A friend called and said he was taken to a village "somewhere" near Sakon Nakhon, by his new Thai lady friend. New to Thailand and not knowing what some of us already know, he is in a bad situation.

He says the family wants B200,000 for his engagement and the neighbors are helping with the negotiations. He has all his bags with him. No one in the village can or will take him away, of course. He is fearful. I think if it was me, I would be making a get-away by foot, and keep walking, until outside this village.

The telephone number of the tourist police has been sent to him and because he has no clue where he is, they can not help. His phone has little baht left, so he is brief.

What would you do?

I think if it were me, I would agree to pay the 200,000 baht, and explain that I needed to go into Sakon Nakhon to draw the money, and then ask for someone to take me.

Once at the bank I would then go straight to the armed police officer that are stationed at all main banks, and explain that the people concerned are trying to extort money from me with menace.

But it certainly is a situation that I would not like to be in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Give his number to the tourist police so they can call him.

Lee, reading between the lines, I think that he has already spoke to the tourist police, and they have told him they cannot help, as he does not know where he is.

Although, I would have thought that the police could triangulate the mobile signal to find out which village he is in!

the village could well be the back of beyond, so maybe not the best thing to keep walking, as said agree to the terms and make out he needs to go into the main town to get the cash,take anything of value in a bag say for an over night stay..with his delightful lady friend..then do a runner and leave her well and truely behind, he might loose a few items of clothing and a case but if its that bad worth doing.
if you can go to town and meet him would be even better..for a fast getta-way.

Use the Maligator method. Try to sneak into as many spirit houses as possible and re-arrange all figures so that they face the walls in a lineup of shame.

damn that sucks, i wouldnt go anywhere if i didnt know a way out,
but i am sure it was not his plan to get stuck in a middle of a Village which has no Name...........might make a good Movie..... can either be Horror or Action

RALPHCUSENS wrote:Lee, reading between the lines, I think that he has already spoke to the tourist police, and they have told him they cannot help.

But maybe he couldn't say too much because of the family being around. Someone needs to call the police and explain the situation, or even visit them. I'm sure they would offer more advise if they had his number, and I'm sure they'd come up with a solution to this problem. He could say the bank is calling; the tourist police could pose as the bank manager and ask a few questions about the family’s bank account, for transfer of the 200,000. Ask for their name and address, bank no. etc. When they have the address, they can make their way to the village and assist him.

I'm sure the tourist police would help, after all that's what they're here for.

lee wrote:

RALPHCUSENS wrote:Lee, reading between the lines, I think that he has already spoke to the tourist police, and they have told him they cannot help.

But maybe he couldn't say too much because of the family being around. Someone needs to call the police and explain the situation, or even visit them. I'm sure they would offer more advise if they had his number, and I'm sure they'd come up with a solution to this problem. He could say the bank is calling; the tourist police could pose as the bank manager and ask a few questions about the family

Surely, they wouldn't expect him to carry that amount of money on his person.

So he could try telling them that he agrees in principle but will need to get back to civilisation so that he can check his bank and review his finances and confirm/discuss with her what he can afford.

Mainer, you could pursue the tourist police avenue in the meantime, by, as Lee says, explaining it to them, so that they can ring posing as your friend's Thai friend, who is helping him with the financial arrangements.

Kenn wrote:damn that sucks, i wouldnt go anywhere if i didnt know a way out,
but i am sure it was not his plan to get stuck in a middle of a Village which has no Name...........might make a good Movie..... can either be Horror or Action

a love story turned horror turned action...

But this person must be crapping himself if he has no or little experiance , especially being taken to a village in nakon nowhere.....did they contact on the net mainer , and had they met previous ?

A friend called and said he was taken to a village "somewhere" near Sakon Nakhon, by his new Thai lady friend. New to Thailand and not knowing what some of us already know, he is in a bad situation.

He says the family wants B200,000 for his engagement and the neighbors are helping with the negotiations. He has all his bags with him. No one in the village can or will take him away, of course. He is fearful. I think if it was me, I would be making a get-away by foot, and keep walking, until outside this village.

The telephone number of the tourist police has been sent to him and because he has no clue where he is, they can not help. His phone has little baht left, so he is brief.

So much for the land'o'smiles..

and what have you said to him so far ?
keep us updated please.

thats a scary scenario ,maybe if you called his embassy and explained the situation and gave them his number they would get him out .
reminds you off the welshman who eventually died after he was kept in a village with no escape.
there was also a uk retired cop who had to be rescued by his embassy some years ago.
some guys can lose their mind in such a situation although to us it mind sound ridiculous as we know our way around but with no help and no common language you are in a desperate plight...

I think if it were me, I would agree to pay the 200,000 baht, and explain that I needed to go into Sakon Nakhon to draw the money, and then ask for someone to take me.

Once at the bank I would then go straight to the armed police officer that are stationed at all main banks, and explain that the people concerned are trying to extort money from me with menace.

Yep, I agree with this one.
Worse case, wait until dark, fu*k the luggage, and beat feet outta there running until you find a 7-11 or telephone or anyone else who could provide help. I'd be real leary of trusting anyone within 10k ( or more ) of that village though....

Use the Maligator method.

That would be on my way outta there...and I'd take all the figures with me!

izzix wrote:thats a scary scenario ,maybe if you called his embassy and explained the situation and gave them his number they would get him out .
reminds you off the welshman who eventually died after he was kept in a village with no escape.
there was also a uk retired cop who had to be rescued by his embassy some years ago.
some guys can lose their mind in such a situation although to us it mind sound ridiculous as we know our way around but with no help and no common language you are in a desperate plight...

yeah i thought of the welshman story too.

Been thinking about this story a fair bit today.
imagine never having been to 'The Village' before or even Thailand and being lead to a remote village on the boarders in the middle of nowhere, not a sign of farang existance anywhere and all 'The Extended family'(the whole village) appear from nowhere and you are surrounded by old women with red stained teeth, wise old men a few village p!ss heads necking lao-khao asking for 100 baht and poncing your marlboros and walking off with your lighter and even the old soi dogs are curious,small children looking at the 'farang' whilst hiding behind their mothers,its dry its dusty the sun is beating down its 99 degrees in the shade they are all talking at once trying to 'extract' 200000 baht cash from you for the 'Engagement' to a girl you hardly know, your phone credits running low, the Tourist police don't seem to be of no help and to top it all theres probably no creature comforts around, his only option is agree to the terms keep smiling and nodding stay friendly, and arrange to get back to civilisation with the promise of the cash and run.
Its all probably harmless and i am sure he will wriggle out of the situation somehow.

You know, I don't want to pass judgement or anything, but just thinking about this I couldn't help but wonder if this guy had picked up a girl on the corner of Sunset and Vine, I don't think he'd be going on a road trip with her. If I visit Times Square, I don't think I'd go back to Kansas with the hooker I pick up.

It's a world I've never been involved in, so I look at it from the outside in, but it seems... well, weird.

I got a glimpse of why guys do the "short-term girl" thing, when I was walking by the McDonalds on Silom, across from Patpong. It was early morning, and the night-shift was coming off duty. There were several rather dazed farangs wandering about, and one of them was sitting with his "girlfriend" and yammering away. I sat down and listened to this guy <i>spill his guts</i> to a girl who probably didn't understand 20% of what he was saying, but she just sat there, and bored to tears, was a "good listener". Most guys would kill or die for a girl to just listen to them. And that's what this guy was paying for. I can't call it pitiful, because somewhere along the line, western women have come to believe that it's "all about me" and so men just sit in front of the telly and slowly turn into some sort of root vegetable.

But this guy? I'd like to know how he got snookered into going to Baan Nong Hoi Khan, and how he's managed to be in a town so remote it doesn't have a daily song taew, or at least some young stud with a moto-sy for hire. And whether this didn't start with a very lonely person spilling his guts on the stairs of McDonalds.