And exactly 5 minutes later the receptionist called us and said that we were very noisy and our neighbors called the police. We were delighted. The police arrived, not knowing English in principle! They had to call their boss, who spoke English. It was already 2 am. When he saw that we were sober and calm, he was surprised. When I asked what we were accused of, he replied that the Thai neighbor said, "that my husband climbed onto his balcony and knocked on the window. " I invited the police to the room and showed that the bars between the balconies are very thin, and we live on the second floor and you need to be crazy to climb the cornices when you could just go through the door to them, especially since my husband after a major operation (laparotomy ) to "climb the balconies". The chief of police agreed that it was impossible to climb over the balcony. But then the hotel administrator intervened, saying that "probably the lady could climb over the balcony. "
I told her sharply that I was a doctor, not a monkey. The police left with a warning that we should report to the station the next day for a written explanation. In the morning we called the acting consul, but he asked me to call back later, and in the background we could hear the voices of drunken women "talking my mother". In general, we received no help. Arriving at the station, they waited a long time for a Russian-Thai translator. As a result, a girl appeared who knew English with the help of Google, there was no question of any Russian language. We were interrogated, reassured that this was an administrative violation, our Thai neighbor was a fool and that everything would be all right with us. No matter how! Exactly two days later, at 21:00, the police come for us and take us to the police station, we immediately have a lawyer (what a coincidence, from Ukraine, from Kyiv - a countryman) Sergey Treshchev, who immediately asks if we have 20.000 baht (that's how much one of his calls costs). We don't understand what the hell is going on.
They take away my husband's passport, roll his fingers, and Sergei Treshchev says that a criminal case has been opened against him for "breaking into private property at night (this is an aggravating factor" and that he faces a term of 2 to 5 years in prison or a fine. I won’t describe how many trials we went through. I’ll write the finale of this story: my husband spent almost 3 months in Thailand, I wrote a lot of statements and complaints to the Thai consulate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. he was - if you do not want to "accidentally end up in a prison in Thailand" - bypass this hotel. We were refused by the hotel management in issuing a video from surveillance cameras that would confirm that we did not cross the balcony.
The office of Sergei Treshchev is another set-up, it was he who came up with the article to transfer the case from the administrative code to the criminal one, and not only here - we talked with many of his "clients". His office is located in the Rawai area, here is his instagram https://www.instagram.com/advocat_phuket/? utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=131p16z7gy5um. We changed lawyers, but my husband was still convicted, the punishment was a fine and deportation. He was deported after a 4-day stay in the ADC prison - they were waiting for a direct flight to Ukraine (in May they were 2 times a week, and "criminals" are not allowed to go on an indirect flight). This is how a beautiful vacation in Phuket at the By-the-Sea hotel sadly ended.
P. S. If someone is interested in the details of this story, and if someone is in a similar situation - write. We have gone through all the circles of this hell, and now we know all the nuances and possible ways out of such situations.
Breakfasts are varied (though without seafood): fruits, pastries, juices, omelettes, meat, rice, vegetables, yogurts - we are picky, we were very tasty and liked everything. Lunch and dinner in the restaurant at the hotel is expensive (any dish is 150 baht), but very, very tasty, drinks are expensive. Sometimes they include Russian music a & # 61602; la 80s. In addition to breakfast, we ate in this restaurant only once, then we ate at the On The Beach cafe, which is run by Mr. Tai, a very friendly person, speaks a little Russian. There are also a couple of cafes on the beach, but they cannot attract visitors either with live music or prices. The charm of Tai and the waiter Tong did not allow us to even think about eating somewhere else. Although his prices are not cheap - meals for 80 baht, beer 0.7 l for 100 baht, soft drinks for 50 baht. The food is delicious, the portions are large, the menu is in Russian. The five of us with drinks we ate for 1000-1200 baht. In the last days of rest, Tai gave us discounts on beer, although we did not ask.
The beach is located at the hotel, towels and sun loungers (as well as canoes, bicycles) are free of charge. We read a lot about the ebb and flow in this part of Phuket, but somehow we were not mentally ready anyway. Upon arrival, we were met by low tide (not the strongest), we could not swim, the son scratched his leg on the coral, the beach seemed ugly, in a word, we were very upset. The next day we went to Phuket Town, and when we returned, there was a tide, and even then we bought plenty. Sand, small waves, sun - beauty!! ! Then they got used to it: they hang out the time of maximum high and low tide for the day near the pool, adjusted their schedule to this schedule: on average, you can swim completely freely for 5 hours a day, the rest of the time you sunbathed, walked, or spent in the pool.
I would like to write a few words about the tour operator. The meeting at the airport went off with a bang, excellent organization: Pegasus representatives stand at the exit of the airport and indicate where to go, then you show a voucher for a transfer to the hotel, they read the barcode and call the number of the bus that you are lucky, they issue SIM cards: it didn’t pass and 10 minutes, as we were already driving to the hotel. Unfortunately, this is where the good impression about the operator ended. The hotel guide Olesya (a girl with dollars in her eyes) immediately made it clear that the only reason she should call is the absence of a tour bus if the tour was taken from Pegasus. We lost a lot of time due to the fact that the drivers of the sightseeing buses were not informed that the tourists had canceled the trip, and the drivers patiently waited for those who were not even going to. When leaving, I had to be nervous: I received information that the flight was delayed by 12 hours, we were taken to another hotel for dinner, the driver dropped me off and drove off somewhere with all the luggage. We didn’t meet in another hotel, there was no information at the reception, we ran and looked for everything ourselves.
They took Fantasy from Pegasus (price: 2.200 baht) and a free shopping tour. On the shopping tour, we got such an explosion of the brain that we left the tour at the third stop. The guide (I don’t remember the name), a native of Azerbaijan, in a very crooked Russian insistently (rudely) and in raised tones, talked about where he was born and studied and how old he was, while not allowing anyone to talk to each other! He built tourists like in a pioneer detachment, not a step to the side! He carried such nonsense about honey from marijuana - it just rang in his ears !! ! Before the trip to Thailand, we got acquainted via the Internet with the approximate prices of the island and just climbed our eyes on our foreheads from the arrogance of the organizers. Prices for a shopping tour are not 2 or 3 times higher than the market prices, but 5 times!! ! At the same time, when Pegasus is taking you on a sightseeing tour, you visit, for example, a pearl farm, where you can buy souvenirs from river pearls in silver-plated metal for 250 baht, a pearl string for yourself on average for 1.800 baht, but when you travel with Pegasus on a shopping tour, then the pearl farm is already different, there are freshwater pearls in silver-plated metal already from 1.100 baht !! ! The wildest prices in the pharmacy, in any other pharmacy on the island you can buy the same thing (albeit without the Russian annotation), but 2-3-4-5 times cheaper!! ! So a free tour results for naive tourists in what a “penny”! We did not go further, we handed over the tags to the guide.
And in the end, for respected compatriots, something about excursions in general. We, again, having read information about the island), about excursions on the Internet, decided not to take any excursions from Pegasus for money, only on the spot we already decided on Fantasy, because. the price tag on it is not particularly inflated. Our whole program was compiled based on the prices of the "chip tour", upon arrival they called by the phone number indicated in the price list. It turned out that representatives of the company did not go to the area of our hotel (Cape Panwa), the office is located in Patong, they offered to drive up to their office. We had already set out to go to Patong, but in the evening, having dinner at Tai, we met a local resident (he introduces himself as Capitan Mhad - he is constantly on the beach and offers to buy excursions from him), he showed us his price list in Russian. His English with a Thai accent, our English of the school curriculum, his desire to earn money, our desire to receive a service at an adequate price - did their job, we understood each other and for a start (although with some suspicion) we bought a tour to Khao Sok from him. The price is slightly higher than the chips, but given the remoteness of the hotel and the need to pay extra for the transfer to the chips, I think that would have happened. They left an advance payment of 1.000 baht. At the appointed time, the bus was waiting for us, the cap was waiting for us at the reception, we paid him the rest and went to enjoy the elephants, nature, fruits. The Russian guide throughout the tour is a very interesting young man Alexei (he used to live in Novosibirsk), he told us all day about Thailand, Phuket, history, legends and much more. It was just magical!!!
After that, without fear, we bought a tour to the Similans from the cap (2.700 baht for an adult, 1.900 baht for a child), where we sat in the same boat with those who went from Pegasus (4.500 baht for an adult). He took us shopping (we told him what we wanted to buy, he took us where he saw fit: for example, he brought us to a pearl farm, where they conduct a sightseeing tour, there they stuck some marks on our clothes, looking at which the girls immediately called the price , less than half the price on the label, even though the cap received some commission for our purchases, in any case we spent much less with him), bought alcohol, bags, clothes, souvenirs, also the cap took us to the aquarium . And after all the doubting Russian tourists sent to us for recommendations. I don’t know if they went with the cap where or not, but we gave him the most positive recommendations. Women who bought three excursions from the tour operator on the first day (receiving a promised discount of 900 baht per person for this, but overpaying about 4.000 baht), after talking with the cap, lamented their promptness and, in order to smooth out the bitterness, went shopping with him, their cap pleased! We do not urge anyone to apply to him (or to the chip tour), we simply state the fact: we applied and got everything we expected. Everyone decides for himself.
Mr. Tai and Cap Mhead said goodbye to us in a very touching way! Didn't want to leave! The hotel and everything connected with it, we recommend!