Carrying your pasport.

[arsenal]

Just occasionally I like to take a break from the never ending job of Gatekeeper to the House of Surfcrest and publish a simple information 'leaflet.' It's my equivalent of charity work.

[a447]

I'm with the "take the risk" brigade.

If I ever found myself being asked for my passport by the police I'm sure we could come to some amicable "arrangement." 1000 baht would probably suffice and that's a small price to pay for keeping my passport locked away in the safe rather than in my pocket.

[Gaybutton]

? You left out your usual - "but you can't say you weren't warned" mantra .......

How careless of me. I'll put it in. You can't say you weren't warned.

[Tobi]

You can't say you weren't warned.

I love your barking-mad hissy-fits. You've got to be a yaba addict. 8-}

[egel]

Now if they are looking for Syrian passports.... I joke not..think about it...

[bruce_nyc]

I agree that it might make some sense that they might be using this law to find certain foreigners here illegally. ( Tho they'd probably find the ones they're looking for easier at the immigration counter at the airport. ) I do wonder why it's only a bar or two on Walking Street in Pattaya that they targeted. That seems suspicious. Why not at the high end shops of Siam Paragon? Could their "crackdown" be somehow related to "morality"?

I also agree that it's far safer to keep it in the safe in your room regardless of that stupid law. Think of the 500 or 1000 baht maximum it might cost you..... in the extremely unlikely event you were caught up in a stupid sting..... as the cost of "passport insurance".

How would you feel if your passport were lost or stolen? I guarantee it'd cost a lot more than 500 or 1000 baht to get a new one.

[cdnmatt]

Now if they are looking for Syrian passports.... I joke not..think about it...

Yeah, that would actually make sense. They grabbed a single foreigner. Anyone know what nationality was he? Was he from an Arab country?

I wouln't be surprised if that's what they're doing, especially after the bomb attacks in Bangkok. It's just the police can't publicly mention they're searching for Syrians specifically.

[bruce_nyc]

It took us an extra month to get our visas to visit India... Because the India embassy ( and their outsorced agent ) in Bangkok stopped issuing all visas. We had to go to Laos to get a visa for India. Nobody could explain why the Indian Embassy in Bangkok stopped issuing any visas. Even when I went to the consulate office she could not ( or would not ) tell me why. Much later we heard that the reason was because of the bombing in Bangkok. Apparently India was overreacting. And I've heard that that's not the first time.

[frequentfliers]

I have visited Thailand for the last 18 years and have never been asked for my passport when out on the town.In saying that I also have never been in a bar or club that was raided by the police.Maybe a first time is due..

[PeterUK]

You can't say you weren't warned.

I do hope for your sake, when the great moment of self-justification arrives and a cop stops you and demands to see your passport, that a new crime has not come on to the statute books, namely, smugness in the presence of a police officer.