2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Interesting.

I do think it’s a genuine skill to compartmentalise under extreme stress and still think logically. A lot of that comes from understanding your available options and being able to assess the best pathway out of a situation.

Ironically, in the absence of options, this German guy may have had one thing working in his favour: time. Enough time to decompress, process events, and slowly evaluate what to do next.

That part, to me, isn’t particularly strange.

What makes people sceptical is the rest of the story - especially the claim that for weeks he never meaningfully sought help from authorities, the embassy, police, or anyone official.

I still struggle with the “five weeks” aspect. Either there are important details missing, he never truly considered himself in genuine distress, or the situation wasn’t quite what it’s being portrayed as.

It’s also entirely possible he was simply drifting around for a few days and later constructed a more dramatic explanation when questioned.

The substance-use speculation may not be entirely misplaced either, simply because the story as presented is unusually odd and inconsistent.

Being in a distressed episode you can't think logically and we should not judge about him unless we would accept his special mental health problems. Or short: Don't beat him but help

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

Explain, please. And the connection to the German guy is....?

Chances are he came here on the 90-day. Sheer torture having to endure hardship for longer.

in case you haven't noticed, reverting to 30-days VE is being heralded as the cure for all that ails Thailand when it comes to foreign visitors.

10 minutes ago, Kandinski said:

Out of curiosity; do you know the specific operating instructions any embassy most adhere to and their definitions of emergency?

Broadly speaking, embassies and consulates operate under fairly strict consular protocols set by their home government and international conventions such as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

But “emergency” in consular language is usually much narrower than what we the public imagine (I've higlighted in bold the factors which may impact assistance in this german lads situation).

An embassy might generally prioritise:

- Arrests/detention.

- Death or serious injury.

- Hospitalisation.

- Missing persons.

- Terrorism/conflict evacuation (utterly useless in my personal experience !)

- Lost or stolen passports,

- Victims of serious crime.

- Child welfare cases.

- Situations where a citizen is genuinely unable to safely function independently.

What embassies usually do not consider an emergency:

- Running out of spending money,

- Missing flights.

- Hotel disputes.

- Relationship problems.

- Minor overstays.

- PPP (pish poor (travel) planning.

Embassies are also constrained by:

- Local law.

- Staffing & budgets.

- Political priorities.

- The fact they cannot simply override another country’s legal system.

In practical terms, consular staff often work on a triage basis:

- Is the person physically safe?

- Are they medically stable?

- Can they still communicate?

- Do they have access to money/support?

- Are they capable of helping themselves?

If the answer to several of those becomes “no”, the level of assistance usually escalates.

Even then, “assistance” often means coordination rather than rescue:

- Issuing emergency documents,

- Contacting family,

- Helping arrange fund transfers,

- Providing lists of lawyers/hospitals,

- Helping organise evacuation routes.

People often imagine embassies as a kind of overseas safety net with unlimited powers.

In reality, they’re primarily diplomatic / state institutions with a limited consular support function attached.

Sorry if redundant - I didn't read every post - but surely he would approach the police and explain he'd been robbed and he has no funds for anything. He could then have taken the police to his hotel, retrieved his passport (or at least the hotel copy of it), and the regular police would contact the Tourist Police who would liaise with immigration and the German Consular office at the Embassy right? Didn't he even contact the police??

8 minutes ago, D Peter said:

Being in a distressed episode you can't think logically and we should not judge about him unless we would accept his special mental health problems. Or short: Don't beat him but help

100% agree - I commented on this aspect earlier on in the thread....

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

People often imagine embassies as a kind of overseas safety net with unlimited powers.

In reality, they’re primarily diplomatic / state institutions with a limited consular support function attached.

Yes having known a couple of Consular Managers in Bangkok, they explained they are the 'expenditure side of the Embassy'. Like you say, the Embassy is really here for diplomatic and trade purposes (the revenue side of the house). Still the guy's story itself has lots of holes as others have pointed out.

This guy if serious should go to Pattaya North Road. Just where the Naklua Road baht bus does a U turn at the rear of Terminal 21 there's a German Austrian Consulate there. The may not be able to help him but they should be able to instruct him on how to get himself out of his predicament. There's always the chance that he was begging as his outfit doesn't fit a person down on his luck.

He needs to be moved creative?

A friend I know have phones here and home but traveling carries none . He is as they label ding dong.

His master plan whenever he arrives at airport he goes up to someone tells them he lost his phone in transit. It works calls us says he is here and where standing.

He being German this should be their problem call 1800 NATO!

Germany has a consul office in Pattaya

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

100% agree - I commented on this aspect earlier on in the thread....

Indeed- a sadly large number of comments showing little or no empathy- I am assuming that his story is true- and we currently have no evidence really to the contrary- in which event he needs help- not a kick when he is down

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Chances are he came here on the 90-day. Sheer torture having to endure hardship for longer.

in case you haven't noticed, reverting to 30-days VE is being heralded as the cure for all that ails Thailand when it comes to foreign visitors.

Yawn, too far stretched to me, sorry

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

His posting history makes it abundantly evident that ship already sailed.....

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

How to you manage that through the myopic optics of unhinged bias ?

Both above, according to you, which means absolutely nothing to me. You´re totally insignificant.

3 hours ago, Kandinski said:

I see, you dont have plans to visit Thailand😮‍💨

Nah you see nothing at all, as I have been living here 28 years.

2 hours ago, Mentors65 said:

Germany has a consul office in Pattaya

in Bang Lamung (Honorary Consulate)

3 hours ago, D Peter said:

I hope you will not come in need for psychological help and support. Honestly!

No, that will never happen. Why would it? I don´t panic, I don´t get distressed and depressed or any other thing. If something happens, sure I can get sad, angry or have any other normal reaction, but I am also always able to see the facts and what I need to do to fix or get past something.

2 hours ago, Mentors65 said:

Germany has a consul office in Pattaya

Yeah, there we have it. See how easy it could have been. Unfortunately, the guy couldn´t go there as there is probably no more money, and that´s what makes him distressed.

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

What embassies usually do not consider an emergency:

- Running out of spending money,

- Missing flights.

- Hotel disputes.

- Relationship problems.

- Minor overstays.

- PPP (pish poor (travel) planning.

Oh dear, you know nothing! If you lose connection with your accounts and are unable to transfer money to support yourself, embassies help with transfer of money from your own account or help to get in touch with your family, friends or relatives so they can help and send money.

10 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

His appearance suggests that he has not been living on a beach for five weeks. Also no mention of him being smelly? He would be after five days without showering.

His appearance just doesn’t back up his story of him being on the beach for five weeks.

If I had to sleep on the beach, I would NOT be smelly. There are showers, there are toilets. Some people might give me a sandwich or a bottle of water ( that’s what I do when I see Thai people begging , handicapped , or in an awful state) ,some maybe 10 baht or so. Thai are mostly kind. This man has probably had a shock or mental illness. He needs help. If I was there I would offer to call someone abroad , or the embassy , but Im sure the police will do that .I hope.

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Broadly speaking, embassies and consulates operate under fairly strict consular protocols set by their home government and international conventions such as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

But “emergency” in consular language is usually much narrower than what we the public imagine (I've higlighted in bold the factors which may impact assistance in this german lads situation).

An embassy might generally prioritise:

- Arrests/detention.

- Death or serious injury.

- Hospitalisation.

- Missing persons.

- Terrorism/conflict evacuation (utterly useless in my personal experience !)

- Lost or stolen passports,

- Victims of serious crime.

- Child welfare cases.

- Situations where a citizen is genuinely unable to safely function independently.

What embassies usually do not consider an emergency:

- Running out of spending money,

- Missing flights.

- Hotel disputes.

- Relationship problems.

- Minor overstays.

- PPP (pish poor (travel) planning.

Embassies are also constrained by:

- Local law.

- Staffing & budgets.

- Political priorities.

- The fact they cannot simply override another country’s legal system.

In practical terms, consular staff often work on a triage basis:

- Is the person physically safe?

- Are they medically stable?

- Can they still communicate?

- Do they have access to money/support?

- Are they capable of helping themselves?

If the answer to several of those becomes “no”, the level of assistance usually escalates.

Even then, “assistance” often means coordination rather than rescue:

- Issuing emergency documents,

- Contacting family,

- Helping arrange fund transfers,

- Providing lists of lawyers/hospitals,

- Helping organise evacuation routes.

People often imagine embassies as a kind of overseas safety net with unlimited powers.

In reality, they’re primarily diplomatic / state institutions with a limited consular support function attached.

Hi, would his embassy contact his family for him , that is IF he has a family ? Could the Embassy find out from his home town and name ? Surely the Thai police could set the ball rolling. They did for that old man who had been neglected by his Thai family. They were marvelous.

30 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

His posting history makes it abundantly evident that ship already sailed.....

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

How to you manage that through the myopic optics of unhinged bias ?

Both above, according to you, which means absolutely nothing to me. You´re totally insignificant.

A textbook case of performative indifference - apparently I’m so insignificant you felt compelled to rage-type a public announcement just to let me know...

.... You’re coming across as a few meatballs short of an IKEA platter there, Sven.

9 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

All “we” know is what is written and a single photograph. Your hypothesis may be correct, but you don’t know that it is.

IF we knew the whole story, or if the whole story was fully laid out here for us to read, then this encounter with the German on the beach would not be interesting.

Far better to be told only the bare bones of the story so that we can create our own narratives, and speculate about who is at fault, and guess about the moral morass that the German has fallen into.

Then, if the German creates a GoFundMe, more the better for us!!!

23 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

What embassies usually do not consider an emergency:

- Running out of spending money,

- Missing flights.

- Hotel disputes.

- Relationship problems.

- Minor overstays.

- PPP (pish poor (travel) planning.

Oh dear, you know nothing! If you lose connection with your accounts and are unable to transfer money to support yourself, embassies help with transfer of money from your own account or help to get in touch with your family, friends or relatives so they can help and send money.

All as part of the context of where and when an embassy might assist...

... Running out of money - in this context means having no access to money.....

But... keep this up - You’re about one Allen key away from complete collapse and its an amusing watch.

5 minutes ago, geisha said:

Hi, would his embassy contact his family for him , that is IF he has a family ? Could the Embassy find out from his home town and name ? Surely the Thai police could set the ball rolling. They did for that old man who had been neglected by his Thai family. They were marvelous.

I'm sure they would - IF he approached the Embassy in the first place... even better if he approached with a Police report - which is why his story of staying five weeks on a beach seems rather questionable.

I'd also assume that the Thai Police looked far more sympathetically at a neglected old man, than a young foreigner stuck in a situation he 'could' theoretically take steps to get himself out of.

As others have alluded to - perhaps there are other issues going on we are not aware of.

41 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

3 hours ago, D Peter said:

I hope you will not come in need for psychological help and support. Honestly!

No, that will never happen. Why would it? I don´t panic, I don´t get distressed and depressed or any other thing. If something happens, sure I can get sad, angry or have any other normal reaction, but I am also always able to see the facts and what I need to do to fix or get past something.

According to David Eberhard, that reads less like confidence and more like a Volvo brochure written by a man suppressing a nervous breakdown while peeing himself with excitement every time he has a chance to display his anger on the internet...

25 minutes ago, geisha said:

If I had to sleep on the beach, I would NOT be smelly. There are showers, there are toilets. Some people might give me a sandwich or a bottle of water ( that’s what I do when I see Thai people begging , handicapped , or in an awful state) ,some maybe 10 baht or so. Thai are mostly kind. This man has probably had a shock or mental illness. He needs help. If I was there I would offer to call someone abroad , or the embassy , but Im sure the police will do that .I hope.

I don’t know that particular beach. So can’t say whether there are public showers and toilets that he could have used.

If there are and he has maintained his personal hygiene, it suggests to me that he is in not quite the desperate state that has been suggested might be the case. He is able to reason, think logically and work out how to sustain himself, albeit in a weakened state.

Which begs the question of why he is unable to work out how to seek help from the various avenues open to him.

You say that if you were there you would offer to help, make phone calls etc. I’m sure many would. Which exactly proves the point that I and some others have made. Why hasn’t he sought help. From “official” sources, from commercial sources (banks, hotel, insurance etc or from private individuals such as yourself?

So if not incapacitated by mental illness, which his ability to look after his personal hygiene suggests is not the case, why not seek help?

This could be the German version of Go Fund Me.

18 minutes ago, Rams86 said:

This could be the German version of Go Fund Me.

Coming to a forum near you soon!

3 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

Nah you see nothing at all, as I have been living here 28 years.

WHAT!!!😳 will say the risk is very real then😋

7 minutes ago, Kandinski said:

WHAT!!!😳 will say the risk is very real then😋

How do you figure? Please give us your expert conclusion now!

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

According to David Eberhard, that reads less like confidence and more like a Volvo brochure written by a man suppressing a nervous breakdown while peeing himself with excitement every time he has a chance to display his anger on the internet...

Did you have something to say?