Some Frightening Information!

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A friend came up to me 2 days ago and begged me not to go on this trip. He said that it is a 3rd world country with a lot of corruption and he was afraid for me. Well, this is a normal reaction from someone who has not been a solo female traveler so I laughed and said not to worry about it, everything will be fine. The look on his face was so concerning and he told me he just was sick in his stomach about it. I told him about the travel sites with solo female blogs and what they had to say. He said everything is not always rosy and I was not reading all I should. So that night I went home and looked up bad stories for Bangkok, Thailand. Of course, what I expected to be there was...ie:child trafficking and ramped prostitution etc...What I didn't expect to see was posts and blogs dedicated to the corruption of the police and their new found urine drug testing ability. Apparently, it is quit common to get stopped on the street, or pulled out of a cab, etc...and harassed and asked to take a drug test right there on the street. Even if you are clean and never did drugs, they are known to plant it on you or just lie and say it was dirty in order to extort money from you. Tourists that look like they might have money, i.e.: Americans, Europeans, etc...are very high risk and females even higher risk. Females are used often without their knowledge to carry something across borders in their bags. (We all saw the movie where the 2 girls hooked up with 2 guys at a bar and had a great time that night. Then next day one of the girls complained her suitcase was not large enough. The guy offered to switch with her and conned her into going to a different country than her original plan. Of course, it was lined with drugs and she went to a Thailand prison.) Anyway, the more I read the more frightened I became. I told my friends I was not going to go. The group that does the tour said not to worry, yes the police are corrupt but that was not something to be concerned about as most of our trip is not in the city. Last night I thought about it a lot then I read more and more blogs. One thing they all had in common was a lot of them got tested but those that were clean did not go to prison. I think it was more the annoyance of getting stopped and also the human rights factor that they felt invaded by being tested. I decided this morning that I will not let fear control me and I am going to go. I was also warned to use a money belt because the kids gang up on you for confusion then pick pocket you. Well, I did say it was going to be an adventure...didn't I?

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