Phuket To Rid Itself Of Beggars And Homeless People

[Dap]

All without viable solutions, and ... life goes on. sigh!

[jerrysteve]

I is hard to believe that anything could remove the tarnished image of Puket or other highly populated areas. Of course the applies to some countries in the west as well.

Getting rid of the beggars and homeless is like getting rid of the hookers on Street ABC Coz they just move on down the road to Street XYZ.

[anon467367354]

Anyone who knows Bangkok will have seen the guy who begs on Sukhumvit with no arms and legs..and who always lies on his stomach even in the most torrential downpour I saw him still begging!Was over at Salendang one day and who do I see..him!!Apparently some of the guys told me he gets picked up in a Mercedes and driven around...

He was known as the inch worm back in the days. Made at least 30,000 baht a month easy

I heard from a very reliable source, and i'm not sure this inchworm guy is the same person, but someone on Sukhumvit crawling from one end to the other made 10,000 baht per day

[softgeorge]

Get rid of the beggers and homeless to improve thier false image but keep the scammers. As a tourist I would rather freely drop 5 baht into a coleection bowl than be scammed out of 30,000 baht for an allegedly damaged jet ski. I think they have thier priorities wrong

Edited February 9, 2012 by softgeorge

[jalansanitwong]

That's a farang baby or luek krung in the photo. Why didnt someone grab the child from her. It wont be hers.These beggars are nothing more than parasites same as European gypo's.

Siam Square used to be a popular place to kidnap rich kids and bundle them into a van. Probably still is but these incidents arent reported all that often.I know a Thai kid whose mothers friend was the wife of a rich steel merchant. She was bundled into the boot of her BMW as she was loading it in broad daylight. Luckily for her they eventually let her go with all appendages still attached to the torso.

[a99az]

slightly off-topic; that poor child in the photo looks decidedly mixed-race, but that's another story...

A sad but real story, and as another poster said, help them with some housing would be the human thing to do.

[cdnski12]

My first year in Thailand I lived in a soi off Khaosan road. One particular beggar was collected every night by taxi, I once watched her counting her takings, it took quite a while.

Most "street" people I have seen, appear to carry cel phones.

[Kananga]

Anyone who knows Bangkok will have seen the guy who begs on Sukhumvit with no arms and legs..and who always lies on his stomach even in the most torrential downpour I saw him still begging!Was over at Salendang one day and who do I see..him!!Apparently some of the guys told me he gets picked up in a Mercedes and driven around...

He was known as the inch worm back in the days. Made at least 30,000 baht a month easy

I heard from a very reliable source, and i'm not sure this inchworm guy is the same person, but someone on Sukhumvit crawling from one end to the other made 10,000 baht per day

I did the 'hypothetical' maths on this one. Lets say for arguments sake he does a 12 hour shift and the average donator gives a 20 baht note. He would require people to drop a fresh 20 baht note into his bowl every 90 seconds for 12 hours straight to reach that figure.

[thaiIand]

Anyone who knows Bangkok will have seen the guy who begs on Sukhumvit with no arms and legs..and who always lies on his stomach even in the most torrential downpour I saw him still begging!Was over at Salendang one day and who do I see..him!!Apparently some of the guys told me he gets picked up in a Mercedes and driven around...

He was known as the inch worm back in the days. Made at least 30,000 baht a month easy

I heard from a very reliable source, and i'm not sure this inchworm guy is the same person, but someone on Sukhumvit crawling from one end to the other made 10,000 baht per day

I did the 'hypothetical' maths on this one. Lets say for arguments sake he does a 12 hour shift and the average donator gives a 20 baht note. He would require people to drop a fresh 20 baht note into his bowl every 90 seconds for 12 hours straight to reach that figure.

Lot of idiot tourist tip their drivers 100-200baht after having been driven 300 meters for 500baht.

Would you be surprised that a lot of tourist idiot on nana drop 100-500baht bills into this guy's hat ?

[LadyinRed]

Does anyone here actually give to beggers? I did occasionally in the fresh market to the old guy with no legs...

[Kananga]

Just out of interest... How do you know that 'lots' of tourists (idiots or otherwise) are driven 300 meters for 500 baht and how much they tip the drivers?

[ableguy]

"Arrested beggars and homeless people who are 18 to 60 years of age will be sent to a shelter in Sichol, Nakhon Si Thammarat to receive training to find another occupation so they don't return to begging. Those under 18 years of age will be returned to their parents with serious reprimands. If they are orphaned, they'll be sent to an orphanage.

Those who are above 60 will be sent to the elderly home while foreign nationals will be taken into custody by the immigration police to be prosecuted and deported. If the homeless or the beggar is mentally-ill or has a contagious disease, the public health office will step in."

....and everyone will live happily ever after, just like the soi dogs in soi dog heaven.

You are so correct I have never read such a pile of rubbish, oh sorry I forgot all about the crackdowns in Bangkok, what they should do is crack down on crackdowns.

[tropo]

On a serious note to those of you with young children, a friend of my wife was in a shopping centre in Bangkok when her 4 year old son was snatched when she wasn't looking. About a year later her son called out to her from the side of the road. She didnt recognise him. He has a shaven head and was missing one of his legs. He was stolen and used for professional begging.

In another incident my niece was at school in Cha Am and went to the toilet at lunch time. When she came back the 3 friends she was having lunch with had been snatched and thrown in a van.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to watch your children at all times and as soon as they are old enough explain the dangers of wandering off, talking to strangers, make them memorise your phone number etc. This happens A LOT in Thailand and it very rarely makes the news.

I heard a story from Kananga (Kananga in the Philippines) where they discovered a child's body minus some internal organs.

Edited February 9, 2012 by tropo

[Valentine]

On a serious note to those of you with young children, a friend of my wife was in a shopping centre in Bangkok when her 4 year old son was snatched when she wasn't looking. About a year later her son called out to her from the side of the road. She didnt recognise him. He has a shaven head and was missing one of his legs. He was stolen and used for professional begging.

In another incident my niece was at school in Cha Am and went to the toilet at lunch time. When she came back the 3 friends she was having lunch with had been snatched and thrown in a van.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to watch your children at all times and as soon as they are old enough explain the dangers of wandering off, talking to strangers, make them memorise your phone number etc. This happens A LOT in Thailand and it very rarely makes the news.

Although this is indeed a sad event, I find it hard to believe that 3 kids were snatched together from a school area and thrown in a van.

This is not a Thailand only misfortune and happens all the time in the west as well, along with run away's that end up victims of human trafficking.

I have no reason to lie and neither does my wife. I can get you the name of the school if you want to make your own enquiries. It's now safe to say that my niece goes to a new school with far better security!

The police apparently caught the gang that was operating in that area but as far as my wife knows they still haven't found the children from the school. If you have kids just look after them and make sure they are not left in a position where they can be taken. Over and out.

When my twin daughters were about 7 or 8 years old we were leaving Tesco in Phuket & one of them was upset I would not let her play some game down near the checkouts. When I got to the car I realized she had not followed. After going back into the store to find her there was a "nice" Thai couple trying to befriend her. Very scary but it was lesson well learned by all of us.

[connda]

Does anyone here actually give to beggers? I did occasionally in the fresh market to the old guy with no legs...

I don't give to beggars, but on occasion I do give to old people who look down and out. In Chiang Mai there is also a girl who has no arms that makes woven "coin banks" with her feet. I usually buy one when I see her.

[HerbalEd]

How does one get rid of homeless people ?

by giving them a home ?

Wow ... what a great idea. Wonder why they don't do this.

[F1fanatic]

Although it's likely to be a flash in the pan, I hope this is something they continue to enforce. More than anything, I really would love to see the kids taken off the street. It drives me mental when these very young kids are running around trying to sell glow sticks or gum at 2am in Pattaya...or lying on a woman's lap pretending to be sick...there's no way that isn't harming them psychologically and developmentally. So if this actually is enforced, it will be a step in the right direction.

In fact, most of the beggars are not beggars or homeless at all, but are instead a very lucrative tool for mafia-connected handlers. There's a guy you often see with no legs pulling himself along on Sukhumvit around Nana. We saw him one night there...then about two hours later in Siam. So either somebody is driving him, or he is the first beggar with the power of flight. It's all a scam. Having said that, he once tugged my leg in a thunder storm as he lie there half covered in water and mud. I just dug into my pocket and threw everything in there into his plastic cup. I hope he got to keep that because he certainly earned it!

Except the kids selling stuff late at night are not beggars, they are selling something... therefore, not subject to this new 'crackdown'.

I had two v young kids (who were obviously fine and had been happily playing until I drew up on my 'bike) come running over to ask for money for food.... I was not happy. How stupid do they think I am and, probably more to the point, which idiot had given them money in the past to make them think all farang were worth asking for money??

[piewarmer]

I saw one of those 6yo flower children ticking an older bloke under his shorts and licking her lips.

No-one in the bar did anything about it

This was in Chiang Mai last year..about midnight. These kids are in constant danger.

[softgeorge]

Does anyone here actually give to beggers? I did occasionally in the fresh market to the old guy with no legs...

Tourists will and that is the whole idea. Tourists are not aware of the scams.

[FriedMyLittleBrain]

Oh by the way...for any good-hearted, tourists who may read this -- do not give them money!!! They are manipulated by human-traffickers, and if you contribute, you are essentially contributing to the spread of human-trafficking.

Contribute to charities, or drive out to the villages, find a poor family, and hand them some cash. Much good will come out of the latter.

Forget the so called "charities"! Great idea to drive to villages, but it's better to give them food and something to drink. (not Lao Khao)

No charity at all here !!!Just to scratch bit more & you will find intents -

& WOW to give or not our choice -they never running kilometers behind your back & when you give it's your need too -to feel yourself better & kind & generous & to clap yourself inside mind that you are sooo f--g good person -cheap & cheerful -just if for second feel doubts to give or not , better not!!

[LadyinRed]

Does anyone here actually give to beggers? I did occasionally in the fresh market to the old guy with no legs...

Tourists will and that is the whole idea. Tourists are not aware of the scams.

Does this mean that all beggers are part of scams along the lines of Slumdog Millionaire for example? I am aware of scams but couldn't there be some of them who really are left out by society and depend on people's compassion to survive?