Watch your pockets at SOHO Freehouse in Georgetown

On the evening of October 27th, at approximately 10:15 PM after dinner at the Banana Boutique Hotel, I and two other men travelling with our "visa run" group from Phuket Thailand went for an after dinner walk and found ourselves at the SOHO Freehouse establishment where we decided to have a few beers and take in the local atmosphere. Prior to this trip, I had never met either of these men. The two men with me were; Maurice, an Australian man of maybe 60-65 years of age, approx. 5 feet 5 inches in height and of portly, stocky build, with frontal balding gray hair. He was wearing a white polo type shirt with some kind of logo on the front upper left of the shirt, and dark colored shorts. The second man was an Italian who's name I believe was Claudio, approx. 34-38 years of age, approx. 5 feet 7 inches in height, muscular/athletic build, short dark hair combed forward, wearing a light knit dark pullover long-sleeve shirt and "military camo" style baggy shorts.

We entered the SOHO Freehouse at approx. 11:00 PM and proceeded to sit at some tables to our left on an elevated portion of the room as that what was available. That table is located in what I believe would be the west end of the elevated portion, against the south wall. We ordered draft beers (I, a Guiness) and after about maybe ten or fifteen minutes, "Claudio" begins flirting with the taller of two young black women sitting in the lower portion of the room. After a few minutes, the taller of the two comes over and begins conversing with "Claudio", Maurice and myself. After a few more minutes, the second black girl, shorter in stature, then joins us as well. By this time "Claudio" and Maurice are conversing with the girls and acting as most males tend to do when talking to ladies that are obviously "available". At this point I find it necessary to say that I was neither looking for, or otherwise interested in any "company" for the evening as my sole purpose was to secure a visa extension and get back to the safety and security of my life in Phuket Thailand. After some time passed, another round of drinks was bought when I noticed that "Claudio" was no longer sitting with us and in fact was nowhere to be seen. The shorter of the two girls began showing an interest in me. She began moving close to me and at a certain point had her hands on my legs. What I didn't realize during this time was that she was most likely feeling for my wallet, which was in my right-side cargo pocket of the cargo shorts I was wearing. After more time had passed she began to dance in front of me, eventually turning around and placing her backside practically in my face. She then sat in my lap and wiggled around quite a bit, and this is most probably when she lifted my wallet from me as I was fairly well distracted at this point. Another round of drinks was ordered and I noticed that our friend "Claudio" was still nowhere to be seen. More time passed, the taller of the two girls got up and left, presumably to use the restroom, and while she was gone Maurice got up and left the table as well. After Maurice left, the shorter of the two girls made her "proposition" to me, of which I politely declined. Shortly thereafter, her taller friend returned and within a few minutes, the shorter of the two asked me if I would give them 30 RM so that they could get something to eat at the outside food vendor. I complied with her request and the two girls left, not to be seen again.

By this time, it is maybe 01:00 AM... I am sitting alone at our table, Maurice is gone (where I do not know) and "Claudio" is nowhere to be seen. Two young men arrive and sit at the table next to mine. They have ordered a very large "tapper" of Carlsberg beer and begin to drink it out of small "highball" glasses, which I find odd but don't question... some time passes and they begin to make conversation with me. We chat for a while, and they offer me some of their beer which I accept, more out of being obliging and not wanting to be rude than needing anything more to drink. More time passes, more conversation occurs and one of the young men, the thinner of the two gets up and plays a game of pool. I watch, he loses and after a little while longer, the place is closing. I check with my waitress to see if anything is owed, and head for the door. Once outside, I am propositioned by a young Asian girl and suddenly "Claudio" shows up, talking loudly to me and accusing me of not respecting him, trying to take "his girl" and in general carrying on like a drunk. Suddenly the two young men that sat at the table next to mine appear, act as intermediaries and attempt to defuse the situation as "Claudio" is acting fairly aggressively and seems to want to get into a fist fight. I leave and walk back to the Banana Boutique Hotel, it is somewhere around 04:00 AM by this time.

I awake at approx. 08:00 AM and prepare to pack my things for departure when I discover that I have been robbed. What amazes me is that not only were these people good enough to remove my wallet from my person, but that they were able to put it back as well!

To recap, here is a list of players:

Maurice, visa run traveler. Early to mid 60's, portly, stocky build, approx. 5 feet 5 inches, frontal balding grey hair, from Australia.

"Claudio", visa run traveler. Mid to late 30's, muscular/athletic build, approx. 5 feet 7 inches, short dark hair combed forward, from Italy. (I use quotes because I am not 100% certain this is his name.)

Black girl #1, Mid 20's, tall and slender, maybe 5 feet 7 inches, long dark semi-permed (wavey) hair with light streak. She wore a black and white wide horizontal striped one-piece tight-fitting dress with a wide black belt. I didn't speak much with this girl.

Black girl #2, Mid 20's, approx. 5 feet 4 inches, short tightly cropped curly (permed) hair worn up and flat on top. She wore what I would call "kulats" or a style of pant-dress with pockets made from denim, dark in color and some kind of tight fitting print top. Claimed to be from Kenya and a student studying computer technology.

Local guy #1, Mid to late 20's, thin athletic build, approx. 5 feet 8 inches, dark complexion, claimed to be a local Malay. He wore a light (white?) colored shirt and dark slacks, possibly jeans.

Local guy #2, Mid to late 20's, stocky athletic build, approx 5 feet 10 inches, dark complexion, claimed to be local Malay. He wore a medium dark polo type shirt and dark slacks, possibly jeans. This guy did most if not all of the talking.

For the record, I have contacted the Banana Boutique Hotel, the Tour Agency as well as the SOHO Freehouse via email and advised them of this event. I further intend to notify my U.S. Embassy here in Thailand as well as the one in Malaysia. I have already made application for replacement of my Drivers Licence, listing it as stolen. I am in the process of contacting the U.S. Social Security Administration to report my Social Security Card as stolen, so that I may apply for it's replacement as well. I have also notified my banking institution as well as my credit card agencies.

The only response to date has been the Banana Boutique, who in fact were very apologetic and provided me with contact information for the local Georgetown Police. They are to be commended for their concern. They seem to display genuine concern, not to mention running a very nice and clean establishment.

I have deliberately chosen to make this report in an anonymous fashion as I do not wish to be contacted by anyone other than local Georgetown authorities should that happen. All of what has been placed here has also been submitted to the local Georgetown police, along with further specifics as to what was stolen from my wallet... my intention is purely to inform other travelers of my experience in the hopes that they may avoid what has for me become an experience I will never forget. It would be safe to say that if at all possible, I will never travel to Malaysia again... for those of you Malays that live near this place and choose to live an honest life, perhaps you can band together and apply a little "street justice", we do it in America and it works pretty well...