So You Think Thailand is Safe?

[thailiketoo]

I think you are missing the point. British women go to the USA and British men go to Thailand.

Really???

That being said I would totally understand why British ladies would go to the US. 4 times more Brits go to the US but Thailand has 5 times the number of rapes. The US would need to have around 45 British female rapes just to be even with Thailand.

Just from my experience with Brits in the USA they were almost always couples and/or families as opposed to single men who were not the creme de la creme of posh British society vacationing in Thailand.

My point was that it is not Thailand that is dangerous but the tourists who come to Thailand that are dangerous.

so let me get this right.... The majority of Brits who come to Thailand are male but yet the number of rapes are 5 time more than in the US. So you are saying that many British men get raped in Thailand?

I think you imagine that all crime against Brits in the USA and Thailand is rape which it is not. May I suggest you look at the total crimes..

[mrtoad]

Looking at those numbers a British lady would have to be crazy to come to Thailand. 2 rapes in the US with 3,500,000 + British tourists compared to 11 rapes in Thailand with a little over 900,000 tourists. Unbelievable !!! You would think with all the Thai girls for sell rape would not be a problem. I guess not ....

And sadly those are just the reported ones.

As for the last comment, rape is not just about Sex, much more about power and control.

[Thai at Heart]

I can't blame it on the Brits. I think Thailand is as bad for others too.

If I'm looking at the chart correctly, there are about 40 times as many Brits living in the US as there are in Thailand, and yet the number who need consular assistance in each country is about the same. There are about 4 times as many British tourists to the US as Thailand, yet the numbers needing assistance are about the same.

I have always thought Thailand is dangerous not just physically but financially. Accidents, scams, etc. can leave a person stranded.

When u have a country with this many visitors with no health and safety, no police force or law enforcement and tons of booze, stuff happens

[metisdead]

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[ExPratt]

I'd say over the past 25 to 30 years of tourism Farangs are looked at as exploitable, we are not people we are here to provide easy money and the whole tourist industry withing Thailand sets up that way.Individuals then take that to the extreme with Rape , robbery , Murder

[mataleo]

Stop and search horror story

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/ReadersSubmissions2011/reader7129.htm

[JohnnyHK]

Question, I carry my Hong Kong ID and US international driver license, police would arrest me if stopped? I do not feel safe carrying US passport or giving it to anyone even police.

[thailiketoo]

Question, I carry my Hong Kong ID and US international driver license, police would arrest me if stopped? I do not feel safe carrying US passport or giving it to anyone even police.

Make a copy of your passport pages that have name and visas and laminate this. It costs about 100 baht to do a good job.

[metisdead]

Off topic deflection posts have been removed.

[tsigane]

Wonder how Thailand would rank if they had categories for "falling off highrise buildings," "lost all life savings bulding a house for his family," etc.

[thailiketoo]

Wonder how Thailand would rank if they had categories for "falling off highrise buildings," "lost all life savings bulding a house for his family," etc.

Since there are 66 countries that have more suicides than Thailand I think you could confine your search to countries with provincial, emotionally immature travelers. When PT Barnum said there is a sucker born every minute he was talking about tourism arrivals in Thailand.

Edited December 1, 2014 by thailiketoo

[scavenger]

I think many if not most of the dangerous or highly unpleasant situations arise when foreigners buy into the local sayings "mai pen rai" and "don't think." The same safety precautions that apply in western cities should apply anywhere in the world. I won't let my wife go out for a snack alone at 2am regardless of whether we are in New York or Singapore or Bangkok. I don't drink but when I used to I would drink less in unfamiliar surroundings, wherever that would be. Men who would run away from a stranger in overly-feminine dress saying "hello sexy man, I like your nose and I want to have a baby with you" back in London think it exotic and romantic here and then go complain about unfaithful Thai women who just wanted your money.

Do streets and roads in Thailand look so much safer than those at home that you feel you can do away with seatbelts and helmets?

Some issues I have seen in the visa discussion section seem to arise from the same roots of "mai pen rai" and "don't think." I prefer following the written law whether certain rules are currently enforced or not. I don't leave my passport with agents that tell me they can fix everything for me for a fee; if I cannot legally do it myself at immigration or a mission abroad, then why would I believe their services would be legal. Would we let Thais cross the border from the US to Mexico to come back half-an-hour later for a new stamp?

I apply the same common sense and behavior "rules" wherever I am and so far it has been keeping me put of trouble. Not always the easiest route for sure, but it's the safest.

Edited December 1, 2014 by scavenger

[Loles]

TH is enough safe, if you DON'T :

- visit bars to look lady-boys and pick up bar girls (or opposite:),

- rent wheels especially motorbike,

- try any drug,

- swim too far from shore and got a line on water before swimming,

- visit fool moon parties,

- take a speedboat, minivan or double deck bus,

- rent jetski,

- try to make any scam,

- make argument with locals for 68.43 Baht,

- forget you are a foreigner here, and this country is their country.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Loles

[jdinasia]

The statistics speak for themselves..

No. Statistics never speak for themselves.

[BritManToo]

TH is enough safe, if you DON'T :

- visit bars to look lady-boys and pick up bar girls (or opposite:),

- rent wheels especially motorbike,

- try any drug,

- swim too far from shore and got a line on water before swimming,

- visit fool moon parties,

- take a speedboat, minivan or double deck bus,

- rent jetski,

- try to make any scam,

- make argument with locals for 68.43 Baht,

- forget you are a foreigner here, and this country is their country.

Did the two who had their heads bashed in on Koh Tao do any of those things?

What about the couple shot on the street in Pai (by the policeman)?

Or the girl raped and murdered by the monk?

[simple1]

I attended a briefing by UK BKK Consular staff member in 2013 who stated that in the previously reporting year 23 UK female nationals required consular support as a result of sexual assault.

[SinCityGr8One]

Yes.

[Naam]

Thailand is dangerous alright. Those icy conditions, snow blizzards, mountainous roads, glacier drifts....

not to forget the Grizzly bears and Apaches, Comanches and Kiowas kidnapping western ladies,

[tingtongtourist]

TH is enough safe, if you DON'T :

- visit bars to look lady-boys and pick up bar girls (or opposite:),

- rent wheels especially motorbike,

- try any drug,

- swim too far from shore and got a line on water before swimming,

- visit fool moon parties,

- take a speedboat, minivan or double deck bus,

- rent jetski,

- try to make any scam,

- make argument with locals for 68.43 Baht,

- forget you are a foreigner here, and this country is their country.

[tingtongtourist]

TH is enough safe, if you DON'T :

- visit bars to look lady-boys and pick up bar girls (or opposite:),

- rent wheels especially motorbike,

- try any drug,

- swim too far from shore and got a line on water before swimming,

- visit fool moon parties,

- take a speedboat, minivan or double deck bus,

- rent jetski,

- try to make any scam,

- make argument with locals for 68.43 Baht,

- forget you are a foreigner here, and this country is their country.

Thankyou! Great post Loles!

it is clear that you would be a tool of the highest order to do those things.

tools of all nationalities act like tools in thailand.

When people get in trouble in thailand a lot of time it is because they act like a tool.

Now i have a new meaning for TiT :0)

[Phra Ek]

One consideration - we're looking at 'reported' statistics in the table. There are some countries in the table with zero rapes reported - but these are countries where you can experience even more problems if you report a rape because of Bronze Age legal systems and values.