Things To Watch Out For: Break Ins

Cautionary advice...

Keep an eye on your valuables.

The vast majority of people who visit Haad Rin have an excellent time, but there are a few risks and concerns to look out for which could potentially ruin your visit, particularly over the Full Moon period.

Haad Rin Guide book contains a chapter covering some of these potential risks, physical, financial and otherwise, which you may come across during your stay in Haad Rin.  I should mention that the point of cautionary advice like this is not to make people so worried that they avoid visiting Koh Phangan altogether, but simply to raise awareness of some of the things to watch out for.  Hopefully, this will help ensure that visitors to Haad Rin have a problem-free stay on Koh Phangan and enjoy their visit to its full potential.

Here's one of the entries from the 'Things To Watch Out For' chapter from the Haad Rin Guide Book...

Break Ins

In total, I've spent several years living in Haad Rin and been to over thirty Full Moon Parties, and I've never had a problem with a break in.  However, there was one Full Moon Party when I returned to my room to discover my padlock had been covered in oil.  I presume this was an attempt to force open the lock, but thankfully the padlock remained in place and my room stayed safe.

Break-ins aren’t so common that you have to worry about it to the point that it spoils your night, but they do very occasionally take place, so take sensible precautions and don’t leave valuables in your room, especially on the night of the Full Moon Party.

The standard advice that most people give is to leave valuables at reception but unfortunately there are also rare instances of reception areas being broken into, so assess the security and level of supervision at your hotel or hostel before trusting them with your valuables.  Probably the best strategy is even before arriving, when looking for somewhere to stay, pay close attention to online reviews for advice on the safety and security of a resort or hostel.

As you'd expect, the Full Moon Party seems to be the night which carries the biggest risk of money problems.  In terms of cash, it’s worth planning your ATM withdrawals in advance so that on the night of the Full Moon Party you’ll only have maybe a couple of thousand baht left over and above what you expect to spend.  That way you have less excess cash to worry about.  I generally like to split my cash so that I have a small amount on me and also a small amount in a locker.  Then if I was unlucky enough to get pickpocketed or my locker was unlucky enough to be broken into, I at least have another source of cash to get me by until I am able to sort things out.

Finally, if your hotel key has your room number and hotel name on the keyring, consider removing the key from the key ring and putting it on your own key ring, otherwise if you lost your key and an unscrupulous person found it, they would know exactly which room and which resort the key belongs to.

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