Despite ludicrous claims to being the friendliest country on earth, in fact Thai’s seem to have a love hate relationship with foreigners, meaning getting arrested in Thailand ass a foreigner is not all that difficult.
In fact even by writing this I may well be putting myself on the chopping block, particularly as it is not the first thing I have written.
What the Land of Smiles
Thailand ha snot only declared itself the Land of Smiles, but also as stated claims to be one of if not the friendliest country on earth. In fact it cannot even claim to be the friendliest in South-East Asia, with Cambodia regularly “winning”.
And without even smiling of irony this send the Thai media into a frenzy with them crying foul. Again no irony is seen here. I will qualify the next statement with the fact I do really like Thailand and have good Thai friends, BUT I have found that the Thai smile only lasts until they have sold you something, or failed to do so.
This fakeness is fairly akin to how Japanese act. Cambodians on the other hand are legitimately friendly, at least in my and the global media’s opinion.
Expats in Thailand
Last year 28 million people visited Thailand, while hundreds of thousands including many of my friends call it home. On the one hand Thailand encourages this through things like the Nomad Visa, while simultaneously seeming to hate foreigners.
Yes it is true that many foreigners here are not the best ambassadors, but it is also Thai nationalism that makes them like the money, while not really liking the people.
This duly manifests into hoe easy it is ti get arrested in Thailand as a foreigner. So, what are some of the most popular ways to get arrested? For this we will ignore the obvious and concentrate on then obscure.
Leaving bad trip advisor reviews…
Perhaps one of the scariest ones on the list, but one that very much exists and also shows the lack of democracy in Thailand. Thailand has strict libel laws and merely leaving a bad review will get you arrested, fined and maybe deported.
This is something that according to media has spiraled out of control this year. My advice? Wait until you leave and do it under a different name to avoid being a foreigner arrested in Thailand.
Working illegally
So, working in Thailand illegally is illegal so some might argue that if you get arrested in Thailand for this you probably deserve it. In reality though these are people doing stuff like yoga lessons and the like, not people stealing local jobs.
In most countries stuff like this has a blind eye shown to it, but not in Thailand. To me this further emphasizes the love hate relationship with expats. Yes they can come in, but they seem to be arrested almost as sport. Again I am not talking about people stealing Thai jobs.
Winning or a losing a fight in Thailand
In Thailand, sadly much like in many countries if you fight you will lose regardless of it you lose. In fact winning usually means you lose even worse.
Essentially whether you are in the right, or the wrong here Thai cops will most always take the side of the locals. This is despite the fact on many occasions it is the locals that start the fight. This will lead not just to be arrested in Thailand but also laying yourself under the mercy of having to pay a big bribe. Yes, bribes are a thing in Thailand.
Acting like a knob
I will try not to get too involved in this as I find the guy quite entraining,. Bit one expat with a big following is Tom Birchy. He runs a place called knock out labs. Him and many of these around him or doing similar things are seemingly always in trouble with other people and the law.
Sadly in these instances you will end up arrested and if the spat is with a local you will lose. I met guy in Phnom Penh recently who did 1 month at the Bangkok Hilton due to a spat over money with locals….
Yet while it might sound like doom and gloom you can still move to Cambodia quite easily and cheaply and without all the bullshit.