Chiang Mai Tops For Human Security, Bangkok And Phuket Worst

[VegasVic]

Suwinai said the human-security score was calculated using comprehensive? criteria, including the ratios of hospital beds/doctors to the population, student/teacher ratio, household income, employment rate, crime rate, divorce rate, population density, telephone and Internet access, and election turnout.

How 'human' security is related to these factors is something i would like to understand ... apart from crime rate and population density .. i dont see how the others are determinant ...

Is someone trying to sell Chiangmai with the hopefully finger crossing high season coming soon ....

Thailand is about go through one of its worst toutist seasons in many years this winter, and Phuket and Pattaya are far more tourist oriented than Chiang Mai, so I doubt the figures were skewed in favor of CM! Phuket and the surrounding area has a growing problem with the muslim population, this and the usual crimes against tourists are likely the reason for its low security ranking. Not surprising Patters and BKK also rank very low. The Lanna Kingdom has a feel of a seperate entity from Thailand, perhaps its the mixture of cultures in Chiang Mai or the tolerance there of? In my travels throughout Thailand I can say that outside of rural Issan, the safest and most comfortable I felt was in Chiang Mai. P.S. Those of you in Chiang Mai please keep the rumors of the air polution going strong, I would hate to see Chiang Mai lose its relaxed and comforable ambiance as I am still considering the purchase of a vacation home up there

[VegasVic]

Almost certainly if the survey was on cities alone Pattaya would come out worst even more than bangkok.

Although I live there and feel safe that is because I only go to certain areas and at certain times of the day and night.

The reality though is very different. Unlike most other places in Thailand Pattaya is Bars and girls thousands of both which then brings thousands of out of work Thai men who live of the girls which isnt to bad when things are good but when Tourism is 80% down as the Thai government have finally admitted then things get desperate. No way anyone is going to say anything about Pattaya when things are so bad as it will put the remaining 20% off.

Even the Baht bus drivers of which there are way to many are getting more and more aggressive not only to the falangs but to each other as life becomes eat or be eaten!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was one common theme among the long time tourists that I met throughout Thailand, and that was that most of them use to frequent Pattaya for at least part of their holiday time in Thailand up until about 3 years ago. Now, they told me Pattaya is a complete cesspool and most of them would never go back to Patters on any future holiday, many of them particularly mentioned the obnoxious russians as one of the primary reasons for Patters decline in popularity

[Kerryd]

george[/color][/b]' date='2008-09-30 21:22:47' post='2246768']

Chiang Mai tops for human security, Bangkok and Phuket worst

Whoever posted this item should be hit in the windpipe twice.

Maybe you should take a close look at who posted this before making such comments.

[mrsouza]

Phuket and the surrounding area has a growing problem with the muslim population, this and the usual crimes against tourists are likely the reason for its low security ranking. Not surprising Patters and BKK also rank very low.

I have to veto on that comment. The problems in greater Phuket has nothing to do with the muslim population, or any other specific religious group or ethnicity for that matter. The problems we experience here are due to rapid expansion and a complete lack of planning. As someone else mentioned, Phuket is a cesspool of migrants from other provinces and countries. The charm and tranquility that Phuket once had, is long gone.

If the officials that are responsible for the expansion and security of Phuket actually did the job that we pay them to do, Phuket would still be a nice place to live in. But as we know, that is not the case.

[SPATCH]

Give me a break. More useless statistics brought to you by the inane and incompetent statisticians at the Thai government. The mere name of the index "human security" is a misnomer. And Bangkok is doomed if one of the main factors is population density. Human security denotes safety and I doubt that your life is that much safer in Chiang Mai rather than Bangkok. This is more foolhardiness and waste of time.

Ha. If you want unsafe, you should see Johannesburg.

[Los78]

It does not surprise me as the north is a peaceful place to live and the Northern people are not interested in conflict with each other. Maybe also because the political elements of the PAD are not tolerated by the people in the north.

[HorseDoctor]

try Rio or Sao Paulo (Brazil). Better yet Washington, D.C. Murder capital of the free world.

Yeah in D.C.'s SE district, black on black violence is rampant and ignored mostly as that goes in the US but go to N W and it's fantastic- where all the House Members live , grew up in this area.

I feel safer in DC than say Lima or Johannesburg, that's the absolute worst , for everybody.

I feel secure in Phuket , of course I haven't left my house after dark in 2 years and wouldn't.

The worst area is between Rayong and Patong where maybe gangs are paying off police to rob tourists on motorcycles , sometime injuring them quite badly. Or maybe the cops just don't care

Some head honcho from Bangkok ( I think) actually came down to give a dressing down to the Chalong police for letting it escalate so badly - or mabe to get his cut ?