Observatons from Eakamai Bus Terminal, BKK

[TrongpaiExpat]

I was meeting my BF at Eakamai today and I arrived earlier than planed and I had an hour to kill. I was sitting in the front chairs and noticed 5 policemen under a makeshift sun awning with a long desk and some chairs to the left of the entrance, close to the street. I observed one BIB would walk around the terminal alone, find someone and escort him to this desk. His luggage would be placed on the table and two other cops would search it, as two stood around and one never gets up from the chair. I was not close enough to hear what was being said but everyone that was being searched returned to the terminal after the search. In the hour I observed 8 people getting this treatment, every one farang, every one male, one at a time. The good news is that the targets appeared to be younger males, not one old farang duffer and there were loads to pick from at the Pattaya gate. The target appears to be males under 35 yoa, farang and traveling alone. Those in groups or in tow with BF's and GF's seem not to be chosen.

Good News: There are new seats in the bus to Pattaya. They're much more comfortable, a little wider and have a seat belt. The bad news is they made the center isle very narrow. Bad new if the guy in front fully reclines the seat, they go way back.

Price remains at 113B one way to Pattaya.

Only ever used the BKK-Pattaya bus once. Surprisingly comfortable journey (contrary to my preconceptions), and as you point out it's very cheap. Sheer laziness prevented me ever using it again, but cannot fault the experience.

:compress:

[elephantspike]

Interesting. I was stopped and searched at Eakami twice several years ago, about a year apart on different visits to Thailand. I was in my early thirties at the time and each time with a different Thai companion around my age. I think they were looking for drugs.

[thrillbill]

I think.... it is hit and miss with the "newer" busses that go to Pattaya. I take the bus about 2 to 3 times a month from Pattaya and from BKK and one may be new and another one may be of an older vintage. They all seem to be clean whenever I take them. Yes, I could take a taxi but I am tired of the games the drivers play and (sometimes) the reckless drivers. I feel safer in the air conditioned bus. The pain in the arse is when you arrive at the Pattaya terminal you have to deal with the 12 pack baht bus.

Why don't you buy a car? I can't understand putting your life in some yaaba and Red Bull-crazed driver's hands that many times a month.

Why don't you buy a car? I can't understand putting your life in some yaaba and Red Bull-crazed driver's hands that many times a month.

Coincidentally, I said more or less the same thing to a friend of mine who moved to Thailand 2 years ago. I met up with him recently and he had quite a few stories of drug-crazed drivers to share. "When are you going to reach the point where you might feel safer driving your own car instead of depending on these drivers?" I asked.

"What difference would it make?" he said in return. "On the roads, the drivers front, back, left and right of you are also on yaaba."

Big difference. I do not feel safe at all in Thailand unless I am the one behind the wheel.

Then perhaps the cops should be searching the bus drivers.

Interesting. I was stopped and searched at Eakami twice several years ago, about a year apart on different visits to Thailand. I was in my early thirties at the time and each time with a different Thai companion around my age. I think they were looking for drugs.


True. The police is for drugs and illegal weapons, illegal cd /dvd and porn. If they are doing it in open public there is usual no change for cashing in some tea money .. .

This might happen anywhere all over Thailand, not just at Ekkamai. Especially at highway control posts.

[Smiles]

" ... This might happen anywhere all over Thailand, not just at Ekkamai. Especially at highway control posts ... "
Absolutely. Farang victims are a very minor icing on the cake when it comes to 'petty' corruption.
Police stops on highways and roads gobble up much more money from Thais than farangs can even imagine. The highway from Bangkok to Hua Hin in the Petchburi area is one of the most notorious stretches of pavement in Thailand . . . the private vehicles transporting farang to and from the airport have the police payments ~ both ways if one's luck is bad ~ already built into the price.
The Thai police suck an unbelievable amount of money out of the economy, most of it Thai. A very nice, pleasant Thai lady who rents out town houses on our street has a cop husband, a 'middling' cop by no means at the top: they own a new Volvo, a Nissan, an SUV, their own house, a small house for her mother, and three rented-out townhouses.

[Beachlover]

" ... This might happen anywhere all over Thailand, not just at Ekkamai. Especially at highway control posts ... "
Absolutely. Farang victims are a very minor icing on the cake when it comes to 'petty' corruption.
Police stops on highways and roads gobble up much more money from Thais than farangs can even imagine. The highway from Bangkok to Hua Hin in the Petchburi area is one of the most notorious stretches of pavement in Thailand . . . the private vehicles transporting farang to and from the airport have the police payments ~ both ways if one's luck is bad ~ already built into the price.
The Thai police suck an unbelievable amount of money out of the economy, most of it Thai. A very nice, pleasant Thai lady who rents out town houses on our street has a cop husband, a 'middling' cop by no means at the top: they own a new Volvo, a Nissan, an SUV, their own house, a small house for her mother, and three rented-out townhouses.

Ah, well that would explain why my driver had all his money in a secret compartment lol. He couldn't speak English but pointed at it and said "poli"

That Thai cop you're talking about has done well... geez. I hope he doesn't sleep well at night!

The real organized crime in Thailand are the BIB. Ask any Thai friend who owns a business. The tea money collection is considered a normal business expense and good insurance.

Again: for certain types of businesses only.

If you are not in a vice business, or in a nighttime entertainment business, or doing something really wrong, then the BIB rarely have any interest in you whatsoever. I can just see the cops prowling the floors at Empire Tower or All Seasons place hitting up offices there...LOL.

[TrongpaiExpat]

Update on Eakamai Bus Station. As of 1600 today the police were gone. The table, the chairs all gone, only the big umbrella remained, that must not have been theirs.

[Brad the Impala]

The Thai police suck an unbelievable amount of money out of the economy, most of it Thai. A very nice, pleasant Thai lady who rents out town houses on our street has a cop husband, a 'middling' cop by no means at the top: they own a new Volvo, a Nissan, an SUV, their own house, a small house for her mother, and three rented-out townhouses.

Of course there is a lot of corruption in the police, and of course they are paid salaries that are crap and need subsidizing, and once started on that path it is easy to go over the top. How much better it would be if they were paid a decent salary in the first place, and how much more respect they would receive from Joe Public if they didn't need a financial incentive to do their job, or not to!

As for sucking money out of the economy, if the assumptions in the example given are correct, and that is an IF, it APPEARS that the money is being recycled in a proper capitalist manner, rather than being removed from the economy.

Corruption rewards the corrupt & the connected, rather than the talented people who grow successful businesses.

That's why Thailand will underachieve as long as they tolerate this entrenched corruption.

[Beachlover]

Corruption rewards the corrupt & the connected, rather than the talented people who grow successful businesses.

That's why Thailand will underachieve as long as they tolerate this entrenched corruption.

Totally true... a country where the smartest, hardest working, most innovative or most risk taking people aren't fairly rewarded for this... will never flourish to its full potential.

As much as there are many things wrong with the US, its ability to create an environment supporting capitalism and opportunity is why it has risen to the enormous and wealthy giant it is today (for a while anyway!).

A farang friend of mine in his 30's was searched at Ekkami about 6 months ago.

[TrongpaiExpat]

A farang friend of mine in his 30's was searched at Ekkami about 6 months ago.

And............ Did the police say what they were looking for. Was he take out off the platform to someplace where no one would see what they were doing or saying? What did they say? Any tea money requests?

I really think that if you do not have any contraband, you have your passport and a current visa, then there's no extortion. You have to do or have something illegal and then and only then do the police work the extortion rackets.