in advance for the advice.