Pattaya New Years Eve Police Stop
It was around June of 2015. Me and two of my friends, 24 years old at the time, decided to go on a trip to Thailand after serving for three years in the military. We booked a flight for February 2016 and worked our day jobs while counting the days until the flight.
February 2016, we arrived in Bangkok and flew straight to Phuket, barely making it on time for the connecting flight. It was already night time when we arrived at our hotel in Patong Beach of Phuket, and we set out to explore the area around the hotel. Luckily for us, the hotel was located near a shopping center where we could get some food, clothing, and other necessities.
Khao Sok National Park
We booked a trip to Khao Sok National Park from one of the tourism stores, as well as boat rides to Phi Phi Islands, as both destinations were highly recommended. In the following days, we walked a lot and got familiar with the area, visited some of the notoriously overpriced street markets for tourists, open bars with table games, and even went to a massage parlor, which took some courage and mental adjustment.
After a couple of days, we went to Khao Sok for a few days. Our Khao Sok group consisted of a young married couple, two French guys that kept to themselves, me and two of my friends, and another gay couple, an older British guy and a younger Russian guy. We chatted with most of the group and our tour guide who spoke fluent English. We trekked in some of the island’s jungles, rode on elephants, visited caves. During the night, we stayed at a fishing village where we got treated to some delicious Thai food and drinks. Our tour guide was playing on a guitar, and everyone was having a good time. The gay couple probably had too much to drink and started arguing over something.
After the first day, I got terribly sunburned, since I didn’t think about bringing the 100 UV sunblock that I needed to avoid this situation. One of my friends had some sunblock, and I took it and put some on my sunburns. The older British guy offered his spare bottle of 50 UV sunblock, I took it and thanked him. For some unexplained reason, he started massaging my arms and shoulders. My guess is that he was drunk, and I didn’t want to stay and find out what he was planning, so I thanked him for the sunblock and called it a night. My friends had a good laugh at me and the situation, asking if I’m sure I didn’t want him to join us.
The next day, we returned to Patong after some more sightseeing and got ready to leave for Phi Phi Island. On Phi Phi, we booked a few trips, seven island trips including the famous Maya Bay, did some kayaking in open water, almost had our food and water stolen by monkeys when we docked at one of the beaches, and saw a young tourist who lost her bikini top at the beach. Great day! We limped the steps to Phi Phi’s viewpoint observing the island, and during the night saw a fire performance on the beach next to a party.
Bangla Road and Koh Phangan
After a few days, we returned to Patong and booked a ride and a ferry to Koh Phangan to get to the full moon party. In the evening, we went to Bangla Road, which is the walkway of Patong. As soon as we got there, we were offered to see a certain show involving ping pong balls, and curiosity got the better of us, so we went in. The catch was that you could stay as long as you want if you order something to drink, and the prices were much higher than normal, but it was alright since the show was our goal at the time. At one point, a girl from the bar clung to my friend and tried to persuade him to take her with him. A few moments later, you couldn’t see his face as it was buried deep in her chest. We left shortly after when men started coming up to the stage for the second half of the show. Our curiosity was satisfied.
The next day, we arrived in Koh Phangan, but when we asked about the full moon party, we were told it was once a month and the next one is in two weeks’ time, but there is a half-moon party the next day. We went there, and the party was great with lots of people and three to four different stages, but unfortunately it was cut short at about 2:00 a.m., the lights shut off and everybody scattered. The next day, we found a restaurant by the beach while walking. It was part of a club with a pool, lounge, and some rooms. We had lunch there, and the staff told us we could use the pool and lounge for free.
We returned to Patong and went to Tiger World to see and pet the Tigers, hired a taxi to pick us up and return to the hotel. When we returned, one of my friends was getting out of the taxi from the left side on a one-way street, not the main road. Another taxi hit and broke the door off our taxi, nearly hitting my friend. Once he stopped and got out, he demanded he pay money for damages because, according to him, it was my friend’s fault for opening the door. I was furious. It was clearly the other guy’s fault, and I didn’t want to pay him anything. He drove recklessly and hit our taxi. After a few minutes, a policeman came and talked with both taxi drivers. The owner of our hotel also came out to see what was up, and both the policeman and the hotel owner advised us to pay and not escalate the situation. My friend that almost got hit by the crazy taxi driver wasn’t feeling well and also told me to drop it. I was furious but agreed.
Later that day, me and my other friend went to a local pharmacy to get some medicine, and after we returned and gave the medicine to our other friend, he called us to his room, and more specifically to the bathroom, where he was spewing up like a fire hydrant from all directions and made us witness the damage. We were supposed to fly to Bangkok the next day.
The Lost Passport
While packing, I noticed that I couldn’t find my passport. I searched everywhere I could think of, as well as contacting the various hotels we stayed at, with no luck. Luckily for me, I got a copy of the passport from reception and could use it on the flight. The next day, I ended up calling the embassy to ask what I need to do and followed their instructions: go to the police station and file a lost passport report, and with it go to the embassy and immigration offices and get a new temporary passport and visa stamp. Every step of the way costing me money. I do not recommend losing a passport.
Pattaya Walking Street
The next day, we flew to Bangkok and we got a taxi to Pattaya. Our hotel was about 30 minutes’ walk from the famous Walking Street, and we stopped by a nearby restaurant on our way. We should have looked at the reviews before we sat down, because it was terrible, the food wasn’t great, and there were roaches on some of the tables. We just got up, paid, and left, never to come back again.
Our first time on Pattaya’s Walking Street was shocking, the scale of it, the bars, the clubs, and go-go bars. We hadn’t seen anything like it yet, and the prices were much higher than what we were used to. We hung around in a few bars, and my friend even managed to win us shots of tequila by playing pool. We came back that night and looked up what else is there besides Walking Street, and my friend found what I thought at the time was the Holy Grail, and that is a soapy massage, and that’s where we headed the next night. And it was all that it was advertised to be.
At this point, there were only two of us, since one of our friends was sick and refused to go with us or to the hospital, saying he’d be fine if he just rests. The next evening, we went to another place with bars called The Devil’s Den. On our way there, we stopped by a large area with many small bars and street food vendors. One bar had a pool table, and we paid for some beers and played pool with the girls there. One of the girls, who I think was the owner of the bar, was really good and turned out she used to play competitively. She showed us an article with her winning a regional competition. After a while, me and my friend thanked them for the games and beer and got ready to leave, and the girl asked me if I want to go with her to some party. I was afraid that it was not going to end well for me in an unfamiliar area, and I declined her offer and said I had other plans and continued on our way.
We reached The Devil’s Den and entered one of the bars with the girls dancing on the stage. After a few drinks and some conversation, we headed out back with company. The girl I was with spoke pretty good English, and we had some good conversation and late-night aerobics.
Leaving Thailand
The next day, we left for Bangkok for the final few days of the trip, did some shopping. One taxi driver took us to see an Indian shop that makes and sells suits. We just walked in, looked around for 10 seconds, and walked out to continue our drive. At night, we went to Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza just to check out the bars, talk about hardcore. Those girls would suck the gold out of your fillings while you were asleep. That was basically the end of our time and adventure, great memories which I will cherish forever. Thanks for reading out my story.
Story 2 New Years Eve in Pattaya A Drunk Ride A Vanishing ATM and a Life Changing Lesson
I’m Jeroen, now 51 years old and from the Netherlands. I’ve been a regular visitor to Thailand since 2003. Most of the time, I go to Thailand in the months of December, January, or February to spend my accumulated holiday and break the long dark winter days in Europe and escape the boring English Christmas time at home, especially because I’m single with no family to take care of and no other stuff to take care of either, I suppose.
During this period of time in the last decades, I’ve also taken a few friends or couples with me to the Land of Smiles, which was their first far away long-distance experience outside of their normal European vacations. They all loved it and still do to this day, and most of them are seasoned travelers themselves now. Most of my single friends back home go on holiday around the same time as me, and without really planning it out, we see and meet each other somewhere during our holidays and spend some time together. Strangely enough, we don’t have time to visit each other back home, even though we live about 10 kilometers apart, but we always manage to see each other on our holidays. It’s always a great time.
This time is no exception. It’s Christmas time 2018, and I was in Hua Hin at the time when I received an email from an old friend asking if I was in Thailand. I was, so we exchanged new mobile numbers and gave each other a call. Finally, he asked me if I had any plans for New Year’s Eve. He was staying in Pattaya at the moment after a three-week temple stay in Chiang Mai, going through the process of meditating and retreats for that kind of experience, and now he was in Pattaya for a two-week Muay Thai training camp. For him, this is sort of a yearly routine. He also mentioned, without saying it, that he wanted me to come to Pattaya to celebrate our New Year’s Eve together, go out and have some fun and party together. Especially because he lives like a monk all year round, and the one and only night he drops his guard and breaks all the rules and has a decent time is on New Year’s Eve. That’s his escape and time to get drunk and act loose and crazy, given his circumstances.
Battling Addiction
Now, I have to tell you a little bit about my personal dilemmas. I’ve been fighting serious addiction problems for the last 30 years, trying to combat my drug and alcohol abuse with various results. I stayed sober from alcohol for one year, and then I remained clean from drugs for one and a half years. Up until that point, I had a good run in terms of both drugs and alcohol. My main goal was to get rid of my drug addiction at that time, and I was trying to stay sober from alcohol to see how far I could go without the use of any substances. For the most part, for your listeners, it might sound ridiculous, but yeah, what can I say? These are my life experiences, not the wisest ones, but at least I’m trying to better my life. Although I can imagine that for many of you, it would be the route someone else should have taken, like attending AA meetings or rehab programs. There’s something stubborn in my head telling me to fix my own problems.
I have to say that during holidays, it’s much easier to stay off drugs because you become extra aware of the dangers in a foreign country, especially in Thailand. Additionally, you don’t have the familiar routes to obtain them without getting into trouble, etc. There’s also another factor: when you’re on vacation, you’re in a different social circle compared to where you are at home. So for some reason, you don’t think about using as much as you do at home. You’re in a different environment with new emotions and experiences, which makes it a lot easier to stay away from abusive substances. But that’s about it regarding the background information about my abuse.
Now let’s quickly move on to my alcohol situation during that period of time. I was testing myself to see how far I could go without any alcohol, without making any hard promises to myself. Up until this point, I had always been a heavy drinker since the age of 20, and up until this point, I’ve only managed to make a serious attempt to stay sober for one and a half years, which was back in 2014. The thing is, the reason I’ve been able to get away with any substance abuse so far is the fact that I’m also a very dedicated athlete. This passion for sports started in my childhood when I began practicing judo at the age of seven. I quickly realized that I had some talent for it and incorporated daily training sessions into my routine. I also maintain my cardiovascular fitness by running. As I grew older, I started weightlifting and achieved good results with it, leading to a well-built physique. This pattern continued throughout my life, I exercised on a daily basis until the age of 48, appearing to be 10 years younger than my actual age. Nobody could see or notice anything abnormal about me. However, behind this facade, I was heavily addicted to drugs and an even more excessive drinker. It had reached a point where alcohol no longer affected me. I could easily consume several beers and a bottle of wine, wake up after a short night’s sleep, and go for a nine-mile run in the morning. This description highlights the extent of my addiction.
In 2018, during a holiday, I had reached a point where I had been sober for three and a half months. I then agreed to my friend’s invitation to go to Pattaya to party. I embarked on my rented motorbike and set off for Pattaya. The journey turned out to be quite an adventure in itself. Oh boy, did I underestimate the distance between Hua Hin and Pattaya for a motorbike ride. It took me a grueling seven hours, with some parts of the route presenting real challenges, especially around the highways in Bangkok where motorbikes were not supposed to go. Toll booth staff redirected me to take slippery dirt paths along the highway, leading me to slums where it seemed like they had never seen a foreigner on a motorbike under those bridges. Despite all the obstacles, the trip was entirely worth it, providing an amazing adventure and experience.
Arriving in Pattaya
Finally, I arrived in Pattaya late in the evening on the 30th of December 2018, at the hotel where my friend was staying. I desperately needed a long hot shower to wash off all the dirt and exhaust fumes from the seven-hour journey. You can hardly imagine how much black water comes off your body after such a trip. Anyways, here we go, freshened up, I had some catching up to do with my friend after not seeing him for two and a half years. We exchanged some long stories that night. After a really good and long sleep, I woke up the next day. My friend and I had lunch for breakfast and started to make a relaxed plan for how we could spend our time on New Year’s Eve. We decided to split up, each going on our own way for the afternoon, trying to find any good options and calling each other if we found something good.
I also scanned the internet but quickly came to the conclusion that we were way too late to book something or get tickets for any special party. In the afternoon, I drove through Walking Street, where everybody was busy stocking the bars with alcohol. Then I saw a lady put up a sign with information for a rooftop bar party at some bar where you can look out over the whole bay area of Pattaya. After I could have a quick peek upstairs, I thought, “Wow, nice.” This was meant to be. The entrance tickets were a fixed price of 2,000 baht each, which included an open bar. By this time, I made up my mind, I’m going to surprise my friend. So I didn’t call him in between, and I kept this party a secret. I also made the decision there and then to drink alcohol tonight. Why not? Everything turned out great.
So satisfied, I got myself a fresh haircut. In the beginning of the evening, I met my friend again to hear what he had in store for us, but he had to admit he couldn’t find anything for the upcoming night. And I still played along, saying I also hadn’t found anything useful. We decided to go with the flow and just see what would happen that night.
The first thing of the evening was to get ourselves a relaxing massage. Before we knew it, an hour had already passed. We decided to go back to our hotel, take a shower, get properly dressed, and go out for dinner. We ended up at a restaurant set up on a beach. It all looked perfect, good food, a nice setting, well-dressed people. In short, the perfect kickoff for the night ahead.
New Years Eve in Pattaya
As the time crawled forward to 11:00 p.m., I started to unveil my plan. I told my friend I had a surprise for both of us and that it was time to take action. I told my friend to follow me on the motorbike on our way to Walking Street. So off we went. We parked the motorbikes close to the rooftop bar where I got the tickets from, you know those motorbike parking places in the small alleyways leading to Walking Street. Only it was packed, and I mean really packed. I had never experienced such a crowded situation before, not even when I stayed in Pattaya for three months a decade ago. Wow, this was pure chaos. After 20 minutes or so, we managed to find somewhere to park our motorbikes and started walking up to the rooftop bar, with me reminding my friend to follow me. He still had no clue about what we were about to do.
When we arrived at Walking Street through this small back alley, I could see the rooftop bar just across the street, but it was so crowded. I think I had never seen so many people in one street before. I started trying to cross to the other side of the street. I looked back over my shoulder and I realized I couldn’t see my friend any longer. How was that possible? In about one minute, we lost sight of each other. I lost my friend. Damn! I started scanning the environment to see if I could find my friend, of course I couldn’t. So I decided to go back to the motorbikes, the place where we had last spoken to each other. He wasn’t there either. Now what? How could I be so stupid not to tell him our destination? It was all part of the surprise, of course, but it backfired really badly.
Now I tried to call him, but you know how it goes in crowded places, no reception at all. Everybody’s trying to use their phones at the same time; the lines were totally dead. I ended up taking photos of the rooftop bar and sending messages to my friend informing him that I would be there waiting for him at the bar, hoping he would receive these messages before midnight.
But there I was, standing on the rooftop bar, having driven about 400 kilometers on a motorbike to party with my friend and have this big surprise party overlooking the Pattaya Bay Area at midnight, only without my friend. Well, I can tell you, I felt really disappointed and down. I felt very lonely. New Year’s Eve was in full effect, fireworks everywhere, beautiful views, and people partying all around me, all happy and having a great time. Except for me.
The Rooftop Party
It only took a few minutes before some people around me noticed that something was wrong. After explaining the situation I was in, I quickly got adopted by an international company with lots of people from all over the world. A young lady advised me to let the alcohol flow and forget about the negative thoughts and experiences. So I did. I asked the bartender for a gin and tonic, and that’s when things took off. I have to tell you, I had a really good time with my new-made friends, and they took really good care of me.
But after two and a half hours into the rooftop party, everything slowed down a little, and most of the partygoers started moving elsewhere downstairs to Walking Street. So I did the same. I started roaming through Walking Street, and there was a great atmosphere with good vibes everywhere. By this time, I was feeling quite tipsy. There were drinks here and there, shots everywhere, a little tired but still having fun. I just decided to hit the nightclubs in Walking Street.
It was around 4:00 a.m. when I spotted my long-lost friend on the dance floor. I walked up to him and I tried to get an explanation from him about what happened before, how we lost each other and what actions he took to try and find me. At this point, he was quite hammered. He could barely walk and looked wasted. I also didn’t get the direction or answers I was looking for. It turned out he didn’t take any steps to try and find me. His point of view was that as soon as we lost each other, he made his own plan and got drunk as soon as possible. He didn’t even make any effort to look for me around the motorbikes or in the surroundings where we got separated. He went straight to the first place that came to his mind, which was the club Insomnia, that would never have crossed my mind because we never spoke or talked about that club.
Anyways, I noticed I got a bit angry at him, but I didn’t want to spoil the good vibes I was in, so I left him and I went back to the street. Meanwhile, the party slowed down significantly, and it was a lot less crowded outside. That made me realize I had enough for the night. I was tired, I had drunk enough, and the party was pretty much over by that point. So I walked back to the motorbike parking. After a serious search, I found my bike.
The Drunk Ride
And that’s where the real story starts. I tried to get onto my bike drunk. That must have been a silly view from a distance, a stumbling, drunken man trying to get on his motorbike. It must have been quite a sight for the police officer standing somewhere in the alleyway waiting for victims. I tried to start my motorbike, and as soon as I did that, I felt I was grabbed firmly by my arm. I saw another hand immediately grabbing my keys out of my hands, and I was dragged off the motorbike. Here I was, eye to eye with a police officer in a firm hold. “Can I identify myself?” was his first question. Luckily, or unfortunately, I had my passport with me. That was confiscated in a second, as well as the keys of my motorbike.
I felt the ground disappear under my feet, and I felt instantly sick, real sick, in a way I’d never experienced before. This, together with an unimaginable feeling of guilt and anxiety. I was dragged along the alley around the corner to this familiar wooden police box office at the road crossing near Walking Street. There was a queue of what seemed to be only farangs. For some reason, I was dragged into this office immediately, no queue for me. Then I stood with three officers in front of me in this small office. Very intimidating. I had to put my wallet on the table and empty the rest of my pockets. They were going through my belongings, looking dead serious back at me, talking in Thai to each other. When one of them opened the conversation with me, I had to do an alcohol test, and we all know how that turned out.
The officers started to talk again: “You’re in serious trouble, mister. You go to jail. Jail.” I asked if I didn’t hear it correctly. I almost fainted for the first time in my life. They all started to laugh in such a ridiculous way. I even got more scared. “Yes, you go to jail for two weeks.” Wow. What? How do you get out of here then?
I had a clear moment. Through the years, you hear some stories and pick up some information which came to me at that moment. Try to buy your way out of this, I thought. I don’t know the exact details on how to start a bribe, but I started it anyway. “No, no, no, I’m not going to jail. I’ve got my flight to catch home to the Netherlands in two days’ time. I’ll do whatever it takes, but I will not go to jail. Is there any possible way to go to the police station rather than jail?” I asked. Then the first was very strict: “No, was the answer. You go to jail.” But I kept pushing for another outcome. They started talking again in the Thai language, of course.
The Police Station
Then all of a sudden, I got pushed out of the box by one of the officers. He started taking me, guiding me away from the crowding outside. He asked if I could use my ATM card. This was also remarkable, probably because they also went through my wallet with the inspection they made before and found out I didn’t have that much money left. But the officer demanded an equivalent amount to 750 Euros in Thai baht. That’s exactly the maximum amount of money I can withdraw in one time, one time a day, on my card. It was like they already knew this.
So there I was, walking with a police officer again in a firm grip. I was directed to a specific ATM a few streets further on. I took out the maximum amount I was allowed. But then the following thing occurred: I didn’t get any cash out of this ATM. Everything up to this point looked very smooth. The only issue was I didn’t receive my full amount of cash. I was confused. I tried it a second time, but it was rejected. The ATM machine told me that I’d reached my maximum daily limit. How was this possible? I didn’t understand this situation and became a little desperate. I was so close to freedom, but for some reason I couldn’t withdraw my money from the ATM. At some point, I started to think the ATM was empty.
I don’t know exactly how it happened, but I managed to reach a point where the police officer let me go to get the money on my own. Maybe he received a phone call or for some other reason realized that I wouldn’t go anywhere because they had my passport at the booth. So I was able to go on my own and look for another option. I had a backup credit card in my hotel room, which I retrieved within 20 minutes. I found a different ATM, and I tried my credit card this time. I successfully withdrew my money.
I went back to the police office. The officers were quite busy dealing with many of the situations involving foreigners. Eventually, one officer outside recognized me as the person he had escorted to the ATM machine. They let me back into the office. Here I was again with the same three officers as before. One of them opened his notebook where I had to place some money quickly. He closed the book and pointed me towards the exit of the booth.
Paying the Police
I think it was the alcohol effect taking me again, because all of a sudden I felt good but also brave. I nearly messed it up a second time by asking for a receipt. Of course, I couldn’t get one. I even got more foolish by asking if I could take a photo of the officer as proof that I paid the dues. One officer stepped forward, became very serious. Without saying much, it was clear to me that I shouldn’t continue in this matter and I should get out of the office. And that’s exactly what I did. I even left the motorbike where it was parked and walked back to my hotel.
At first, I felt relieved. But later, when I got back to the room, reality set in. I checked my withdrawal transactions on my laptop, and I saw that both transaction transactions went through. I was sick, both mentally and physically, as it was a night filled with many emotions and a lot of stress. The effects of the alcohol were wearing off, and I felt pretty depressed about the whole night.
The day after, I tried to locate the ATM machine that had failed to dispense my cash, only to discover that it was no longer there. So I believe this entire incident was premeditated. It appeared to be a type of mobile ATM that was now untraceable. I’d never heard or read about such a story before, but it definitely happened to me.
The only positive aspect of this ordeal is I reached a point in my life where I realized how fortunate I was. The realization extended to all the times I’d driven under the influence. Fortunately, I never caused any accidents, narrowly escaped a few close calls with the police in the past, but this time it all hit me. In total, I paid 1,550 Euros to avoid imprisonment. Regardless of whether it was police provocation or intimidation, I was tired of losing money in this manner, and the situation felt too tense. I view it as a moment when I had to face the consequences for all the risks I’d taken throughout my life with drugs and alcohol.
Since then, I’ve been completely sober, quitting cold turkey to this day. No drugs, no alcohol. I no longer have to worry about how to get home when I’m intoxicated, and I have put an end to foolish alcohol-related behavior such as thinking that driving a scooter is harmless and that I can get away with it because everyone else does.
