Phuket crepe maker meets the stranger who saved him from sharks

[webfact]

Phuket crepe maker meets the stranger who saved him from sharks
Phuket Gazette


Mr Prayoon and his wife thank Ms Gibson for souvenirs. Photo: Saran Mitrarat

PHUKET: -- It was an emotional meeting last week between the man who lost his only source of livelihood – a sidecar outfitted to make crepes – and the New Zealand woman who gave him the money he needed to avoid borrowing cash from loan sharks to buy a new one.

Crepe vendor Prayoon Impuang, whose sidecar was consumed by flames on February 12 (story here), drove his new sidecar to the Gazette office in Koh Kaew on March 27 and cooked kanum Tokyo for his donor, Delyse Gibson.

“My heart is full,” Mr Prayoon said through an interpreter, pausing from time to time to maintain his composure. “If I hadn’t gotten help from you, I’d have gone to a loan shark for sure. However, now my life is back to normal and I can support my family again as before. Thank you so much.”

Ms Gibson had originally planned to visit Phuket in April, but changed her plans when she heard Mr Prayoon would be going back to his home province for the month.

“I wanted to make a connection with Mr Prayoon, and to meet his family,” Ms Gibson said.

“I’ve had difficult times in my life, but there was always someone who helped me. I felt fortunate to be in a position to give to someone else, and I hope to keep in touch with Mr Prayoon,” she said in a voice that quavered from time to time.

Ms Gibson presented Mr Prayoon and his wife, Dah, with souvenirs from New Zealand, including a flag and a baseball cap bearing her country’s national emblem, the Silver Fern.

Mr Prayoon mounted the flag on his sidecar and blessed Ms Gibson.

“May you have a healthy and long life. If I’m ever in a position to give you something in return, I’ll surely do it,” he said.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-crepe-maker-meets-stranger-saved-from/29050#ad-image-0


-- Phuket Gazette 2014-04-05

[AhFarangJa]

Great story to read, kudos to Ms Gibson though I did think the headline meant a completely different thing....I wondered how a man was selling crepes in the sea....

[Cylon]

Good to read a story like this, when the only news coming out of Thailand is Political instability and death on the roads.

[WoopyDoo]

Its a pity more people will never understand that actions like this bring more happiness than money can buy.

A fantastic gesture of kindness, which will enrich her life in many other ways, and that of the beneficiary.

We need more people in the world like Ms Gibson.

Well done.

[SoilSpoil]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

Edited April 5, 2014 by SoilSpoil

[eeeya]

Wow, way to put a dampener on a nice story

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

[iSabai]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

Are you serious? "… a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning…" ??

Well, please excuse Mr. 'crepe maker' because he failed to see the benefit of having his 401K account, tax-deferred IRA, life insurance policy, gov't savings bonds, long range growth stock portfolio, and Swiss bank account in proper order. Indeed, what the hell was he thinking??

No doubt every other 3rd world street vendor knows better than that.

[falkan]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

80% of all thais don't think about future, better get 5k today than 50k next month..

[rhythmworx]

Great story with an absolutely diabolical headline I expect to see from Yahoo news.

Where was the shark in this?

[eezergood]

Great story with an absolutely diabolical headline I expect to see from Yahoo news.

Where was the shark in this?

Financial sharks, we call these analogies!

[eezergood]

but a great story non the less

[poooket]

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[stickylies]

those rich thai can learn something from this...

most farang, probably including this very woman, are not rockefellers.

i hope thai people hearing/reading about this story will put it in the right perspective and NOT filing it under: all farang are rich.

i hear this too often by people who have everything they need (and more!) and it's useless to explain them how things go in the west....

generally, the logic here goes: if u can fly to thailand u have "money too much"...

the fact that most foreign people work a whole year for 2-3 week holiday is of no importance

still good story and chokdee to the crepe dude!

Edited April 6, 2014 by stickylies

[brit1984]

great story, great woman

[skorchio]

When I read the headline I knew it was not a fish ... cos there be none left in these waters

[kannot]

I offered to buy my village a new water pump at 50k baht..............it didnt make the news though!!!

[Utley]

If you haven't seen the movie "Pay It Forward" (2000) - try to find a copy. Ms. Gibson is a perfect example of the message of the story - how to change the world with one act of kindness at a time.

Good on you Delyse!

[TheReporter]

Doing good deeds will result in receiving good things in return.

[xylophone]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

Are you serious? "… a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning…" ??

Well, please excuse Mr. 'crepe maker' because he failed to see the benefit of having his 401K account, tax-deferred IRA, life insurance policy, gov't savings bonds, long range growth stock portfolio, and Swiss bank account in proper order. Indeed, what the hell was he thinking??

No doubt every other 3rd world street vendor knows better than that.

Are you serious?

Financial planning in its basic form is just a matter of putting some sort of plan in place for one's financial future, and it doesn't include all, or even any,of the things that you have listed – – a simple matter of saving something every day to cover one's basic asset, which in this case was his crepe maker equipment and motorbike.

And if you look carefully at the poster's point, it was really to ensure that this guy didn't have to go to loan sharks, because once one gets in the poverty cycle, and the use of loan sharks, is not easy to escape from.

It is no wonder that so many Thais get caught up with loan sharks, because they have absolutely no idea of how to handle money.

Having said all that, it is a good story and such a lovely gesture from this Kiwi lady, and I am pleased that this guy is able to get his business back up and running, so a good ending all round.

[marko kok prong]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

what mischief, the thing caught fire i am sure he did not burn it down himself,as for saving money he probably needs every satang just to live and operate his cart,as for loan sharks tell me how else can many thais get loans,they cannot go to a bank, unless they have a job say with toyota or a company that gives them a payslip,which a crepe seller obviously does not,financial planning is difficult without finances.

[samjaidee]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

In principal I agree with what you're saying and in a country such as the UK there are the adult education resources to learn about such things.

Remember, this man only had a primary education. As a primary school teacher I know that very few of my students would have the knowledge to plan their lives as you suggest.

Granted, he is a man in his 40s with a lot of life experience however there are some life skills that come more naturally to some people than others. Dealing with numbers is one of those skills.

I think the best solution to this problem would be for you to make your way to Phuket and give him the education you know he needs.

[bander]

Go to the shop and buy him a new sidecar, cash money in the hands of Thais often ends in gambling and/or drinking

Edited April 6, 2014 by bander

[bander]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

those rich thai can learn something from this...

most farang, probably including this very woman, are not rockefellers.

i hope thai people hearing/reading about this story will put it in the right perspective and NOT filing it under: all farang are rich.

i hear this too often by people who have everything they need (and more!) and it's useless to explain them how things go in the west....

generally, the logic here goes: if u can fly to thailand u have "money too much"...

the fact that most foreign people work a whole year for 2-3 week holiday is of no importance

still good story and chokdee to the crepe dude!

Good woman, now she can buy pancakes with banana from the dude she helped for 50 bath while thais pay 20 bath, good old two price practice at it's best

[kannot]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

those rich thai can learn something from this...

most farang, probably including this very woman, are not rockefellers.

i hope thai people hearing/reading about this story will put it in the right perspective and NOT filing it under: all farang are rich.

i hear this too often by people who have everything they need (and more!) and it's useless to explain them how things go in the west....

generally, the logic here goes: if u can fly to thailand u have "money too much"...

the fact that most foreign people work a whole year for 2-3 week holiday is of no importance

still good story and chokdee to the crepe dude!

Good woman, now she can buy pancakes with banana from the dude she helped for 50 bath while thais pay 20 bath, good old two price practice at it's best

Sadly why would I not be surprised!

[darren84310]

Lovely, genuine story.... He looks very crepefull indeed.

[rotorbreeze]

Great story to read, kudos to Ms Gibson though I did think the headline meant a completely different thing....I wondered how a man was selling crepes in the sea....

Yes being miss-informed is the Thai way...head line could read..."Foreigner rescues Thai from Sharks" or "How to cook Sharks on a free Crepe maker" in any case one did read this and grateful that the Thai man has gotten his lively hood back...

I once saw a vender with two flat tires pushing his cart... I slowed down and had my X wife as what his problem was...he had no money for tires..but needed to go to market and sell his wares...my x asked how much to fix tires...I forgot the amount but pass 200 baht and gave to wife to give to him...he was astonished and grateful...priceless...I will always remember how his eyes lite up with this small gift..it changed his day...yes little things do make a difference in the world...lets post some more miracles and not deal with the negativity so much it put to print...cheers and have a great day...see if you can find the Buddha in you to share some of your wealth...it comes back 10x... Ron

[maximillian]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

Exactly.

Once helped a person who accumulated a debt of more than 300.000 THB, with 40.000 Baht. Instead of paying back part of the debt, she spent part of it for deposit of a new Honda. So she was even increasing her debt instead of lowering it.

Still I would like to say Thank You to NZ Lady for her good will and her generousity.

[maximillian]

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I also received help from Thai people many times.

[heybuz]

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

Exactly.

Once helped a person who accumulated a debt of more than 300.000 THB, with 40.000 Baht. Instead of paying back part of the debt, she spent part of it for deposit of a new Honda. So she was even increasing her debt instead of lowering it.

Still I would like to say Thank You to NZ Lady for her good will and her generousity.

me too

[chrisinth]

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Quote

Good woman. It's great to help those who need it. The Thai man should be grateful and also learn a lesson from his mischief. It seems that a lot of Thais have zero knowledge of financial planning, or just don't care and need loan sharks to help them out. The poverty circle is not easy to escape from, but not impossible. He needs to save money to replace his assets (cart) once every couple of years, or get an insurance. Start with stashing away 25 or 50 satang per sold pancake. I know I might sound hard, but a lot of people having financial hardship have partly themselves to blame due to a complete lack of planing.

I agree. He should hire an accountant.

May have to save a bit more than 50 satang a pancake to do that though...............

I see where you are coming from, and you sound as if you already have financial knowledge but try and understand that not everyone has this. In a situation of living day-to-day to provide for your family priorities change.