Phuket's still a nice beach and party destination but the rip offs and scams supported by local authorities aren't going unnoticed...
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Island a paradise for many, and hell for others
December 26, 2011
Seven years after the tsunami, Australians are all too carefree on Phuket, writes south-east Asia correspondent Lindsay Murdoch.
A scantily clad Russian dancer clings to a pole behind a second-storey street-front window of a nightclub called L'Amour.
A large Australian flag flutters below her in a breeze coming off the Andaman Sea.
Across the street, the "Aussie Bar" is crowded with young Australian drinkers, many of them shirtless, who are shouting to be heard above music thumping from nearby girlie bars.
Away from the seedy red-light district of Patong Beach, it is boom time on Phuket seven years after the Boxing Day tsunami hit southern Thailand with awesome savagery, killing more than 5000 people and wiping out the region's tourism industry.
Phuket International Airport is being upgraded to take 12.4 million visitors a year by 2014.
The island once known as the "Pearl of the Andaman Sea" is undergoing a building frenzy with 43,000 hotel rooms open and at least 7000 more in the pipeline.
But Larry Cunningham, Australia's honorary consul on the island, has spoken out about the rip-offs, scams, criminal activities and bad behaviour that are ruining the holidays of scores of Australians, including a new wave of "schoolies".
Up to 25,000 Australian tourists a month are visiting Phuket, most of them arriving on cheap direct flights from Australia's capital cities, lured by the benefits of the high Australian dollar and an exotic location.
"Many Australians come here behaving as if the same standards and laws apply in Thailand as they do in Australia," Cunningham says. He is a property developer from Sydney who has lived in Phuket for 11 years.
"They have little idea about Thai culture and think that what happens in Australia happens here."
Cunningham, 62, knows that when the telephone rings at night at the exclusive Chava resort he built on Phuket's Surin Beach, it is usually Thai authorities telling him more Australians have landed in trouble.
Up to 50 Australians a year die on Phuket, half of them from natural causes and the other half from motorbike and car accidents, misadventure or suicides.
Cunningham estimates about 80 per cent of the cases in which Australians find themselves in trouble are settled before he hears about them, often through extorted payments.
Australians sometimes find themselves in situations that make them "scared for their lives", he says.
Unscrupulous jet skis operators on Phuket have been ripping off customers for years. They make false claims of damage to the skis and demand immediate payment. "Thugs will surround the hirers, threatening physical harm or worse if they don't pay money," Cunningham says.
"They have the hirers over a barrel because they handed them their passports."
In the latest case last week, two Australian women injured in a jet-ski accident were pursued by thugs who went to the hospital where they were being treated.
This was even though a South African man responsible for the accident had agreed to pay for the damage involved.
Similar scams involve the hiring of motor bikes.
Cunningham says Australian "schoolies" coming to the island in rising numbers are being preyed on by Thai criminals, and corrupt police, at "full moon" parties where they are often robbed after having their drinks spiked, set up and extorted for money or sexually assaulted.
"We have also had motor boats coming from the parties crashing, killing and maiming people тАж these parties are dangerous and the kids should not attend them," he says.
Cunningham tells the story of two young Australian men who awoke in an alley behind a bar about 30 hours after their drinks were spiked.
All their valuables were gone.
In another instance, an Australian man involved in a business dispute was wrongfully accused of sexually abusing a child.
While being held for 84 days in a Phuket jail, he was told his throat would be cut if he did not put money into a bank account. He obliged.
Some other experiences: one Australian had to pay $50,000 in hospital fees after coming off a motorcycle he rented. His Australian insurer declined to pay the fees because he did not have a current Australian motorcycle licence.
The family of an 88-year-old Perth woman had to pay $30,000 to send her home in a medivac journey after she broke her hip. She had not been able to get travel insurance because of her age.
Many Australians get into trouble after they pick up an escort in a bar only to discover, after returning with the escort to their hotel, the companion is a "ladyboy".
"You couldn't print many of the stories,'' Cunningham says.
It is not only that Australians can be victims. Cunningham says there is an increasing number of cases in which Australians have gone to Thai police to make false claims of theft so they could claim insurance back home in Australia. "Thai police view the making of false declarations very seriously," he says.
Cunningham stresses he is not advising Australians to stay away Phuket, which he says is a fabulous place with near-perfect beaches where they can enjoy the "land of smiles" culture.
"I'm just asking them to be aware of the possible pitfalls and avoid them," he says.
Cunningham says surviving the 2004 tsunami and seeing its "horrendous" aftermath encouraged him to help Australians who get into trouble. He was on a boat off nearby Krabi when a 9.2 metre wall of water smashed into southern Thailand about 11am local time on Boxing Day.
"I am a grandfather and I like to make a difference where I can," Cunningham says.
"I felt that as I spoke Thai, I could do a lot to assist after the tsunami and, when the honorary consul position was advertised the following year, I applied for it," he says. "The job can take [a] huge personal [toll] but at other times it can be very rewarding."
Along the Phuket coast, luxurious resorts have been built where the tsunami crashed ashore, destroying once beautiful beaches and villages.
Beside a hotel swimming pool at Patong Beach, Juliette Law, 44, from Coffs Harbour, says she does not fear another tsunami because the chance of one striking again is small. "Phuket is a terrific place for the family to come," says Law, a teacher in environmental science.
John Bassett, 61, and Nina Lahimann, 50, from Byron Bay, drove two hours north along the coast from Patong Beach to Khao Lak, a white-sand resort which in 2004 was a scene of devastation.
Bassett is sitting in a restaurant overlooking the beach where, as millions of YouTube viewers saw, the tsunami swamped a lone swimmer and then smashed into a restaurant. But he says it is good to be away from the seedy part of Patong Beach, which he likens to a "zoo" or the kingdoms of ''Sodom and Gomorrah''.
"We have come to this part of Thailand for the last two years тАж this is a beautiful place and it's a nice thought that our money is helping victims of the tsunami," he says.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-new ... 1p9ii.html
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Kiwi dies after Thai sex romp: report
December 28, 2011 - 10:22AM
A New Zealand man has died after a reported sex romp with two Thai prostitutes.
The man, in Thailand to mark the anniversary of a friend's death in the Boxing Day tsunami seven years ago, was found dead in a Phuket guesthouse, according to local police.
A friend of the 30-year-old discovered his body on Tuesday morning, the Phuket Wan Tourism News reported local police as saying.
The website, in a story headlined Phuket tourist mourns tsunami friend, has sex with two Patong bar hostesses, and dies, quotes a local police spokesman saying the dead man had taken two prostitutes back to his room at the Keeta Guesthouse at Patong Beach the night before.
Lieutenant Jakapong said the dead man was overweight and may have had health issues.
The police officer told the newspaper the dead man and another 29-year-old New Zealander had attended a candles in the sand "Light Up Phuket" ceremony at Patong Beach on the anniversary of the 2004 tsunami before the pair went out on the town after the ceremony.
"The man told his friend that both girls were beautiful so he decided to take both back to his room," Lieutenant Jakapong said. "We found two used condoms and a sex stimulant in the man's room."
The prostitutes were not in the room when the body was found, Lieutenant Jakapong said.
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had not been approached for consular assistance but was making inquiries.
AAP
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/kiwi-dies-a ... 1pc0h.html
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