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Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

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Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#231
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that some people are entitled idiots who seem completely incapable of thinking through the consequences of their actions, but I’ve never heard Thailand described in a way that sounds terribly interesting to me as a vacation spot. Then again, I typically describe any place with more than a few dozen people as overly crowded for the purposes of vacationing, so maybe I’m not the right person to ask.

Bangkok is arguably the foodiest city in the world, and has the best contemporary art scene in South-East Asia. Just to name a couple things I find interesting there; your interests presumably differ.

Bangkok also feels like a real life Gotham city. They have this elevated train line running between fancy shopping centers, high rise luxury apartments and office buildings. But just below it there is miles and miles of street prostitution and poverty.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#232
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened? I’m convinced my girlfriend almost got abducted at the airport by w fake cab.

In Bangkok it was mainly tuk-tuks taking me to places I didn't want to go and many attempted scams (magicians, dealers in jewels, someone pretending to be police). In Chiangmai I had my worst couchsurfing experience, really unpleasant guy who I went to town with and was dependent on (he took me half an hour or so on the back of his motorcycle) and who got really drunk after I asked him to please stop drinking (becaus…

Helps having someone to guide you.

You will know what to avoid and what to expect

Tuk tuks are always bad deal/tourist attraction, make sure Taxis use meter, don't take any of their suggestions (girls, jewelery, etc) or accept detours

To be safe, use Grab application, - no wasting time trying to speak to the driver asking where you want to go, - no tips (from rounding up the payment), - no taking you places you don't want to go.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#233

I'm actually in Koh Chang right now and this gave me a chuckle. You have no idea how entitled some "farang" (foreigners) here are and how low of an opinion many of them have of Thailand and the Thai people. Sometimes it's really sickening to see the posts of this certain bloc of expats. They expect the government to just overlook the rules when it comes to immigration, local customs and local laws. Recently because o…

Regardless of what you said about “those guys,” which is barely relevant to the story, if we are to believe the business owners, they’re right in suing for defamation (the guy left 3 reviews out of spite) However the problem is that the police considers this a good enough reason to jail someone working there legally after picking him up from his workplace. I don’t think that’s fair.

It’s not fair and I agree with you.

But it’s the law in Thailand. And sometimes “those guys” believe that the laws in other countries don’t apply to them because they think it’s “not fair” and not the same as the laws in their countries.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most visited countries in the world. We are all well aware of the reputation they have for sex tourism so anyone going there really needs to embrace the idea that Thailand isn’t quite the same as a typical western country. I have no great interest in going (I live in Taiwan and the average review I hear for a family vacation isn’t very flattering) but if I were I would be really careful. Most people woeful…

> Most people aren’t stupid like this so going on vacation to Thailand has a 99.99% likelihood of being ok. You don’t need to be an idiot for you trip to go bad. I used a local transportation. When getting off a Chinese tourist had lost is wallet in it. A local just took it for himself while the tourist was still in sight. The scene went too fast for me to do anything but I felt bad for the guy who will likely get ch…

Not being an idiot in the context of traveling to developing country means a) not carrying too much cash b) not having all credit cards in the same wallet c) not having IDs in the same wallet as the above and finally knowing your credit card numbers (or have a record of it) so that you can quickly call and cancel them.

It sucks that it happens but if you take proper precaution it shouldn't ruin the vacation besides a slight annoyance...

It's also bad luck, as a counterpoint, I forgot my bag with my computer at a restaurant in Bangkok, I noticed 30 minutes later, came back and the restaurant staff had kept it for me.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#235
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question.. why do you go to countries like these ? To me it looks like the risk is not worth at all.. Is being in danger part of the attraction or people really underestimate the dangers of third world countries ?

Thailand is actually quite safe. You are going to find a few horror stories but generally, as long as you stay away from the most common scams (which you can find in all travel guides), you will not be more at risk than in first world countries. One reason Thailand is safer than most "third world" countries is that tourism is taken very seriously by the government. Most notably, they have a "tourist police" that can…

Got stuck in a common scam, realizes in the middle of it that I was in a scam with my partner. Mistake to tell my partner that we were being scammed. Partner got depressed, wanted to go home. 3 weeks of sad vacation, have never been more happy to be back from vacation than from that one. Could not "forget" the scam, everything afterwards in vacation circled around the scam. Worth to mention is that my partner was bi-polar so an easy target/never been in a organized scam before that everyone you meet for a coupe of hours are part of it. Probably at-least 20-30 people involved. I guess it could be similar to "The Truman show?"

One year later still feeling sad for not able to protect us from it. Have become extremely suspicious of helpful people/sellers. Had issues with buying stuff since the trip. Not the price/money that is/has been the issue. I wished I never visited Bangkok.

Similar as this one, but for suits instead. (Did not plan to buy it, in fact earlier that day I wonder why/laugh at people that did it, just a few hours later I was one of them. Now I understand them an why it works and will continue to work for 20 more years) https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-thailand/...

TLDR; Thailand suppose to be me an my partners dream trip. Was our worst trip, lead to us splitting up and started to have trust issue. Feeling depressed about it, still sad about it one year later.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Bangkok it was mainly tuk-tuks taking me to places I didn't want to go and many attempted scams (magicians, dealers in jewels, someone pretending to be police). In Chiangmai I had my worst couchsurfing experience, really unpleasant guy who I went to town with and was dependent on (he took me half an hour or so on the back of his motorcycle) and who got really drunk after I asked him to please stop drinking (becaus…

Honest question.. why do you go to countries like these ? To me it looks like the risk is not worth at all.. Is being in danger part of the attraction or people really underestimate the dangers of third world countries ?

It's beautiful, it's cheap such that you can afford a level of luxury you couldn't in the west, and sure the level of petty crime is higher than the west but it's still at beginner-to-intermediate levels of streetwiseness required.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#238
post #29

The part near the end of the article is confusing. >While this reaction by the hotel does sound excessive I’d give them the benefit of the doubt that this guest behaved like a total idiot while at the property and then turned around with very unflattering descriptions and manufactured truths aka lies about this resort. He then refused to discuss the matter with the hotel and instead of stopping even accelerated his o…

> "What's he trying to say? That even if you're right, you shouldn't write a bad review because the justice system is corrupt and you're going to end up in jail anyways?"

Maybe that you should wait until you're safely home before you write your negative review. Well, it's not what he says, but it's probably the best advice in these cases.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Bangkok it was mainly tuk-tuks taking me to places I didn't want to go and many attempted scams (magicians, dealers in jewels, someone pretending to be police). In Chiangmai I had my worst couchsurfing experience, really unpleasant guy who I went to town with and was dependent on (he took me half an hour or so on the back of his motorcycle) and who got really drunk after I asked him to please stop drinking (becaus…

Honest question.. why do you go to countries like these ? To me it looks like the risk is not worth at all.. Is being in danger part of the attraction or people really underestimate the dangers of third world countries ?

Apart from the couchsurfing experience none of it was really dangerous, just really annoying.

My reason for going to Thailand was that I had an internship in Australia (I'm from the Netherlands) and I was going to change planes there anyway, so I figured I might as well spend a month in the area. While I didn't like the cities, there were many other nice and beautiful places.

People have different levels of risk tolerance and different interests. I have traveled in a number of poor or somewhat conflicted countries and while it's definitely not always enjoyable, I don't think everything in life is about enjoyment and they were really valuable experiences that shaped my view on the world in other ways. (Not to sound like a disaster tourist - in all cases I was either passing through or working in the area, it's not like I went to watch poverty or conflict.)

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most visited countries in the world. We are all well aware of the reputation they have for sex tourism so anyone going there really needs to embrace the idea that Thailand isn’t quite the same as a typical western country. I have no great interest in going (I live in Taiwan and the average review I hear for a family vacation isn’t very flattering) but if I were I would be really careful. Most people woeful…

> Most people aren’t stupid like this so going on vacation to Thailand has a 99.99% likelihood of being ok. You don’t need to be an idiot for you trip to go bad. I used a local transportation. When getting off a Chinese tourist had lost is wallet in it. A local just took it for himself while the tourist was still in sight. The scene went too fast for me to do anything but I felt bad for the guy who will likely get ch…

You absolutely did the right thing by keeping quiet. If you don’t speak Chinese (or any local language) it is so easy to be taken advantage of. There is no guarantee, but what if you grabbed the guy and wrestled with him, trying to get the wallet off him when suddenly the thief yells to the crowd “Help! This foreigner is stealing someone’s wallet and is trying to kill me!” Then a cop shows up who doesn’t like foreigners and it could be all over. The culture in China is different, very possible that someone could have seen that you are innocent but stayed quiet, avoid the trouble plus who knows, maybe he really did steal that wallet. I’ll go home to my family and the courts can decide if he’s guilty. Like things probably wouldn’t play out that way, Chinese (and Taiwanese, Cantonese) people are incredibly decent and well to do but the perfect storm of a misunderstanding could easily turn on you.
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