Ih8farang

[chonabot]

I've noticed an anti farang sentiment for a while amongst the threads, doesn't bother me, if the argument is sound , fair enough.

But I noticed today , a new member  " IH8FARANG"

he lists in his hobbies " Destroying farang"

if this was someone saying "IH8THAI" how long before he was censored.

Personally I can't wait to hear the cockpieces opening post...

[markt]

Chon,  "IH8FARANG" is most probably one of the following....

Ordinary Thai Joe whose g/f works in a bar,

Member of Thai rak Thai party,

Farang backpacker who longs for the real Thailand... down Kao San rd.

Pattaya baht bus driver.

Japanese "business" man.

[chonabot]

I'll hold him , while you throttle him !

[GlenTuk]

hobbies " Destroying farang"

That's a bit of a harsh interest...

Surely it's someone taking the p$@s !! If not i tok long with Chonabot & will be interested in this members debut post !!  ???    

[markt]

Lets hope he's not a big bloke.  

[chonabot]

His Dad probably kicked him off the PC...for wearing his sisters dress

[markt]

His Dad probably kicked him off the PC...for wearing his sisters dress

I hope then that dress was made in Thailand.

[GlenTuk]

His Dad probably kicked him off the PC...for wearing his sisters dress

:laugh:   :laugh:  

???

good one.

[parryhandy]

shouldnt be allowed to post.

just imagine if one of us put

interests - shagging as many women in thailand as i can.we would  be slaughtered by the thai apologists.or destroying thais.

there are also people in the south who do just want to do just that so please moderators do not allow idiots like this to post unless there is an apology first.

[KenUdon]

shouldnt be allowed to post.

just imagine if one of us put

interests - shagging as many women in thailand as i can.we would  be slaughtered by the thai apologists.or destroying thais.

there are also people in the south who do just want to do just that so please moderators do not allow idiots like this to post unless there is an apology first.

I will go even further to say that the mods should not allow NAMES like that to be used. It is very inflammatory.

[tutsiwarrior]

Well...you know...people are entitled to not like falangs...probably has to do with never having tasted a cheeseburger...

on the other hand it may have been a backpacker like markt suggested that got his dreads in a tangle while checking his email and cursed falang technology...

or maybe there was a falang from another planet...

[Rambutan]

...on the other hand it may have been a backpacker

Would like to know why there is always such resentment against backpackers on this board?

[chonabot]

IH8BACKPACKERS , hmmm maybe thats what he meant?

[Rinrada]

Maybe the chappie (assume) just dislikes the fact that some negative fellows-nee natives of LOS address him for whatever obscure etc. as a "farang-fellang-faranchi-fee-lan-filelang-fulang-forlang or what ever?

He is probabally just a bit "miffed".

After all who wants to be called -gook-kipper-drongo-spud-pikee etc.just stick to Thai-Nat or Non Thai-Nat.an thats-tat-tit..

PC-100mega bit.  

[tutsiwarrior]

Yeah, Mr Rambut (sama sama rambut saya)...I hear what you're saying. It's just that backpackers wear funny clothes and don't smell too good. Also don't contribute too much to the local economy.

How to define a backpacker? Someone that you happen to meet in a remote place and tries to convince you that he/she has been in a place with much more hardship and never had to spend money on food. They are harmless...but verbal, thanks to the internet and this website. Thankfully, after their world tour they will rejoin their upper middle-class associates and become personal injury attorneys back in the US and will forget about SE Asia, Timbuktu (yes indeed...stories of Timbuktu!!) and the rest.

Ain't nothing wrong with backpackers...just so long as they stay on the Khao San Road and away from legitimate types that have chosen to be expatriates full time...accepting the consequences...

cheers

[markt]

How to define a backpacker? Someone that you happen to meet in a remote place and tries to convince you that he/she has been in a place with much more hardship and never had to spend money on food. They are harmless...but verbal, thanks to the internet and this website. Thankfully, after their world tour they will rejoin their upper middle-class associates and become personal injury attorneys back in the US and will forget about SE Asia, Timbuktu (yes indeed...stories of Timbuktu!!) and the rest.

cheers

Top man!

[plachon]

Yeah, Mr Rambut (sama sama rambut saya)...I hear what you're saying. It's just that backpackers wear funny clothes and don't smell too good. Also don't contribute too much to the local economy.

How to define a backpacker? Someone that you happen to meet in a remote place and tries to convince you that he/she has been in a place with much more hardship and never had to spend money on food. They are harmless...but verbal, thanks to the internet and this website. Thankfully, after their world tour they will rejoin their upper middle-class associates and become personal injury attorneys back in the US and will forget about SE Asia, Timbuktu (yes indeed...stories of Timbuktu!!) and the rest.

Ain't nothing wrong with backpackers...just so long as they stay on the Khao San Road and away from legitimate types that have chosen to be expatriates full time...accepting the consequences...

cheers

That's a bit harsh ain't it Tutsi? Were you never young, adventurous and strapped for a dollar/quid or two? And that bit about not contributing to the local economy is absolute <deleted>, if you pardon my VIZ-speak. (You're probably too old to know about VIZ, so go ask your nearest Brit neighbour under the age of 35). Because B'pers do get out to the sticks and frequent small local shops/eateries/guest houses etc. they contribute far more to local economies than your average package grockle and infinite times more than your business traveller, most of whose $$$$$ end back up in the West. And during their grand world tour, they spend at least as much, and usually a whole lot more than the said grockles who spend two weeks getting lobster red on Jomtien beach and eating their cheesebugers (bleeeaaaugghhhh!) at Macdonald's.

PS. Who sez farangs don't like pla ra ? - it's just yellow, comes out a cow's tits and stinks even worse.

[TizMe]

Australia recognises the "Value" that backpackers add to the economy.

From the Sydney Morning Herald.

Backpackers are pests and a drain on our economy, some argue, but research suggests they contribute more than "traditional" tourists - and are a boon for regional Australia.  

Drunk. Rude. Penny-pinching. Work-shy. Bad for the environment. And oblivious to the feelings of those forced to live near them. Ah, we must be talking about backpackers. In recent months, "the backpacker issue" has become headline news from Sydney to Cairns.

In Coogee, Manly and Byron Bay residents have been asking, has tourism gone too far. Are these armies of young travellers more trouble than they're worth? How much longer do we have to put up with their behaviour? To many, the trouble with (mainly British) backpackers is the one which the British faced when US servicemen flooded into London in World War II: they're overpaid, oversexed and over here.

Such sentiments are voiced regularly by the correspondents of the monthly community paper Bondi View. What angers them are the number of "illegal" (actually "unlicensed") hostels and the problems they cause: overcrowding, loud parties, rubbish dumped in the streets, occasional fights, disruption of sleep. Some residents became so frustrated that they launched the Bondi Noise Action Group. In Byron Bay, exasperated locals met to examine how to control the worst excesses of backpacker behaviour.

All of which has the Australian backpacker industry - the 8000 men and women who make a living out of housing, feeding and transporting the estimated 400,000 backpackers who visit each year - crying foul. Yes, they say, the actions of a small minority are reprehensible (though no worse than some cricket fans at the SCG). But let's remember it's the fastest growing segment of the inbound tourism market. That the average backpacker on a working visa spends about $8000 (compared with $3766 for the average tourist who stays in a hotel). That unlike tourists who stay in the five-star hotels and eat at the top restaurants, they haven't been deterred from coming by September 11 - indeed, more might have come because Australia is seen as safer than countries such as India or Pakistan.

Backpacker operators also say most backpackers are well behaved, eager to explore our country, and they spread their money, not just to dive operators, bus companies and rafting specialists, but to shops where they buy groceries, petrol stations where they fill their campervans, and pubs where they drink their beers. In short, they believe the blame for "the backpacker problem" might lay not with these travellers but with us - for failing to properly manage a growth industry with huge potential.

"At least three generations of Australians have made a lively contribution to Earls Court in London, otherwise known as Kangaroo Valley," says Julian Ledger, chief executive of YHA NSW and a leading figure in the state branch of the Backpackers Operators Association. "In one respect, what is happening now is that we are seeing the reverse - young people from other countries discovering Australia." He says that although we attract 5 million tourists a year, "by world standards we're minnows. France gets 57 million - the French can't stand most of them."

Ledger is from England's Lake District "which gets 14 million visitors a year, in an area that is only 40 miles square. So the idea that we cannot accommodate 400,000 backpackers is unrealistic."

But what is "a backpacker"? The Australian Bureau of Statistics, which came up with the 400,000 figure, uses a verifiable definition - someone who stays at least one night in a budget hostel.

Many in the industry think that is too narrow. Ledger says: "Being a backpacker means having a flexible itinerary, being interested in meeting strangers, using inexpensive accommodation, and having an orientation to do outdoor and adventure activities." So age isn't necessarily a criterion.

Though the British and Irish are the largest and most visible nationalities, Canadians, Japanese, Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians figure prominently. Backpackers to Australia fall into two groups - those on a three-month tourist visa who tend to spend much less time in the major cities (they're too expensive), and those with a one-year working visa which entitles them to work up to three months for any one employer. They're the ones we see because they're more likely to base themselves in the city - usually Sydney, because it is the entry point for 80 per cent of them and has the best job prospects.

Though working visas used to be restricted to the British, Irish and Canadians, Japan, Korea, Germany and the Scandinavian countries have signed reciprocal arrangements allowing young Australians to work in their countries in return for backpackers coming here. (Australians are allowed to work for two years in Britain, though the Blair Government wants to drop it to a year in line with what the British are entitled to here.) The other major change is that Australia has raised the age limit to 30 for working visa applicants.

Alan Collingwood runs Travellers Contact Point, a one-stop service centre for arriving backpackers. He says that although backpackers think of themselves as independent free spirits, they follow well-worn paths. For someone holding a working visa, a typical pattern is to work in Sydney for three months, travel for three months, then "if there's time" (the average time a working visa holder stays is eight months), come back to Sydney to get enough money for the next leg of their journey, usually via New Zealand or Asia.

Collingwood's company finds them jobs: "At certain times of the year if it wasn't for backpackers a number of Sydney's bars and restaurants wouldn't be able to operate." Aren't they taking jobs away from Australians? "They're not usually jobs Australians want. And keep in mind that roughly the same number of Australians are away on working holidays in the UK."

Since the age limit was raised, older backpackers with qualifications in IT or other professions have arrived, some earning up to $50 an hour. "Those people wouldn't see themselves as backpackers," says Collingwood. He's had clients who have rented apartments in some of Sydney's most desirable locations, such as the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo. "They can afford to rent somewhere for $500-$600 a week, which doesn't seem much compared to what they might be paying in London."

The benefit to Australia, says Collingwood, is that unlike tourists who stay at four- or five-star hotels, backpackers tend to spread their money around regional Australia. He recalls the story of three properties near Tamworth which were each running schools for "jackeroos and jilleroos". "They didn't speak to each other because they thought they were in competition. But we did a roadshow up there and they realised they had significant differences which meant they were complementary." Now they attract a number of backpackers looking for the outback experience.

Ledger agrees: "The tourism industry is trying to encourage backpackers to see other parts of Australia, but it can only happen with the support of the local communities. It's up to them to be proactive and to realise that whereas an Australian might think seeing a sheep being shorn is the most boring thing in the world, a young Japanese backpacker who hadn't really understood where wool comes from might find it fascinating."

Oz Experience, one of the specialist bus companies which has grown up to serve the backpacker migration, runs a "jump on, jump off" service. A ticket from Sydney to Cairns costs $350. Backpackers can do the journey in nine days or three months. Debbie Matthewson, the general manager, says backpackers get guided tours to sheep stations, goldmining towns and other aspects of "Australiana" on the way. Business is so good, the company expects to transport 40,000 customers this year and has just committed $2.8 million on nine new coaches.

Gregor Macaulay, the managing director of Student Uni Travel, believes the benefit from backpackers will come if they can be persuaded to venture further than the east coast corridor. His company has seen a sharp rise in the number travelling to Western Australia, particularly Scandinavians and Dutch. Perth has become the third-highest arrival destination, replacing Darwin, which has suffered because backpackers are no longer so willing to travel through Indonesia. He says backpackers "travel slowly, consume at a local level, and stay a long time - which means their tourist dollar goes back into the community". Why, then, do they have such a bad reputation? "For the same reason young Australians have a bad reputation in London. They tend to party pretty hard, they're noisy, irreverent, and they are doing things many of us would like to be doing ourselves."

The onus, says Ledger, is for governments and councils to recognise the worth of backpackers and to become more proactive. "It's a management issue. There are planning issues which local authorities have to overcome." He points to Waverley and Randwick councils as taking a responsible stance.

The Mayor of Waverley, Paul Pearce, admits councils have buried their heads in their beaches. "For too long we've had people who wanted to erect a barricade across Bondi Road with a sign saying 'Piss Off'." Now his council is working with its neighbour, Randwick, on two levels. First, by using the Land and Environment Court to force the closure of the unlicensed hostels. Second, by working out a long-term strategy which recognises that backpackers are not going to go away - for example, examining whether planning regulations could be used to encourage backpacker facilities to move away from residential areas to Bondi Junction, with its transport, entertainment and employment links.

If the right formula can be found, the benefits could be tremendous. As Collingwood says: "A high proportion of backpackers are very highly educated. If we get it right, they'll come back to Australia again, with more money, when they're older."

[tutsiwarrior]

aw right, aw right...I stand corrected...backpackers are God's gift to the tourism industry. I just don't like their superior attitude and ridiculous stories of Timbuktu.

plachon...I was a backpacker...I used to wander around the Pacific NW in the US and in Canada during Summer holidays looking for work as a logger or sawmill worker. I was studying US labor history at the time and liked to imagine myself as the modern day version of the IWW bindle stiffs of the early 1900s. To the cops in the little towns I used to pass though and to the locals I was a bum and told to get out quick or either be stomped by drunken thugs or end up in jail...when all I was doing was trying to find a job for the Summer. I always managed to find work but when I contrast my experiences to the present variety I get a bit pissed off. My problem, I guess...

Also, you can get an excellent cheeseburger at the Beach Surf Hotel Restaurant in Jomtien...no one ever said that MacF**kups has a monopoly.

TizMe...that was a good article that you copied and I will certainly keep it in mind...

suitably humbled and repentant...OK???

"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night

alive like you and me..."

Joe Hill, the ultimate radical/anarchist backpacker...

[chonabot]

I used to enjoy telling backpackers how much I paid for a room , see their eyes roll, they would claim to have paid a third of that amount, even if I quoted 100 baht for a night, or whatever the currency was at the time.

Later on me my mates would lord it up with whoever ( local lasses perhaps ) drink the finest ales, eat the most expensive fare  , looking on would be the backpackers ( we called the Travel-lors , dunno why ) , looking miserable , counting their few satang/rupee/ripiah/cent/bogies/moths)

Bless

[markt]

The backpacker mentality seems to revolve around one-upmanship.   If one has been somewhere then the other one has to have been somewhere more obscure/less touristy.   They like to brag about how little they pay for accom.   There is a seniority culture.  The most senior being the one who has stayed in Peru the longest.

[plachon]

(FTR) For the record, I was a dirty, smelly, hairy (add your prejudice here....) b'packer for 6 months round SE Asia about 8 years ago. Got my shoes pinched in Penang; my knackers nibbled by a cockroach (pretty accurate name!) in a sweaty "hotel" in Sumatra; died of boredom in Singapore; backtracked up the HCM Trail in Vietnam; mellowed out big time in Laos; survived a full moon-cum-Xmas party on Koh Phangan; and met my wife-to-be in Isaan. Best holiday I ever had, so ........... UP YOURS!, you small-minded,  anti backpacker brigade and crawl back into your Holiday Inns and Sofitels.    :cool:

[markt]

crawl back into your Holiday Inns and Sofitels.    :cool:

Ugh!  Cannot stand those type of places.  Gimme a cheep Chinese G/H anyday.    

[chonabot]

..

[Spellbound]

Ugh!  Cannot stand those type of places.  Gimme a cheep Chinese G/H anyday.

G/H    is this the term for   GAY HOLIDAY  hahahaha

[chonabot]

Judging by your frock , you would be the one to know....

[tutsiwarrior]

Gentlemen, gentlemen...let's not get carried away...hairy, smelly backpacker or fat complacent falang "Are we not men?" Thailand is looking more and more like the Island of Dr Moreau.

plachon , you know I respect you but no backpacker could ever afford Singapore...much less be allowed to get through immigration...the smell and appearance alone would merit 10 lashes if found on the street.

I love the reference to Peru. I lived in Bolivia (even more remote) for 2 years in the mid 60s but I never mentioned this in backpacker company for fear of what they would offer as a riposte...(oh dear, oneupmanship again...)

There have only been ex-backpacker contributions to this thread...any comment from the Khao San Road? C'mon, folks...get the dreads out of your eyes and put down the patchouli oil...give the crusty permanent expats what for...

[chonabot]

I spent 10 years on the back of a sea Iguana in the Galapagos....#### I can't even spell it , ok it was on the back of a packet of crisps off the Isles of Sheppey.....

[markt]

G/H    is this the term for   GAY HOLIDAY  hahahaha

No, it stands for...Go Home.  los.

[plachon]

cock off plachon !, I went to those places and more, also stayed at flea pits, for more than 6 months ,just didn't adopt the superiority attitude.......blow a goat or something...in a backpacker stylee.

Hang on , maybe you were one of the fudgepackers I gave a slapping to ? , sorry........

Lake Toba ring any bells?

All tongue in cheek of course

Yeah, Chon. Lake Toba, chicken samosa island - remember you well. You were the long-haired layabout tripping on those magic 'shroom omelettes, muttering something about trying to get to the other side of the Swale on a packet of crisps, right? Not in a fit state to give a turtle a slapping if my memoery serves me right. Mind you, those omelettes were good and it was a long time ago...................

ps Tutsi, FYI, Singapore is the place that the guru of SEAsian b/pers - one Joe Cummings - wrote his Round SE Asia on a Shoestring Bible for LP Books. He's now so well-off it's probably a diamond-studded shoestring, so wonder if he still slums it in KS Road with the rest?