Popular Post paulsf Posted March 14, 2017 Popular Post Posted March 14, 2017 i am in Bangkok for a three month trip. It's a great place to spend American winters. While those of you on the East Coat are enjoying hopefully your last blizzard of the year, I spent most of my day pool side on a 96 degree day. Gotta love retirement. i had a situation a couple of weeks ago that shows the warm and friendly side of the Thai people. I decided to go to Hanoi for a long weekend. Another city I am falling in love with. Great people, food, a city that's starting to grow up fast. All packed and ready to go. Grab a taxi infront of my condo. Great day, no traffic, friendly driver, takes about 25 minutes. Get out of taxi, get luggage, get to airline check in counter. Opps...where's my wallet. Panic sets in as I realize I have lost my wallet. I had $200. drivers license, 1 credit card and my debit card. I live off my debit card and really messed up without it. Sat down for a minute to take stock of what's happing. Bangkok has many different taxi company's, and I had no idea which one I had used. Tourist Visas are 30 days. You have to leave the country for a day or more then come back. This was my 30th day and I had to go. I had my passport, couple other credit cards, and about $50. Cash in my backpack. Wallet is gone, nothing I can do about it now, so get on the plane to Hanoi. I had prepaid hotel and airport transfers so was covered there. Hanoi is very inexpensive City. Figured I could do credit card cash advance if needed. Learned how to have a fun weekend and be frugal, something I'm not in Bangkok. Back to Bangkok, hopping maybe I left wallet in Condo (nope) on the phone canceling cards and ordering replacement license. Lucked out, with int'l collect numbers for banks and fast and friendly service. I use Chase and I rec'd new debit card by UPS in 5 days. A special thank you to TotallyOz as he is here in Bangkok and let me use his address for delivery. Last night as I'm taking my 5pm nap before heading out to spend time with my friends, big knock on door. One of the workers from my condo building says your taxi here. I said I didn't order taxi. Language is an issue. He finally pulls out his wallet, points to it and said taxi. Then it hit me. Taxi has my wallet. Head down and sure enough there is the driver and he has my wallet. Nothing missing. All the cash there. Wow. Lots of thanks and smiles on my part. I gave him a very nice tip and he was all smiles. Language was an issue with everybody standing there, so didn't get the story. Today a worker I know that speaks English talked to security guy . Taxi driver found wallet when he got back to city. He knew I was only gone for few days. He remembered where he picked me up. Finally was in the area. My license has my picture on it. He asked security guy. Fairly easy as I'm only Caucasian living in the building. Wallet returned. Thailand is a country of amazingly friendly, caring people. There's a reason they call it, Land of Smiles. Taxi drivers do get a bad rap here for not using meters, or picking you up, falling asleep while driving I got a good guy. 10 days after I lost wallet, he still took the time to find me and return it. He was concerned for me. Asking if everything is ok, am I ok. It was one of the better happy endings I've had in Bangkok. ferrar, vinapu, boiworship and 4 others 7 Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 14, 2017 Posted March 14, 2017 This is one of the reasons I love Thailand so much. The people really are amazing and if you have never been here, you do not know what you are missing! Planetime and I and others really are amazed at how great the people in Thailand are and how safe we feel day and night. Quote
Members boiworship Posted March 16, 2017 Members Posted March 16, 2017 I'm kind of an arachnophobia, so I was wondering if the creepy crawlers in Thailand are a consideration. Queer question, I know! Quote
Members boiworship Posted March 16, 2017 Members Posted March 16, 2017 Arachnophobe (boo to auto-spell) Quote
paulsf Posted March 16, 2017 Author Posted March 16, 2017 Actually spiders are the one thing I have t seen here. I have a real problem with them at my condo in Florida. Here I have to admit I have been surprised by the lack of creatures crawling around. I spend 6 months in a condo and have barely ever seen anything. On occasion when I come home at 3am I might see a small rat scurry across the street. I've seen a few cockroachs, but mostly where people put out at trash. It's very hot here so bugs do happen. I think living in the city helps cut down on it. So hot and dust in the air with heavy traffic keeps little critters away. Come and have a great time. Bugs will definitely be the least of your worries. Quote
Guest KevinC Posted March 30, 2017 Posted March 30, 2017 I had a wallet incendent in Thailand too, but was not so lucky. This happened on my taxi ride from airport to hotel. I had $800 and credit cards in my wallet. I usually don't carry so much cash around on the street. But I was fresh off the 13 hour flight. I must have dropped the wallet in taxi. A few days later, a Thai friend (I kept a few emergency contact numbers in my wallet) called me and told me the police had my wallet, it is in a police station out of town now. So I went and retrieveed my wallet. All money was gone, everything else is intact. Quote
paulsf Posted March 30, 2017 Author Posted March 30, 2017 I admit I was surprised I got my cash back. People that have posted stories of lost wallets seem to run about 50/50 in getting cash back or not. Quote
Members kjun12 Posted August 26, 2017 Members Posted August 26, 2017 On 3/30/2017 at 10:58 AM, KevinC said: I had a wallet incendent in Thailand too, but was not so lucky. This happened on my taxi ride from airport to hotel. I had $800 and credit cards in my wallet. I usually don't carry so much cash around on the street. But I was fresh off the 13 hour flight. I must have dropped the wallet in taxi. A few days later, a Thai friend (I kept a few emergency contact numbers in my wallet) called me and told me the police had my wallet, it is in a police station out of town now. So I went and retrieveed my wallet. All money was gone, everything else is intact. NOw I understand why you bad-mouth Thailand so much. You started out on a bad foot at your own fault and now you have nothing good to say about the country. My advice: Stay home! Quote
Guest KevinC Posted August 28, 2017 Posted August 28, 2017 On 8/26/2017 at 10:53 AM, kjun12 said: NOw I understand why you bad-mouth Thailand so much. You started out on a bad foot at your own fault and now you have nothing good to say about the country. My advice: Stay home! In my previous post, I was just reporting my own wallet incident, just like the OP reporting his experience. Of course it is my own fault that I dropped my wallet in the first place. And the same outcome could very well happen in the U.S., The money lost had no effects on my trip. I still enjoyed what I went there for. In fact, I visited Thailand many times after my wallet incident. I even had a long stay in Bangkok. And I will continue visit Thailand whenever I feel like it. But facts are facts. In terms of honesty or moral behavior, Thailand is no better than other countries. IMHO. Quote
