Phuket Fears As News Of Another Stabbing Emerges

[Jayman]

I find Mohamad's story very strange, seems something fishy about it.

Maybe you would find it less fishy if he was called Colin or Dave?

That's what came to my mind at first: Maybe just "fishy" because of his name ... poor mentality. Sorry

This thought says a lot about your way of thinking. You're right, thinking that others think that way because you do is a poor mentality.

You are the one to start this line of talk. Had you have been more specific as to what in his story didn't seem right to you then you wouldn't be wide open to racial criticisms.

[belg]

no problem, TAT just paid to get bangkok as a top destination in the world, nothing to see, next

[johnlandy]

I find Mohamad's story very strange, seems something fishy about it.

What's fishy about...."Mr Edwa was treated at the Phuket International Hospital for a stab wound to his side."

Exactly and I bet the perp was smiling as he pushed the blade in. it's not called "landof smiles for nothing"

[HOOD Robin]

Scary place that " Knifekhet "

Beter not go there, until the police has caught the stabby guy.

big joke.... then you can wait untill you have a 2 meter long beard...

[jaideecm]

I am very glad I live in Chiang Mai yes we have some crime here but no stabbings and very few muggings. No real scams or rip offs. All in all very nice friendly people and merchants. As my Thai friends tell me "the darker the skin the hotter the temper".

I remember when Phuket was a wonderful and Kata Noi beach had just a couple of bamboo restaurants where you could get a lobster lunch, beers brought to you on the beach, no lawn chairs just your own blanket or towel and ladies giving massages. How things have changed. Now I go to Koh Lanta, much like Phuket used to be.

Cheers,

Randy

[klubex99]

50 crack officers from BKK with NO financial interests in keeping the crime momentum of Phuket in place.

WOW!!!! They really mean business this time...

The poor victim must have been connected to the travel and tourism industry or something to provoke this amount of positivity from the Thai authorities.

Had she been a banker or something else, could we expect this sort of action?

Never happened for all the other victims. Soon as it happens to someone that has an influence on the amount of cash flooding into the kingdom, then they finally act.....lol

Only in Thailand.

[HOOD Robin]

As reported by the Brisbane Times... Looks to me like the Aussie media are going to jump all over every crime against tourists.

I will retort what i said in a similar thread. "Australians make up a large % of tourists in Thailand".

The best TAT can come up with in response is.. I doubt it will impact tourism" and Bangkok is #3 destination in the world".

Not exactly humbled by this are they? Maybe an apology to the families of the victims and a reassurance that they are going to do all they can to prevent repeats happening.

Sorry to say, but TAT as so many other official authorities in Thailand = BRAINLESS... ( i wish i could say i'm a kid as they always say the truth...)

[schvonsky1]

I have been to Thailand 38 times and never had no problems I think if your looking for trouble you will get the woman who was stabbed well that is disgusting and hope them lax a daisy muppet police catch the killer

[stevenl]

You are the one to start this line of talk. Had you have been more specific as to what in his story didn't seem right to you then you wouldn't be wide open to racial criticisms.

So if the name is not British one can not say it sounds fishy, but if the name if British one can?

I clearly explained what IMO is fishy a few posts later, the racism thing did not even enter my mind.

But people can accuse me of racism all they want, there is something very fishy about his story.

[yummypizza]

Ok, so what's going on? why a sudden surge of killings and robberies? is it that tourist numbers are down and people are desperate for money? where's the real problem here??

[freedom4life]

Not fishy, Slum and drug peaple all over the places. Also here in Pattaya. They are lazy to work, just stealing is easy. I got my own lesson. I got surRouded by 5 locals last Octobre. What chance do you hace without weapon? The problem is that we foreigners can't carry guns. In my home country i can do that. So we are just victims in this country. In my case police was useless.

...Law or no law..carry a gun, f_ _ _ _ _s will run like scared rabbits when you pull it out...or rather cockroaches, same thing. They don't want to basically reduce crime to a great degree, if decent people were able to carry guns. Law or no law, a responsible person should be allowed to carry, period. I do and continue to do so, even though I could take all five of them out, without usnig it...but hey, it's easier and more convenient. In addition, it's fun to watch their/his eyes bulge out, when they see my .45 or 9 mm, pointed right at their/his f_ _king head(s)

[schvonsky1]

Too bloody true let's c if these boys in brown get these scum and give em hell so yea time to wake up Thailand without us your country would sink !

[dezeure]

Its funny how Thai Visa always posts the few bad incidents about Phuket, but hardly any about Pattaya or other tourist destinations. The same stuff or maybe even more incidents happen in Pattaya but somehow I never seem to read about them, except for an occasional story once a week or so...

I inderstand the posting of a murder is serious, and I don't question that, but the general image given of Phuket is bad, while in reality it is NOT. 95% of the tourists have has a great holiday, and would come back anytime,... You can never satisfy them all

I live and run a business in Phuket, and in the past 4 years nothing has ever happened. At most a bar brawl with some drunken guy but that can happen anywhere.

Stop giving Phuket a bad name... I know its not the ideal paradise, but thenagain no where in Thailand, or maybe this whole planet will you find the ideal paradise location... All my customers and friends feel very safe on this island and as long as you behave, the Thais will leave you pretty much alone, except for the Tailors, Tuk Tuks, and Ping Pong idiots. Of course you always have your trouble makers, which when intoxicated, feel invurneable, and those big, bad mouthing farangs learn the hard way from the locals... But wouldnt the same happen in our home countries???? Yes it would...

Sam

Patong, phuket

[klubex99]

Its funny how Thai Visa always posts the few bad incidents about Phuket, but hardly any about Pattaya or other tourist destinations. The same stuff or maybe even more incidents happen in Pattaya but somehow I never seem to read about them, except for an occasional story once a week or so...

I inderstand the posting of a murder is serious, and I don't question that, but the general image given of Phuket is bad, while in reality it is NOT. 95% of the tourists have has a great holiday, and would come back anytime,... You can never satisfy them all

I live and run a business in Phuket, and in the past 4 years nothing has ever happened. At most a bar brawl with some drunken guy but that can happen anywhere.

Stop giving Phuket a bad name... I know its not the ideal paradise, but thenagain no where in Thailand, or maybe this whole planet will you find the ideal paradise location... All my customers and friends feel very safe on this island and as long as you behave, the Thais will leave you pretty much alone, except for the Tailors, Tuk Tuks, and Ping Pong idiots. Of course you always have your trouble makers, which when intoxicated, feel invurneable, and those big, bad mouthing farangs learn the hard way from the locals... But wouldnt the same happen in our home countries???? Yes it would...

Sam

Patong, phuket

It is because around 8 months ago the staff decided to crack down on seriously negative posts about Pattaya.

[MaxLee]

I will never ever go to Phuket again. Phuket has become the Mafia Zone number one in Thailand.

[TackyToo]

Sounds like Phuket and Pattaya are ideal holiday destinations - stabbings, murder, drunken orgies, corruption, jet-ski gangs, robberies etc - I can't imagine why anyone would want to visit, let alone live there.

Why not? Just yesterday a spokeswoman from the Phuket hotels association or similar was quoted saying: "that (the stabbing of an Australian Lady) this is an extremely isolated incident and thefts and other crimes in Phuket are very low.”

I wonder where this moron is hiding now...

[JoeLing]

"It's time for embassies to issue stern travel advisories against coming to Phuket, i.e. don't go there unless your trip is absolutely essential. Leave them on until police can demonstrate significant progress in cleaning up the gangs of thugs that prey on tourist pedestrians and motorcyclists, armed with guns, knives and clubs."

Agreed. It's like when the US issued a terrorism warning for Bangkok last Jan. Apparently the Thai authorities had known about a possible threat and had specifics but dragged their feet. Until, that is, the US issued a warning. Then the Thais got on the ball within a day and carried out the necessary raids. (At least that's how I understand it).

You forgot to mention that the Thai government was outraged at the travel warnings of the different countries and insisted that they would withdrawal their warnings as Thailand only has friends and no enemies around the world. There are no terrorists in Thailand, only assassins.

[marioc]

I don't like Phuket.....and I'll never will......too messy, too dangerous, too everything.....

[lianab]

Cancelled (was responding to something that has just been rightly removed)

[frankiebaby]

I wonder what kind of message the Australian tour group will be giving to the Australian tourist board.

[LivinginKata]

Various post removed. Insults and violent suggestions. Calm down folks.

[NamKangMan]

Its funny how Thai Visa always posts the few bad incidents about Phuket, but hardly any about Pattaya or other tourist destinations. The same stuff or maybe even more incidents happen in Pattaya but somehow I never seem to read about them, except for an occasional story once a week or so...

I inderstand the posting of a murder is serious, and I don't question that, but the general image given of Phuket is bad, while in reality it is NOT. 95% of the tourists have has a great holiday, and would come back anytime,... You can never satisfy them all

I live and run a business in Phuket, and in the past 4 years nothing has ever happened. At most a bar brawl with some drunken guy but that can happen anywhere.

Stop giving Phuket a bad name... I know its not the ideal paradise, but thenagain no where in Thailand, or maybe this whole planet will you find the ideal paradise location... All my customers and friends feel very safe on this island and as long as you behave, the Thais will leave you pretty much alone, except for the Tailors, Tuk Tuks, and Ping Pong idiots. Of course you always have your trouble makers, which when intoxicated, feel invurneable, and those big, bad mouthing farangs learn the hard way from the locals... But wouldnt the same happen in our home countries???? Yes it would...

Sam

Patong, phuket

Sam, tell me what Phuket was like just 4 years ago, as compared to now. What do you think it will be like in another 4 years time? That's the direction the island is heading in with no sign of anything getting and better for tourists or expats in the near future.

I have asked the question before and will ask it again. Name one good thing that has been done for tourists and/or expats here in recent history?

[JoeLing]

Considering that according to TAT's latest figures (2007) there are about 14'000'000 tourists in the LOS (Land of Silliness). Lets assume that half of them have multiple entries in on year and are counted several times, then a figure of around 10M is more likely (just assume). Now it's nearly impossible to find out how many foreigners live permanently (legally or illegally) in Thailand but I know for sure, there are more then 2.

Assume there are 100 farangs killed every day somewhere in Thailand for what ever the reason, that only accounts for 0.36 % of all Foreigners here. Let's think that 1000 farangs are scammed, robbed or beaten up by some scum here, that's still only 3.6%. So there are about 96% of foreigner who had a good or at least, not a horrific experience here in the LOS.

So I'm not surprised that no official agency thinks it's necessary to tackle any problems (or is that called nuisance towards our Thai hosts?) where farangs are harmed in any way.

Amazing Thailand ;-)

[frankiebaby]

Nothing. They just want their money!

[MaiChiang]

I'm not trying to say that Phuket and Pattaya are safe places, but whenever there's a story about something bad happening to a tourist in one of these places people always say things on here that make it appear that they are particularly more dangerous for a tourist than most other places in Thailand. But how can anybody say that when we don't know the actual PER CAPITA crime rates compared to other places?

Yes, there are more violent incidents against tourists in these places than other parts of Thailand, but does that really mean it's more dangerous? Just as an example, pretend there's 100 times more tourists in Phuket than in Mae Hong Son, and if 100 tourists are robbed in Phuket this year and only 1 in Mae Hong Son, that doesn't mean that Mae Hong Son is safer. The odds are still the same, because there's a lot less tourists in Mae Hong Son. So of course there's going to be more stories of violence against tourists in the areas that have more tourists, that's how odds work. Just because there's more murders in New York City each year than in Compton, California, it doesn't mean that New York City is more dangerous to live than Compton. Again, I could be wrong and these places could have much higher crime rates (Per capita, as percentages), but until we actually know those statistics we can't assume they are really dangerous places compared to the rest of Thailand just based on stories. An increase in violent incidents also doesn't mean much if there's also an increase in arriving tourists. Put 5 people in a room together and the chances of 1 robbing another isn't as likely as if you put 1 million people in a room together.

[JoeLing]

Just checked several travel advisories from different countries, don't worry, Phuket isn't mentioned anywhere. Just the Cambodian border area, the deep, deep south, Koh Samui and the full moon parties in Koh Phangan. Phuket and Pattaya are safe ;-)

[gamini]

I find Mohamad's story very strange, seems something fishy about it.

Maybe you would find it less fishy if he was called Colin or Dave?

Yes he sounds like a racist. Plenty of them around.

[stevenl]

I find Mohamad's story very strange, seems something fishy about it.

Maybe you would find it less fishy if he was called Colin or Dave?

Yes he sounds like a racist. Plenty of them around.

So if I would have said 'I find Edward's story very strange, seems something fishy about it.' it would have been ok by your standards? Sorry, I simply find the story fishy, no matter if Edward or Mohamad came up with it.

[lianab]

I find Mohamad's story very strange, seems something fishy about it.

Maybe you would find it less fishy if he was called Colin or Dave?

Yes he sounds like a racist. Plenty of them around.

So he is a racist and you believe everything happened as he said in less than <18 seconds? (based on 300m @ 60km/hr) mmm...do the math

[thaigold]

Any city with booze, bars, and ladies is going to have dark side - especially resort areas - resort areas in any country. A recent count shows Chicago has a higher murder rate than Kabul Afghanistan - and 'Stanland' is really deadly.