Hat Thung Wua Laen: Increase In Crime

[asiatravelers]

Thung Wua Laen is a small beach community 15km north of Chumphon. This time of year the majority of the forong tourists are here for kiteboarding as are we.

Saturday January 7th while out for dinner my rental home was broken into by someone with a pair of bolt cutters. They easily cut through the window bars that are standard throughout Thailand. They took my computer, camera, telephone, 22,000 baht, $300 US dollars, all of my external memory cards, a MP3 player with 32 gigs of music, all the stuff that was with the computer (cooling fan, USB hub, mouse, charger, case, etc.), my wife's passport, credit card, debit card, US drivers license and some other small stuff. Luckily they did not see my passport and debit card or we interrupted the thieves. Happily they did not take any of our kiteboarding equipment which was worth more than all of the other stuff they took. But without a car, and we believe they were on motorbikes or on foot, they would have had some difficulth taking this valuable stuff.

The police came along with the village head and then the district police came and took fingerprints that have been sent to the Bangkok data base. They seem to be actively working on the case in many ways, which I find surprising, as they generally do not have a reputation for doing so. I believe this is due to the fact that over the last 18 months there have been 4-5 instances of this happening, but only to forong occupied houses. This has been a very safe place in the past, but unfortunately this seems to be the New Thung Wua Laen. I believe they are working the case as the village head is very concerned about the reputation of the village that relies on tourism to a large degree. Perhaps I will get some things back, but I seriously doubt it. It would be a wonderful surprise to have my camera with all of the photos and HD videos since early October.

So, do not be lured into a false sense of security by bars on the windows of a Thai home. Take anything you do not want taken with you or find a safe place to lock them up!

[tartempion]

ah well, you know that restaurant at the other side of TWL, the one at the corner, where you turn right towards Chumpon, go straight and you end up at the Cabana, next to which you have khun Sid's place, better food I assure you.

Well one evening we left khun Sid's place around 8pm to hit home, 400m up the street, we rented the last of the concrete houses there.

We missed the killing (shooting) of a customer at the corner restaurant around 9pm, mus have been around 2003/2004.

Some months later the shooter was found and jailed, an ex-cop if I remember that correctly.

He talked and accused some higher village head (oberto?) who got sentenced to a long jail time (20 or 30 years)

Thieves are everywhere, so are killers.