I get asked this question a lot from friends and strangers alike, many of whom still think of Bangkok as a seedy, lawless dive filled with prostitutes and shady gem deals going on among every patch of shadows.  However, as anyone who has lived here can tell you, the answer to that question is a firm but guarded ‘no’.  Like any big city, Bangkok has problems, sure, but they’re filtered through unique Thai sensibilities and often come out the other end little more than a ripple; something you’d brush off as happening in any place in the world where you throw a few million humans together and say “Okay, now prosper!”.  However, people are still people, and often fall victim to hype that may not present an accurate picture of things.  I remember when the PAD protests were first starting to become a pain in then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra‘s side, a friend who was about to visit with another friend emailed me, saying that she was coming alone.  Apparently, her friend’s mother had heard the words ‘street protests’ on CNN, and concluded that the city was under siege.

The protests were huge, but the fact of the matter is that it was a Thai protest, by Thai people regarding Thai politics.  Foreigners played a pretty minor role in the whole thing and so, no one cared about us.  It reminds me of when the Hell’s Angels were making inroads in Canada, and some people were worried.  My friend said “Look, if you’re not involved in guns, drugs, bikes or prostitution, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that you don’t figure too highly on the Hell’s Angel’s list of priorities.”

There's always a solution.

There’s always a solution.

However, this is not to say that Bangkok doesn’t have crime.  Despite the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority‘s nicely designed (but poorly written) English website touting its safety (and greenery, which is a bit rich considering it has the lowest park sq.m-to-person ratio of any city on Earth, but I digress), there are still murders and rapes, kidnappings and shootings everyday, although not an inordinate amount.

I might be a bit biased in my opinions of course, seeing as how I’m 187 cm tall and weigh 115 kg (6″4’ and 260 lbs) and therefore quite a bit bigger than most Thais (which means my buddy Conan must fear absolutely nobody).  Personally, the only trouble I’ve ever had is two pick-pocketings (I caught the guy on one occasion and he ran away terrified — he was nowhere near as good as Bob Arno); beyond that, I’ve never had a problem anywhere.  However, I have had female friends groped by taxi drivers, followed home and lightly harassed from time to time, although thankfully, all of these occurrences have ended without incident once the offender realizes that foreign women aren’t as docile as Thai women generally are.

The bottom line is that yes, Bangkok is a safe city, as long as you follow the rules that you’d follow in any city in any country on Earth.  Don’t walk down dark streets alone; don’t go flashing wads of money; zip or button your pockets if you’re going to be among crowds, keep to busy areas, etc.