Crime In Thailand

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thailand crime

 

Bag Snatching In Bangkok

We were walking back home through the Sois to our Bangkok apartment today, just after dark. There is a very thin lane with corrugated panelled walls – quite dilapidated looking. I could hear a motorbike approaching behind me, as they very frequently do around this area of Bangkok, so I sped up to try and move out of the way for him… Well the guy on the motorbike snatched my bag. Yep, just like in the movies – they actually do drive past you on a motorbike, bag snatching in Bangkok. And a smoothly done crime it was.

I thought I’d been hit at first, what with it being such a narrow path, so it took a few seconds to register that I’d had my bag snatched. Then my boyfriend just flung his bag to the floor and chased the bag snatching thief up the lane for about half a mile, Terminator 2 style. Alas, despite this lane having heavy single lane traffic coming from the other direction every night that we have lived in Bangkok for 3 weeks, tonight there was not a soul on the road and so the thief escaped with my stolen bag after a valiant attempt to retrieve it.

Sadly, my boyfriend’s laptop suffered a crack from being chucked on the floor during the pursuit of the thief. I had my bag, my wallet, my camera, my mobile phone, my freshly topped up BTS carrot card, my school books and notes, and about 800 baht stolen 🙁 To be honest, there were plenty of warning signs. Literally. ‘Beware: bag snatching’ signs everwhere around this part of Bangkok. Fortunately, I only have a crappy mobile phone, it was my lesser camera, and I had no credit cards in my wallet. So, in a positive light, I still have my sexy camera, my credit cards and my passport… At least I can learn from this small crime in Thailand so that I may protect my more important possessions in the future.

Also, after so much budgeting and depriving myself of tasty treats and drinks during our days in Thailand so far, well the cash alone in my bag was about 800 baht. Ironically before my bag snatching, I had been being particularly stingy with my money and so I bitterly realised that my petty attempts to save money in Thailand were in vain.

And so I conclude.. Screw it. Screw you money! I’m gonna eat all the tasty Thai snacks and bubble teas to my heart’s content until I either explode… or run out of money after 4 months living in Thailand rather than the planned year :/

Because money – it just comes and goes, it is impermanent… and you never know when some jackass thief on a motorbike is gonna just steal it all away from you.

 

Avoid having your bag snatched in Thailand! Check my Thailand safety guide here.

 

Mystery Job – Interview Day

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After a random and unexpected job offer from Bob Anderson in Bangkok, (mentioned in my previous post here) today was interview day. I arrived prepared for the worst and dubious that it might be a scam.

Bob Anderson’s english turned out to be quite a lot worse than I remember. There had definitely been a bit of a mis-communication. ‘So what sort of job are you interested in in Bangkok?’, he keeps asking. I was a little unprepared for this as I assumed he had a specific job lined up for me from what he told me yesterday.

After a long walk across various walkways and through various shopping centres, (my bodyguard boyfriend James-Bonding-it-up and sneakily following us behind)  we reached a Bangkok office. Pretty flashy and corporate looking. Anyway, Bob Anderson introduced me to the Director and we moved on into a small glass-walled room with a dozen chairs in it and a white board. He began asking me about my previous work and education history, which is a little embarrassing as it’s not the most impressive career background, and then continued to ask me what sort of work I’m after. Again, I really don’t know, I don’t have any idea what kind of work is available to me in Bangkok (being simple and unskilled as I am).

He explains a couple of jobs they have available for me in Bangkok, but through his broken english I don’t quite understand the details exactly. Then his colleague, the director entered. Next I had to sit through a long presentation on the white board about a pyramid scheme where I would have to buy some useless product for £600 and then I’d be able to make thousands of dollars every month apparently. Woohoo! ;p Bit surreal and awkward when you’re a one man audience sat alone in the middle of a boardroom twiddling your thumbs, not in the slightest bit interested in signing up to the scam. After 20 minutes of the presentation, the two of them switched back (never to mention the subject of the Pyramid scheme scam again by the way) to asking me what sort of work I’d be interested in.

Anyway, to finish it all off, a huge, very serious african gentleman dropped them a visit and I have to say, he was one of the scariest, most intimidating people I’ve ever met. I guess he was a little less patient with Bob Anderson’s overly quiet, beating around the bush, broken English style and eventually he started getting a bit shouty and it was all very awkward. And then I left. After about 1 and a half hours of arriving there :/

…At least I had a bash at it.

Recruitment scam in Bangkok

UPDATE: A few months later in Bangkok, I noticed a post on my Facebook news feed warning people about a man who had stolen a small business’s identity and website and was tarnishing their name with various scams. Other people commented and the gist of it seemed to be that he was tricking people into the sex trade and screwing other people over with their pay on other jobs.  I recognised the name so I clicked on the link to his Facebook  and – yup you guessed it – it was the very same person who approached and interviewed me. That explains why we thought he seemed so dodgy when we looked into all his different scam websites and names obviously. Apparently he goes by many aliases, but the main one he goes by is ‘Bob Anderson’. 

recruitment scam thailand

This is the second Facebook post I’ve seen about ‘the notorious Bob Anderson’ to date

 

How to Use The BTS & Rabbit Cards Explained

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RABIT CARD BTS

How To Use The BTS Skytrain in Bangkok?

We’ve been in Bangkok for a few weeks now and used the BTS Skytrain almost every day. The BTS Skytrain is a really useful mode of transport when staying in Bangkok. You can catch the BTS train to take a ferry to Khaosan Road or Wat Arun, to the central malls of Bangkok and to all the main, big markets. Traffic in Bangkok is pretty mental during the day, so it pays to stay in a hotel in walking distance to a BTS Skytrain station – You can check out all the best places to stay in convenient locations near the BTS stations in my Bangkok area guide here.

I see a lot of non-Thai’s in the  BTS Skytrain station trying to make sense of the posters and purchase the correct ticket. It’s actually quite simple; In the smaller stations, to purchase your tickets visit a panel on a wall, usually in some sort of pillar or podium in the middle of the turn styles. You will see 8 buttons all with numbers on such, something like this:

15        20

25      30

35     40

45      50

Each number, or button, is a fare, in Baht. Put your coins in, press a button and it will print your ticket. To know which fare you need, look at one of the maps of the BTS Skytrain system, usually mounted on the wall next to the machine. You will see a series of BTS station names, with a circled number. That number is the fare in Baht. That is the button you press.

In bigger stations there is a touch screen machine you use where you select the station you want to  go to and how many tickets (passengers) you want, then enter your money, it will tell you onscreen how much you need to pay – and collect your printed ticket.

For both of the above systems, take your printed ticket to the gates and offer it to the slot on the right hand side of the gate post, it will suck in your ticket, open the gate and spit your ticket back out the top. Make sure you take the ticket as you have to put your ticket into the gate when you leave too, though when you leave you will not get the ticket back. If you have to change trains at all, then you don’t need to use your ticket at every station as you will arrive in the BTS station on the skytrain beyond the gates.

RABIT CARD BTS     What is the Rabbit Card and can I get one as a   foreigner?

You can. I’ve seen a few posts online where people complain that foreigners are not allowed BTS Carrot cards in Bangkok, however this is not true. Not only is a lot of the BTS Rabbit Card information in English, but  when you register you card online you have an option to select if you’re not Thai and are asked for your  international passport number. BTS Carrot cards are extremely useful to save time wasted queuing when travelling around Bangkok.

To buy a Rabbit card just visit the manned booth in any station. At the time of writing this they cost 200 Baht which includes a 50 fare. You can top up the card by taking it to any manned both and handing over cash with it.

Every time you go to a station you need to place your Rabbit card on the round pad on the top of the turn style/gate.. make sure you do the same when you leave so that you are charged correctly. If you manage to slip through an open gate on your way out the station then you are likely to be charged the most expensive fare for the day, automatically.

Visit one of those big orange Rabbit card machines in the station and you can print some vouchers. Also print out the instructions on how to register your Rabbit card online just in case you lose it. Additionally benefit to registering is that you can get reward points every time you use it which can be exchanged for things such as money off, coupons, limited edition Rabbit cards and even holidays.

You can check your Rabbit balance at any Rabbit machine or online and each time you place your Rabbit card on a gate the screen will tell you the remaining balance.

Can I use my Rabbit Card on the MRT In Bangkok?

No, not yet. But apparently it’s going to be an option in mid-late 2013.

Random Job Offer

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I arrived at my thai lesson early today and decided to wait outside in the sunshine at Park Venture. A few minutes later, a Japanese guy approached me – ‘excuse me, do you speak english?’. His name was Bob Anderson and he went on to explain that he had a job for me – translating. I assume maybe (as we chatted about languages so he’d know I can’t speak any others fluently) translating texts or just improving rough drafts… I’m not quite sure. Bob Anderson seemed nice enough… he was softly spoken and polite, his english wasn’t that easy to understand and he just didn’t seem to get to the point about what the company did or what the job was.

He asked me if I could come for an interview in the office across the road but as I didn’t have time, I wrote down my email address for him and asked if he could send me some more information. I figured, as I didn’t have much of an idea what he was talking about, I could probably get a better idea if he sent me something more official, or his website even. Now, I am a strong believer in the Yes Man theory… You regret the things in life that you don’t do more than the things that you actually do. A job in translation sounds pretty cool and I could really use the money – it sucks living on a budget when there’s so much tasty food enticing you and seducing you on every street corner :O

Well, I received an email from him straight away… It didn’t have any more information in it, just a load of his website links and a facebook link. I looked at the links… still have no idea what exactly he does, looked at his facebook and get this – he has around 3000 friends and seriously 99% of them are all young girls around my age… That’s weird. My boyfriend got pretty suspicious and stayed awake hours googling him – Bob Anderson seems to have different aliases, different businesses and all information and pictures basically just don’t match up. So, admittedly I’m a bit put off now, but he seems pretty harmless so we’ve concluded that it’s probably legitimate… Still though, I shall prepare myself for something very, very ropey.

Learn more about my interview and Bob Anderson here.

Joining a Thai Language School

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If you are planning on staying in Thailand for a while then it’s a good idea to make an effort to learn to speak Thai. Yes you can get by without speaking it, the old western favorite of talking loud, pointing and getting money out generally does the trick. But we are better than that, are we not? Not to mention feeling at home; it’s hard to feel at home in a country when you do not speak the language. If you are planning on staying a while, learn a little Thai – You might enjoy yourself.

Not to mention other benefits learning Thai brings. Such as paying a better price for goods or being allowed to stay in Thailand on an ED visa, providing you study a certain amount of lessons in a year. I will write another post on this topic alone at some point.

Hows does joining a language school in Thailand work?

It’s simple.. Rock up at some schools and say Hello, do you have any information on learning Thai please? If they do not understand you, probably not a good school for you. You can call or email schools before visiting but actually seeing the inside of the school and how the staff act first hand is the best way to tell if the school is right for you.

How do I find a good language school in Thailand?

I like Googlin’ and that’s my preference. Most good schools should have an online presence. It’s always good to go looking for reviews or pictures of Thai language schools online.

Another great source of schools can just be keeping your eye’s open as you walk around. Especially in Bangkok, most of the major streets such as Silon Road and the big shopping centers like Siam Paragon will have companies offering language courses in Thai. If you spot on, you could just go home and hope you find it on Google or walk straight in and see what they have.

How much does a Thai language course cost?

The prices really range depending on what you want. If you want a few lessons a week and to pay as you you go, you could pay only a few dollars a lesson, if you want a full course from a well established school that will help you with an ED visa you could spend any where between a few hundred dollars to a thousand. I believe some universities offer great long term, full time courses.. I’ve not looked into this much, but these generally cost a few thousand USD from what I remember.

My girlfriend and I joined a school called Language Express located in central Bangkok. It was the most expensive we found. It’s for 200 lessons within 1 year, all books included and they help you get an ED visa.

We found cheaper courses offering the same package, but the location of this one is great and their building facilities a great, so we decided a positive environment justifies the cost. It cost us 34,000 Baht in November 2012, which is around £700 or $1100 U.S dollars.  I wrote a review of Language Express Bangkok, you can read it here.

Have you attended a language school or Thai course in Thailand? If so, we’ve love to hear your thoughts on what you experienced. Either add a comment to this post or drop us an email if you want to write a full post on here, with full credit of course.

Cheers,
Happy

I have no Exit Stamp from Thailand

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thia visa no exit stamp

If you ever managed to leave Thailand on for whatever reason did not get your passport stamped at the border, this post may be of interest to you.

 

Earlier on in the year, I took part in a charity tuk tuk race from Bangkok, across the Malaysian border, over to Sumatra and ended up in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. Thanks to a combination of exhausting, confusing and a healthy dose of nonchalance, I managed to leave Thailand without getting my passport stamped. The Malaysian border officials gave me my Malaysian stamp and on we went.

 

It wasn’t until I wanted to return to Thailand to live for a year that I thought I should get this sorted before landing in Bangkok. Not having an exit stamp from Thailand could result in any of the below…

  • Being fined in Baht, per day from the date my visa ran out to the day I landed back in Thailand.
  • Being incarcerated until I can pay said fine.
  • Being deported from Thailand.
  • Being permanently banned from entering Thailand.
  • All of the above.

None of those are particulally appealing to me so I decided to call the Thai Consulate in the U.K to get this sorted before flying. Luckily I have an entry stamp to Malaysia long before my Thai tourist visa expires, I also have an exist stamp from Malaysia before my Thai tourist visa expires. On top of that, I even have an entry and exit stamp from Indonesia within the Thai tourist visa limit.
 

So I call the consulate, who are confused by the situation. I explain several times that I left Thailand via land, through Sadao and I do not have an exit stamp. After some worried groans, the Thai Consulate offers to call the Thai Embassy to see what we can do. I wait for two days and get a call back, and to summarise: good luck.

 

What the Consulate actually said was that there is nothing they, nor the Embassy could do. I would have to board my plane, rock up in Thailand and except to visit the immigration office in the airport, where I would have to explain why I do not have an exit stamp. The Consulate thinks it should be fine, because its obvious I’ve just landed and I clearly have stamps for the other countries. That being said, I should take any additional proof I have that I left the country such as train or plane tickets and be prepared to pay a fine. I guess if your moving to Thailand you should probably get used to it. Don’t be put off, what are often long complicated processes in England can often be solved in Thailand with a minor fine. It’s a good thing, to an extent.

 

Oh, one more thing – The Thai Consulate gave me the number of immigration at the airport so that I could call them before I fly in, and do my best to explain my situation. The Consulate was not sure if this would help or not, mearly suggested it is worth a try.

 

So, quite an open answer from the Thai Embassy. It’s certainly an exiting start to my year long stay in Thailand. I’l be sure to update this post as soon as I speak to immigration on the phone and once again once I fly in.

UPDATE: Got in fine. Zero happened at the airport. Cool.

 

Adios,
Happy