Avoid Phuket At All Costs: Crime Capital Of Asia

[gamini 3,075]

No doubt you,ll be hounded for being alarmist by both those who have vested interests in maintaining the facade of Thailand as a dream holidat destination and those who prefer to keep there heads burried in the sand.

Phuket truly is a wretched place, I was beaten unconcious by two Thais outside 7*11 around 3 years ago myself, all for the grand sum of around 600 bht.

check this link http://www.thephuket...amily-31469.php

The fact is the veil is really being lifted oh Thailand these days as the crooks and skum become ever bolder, with scams and deciets getting taken to a whole new level.

Just last week I had a Thai guy come up to outside the mall in Siam square and demand 20 bht, I politely said mai pen rai cap and moved away. The nutter started screaming and frothing at the mouth calling me everything under the sun. I do not doubt he was on the point of attacking me until the mall security overheard and started coming in my direction. He walked away pretending to shoot me with his finger.

These stories are everywhere everyday and soon people will start turning there backs on the place en masse.

I've also seen incidents like that in UK and USA. Not just a Thai problem. I've been here for 2 years and haven't seen any violent incidents at all. I've spent 6 months In New York and seen a few. And I've seen plenty of incidents like this in the UK. What you describe is just one mad person. It sounds like an isolated incident. I've been to Siam Square lots of times and never seen anything remotely like what you described.

Good for you, although you seem to be in the minority.

I read comments like yours and have to wonder where you live and whether you ever leave your home, because I have regularly seen farang being harassed, corralled, conjolled, intimidated, pushed, stomped and beaten by locals.

As for "these things happen everywhere", I disagree. Show me a news article from any country where a tourist was attacked, beaten with a foreign object and robbed as they exit a 7-11. I'll be waiting with baited breath.

Also, how about sharing some of your experiences where you have "seen" these types of incidents in the west with your own two eyes?

true. I lived in Chiangmai for 30 years and I have never seen anything even remotely like what has been happening in Phuket or Pattaya .

Where I live now in Thailand we don;t even lock our doors when we go out and the locals are delightful honest and very friendly.

[waza 4,393]

hopefully this warning will save a few lives

[Sharp 2,001]

Easy solution is cheap mass transit the Tuk Tuks will disappear and people can hop on and off buses /light trains so to eradicate the opportunist watching and waiting for people having to walk due to the over priced short rides of the present day available transport ,as for the police well kick the lot out start again...

[JoePai 5,866]

Come on Pattaya - can't let Phuket get away with being called the "Crime Capital"

[KarenBravo 10,620]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

[necronx99 943]

Meanwhile in Sydney there were 3 fatal hit and runs in a week and a mall security guard was killed by 3 scumbags who have spent their entire life on welfare.

Hans who was 68 and worked for 18 dollars an hour was kicked to death in a major shopping mall at 9pm when he attempted to stop them from breaking into a Wendy's kiosk.

But yes Phuket seems very bad.

[Wavefloater 570]

It seems that not long ago, there would be a small brigade of people defending Phuket in a thread like this. However, the same passion to defend it doesn't appear in this thread. Those past defenders appeared to be foreigners who had business interests there (and would understandably want people to think well of Phuket). Does the the lack of defensive comments indicate that those business people have given up trying to redeem Phuket's reputation, moved away from Phuket (maybe to Chiang Mai), or are now in agreement that Phuket really is a dangerous place?

[sportsman69 89]

Just looking thru the web looking for a cheap flight back to OZ. This appeared.

Phuket Prison Guard Shot Moonlighting: 'Three million Baht Stolen'

Anyone know about this. Was he running a still making hooch, 3 mill is a lot of moonshine

http://cheapthailandflights.org/phuket-prison-guard-shot-moonlighting-three-million-baht-stolen/

[Phuket Stan 283]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

And I could not agree more

Whats that old adage....."Go to bed with dogs....U get up with fleas"....its the company u keep guys plus Phuket has very open press so nothing is sat on / hidden....if u break wind the press hears about it

[xylophone 12,026]

Despite all that has been said, it will not be easy to clean up the likes of Patong and surrounds, the reason is quite simple.......corruption. The Tuk Tuk owners are required to pay the BIB every month, that's why more of them appear on the road than are actually necessary and the reason why the BIB won't get rid of them because it is a major source of income. The same applies to the jet ski operators, so no cleaning up as far as they are concerned..............and so it goes on.

Times are getting tight and many bars are suffering, however the BIB still visit them on a monthly basis to collect their monthly payments and are now demanding more. There is more to be made from fleecing the bars than policing the streets so that's where their efforts are concentrated.

The situation will not change in the likes of Phuket or Pattaya because that's where the money is concentrated so that's where the BIB focus their efforts on extorting it, rather than fighting crime.

A major change is needed from the top, however as a lot of the money flows upwards to these very folk, that is not likely to change either.

Either get used to the fact that this will not get any better and try and live with it or move away, because that seems the only answer.

[Wavefloater 570]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

And I could not agree more

Whats that old adage....."Go to bed with dogs....U get up with fleas"....its the company u keep guys plus Phuket has very open press so nothing is sat on / hidden....if u break wind the press hears about it

That makes perfect sense -- get away from the sleaze and away from the trouble. I live near Pattaya. Due to my work, I must be in this area but hate Pattaya, so I choose to live as far away as I practically can and only go there when absolutely necessary. So, I completely understand what you are saying.

Unfortunately, if nothing is done to protect the naive tourists from the violence and scams, Phuket may eventually have more serious economic problems. I have never been subject to any violence in Phuket, but the general unfriendliness and obscene worship of money that is endemic with the native business community turned me off ever going back there again. In my opinion, Phuket has a lot of problems to sort out, and time may run out before the locals truly realize it.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Wavefloater

[Felt 35 655]

For tourists Phuket is a nightmare waiting to happen, but for an expat who knows better than to live in the tourist hotspots it's as crime free, peaceful and friendly as anywhere else in Thailand.

In 4 years of living away from the tourist areas I'm yet to have a single problem. The local Thais near me are as friendly as anywhere else in the country as far as I'm concerned.

I live among fantastic countryside, near amazing beaches and all the restaurants you care to mention. Not a tuk tuk or suit seller, or violent mugger in site. Let Patong, Karon, Kata etc go to the dogs. The other 70% of the island is doing just fine.

Spot on.

And I could not agree more

Whats that old adage....."Go to bed with dogs....U get up with fleas"....its the company u keep guys plus Phuket has very open press so nothing is sat on / hidden....if u break wind the press hears about it

Following the "open press" the latest weeks, Phuket is infested with flies so the question is if there are much else than "dogs to go to bed" with!

[grumpyoldman 2,064]

I think this is some sesationalist journalism, taking advantage of a couple of recent crimes, plus an incident that wasn't even Phuket.

Maybe this guy is trying out for The Sun? Or in America, trying to get on the Dr. Phil show?

"Crime Capital of Asia" prove that one for me, show some statistics, because that is pure B.S. Phuket no longer safe for visitors or Thais, again just sensationalist journalism.

The Sri Panwa guy at a club in Phuket town at 3:30 or 4 in the morning. That story still has to be yet confirmed how he was acting in the situation. O.K. recent death of the Australian lady tragic for sure, but for the journalist to say "police considered possible rape" is tossing fuel on his article's fire and there is no proof to that, at all.

Then comes the Phang-Nga drowning, not in Phuket !!!

Washington D.C., inner parts of LA, certain parts of London, Rio, I can go on and on with more dangerous places than Phuket. And as far as Asia, I believe the last UN report had crime in China higher. "Crime Capital of Asia"............horsesh*t.

[steelepulse 5,831]

>>The Tuk Tuk owners are required to pay the BIB every month, that's why more of them appear on the road than are actually necessary and the reason why the BIB won't get rid of them because it is a major source of income.

No no, that's wrong. The tuk tuk association pays the bibs after each operator makes his monthly contribution to the association. Corruption would never be so transparent that you would see individual drivers handing over their 10-15K/mo .

[KarenBravo 10,620]

Phuket more dangerous than Manila?

Manila is in Asia, isn't it?