Thailand forum

In this instance, the bus company was Toung Neng Tong. However, becuase most people are booking tickets via travel agents, they don't know the name of the company. Having spoken to a number of agentsin Bangkok, I've been informed the practice is rife (most often from busesleaving Saratani to Bangkok and from buses heading south from Khao SanRoad). While I fully appreciate yourpoint that not all tourist buses are doing this, how do you find out which ones are honest until it's too late? In my view, it's better (where possible) to use the government bussesuntil this on-going practice is stamped out.

Another argument might be; if you know an area in a city is bad you take an alternative route even though not all the people in that area are bad. In this case the alternative route would be train or government bus.I have to agree with the OP you can't be expected to remember which company is bad and which is good it's up to the Thai authorites to sort it out or not.
Another mention of KaoSan Rd. It seems to me from reading and meeting people who have booked anything in this street they have had a bad or poor experience or certainly the deal they got has not lived up to expectations.The answer would be go somewhere else.

I am also curious as to how you were drugged. Agree with DLuek above, have also used the Lompraya bus in the past, which was indeed very professional and comfortable.

On a side note: Why do a seasoned traveler and a few friends carry 40.000 THB on a bus trip?

This is why I always take the train...

Until the OP gives the answer I can see that it wouldn't be so difficult to drug someone as the buses usually hand out a drink and snack on the journey.
I don't know this route very well but one company I would always reccommend is Chatchai.Usually dependent and safe.Otherwise stick to BorKorSor (government bus)

Should add that,unfortunately the govt. buses are often the slowest and are not the cleanest but as Madmac says they are safe.
I wanted to add that there is no reason to book a bus in Thailand anyway. In all the years I've travelled there I've turned up at any bus station and got a ticket at the ticket office.There is no shortage of buses in Thailand and they run frequently.

The private companies usually supply a drink (almost always that green peppermint soda) and a cake when the bus starts. A moneybelt is a safer option for carrying large amounts of dollars.I only keep a small float in my wallet.

Madmac
Are you saying you'd carry $1000 in a wallet because that's asking for trouble, too many people watching when you take a wallet out. Of course we are more used to armed robbery in Cambodia, I think it's less frequent in Thailand.

Don't know which buses you are talking about. I've caught several VIPS and no drinks or food was offered that I was aware of. If they had a water container at the front i wouldnt drink it anyway. Not that tight.

If you can't afford your own 7 baht water bottle you shouldn't even be travelling.

I've never seen a bus with such a compartment and wouldn't it take 2 or 3 to complete the scam?

The story is not believable. You may have been robbed but it's due to stupidity not some mysterious drugging. Travellers always feel tired after night bus trips where they lose a lot of sleep. Put your money on your body or under it as you sleep next time.

Have you never experienced jet lag?

I always feel terrible after long flights or bus trips.

Must be the gas they are using on the planes.

Good point by Sayadian in #5. I didn't mean to be the one sticking up for Khao San tourist buses -- in fact I've hardly ever taken one until Lomprayah recently due to all the warnings about theft. Always govt. buses (or the private ones leaving from bus stations that cater mainly to Thais) are the way to go. And true, never a need to book a bus in Thailand from a travel agent, unless perhaps it's a minibus that only runs tourist routes.

But still, I think it's going a bit far to implicate every single Thai tourist bus in a complex thievery scam that involves gassing customers through the air-con system, no?

Just to be fair to the OP, I have seen the type of separate compartment that he described for the driver.

"I have seen the type of separate compartment that he described for the driver."

show us a photo

"all valuables were with me on the bus (locked in a small rucksack -although the key was in one of the side pockets)"

*

On a bus, train, taxi or plane my money (and passport) is always with me in a pocket not in a bag separate from me. I have velcro flaps on my pants pockets. Any cheap street tailor can add velcro to a pocket for you if you want. If I cannot feel someone in my pants pocket it will probably be because I am dead!

I have been on buses that handed out snacks along with free water in sealed containers. Bus from Pattaya to Korat is one of the bus rides. Pattaya bus from Ekamai bus terminal used to have free drinks at the ticket window.

It is also possible that there was a slight carbon monoxide leak making some passengers lightheaded.

Even a fellow tourist could have stolen the money!

Yes, it brings me out in a cold sweat-the idea of leaving money, valuables in a bus hold. My valuables, money ALWAYS travel with me and as Sirhalberd says velcro (or zips) on pockets is essential.

I was willing to believe that some kind of sleeping pill had been put in the cup of the cola they often give out with that cake but gas pumped through the air con system?!

Lack of sleep and dehydration makes you feel terrible. A resilient friend of mine fell suddenly ill after we got up early for a ferry and didn't reach our destination until the afternoon. His thumping headache and nausea was cured by drinking a litre and a half of water and a two hour nap!

It seems strange that only cash and not electronics was taken. Were your companions friends from home or people you had met in Thailand. Did one of them help themselves knowing that everyone had a lot of cash on them and knowing that those buses have a reputation for theft?

A group I was with in Mexico had their rooms gone through by one of the party who had suggested everyone go out and then said he felt sick and was going back to the hotel. Fortunately, I'd not gone out but was woken at 4am but everyone having returned to find their cash, CDs (we are going back a few years!) even hiking boots missing along with the thief. The keys had been taken from the front desk as the receptionist was asleep. One guy was gutted as he and the thief had been travelling together for 3 weeks.

A girl told me how she had travelled in India with another girl she met for three whole months. Up until that point they had done all their sightseeing together but one day her travel buddy said she was tired and would stay at the hotel. The girl returned to find her mate checked out along with her passport and cash.

You just never know about the people you meet along the way and the oportunism their depleted funds and your full wallet present. Ironically, enough the guy in Mexico had been generously buying everyone drinks in the days leading up to the theft; pre-theft guilty conscience?

Anyway, assuming the bus driver or crew did manage to find the pocket in your bag that contained the key and managed to open the bag on your lap without disturbing you, I do wonder why people still take these buses: there are warnings in the guide books and on any Thai travel related site. Theft issues aside, they are usually more costly than the government buses when you take into account all the delaying tactics so that you end up buying food and drink at their en-route restaurant and then miss your connection so have to spend hours waiting at their other restaurant!

KSR area is controlled by Thai mafia basically. Lots of rorting and crooks selling fake ids and scamming people. Just avoid this place altogether.

I can understand the attraction of KSR, it's a place to party 24/7 and meet other travellers but I think people drop their guard when they go there thinking it's a friendly haven when in fact some of the most unscrupulous people in Thailand are hanging out there.I've heard about people getting drugged there, having their valuables stolen and booking rip off tours.Being a place where a lot of Westerners with money congregate it's bound to be a magnet for the unsavoury element. If you keep this in mind you CAN have a good time.

Westerners going to Thailand to meet other westerners? Doesn't make sense at all. The whole point of going to the east is to experience that culture.

Well some people do go for the beaches and relaxtion, others go for the sex. Neither had anything to do with culture. But, for those purporting to go for culture it makes no sense.

If you only have 2-4 weeks makes more sense to not waste time hanging out with westerners. You don't have to speak fluent thai to visit ruins, villages, local markets or go to beaches.

If you live there for years I can understand people wanting to talk to other westerners about worldly matters that Thais aren't into.

I met a Polish couple who had a similar experience in KSR, they believed they had been drugged and had lost cash a credit cards from their guesthouse. They got a report back from their bank, and eventually went to the store where the CC's had been used, got video of the owner of the guesthouse using the cards and took this to the police.

The police refused to do anything (very common), but I bet you they were off down the road to the GH to get their cut.

Lots of my Thai friends like KSR because they can escape aspects of their culture that tie them down.

I have had both positive and negative experiences. Mostly the positive experiences have come from country cops, and the negative from city cops. I don't drive in Bangkok anymore as I get sick of the tea money scams.

Used to live in Boston, and MA state troopers are real goose steppers.

I wouldn't say they are "better". They are operating under a different set of rules. I live in a city in Thailand. A provincial city to be sure, but still a city. I can honestly say I have NEVER paid "tea money" and only been fined one time (because my wife was mouthing off). My experiences with Thai police have been universally good. That was not true in Arizona, that was not true in Boston, that was not true in Germany, that was not true in Ethiopia and that was definitely not true in Saudi Arabia. Maybe it's different in tourist areas though.

I had a similar problem today with the popular "Holiday" bus company, driving from the Southern Islands to BKK.
In my case it was from Koh Samui to BKK.

When you arrive at the pier, thinking we had to walk to the boat with our backpacks (like we did when we came to the island), they said we had to drop our bags in a bus, and we took of with that bus to another harbor to take a big ferry. I wasn't prepared, so I still had my laptop and some money in my backpack.
We didn't have any time to waste, so we had to hurry, and I didn't take it out at that point, knowing I would do it when we were on the boat.

When we arrived at the ferry pier, we had to leave the bus and walk to the boat, and go to the upper deck with other tourists and locals as well. We didn't really have a chance to go back to the bus. If I really wanted I could go to the bus to take my stuff, but my backpack was the first one they've put in the bus, so I would have to take all the others out before I could reach mine.
I thought it would be safe...

But arriving in BKK an hour ago I realize that the 56$ which I kept in my laptop bag in the main compartment of my big bag was gone. It's only 56 ******* $, they didn't steel my laptop or anything else...
But because I lost my creditcard debit cards in a robbery in Cambodia I can't take money from an ATM.
And believe me, paying Western Union a big fee for my last day traveling is hard

So I would like to say! Be extremely careful! I know I made a big mistake not taking everything with me, don't make the same mistake ever!
And avoid to travel with that "Holiday" bus organization, because they treat you like ****, let you wait for 3 hours in there ******* expensive restaurant were you have to pay for everything, also to charge your computer/phone (20BTH).
The Koh Samui - BKK trip took me over 20 hours

Just posted but had a few more thoughts after doing some reading. I'm thinking they play the movie for the first part of the journey really loud so you can't hear any pilfering going on in the luggage area below.

And playing a movie late at night sort of insures you will be tired and sleepy when he actually turns the lights out and allows us to sleep.

I didn't even think about it but it's a double decker bus and the entire bottom floor was blackened out and used for storage which doesn't seem normal. Nice and roomy for theives to patiently go through luggage.

I'm very weary of the gassing idea but reading about hexane gas.. it has been used in Swedish RV robberies...it doesn't knock you out but it will sort of help sleeping people sleep more deeply. I do remember on the bus that I kept feeling weird throbbing sensations in my legs...I chalked it up to sitting for a long time...but that has never happened before...according to the Wikipedia article on hexane gas that sensations/tingling in legs and arms is a common side affect of hexane gas poisoning. I also had a sore throat for a week after that trip - something I chalked up to the AC...another common side effect of gassing. AC vents were just holes...you couldn't close the vents also.

One more weird idea - the driver passed around a sign up sheet of sorts where everyone had to write down their name, address and nationality - I thought this was odd. Never had to do that before. In retrospect maybe they wanted info for possible credit card fraud if they were to find some. Actually it just occured to me that my luggage tag was removed from my luggage too after that trip...I figured it was torn off somehow. I'm guessing now that they use that for credit card fraud - which luckily I didn't have any in my luggage.

The more I read the sketchier these bus companies seem. I kept thinking how cheap the bus ride was compared to the train. Not so cheap after all.