Health & Insurance

Insurance

Having proper coverage while on-tour in Thailand is important. Check your existing insurance policies and credit card coverage before you buy travel insurance. You may already be covered for lost luggage, cancelled tickets, or medical expenses. The cost of travel insurance varies widely, depending on the cost and length of your trip, your age, health, and the type of trip you're taking.

Trip-Cancellation Insurance -- Trip-cancellation insurance helps you get your money back if you have to back out of a trip, if you have to go home early, or if your travel supplier goes bankrupt. Allowed reasons for cancellation can range from sickness to natural disasters to the State Department declaring your destination unsafe for travel. (Insurers usually won't cover vague fears, though, as many travelers discovered who tried to cancel their trips in Oct 2001 because they were wary of flying.) In this unstable world, trip-cancellation insurance is a good buy if you're getting tickets well in advance -- who knows what the state of the world, or of your airline, will be in 9 months? Insurance policy details vary, so read the fine print -- and especially make sure that your airline or cruise line is on the list of carriers covered in case of bankruptcy. For information, contact one of the following insurers: Access America (tel. 866/807-3982; www.accessamerica.com); Travel Guard International (tel. 800/826-4919; www.travelguard.com); Travel Insured International (tel. 800/243-3174; www.travelinsured.com); and Travelex Insurance Services (tel. 888/457-4602; www.travelex-insurance.com).

Medical Insurance -- Most health insurance policies cover you if you get sick away from home -- but check, particularly if you're insured by an HMO. With the exception of certain HMOs and Medicare/Medicaid, your medical insurance should cover medical treatment -- even hospital care -- overseas. However, most out-of-country hospitals make you pay your bills up front and send you a refund after you've returned home and filed the necessary paperwork. And in a worst-case scenario, there's the high cost of emergency evacuation. If you require additional medical insurance, try MEDEX International (tel. 800/527-0218 or 410/453-6300; www.medexassist.com) or Travel Assistance International (tel. 800/821-2828; www.travelassistance.com; for general information on services, call the company's Worldwide Assistance Services, Inc., at tel. 800/777-8710).

Lost-Luggage Insurance -- On domestic flights, checked baggage is covered up to $2,500 per ticketed passenger. On international flights (including U.S. portions of international trips), baggage is limited to approximately $9.07 per pound, up to approximately $635 per checked bag. If you plan to check items more valuable than the standard liability, see if your valuables are covered by your homeowner's policy, get baggage insurance as part of your comprehensive travel-insurance package, or buy Travel Guard's "BagTrak" product. Don't buy insurance at the airport, as it's usually overpriced. Be sure to take any valuables or irreplaceable items with you in your carry-on luggage, as many valuables (including books, money and electronics) aren't covered by airline policies.

If your luggage is lost, immediately file a lost-luggage claim at the airport, detailing the luggage contents. For most airlines, you must report delayed, damaged, or lost baggage within 4 hours of arrival. The airlines are required to deliver luggage, once found, directly to your house or destination free of charge.

Staying Safe

Thailand is in general a very safe destination, meaning that you are less likely to experience violent crime as in most countries in the West. Of concern though are the kingdom's many pickpockets and scam artists, especially in Bangkok. Keep an eye on valuables in crowded places -- a good rule of thumb for any destination -- and be wary of anyone who approaches you in the street to solicit your friendship; however genuine the entreaty, many visitors find more than they bargain for and waste precious time on "shopping tours" where your "guide" will collect a commission and keep you from getting where you'd like to go. In general, even in big cities, you are safe to walk at night (the biggest danger being aggressive stray dogs). Women traveling alone generally find Thailand an amenable place but should keep on guard, especially at night.

Avoid public conflict in Thailand, something that is just not done and a "face losing" proposition. If, for whatever reason, you find yourself in the middle of something feisty or beyond just a minor disagreement, call the tourist police: The national hot line is tel. 1155. You cannot win-out in altercations in Thailand and it is best to walk away and get assistance.

That said, Thai police are a political entity and corrupt as they come. In general, the police are not there to protect and serve as much as they are there to harass and collect, so just steer clear of any official or military doings unless in need of help (and in that case go to the English-speaking tourist police).

Traffic and chaotic road conditions are probably the biggest dangers for visitors to Thailand. Thai drivers pass aggressively and must weave to avoid the many obstacles on busy roads. Self-drive car rental makes sense only in places like the far north, rural Isan in the northeast, or in some of the resort destinations, but extreme caution should be taken and defensive driving skills are key. If you do get in an accident, Thai style is to negotiate a settlement at roadside, but you'll want to contact local officials and go from there.

An old Asia hand I know says that the best insurance policy you could take out in Thailand and elsewhere in the region is to never get on a motorcycle, whether as a driver or passenger on the back of a motorbike taxi. Good advice, but it's apparent from the many banged, bruised and mummy wrapped travelers limping around Thai resort areas (not to mention the frightening statistics of the many deaths annually) that few heed the warning. Motorbikes are the most convenient way to get around (and park) and are available for rent in most tourist centers, but visitors should exercise great caution.

The political situation in Thailand is quite stable, a constitutional monarchy, but as recently as the early 1990s, Thailand was turned on its ear with a military coupe. The national police force, military, and citizenry constantly bounce around the shuttlecock of power, and when one faction gets too big for its britches there is a shift. But you are unlikely to be caught-up in any political issues in Thailand.

A good way to get in real trouble though is to get involved in drugs and prostitution, the very "dark influences" against which the current conservative government rails. However tempting, drug use, even a casual toke off of someone's "Thai stick," is to be avoided completely. There is a zero-tolerance policy, and unless you can cough up the right bribe on the spot, you'll be in a grimy cell before you can shout "Embassy!" Many tourists are attracted to Thailand for the loose restrictions on paid sex, and despite recent pressures, sex tourism is a major draw to Thailand. If you indulge, take extreme caution.

Sex for Sale

Every day you're in Thailand, in any part of the country, you will see foreigners enjoying the company of Thai women and men. Although prostitution is illegal, it is tolerated and is as much a tourist draw as the kingdom's hotels and beaches. In poor, uneducated, rural families, where sons are counted on as farm labor, the sex trades has become an income-earning occupation for daughters who have few other job alternatives. It's true that most of the urban sex workers earn more income than their families back home, sending savings home each month to support younger siblings and older parents. While girls sent to the big cities as CSWs (the official term is "commercial sex worker") can sometimes quietly retire and return to their villages, for every happy ending, there are many more sad tales of drug use and physical abuse.

With a legacy of royal patronage and social acceptance, the oldest profession has been part of Thailand's economy for centuries. It is hard to get exact numbers for CSWs in Thailand (the number goes from 80,000-800,000 depending on the source), but it is interesting to note that foreigners engaging the services of prostitutes comprises only a fraction of the nationwide industry (Westerners are just more overt about their visits to brothels and are seen everywhere walking around town with their latest catch on their arm). The dark side is that though efforts at cracking down on the trades are given much lip-service, the more upfront transactions at massage parlors and go-go bars suffer while the many backroom deals, children bought and sold after being kidnapped and enslaved, carry on.

Thailand has made significant steps to counter the spread of AIDS and, through education and the introduction of condoms, have reputedly stemmed the tide of new cases (though statistics are unreliable). A leading force in this effort is the Population & Community Development Association (PCDA), led by the courageous and innovative public health crusader Meechai Viravaidya. The PCDA has enlarged the scope of its rural development programs from family planning and cottage-industry schemes, to distributing condoms and running seminars for CSWs.

Western embassies report numerous cases of tourists who are drugged in their hotel rooms by the girl of the night, waking 2 days later to find all their valuables gone. There are a shocking number of stories about young Western travelers found dead in their hotel rooms from unexplained causes. Exercise caution in your dealings with strangers. If you use the services of commercial sex workers, take proper precautions; men should wear a latex condom.

Dealing with Discrimination

Thai people are very accepting, but there is a certain institutionalized racism in old Siam. Caucasian foreigners are called "Falang" (a bastardization of "France" pronounced by the first colonists and a word that also means "guava") and occupy a high place (no matter their actions) in the scheme of things. Thais follow a codified hierarchy, with niches for Thais of Chinese heritage, who own and operate much of Thai businesses and commerce, and people from Isan, the impoverished northeast of the kingdom, who come to work the more menial jobs in the big cities in Thailand, and all levels in-between.

Foreign visitors are overcharged for all goods and services, and some take this personally, as some form of discrimination, but it is Thai practice that if you have more, you are meant to give more. The rule applies to Thais as well and, regardless of your budget, you are wealthy in Thailand. Skills in bargaining and getting the "local price" come in time.