SOMETHING alarming and disturbing happened in our offices recently. We were visited by two young girls from England, both 18 years old and here in Thailand at the start of a three-month backpacking holiday around Southeast Asia. They made contact with us via mutual friends in the UK. The girls were dressed in the de rigeur outfits of backpackers – very short cut down jeans and voluminous t-shirts, and not much else. Their massive rucksacks must have weighed a back-breaking 30kg. They looked even younger than their tender age, fragile and frighteningly innocent; their enthusiasm for the trip they were about to embark upon was not in doubt, however. The girls told us excitedly about their itinerary – buses to the islands of southern Thailand and New Year’s Eve at the notorious full moon party on Ko Phangan. Apart from us, they had no other contacts in Thailand. Only one of them had a mobile. Neither of them had been to Asia before.
So, what did we do? The natural inclination would have been to wish them a good trip and give them the benefit of our experience with advice on the best beaches to visit, the hippest hotels to stay in, the most delicious Thai food. Instead, from the very outset, we found ourselves warning them of the hazards and dangers they were likely to face while travelling around this country. We told them, for example, to be wary of approaches by someone with an all-too-easy smile and the promise of some incredible money-making deal. We mentioned other traps and rip-offs like jet ski scams. We warned them about motorcyclists who rip bags off unsuspecting women’s shoulders, and we advised them against taking the cheapest buses because of their poor driving records. We explained the need to lock their bags at all times, and even to take photos of them if forced to stow the bags in the luggage compartment of a bus. And we suggested they keep clear of any exotic cocktails and other strange substances offered at beach raves. Be on your guard at all times, we said. It was only after we had taken a breather from giving all these warnings that it dawned on us what we’d just done – before telling them what was right with Thailand, which is, after all, one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, we had launched into what was wrong with it. On reflection, that disturbed us.
Were we wrong? Were we being over-protective? Unfair to Thailand? Perhaps, but when you see two young and naïve girls heading off into the unknown, such a reaction is probably quite understandable. At their age (just 18) they are at their most vulnerable – idealistic, unaware and trusting. Tourists invariably face challenges wherever they venture. And recent stories from Thailand, including the 20-year-old English girl who “fell” from a hotel balcony in Phuket (and only broke an ankle, unlike many others who have died as a result of similar “accidents”), motorcyclist deaths, drownings, overdoses and a warning last month from a Russian travel organization about the inordinate number of fatal tour bus accidents, hardly inspire confidence.
Thailand will welcome more than 20 million visitors this year. Most will have a great time. But dangers and hazards do exist, and no one should pretend otherwise.
Were we wrong? Were we being over-protective? Unfair to Thailand? Perhaps, but when you see two young and naïve girls heading off into the unknown, such a reaction is probably quite understandable. At their age (just 18) they are at their most vulnerable – idealistic, unaware and trusting. Tourists invariably face challenges wherever they venture. And recent stories from Thailand, including the 20-year-old English girl who “fell” from a hotel balcony in Phuket (and only broke an ankle, unlike many others who have died as a result of similar “accidents”), motorcyclist deaths, drownings, overdoses and a warning last month from a Russian travel organization about the inordinate number of fatal tour bus accidents, hardly inspire confidence.
Thailand will welcome more than 20 million visitors this year. Most will have a great time. But dangers and hazards do exist, and no one should pretend otherwise.
