Scooter accidents — what to do

This is the most important section on the page. According to the US CDC, around 20,000 people die on Thailand's roads each year — one of the highest rates in the world — and roughly three in four of those deaths are motorcycle and scooter crashes.

At the scene, in order

1. Do not move the bike, however minor it looks. Thai lawyers are explicit about this — moving the vehicle before the police or the insurer has seen it complicates the claim.
2. Call the police on 191, and 1669 as well if anyone is hurt.
3. Photograph everything before anything moves: the position of both vehicles, the damage, both number plates, the injuries, the road.
4. Do not apologise and do not admit fault, not even politely. It is used against you later.
5. Do not sign anything you cannot read.
6. Take the other party's details and those of any witnesses, and photograph their plate and licence even if they will not cooperate.
7. Keep every hospital document — notes, X-ray reports, receipts.

The police report

Where there is injury, a police report is legally required under Thailand's traffic law, and it is also the single most important document for an insurance claim. Many policies require it to be filed within 24 hours — check yours.

Koh Phangan has a district police station in Thong Sala. We could not verify its phone number from a reliable source and will not publish one that might be wrong — call 1155 and let the Tourist Police direct you, or go to the station in person.

Worth knowing in advance, from the Australian government: after an accident the police may detain you until compensation is agreed, and in serious-injury cases you may be required to stay in Thailand until the matter is resolved.

Your passport as a deposit

Many rental shops here ask to hold your passport. Don't. The US State Department addresses this directly:

"Many rental motorbike, jet ski, and car companies will hold your passport until you pay for real or fictitious damages… Do not use your passport as collateral." — US State Department, Thailand information page

Leave a cash deposit or a photocopy instead. Whether a shop holding your passport is itself unlawful under Thai law is something we could not establish from an authoritative source, so we do not claim it. But the government advice is unambiguous: do not hand over the passport.

One more, from the UK Foreign Office: scooters rented in tourist areas are often not legally registered and cannot be used on a public road — and hiring an unregistered vehicle can invalidate your insurance on its own. Ask to see the registration book.

Hospitals and clinics on the island

When you have to leave the island

The island's largest private hospital advertises intensive care, CT and operating theatres — but not neurosurgery, cardiac surgery or major trauma surgery, and it describes MRI as an off-site service.

Assume the island stabilises; it does not do major surgery. Head, spinal, chest, complex orthopaedic injuries, or anything needing sustained intensive care, are stabilised here and moved to Koh Samui or Bangkok. The usual private destination is Bangkok Hospital Samui.

The ferries stop in the early evening. Thong Sala to Nathon on Samui is about 30–45 minutes, but the last sailing is around 17:00–18:00. An overnight emergency cannot use them — the transfer will be by private boat or helicopter.

For urgent medical transfer, the Bangkok Hospital group runs a 24h coordination line — 1724 inside Thailand, or +66 2 226 4565 from abroad — covering land, sea and air. The cost cannot be known in advance: it is quoted case by case and no operator publishes a price list. That is exactly what the medical-evacuation section of your insurance is for.

Box jellyfish

Box jellyfish are a real danger on this island's beaches, not a theoretical one. In August 2021 a nine-year-old Israeli boy was stung at Haad Rin and died on the way to hospital. He had been swimming outside the netted area.

The main beaches have netted swimming areas, warning signs in three languages, and bottles of vinegar placed at those netted areas for exactly this.

• Swim inside the nets. That is the whole thing. The net is the protection.
• When you arrive at a beach, note where the vinegar is. Finding out after a sting is too late.
• If stung: pour vinegar on it generously. Do not rub. Do not use fresh water — fresh water makes the remaining stinging cells fire.
• Call 1669 immediately. Do not wait to see whether it passes.

Dog and monkey bites — rabies

There are a lot of free-roaming dogs on the island. Any bite or scratch that breaks the skin counts as a rabies exposure and needs treatment the same day. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, and post-exposure treatment almost always works — so there is no reason to wait. A monkey bite is treated exactly like a dog bite.

1. Wash the wound under running water with soap for at least 15 minutes. This is not excessive caution — it is the single step that reduces the risk most.
2. Do not close or stitch the wound yourself.
3. Get to a hospital the same day.

Treatment is a vaccine course on days 0, 3, 7 and 14. For a bite that breaks the skin you also need immunoglobulin infiltrated around the wound on day one — and that is the critical part.

The US CDC states that rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin are "readily available in all provincial and most district hospitals throughout Thailand." Note the "most". Koh Phangan's is a district hospital, and we could not verify that it stocks immunoglobulin. Phone ahead, and be prepared to travel to Samui or Surat Thani if you need it.

Dengue, diving, and smaller things

Dengue

Dengue is endemic throughout Thailand and comes in waves every few years. There is no vaccine and no preventive medicine — the only protection is not getting bitten. The mosquito that carries it bites during the day, not at night, so daytime repellent is not wasted. Fever usually arrives after a few days; with high fever, muscle pain and a rash, see a doctor — and don't take aspirin or ibuprofen until one has cleared it.

Malaria

There is no malaria risk on the southern islands. You do not need tablets. Thailand's risk sits in forested areas along the Myanmar, Cambodian and Malaysian borders.

Recompression chamber for divers

There is no chamber on Koh Phangan. The nearest one we could verify as currently operating is on Koh Tao: SSS, 24h emergency +66 81 081 9777.

Many sites claim there is a chamber on Koh Samui. We could not confirm that one is operating — the network that runs Thailand's chambers lists only Phuket and Koh Tao on its own site. Do not plan on a Samui chamber.

Water and food

Tap water is not for drinking. Stick to sealed bottles, and be careful with ice at stalls without running water.

Vaccines

Get your travel vaccines — hepatitis A and B, typhoid, whatever applies to you — at home before you fly. We could not verify any facility on the island as a reliable source of them.

What to check in your policy

We are not insurance brokers, we do not sell policies and we do not recommend a company. What we can give you are the questions worth asking your insurer before you fly, because each one is a case where we have seen people left holding the bill.

1. "Does the policy cover a motorbike accident, and on what conditions?" Ask for it in writing. Ask explicitly about licence, helmet and engine size.
2. "Above what engine size do I need an add-on?" If the answer is 50cc, every scooter you can rent here is over it.
3. "What is the maximum trip length?" Many policies cut off at 90 days. If you are staying six months, this is the clause that catches you.
4. "If I work remotely from there, am I still covered?" Some policies are written for tourism only.
5. "Is medical evacuation covered, and up to what amount?" A boat or helicopter transfer off the island is exactly what this is for, and the price is not published in advance.
6. "Do you pay the hospital directly, or do I pay and claim back?" And if it is a claim — which documents, and within how long.
7. "What about diving, kitesurfing, Muay Thai training?" Adventure sports are almost always a separate add-on.

Two things no travel policy covers, whatever you pay: damage to the scooter you rented, and damage or injury you cause to someone else. Travel insurance is not for that.

Your embassy

Most embassies for Thailand sit in Bangkok. That is the address for a lost or stolen passport, an arrest, a long hospital stay or a death.

We are not publishing embassy phone numbers here. We could not verify them from the official sites, and a wrong number for an embassy in an emergency is worse than no number. Take the number from your own government's official site and save it in your phone before you fly, along with your policy number. Embassies run a consular emergency line that works outside office hours.

Before you fly: photograph your passport and email it to yourself. If it is stolen, that shortens the process considerably.

Thai worth knowing

One thing first: Thai adds a politeness word at the end of a sentence. A man says "krap", a woman says "ka". It is not decoration — without it the sentence sounds blunt. The table gives only the phrase; add the particle yourself.

On haggling: normal at a market, less so in a shop with printed prices. Name your price with a smile, and if the answer is no, it is no. Thai people dislike confrontation, and pushing does not help.