Wow! 9 Brits Murdered In Thailand Since Aug 2004

[mogoso]

[quote name='juleschester' date='2006-02-0

Then again, youve got to have a bit of savvy where ever you are in the world, dont you.

I lived in Brooklyn, NY for a year, and felt safe there as well!!!!

(or was it just cos I was pi**ed all the time and didnt give a sh*t ??? )

If I lived in Brooklyn I'd be pi++ed all the time too, but not because of alcohol, just cause I was in Brooklyn

I've been to the southside of Chicago, all through Detroit, East Central Los Angeles, southside of Bogota and I can say these places among others, are definitey at the bottom of my vacation list.

[charles]

Certainly don't have any statistics or indeed know where to start with them.

However...my impression, generally speaking, after many years living here is that the chances of one being the recipient of RANDOM violence in Bangkok are similar or possibly less likely than large UK cities. Set against that is the decreased awareness in Bangkok of where is a bad area and in fact the lack of clear distinctions between good and bad areas. For example, around a posh Bangkok area like Thonglor you can certainly find pockets of deprivation, very dodgy people, drug dealing etc.

On the other hand, I firmly believe that any minor dispute in Thailand, particularly with a lesser educated male (which counts in most of them), has a much, much greater chance of escalating out of control and culminating in your death. Particularly when drunk, they can act with quite extreme violence, usually in groups, way out of all proportion to the original dispute. Despite being someone who is generally very "chai yen" and does not like to get involved, it is hard to never ever have a dispute with someone over 10 years or so. I've had a couple of such incidents myself over the 10 years and certainly consider myself lucky not to have found myself dead on the front cover of Thai Rath! In my experience, such disputes in the UK nearly always lead to nothing more than some verbals and at worst a bit of fisticuffs.

[Kringle]

How many TOURIST die in the UK, US or anywhere else every year?

[Simbo]

I feel safer in Bangkok or Pattaya than I do in Samui but that don't stop me lovin it.

Yes. Pattaya can be most welcoming and safe this time of year.

[opothai]

I've been visiting and/or living in areas like that for over 25 years. Never once taunted, provoked or "miss treated". Nor has anyone I know ever received such treatment in Bangkok. Sounds like an over-active imagination at work to me.[/code]

In the UK most recently I've had been hassled on the street without provocation in London and in Chester; in the USA in New York and Oakland; in Europe in Avignon (France) and Alba (Italy).

you are one lucky person, and for the amount of time you have spent in thailand for 25 years to have no hassle, i would hazzard aguess you are also pretty unique.

and you accuse me of an over active imagination, how you can be so lucky in one country but you are most certainly most unlucky in every other country you visit

in the usa [passadena and lo angelies] never had a problem.

in the uk usual hand bags at ten paces and it fizzles out, in thailand thier is no such thing as handbags at ten paces. in my 6 - 7 years of frquenting thailand i have seen 5 serious incidents, 3 involving thai on thai 6 versus 1 and 5 or 6 versus 2, and 2 involving falangs where the falang has been out numbred both times.

me personaly i've had problems in the past 2 years with tuk tuk drivers, and when outside the touristy areas of bangkok with comments thrown towards my wife and also myself, and with some of the hotels trying to overcharge on pre-paid bookings, from 1999 to 2003 never had a problem, this has changed, maybe i am the unlucky one eh!

lately

[Sheryl]

Whether or not the violence is same, better, or worse than before or than at home may be up for debate....but what is without question is that the greatest danger a foreigner (or for that matter local) faces in Thailand is motor vehicle accident.

Same true in Cambodia.

So buckle up & drive carefully, wear helmet if on moto= far useful than getting too paranoid about crime....

[cdnvic]

I've been visiting and/or living in areas like that for over 25 years. Never once taunted, provoked or "miss treated". Nor has anyone I know ever received such treatment in Bangkok. Sounds like an over-active imagination at work to me.[/code]

In the UK most recently I've had been hassled on the street without provocation in London and in Chester; in the USA in New York and Oakland; in Europe in Avignon (France) and Alba (Italy).

you are one lucky person, and for the amount of time you have spent in thailand for 25 years to have no hassle, i would hazzard aguess you are also pretty unique.

and you accuse me of an over active imagination, how you can be so lucky in one country but you are most certainly most unlucky in every other country you visit

in the usa [passadena and lo angelies] never had a problem.

in the uk usual hand bags at ten paces and it fizzles out, in thailand thier is no such thing as handbags at ten paces. in my 6 - 7 years of frquenting thailand i have seen 5 serious incidents, 3 involving thai on thai 6 versus 1 and 5 or 6 versus 2, and 2 involving falangs where the falang has been out numbred both times.

me personaly i've had problems in the past 2 years with tuk tuk drivers, and when outside the touristy areas of bangkok with comments thrown towards my wife and also myself, and with some of the hotels trying to overcharge on pre-paid bookings, from 1999 to 2003 never had a problem, this has changed, maybe i am the unlucky one eh!

lately

I'd stick with quotes. Amongst all the colours there I have no idea who's saying what.

cv

[opothai]

red with red , blue with blueish

i know mate didn't quite come off did it

[sanook2me]

4 years of bliss living in bkk no violence or taunts etc and i've been in some dodgy drinking dens, i'm sure this part of my story is not unique to peeps who live here.. BKK and Thailand is much safer for a westerner than any part of the UK. I read an article in my local paper (express and star) last night that a gulf war soldier was shot dead in west bromwich for his gold necklace, he came back to england to celebrate his and his mothers b'day. it made me want to cry the Uk is on a horrible violent track downhill.

Read any paper from the Uk and you will read about act of violence especially with knives.

As other posters have said about themselves, i also can handle myself but i take care now i'm back in the Uk as to where i go and what time.

Bkk is safe.

I've fell to sleep in soi's on the street and no problem. once somebody put me in his car after i had collapsed in a taxi and he couldn't understand my drunken slur, the guy in his own car could speak english and took me home......... you gotta love this place... i did and still do....

[saeb]

Ahem : Your average Thai will tell you that Thailand is a very violent place.

No woman is going to get in a taxi alone at night in Bangkok. No way - no how unless it is a very quick ride between two places on a main drag.

Why do Doctors of medicine keep guns in their homes?. A fetish or a fear?.

Why do Thais never go out alone - and if they do, always in haste and in an anxious state?.

Why do Thais always insist on having someone 'in authority' to mention when push comes to shove?.

Why is there no release in total of the actual numbers of tourists assaulted, robbed, drugged, murdered, raped or placed in a state of fear.

In a personal survey: Of 28 Thais who I know in the U.K., none of them have been robbed, assaulted, placed in a state of fear or alarm, drugged or robbed or been burgled.

None of them have been raped either.

Let me consider an idea?. How many of the resident reader here have been threatened in Thailand by an ex girlfriend or employer or other?. How many have been placed in a state of fear or alarm by those threats?. (Be honest now). How many feel that the police might not maybe just be impartial

when it comes to such things as traffic offences and such like matters with the MIB.

If we take any demographic group of foreigners living in Thailand I will bet my grannies ashes that at least one has encountered at least one of the above problems, and, one at least.

Sorry, but if Thais are scared of Thais well............?.

[Chopper]

Stats are misleading - we are assuming crime element is constant and/or all deaths were the same. Too many variables to really make any serious conclusions.

Agreed.

If you tell a statistician what you want the answer to be first...Hey Presto.

[ronz28]

It could be worse:

Crime in Houston by Year

Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Murders 241 230 267 256 278

per 100,000 12.3 11.8 13.7 13.1 14.2

Rapes 748 813 945 892 768

per 100,000 38.3 41.6 48.4 45.7 39.3

Robberies 8,350 8,256 9,921 11,212 10,985

per 100,000 427.4 422.6 507.8 573.9 562.3

Assaults 12,178 12,192 12,286 12,598 11,957

per 100,000 623.4 624.1 628.9 644.9 612.0

Burglaries 24,744 23,254 25,108 26,905 26,522

per 100,000 1266.6 1190.3 1285.2 1377.2 1357.6

Larceny counts 66,068 67,102 69,371 73,445 72,032

per 100,000 3381.8 3434.7 3550.9 3759.4 3687.1

Auto thefts 19,445 19,864 24,089 23,939 21,451

per 100,000 995.3 1016.8 1233.0 1225.4 1098.0

[Cassandra]

Couple of points

I lived on a bit of a crappy estate in the UK and I never feared about being killed, but not wanting to get my head mashed and/or crippled in made try to avoid walking past certain pubs at kick out/off time.

Thats the reason a lot of people feel safe here, its not the safety from something as extreme as murder, but more the safety that it seems your less likely to get attacked for some chavs/gangs etc. that are just out for a Friday night buzz.

But these (chavs/gangs) are exactly the people who holiday in Pattaya.I'm not just having a dig at Pattaya.Have you actually seen (or God help us heard) the Brits who vacation there?

[Tippaporn]

Ahem : Your average Thai will tell you that Thailand is a very violent place.

No woman is going to get in a taxi alone at night in Bangkok. No way - no how unless it is a very quick ride between two places on a main drag.

Why do Doctors of medicine keep guns in their homes?. A fetish or a fear?.

Why do Thais never go out alone - and if they do, always in haste and in an anxious state?.

Why do Thais always insist on having someone 'in authority' to mention when push comes to shove?.

Why is there no release in total of the actual numbers of tourists assaulted, robbed, drugged, murdered, raped or placed in a state of fear.

In a personal survey: Of 28 Thais who I know in the U.K., none of them have been robbed, assaulted, placed in a state of fear or alarm, drugged or robbed or been burgled.

None of them have been raped either.

Let me consider an idea?. How many of the resident reader here have been threatened in Thailand by an ex girlfriend or employer or other?. How many have been placed in a state of fear or alarm by those threats?. (Be honest now). How many feel that the police might not maybe just be impartial

when it comes to such things as traffic offences and such like matters with the MIB.

If we take any demographic group of foreigners living in Thailand I will bet my grannies ashes that at least one has encountered at least one of the above problems, and, one at least.

Sorry, but if Thais are scared of Thais well............?.

Zero incidents for me.

No one places anyone in a state of fear. Fear is an emotion and it's your choice what you want to do with it. Some people can't control it at all, nor even rationally think about it. A shame.

Edited February 2, 2006 by Tippaporn

[Ladphrao]

From looking at the stats and from personal experience, Thailand is generally safer than the US but I also think sometimes one can get a false sense of security in Thailand due to the less confrontational nature of most Thais. At times, many foreigner might be getting close to getting their butts beaten without ever knowing it.

[FlyingDutchman]

Like a high-pressure-cooking-pan, it's tension is spreading ...

Yes ! Also Thailand will have to learn to handle crime, that was rare in the past ! The Netherlands was for hundreds of years known for it's open mind. Now it's as narrow minded as the Germans where in '32. Sorry to say ... We've had a politician murdered and a writer, within three years ... WOW, any country would say, but for the Dutch it was a great deal. They thought they had civilication. Naj, I'd say ... Ignorance and stupidity is more alike ...

Edited February 2, 2006 by FlyingDutchman