# Safety in Thailand, insurance...



## Guest (Apr 24, 2009)

In the photo thread I posted a pic here...

That sort of bird's nest cabling can be seen on many a lamp post around the country.

We know how dangerous it can be on the roads, especially if you use a bike. Hundreds died during the recent Songkran festivities. Being a pedestrian isn't a stroll in the park either...

Ok in the likes of Chiang Mai you don't get a sense of threat from pickpockets, muggers etc. But you still have to be careful. Only last year there was a gang of ladyboys driving around, looking for cars parked up during the night, whose owners were sleeping off a few beers too many. It took a while for this gang to be caught - apparently once robbed of their remaining cash, most of the victims were too embarrassed to tell the police!

Food poisoning? Only problem I've had so far is from a farang-run place, a hungry soi cat would have turned its nose up at the fish I was served.

In the beach resorts, the jetski, paragliding etc activities aren't subject to the same regulations as they are in the West... or if they are, few businesses take much notice of them. 

Fancy going to a nightclub? The one that burnt down in Bangkok with the loss of so many lives last year wasn't even licensed as a club, it was allegedly just a private home being used illegally. No proper safety standards were being enforced. 

Any expats suffered mishaps in LOS? I wonder sometimes if visitors, or even expats, have decent enough insurance for the increased risks of travelling around SE Asia. Some of the tourists I've met haven't a clue!


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## Guest (Apr 25, 2009)

More incentive to get the right insurance cover on this great blog by Travelhappy... _"12 ways to seriously injure yourself on a Bangkok sidewalk"_.

Chiang Mai has its own version of the telephone box hazard, ie 'pick a particularly narrow bit of pavement, then place the phone box next to a tree or lamp post so that it's barely possible to squeeze through the gap. If too many people are managing to get through unscathed, then place a sign at farang head height to decapitate as many of the heathens as possible'...


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And no, it wasn't me guv, that bent back the sign, honest, even if I did live just a couple of hundred metres away on Sri Donchai in Chiang Mai. Getting caught vandalising city property no doubt merits a ten stretch in Bangkwang (the Bangkok Hilton).

And here's one more Chiang Mai special, the lethal kerbstone...


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Specially designed to entrap innocent tourists, they are coated with oil and dirt which is replenished on a daily basis by the pollution. This lethal combination, along with the 45° slope, guarantee that the unsuspecting or inebriated regularly end up on their backsides...


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