Greed, Extortion, and Ladyboys

[Guest Astrrro]

One of the best true stories I've ever seen in my years of reading Thai forums. Check it out!

 

Greed, Extortion, and Ladyboys!

[TotallyOz]

I just read this and it was a great read. Thanks for posting it.

[Guest fountainhall]

One of the best true stories I've ever seen in my years of reading Thai forums

Wow, amazing story! And boy, is it long! In fact, it reads like a novel. Yet, being alleged ‘fact’, the writer presumably wishes readers to assume that all that detail is accurate. Some, though, must surely be in the ‘doubtful’ category, for in long stories like this, the devil often lurks in the detail. Here are just some examples.

 

Post #9

 

He says he wants to get away from the “madness”. Not surprising. I’d do exactly the same if I had been in his shoes at that time. So he tells us in the same post -

 

“As usual I traveled alone, I just prefer it that way, and had told only a few close friends exactly what I was up to . . . I booked in for a month at a gorgeous resort in the south of Thailand, one of the few places I knew about which had no ladyboys and where definitely no one would know me, where I could relax, unwind, collect some sun, read some books and clear my head for a while. It was perfect in every way and I was starting to settle into a routine there; sleep really late, hang at the beach or the pool all day, drink and party all night and watch the sun come up and start all over again the next day.”

 

But then later in the same post -

 

“Since I didn't really know anyone where I was (but wasn't that the point?), I felt like I wanted to share my good fortune and amazingly good vibes with *somebody*, maybe some friends from BKK, as well as my good friends and family back in the states. A short form letter was sent out via my Gmail account, just a couple paragraphs saying where I was and how much fun I was having, how beautiful it was, etc... even the name of my resort and a link to it....and that was BCC'd to about 10 people, all of whom I knew really well.”

 

That’s the first ‘fact’ which to me does not make total sense. Sure, when I am on holiday, I often send photos to family and close friends, but they all have been told in advance about my trip. Only my sister would have exact details of my accommodations. If he wants total relaxation, why give a web link when that will have contact details on it and any of those who received the mail could then start to contact him if they wished? But it’s a small point.

 

He then is accosted by the two thugs. One result is his passport is taken away.

 

Post #14

 

“We left the room . . . and they escorted me to the office, where my passport was sitting in a safety box.”

 

This is 2006 and he is, as we know, in “a gorgeous resort in the south of Thailand.” Yet to get his passport, he has to go to the resort's lobby? Surely a hotel of that quality has safety deposit boxes in the room! I never entrust large amounts of cash to the in room safes, but I'd never think of placing my passport in the lobby boxes.

 

Post #27

 

“Luckily I was able to talk my way onto the flight back to Bangkok without one (passport).”

 

A farang managing to get on a flight in Thailand without a passport in 2006? Near impossible, in my view. I always thought other forms of photo ID are not acceptable here. Anyhow, he then goes to the Embassy for his new passport.

 

Post #27

 

“I simply went up to the desk and told the pretty young Minnesota girl that my passport was stolen while on vacation in the south, which was the truth. No problems at all; for 3000 baht it would be taken care, simply come back 24 hours later and for now enjoy the rest of your vacation, Sir.”

 

Aha, but there is a problem here. I was once at Suvarnabhumi with an American client who suddenly could not find her passport. She checked all her bags several times, I retraced our steps from the limousine, I called the limousine back to search it and called the hotel to search her room and the lobby where we’d had a drink prior to setting off. Nothing! Eventually, she had to accept the fact that the passport was lost. But in order to get a new passport, you must report the loss of the old one to the police. You obtain a report sheet and this sheet proves to the embassy that the passport has been reported as lost. The staff at the airport police station and the Embassy advised us that it is impossible to obtain a new passport without such a form. Surely a bit strange that this fact is omitted in favour of two bits of seeming bravado.

 

#120

 

He talks about keeping his “creative juices flowing.” Interesting in the light of another comment he makes later on.

 

#124

 

The Aussie guy replies to his email about his having botched the job. About the reply, the writer says: “Yes, they were throwing in the towel, and yes they hadn't planned on me having as many contacts as I did, but absolutely NO WAY were they claiming any responsibility for what had happened to me 'and as a matter of fact you had better watch your back whenever you work in Asia, as we will always be watching out for you.’"

 

Does that sound like the sort of things the heavy brigade would say? Indeed, I find the rest of that reply just does not sound or feel like the reply someone who has been ‘found out’ would make

 

#130

 

In his demands, he says he asks for his “passport back.” For whatever reason? It would have been cancelled as soon as he received his new one! He then goes on: “What I really wanted was an admittance of guilt from all 5 people, and with a sincere apology from each one before we would all go away and let it drop.”

 

Well, surely this is even less likely. All he wants is an “apology”??? For everything he alleges he’s been through? For the cost of that private detective he hired and who had been working on the case “for ten days” (Post #111)? All we know is that the detective’s deposit was Bt. 50,000 (post #75) but by that time, with expenses, his bill would have certainly been a great deal more than that. After all, as the same post says, he was: “a farang from England who had learned his job from one of the best private detectives in Bangkok and had been in the business for 10 years, he had 2 Thai men and also his Thai girlfriend working for him.” He spends what must have been a good 6-figure sum, and all he wants are “apologies”?

 

In this same final post - the last to date - all he again talks about is “apologies”. But, I think revealingly, in the previous post (#129) he states this: “one of the Moderators here is a good friend and I really enjoy this website...I was hoping that by introducing a good story it would bring a few new people in the door and it looks like it has indeed; good.”

 

Aha! So what is it, Khun JaiDee? A great read, to be sure. But is it fact or fiction?

 

The start of post #120 gives us another good idea, since this really does sound far more like cheap detective novel stuff than fact. This outlines what the writer will do if any one of those who have been given false names wants to get even. That part I just don't buy.

 

Even though my points are inconclusive, I know what I think. But then, that doesn't matter, as long as it keeps readers coming to the site and giving them a good read.

[Rogie]

Wow Fountainhall! . . . if I ever write a 'whodunnit' crime novel I'll ask you to be so good as to read it first before I even think about looking for a publisher!

 

Having said that I am prepared to believe the story, it was written several years after the events to which it relates so a little licence regarding some aspects is deemed acceptable in my book. The rather tame ending is also believable - if he was making it up (or were he to become a crime novelist himself) he'd most likely be sure to exact a truly grisly vengeance.

 

Incorporating ladyboys into a tale like this is almost de rigeur. They are such an enigma, and although not unique to Thailand, they seem to be larger than life in that country to a greater extent than anywhere else. That some of them are extremely nasty, coldly calculating schemers should not tar all with the same brush. I suspect for every ladyboy who works Nana Plaza or performs in cabaret, there are a hundred living quiet lives in small villages or doing a fair day's work for little pay in some humdrum job in an urban backwater somewhere, their dreams of saving up enough money for a silicon breast implant almost certain to be denied them.

[Guest fountainhall]

I’ll be ready and waiting, Rogie. Start putting pen to paper

 

I seem to have a knack of remembering pretty useless and often inconsequential things (wish I could recall the more important ones, though!). Yet I was never able to work out who dunnit when reading Sherlock Holmes and similar detective novels. Of course, Conan Doyle and his ilk knew their characters and their plot lines intricately and were extremely clever in disguising their villains. Experience has shown, however, that a handful of posters on various chat Boards often let their carefully crafted personalities slip when posting over a period of time. To misquote Sir Walter Scott: “Oh what a tangled web they weave when first they practise to deceive.”

[pong]

support khun FH. But thats no detective-I for a few years worked for travel-insurance and checking claims people made after their holidays and dealing with any emergency too while on vacation=holiday). There you really learn to check and ask anything and even the minor details. In fact I have great respect for the ability of many a Thai to do that to. Maybe that is when you grow up in a continuously cheating environment?

1 thing though; dear FH-that point about no safe in room is trivial-and certainly not a thing taken for granted-at that time and even in 5-6**ry resorts.

(psst! dont tell-he might even have been living on credit-the most normal thing for a Thai to do would take some barter for that.......

[Guest Astrrro]

Aha! So what is it, Khun JaiDee? A great read, to be sure. But is it fact or fiction?

 

I can certainly appreciate yor skepticism as I would be too if I didn't know some of the key players.

 

Jai Dee is a good friend mine; I've known him for 7 years. I also used to drink with "Harold" at Harry's Bar in Sunee Plaza.

 

I can assure you Jai Dee's account is indeed fact, not fiction. If it ever was reworked as a movie, he'd have to come up with a more exciting ending as the ending is rather lame but that's how it all played out.

 

Many people on Ladyboy Review took issue to his flying without a passport but it was a domestic flight and somehow he was able to board.

 

A great read that has unfortunetly been deleted at the request of Jai Dee.

[Guest fountainhall]

Mark Twain obviously got it right - "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't."