My craziest travel story occurred a few months back in Phuket, Thailand. I was planning on spending a month there, training Muay Thai twice a day, losing some weight and getting a tan but that soon changed. About a week after arriving I rolled my ankle pretty bad and I was quite depressed as this meant no training for a few days. To ease my disappointment I thought it would be a good idea to head out to Bangla Rd (the main party district) and get written off.
So I asked a three other guys that I had met if they wanted to come party. They had also yet to go to Bangla Rd so were all keen; so they were pretty easy to convince! We headed in at about ten o’clock, we were all pretty drunk at this stage and I probably should have realised then that this was a stupid idea.
We got to Bangla and of course we ended up at some lady girl bar. I was in a pretty good mood and was digging all the attention. The guy who was the least drunk, lets called him Ryan, fortunately wanted to go somewhere else, so we paid the tab and left.
We ventured into a nightclub called Seduction, and went straight to the bar. Ernestos, a 6’5 Lithuanian guy with prison tats informed us that he needed to use the bathroom. A few minutes later we see him getting marched out hands behind his back by two security guards. Ryan and I immediately assumed that he must have been caught with drugs and were going to warn him to just pay off the security and leave. The other guy, Andy, a Singaporean who had a bit more experience in Asia than us bailed, not wanting to get involved. So me and Ryan approached the security and asked what had happened. He said our friend had cocaine….fuck.
They told us to wait outside, and in our drunken state we stupidly did, not wanting to ditch our friend. After about 30 minutes, two policemen came and they grabbed us and we all walked up to the balcony where they were keeping Ernestos. They immediately started searching us, and found two Xanax pills that I had bought over the counter the other day and forgotten I had left them in my wallet. The policemen’s faces lit up and they kept on repeating ‘illegal illegal illegal’, with a smug grin on their faces. I pleaded with them saying that I had bought them over the counter and hadn’t realised they were illegal (true), but they were having none of it.
They handcuffed us, even Ryan who had nothing on him (they even went through his shoes), took us outside and made us stand on the sidewalk for almost an hour. Keep in mind that they only had two sets of handcuffs so we were cuffed to each other with me being in the middle. There must have been hundreds if not thousands of people walking passed, pointing at us and giggling to their friends. After a while the two policemen came back and put us in the back of some tiny Toyota they we could barely fit into and drove us back at the station.
They forced us to get photos with the drugs even though, Ryan and I had nothing to do with the cocaine, and tried to force us to sign documentation in Thai (which looks like fucking hieroglyphs). They knew they had nothing to hold Ryan on, so they separated him from us and we didn’t see him again for the rest of the night. We later found out they took him to an ATM to try and get cash for them but his card wasn’t working so after hounding him for a long time they eventually let him go.
I on the other hand was thrown into a cell with my cocaine buddy. There were 6 other people in the cell. A few Thais, two Russians, one Burmese and us. I was still pretty drunk and passed out on the cold floor and slept for a few hours.
Early in the morning they cuffed us again, took us back to our hotels and forced us to surrender our passports. We did what they asked, as we thought they would just hold us in the cell indefinitely if we failed to comply. We returned to the cell and they took our fingerprints and told us that a lawyer has been arranged to visit us in the afternoon.
The lawyer came and informed us that we would be going to court the following day would have to apply for bail (we had to pay him a lot of money of course). A detective asked a few questions and gave us some paper to sign. The lawyer (probably getting a cut from police) told us that it was in our best interest to sign it as if we didn’t the matter could be dragged out for years and we wouldn’t be able to leave the country. So we reluctantly signed them and returned to our cells for another night.
To make matters worse, the police brought in an old, naked and obese man who was clearly mentally deranged who spent the night yelling and shitting all over the floor (serious). I didn’t get much sleep that night.
The following day, Ernestos and I were handcuffed and put in the back of a police vehicle with a few other prisoners and taken to the courthouse. The police brought us to another cell, but this time it was full of other prisoners in their pink costumes complete with welded on leg braces. They were probably there for parole hearings. We waited a few hours, keeping to ourselves, until our lawyer came and told us that he would post bail for us and we should be released by about 5pm. Everything happened as he said and at about 5 some guards came and took us up to the administrative area where we were given paper work and told that we would have to return to the court every 12 days until the judge was ready to see the case; which could take up to 84 days.
After speaking with the lawyer, who assured us we wouldn’t be going to jail and would only have to pay a small fine, we took a cab back to the Muay Thai camp and finally got a bite to eat (I hadn’t eaten for two days).
I will try not to bore you with further details. In the end, I had to stay in Thailand for almost three months before the case was finalised. I ended up paying a small fine and received a six month suspended jail term. I could have made the case go away but it would have cost me over $10,000, which I thought was ridiculous for such a minor crime.
After I paid the fine I got my passport back but I still couldn’t leave the country for various reasons. Due to the court proceedings, my visa had expired and I had overstayed by over 40 days, This is a crime, and I was very concerned that if for whatever reason a cop asked to see my passport he could arrest and charge me, which would void my suspended sentence and invoke the six months mandatory jail time.
Also, it’s Thai law that any foreigner who commits a crime is deported, so I couldn’t just go to the airport because I would be flagged by immigration. Deportation involves spending another few weeks locked up, several fines, a lifetime blacklist from Thailand and a very ugly stamp on your passport. Luckily, I managed to meet the daughter of a Thai billionaire (thats another story in itself) and using her connection, managed to get out of the country.
Thats just a condensed version of the story, I could probably write a book about my trip haha. It’s funny to me now, but during it I was fucking terrified as there was a real possibility that I could have ended up in some Thai prison, aka hell on Earth.
Anyone else have any crazy travel stories?
So I asked a three other guys that I had met if they wanted to come party. They had also yet to go to Bangla Rd so were all keen; so they were pretty easy to convince! We headed in at about ten o’clock, we were all pretty drunk at this stage and I probably should have realised then that this was a stupid idea.
We got to Bangla and of course we ended up at some lady girl bar. I was in a pretty good mood and was digging all the attention. The guy who was the least drunk, lets called him Ryan, fortunately wanted to go somewhere else, so we paid the tab and left.
We ventured into a nightclub called Seduction, and went straight to the bar. Ernestos, a 6’5 Lithuanian guy with prison tats informed us that he needed to use the bathroom. A few minutes later we see him getting marched out hands behind his back by two security guards. Ryan and I immediately assumed that he must have been caught with drugs and were going to warn him to just pay off the security and leave. The other guy, Andy, a Singaporean who had a bit more experience in Asia than us bailed, not wanting to get involved. So me and Ryan approached the security and asked what had happened. He said our friend had cocaine….fuck.
They told us to wait outside, and in our drunken state we stupidly did, not wanting to ditch our friend. After about 30 minutes, two policemen came and they grabbed us and we all walked up to the balcony where they were keeping Ernestos. They immediately started searching us, and found two Xanax pills that I had bought over the counter the other day and forgotten I had left them in my wallet. The policemen’s faces lit up and they kept on repeating ‘illegal illegal illegal’, with a smug grin on their faces. I pleaded with them saying that I had bought them over the counter and hadn’t realised they were illegal (true), but they were having none of it.
They handcuffed us, even Ryan who had nothing on him (they even went through his shoes), took us outside and made us stand on the sidewalk for almost an hour. Keep in mind that they only had two sets of handcuffs so we were cuffed to each other with me being in the middle. There must have been hundreds if not thousands of people walking passed, pointing at us and giggling to their friends. After a while the two policemen came back and put us in the back of some tiny Toyota they we could barely fit into and drove us back at the station.
They forced us to get photos with the drugs even though, Ryan and I had nothing to do with the cocaine, and tried to force us to sign documentation in Thai (which looks like fucking hieroglyphs). They knew they had nothing to hold Ryan on, so they separated him from us and we didn’t see him again for the rest of the night. We later found out they took him to an ATM to try and get cash for them but his card wasn’t working so after hounding him for a long time they eventually let him go.
I on the other hand was thrown into a cell with my cocaine buddy. There were 6 other people in the cell. A few Thais, two Russians, one Burmese and us. I was still pretty drunk and passed out on the cold floor and slept for a few hours.
Early in the morning they cuffed us again, took us back to our hotels and forced us to surrender our passports. We did what they asked, as we thought they would just hold us in the cell indefinitely if we failed to comply. We returned to the cell and they took our fingerprints and told us that a lawyer has been arranged to visit us in the afternoon.
The lawyer came and informed us that we would be going to court the following day would have to apply for bail (we had to pay him a lot of money of course). A detective asked a few questions and gave us some paper to sign. The lawyer (probably getting a cut from police) told us that it was in our best interest to sign it as if we didn’t the matter could be dragged out for years and we wouldn’t be able to leave the country. So we reluctantly signed them and returned to our cells for another night.
To make matters worse, the police brought in an old, naked and obese man who was clearly mentally deranged who spent the night yelling and shitting all over the floor (serious). I didn’t get much sleep that night.
The following day, Ernestos and I were handcuffed and put in the back of a police vehicle with a few other prisoners and taken to the courthouse. The police brought us to another cell, but this time it was full of other prisoners in their pink costumes complete with welded on leg braces. They were probably there for parole hearings. We waited a few hours, keeping to ourselves, until our lawyer came and told us that he would post bail for us and we should be released by about 5pm. Everything happened as he said and at about 5 some guards came and took us up to the administrative area where we were given paper work and told that we would have to return to the court every 12 days until the judge was ready to see the case; which could take up to 84 days.
After speaking with the lawyer, who assured us we wouldn’t be going to jail and would only have to pay a small fine, we took a cab back to the Muay Thai camp and finally got a bite to eat (I hadn’t eaten for two days).
I will try not to bore you with further details. In the end, I had to stay in Thailand for almost three months before the case was finalised. I ended up paying a small fine and received a six month suspended jail term. I could have made the case go away but it would have cost me over $10,000, which I thought was ridiculous for such a minor crime.
After I paid the fine I got my passport back but I still couldn’t leave the country for various reasons. Due to the court proceedings, my visa had expired and I had overstayed by over 40 days, This is a crime, and I was very concerned that if for whatever reason a cop asked to see my passport he could arrest and charge me, which would void my suspended sentence and invoke the six months mandatory jail time.
Also, it’s Thai law that any foreigner who commits a crime is deported, so I couldn’t just go to the airport because I would be flagged by immigration. Deportation involves spending another few weeks locked up, several fines, a lifetime blacklist from Thailand and a very ugly stamp on your passport. Luckily, I managed to meet the daughter of a Thai billionaire (thats another story in itself) and using her connection, managed to get out of the country.
Thats just a condensed version of the story, I could probably write a book about my trip haha. It’s funny to me now, but during it I was fucking terrified as there was a real possibility that I could have ended up in some Thai prison, aka hell on Earth.
Anyone else have any crazy travel stories?
