Something is fishy at the land of smiles ???

[BOY69]

http://www.wowasis.com/travelblog/?p=6098


:AR!

[Dalewood]

Just great....and my ticket to Thailand is non-refundable.

I lived in Thailand for two years in the nineties. I lived in a long-term hotel on Sathorn Rd. One day a policeman came by and requested to see my passport. All was in order and that was that. It was the only time I had to produce documents other than at an immigration location or on an overnight train or bus. I hope this is an oddball situation. If it gets out of hand I think it would affect tourism.

[firecat69]

Why are these re-posts of this ridiculous story always from some new member or someone who hardly ever posts.

I have been in this exact area the last 3 days, Asoke Terminal21 etc and have seen none of this nor have I seen any of it in 15 years. Ridiculous!!!!!

[Surfcrest]

It sounds, from what I've read so far (including the same conversation / almost word for word over on gaybuttonthai) that this has indeed happened to some.
It could be a recent development by the police or in someway related to the current military rule.
Besides, the Bangkok Post letter mentioned racial profiling and so maybe there was more to the story than a routine stop.
New member or not, I appreciate BOY69 for sharing this story and to naughty but nice and Trongpai on gaybuttonthai for sharing their perspective as Bangkok residents.

Surfcrest

http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6931

[thaiguest]

Why are these re-posts of this ridiculous story always from some new member or someone who hardly ever posts.

I have been in this exact area the last 3 days, Asoke Terminal21 etc and have seen none of this nor have I seen any of it in 15 years. Ridiculous!!!!!

The link has nothing to do with the poster be he infrequent or not -you 'ridiculous' fool.
I was in that exact location at 3pm yesterday and I didn't experience anything unpleasant-so what?
I'm very gratefull that the issue was highlighted by the o.p.
Forewarned is forearmed.

[firecat69]

A moronic response from a Moron. These posts showed up on all the Boards and all from either brand new posters or members who almost never post.

I find it suspicious whether you are too stupid too or not. 15 years never been stopped or asked for anything nor do I personally know anyone who has ever been stopped.

That makes the odd so small that it hardly warrants all theses scare posts. Simple as that!!!

And by the way I know people who have been stopped in NYC and Atlanta and Miami. Big cities all and sometimes police question people. Millions of people every day going about their business and the police doing theirs.

I am not so naive as to think the police in Thailand might not be looking to make some money, much like the police in Southern towns in USA who stop people doing 28 in a 25 zone because they are out of state and they know they will just pay the fine.

Big deal, worrying about those things is only meaningful if you are doing something wrong. Otherwise if you are unlucky enough to be stopped in a city with millions of people , you will be on your way quickly.

Plus and most importantly the OP did not post anything of personal experience which might have had some value.. He just reposted some Blog I never heard of and I am sure no one here know who owns the Blog and and what their Agenda might be???

[Smiles]

" ... A moronic response from a Moron ... "
From Sawatdee 'Trend Lines': hmmmm ...

(Also potential fodder for the Yuk Yuk Awards ed. XIV . . . coming soon)

" ... A moronic response from a Moron ... "From Sawatdee 'Trend Lines': hmmmm ...Praise indeed considering the source. Now that his views on PDAs in the Land of Sluts has been comprehensively proven to be wrong I've been waiting for the mea culpa.

[dab69]

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/12/04/s ... sts-expats (http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/12/04/surge-reported-police-harassment-suggests-campaign-targeting-tourists-expats)

[thaiguest]

A moronic response from a Moron. These posts showed up on all the Boards and all from either brand new posters or members who almost never post.

I find it suspicious whether you are too stupid too or not. 15 years never been stopped or asked for anything nor do I personally know anyone who has ever been stopped.

That makes the odd so small that it hardly warrants all theses scare posts. Simple as that!!!

And by the way I know people who have been stopped in NYC and Atlanta and Miami. Big cities all and sometimes police question people. Millions of people every day going about their business and the police doing theirs.

I am not so naive as to think the police in Thailand might not be looking to make some money, much like the police in Southern towns in USA who stop people doing 28 in a 25 zone because they are out of state and they know they will just pay the fine.

Big deal, worrying about those things is only meaningful if you are doing something wrong. Otherwise if you are unlucky enough to be stopped in a city with millions of people , you will be on your way quickly.

Plus and most importantly the OP did not post anything of personal experience which might have had some value.. He just reposted some Blog I never heard of and I am sure no one here know who owns the Blog and and what their Agenda might be???


So a blog YOU never heard of has a built-in inferior status thereby?

You're sure that nobody here knows who owns the blog -blah, blah, gnu, gnu and so on ad moronicitum.

Had the OP posted something of personal experience would your response be any less derisory?

[firecat69]

Well if you were capable of reading and understanding you would see I plainly stated that if the OP had posted a personal experience , it would have had some value. I guess you don't know anything about the Blog or I am sure you would enlighten us rather then regurgitate what information was in the Blog by suggesting that someone might know something about this Blog which has never before appeared on this Forum or any of the other popular Forums with members here.

Of course a Blog like this is probably the kind of useless information you would be reading and repeating with no knowledge of its veracity!!

[Surfcrest]

Well if you were capable of reading and understanding you would see I plainly stated that if the OP had posted a personal experience , it would have had some value. I guess you don't know anything about the Blog or I am sure you would enlighten us rather then regurgitate what information was in the Blog by suggesting that someone might know something about this Blog which has never before appeared on this Forum or any of the other popular Forums with members here.

Of course, you undoubtedly know nothing about the blog or the blog's author either. Why you're looking for a fight over this, after everything else that has been posted on the topic is beyond me. Clearly you've set the bar differently for Sawatdee, than the rules you try to enforce over on GayThailand.com...or am I too incapable of reading?

Surfcrest

[firecat69]

I don't get you either. I have nothing to do with enforcing rules anywhere. I am just a member like anyone else..

I don't see anyone on any site stepping up and saying they are familiar with this particular blog. This was nothing but a scare tactic article which has no basis in fact .

Maybe you should spend more time monitoring your Board for personal attacks. " The link has nothing to do with the poster be he infrequent or not -you 'ridiculous' fool" by members like Thaiguest.

If you are not doing anything wrong and you carry your passport , you have nothing to worry about. IMHO it was an Agenda article by someone who does not like the changes in rules. Tough it is their country not ours , we are guests only and are treated pretty well for the most part!!!

And I sure would like to see where this Blog has been posted previously on this site or any of the popular Gay Site previous to this article.

I am just a member like anyone else.. What was it someone called him? The Seagull Sexpat?

[llz]

So now the story is less and less "ridiculous" and is endorsed by people who surely know Thailand much better than all posters in this thread (me included). The old story about "should I take my passport or would a copy be enough" is also resurfacing (has been discussed at length already).

See tweets by Richard Barrow who reports this advice from the UK Government : The UK government advises that you carry your passport at all times or you might face arrest https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow

See tweets by Joe Cummings (Lonely Planet Guide former writer) : Random police searches of foreigners in BKK is getting bad. Many reports of innocent tourists forced to pay bribes. https://twitter.com/joecummings

Or if you have time go to Thaivisa.com who of course has dozens of posts about this (24 pages and running).

I doubt all these guys over-react ; on the bright side, extortions are mostly reported in the Sukhumwit area where most of us do not go often (unless they are booked in some hotel here).

[firecat69]

I just wasted 30 minutes reading the 24 pages of garbage on thaivisa. You'd have to mentally dead not to realize the same posts occur over and over again throughout the 24 pages and then that is regurgitated and comments made by people who might believe this trash.

Yes people get stopped . Its a big city with millions of people and lots of them visitors. I wonder how many people are stopped randomly in NYC . In fact lots are as in any big city.

Don't break the Law and in 99% of the case the worst that would happen is an inconvenience . The Law is carry your passport and I must admit I rarely do that but probably will in the future.

I just spent 4 days non stop between Phom Prong, Asoke and Nana on Sukhumvit. I saw none of this. Now I was not there at 2am and looking disheveled. However since many of my Hotels of choice over the last 15 years have been on or just off Sukhumvit , I have spent hundreds of nights on that stretch. I have never been stopped. I also lived in BKK 2010-2012 again never been questioned or stopped. Nor do I personally know anyone that has been stopped

So am I going to lose any sleep over it when I return to BKK from Pattaya on Dec 21 for 4 nights. Absolutely NOT!!!!
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firecat69
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[loke]

Never happened to me , lived in BKK for a few years. This is more a tourist thing , police target the tourist areas . If you look like a tourist maybe the police will try to milk you.

Never happened to me , lived in BKK for a few years. This is more a tourist thing , police target the tourist areas . If you look like a tourist maybe the police will try to milk you.http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/12/04/surge-reported-police-harassment-suggests-campaign-targeting-tourists-expats

[Jellybean]

. . . maybe the police will try to milk you
Woah! Now letтАЩs just step back one minute here. This is surely a new development and worth further investigation. As one of the members currently on the scene, I put myself forward and volunteer to be your roving reporter. I think it only right that I get across to Asok/ Sukumvit pronto and find out for myself what exactly is going on here.

IтАЩll let you know ASAP if the police tried to milk me. I promise not to hold back on any of the grisly details, no matter how graphic they turn out to be. Members of a sensitive disposition or those with a dodgy ticker may care to avoid reading my report. For your further assistance IтАЩll begin my report with a health warning.

=))

[Smiles]

There's quite a lot of crap piling up on one side or the other of this so-called 'warning' from the original poster ... who by the way, you may have noted has disappeared completely from the scene: no defense, no further comment, utter silence.

I've lived in Thailand now for the last 7 years and have yet to partake of an invitation to piss in a bottle, on a copper's boots, or seen the inside of a police station for anything approaching a trumped up charge or an infringement of any real law.

Bangkok (and perhaps other Thai cities of reasonable population) have gone through a myriad of "crackdowns" (the BiB favourite description) over the years I've been living here. Each one lasted for a number of weeks then faded away, each one was complete bullshit in terms of 'achievability' (whatever the criteria used), each one employed numerous photo ops for the Thai press, and nothing but that.
This so-called crackdown will be, at the end of the day, completely without substance, having achieved precisely nothing, and been completely forgotten within the next week or so, having added 'face' points to the district Pol General (which was the only serious goal from the start, or worth paying attention to), with no accomplishment whatsoever besides the inane frothing at the mouth emanating from the thousands of (straight!!) sex tourists in Soi Cowboy.

Next up: Nana Plaza (Ladies only and straight fat guys + Russians) . . . then Patpong Rd (Ladies only, marginally slimmer straight guys, many Japanese) .... then Soi Twilight (Guys only, some fat, some not, Japanese older women) . . . and wherein the Politically Correct farang tourists will scream anti-gay discrimination stuff all over the place, getting nowhere, naturally, because in fact, the Thai police have never heard of, nor give a shit about 'anti-gay discrimination stuff' )

This is the way it always ends up in Thailand: i.e. some dicks. pissing in some sample bottles, freaking out, achieving ~ well, dick.

[firecat69]

Perfectly Said!!

[llz]

I was never arrested for drug-testing as well, but some were (or bribed their way out).
BTW I never tested positive for HIV, never died in a road accident, and never lost my passport. But some did.

Reports are emerging that the police in Bangkok have been harassing tourists on what is claimed to be a crackdown on illegal drug use.
Visitors and tourists have reported being regularly stopped, searched, interrogated and asked to provide urine samples that if found to test positive for drugs can lead to lengthy fines and prison sentences. Apparently these tests have a 10% margin of accuracy leading to fears that many drug tests have returned back positive when those tested have not taken any drugs.
http://www.samuitimes.com/reports-emerging-police-drug-testing-scam-bangkok/

Lately the junta has also taken aim at foreigners. Police harass foreign tourists on the streets.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/thailand-unravels-1417572686

This said and read, I have no intent to cancel my next trip. But forewarned is forearmed.

[firecat69]

Wow and some people get hit by lightning every year. I guess maybe i won't carry a golf club in a thunderstorm. 2 more articles regurgitating the same BS.

Supposedly 1 couple was stopped twice and this has led to all these ridiculous articles because all these sources are too lazy to do any real reporting so they just copy the same reports.

And I am supposed to be thankful for this information ? Why? You said you are forearmed but you are still coming. I am glad you are still coming , now tell me what it is that you are going to do in order not to be stopped , arrested , jailed, fined etc.

Bottom line there is nothing you can do if it was true. Same kind of BS we had to read when police were raiding Bars in Sunee on a regular basis. Over and over there were reports of farangs being hauled away to jail and forced to piss test etc etc etc.

Then an actual member of one of these Boards who was present would tell the real story and amazing none of those things ever happened to farangs.

If you use, sell or carry drugs, I guess you should be worried. Gee I guess you should be worried about that no matter what country you are in!!

[Dalewood]

The postings have cooled off----was there a verdict one way or the other?

[Surfcrest]

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/thonglor-police-leaflet-explaining-search-policy/

This pretty much sums it up, a big thanks to thaiworthy on: http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6931&start=40#p66296

Surfcrest