Here at Journeys Within, we were shocked and saddened to hear the news of the bombing near the Erawan Shrine in downtown Bangkok on Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Our prayers will be with all of the victims, as well as with the Thai people as they attempt to recover from this terrible event.
Of course, the safety of our travelers in the region is our first priority, and our ground operations teams from our Bangkok and other Southeast Asia offices have been ensuring that all of our guests are safe and informed about the current situation in the Thai capital.
In addition, Journeys Within’s founder and CEO, Andrea Ross, will be diverting her Vietnam inspection tour to come to Bangkok to help assess the security situation and work with our ground operations teams in assisting any of our guests with plans to travel in the region.
Our teams are monitoring the news and advisories, and will be personally contacting all of our guests that may be impacted by this event to adjust itineraries if needed.
And we will provide updated information here on this blog post as it becomes available.
Advice for Journeys Within travelers visiting Thailand in the future
At Journeys Within, guest safety is always our number one priority, and our Bangkok office will be monitoring the situation on the ground in Bangkok and throughout the country in the coming days, weeks and months to ensure that our guests are aware of any risks that might still exist after this incident.
While it appears that Thai authorities now have a suspect in the Monday bombing, information is still extremely limited at the moment; however, we will be in contact with all Journeys Within guests traveling to or near Bangkok to fill them in on our first-hand assessment from the ground vs. the current media hype.
Media coverage:
I just returned from Thailand to America after a three week visit to Thailand.
I was in Bangkok the day of the bombing, and stayed in northeast Thailand
after its occurrence. I visited the homes of Thai nationals (who live not far
from the Cambodian and Thai borders) and at a five star hotel at a city in north
east Thailand. I was unaware of the bombing in Bangkok (despite my three
week presence in Thailand with a two year old child)–until I returned to the US
yesterday. I am quite upset that I was never informed by the hotel where I
stayed (or by anyone else I encountered)–of the bombing. I visited many
Buddhist temples and other shrines where such a bombing could have also
taken place. Police came to the hotel where I stayed daily, and I inquired as
to their presence–and was told it was “routine”. I intentionally stayed away
from my cell phone and television. I wanted to be as far away from the
news as possible. But I believe that hotels (and I also stayed at a hotel in
Bangkok not far from where this bombing occurred)—have a responsibility to
inform their travelers of such horrific occurrences.
Sindi Wasserman
Sindi: We’re sorry to hear your hotels didn’t communicate the news to you. The very first thing we did here at Journeys Within after hearing the news was reach out to all of our travelers who were in the region to update them on the situation and provide recommendations and alternate travel plans if needed. This kind of communication is just one of the benefits we try to provide, above and beyond our insider knowledge of the region in tour planning.