Bangkok Protests To Bus Bandits
I boarded a bus with a stack of foreigners. We all got to the bus stop various ways and different tour companies independently booking a bus, Bangkok to Chumphon and a boat from Chumphon to Koh Tao. The bus leaves at 7 pm from Bangkok. Of course you always keep your personal stuff on you at all times, that’s a given. Usually people carry their identification, passport, money, etc. in a money belt or on a strap around the neck and under the shirt. Sometimes personal belongings are in a knapsack or shoulder bag that stays with you everywhere a traveler goes. When the bus arrived we queued to drop off big bags at the luggage hold and then board the bus, pass the bathroom, climb the steep stairs where a man points to where you should sit grouping us together. The bus carries on from Chumphon to Suri Thani to drop the other foreigners off for Koh Samui and full moon parties. On our bus ride all the people going to Koh Tao were grouped together near the top of the stairway. We will be the first ones of the bus. The bus ride takes 9 hours to Chumphon. We are entertained by a couple of low level Hollywood movies or our own music on potable devices or both. After 4.5 hours the bus pulled in for a halfway break at a restaurant/market complex where everyone got off to stretch their legs, have a cigarette; grab a beer in the market or chips and a soda etc. Everybody has their personals on them. They have their money, passport, identification, credit cards and nothing is out of place.
After half an hour or so everybody gets back on the bus and takes their seat. I notice that the blinds are drawn. The bus backs out and heads down the road toward Chumphon and the lights go out. It’s around midnight and most of the passengers recline their chairs and go to sleep, I stay awake. I don’t sleep on buses. I’ve got my head phones on and my heels are firmly planted on my nap sack and my wallet in my pocket. The stairwell is behind me separated by a decorative square of sheet metal securing the stairwell and a railing. People periodically get up and use the toilet down stairs or just stand up. The stairs take a 90-degree turn about half way down ending on a platform with four doors and a curtain. As you come down stairs the exit is to your left and the bathroom to your right. There is a small sitting compartment forward of the stairs and a curtain between the stairs and the bathroom. It’s a curious place for a curtain closet.
We arrive in Tompon around 3:30 am where we switch buses for the coast. Or original bus heads down the highway towards Sura Thani. We get on the second bus as our original bus rumbles off down the road. A woman checks her stuff for some instinctive reason. She looks to her boyfriend and exclaims, “It’s gone! My money is all gone. 20,000 baht!” The others begin looking through their personals and grown out of frustration and violation for having something taken from them. I check mine and the guy sitting next to me checks his, all well there. I jump up and speak to one of the bus company reps that speak a little English and he basically doesn’t want to get involved and says talk to the Tourist Police on Koh Tao when we get there.
We sat on the two benches with our gear between our feet and talk it out. ‘Where was your bag? When was it out of sight?’ ‘Did you sleep?’ Most people said their bags were under their chair. We ran through the possible options. We double checked our belongings and found that our bags in the luggage compartment had been rifled through as well. In total 7 people had lost money. The bandits left credit cards and passports in the wallets and purses only taking untraceable cash and coin. Chargers are a hot item I’ve been told.
With the chairs up so high we figured somebody little might be able to crawl in the compartment below the chairs but stopped that train of thought due to the footrest bars limiting mobility. Trap doors below bags under chairs are more plausible. The blinds being drawn, a dark stairwell where someone could stealthily see the bags within reach and pull them to a place where the contents could be examined, lifted, and replaced in their original positions while the passengers mostly slept with the exception of myself and one of two Irish woman reading a book, she too was one of the victims. I think she lost U.S. dollars and Baht. We came to the conclusion that the walls and compartments all had false walls and someone moved through the darkness.
When the tourist police were notified they waived the victims off. When we checked on Trip Advisor there were numerous stories of this exact scenario. The tourist police didn’t want to make the report because it looks bad, they lose face and that is just not going to happen.
Travelers Beware travelers be where.
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