osten

Why a private hospital doesn't provide non-emergency care to patients isn't the question. It should be why didn't they arrange for transport to a government hospital? That and what is that blue crap on the floor.

This was my immediate thought too...why not a gov't hospital? Seems like hidden agenda with this scenario...as for the blue stuff....

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Reading half these responses, anyone would think it's just not safe to go out with more than 100 baht in your pocket and that just isn't true.

As the OP said, wrong place, wrong time. Could've happened anywhere.

Personally, there's no f***ing way I'd've given up my shit like that but I can understand why an older guy might've been inclined to do so.

Just dont forget the demographics here most guys are old and out of shape. But i am in shape and younger... but i wont argue much against someone with a knife.

For what it"s worth, i was 38 when it happened and i am not overweight. I just didn't see the point of being a hero against FOUR guys with at least 1 of them showing a knife....risk my life as a family man...to save my laptop, smartphone, ring, and some cash?

I don't regret for a second the way i handled the situation. Furthermore, for those who think i was flaunting and such, I wasn't walking around with valuables at that time of night...i was at my private club for 6 hours before that and merely walking the 100 meters to Suk to catch cab...the error in judgment was stopping along the way for a few minutes. Lesson well learned.

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When you were in that private club, i'd guess somebody called out and told these guys you were coming. I could be wrong of course. Were you using all of your goodies in the club? Stopping and texting perhaps had nothing to do with it all, that may have just been incidental (ie they maybe would have got you at some point anyway).

Highly unlikely. First of all, it's probably not the kind of place you are thinking of. But moreover, if someone was waiting, they would have needed to show up within the 2 minutes it takes to walk to Suk. The perps did not arrive until about 10 minutes later...but I guess I will never know for sure.

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I was mugged today on Sukhumvit.

I was walking from Sukhumvit 22 soi 2, trying to get to Sukhumvit 16 (as the two are connected by side streets) at 6.10am, when I motorcycle cam up behind me and the guy ripped my cross-body bag from me. It was daylight, I was wearing tatty-looking clothes and shoes (my shirt even has a hole in the arm), no jewellery or accessories or anything valuable on display. The bag was small and cheap-looking. I chased him down the street shouting as loud as I could and several people nearby followed him on their motorbikes, but couldn't catch him.

I ran back to my hotel and they phoned the police. After an hour and a half of waiting for the police to turn up, they called again and this time the police said I had to go to the police station. I took a taxi to Thong Lo police station (luckily I still had some money in my hotel room, as nobody was helping me). The police didn't seem like they were expecting me or anything. I tried to explain what happened to one police officer. He wanted me to name the soi I was on - I explained I didn't know the name (I had never been in the area before and it was a network of sois) but that I could point to it on a map or show them exactly where it happened in real life. I said this several times while I was there and kept asking for a map, trying to mime a map but they weren't interested. I tried to sketch a map of the area as best I could. I also explained that there were a lot of witnesses, some of whom chased the guy, and could provide a description of him and of the bike, perhaps even the licence plate, and where he went. Again they weren't interested.

They sent me to another police officer who hadn't even been in the room when I explained what happened. This one wrote for a while in a book and then pushed the book towards me for me to sign. I had no idea what the statement said and none of them could tell me. They just ignored me when I explained this and went back to doing other things. Eventually I persuaded one of them to call the tourist police (the '1155' number doesn't work from my mobile or from a payphone) who told me to just sign it. When I showed it to the manager of my hotel later, she told me it said that I didn't know the type of motorcycle or the colour - they never even asked me about the motorcycle, or any questions about the man at all.

I asked the tourist police to convey to a police officer that I could show them on a map where it happened, that there were witnesses and that the same thing had happened to a Thai woman in the same area last week (my hotel manager told me this). The police officer took me to another building where he spoke to a detective for a few seconds but the detective seemed annoyed and sent him away. I was then taken to another room where another conversation happened in Thai and both police officers laughed together for a while. I have no idea what they were saying. I gave them my phone number and address - they told me to wait at my hotel and someone would call me. No-one has.

I need to contact the tourist police but the '1155' number doesn't work from a payphone or mobile, the hotel cannot get me an outside line for some reason, and all the other numbers I have found on the internet for contacting them are 'incorrect' when I call them.

I think the experience with the police was probably more stressful and traumatic than the robbery itself. I called them straight away when it happened and with all the witnesses and the CCTV footage from the hotels and condos which make up the area they had a decent chance of catching him. They couldn't have been less interested in what happened, sitting around in the overstaffed, otherwise empty police station, drinking coffee, smoking and laughing at me.

Hey coco88,

I understand your frustration. If my Thai wife (whose family has a few police contacts) had not accompanied me to the station, i may have been in the same situation as you.

Just take the same attitude as me...learning experience and at least you were not physically harmed. Stressfull mentally nonetheless...especially when weapon involved.

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Reading half these responses, anyone would think it's just not safe to go out with more than 100 baht in your pocket and that just isn't true.

As the OP said, wrong place, wrong time. Could've happened anywhere.

Personally, there's no f***ing way I'd've given up my shit like that but I can understand why an older guy might've been inclined to do so.

Just dont forget the demographics here most guys are old and out of shape. But i am in shape and younger... but i wont argue much against someone with a knife.

For what it"s worth, i was 38 when it happened and i am not overweight. I just didn't see the point of being a hero against FOUR guys with at least 1 of them showing a knife....risk my life as a family man...to save my laptop, smartphone, ring, and some cash?

I don't regret for a second the way i handled the situation. Furthermore, for those who think i was flaunting and such, I wasn't walking around with valuables at that time of night...i was at my private club for 6 hours before that and merely walking the 100 meters to Suk to catch cab...the error in judgment was stopping along the way for a few minutes. Lesson well learned.

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Been about 1.5 years since this incident happened to me, and figured an update would be interesting.

As it turns out, the police actually caught three of the four perps. Even more impressive is they recovered my laptop and blackberry (not the wedding ring, but can't complain). This was thanks to some tracking software i had installed on my phone, which showed via gps exactly where the thieves moved to. Cops were impressed with the technology.

A month later, i had to go to court to testify...an inetersting experience. As far as i know, the three of them cconfessed and are in jail. Still, i must watch my back a bit, though they were apparently just local thugs, not part of a "real" gang.

If nothing else, it was a huge learning experience that taught me to never let one's situational awareness levels down.

+1 for the Thai police, despite the obvious myriad of incompetency jokes.

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Thanks for the tips. Will check these sources out.

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Last post got cut off...

...predominantly Thai area, which has many benefits.

Also, it is only about 25 min drive to Sukhumvit (outside of rush hour). Finally, i am only about 20 min drive to the airport.

Hope that helps.

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I live near Sukha Pi Baan Som, off of Rahmkhamhaeng Rd. I like the area because pollution not quite so bad, there are more and more expat friendly places opening, but yet it is still predominantly

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I'll have what the OP is having....<deleted>?

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It was done as sarcasm... The leader didnt understand......... The man was quoting as sarcasm HE WAS NOT PROMOTING HITLER..

Even though it is a BAD gig to do this he was not in the promotion role.......... He is Blue/ democrat party and was not promoting the man with a funny moustash!!..

He was saying YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT JUST LIKE HITLER... he was not impressed with what was happening......HE supports the Blue!

Please dont flame the guy for doing this..ask your girlfriend!!

Of course it was done in sarcsam. Surprised by how many people here didn't see that?

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Karen Army.....heads up....get it, heads up, Karen long knecked tribe...............oh please yourselves

One of the dangers of being flippant about this situation is that you open yourself up fro all sorts of smart replies.. personally I think you have stuck your neck out here

Quite true monty1412, you just ran rings around his comments.

So refreshing to see people with a sense of humor on this forum.. :):)

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Hello,

I have installed an infrared security camera at the entrance of my business, but the camera is not yet connected to anything. So, I am in need of someone who can physically do the connection to my computer and set up the software to do the recording. Does anyone know of a local technician or security company that could do the job at a fair rate?

Thanks,

Osten

The HSBC ATMs on Rama 4 road, opposite Lumpini, also do not charge the 150 baht fee for withdrawing from foreign bank. Further, they also enable maximum withdrawls of 40k baht each time, rather than 20k. This can save money on transaction fees on the side of your own bank.

Thanks fto the member above for the tip on the Citibank ATMs not charging the fee either.

Osten

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Walking with your laptop and gear at 3:30 in the morning. One would think that you had gone for a drinking session with friends after work and were on your way back home. At that hour even the blind would have deduced that you would have probably been drinking, and your senses would probably have been a little numb. You claim to not be drunk, but that does not mean you were not drinking.

Soi 28, at 3:30 am is not very lively and is mostly dark and deserted. The basic rule of thumb, avoid places that are dark & empty, or seedy Soi's with no foreigners. After 8 years, you probably should have learned that at that hour the best option was to grab a Taxi back. If you were just looking for some fresh air, then you were probably not as sober as thought you were.

You must have missed my post that says I was merely walking from the club to get a taxi on Sukhumvit, about 1000 feet away.

I was actually working on my laptop til 3 am, as I work American hours, for what it's worth.

Has anyone else at the 'cigar club' experienced any muggings or attempted ones?

Did you report it?

Soi 28 is generally a quiet and safe soi with some very wealthy residents & presence of security guards.

Yes, I reported it, and the police are actually making progress, thanks to my family's persistence.

As for the guards, you're right, but they were ALL sleeping when this occurred. Worthless.

Osten

".... in hindsight, I think I was very lucky to have escaped physically unharmed."

That's one way of looking at it.

How do you walk arounf Sukhumvit ar 3 AM with all those valuables on you?

I was walking from my cigar club on Soi 28 directly to Sukhumvit, to catch a taxi. It is a total of no more than 1000 feet.

I know better than to walk all over town with valuables, unlike a few posters suggested, which is why I was walking directly to get a taxi (they don't go up and down Soi 28). Next time, I call the taxi to the door though. Had I not stopped to use my Blackberry, I think I would have had no problem...lesson learned.

There's a program called 'Prey' that you can install on laptops, if it's stolen you go to an Internet cafe and mark it as stolen - when they turn it on it tries to connect to a wireless connection, takes webcam pics of them, and flashes them a message saying report to police station etc...

I had a similar program installed on my BlackBerry, called SmartGuard, which let me turn on the GPS remotely to track the device. We saw where they went with the phone ten minutes later, but then they apparently wiped the device and the program and it stopped tracking.

Good to know about "Prey." Will check it out.

Osten

dam_n - that is terrible. Good that you're OK.

So you were carrying your Blackberry, MP3 player and laptop.. I assume the laptop was in your backpack or something?

Yes, my laptop and accessories were all in a backpack.

Terrible indeed, but I feel lucky the longer I think about it, considering the circumstances.

Osten

I was in Jaco, Costa Rica last year, just walking down the street in the early evening, minding my own business. A lady approached me and asked if I wanted to buy some marijuana, to which I politely replied "no thanks." About five minutes later, a police truck pulled over off the road, and said they wanted to search me for drugs. They did, and none were found. Immediately thereafter, I figured out the lady dealer was in cahoots with the police, who assumed I purchased because I stopped to talk to her.

My guess is it was probably a similar deal here. Seller on beach surely in on the whole charade. Sad, but I learned my lesson in Costa Rica. If one wants to partake, best never to do so from a street dealer, especially in a foreign country.

Had it been a similar deal then an on the spot 'fine' would have been paid in order for the seller to get his/her share.

If you read the post you'll see that the joint was bought in Patong and the bust was in Nai Harn. Not on the same patch.

Good point. I overlooked that in my initial read. Though, as others have mentioned, I can't help but wonder how they found the weed on him. Was he publicly smoking, or they just decided to search him out of the blue?

I was in Jaco, Costa Rica last year, just walking down the street in the early evening, minding my own business. A lady approached me and asked if I wanted to buy some marijuana, to which I politely replied "no thanks." About five minutes later, a police truck pulled over off the road, and said they wanted to search me for drugs. They did, and none were found. Immediately thereafter, I figured out the lady dealer was in cahoots with the police, who assumed I purchased because I stopped to talk to her.

My guess is it was probably a similar deal here. Seller on beach surely in on the whole charade. Sad, but I learned my lesson in Costa Rica. If one wants to partake, best never to do so from a street dealer, especially in a foreign country.

I think the problem is that Maxnet/3bb blocks port 25. Try changing to port 587 and send. I use a third party smtp server where my mail is hosted, and can send with no problems if using port 587. Hope that helps.

Just wondering what the actual punishment will be, if convicted. Moreover, if there was NO cash on the table, how could it be proven that the chips were worth real money...or doesn't it matter?

Thank you for informations, How do I apply Fiber optic international link with NIX(CAT)? Do you know how apply?

I would like to know about this too. I professionally trade the U.S. stock market while in Thailand, and would be willing to pay the cost for a direct fiber link. If anyone knows how to go about doing so, it would be much appreciated!

Osten