(Edit) Host transcript – Thailand Stories About Bar Girls Scams Insurance and Gold (NOW DONE)
Story 1 Falling for a Professional
My story begins in the height of the pandemic September 2021. As an American citizen our travel options were limited to Mexico or Thailand. I have visited Bangkok a few times before and it seemed like a much better option. I opted for the Sandbox scheme that let you roam freely on the island of Phuket for two weeks versus two weeks quarantine in a Bangkok hotel. I had been to Phuket one other time but all my memories were a Singha beer blur. Everything was new to me.
It was a fun time as there were a handful of bars open on the Bangla Road strip and you would bump into the same faces you saw on the aircraft. It felt like summer camp as a kid and by the end of the Sandbox you had made a lot of new friends. I was just happy to finally be able to travel.
I frequented one of the few bars that were open and drank with the same girl for several nights. One night she was with another customer so I approached another girl. Her name was Tick and from first glances she was definitely a professional but for a transactional experience she would be perfect. She was clearly not an innocent farm girl that just arrived from Isan to support her family.
We began to talk and I was surprised with her honest answers. She told me she’s worked at bars since she was 18 years old and she was 29 years old right now. She also said other blunt comments like “When she gets a man’s heart she can get everything she wants from him.” I suppose she sized me up as a professional too and didn’t need to use the usual script. In a weird way it made me feel special. I paid the bar fine and off we went.
The following day she went back to her apartment to change and agreed to meet me for a late lunch at the hotel. To my surprise she showed up in her car. I just assumed that someone must be sponsoring her or maybe her career had been that lucrative. The remainder of the two weeks we spent every night together. No money was exchanged after the first night. I did go to her bar every night and buy her drinks also if we went for food I’d pay but that’s something you would do on a regular day anyway.
After her work we’d go to these after hours parties held in condo units up in the hills of Patong. At that time there was a strict alcohol curfew in Thailand so this venue was popular. I learned a lot about the bar girl world as all her co workers would show up at these condo parties. I saw all the hustles and scams in plain view because now through Tick I was like one of the friends.
First Travel Lessons
One time I took a photo of the place and in the background was her roommate (in brackets former bar girl) and her Thai boyfriend. When I showed Tick the photo she snapped at me like I did something awful like kicking a puppy. She told me to delete it immediately. And of course I did what any normal person would do I kept it until I figured out the reason for her reaction.
The next day we met her roommate and their friend from China for drinks. It turns out the friend from China was her roommate’s sponsor. He seemed like a really nice kid maybe late 20s and was clearly getting scammed. I felt a lot of guilt. I really should have disclosed the truth to him. As expected Tick’s roommate kept very close to us during our conversations. I wanted to pull out that photo but didn’t want to ruin my remaining nights with Tick.
The reality of the situation did lead to disagreements especially her profession. I didn’t provide her monthly support and she continued working. She first said she will work for drinks only and then it became “As long as she only loved me going out with customers was okay.” A mind clouded by love has a way of making everything normal.
There were many guys and some repeat customers that would show up periodically. To keep track of them we would give them nicknames like “Safari Man” (he stayed at the Safari Hotel in Patong) or my favorite “Early Bird” (because he always took her out early and finished with her early in the evening).
Like the plot in most of your train wreck stories the calls became less frequent and she disappeared often broken phone or she would simply say she was busy with customers. In the end during a visit she confessed that she will be marrying an American guy and this would be the last trip we would see each other. I was shocked devastated. And when I look back there were many signs I chose to ignore.
I figured the only thing I could do was make lemonade out of lemons so I sprinkled in additional seasons for good measure. It felt surreal to be waiting for her in the lobby of her apartment building while she called her fiancé in bed clothes to say goodnight. At the end of the five nights we parted ways. I do get periodic calls from her and I’m happy she’s found security for herself and her baby daughter.
Story 2 Jet Ski Scam and Freelancer Goodbye Message
I’ll send you two separate stories as I’ve just spent the last nine days in Patong on holidays as a man in his late 50s. The first was an observation. Sitting down at the beach in Patong for a few hours I watched a procession of people getting jet ski scammed. The routine is always the same whereby the Thai guy claims the jet ski riders damaged them by hitting other jet skis or objects in the water. They then show the signed paperwork. A heated debate erupts and then money is handed over before the police are called. It’s anywhere from 2000 baht up to 20000 baht depending upon how big and intimidating the tourists are and how many friends they have. I saw the same routine played out at least 10 times with the exact same outcome.
Anyway on to my story. As this was my first trip to Thailand and Patong I was firstly curious and secondly anxious to experience the bar girls or freelancer ladies to really make my trip and holiday memorable. After receiving advice from a good friend I set up a Thai Friendly account and started swiping about four weeks out from my trip. To my surprise I matched with lots of women and was communicating almost daily with between 6 and 10 women before my trip.
After the first few days of settling in at the resort I was staying at I reached out to one lady that I set my sights on. She was a freelancer and her fee was 4000 baht for the whole night. Hoping to have her come to my resort which was on the northern end of Patong Beach which was amazing with a room and balcony overlooking the ocean I was informed when I asked reception that outside guests at the hotel in your room are not allowed even though I specifically booked for two persons. Nevertheless my only option was a cheap guest friendly hotel near Bangla Road.
On the day of the adventure a number of messages were exchanged and the time was set up to meet. I waited for her in the lobby and waited and continued to wait. I’m always precise with my time and no one told me there is “on time” and there is “Thai time.” Eventually she arrived and was more stunning than I could have ever imagined. She didn’t speak English but Google Translate was all that was needed.
Anyway back in the room activities were had and it was the most memorable enjoyable and loving experience with a woman from more than 20 years. The “girlfriend experience” is true and is something to behold and it’s difficult to describe. For an Australian man we are so starved for attention respect and humanity by our Western women to receive the attention and kindness that the Thai women provide can be overwhelmingly addictive.
Although I wanted her to stay with me for a few more days I made sure to be careful and not break the 24 hour rule otherwise there was no turning back. The next morning I walked her back to her apartment and we parted ways with a hug and a kiss. I thought that would be the end of the experience but on subsequent days I received unprompted messages from her to see how I was. And today as I’m leaving she sent me a lovely message to wish me all the best and thank me for the lovely memories I gave her as well.
Story 3 Painful Lesson in Travel Insurance
On the 9th of September you read my story mainly Hua Hin. Thank you. I understand if you can’t read this out on YouTube I have tried to make it as G or PG rating as I can. It has nothing to do with bar girls or freelancers. This is from the same trip I had in April but a completely different subject that I haven’t heard a lot on yet it’s an important one I feel. Please bear with me.
A lot of people including me think something like this will never happen to me and when it does you have no idea what to do just like me. I hope we can all learn from this and that it might even help someone out in a similar situation.
About three to five days after I landed in Bangkok I was at my condo on Soi 2 Sukhumvit. I noticed it started to hurt when I urinated. At first I thought it was just a tract infection. Over the next few days it got worse and it felt really bad like I was urinating red hot blunt rusty razor blades. I’ve never felt that amount of pain and never fitted that amount of swear words into such a short amount of time. I mean everyone including the C word.
I went to the pharmacy on Soi 4 and asked for some medication. He asked “Have you done any aerobics unprotected since you arrived?” I always use protection if you know what I mean. He gave me some medication and suggested I go to hospital. He wrote down Bumrungrad. I said I will go if it gets worse. Side note I also seemed to be urinating more times than usual. I took the medication as prescribed and it only got worse more pain and my urine had red and black spots in it.
After two days I ended up Googling hospitals near me as I had thrown out the paper that the pharmacy had written the name of the hospital on. I was in so much pain it hurt when I peed and it was even hurting when I walked. The closest hospital to me was Bumrungrad International Hospital. I was in so much pain. My hotel had an entrance on Soi 4 so one of the amazing staff at the condo helped me walk out of Soi 4 and get a taxi to Bumrungrad Hospital.
I hopped into the taxi. I said “Meter.” He said “200 baht.” I was in too much pain to argue so I agreed. I got to the hospital. I hobbled to the main reception area of Bumrungrad and was told what building and what floor to go to. I got to where I was supposed to go. The staff took my details and asked me to sit. I waited about three to five minutes then I got called to see the doctor. I explained to the doctor that it really hurt to urinate and I have never felt so much pain in my life. The doctor said he needed a urine sample. I was scared myself at the thought of having to pee as it hurt like 20 out of 10.
Bangkok Travel Lessons
I went to the toilet took a deep breath and started to urinate with tears running down my face due to the pain. I was screaming every swear word in the English language at the top of my lungs. I heard two nurses shout out to me “Are you okay sir? Do you need any help?” I said “No thank you. I’m so sorry for my swearing. I’m in so much pain.” They said “It’s okay sir if there’s anything you can just ask us.” I finished the sample and gave it to reception. I was asked to sit down and wait.
After about 20 minutes I saw the doctor. He said “You have a lot of blood in your urine. I was hoping to find an infection in your urine. You need an MRI which we can do now. I will also give you some medication to ease the pain.” He also said one of the pills will help the pain but turn your urine fluorescent orange. He said the result for the MRI won’t be ready until tomorrow so we organized the appointment for the next day. The doctor prescribed some medication and said “This one will turn your urine bright orange but it will take the pain away.” He also prescribed me some antibiotics.
A nurse took me to where I was to go to the MRI. I waited until another nurse came to help me. The nurse came and took me to a change room to change into some special clothes. I changed but as they were traditional Thai style clothing I had no idea how to fasten them so a nurse did it for me. After I changed I was taken to a hallway with seats. I was getting so cold due to the air conditioning. I told a passing nurse I was so cold is there somewhere else to sit? She took me into what I think was a doctor’s office. Either way I was warm again.
I think I waited for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then the lady that was doing the MRI walked in and said hello and told me what was going to happen. She explained that she will put a needle in my arm. This needle was big. She said “It has to be this big so we can inject you with a solution that will make you feel hot but it’s picked up on the MRI.” I went into the MRI room. They injected me with the solution. I felt warm and they did the MRI.
After the MRI I had to pee again. A nurse took me to the change room and it had a toilet. I peed again tears running down my face. I finished peeing got changed back into my normal clothes and went to where all the nurses were and I said “I’m so sorry it really hurts when I pee.” After this I then got taken to where you have to pay. What a shock 37000 Thai baht. Wow so much. But I had to pay. I was thinking “No problem my travel insurance will reimburse me.” I paid got my medications caught a taxi back to my condo. This time he put the meter on only 80 baht to my condo. I gave him 100 baht anyway.
In my condo I called my travel insurance and said I’m in Bangkok. We ran out of phone credit. They called me back and said “Okay we’ll email you the forms and what we need.” I said “Okay thanks.” I then took my medication and lay on the bed with a pillow between my knees as this was as pain free as I could get. I was still in a lot of pain. As I was watching Netflix I was also drinking as little water as possible all the while hoping that I didn’t have to pee again.
When Things Go Wrong in Bangkok
The next day I went back to the hospital for the results of the MRI. When I saw the doctor he said “I was hoping for a tract infection but your bladder is inflamed for some reason. I want to put a camera up your gentleman’s part.” I said I would have to talk to my insurance company first. I will get back to you in two to five days. I got back to my condo emailed my insurance company of the update and waited for a response. I then spent the next two days just in my condo taking my medication and laying on the bed hoping not to have to pee.
After about three days of taking my medicine and resting I was back to normal. People have no idea how good it is to pee with no pain. It felt amazing so good not fearing going to the toilet. I then received an email from my insurance company telling me what information I needed from the hospital. I thought it can wait until tomorrow or the day after as today is the last day of Songkran. A day or two later my insurance called asking for certain details of me which I gave them. A few days later I got information from the hospital. I then forgot to email them onto my travel insurance company as I was having too much fun in Hua Hin. I was thinking I could sort it out when I get back to Australia.
I guess what I’m saying is if you have to claim travel insurance do it as soon as possible. If you don’t feel like it or if you are like me get a family member to help you back home who the insurance company can contact. Would I do things differently in a similar situation happened? Yes I would. I would do my insurance as quickly as possible. I would also stay in better contact with the hospital and insurance company. I would also get a family member to help and ask them if it’s okay if the insurance company and hospital email the information to them as well as me just in case I miss anything. I would also advise not to undergo any surgery or procedure unless it is absolutely necessary without your travel insurance approval because if they don’t approve it you’ll be the one paying for it.
Just to wrap up I never did go back to have the camera put up my gentleman’s part and I have had no more problems urinating. Looking back maybe it was water getting inside from the bum gun they have next to the toilet or it was just bad luck. Who knows? I hope this has been helpful. I know none of us want to get sick and go to the hospital when we’re on holiday in a different country but it does sometimes happen.
What a horrible thought having a camera stuck up there. I couldn’t handle that. I’d have to get knocked out. I’d have to say to the doctor “Give me tranquilizers knock me out and then do it.
I just want to pick up on one point on this story. One of the mistakes that people make when they come here to Thailand is that a lot of people don’t have travel insurance or they’ve got two week travel insurance. Travel insurance is there for a purpose isn’t it? So they’ll pay but they’re very restrictive on what they’ll pay per day for instance on a room. A hospital here in Thailand is a business so if you have to be hospitalized for three days as an example the room rate at Bumrungrad is about I think 15000 baht a day just for the room. It’s like a hotel room isn’t it? And then you get charged for X rays consultations medicine everything is billed. A lot of insurance companies will specify a daily limit.
Story 4 Vietnamese Vet Thai Cupid and Gold Bracelet
I’ve been watching your videos for quite a while now and find them very entertaining and enlightening. I’m in the process of moving to Thailand after living in Brazil for the last 20 years. I’m a Vietnam vet. I made two trips to Bangkok back in the early ’70s. I imagine a lot has changed since then but many of your stories seem familiar some things never change.
I’m obviously much older now and do not have any interest at all in the bar or go go scene. I really am looking to retire and live a simple life just as I’ve been doing in Brazil. Quiet guy boring even. And yet I have used Brazil Cupid with some luck here in Brazil and decided to click on the Thai Cupid link to see what was up. I know you don’t have to say it. So here is what happened.
The very first woman I spoke to seemed really nice. She isn’t young 54 and I kind of know the drill about older women there. We started chatting and I mean a lot of chatting sometimes hours every night. This has been going on for a little over two months. She was the first to mention video chat and while I’m not a big fan we started a nightly ritual. I’m also not a big fan of virtual aerobics but I do know how it works. In one of the very first encounters I kind of initiated it to see what would happen. She didn’t have a problem with it and there was no doubt that she knew what she was doing if you get my meaning. We only did that once.
I have asked her to leave her phone open while she showers a few times and she doesn’t seem to mind at all.
More about her she was selling clothes at a local market. She lives in East Pattaya. I know she was telling the truth because we often video chatted while she was there and she introduced me to many of her friends who also worked in the same market. She won’t find me on Facebook but I’m able to see all of her photos and she really looks like a down to earth woman no fancy clothes maybe a bit Thai hippie if anything. She was married for 22 years and her ex is friends with her on Facebook. I put a heart on one of her photos and she seemed really embarrassed saying that her ex boyfriend would see it. She says they have been divorced for over 10 years. I changed the heart to a like and that was okay.
She also told me about a farang friend who she thinks I should meet because he could really help me. She sent me a photo of the guy and all my red flags went up at the same time. A few went up when she said he was “just a friend.” This is all very confusing to me since there seems to be two distinct sides of the same story. She really does seem normal and all her photos and our chats verify that but there are some things that worry me.
Thailand Travel Lessons
She is wearing a shiny new one baht bracelet and a half baht ring. I know they are new because they are not in any of her photos even from the first of this year. Since we began talking she is always wearing them. Maybe a one baht bracelet isn’t the biggest gift someone could give but it’s more than I would want to give someone after a quick affair. I’m not sure if I should just feel stupid or trust her.
I did send her a bit of money. She was living in what I would call a slum and she immediately rented a very inexpensive room at a hotel and moved what she owned into it 4000 baht a month. She also wanted to rent some land and do some gardening. She did and has been sending videos of her progress there. I think it’s like half a rai or less. It is in the same area of the hotel. I think the land was around 3 or 4k for a year with a three year lease. I knew when I sent the money that it wasn’t any investment in my future but just a gesture to someone I like. She didn’t directly ask for it I just like her. It’s as simple as that.
In another week I’m flying in and plan on going right to the room. I have had some serious thoughts as to the possibility that she might be scamming me. My intuition is usually pretty right on and there have definitely been a few overt signs that there is more to this story than meets the eye. I am trying to hope for the best and leave myself a plan B C and D. On the advice of a few channels I watch I’m doing my best not to let her know everything about my finances and I plan on opening a savings account along with a bank account when I arrive so have some cash as a backup if she manages to get more than I counted on or if it becomes more obvious that there is a guy in the background.
