Because of drugging reports on http://travel.state.gov I've always known to reject free snacks offered by Thais on cross-country train rides, etc. But I had never met anyone who had actually been drugged.

A Brit that I hooked up with on this trip told me that he picked up (1) a freelancer in the parking lot of the Nana Hotel and took her back to the Promenade on Soi 8. He had arrived that day and (2) unfortunately neglected to put his valuables in a safe deposit box. He also (3) neglected to have his date leave her id at the hotel desk before going to his room. Bad combination.

Once in the room, she kept asking what he wanted to drink. Coke? A beer? Fanta? He kept telling her that he didn't want anything, but he ultimately had a bottle of water.

He woke up around 4 a.m., groggy as hell, and immediately knew that he had been taken. She had rifled through everything and absconded with his wallet (with all his plastic cards) and his passport, among other things. His cash reserve was well hidden with some dirty laundry, and she didn't find that --it was all he had left. He went downstairs and reported it, then they put him in another room where he slept it off. He was out about thirteen hours altogether. She had also stolen some of the hotel's stuff, like a circuit board from the master control panel in the night stand, which she had to dismantle. Geez.

He said that the Thai police regarded it as if it were a joke. They kept asking him if he was sure it was a girl. Thais helping Thais.

By the time he called his credit card company to have the card cancelled, she had only charged about $40 worth of stuff! What an idiot!

This is something that I would expect more in Pattaya (Esarn girls) than Bangkok (Thai girls). But Esarn girls are in Bangkok, too.

The Promenade is a real rat-hole, by the way. Junk, such as broken furniture, clutters the hallways. What do you expect for 1000 baht/night in the Sukhumvit area?

So, the moral is, if you take a street hooker instead of one of the 10s of thousands of non-street hookers available, and go to a really shitty, run-down hotel instead of one of the hundreds of much better hotels that cost the princely sum of $30 more, and take no security precautions at all, that bad things can happen?

Should we file this report under the "no shit" category?

The part about the circuit board is hilarious, and they probably billed him for the cost of a new one!

@Cat: Spent a lot of time in Sukhumvit, have you? The hotels for $30 more (like the Nana) aren't "much better." And the rattiness of the hotel had nothing to do with the rip-off; I just mentioned it because I happen to know that hotel. He took the precaution to hide his cash, which is why he still had it.

So I guess the moral is: require people to pass a basic reading comprehension exam before admittance to CH. Fuck-up.

A concrete example like this is needed from time to time, even if we know to take precautions. Something like this sticks in your mind about letting up for even a minute.

Thanks

"(2) unfortunately neglected to put his valuables in a safe deposit box"

Your words, not mine. You did also write that he had a cash reserve in his dirty laundry, but per your words, the cash reserve wasn't a "valuable".

Nothing wrong with street hookers or cheap hotels per se. The combination amuses me greatly from time to time. But I pretty much figure ANY hooker ANYWHERE in the world is liable to rip me off if I tempt her to much by leaving my goodies laying around in front of her. In fact I figure maids, hotel workers, friendly strangers, and just about anyone else might take my stuff if I flaunt it in front of them.

In most countries where passports don't need to be carried (Indonesia excepted), passport, credit cards, cash not being spent that night, etc gets locked up the second I check into a hotel and remains locked up until I'm headed back to the airport. When I bring a girl back to my room anywhere, my phone and wallet gets locked up first thing. Usually while giving the lady a 2 minute head start in the shower.

As for the police, I don't suspect police anywhere, including the U.S., would be particularly helpful or sympathetic if you reported that you brought a street hooker back to your hotel room and she stole your stuff. I suppose you'd need to file a formal report to cover your ass with your bank and your Embassy on credit cards and Passport, but it's not like I'd expect police anywhere to actually do anything useful in that situation.

Moral of the story. Hookers steal. Lock your shit up when you bring them around.

@Jjgettis: Yes, that was my point. I heard aboutu druggings before I ever came to Thailand, but started to doubt it because I didn't know anyone that it actually happened to --until now!

Also, this guy told me that a UK passport costa the equivalent of about US $250. (And they cna't add pages like we can. They have to buy a new one when it gets full.)

Shit...I did not know about druggins in Thailand. I knew about them in south america.

Thanks for the info!