Advice for going solo on Sukhumvit?

[buddha]

Bangkok is the safest nightlife destination in the world in my opinion.

 

I can't imagine having to resort to a taxi between cowboy and nana and missing the wonderful ambiance.

 

 

[mongon]

Having sat out on Suk until the sunrise many times over the years I can also say that problems are extremely rare.

 

HOWEVER, was in BKK a few months back and had a problem two times with my checkbin at two different sidewalk cafes. This was the first time this ever happened other than very minor stuff.

 

It had to do with the price of beer. When the bill comes I would find the price for a beer for a lady (140baht) was more than my beer (80 baht).

 

The first problem I had was because I asked in advance and was told beer was 80 baht. So after buying several beers for the two girls working there the check came and the explanation for the jacked up amount was that 80 baht for my beer and "lady beer 140." I was exceedingly unhappy as you can imagine.

 

Second problem occurred when at another Suk sidewalk plastic cafe I asked how much was beer for me and then asked separately how much for lady and was told 80 baht same. Check came and the explanation for the jacked up amount was once again "lady beer 140 baht." I was with two ladies and once again was faced with a large check bin rather than the extremely small check bins I was used to in the good old days of late night Suk when you could drink and eat all night for a small and very fair price and no scams.

 

So I started arguing with the server. Before I could even get angry one of the girls I was with spoke in Thai to the heretofore very nice girl that was serving which resulted in the server girl raising a beer bottle as if to throw it at my girl. There was thai guy in charge of cooking at this cafe and I wondered how it would go if I smashed the server girl's face. I watched closely fairly certain I would lose my cool if the bottle was thrown but the girl slowly put the beer bottle down all the while chattering her vitriole in thai at my girl.

 

Rather than face down the possiblilty of a machete wielding thai guy (and a feisty bottle thrower lol) I decided to pay up and chalk it up to learning about the new Sukumvit. The same girl who had spoke up later told me how a young Aussie kid was drinking on Suk and paid for his beer everytime they brought him one so he could avoid a problem with his check bin. When he was leaving they brought him a check bin anyway for all the beers he drank. The kid ended up unconscious on the sidewalk (according to the girl).

 

I will still hang out there on Suk late at night but I have been doing it for years and feel OK doing it. If you are new to thailand my advice is not to get to worked up over a check bin and whatever you do don't get into a fight with thais. You might end up kicking some ass, but there is also the possibility that you will get the bad end of it. You can be sure that thais running late night cafes have a weapon stashed and it might just be a heavy stick or it might be something nastier. And if there is trouble whatever you do don't stick around waiting for police to arrive.

 

I want to add one more thing because new comers might get the wrong idea from my post. Lower sukhumvit is a very safe place to monger and if you think about it, small check bin problems are minor in the scheme of things. Unless you make a big deal out of minor stuff you have a 99.9 % assurance of being safe which is probably better than if you hang around late in big cities wherever you come from.

 

 

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

yep! pretty incredible to agree twice within 24 hours!

 

You just agreed with him again......that makes 3 times now. Better watch out or there might be some hugging involved.

 

[kamui]

What a bunch of paranoid wussies you all sound!

 

Oh leave the ring at home, Oh dont carry your phone.

 

Fucking Grow a Set you pathetic lot!

 

Better safe than sorry.

These are really simple rules which won't reduce nightlife fun at all.

Anyway, rules like not carrying much cash and valuables *at night* are rules I always follow when traveling (except in Japan) and it paid off.

Once a team of pickpockets stole my wallet near Place Pigalle in Paris, I was robbed at knife point in Bonn/Germany, I caught a guy searching through my backpack in a restaurant in Tunis...

But I never lost more than a few Euro.

 

PS: It's not surprising that it's mostly expats who find those basics precautions funny... We non-expats know that they have a superior knowledge and therefore they would never get robbed in LOS.

:content:

[bangkokrover]

Besides Soi 19, recently another spot where ladyboys wait in ambush is Sukhumvit between the Penalty Spot pub and Soi 23, where there's a bus shelter with a trelis of climbing plants to hide behind. One night about midnight, whilst walking past with hands in pockets, a bunch of about 4 of them surrounded me, and as I took my right hand out of my pocket to fend them off, one of them got its hand in my now undefended pocket and made off with my mobile phone. It was only a cheap phone so I didn't bother giving chase, but they all dived into the already open doors of a waiting taxi. A few minutes later by the footbridge by California Fitness, another LB started heading towards me; I told it to fuck off, but it kept coming so I gave it a really firm shove and it fell over onto the flower garden, and almost over the wall to the basement level of the Glasshouse building. Thats a long way down and onto concrete steps. Luckily that didn't happen though. Besides LBs, bunches of older kids selling stuff are also now trying to put their hands in your pockets at these places such as footbridges where you have to funnel through. I've also heard a couple reports, one of them from the victims mouth, of robberies in broad daylight on Sukhumvit by the park next to Emporium, carried out by bunches of adult men.

Bangkok still seems to be relatively safe, but seems to be getting worse along with the economy. You now have to be more alert and vigilent.

 

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

I've had problems also near the Penalty Spot area you talked about. They got nothing but did put hands on me. They were appropriately moved.

 

The park though is hard to believe. I have spend many many days there with my son and gf and have never ever had nor seen anything fishy. Also, several "cops" on bikes patroling the park. Not saying it didn't happen but hard to believe.

[Just a Guy]

BJ is still around. I thought you left dude. Oh well, maybe we can catch up next time. I was in BKK all of Feb, 2009.

[Ed Zeppelin]

I've also heard a couple reports, one of them from the victims mouth, of robberies in broad daylight on Sukhumvit by the park next to Emporium, carried out by bunches of adult men.

 

I actually saw that happen to a guy a couple of months ago at about 5pm one afternoon. He was walking a long the BTS walkway and down the steps onto the pavement on the other side of the road to the park. While he was walking he had one Thai guy walking quite close in front of him and three close behind. They weren't young guys. They were probably late 40s, and quite stocky. I was walking directly behind them and I assumed the farang guy was with them because of how close they were together. The Thai guy in front kept turning around to speak to his friends behind the farang. To me it just looked odd, but I didn't think any more of it.

 

They continued to walk in front on me towards the Villa supermarket when the Thai guy in front crouched down and slammed himself into the farang and kind of jostled with him. The other Thai guys all pushed up against the back of the farang. Then the guy at the front ran off back down the road past the BTS and I realised what had happened. The farang guy looked a bit shocked and then realised his wallet had gone and walked back up towards where the guy had run off.

 

I was on my way to buy something in Villa supermarket and walked in to see two of the guys standing in there in front of shelves by the door, looking to see if anyone was coming. I felt completely powerless to do any thing because it was probably them or the third guy who was with them who had gone on who actually had the wallet.

 

My feeling about seeing that incident is that I can't understand how the farang guy didn't feel something was not right with these guys walking so closely in front and behind him all the way from the BTS. The BTS walkway wasn't crowded until they reached the pavement. I don't know if he did or not, but probably having a wallet in his back pocket singled him out, and maybe they'd watched him use an ATM or something.

 

Anyway, it was depressing to have seen this take place and has made me even more aware.

[Dali]

I go solo around Suk almost every night. While BKK remains generally safer than most western cities, incidents of pick pockets and purse snatchings seem to be on the rise.

 

The north side of Suk between Soi 19 and Asok is a prime spot for pickpockets, with the area between soi 23 and 31 also risky, and the south side of Suk between soi 4 and soi 10.

 

I've never been victimized, but have come close a few times. When I suspect someone and they try to touch me, I roughly push them off, tell them to 'get away from me' and give them the intense stare to let them know I'm ready to kick their ass.

 

It's not just katoeys. It can be girls and young boys too.

 

Once on the north side of Suk around Soi 23 and another time on the south side near Soi 8 I've had 2 young boys (under age 12) approach, stick a plastic bag full of something (flowers maybe) in my gut, wai me and beg for money. They are very aggressive beggers. But if you don't give them a handout (I never) I think the one tries to divert your attention with the plastic bag while the other picks your pocket. I saw them do this to another solo guy near the Nana BTS, and after he pushed them away and kept on walking, they threw down their plastic bags, took off running in the opposite direction and disappeared up and over the walking bridge to the other side of Suk in a couple of seconds. I'm sure they picked his pocket.

 

Another time in the same area (south side of Suk near the Nana BTS) I saw a solo guy walking, suddenly turnaround and run after 'someone', but the someone had disappeared and he looked up and down the street to no avail.

 

And a girl I know who works near soi 10 told me she saw a girl pick someone's pocket in front of Chuvit Park (between soi 8 and 10) and then disappear quickly by tuk tuk.

 

Also know of a couple riding in a tuk tuk along Suk, with the woman having her purse beside her on the seat. While they were stopped in traffic, a guy on a motorcycle comes up beside them, grabs the lady's purse (full of cash and also her passport and her husband's passport) and takes off.

 

And a Thai girl I know was walking down Soi 16 around 1am after getting off work at an area restaurant, when a motorcycle rider came up from behind, grabbed her purse and took off with it.

 

Though as anyone else, just be careful, cautious and aware at all times and you should not have any problems. Always carry your wallet in your front pocket, and be particularly alert when others are close.

[Bangkoktraveler]

I guess it might be time to carry a throw away wallet with some 10 and 20 baht bills in it that have laying in poison ivy or poison oak. Better yet, have a couple of condoms that have been laying in poison oak.