British backpacker Grace Taylor missing in Thailand

[hgma]

Think about it....if it was your child.

I think we should be grateful to all who participated in 'finding' her, including Thaivisa.

Flukes and pranks happen, but should never be a reason to be silent.

[willyumiii]

It seems she has been found unharmed..that is good news.

But this incident has made me think..

I never hear of American, French, Russian or backpackers from any country but Britton having such problems in Thailand!

Some have had serious problems ( murdered ) others raped, some missing and some just seem to forget to call home and cause a big stir.

What is it about young Brits( and their parents?) that put them in the headlines so often in Thailand and not the young of other countries?

Rather curious huh?

Most American don't own a passport or even know where Thailand is. If they teach geography in The USA, it must only be local.

Most Americans I know have passports and I lived there for over 50 years .

I know more than a few Americans.

And yes, I even know a few who have found Thailand.

[TheLobster]

Attention seeking maybe but great she has been found alive and well ! ..... I should be surprised at the amount of negative posts on this forum but I'm not.

There are lot of posters on thaivisa that are complete tw*ts and one of the reasons I visit. I'm pretty average so where else can you go to for an ego trip and find yourself to be such a superior human being with consideration for others and comparatively a more educated person as well?

[falang khinok]

well well so she was finally found ...maybe never been missing at the first place....maybe has a psycho family who ask baby please call every ten minutes otherwise momy dies...overcaring = overkill....no wonder she did not cooperate with big brother....I was thinking maybe found a cool thai boy and moved in with him .... maybe for the first time in her life did things her way a taste, of freedom .... and everybody thoiught oh she is the next chopup in chao phra....

trust ur kids - let them do things their way and get rid of this facebook..s...t

[Veritas48]

I hope she is safe and sound.

On a side note The British newspapers seem to be constantly reporting negative news from Thailand.

I wonder how many Brits are put off coming here with all that negativity.

I am an adventurer. The more negative the reviews are, the faster I wanted to come. Here I am, 15 years later and love reading the reviews! T

To fall in love with oneself is the beginning of a life long romance.

[catman20]

im a man but when I was 21 I would not have travelled to somewhere like Thailand alone and for a young girl to do this I think your asking for trouble, hope they find her alive and well.

that is totally subjective - by 21 I and most of my friends had hitch-hiked to India Afghanistan or Morocco...some had gone on to Thailand and Oz, most were teenagers - and none had the luxury of credit cards or mobile phones....how safe you are depends at least in part on the person involved...not their age.

agreed but most young people are likely to make wrong or bad decisions and end up tragically dead or missing

[bannork]

Social media is definitely a double-edged sword, on the one hand it's great to know how loved ones are doing far away but on the other hand it takes some of the mystery and romance away from travel. As quite a few posters have mentioned, not long ago folks traveled around the world and the only contact with home was at the Poste Restante down on Charoern Krung road or a 500 baht yellow international phone card for an emergency

'How's John doing these days?'- ' Last I heard he was heading for Kashmir' and that would be it till John got home with all his stories and photos.

Now folks can't go anywhere without taking selfies in front of whatever monument/tourist attraction and instantly posting on facebook etc- 'Here I am at The Louvre' 'Here I am at the Taj Mahal' if you ask them what they learnt about The Louvre or Taj Mahal you're usually faced with a blank look. ( better take another selfie quick, uncle's just asked me a tricky question).

Who was it who said, 'For every gain we make in technology we lose something else.' ? Thinking about mobile phones, computers and all the numbers they can keep, years ago we had to learn phone numbers by heart, that kept the memory active.

[bannork]

im a man but when I was 21 I would not have travelled to somewhere like Thailand alone and for a young girl to do this I think your asking for trouble, hope they find her alive and well.

that is totally subjective - by 21 I and most of my friends had hitch-hiked to India Afghanistan or Morocco...some had gone on to Thailand and Oz, most were teenagers - and none had the luxury of credit cards or mobile phones....how safe you are depends at least in part on the person involved...not their age.

agreed but most young people are likely to make wrong or bad decisions and end up tragically dead or missing

Back in 68 in grade 6, aged 12 at boarding school our headmaster ordered us in pairs to hitchhike from the school, all we had was.a map and half a pound each. One pair almost got to London ( from Yorkshire). we had to make a reverse charge phone call to prove where we were.. The exercise was to show initiative, see how far we could get! Lots of fun, nothing untoward happened to anyone but then hitching seemed to be a lot safer then.

[sawadee1947]

If

So why does the guy who's wife is looking after her refute that she has a pre existing mental illness?

I refute it because it is not true, she has no pre existing mental problem (or Bi-polar disease that JD Gruen stated).

His 'this all started at 3/4am" is also inaccurate.

I think you will find that it was picked up on a Bangkok forum and posted/ updated by me on the 'Ao Nang Crew' at about midnight.

Immediately my wife rang me and explained she had seen her and had interacted with her in Ao Nang about 7pm.

Many phone calls were made through the night to both the RTP, English Police and her family.

Early this morning my wife went to the airport to look for this girl.

She realised she was probably the only person in Ao Nang that would actually recognise who she was.

This she did and found her, she was in an agitated state, but she managed to calm her down sufficiently.

She was in contact with Graces mother and spent the whole day looking after her. About 1830 today her uncle arrived and took over from my wife in taking care of her. They flew back to the UK about 2 hours ago.

Was this girl missing - yes

Did she need help - yes

Was she detained by the police - no

Was she taken to a secure unit in Krabi town - no

Is she a drugged up, bi-polar, attention seeking, crazy woman ? Most certainly not.

The RTP tried to help but there was a language barrier and I think they were unsure exactly how to deal with someone in her state.

The airport authority were helpful but also unsure how to proceed.

Thankfully the story has a happy ending due to the kindness and diligence of some local residents.

Grace is back with her family members and will be home in about 20 hours.

My wife and I are planning to visit them in the summer.

Nice try at "gloss"

If not "mentally ill" then what ? Emotionally disturbed? Attention seeking ? What exactly caused this woman to start a "missing person" hunt ?

Is this woman a female version of Jason Jacobs ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/12055094/British-tourist-vanishes-in-Thailand-after-telling-parents-a-man-would-not-let-him-leave.html

well, what do you think of a young girl who comes to Thailand to enjoy her life independant from her family (maybe first time). She tried drugs as many youngsters do travelling to Thailand? The hub of exitement during "Full moon" parties? And she got mentally lost and can't remember what happened?

Her friends probably can tell about her intention what to try in Thailand. And this she did not disclose to her parents.

Good end of a stupid trip.

[captspectre]

Waste of time reading this thread.

Another tourist of diminished responsibility. After watching that BBC series on Suwarnabhumi airport, my general opinion on humanity - not just British tourists - has taken a dive.

Stop reading it then!

Yes some tourists are pretty stupid! but we have all done some daft things in our late teens early twenties.

If you are still reading? being that your time is so precious!

Be thankful that you were obviously born a mature thirty year old, therefore never had the misfortune to screw up as youngster, hence can feel no empathy for a 21 year old kid in a fix or her worried parents.

I have done some pretty silly things when i was young but never did I go alone to a cess pool third world country which is known for it's corruption and murders of gullible foreigners! and as a female she is doubly vulnerable! this idiot caused her so called parents much pain> not me I could care less if she lived or died as she has not demonsrated normal intellengce!

[JeffreyO]

She should be charged for wasting my time and that of the police.

Why? She didn't call the police, others did. Perhaps I should call the police on you and when they find you, you should be arrested for having wasted their time.

It's called sarcasm, maybe you are American?

Having read through your posts, in the past 10 you had to defend your 'sarcasm' 4 times. Impressive! Then you assume they're all American. I suppose it's everyone else's fault, not your lack of humor or ability to properly use sarcasm. I'll keep in mind that you're always right .

[IAMHERE]

Wasn't there a case of a 'missing' boy in his mid twenties last month? He just didn't tell mom where he was going like this girl. Next 'missing' person on ThaiVisa is gonna get lots less concern from me.

[AdamRich]

Glad I never got around to reading the first story of a missing backpacker who turned out to be not at all missing. Found in an airport? Was never lost.

[cumgranosalum]

So....one missing person turned out to be a prank and now ALL missing youngsters are pranksters or idiots....

I'm appalled at the way this thread has turned into a litany of assumptions and baseless opprobrious remarks ...it indicates a massive amount of ignorance and intolerance amongst some TV members

[Moonsterk]

Blowing whistle? As i suspected she was on the Mushroom Train playing conductor...I still dont understand why there hasnt been the crackdown on drug infused drinks on the islands.

These drugs, and the crowds attracted are big-big business. Sort of like prostitution- also technically illegal but a billion dollar underground industry, both of which are completely un-taxed.

[Patsycat]

Thank you for the positive update krabi local. And kudos to your wife for taking the time to look after her.

Some of us, not all, are pleased at the happy outcome for Grace and hope she gets home soon with her uncle.

To the others, your nastiness is really getting out of order. And old, probably like yourselves. On any thread about a missing person or a death. It is becoming sick.

Jumping to conclusions, making stupid accusations etc. I hope it never happens to any of you or one of your loved ones.

It happened to my family years ago, my nephew took off, not in Thailand. But still a heartstopping few weeks.

[Tywais]

Post removed due to the below following rule and being off topic:

10) Do not discuss moderation publicly in the open forum; this includes individual actions, and specific or general policies and issues. You may send a PM to a moderator to discuss individual actions or email support (at) thaivisa.com to discuss moderation policy.

[ChoakMyDee]

I'm glad she's safe. The family did the right thing by reaching out to the expat comunity. If she was having a psychotic episode she could have been hurt somehow so it's a happy ending. I don't really understand the haters iit as if it was your daughter you might have some empathy.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Yann55]

Hope she's ok. There are some shady characters in ao nang.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I found Ao Nang to be very safe and 'boring' (we stayed a night there while in transit last year). Before anyone gets on their high horse re 'entertainment' - We're backpackers (late 20's) and I was there with my GF, so entertainment would consist of more than going to the nearest girlie bar. I just found the place quite dead in general.

Be it that it may there is a dark underbelly to the place, as with any province. There are several incidents that have gone down over the years involving rape and violent attacks towards foreigners.

Probably the most high profile case in the last few years was the 19 year old Dutch model who was raped and beaten by a tour desk operator. The case led to the victims family releasing a song. Can't remember the name - evil krabi man or something.

There was also an incident where a British couple were attacked by a group wielding steel pipes. Believe they were attempting to rape the girl in front of her bf whilst he was being beaten/pinned down.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Krabi ... ah, Krabi ...

I remember going to Krabi some 20 years ago, with a friend. After a night in Ao Nang we took a long tail boat to Riley Beach, as we were told that finding accomodation there would not be a problem. There were some 20 tourists on that little boat and when we touched Riley Beach we all hopped off and looked around in total bliss : so that's where paradise was .... honestly, the beauty of that place is stunning.

Then we walked towards the houses, built in traditional style, where a local matron greeted us as if we were a bunch of disgusting pigs (and please note, the locals are Muslim). When asked if there were rooms, she barked unintelligible replies in the most unpleasant tone, the jist of which was that no, there were no rooms available. A lie, as it turned out. For what ? mai roo ... all I can think of is that she enjoyed seeing our worried faces, knowing that there was no boat back to the mainland before the next morning.

She told us to wait here, which we did, like the 'captive audience' that we were. It took about 3 hours to accomodate everyone, and my friend and I were among the last to be given a room, at some blatantly outrageous rate, of course. The mattress, which we had to share, was the weirdest thing I ever slept on. If you so much as blinked an eye, your neighbor would feel the ripple effect. Moving a leg would send him bouncing up and down as if on a trampoline. We hardly slept at all.

The next morning, we had breakfast and a swim. The breakfast was awful in every possible way, and the swim was nice, as it involved meeting only the sea and no local 'human' being. Every single interaction we had with the locals felt like dealing with prison guards. They were brutal, foul-mouthed, aggressive, contemptuous, and nasty. Our original plan was to stay for 3 days. We left by the first available boat, and no one will ever convince me to go to that place again.

Paradise is definitely not on earth. If you ask me how the locals in Krabi behave with foreigners and what they think of them, well, my post is the answer.

[Moonsterk]

English seem to be handle their liquor better than most but not much tolerance to the psychedelics..

this is a joke b4 i get manhandled by every english person out there and then it spirals down to trump banters..

lets smile a little today

I think education is the answer. Chugging down a bunch of shrooms, in an unfamiliar setting, without any awareness of or respect for the potential effects is a recipe for trouble.

It's a rite of passage in some British youth groups to travel to Thailand, drink 24/7 and indulge in whatever other drugs are procurable for weeks on end which can easily lead to paranoid delusions, hallucinations, or worse.

Of course this young woman may well have been dosed in an assault situation.

Glad to hear she is safe now.

[Mickmouse1]

We all know that some places and areas do not have mobile phones or internet coverage, so if such an irresponsible soul lands in such place and stays for a week or two, What will happen if the family did not get news? <deleted> !!!

[Mickmouse1]

You deserve what you get mate.You get yourselves in such pissing state ,unable to handle your drink but you carry on F drinking then you F complain.Don't complain about the locals because they will F do you when the opportunity arise.Biz iz Biz.

[soalbundy]

How nice to have you home again dear, would you like some mushrooms with your bacon and eggs

Noooooooooo !!!!

[SoiBiker]

What an embarrassment to the forum this thread is.

Glad she's been reunited with her family, whatever the circumstances were.

[dageurreotype]

So....one missing person turned out to be a prank and now ALL missing youngsters are pranksters or idiots....

I'm appalled at the way this thread has turned into a litany of assumptions and baseless opprobrious remarks ...it indicates a massive amount of ignorance and intolerance amongst some TV members

With your post count, surely you must have realised this long before now?

[billd766]

She should be charged for wasting my time and that of the police.

If anyone needs charging it's you for making ridiculous unfounded allegations

it's a forum with freedom of speech, isn't it? We don't need your smart comments

Not according to you as you don't need his smart comments. Is that your version of freedom of speech? After all he has the same rights to post as you do.

[billd766]

If

So why does the guy who's wife is looking after her refute that she has a pre existing mental illness?

I refute it because it is not true, she has no pre existing mental problem (or Bi-polar disease that JD Gruen stated).

His 'this all started at 3/4am" is also inaccurate.

I think you will find that it was picked up on a Bangkok forum and posted/ updated by me on the 'Ao Nang Crew' at about midnight.

Immediately my wife rang me and explained she had seen her and had interacted with her in Ao Nang about 7pm.

Many phone calls were made through the night to both the RTP, English Police and her family.

Early this morning my wife went to the airport to look for this girl.

She realised she was probably the only person in Ao Nang that would actually recognise who she was.

This she did and found her, she was in an agitated state, but she managed to calm her down sufficiently.

She was in contact with Graces mother and spent the whole day looking after her. About 1830 today her uncle arrived and took over from my wife in taking care of her. They flew back to the UK about 2 hours ago.

Was this girl missing - yes

Did she need help - yes

Was she detained by the police - no

Was she taken to a secure unit in Krabi town - no

Is she a drugged up, bi-polar, attention seeking, crazy woman ? Most certainly not.

The RTP tried to help but there was a language barrier and I think they were unsure exactly how to deal with someone in her state.

The airport authority were helpful but also unsure how to proceed.

Thankfully the story has a happy ending due to the kindness and diligence of some local residents.

Grace is back with her family members and will be home in about 20 hours.

My wife and I are planning to visit them in the summer.

Nice try at "gloss"

If not "mentally ill" then what ? Emotionally disturbed? Attention seeking ? What exactly caused this woman to start a "missing person" hunt ?

Is this woman a female version of Jason Jacobs ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/12055094/British-tourist-vanishes-in-Thailand-after-telling-parents-a-man-would-not-let-him-leave.html

Are you a doctor or a psychologist? Have you actually met the girl in question to come up with your "instant keyboard" diagnosis?

I presume that you must be part of her family otherwise why would you "need" to know what her problem was. Of course if you are not part of her family why do you have the "need" to know?

[Rob13]

If we're making bets, I'm going with the Full Moon over indulgence syndrome.

[Cook my sock]

Thanks for the reply Krabi local to clear up the misinformation on TV

Everyone should thank your wife for being there to help.

[bannork]

Hope she's ok. There are some shady characters in ao nang.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I found Ao Nang to be very safe and 'boring' (we stayed a night there while in transit last year). Before anyone gets on their high horse re 'entertainment' - We're backpackers (late 20's) and I was there with my GF, so entertainment would consist of more than going to the nearest girlie bar. I just found the place quite dead in general.

Be it that it may there is a dark underbelly to the place, as with any province. There are several incidents that have gone down over the years involving rape and violent attacks towards foreigners.

Probably the most high profile case in the last few years was the 19 year old Dutch model who was raped and beaten by a tour desk operator. The case led to the victims family releasing a song. Can't remember the name - evil krabi man or something.

There was also an incident where a British couple were attacked by a group wielding steel pipes. Believe they were attempting to rape the girl in front of her bf whilst he was being beaten/pinned down.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Krabi ... ah, Krabi ...

I remember going to Krabi some 20 years ago, with a friend. After a night in Ao Nang we took a long tail boat to Riley Beach, as we were told that finding accomodation there would not be a problem. There were some 20 tourists on that little boat and when we touched Riley Beach we all hopped off and looked around in total bliss : so that's where paradise was .... honestly, the beauty of that place is stunning.

Then we walked towards the houses, built in traditional style, where a local matron greeted us as if we were a bunch of disgusting pigs (and please note, the locals are Muslim). When asked if there were rooms, she barked unintelligible replies in the most unpleasant tone, the jist of which was that no, there were no rooms available. A lie, as it turned out. For what ? mai roo ... all I can think of is that she enjoyed seeing our worried faces, knowing that there was no boat back to the mainland before the next morning.

She told us to wait here, which we did, like the 'captive audience' that we were. It took about 3 hours to accomodate everyone, and my friend and I were among the last to be given a room, at some blatantly outrageous rate, of course. The mattress, which we had to share, was the weirdest thing I ever slept on. If you so much as blinked an eye, your neighbor would feel the ripple effect. Moving a leg would send him bouncing up and down as if on a trampoline. We hardly slept at all.

The next morning, we had breakfast and a swim. The breakfast was awful in every possible way, and the swim was nice, as it involved meeting only the sea and no local 'human' being. Every single interaction we had with the locals felt like dealing with prison guards. They were brutal, foul-mouthed, aggressive, contemptuous, and nasty. Our original plan was to stay for 3 days. We left by the first available boat, and no one will ever convince me to go to that place again.

Paradise is definitely not on earth. If you ask me how the locals in Krabi behave with foreigners and what they think of them, well, my post is the answer.

Strange, I stayed in 'Joy' bungalows back in the late 80s, early 90s on Phra Nang beach, 50 baht a night, very friendly people run by a jolly German and his Thai partners. There was only one restaurant/cafe on Ao Nang at the time, a thatched place on the end of the beach run by 2 sisters and their brother, if I remember right it was called The Last Cafe, nice people too. I think we were among the first Western tourists on Koh Lanta, the only Western food was omelettes, we had the place to ourselves, again friendly locals.