True story about a fake story involving Bangkok Airport, missing teeth, lost passport, lost credit card, Siemens, Air Berlin and a stranded man who waits...
Intro:
Hi, if you are reading this it means you have attempted to do a Google search on Mike Kanonsri, who you have most likely stumbled upon in Bangkok Airport and this blog entry came up.
Yeap, just like me, you’ve been scammed if you decided to believe his story and help him out by giving him money. Take a few moments to process that information, calm down, if you need to, for being taken for a ride, then read a story about how I fell for this con artist too.
If you gave him money, there is nothing much you can do about it now apart from replying to this blog entry yourself with your own Mike Kanonsri Bangkok Airport con artist story about how you got scammed. Why?
Well, when I originally decided to write this story my hope was that people who come across Mike Kanonsri, will have enough wits, before handing any money over to him, to first check on the internet, using their blackberries, laptops, I-phones or whatever, if the following Google search comes up: Mike Kanonsri Bangkok Airport scam.
Hopefully, this story will pop up and they will be warned. If at least one person can come back and report that this story stopped them from getting scammed by Mike Kanonsri, I can rest easily that this time I really did help somebody out.
PART 1
First Steps:
The moment I disembarked from the comfortably air conditioned Thai Airways plane, at around 10 pm, ending a direct 13 hour flight from Auckland, New Zealand, heat and humidity hit me like a giant invisible surf wave. It was a welcoming kind of sensation. It was as if Bangkok was whispering to me; Where have you been? How come it took you so long to come back again? Two years... I was worried sick.
Well, I’m back. Finally back again.
For this trip, I decided to travel light, carrying only a back pack with several changes of clothes, few books and magazine, plus a notebook. It was definitely to be low tech holiday for me, with minimum of digital devices such as my Fuji digital camera and no brand mp3 player, which I carried for practical reasons; cassette tape decks and CD players don’t exist any more.
You don’t need to carry much, I figured. Previous experience of travelling to Thailand thought me that you can buy things here much cheaper than back home anyway. Unless you have some specific reason to take something with you, why bother? This way those days you spend going from point A to point B are much less strenuous and more comfortable, as oppose to when you have 20 kg to lug around with you in a foreign country.
Therefore I easily went through customs, immigration and passport control, ahead of the pack of other passengers clamouring for bags at baggage claim. The most important thing to bring with you to any foreign country is cash. The more the better. You never know what kind of trouble you might find yourself in and who and how much you’ll have to pay off to buy yourself out of it. Who knows what might happen. In such cases money is your best friend. When I arrived to Thailand it was still ruled by a Democrat party installed by Thai Army in the military coup of 2006. With new round of General Elections set for July 2011, who knows how things might turn out this time I thought.
Had some Thai currency – Thai baht or THB - on me, remaining from the last trip. The bigger, brown coloured 1,000 baht notes I kept safely in my money belt, underneath my clothes. Since I didn’t want to keep opening it up every time I wanted to buy smaller items at the Airport, I decided to change few smaller dollar notes, get rid of them straight away, and add smaller baht notes into my wallet, where I already had around 200 baht, which in itself was barely enough for one Airport meal.
Spotting a Siam Bank forex desk, I first changed NZ$10 note and then one AU$10 note after that. After I got my change, I brought to the cashier’s attention that she has short paid me, since Australian dollar is worth about %20 more than the New Zealand one and she paid me the NZ dollar rate for it.
“Same,” she responded with hesitation, then had a better look at the notes in front of her.
“Yeah… both blue colour, but this one has a cowboy, the other a woman,” I pointed out to her, smiling as wide as I could while talking. Didn’t want to make her feel like this is a big deal for me.
“Oh!…,” the poor girl finally realised, “why don’t you say before!”, she printed out a new slip and paid out the difference, all along looking pissed off, giving me an evil look at the end. Who knows what kind of reporting and paperwork she’ll end up having to fill out, to explain this payout error. The anger on her part was understandable. Regardless of that, she looked incredibly cute and pretty.
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is filled with beautiful women and girls working in various capacities in what is highly prestigious and desirable place to work, considering overall state of Thai economy. It’s hard not to think that beauty is not the main reason and qualification to work there, as oppose to what really should count in a place that serves as one of the three main transit points between the East and the West if you don’t travel to Europe via the US; the knowledge of languages. English in particular, although few others in addition wouldn’t be bad too. Certainly that is true when you take into the account how much Thailand earns in tourism as part of its GDP.
After picking up my baht off the forex counter, I stuffed it into the wallet and set off wandering around the Airport, looking for a place to eat. Airline food unsurprisingly failed to fill the hole in my stomach. Luckily I found a restaurant that suited me, which served western type food, and spent the next hour or so dining. Ordered a hamburger combo with another hamburger by itself, in return got served two separate combos.
Just as well. Asian food portions are small, healthy and reasonable. Which explains the abundance of thin, pretty girls everywhere. After 13 hours trapped at a window seat, sitting crammed next to a 200 pound woman, surviving on a modest airline meal, I didn’t want small, healthy and reasonable. I wanted a feast! In fact, I was starving, and felt like I could eat a horse. Yes, bring on both combos! Plus few glasses of beer please!
Once appropriately filled, I paid my bill, leaving behind a generous tip, to the entire staff’s delight, then left the restaurant and decided to have a look around, familiarise myself with the Airport.
Which way now?:
Wasn’t in hurry to go anywhere. Didn’t have a hotel booked since I decided to chance it and see what happens this trip. It took another hour or two to get my bearings of all four main Airport levels and figure out what’s what. Soon I started recognizing things after encountering them for the 5th or 6th time, which was not easy to do in this day and age of architectural blandness, where everything looks the same. Like a poorly textured video game.
Before I flew in, I did some research on the net about getting from the Airport to Pattaya. Apparently there were two options. First was a direct bus from the Airport to Pattaya that runs at certain times. Since I did a sloppy research job, I didn’t dig deep enough to check and print out departure times. My mistake which won’t happen again.
Second option was to catch the EA3 bus that goes from the Airport to Ekamai Bus Terminal and then take another bus from there to Pattaya. Again, couldn’t remember departure times for Ekamai buses either, apart from the very first one, which was 5 am.
The third option was to take a taxi straight away, from the Airport direct to Pattaya. What stopped me from doing that? No, it wasn’t the expense, which would be higher than a bus ride… Have you actually seen how majority of taxi drivers drive here? Not once I felt like I’m at a race track. Traffic rules are not as stringently observed in Thailand like they are in the West. Instead, they are casually taken more as guidelines that should be observed only if absolutely needed, otherwise they can be freely disregarded.
Even if I’d brave taking a taxi, I would arrive to Pattaya, no doubt at roaring speed, around 2 am in the morning. Not the best of times to walk around the town looking for a place to stay. Regardless how safe or not a place is, if you carry a bundle of cash, bank cards and passport on your person at night, you are bound to feel uneasy about it, and in turn it might impede on your choice of available hotel.
Like it or not it is a safer bet to hang around the Airport until early in the morning and then make a move to reach Pattaya with a bus, depending which one is available first, the EA3 plus Ekamai connection or the direct one from the Airport. Which means, I’ll have to spend the night at the Airport. Doesn’t matter. Not in a rush to go anywhere.
It was a chance to continue reading Stephen King’s ‘Misery’ in peace and quiet of the night shift at the Airport, when not many people are around and things quieten down. ‘Misery’ is an excellent novel. Loved the movie with James Caan and Cathy Bates. Will be interesting to see how the filmmakers deviated from the source material.
But before finding a bench in a quiet corner of the Airport, I decided to figure out when are both buses departing in the early morning. So I kept wandering around, still feeling groggy from the feast I had. I came across what use to be the EA3 bus counter with notice how that service is now discontinued.
Damn… what are the other options to use to reach Ekamai from the Airport, excluding a taxi ride? Are there any? There was some cryptic message about using a transportation hub somewhere but I had no idea where that was.
With such questions in mind I started looking around for somebody who can help me answer them, until I found the Airport information desk. The lady at the information desk had even poorer handling of English and a bad attitude than most in similar jobs. Very unhelpful. Probably somebody who shouldn’t work there.
However, she was extremely hot and I had to deal with my own case of dry mouth when talking to her, making sure I speak my words slowly, clearly and properly. In turn, I couldn’t understand the word she said. Well, apart from the fact that there is no more EA3 bus. Seeing I won’t be having much help here, I politely smiled, nodded, thanked her and then stepped away.
Wandering around aimlessly, until I finally stumbled upon a counter for the direct connection bus, on one of the lower levels, which somehow I missed before.
Yeap, the first bus to depart in the morning is at 7 am. Damn, that is two hours longer than the one from Ekamai. So, what do I do now? Should I brave a taxi ride from the Airport to Ekamai at around half past 4 or just stay here and wait until 7 am?
Not despairing, I decided to check the EA3 platform, or something that looks similar to that, for myself. Surely, there will be some notice regarding which buses go to Bangkok City or Ekamai or something to that effect… right? Who knows, maybe I can get somebody else to help me out, hopefully with better English.
A man stranded:
Back home in Auckland, a packet of cigarettes costs around $11. Therefore I would only light up one every other day or maybe after a particularly good meal. Here, it was $3 for a packet, meaning I didn’t feel the need to restrain myself. Hankering for a ciggie, I stepped outside the Airport complex on ground level, where numerous taxis waited around. A lot of buses were also at platforms further away, some of them idling before departing the others having their engines cut, with bus drivers chatting and smoking in front of them.
First I took a brief moment to light up in an outside smoking type area, with sand filled ashtrays and a seating set up, then looked around where would be the best place to begin searching. To start with, the best idea would be to stick close to the building, so I slowly moved towards the other side of the Airport complex, walking parallel to it, until I finally reached what from memory of searching the net, use to be a bus platform for now defunct EA3 bus.
On a bench a European man was sitting in tattered clothing, eating some kind of sausages wrapped into a serviette, seemingly waiting for something. Let’s hope this guy can speak English. Hold thumbs…
“Excuse me, do you speak English by any chance?”
“Yes, I do,” he replied with a reasonably good English, but a noticeable German accent.
“Can you tell me what has replaced the EA3 bus now? It stopped driving to Bangkok and Ekamai, right?”
“That’s right. Nothing has replaced it.”
“Are there any other options?”
“Well, where are you going?”
“Pattaya.”
“Taxi or bus direct to Pattaya.”
“Ok, well thank you.” With a deep sigh, I realised the best option is to stick with the direct line since I didn’t feel pressed to leave the Airport as soon as possible, and wait until 7 am.
In return for the information I offered him a cigarette which he gratefully accepted. Just as I made few steps back towards the same way I came from he said in a sad, pitiful way, “This is all I have to eat for the next six days.” It was more of thinking aloud comment that suppose to be out of my earshot, but I still did hear it.
The further away I moved away, and towards the smoking area on the opposite end of the complex, the more I couldn’t stop but to think about him, curiosity getting the best of me. Six days to go without food, why is that so? From the look of him, it was obvious to me he is in some sort of emotional distress. Probably in need of help.
Carefully and discreetly, I skilfully took out a brown note from the money belt, placed it into the pocket and slowly made my way back in his direction. The brown note in my pocket was there in case what I presumed happened to him turns out to be true.
“How come you have nothing to eat in the next 6 days?” I asked. He looked up at me surprised, since he didn’t notice me appear again, probably not expecting me to do so. "My name is Mike. Mike Kanonsri," he introduced himself and then began to tell me a story of what happened to him.
He came to Chiang Mai for holiday. Went to local park where there was a ceremony he saw live on TV, Buddhist festival or similar. Few guys approached him and asked him for a cigarette. Although he does smoke, didn’t have chance to buy any yet, so he responded he doesn’t have any on him. The guys lounged into him, beating him up and robbed him of his cash, passport, credit card and other documents. The attack happened in full view of everyone. No one came to his aid.
He spent 5 days recovering in local hospital. Thai police came to see him, advising him the attackers are probably illegal immigrants from Burma. Local Thais wouldn’t do such a thing, since they fear the Thai police. The Burmese have much less respect and fear of them considering the brutal dictatorial regime they grew up under, in what is now called Myanmar.
The reason nobody came to his aid? Thai people are non-confrontational and prefer not to get involved into other people’s conflicts. It was one of the cultural traits which allowed the country to become more prosperous than the others in Indochina. With a justice system much different to the ones we have in a Western style democracies, they assured him they’ll be able to track the suspects down sooner or later and crack them to confess with their efficient interrogation techniques.
Which was of little comfort to Mike. All he wants now is to get the heck out of this country as soon as possible. For obvious reasons he doesn’t like it or feel comfortable here. After getting discharged from the hospital, he went to German embassy in Bangkok, who were unable to help him out much, but gave him a 1,000 baht note to see him through until he can fly out of the country with Air Berlin. He needs to wait six days for his departure flight.
His first time in Thailand will obviously be his last. He works for German giant conglomerate Siemens, a good job with decent salary, where he heard from his colleagues how great Thailand is, so he decided to try it for himself.
And this is what happened. He showed me some of his physical injuries; scarred leg, one half of a broken tooth, that made a cold chill crawl down my spine, next to a completely missing tooth. Then there were psychological injuries that he didn’t have to tell me about; underlying all of it, was his red face and watery eyes.
Without mistake, it was a face of a man who had gone through a lot of emotional pain and suffering. Those were the same red face and watery eyes you see on people who recently had a close family member pass away for example. You can’t miss recognizing it once you experience it before. Once you see it you know what it is – a person in emotional state of heavy distress and suffering.
Salvation:
I took a brown note from my pocket, crumpled inside my fist, shook his hand, thus passing the note over to him. “Now you can get something to eat while you wait.” Just as I stood off the bench, with a touched, grateful look on his face he asked me, “Is there any chance you can lend me 4,000 baht?”
“No!” I responded instantaneously, immediately feeling guilty how that came out; too loud. With a softer tone of voice I responded, “Thousand baht is what I’m prepared to give you to help you out.”
“I would pay you back, I promise you.”
“Why 4,000 baht exactly?”
“That is the amount Air Berlin is asking me to pay as a surcharge to be able to fly out tomorrow, as oppose to wait for six days, when my scheduled departure time is.”
“Yeah, but how do I know you’ll pay me back?”
“You give me your bank account number and I’ll pay you back as soon as I land to Berlin.”
”Can’t remember my bank account number off the top of my head.”
“I’ll give you my email and you can send it to me.” I was still hesitant, being wary that this could possibly be a scam.
“I don’t want to end up being scammed.”
“You have my word I’ll pay you back! I swear to you!”
After a long, long moment of silence between us, eye contact firm, “wait here,” I told him, as if he could really go anywhere, then quickly went inside the Airport, found the nearest toilets and entered. There, inside a cubicle I pulled out three more brown notes out of the money belt, placed them into the pocket, then went back and sat next to him.
Before pulling out the cash, I made this big ceremony to emphasize my concerns about getting scammed. “I’m going out of my way here to help you out,” I shook his hand and held it, “I need to know you will pay it back to me.”
“I swear to you. I have a great job with Siemens and money is not an issue for me.”
“Well, considering the worldwide recession, I too have a reasonably well paid job and a decent salary. Yet, I don’t want to end up getting scammed.”
“You have my word,” he sounded genuine about it.
NZ $160, which is roughly what 4,000 baht were at that moment, wouldn’t be such a great loss for my circumstances, but it was the principle behind it. The loss of my face would be much more valuable if this turns out to be a scam after all. To be scammed like that, like a young monkey, as they say.
Discreetly, I handed the money over to him. There were few other people around, but still, it was good to exercise caution anyway.
“There you go. One thousand I gave you before, plus these three. Total four thousand.”
He immediately and visibly relaxed, “thank you.”
“When is Air Berlin counter open?”
“9 am.”
“Let me get your details.”
He took out a piece of scrap paper from one of his pockets, with his contact details written on it and I wrote it down into my notebook. Then I wrote my own details into a separate page, underneath the words “The guy who helped you out in Bangkok”, ripped it out and gave it him.
Later on I’ll remember how I should have dated that paper with “25 June 2011” and sign it, to give it a feel of a historical document, for Mike and his family to have back home. You know, when they remember that event in Mike’s life years later and tell it to house guests, they can bring out that page, and show it to them how there still are decent people like me in this world, willing to help out a fellow traveller in need.
After all, a similar thing could happen to me. Would love to think there are strangers who would be willing to help me out in similar type situation.
I also gave him some of my cigarettes for his empty box, and we lit up few ciggies, he asked me about my trip and we had good conversation for the next half hour to an hour about various things in life.
Told him I was here mainly for medical reasons; dental surgery and such. Something he too will also need by the looks of his broken teeth. Private practice German dentists are expensive he responded, but thank god for Siemens salary to pay for all of his medical bills. “The most important thing for me is to get to Berlin as soon as possible.”
“Well now you can,” I tapped him on shoulder in conclusion and got up. With a goodbye handshake we parted our ways and I felt great to be able to help somebody out like that. Especially such a nice guy like him.
PART 2
(Coming soon)
