If you go to Bangla Road in Patong Beach—and everyone does at least once—and you’re with a partner and between the ages of about 35 and 64, there is one scam that you are extremely likely to come across. It goes like this: An ex-pat (not the lady-boy in the photo) approaches you and asks if you speak English. Automatically, you say yes. They pull out a wad of coloured tickets with scratchies on them, and explain that if you rub off the covering, you may win one of the prizes—cash, an ipad, an iphone, an island cruise or a free holiday. If you scratch off the coverings, you’ll discover that one of you gets a T-Shirt, and the other gets the big prize. The ex-pat gets really excited and makes a big fuss, saying something like: Wow, you got the big prize, that’s awesome, hardly anyone gets that. (There’s an English couple who is particularly good at this charade. They sucked us right in.) But the truth is that one in a couple always gets the big prize; they make sure that you do by … [Read more...]