Why were we told off in Thailand?

[TigeToo]

Still trying to work this out …

We were staying in Krabi. DH and I decided to go for a walk one night and when we got back two of the hotel “night watchmen” were out looking for us with torches. We were escorted back inside, the receptionist told us off saying it’s very dangerous to walk around at night (it was a pretty rural area, not very populated). We were then escorted back to our bungalow and told not to leave again and if we wanted anything we should call reception.

Any ideas??! DH thought she said something about king kobra but I assumed that was a joke … !?

😂😂😂

Beggars believe….

I spent a month on Ko Samui. I rented a big house next to the beach, and there was a watchman in the car park every night. It cracked me up when I got back in the evenings in the car I’d hired and he insisted on standing behind me as I was reversing into the space shining his torch so I could see (managed quite well on my own with reversing lights for the last 20 years) 🤣. Anyway, now you mention it, I was never given a specific reason for him being there, but I guess there must have been some danger for the complex to employ him. I made some friends on the island and they told me tales of the Thai mafia and the control they had over the island…bombs, murders, all kinds of shit. And a few years before that a friend of a friend committed suicide on the same island, was found hanging from a tree, however his nearest and dearest were convinced there was no way he would have killed himself, it was completely out of the blue. But the previous night he had got really drunk and been quite obnoxious towards some locals who clearly weren’t impressed…next day found strung up from a tree. Police weren’t interested and just said no it was suicide. Anyway, my point is, as friendly as most of the Thai population are, there’s some proper shady shit going on.

Hi, lived in Thailand for many years. We have been warned a few times when cobras were spotted in the area, and they do take it seriously. It’s possible that they had a cobra sighting earlier and were trying to keep you safe.

Highly unlikely to be related to muggings etc, Thailand is very safe. They might warn you to keep your belongings close or something but they wouldn’t lock you inside at night haha

The ‘Thai mafia’ is kind of a thing on some islands but the most any average tourist will encounter of it is maybe a taxi scam unless you’re very unlucky.

Are you staying somewhere high end? I've only ever had this somewhere slightly higher end in bali. Everywhere else is more laid back and realistic, they are just trying to look our for you.

Why not read up about destinations before travelling there so you don't come across as ignorant tourists ?

We did, there was nothing about it being unsafe, hence the confusion

Had there been any local unrest, fighting, looting type thing?
I was in a country that was put into lockdown over a football match over the border. Schools were shut for 3 days and we were called and told not to go out and on no account to go to the local town until we were told it was safe. The following week I was shocked to see the damage caused in the local town resulting from a football match in the next country.

I hate this about some holiday resorts. In the Dominican republic last year my sons went on their usual long walk off site into an area next to the hotel which is not for foreigners as locals go there and security were not happy. It has happened to use elsewhere too. It can make you feel trapped. However I understand it (a) because there are some risks in some countries except in controlled tourist parts and (b) because if someone is killed other tourists will never come again so there is a financial reason to keep guests safe.

I prefer countries where there is no such restriction as we like to roam free and away from other people in our family.

King Cobra can be big buggers ( over 5 metres ), you certainly wouldn't want to meet one in the dark whilst having a romantic stroll in your flip flops.

Little video from Krabi

We saw snakes in the day time in Thailand, I can well believe they’re about at night too!

I remember visiting extended family in North Africa many years ago and they hired a security guard to take us out sightseeing and a night watchman to stand guard over our vehicle

Wow I didn’t know they were that big!

I'd hazard a guess a king cobra had been spotted in the vicinity, you wouldn't want to accidentally step on one wearing sandals..bye, bye human, if it injected venom into you...suppose you might get anti- venom in time but not a risk I'd want to take.

FOMO!

Were you walking on a road? A path? The beach?

Path

I've spent three months in Thailand, this sounds odd to me. I was hiking in Northern Thailand and one of the farms had a cobra tied up they'd caught there the day before- but everyone was pretty relaxed about it. Maybe it was the dark thing, although we hiked in the dark a few times we did have torches to watch where we were stepping.

We had a similar thing when we were staying at a hotel just outside Krabi (years ago). They made a big fuss when they saw we were going to walk to the restaurants at night and said that we should take a tuk tuk because of the snakes. We thought it was a sales technique but got in and a few meters down the road the driver stopped and shone a torch on a huge snake right by the path we would have been walking on.

Can you remember what the hotel was called?

Staying on the Masai Mara in a hotel that had superset lodges. There was a huge fence all around but men with bows accompanied us to and from our lodges at night. One night we arrived in reception and a snake had been killed as it had got in to reception.

It was years ago and I think it has changed names but I think it was this one www.booking.com/hotel/th/krabi-success-beach-resort.en-gb.html certainly that area

Snakes like to hang out on warm surfaces which are often paths and roads in the evening as they retain heat from the daytime sun. So walking along a path once the sun has gone down in snake country is not a good idea at all. If its very urban or a very wide road that's well lit you might stand more of a chance of seeing them, but not a path.

Christ! The amount of wandering we did when I was there as a youngster. Makes me feel very lucky we escaped all sorts of hazardous scenarios! 🙈

I was in Krabi last May and witnessed someone being murdered yards in front of me. Shot in the throat, bled out on the pavement.
Thailand is a safe country, but stuff happens.