What exactly is a falang "bum"

[taxexile]

There has been a lot of talk lately about a certain kind of falang living in thailand,no exact description is given,but they are referred to as undesirables or bums, the type of falang that the thais would like to see the back of,the type of falang that gives falangs a bad name,the sort of falang who we wouldnt want boning our sisters.

What exactly is a "bum",is it a character trait,a lifestyle choice,or an attitude?

Can they be spotted by their choice of clothing,their spending habits or by the company they keep?

And what is so bad about these people that we all want to see the back of them? are they enjoying themselves too much? are they the sort of people we would like to be if only we had the balls to break out of our constricted lives?

So come on all you lowlifes out there,what have you got that no board member would admit to having,and why are we always slagging you off????????????

[markt]

Hi Tax,

Some years back there was a Brit who "lived" in Pattaya.  Survived would be a better word.

At first he worked the bars, he was good at it actually as he was a laid back type who got on with everyone.  

Then a new owner would take over and not require him.

He would go through this cycle of hired and fired.

When he worked at a bar he would prefer to live above it  in a room.  Some of those rooms were s**t  holes.   One i saw never even had a window.  The smell!  

As his earnings were small he would need to go to the bank to withdraw money.  Because of this he used to cut back on certain things like soap, shampoo, toothpaste.  Ugh.

Same bloody clothes all week too.  

He would sniff around holiday makers and make it known that he would take them to the best places...if they would buy him beer.  

He was a bum.

I think i saw him riding a rickshaw in London's west end last week!

[chonabot]

Mark  , have you started using toothpaste again mate?

[markt]

Jeepers!  It does sound rather autobiographical.  

Is that a real word ?

[SeaVisionBurma]

Jeepers!  It does sound rather autobiographical.  

Is that a real word ?

Autobiographical, or Jeepers?

Not sure about autobiographical, but I know for sure Jeepers is a real word...

:laugh:

[phazey]

props to markt for using the longest word of the day (and it's so late, my head hurt just reading it

./P

[markt]

Cheers Phazey,

A countdown appearence is due, methinks...

[MaiChai]

Well we could resurrect the farang kee-nok topic again. You know foreigner bird sh!t, or bird that flits around (kee meaning excrement or a descriptive word to describe people, nee nok, nee neow, kee mohho, kee giat). Otherwise known as long haired hippy backpackers who don't bathe.

[tutsiwarrior]

oh dear...the backpacker issue is with us again...

[Heng]

There has been a lot of talk lately about a certain kind of falang living in thailand,no exact description is given,but they are referred to as undesirables or bums, the type of falang that the thais would like to see the back of,the type of falang that gives falangs a bad name,the sort of falang who we wouldnt want boning our sisters.

What exactly is a "bum",is it a character trait,a lifestyle choice,or an attitude?

Can they be spotted by their choice of clothing,their spending habits or by the company they keep?

And what is so bad about these people that we all want to see the back of them? are they enjoying themselves too much? are they the sort of people we would like to be if only we had the balls to break out of our constricted lives?

So come on all you lowlifes out there,what have you got that no board member would admit to having,and why are we always slagging you off????????????

I think the main trait is lack of steady income in occupations where they would be considered "necessary workers."

English "teacher?"   Bar "owner?"   "stockbroker?"   "No Blauschein!"      

:cool:

[Khun ?]

It is the same under acheiver from back home you try to vacation away from. The same person in Thailand that played

the farang card with the locals, you know the one you  meet

that is the authority type on everything on the cheap way to do everything. The one that his first consideration on everything is how cheap can they do or get it for regardless

of the quality lost doing so.

 The same person that will run around flashing the 15 or 20,000

baht around to the locals for pure showmanship but when it comes to a couple nice meals and nights out with the home folk never has the money to do so or he hangs around until it is getting close to his turn to buy the next round and guess who disappears for an hour or so who meets you at the next stop but avoids making good on the next round.

The foreigner who is just a plain old cheap charlie everything has to be cheap or nothing at all.

The fellow countryman that scammed a pension out of the government or company back home who shows up living in Thailand because the conditions are better for him/her. You know the one who has no problem partying it up and shagging anything that moves but could not make it the honest way back home.

The guy that has saved his 10,000 Lbs back home and is now going to live in a foreign country for a few to many years.

The same person that has started the new family, that cannot survive without them, who now has picked up the local job that pays what a high school kid back home makes.

You know the person who says if I am going to fail I might as well fail here in Thailand and stink the place up for everyone else.

The loud mouth that cannot talk without letting everyone within 50 meters of them know what they have to say.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

There are quite a few of them Khun, and if something goes wrong, they don't have a penny to fall back on.

[samuisam]

IMHO, they will start with the 'undesirable' falangs and finish up seizing the assets of all falangs and falang businesses.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Now that really is drawing a long long bow.

[Khun ?]

Now that really is drawing a long long bow.

Doc P

I agree. I have not seen so many irresponsible people in

the several years I have worked in foreign countries, forget about the nightlife and whatever else just plain principals.

It use to be for the most part overseas workers who done

very well on their wages (oil workers most common) who started the Thailand home steading.

They would start a bar or Guesthouse for something to do

later in life while maintaining their employment. They never had much intentions of making a living from it. A couple months pay and you had a place you could hang your hat and call home while in town.

The 90's started and boy has things changed. It is now about the #1 place for any westerner who needs or wants to live cheap.

 One thing that should of been instilled in most of us from our up bringing is without hardwork (using your brains) things were not going to get easier in life.

It takes the average person in the western world to just get to a point where they have set plans, a decent start on savings and a exit plan in view from work some day 15 to 20 years.

Since the internet bubble, day trading and cellphones, most

have lost the normal process used in determining how to get

to a point in life where you can be comfortable for a long time.

It is all I want what I want now and we will deal with the future when it hits us in the face. ( The visa thing is hitting them now)

100 or 200,000 baht a month job in Thailand 5 years ago may of looked good but unless you  highly have your shit together most likely you will have been replaced by a local soon as any slow down hit the company or a local decided they could do your job (not so much so for a western firm but if it is from the east to include Japan your days are numbered to start with).  

One thing people should think about if they was not on pretty firm ground before they moved to Thailand they can expect for the most part after 10 years in Thailand they will not be in any better shape and most likely worse.

No one wants to work 30 or 40 years of their life and everyone would like to live in the tropics somewhere, someday, but unless you use your brain you are probably not going to be able to do it and most likely will be working well into your 60's if you do try it not starting out right.

Home will always be home so plan to be able to live there if need be. Thats the best future anyone can plan on. If you can do that you have no problems what so ever staying in Thailand for ever.  

The wise man said I will take a singha please for my partner that lives here  and I'll have one of them foreign beers for me.

At this point a finely shaped little vixen planted her self next to me while mamasan started hovering around my partner.

I had to explain to this little goddess i was spoken for, she said thats fine she just wanted to show me some of the local customs.   My mind has never left the place since.

Oh my Bhuda

[chonabot]

You know the person who says if I am going to fail I might as well fail here in Thailand and stink the place up for everyone else.

The loud mouth that cannot talk without letting everyone within 50 meters of them know what they have to say.

Hey! I know a few dozen people who resemble that remark!

[GlenTuk]

Another term favoured by me is : Pikey

Various terms used for a pikey

The type of person who has a mexican shower

Terms used for a mexican shower

[parryhandy]

It is the same under acheiver from back home you try to vacation away from. The same person in Thailand that played

the farang card with the locals, you know the one you  meet

that is the authority type on everything on the cheap way to do everything. The one that his first consideration on everything is how cheap can they do or get it for regardless

of the quality lost doing so.

 The same person that will run around flashing the 15 or 20,000

baht around to the locals for pure showmanship but when it comes to a couple nice meals and nights out with the home folk never has the money to do so or he hangs around until it is getting close to his turn to buy the next round and guess who disappears for an hour or so who meets you at the next stop but avoids making good on the next round.

The foreigner who is just a plain old cheap charlie everything has to be cheap or nothing at all.

The fellow countryman that scammed a pension out of the government or company back home who shows up living in Thailand because the conditions are better for him/her. You know the one who has no problem partying it up and shagging anything that moves but could not make it the honest way back home.

The guy that has saved his 10,000 Lbs back home and is now going to live in a foreign country for a few to many years.

The same person that has started the new family, that cannot survive without them, who now has picked up the local job that pays what a high school kid back home makes.

You know the person who says if I am going to fail I might as well fail here in Thailand and stink the place up for everyone else.

The loud mouth that cannot talk without letting everyone within 50 meters of them know what they have to say.

Plenty of rich people i know have many of the characteristics you describe.......

[jayenram]

In my limited experience, I reckon a "farang bum" is the same as a "thai bum" only a helluva lot fatter.

::

[mrentoul]

No one wants to work 30 or 40 years of their life

I do. People live to work, to manage the next challenge, overcome the next crisis, cope with the next problem. It's the human condition.

If we were happy doing nothing life would be much easier - but most of us are not. Westerners who come here thinking they will be happy doing nothing end up in trouble, because even ''nothing'' costs something; and because they get bored.

[taxexile]

"People live to work,....... It's the human condition. "

not all people live to work.

not all people find their jobs so satisfying that they cant wait for the next challenge or crisis to arrive.

many people are bored and disatisfied with their work.if you are happy in your work,you are a lucky man,and should be grateful that you get so much satisfaction from your work.

i would think that a lot of people live for the day when they have made enough to be able to say "thats it.i'm out of here.now its time to catch up on all those things that i've been promising myself for the past few years."

Westerners who come here thinking they will be happy doing nothing end up in trouble,

i dont follow the logic of that. you can't do "nothing",you have got to be doing something. do you mean all those people not in gainful employment or self-employment are doomed to a life of "trouble"?

plenty of westerners seem to do "nothing",seem quite happy,dont get in anybody elses way and stay out of trouble.

good for them

they are as happy doing "nothing" as some people are working.

if you can be happy doing "nothing" and are self sufficient (i.e. not dependant on hand outs from state or family) then you are as successful as the working man happy facing challenges.

life is about achieving happiness, THAT is the human condition

[Edward B]

Michael,

Perhaps you should do an article on Jai Di. Find out how he became rich, why he chose to live in Thailand, what he does every day etc. etc. You could even include yourself as the contrasting foreigner living in Thailand - two people with almost opposite views on life. I'm not saying one or the other is good or bad, just think it would be nice reading. I'm sure you two would enjoy a drink or three together. Sorry, but I don't exactly know what you do at the BP but I assume you're a journalist.

Cheers...Ed

[easymoney]

Well by Khun's reference then Hemingway, Rembrandt, Bonnet,

and lawerence would be most unwelcome.

Listen I hate to see the patpongs,soi cowboy's and nanna plaza crew but they are run by Thais . The real thing is to close them but at same time close all the shady Thai places and then pass a law to tax Mia noi's now that would stimulate the goverment coffers

[Khun ?]

Well by Khun's reference then Hemingway, Rembrandt, Bonnet,

and lawerence would be most unwelcome.

Listen I hate to see the patpongs,soi cowboy's and nanna plaza crew but they are run by Thais . The real thing is to close them but at same time close all the shady Thai places and then pass a law to tax Mia noi's now that would stimulate the goverment coffers

and. Is this just a short list of famous people that are irratating and undesirable (bums)

[Axel]

You forgot Einstein.

If you want to see a real bum, just ask my mother, she will gladly send you a picture of myself.

Sorry only snail-mail, the present communicaiton means she uses is a protable type writer, 15 lbs weight.

[francois]

well, the same old topic...

who ..etc etc

I have a comtemporary story to tell you, after all everyone has a little one in a corner no?

we,(some expats and other customers) have a bar in town,

Chiang Mai, I won't say it's name(don't ask..), and there for a few years already is living a guy from England, in his fifties,

we are used to see him, he's what we use to call "a nice guy",

but ... he doesn't have a passport anymore, he's living with quite nothing or very close to this, most of the time, staying

in his "room" I should say his "hole", it's so f.&$## small  

he is drinking everyday a couple of beers, and sometime, when some people offer him some more, then he is really pissed.

we all know him so well, that when his buddy died not so long ago, everybody said , it was

like something logical, no one would do so if his buddy is not around anymore, and after all, we know him for years ...

it's simple story, this guy is may be someone Thais would like to see out, but he's here with us and who would say that he's a bum ... even if we see him pissed almost everyday,

staying in his "quarter", in europe or states may be he would be consider this way, but here, he's just another farang, "bababobo", or "kimao" like I heard sometimes.

and so what?

who's here to judge him and a lot of guys like him?

anyone's feeling that for sure these "poor guys" are "so low"?

in my humble opinion, if we think this way, we are walking on a banana skin ...  good fall!  

who can say, I'm better than the others?  ???

aren't we all humans?

sure, like you all, I see a lot of these guys, and for some, since a long time, I have seen them up and down, and by now most of them down, but I'm not here to say I have a better life than them, I just can't stay too long around ...

I've an excuse ... I don't drink ..but htisis me

[mijan24]

I would suggest "markt" has hit the nail on the head or identified the "undesirable" down to a T. In the mid seventies (73-75) Michael Somare moved this element out of PNG, about 7-10 (80-85) years later I noticed possible the exact same person "markt" described (an exPNG  expat) existing in Mabini Manila.  The same undesirable element were subsequently moved on from Manila (by Corey Aquino and company) and strange as it may seem their destination was "yes gentlemen" Bangkok. Heck you may not believe this but unless they have found something thrice as powerful as the big"V" I dont believe they would have the whereabouts to tamper with themselves let alone bother your sister.  

One small comment on the visa issue back at the beginning of the thread I am sure the gent from Chang Mai mentioned they could not communicate (computer) with the big smoke yet there were some thoughts that the outposts were doing just that??

Its like anwhere else its often better to let things ride hence they dont go underground. Somtimes events (Sept11, Bali) stipulate its time to curb and control and have happy APEC - my thoughts only. All critque welcomed!!

Mijan24

[Khun ?]

Everyone has skid row bums but they are normally sent back

home to get the attention they need by their home government. Some stick to themselves and others annoy eveyone around them. They could even be rich, just not

in the same world the rest of us are in. (Story time).

What about the girl that screams at passersby in Bkk, even the vendors, and I have seen a few of them treat her rather rough not because they wanted to. She is definetly is mentally

ill. Made for a good laugh one day when she happen to pick

a friend in our group out for an afternoon of drinks. He could not even calmly rid her away with a 500 baht note. We did not stop so he could handle the situation nor did he but she followed us for a few blocks and he was trying to ignore her as much as he could. It all ended harmlessly and it was a good conversation piece for several hours after. About once an hour we had to ask where his bf went did he want us to look for her.   I would not raise them to the level of a bum this being said.

[mrentoul]

many people are bored and disatisfied with their work.if you are happy in your work,you are a lucky man,and should be grateful that you get so much satisfaction from your work.

Who said I'm happy? I just need to be busy to survive. I haven't been truly happy in any job I've done in at least 10 years - but don't tell the boss!

Perhaps you should do an article on Jai Di. Find out how he became rich, why he chose to live in Thailand, what he does every day etc. etc. Sorry, but I don't exactly know what you do at the BP but I assume you're a journalist.

Those are good ideas, but I suspect it won't happen. I haven't written anything for more than three years...I am not sure I can do it any more. I imagine Jai Di inherited, won a lawsuit, or was involved in an accident. He may well be happy, but it's unlikely he'll tell me or anyone else if he isn't.

To write a piece on someone like that involves a lot of work, pain, and compromises on both sides. This will sound horrible, but I'd need to be sure he was worth it...as he would need to be sure he could trust me, if I was the writer.

Now I just tinker with other people's stuff, to make it more readable.

[rbrb]

It is both alarming and distressing that the "falang bum" syndrome is alive and regrettably flourishing here in Pattaya.

They are the dregs of world society, "losers" of the Western world, and something should be done about them staying here.

It seems that so many parts of Pattaya is being "infested" with these creatures.......they even have their own dress code, namely:

dishevelled worn vest and shorts, flip-flops, sandles.....baseball cap et al.

(the lowest of this breed ornament themselves with gold).

These bums, aka losers, have led generally purposeless lives and come to Pattaya to continue that existence; they can be seen day and night propping themselves up some cheap charlie beer bar. Often they meander aimlessly around shopping malls seeking "free" air-con or hopeing someone will be fool enough to notice them.

Etched into the faces of these bums is a history of a life of abject failure both in their work and relationships; they find like minded losers with other bum falangs...and their low self-esteem is revealed by them attaching themselves to reject  unattractive Issan females.

Surely it is about time the authorities did something to get rid of these losers?

Why must we be infested with these falang cockroaches?

They give the decent foreigner living here a bad name.

Maybe the new Visa rules will be a start to ridding us of these bums.

Lets hope so.