Many years ago a friend of mine was kidnapped and held for ransom outside Bangkok. After a gun battle between police and the bad guys, in which one was killed, she narrowly escaped with her life. As soon as it appeared in the local newspapers she was deluged with letters and phone calls from people all over Thailand asking for money and relating their own various sob stories.

Apparently, the thinking of these people is that if someone has just had the great good fortune to escape death, they will be disposed to thamboon by giving money to anyone with a sad story. There's no way of knowing whether all the stories were true or not, but it seems pretty exploitative to me. I know that when a Thai wins the lottery all kinds of distant relatives will come out of the woodwork wanting a cut, but has anyone ever heard of anything like this?

The same thing happens to lottery winners, the famous and the rich in England. Sorry to disagree but I have found the Thai people to be the most generous and giving I have ever known.

Thamboon always seems to involve shelling out money. The bigger the wack, the bigger the benefit you are meant to get.

The same thing happens to lottery winners, the famous and the rich in England. Sorry to disagree but I have found the Thai people to be the most generous and giving I have ever known.

Exactly! I'm not saying Thais aren't generous. In fact I think it's because they are that this kind of thing happens. But it seems particularly cynical to go after someone who is feeling traumatized and vulnerable.

Tamboon has absolutely nothing to do with selfishness and is actually the exact opposite to begging and bribery. Expecting benefit for the own sake may it be by the giving or the receiving party perverts the entire meaning and hence is absolutely senseless.