Tourist Slashed And Stabbed 5 Times In Unprovoked Attack

[Tomtomtom69]

This time i always felt slightly uneasy staying in such a largely populated muslim area for months on end, no matter how friendly i was there was always an element of resentment in the air, the odd glare, a slight push from behind at the counter of the 7/11, a shaken fist from a 12 or 13yr old on the way to Tubkiek beach......I hadn't noticed any of this in the years before.

It's harder times i was told, be careful....... Delve deeper and the truth is falang tourists are not welcomed too far outside of Ao-Nang itself.

Sure,there's some truth in what you say,however most Thai Muslims are not religious fanatics,

They are far more relaxed in there attitude to people of different religions.When I first came to Ao-Nang 25yrs ago they were very welcoming and helpful,so what has changed.Perhaps it's because there are now far greater numbers of Farangs,it could also be because Ao-Nang has changed from a small village into a concrete jungle.The locals certainly did not want the girly bars,in fact they held out for many years,until some decided to take the money at the expense of their community.On the part of the Farangs, I have seen some males as well as female tourist completely disrobe in public, without any thought to the locals,Buddhists or Muslims, before putting on their swimming costumes,and many times you will see Farang females walking along the street with the briefest of bikinis( and what a sight ) all of this in a conservative part of the world.I think many of them MAY be starting to resent how their communities are completely changing,sure they want the jobs and the money,for which they now take for granted,but they don't want there whole lifestyle to be so disrupted.

My take is that most ordinary Buddhists and Muslims wouldn't pick a fight with a foreigner on issues such as lack of modesty. There is enough trouble going on between Muslims and non-Muslims in the restive border regions of southern Thailand to worry about the nuisances of a couple of barely clad foreigners. Most Thais are shy and don't interfere in the affairs of strangers, particularly foreigners. If they are upset about such practices as walking almost naked through the streets by some foreigners, particularly female foreigners then they'd be too nice to say anything. It's only if someone treads on a locals toes, so to speak, by offending them personally that problems could really start to arise.

I would think that the majority of foreigners heading to places like Ao Nang would encounter no difficulties by choosing to stay at nice resorts, driving rental or personal cars rather than motorcycles and eating in decent restaurants or even street stalls in tourist areas and perhaps having a beer at a beach side bar. Don't walk alone or drive a motorcycle alone at night in an unfamiliar area, that goes for most other places in the world including back home, don't see why Thailand should be any different. Sure - in Bangkok with the large number of people out on the streets at all hours this is OK but in rural Thailand I'd take more care.

[Tomtomtom69]

It is about time for a "Truth about Thailand" website...hosted outside the Land of Smiles.

Collate all these Thai on foreigner attacks and push embassies around the world to really pressure the Thai government to make some examples of these perps. Serious travel advice from Foreign Offices is needed for new travellers coming here.

It seems to be out of control now, all over the country...open season on non-Thais.

If the truth about Thailand's crime,road toll deaths, scams etc where common knowledge to tourists and tour companys then the place would have no tourist industry. As it goes the strong baht is more damaging to tourism as Spain and suchlike becomes cheap again. The future for Thai tourism is sadly bleak.

CCC

Agree - but I think it is the locals and expats and long-term tourists that are most likely to be familiar with stories like this since your average, naive first time tourist from China, Russia, India even many western countries would be oblivious to these dangers until they encounter the wrath themselves.