Warning Australians In Phuket

[david96]

Tom Hyland The Age Melbourne.

May 11, 2008

THE brawl started late in a foreign bar and continued into the early morning. By the time the big Australians had finished they had wrecked the place, bashed at least three locals and forced everyone else out onto the street.

It was a violent confrontation on a distant beach early on Anzac Day, but there was nothing glorious or noble about the performance of these Australians.

When the police arrived, six of them ran, abandoning a mate who ended up in a police cell. He was so drunk he couldn't speak until 11.30 that morning.

It happened three weeks ago in one of the hundreds of bars at Patong beach on the Thai resort island of Phuket, which is drawing an increasing number of Australian visitors — many of them young, naive and, it seems, stupid.

"They were totally out of control and it was a full-on brawl," says Larry Cunningham, Australia's honorary consul in Phuket.

"The chief of police said to me: 'What is it about you Aussies that when you drink, you always have to fight?' "

The Australians who ran from the brawl were on a package tour and had to fly home the next day. So they took their mate's luggage and passport and dumped them at the police station. Then they left for the airport, leaving their mate behind.

"Considering it happened on Anzac Day, it was not a good look," says Cunningham.

The bloke left behind then contacted his mum back in suburban Sydney to send $4000 to pay compensation to the owners of the wrecked bar.

The brawl was not an isolated incident. Most are not reported and, increasingly, Cunningham is having to pick up the pieces as more Australian travellers either cause trouble or get into trouble.

There is every sign his workload will get heavier.

Official figures show almost 660,000 Australians visited Thailand last year, up 20% on the previous year. The figures don't show how many went to Phuket, but it's likely hundreds of thousands do, as the island is included in many cheap packages. Last year, according to Cunningham, Australians were the largest single national group visiting Phuket.

He attributes the increase to the drift away from Bali because of security concerns and the military coup in Fiji.

Other factors are cheap packages — depending on the season, return flights and eight days' accommodation on Phuket cost as little as $1200 — and direct flights.

Some Australians have always managed to get themselves in trouble overseas, but Cunningham says the situation on Phuket was getting worse.

"With the extra numbers, the percentage of yobbos and yahoos you're going to get here will rise," he says. Many have never been overseas before, are ignorant of local risks and drop their guard in the relaxed tropical pace.

"Some people just leave their brains behind when they go overseas and do things they just wouldn't do anywhere else."

Cunningham is a long-term resident of Phuket, where he is involved in property development.

His consular position is an honorary one, paying just $7500 a year, but he says it takes up a quarter of his time. While he says Phuket is a great place to visit, too many travellers don't realise it can be risky, and not just because Australians such as the Anzac Day brawlers cause trouble.

Phuket has warm weather, beautiful beaches, lots of outdoor activities, good food, hundreds of bars, and what the travel guides coyly refer to as a "vibrant nightlife".

It also has plenty of perils: aggressive touts, thieves, extortionists and rapists.

The risk was highlighted last year when a young Australian student was raped after a drinking binge with friends in Patong. She was so drunk that she couldn't even stand up but her friends, instead of taking her back to her hotel five minutes away, put her in a "tuk tuk", a motorised trishaw.

The young woman fell face down in the back of the tuk tuk, so they put her in the front seat with the driver, and gave him some money with instructions to take her back to her hotel.

"And then they went back to partying," Cunningham says. Their companion was driven to a secluded area and raped.

Last month, a 27-year-old Swedish tourist was stabbed to death after she resisted a rapist on a secluded Phuket beach. The following week, an Indian tourist was fatally stabbed when he tried to break up a fight at a full-moon party on the island of Phangan in southern Thailand.

The Federal Government's travel advisory for Thailand says petty crime is common and it warns of sexual assaults, drink spiking, assault and robbery in popular backpacker destinations.

It also warns unlicenced, inexperienced and uninsured travellers of the risk of hiring motorbikes and jet skis.

Cunningham stresses that Phuket is no more dangerous than anywhere else in the world.

"Nowhere in the world is 100% safe, and Phuket is no different," he says. "People come here and have an absolutely wonderful holiday, and people should not be deterred in any way from coming to Phuket.

"But if they do come to the entertainment areas, they need to be very careful because there are some people who prey on travellers. Being aware is just the most important thing."

[photojourn]

>>"The chief of police said to me: 'What is it about you Aussies that when you drink, you always have to fight?' "<<

Unfortunately the summation is absolutely true. The British might go on a rampage in Europe in football season and some Canadian ice hockey fans have been known to go on the rampage but young Australian males are a pain in the a***.

While I was running a news service in Indonesia I also owned a restaurant, bar and nightclub on a small island. Thankfully we never got a lot of Australians. We used to dread the overnight stay some of the "live-aboard" surfing tour boats made. The only time we had fights on the island was when their was a group of young Australians travelling together.

A similar situation exists in Bali. Nine times out of ten it will be young Australians walking the streets while drinking, vomiting in the street or fighting in the clubs.

The terms "responsible drinking" or "drink to enjoy" are yet to form any meaning in most young Australian (males and some females) minds.

[Bluelotus]

They act the same back in OZ

[vegas]

Sounds nothing like the 300+ Aussies I know in Thailand. Fact is, there are dickheads in every country and some of them travel.

[ozsamurai]

I have run pubs in Japan for over 10yrs, and to be honest the worst of all the nations were British for brawling overall, once they had a skin full. Although Australian myself, it is seldom something I am proud of whilst I have been travelling and living around Asia for the past 20 odd years. Here is just another couple of them that should not be given passports. And what the heck has ANZAC day got to do with it? The day the Brititsh mistakenly fed thousands of Aussies to the Turkish Army for breakfast because they screwed up, think before you start to bag the country that has held your hand though thick and thin, for the sake of a couple of idiots!

[mzqueenie]

When i read this story: Typical bogans.

Ever since our dollar has been growing stronger, more low life bogans head out overseas to get drunk or start trouble.