Forget Relaxing on Ko Kamui. I’m Going to Prison!
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 11.08.02 | 12:53 AM ET
During their holiday in Thailand, New Zealander Phillipa Bonnet and Irishman Gerry McCue saw a notice posted at their guest house that foreigners locked up in the country’s maximum security prison—mostly on drug charges—love having visitors. So the two travelers took a Bangkok river taxi out to Bang Kwang to pay a visit.
“I have to admit, I’m a bit interested in how horrible the stories are,” Bonnet explained. Reports Frank Bures in the Christian Science Monitor: “In perhaps the latest twist to reality-based tourism, visiting imprisoned foreigners has become something of a trend among young travelers passing through Bangkok. Each year, some 8.5 million tourists pass through Thailand. As paths to beaches become more well trodden, young backpackers looking for a more visceral holiday experience have been going to Bang Kwang to see their compatriots.”
About 7,000 foreigners are doing time in Thailand, Bures writes, including 18 U.S. citizens.