Crime and Lonely Planet

[shygye]

Hell, the LP editors only have to ask at the Embassies in Bangkok and the Thai police about reported crimes.

[buffalo_bill]

Or try to read a newspaper .

[BuffHello]

its a strange paradox that thailand holds the world record for crimes against tourists yet nobody would ever say thailand is dangerous.

the myth of the happy smiling harmless thai bloke is so entrenched that it overules any security considerations.

i suspect that is why joe cummings book will never give anything other than a general security warnings ,which is common in most of their books.

[ThaiHome]

BuffHello said:

its a strange paradox that thailand holds the world record for crimes against tourists ...

A rather bold statement. Based on?

 

Based on my experience, if I had to guess, I would say there are probably far more crimes against tourist in China then Thailand, and they certainly don't get reported there.

This is not to say there is not a serious problem in Thailand and you need to be careful here as well.

TH

[thaifan]

BuFFHELLO.

>World record liar.Get your facts right mate,instead of making them up.

[Julian2]

I've got most of the LPs for this region, some bought in Saigon and PP with slightly blurred print (very cheap though) and have yet to see an article that suggests that drunken old men throwing money at bargirls is good for the local economy. They quite cheerfully give you all the gay pick up points though, usually ignoring the fact that most of the locals hanging out there are in the same line of work as the bargirls. I can't see that accusing Thailand of being hazardous to tourists is logical when women walking along beaches in the middle of the night and men picking up dodgey looking street girls are equally at risk anywhere in the world.

[bust]

I guess the argument against that is that LP prides itself on providing a fairly accurate description of what to expect as a tourist. Ommission is the same as a blatant lie. Is saying that every Tuk Tuk driver in BKK is honest and helpful and can be trusted the same as not reporting a vicious crime specifically targeted against a tourist. I think it is. LP has no obligations to the Thai economy so should cover every aspect of what to expect as a tourist.

[Guest]

I was using a SE Aisa combination LP on my trip(1st) to LOS. I felt there were some serious ommisions. As stated all the gay pickup spots labeled, the horrors of child prostitution covered, but little mention of the legitimate p4p scene. A little more info would have been good from a safety standpoint but also just to help people not get ripped off.

 

There was a quick blurb on Patpong and Soi Cowboy, but no specifics. Then it went as far as to suggest "barhopping in PP" as a must do attraction of BKK. There was nothing in terms of do's and dont's, average prices, or gogo bar suggestions. This is stuff an uninformed tourist (sadly me) needs to know! With a few tips, I might have avoided the gross overpayment on my katoey (mis)adventure. Oh yeah, no mention of Katoey either. I knew they were around, but had no idea how many or which bars they worked in. Would have been nice to know as I was looking for girls...

[chuckwoww]

Lonely Planet is aimed primarily at the backpacker, guesthouse and trekking types. Talking too much about P4P probably wouldn't be good for business. Somehow they manage to overcome their scruples when it comes to gays and lesbians. Go figure.

[Guest]

I don't know if Thailand holds the world record for crimes against tourists, but it is far more dangerous than many tourists think.

 

Awhile back there was a debate on this board about the level of violence in Thailand, and one member made the claim that the US was more violent "by any metric" than Thailand. I posted official government websites reporting on crime in Thailand and the US, and it was clear that the homocide rate is much higher in Thailand than in the US. And those were official statistics. Thailand's chief forensic scientist, Dr. Pornthip, constantly complains about police cover-ups of, and participation in, murders. And then, of course, there are the botched investigations. In other words, Thailand under-reports crime, and the situation is undoubtedly far worse than the official statistics indicate.

 

Some of the reported suicides are amusing, in a dark, gallows humour sort of way. Like the guy in a famous NEP area hotel who committed suicide by handcuffing his hands behind his back and then placing a plastic bag over his head to suffocate himself to death. There are constant reports about rather dubious suicides like this in Thailand, particularly in Pattaya. I think Pattaya must lead the world in balcony jumpers (and no, I don't have any official statistics to back up that obviously facetious statement.)

 

What I find most amazing is that some people will actually advance arguements along the following lines: "well, it could have happened that way by..." Someone actually raised that argument in response to a post about the suicide while handcuffed incident. Maybe there is a way to engineer a suicide in this fashion, but when you start arguing those type of details a larger and more important point is missed: the fact that Thailand has a large number of suspicious Frangs deaths and unlikely suicides.

 

It is equally obvious that some are in serious denial about this very serious problem in Thailand. I think the more intresting question is why are they in denial? My hunch centers on the lures of the nightlife here and the fact that, on the surface, Thais can appear to be the most polite and gracious people on earth. It is hard to give up the illusion.

 

This needs to kept in perspective - Thailand is not Iraq. But it is not a blissful and peaceful Buddhist utopian paradise either. It is certainly more dangerous than the US. Is it the most dangerous place on earth for tourists - I don't know but I think a protracted argument over that question also misses a more important point: the fact that Thailand can be a very violent place - much more violent than many tourists believe.