warning - Samui to Bangkok buses

Excerpt from a recent posting on Lonely Planet.

Please avoid tourist buses in the south! This is not an infrequent story!

Take your time and go to the government bus stations and buy tickets.




Hi i was writing this to a friend on Ko Samui at the moment and thought it would be a good idea to share this story as a warning.

I booked a combined ticket from Samui to Bangkok for the 9th of March 2008 and this is the experience i got.


hey XXXXX you should be careful when heading back up to Bangkok by bus from Ko Samui, as all the people on the bus i was on to surat thani had their bags under the bus searched through and stuff stolen. i had heard of this before so i never leave anything valuable in there, but even i had a towel stolen! yes a towel! so crazy.

maybe you can tell the place where i booked my ticket that the people on teh bus had their shit stolen whilst in transit? i think you know my guest house, anong guest house, and i was on the ticket which leaves at midday and costs 650 baht.

the part of the journey where we had stuff stolen was when we were moved from the taxi to a bus, which went on the ferry, and then dropped us off at surat thani.

anyway.. that is not the craziest part of the story.

when some one realised that he had stuff stolen and started complaining, the guy from the place we were waiting at stormed out and started punching him! it was so f*cking incredible! the guy's girl friend tried to break it up and this f*cking guy starts punching and kicking and kneeing her too! it was really fucking disgusting. after that we went around to the nearby shops to get someone to call the tourist police, but at every shop the people refused to give us the number. F*CKING ARSEHOLES! eventually we called the police but when they came they didnt give a shit that this guy and his girlfriend were assaulted! i mean she had a broken nose and everything!

it was just such a crazy experience, and i think goes to show that the thai police dont f*cking care about you and wont help you for any reason, the only thing they can be relied upon for is extortion if they find a joint on you.

anyway, maybe it would be a good idea to tell this to other people you know in thailand or who are going to thailand soon so that they know what can happen

-peace