homeless farang in Thailand, what you do here?

[GuestHouse]

Some Thai people have reported me last time seeing homeless farangs picking (from trash) plastic bottles to recycle.

I confess, I think that was me.

I was picking up the trash, plastic bottles, lippo bottles and polystyrene food packaging etc dumped in my hedgerow by other Thai people, maybe the same Thai people that observed me.

[Choctastic]

There but for the grace of God...

Have seen some who are very good people but who made poor business decisions and ended up on the street. They try desperately to keep their business afloat, hoping it will turn around and then a bomb goes off in Bangkok or there is a murder in Koh Tao and that's the end of that. Try to differentiate between the deserving and the undeserving. Nobody gets married to get divorced, nobody starts a business to lose their shirt and not everyone is the sharpest knife in the drawer. Some people are a walking train wreck, while others you just cannot predict.

Callous bunch.

[micmichd]

Maybe the broke Farang doesn't consider Farangistan his home anymore. Things can turn out this way if you burnt all bridges.

I did, and I could end up in the streets of Pattaya if I had no Thai family or friends here.

In the worst case, I would prefer to die in Asia instead of getting locked up in Farangistan.

I even don't consider the state of existance you're granted in Germany "life" anymore. Hopefully their ATM system will keep on working.

[12DrinkMore]

We would see a lot more of this if the dollar is worth 2 cents.

I think you will find that going forawrd into the future the Dollar will remain at 100 cents.

In fact I would bet all my money on it.

[micmichd]

@ little mary sunshine:

Guess you're joking. Are you aware what happens in the west if you show deviant behaviour?

Or are you talking about Thailand?

[dotpoom]

I'm a little curious, your thread title and some sentences of you OP appear to be directed in particular to homeless people. That being said, do you really think the homeless have access to TV and are able to (or even willing to) reply?

You make an excellent point...... In my view, there are as many reasons for peoples behavior as there are people.

[Cypress Hill]

We would see a lot more of this if the dollar is worth 2 cents.

I think you will find that going forawrd into the future the Dollar will remain at 100 cents.

In fact I would bet all my money on it.

LOL, go ahead.

Enjoy the soup kitchen.

[little mary sunshine]

Micmichd

Pls explain UR post.

[denby45]

The same story plays out almost everyday.

1) Guy flies to Thailand.

2) 2 week millionaire - living in a hotel, eating in restaurants, partying all night, waking up next to beautiful young women he'd never be able to score back home.

3) Money starts getting short. Drain bank. Max out credit cards. Sell valuables (if any). Anything to keep the party going !

4) Move to cheaper accommodations, cheaper eating choices, cheaper "entertainment" options.

5) Almost broke - cash in plane ticket, start trying to borrow money from family/friends.

6) Broke - sell, er I mean, "lose" passport. Play on people's sympathies. Try begging.

That is primarily why I won't even consider lending someone I don't personally know any money, or have much in the way of sympathy for most of them. Most of them could have gone back home, kept working (or whatever) until they could afford another holiday but instead decide to (literally) piss it all away and then hope others will feel sorry for them.

We read stories about "hard luck" cases all the time but more often than not, "luck" had nothing to do with their situation. Poor choices and lack of control (or will power) has more to do with it than "luck". 60+ year old guys finding the 20(ish) year old "love of their life" in a bar and handing her every penny they have a week after meeting her. I suspect that happens far more often than we read about, it's just that many are too embarrassed to admit it or have gone back to where they came from, possibly never to return.

Doesn't help when people get suckered into helping "poor homeless guy" only to see his face in the news a week later partying it up on the money he even admits "people were stupid enough to give him". I've seen a few too many BS artists in my time and look at each case with a very healthy dose of skepticism.

Just imagine what Thailand would look like if they didn't have all their immigration rules that people whine about all the time. We read enough stories on TV about people who can't meet the requirements for various visas and are searching for cheaper ways to stay here. I suspect a lot of them are sitting at #4 (above) and sliding towards #5.

Without the rules they have now I dare say that a stroll along Beach Road (or Khao San or wherever) would find you running into very large throngs of pickpockets and addicts, only most of them would be foreigners instead of ladyboys.

That is exactly the story of one Aussie guy I met recently.

Typical 2 week millionaire. 2 girls in tow all the time. However he has a good trick to lower his cost. Take the girl for 2 days and piss her off so much she cannot do the second day. His statement is a gem "If she does not fulfill the 2 day contract she gets nothing" He has apparently done this many times and brags openly about it.

He was supposed to fly out on 24th. Aug. Turned up at my place to change his flight to 28th because Casino club have a VIP night he could not miss it. Could not change his flight with his phone for some reason and wanted to use my PC. OK no problem. Problem #1 he has the wrong flight code for Quantas so can't do it online. Next he borrows my phone to call them direct. His phone does not work for some reason. Big discussion about flight change and I discover he is trying to change a flight which is about to take off in 10 mins. <deleted>. Of course he has no luck with that. He asks to borrow 300 bucks which I declined immediately. Remember I only met this guy twice before. He goes off tail between legs.

Next I find out he has turned up in my local and borrowed money from the landlady there giving his passport as collateral. In the meantime he has tried to phone me numerous times but I am not interested to get involved with this individual so I ignore. Next I learn he has tapped one of my mates for money because he has no money to play killer pool. (100 baht). Next the police get involved because he cannot pay his hotel bill. The 28th. has come and gone and he is still here mooching off anyone he can.

He must have got paid at the beginning of Sept. because he again turns up at my local and pays everyone off including one police guy and reclaims his passport. Starts buying the girls drinks and everything is now good and he can book his flight the day after tomorrow. I urge him book it now but no he is now in good shape. Four days later my friend call and says the guy has finally left for the airport. This is on 5th Sept and after paying his taxi he has 4 baht left in his pocket. No problem he has plenty of air miles for purchasing his ticket back home. NOT! My phone again starts ringing numerous times and I again ignore. However my friend answers his phone and learns that he spent the night in the airport. Borrowed 200 baht for some food from someone. Next day no phone call only a message to say see you again in 3 weeks time and he hopes he still has his job when he gets back home. WHAAAT Yeah not if I see you first.

This guy is obviously on that slippery slope you describe so well above.

I need to change my SIM card.

[micmichd]

@ little mary sunshine:

Not so easy, I'll try to explain how deviant behaviour is treated in Germany.

Germans that expatriate to Thailand are generally considered sexpats and losers. That's their image in the media, and Germans believe in media. If someone comes back from Thailand, he will be labeled as a super-loser because he couldn't even make it in Thailand. Nobody will talk to a super-loser, folks think it's a contagious disease. No job, no flat, no money. Living in the streets is impossible in Germany, so this homeless "super-loser" will be picked up by lllice and handed over to mental hospital. Some try suicide, that make things faster. Some might be lucky and end up it a place for the homeless. Wherever, all these places have something in common:

Taylorized overcare.

Deviants will be intensively examined first to find out what's wrong with them. This will be done in a total organization where all services are slized in tiny pieces. The homeless will be forced to comply to all kinds of regulafions, which psychopharmaca or worse. No decision will be left over to him, he has to obey.

The same principle will be applied when it comes to (social) therapy.

If everything went oK, the homeless repatriate will be released. But he was only trained to conformity.

Outside "in the real world" it's different. You need permanent improvisation to survive in a quick-changing environment, and you must be able to make your own decisions. But exactly these skills are considered a menace to care-taking organizations and consequently suppressed.

Many (maybe most) people that are relrased from a total institution feel completely helpless outside. Some try to commit suicide, others drink or take drugs (doctors prescribe them), and many come back to mental hospital again and again.

Even if they stay outside, they will still be stigmatized. Forever, if they don't manage to lie about their past.

Society doesn't accect deviant losers, especially not if they had mental issues.

Guess many homeless Farangs in Thailand have been through this, and many are afraid of this.

[little mary sunshine]

I'm so enlightened...To with. Homeless usually =Drunks, druggies

And stupid people...all losers

[watcharacters]

We would see a lot more of this if the dollar is worth 2 cents.

Guess that makes sense if a person's assets are suddenly reduced to 1 / 50th of their value. Wouldn't that apply equally to most currencies?

[khunPer]

Know of a few sad cases, both seemed to be they lost their money to Thai ladies – but knowing both the lady and the farang in one case, it’s like listening to two completely different stories...

One farang invested in a beach restaurant, he went back to Britain to work and make money while his lady build the restaurant, she had a brother who helped with design, for a very modest small fee. In all it became double as expensive as planned, so he also had to borrow money from friends back home. When he came back to Thailand his lady’s brother had also opened a new restaurant – ha said, »that’s why it was like everything came in at double price.«

Unfortunately the winter monsoon storm took most of the restaurant and he was broke – he told me: »It happed so quick, we woke up, but could do nothing, but move back and see it all disappear in the waves.«

He ended up in a cheap small bungalow where expat-friends paid rent, and his now ex-girlfriend and friends brought him food everyday, as he otherwise would starve. He did not want to go back to Britain – friends presumed he had nothing there, but debt to friends – but he got sick (probably drinking too much) and finally his embassy send him back home...

The other case I know, was a guy who over many years had build up a motorcycle rental – well, he had no Work Permit, so wife’s or girlfriends’ business with her name on the sign, I don’t know if he ever got married as he did monthly visa runs – the shop was doing very well, with him sitting relaxed in chair with a beer in the back, whilst his lady and staff took care of the busy front office.

One day he told me, that now he had over 100 motorcycles for rent, however Thailand started to get a bit boring and difficult to stay in – that was the time when the government began limiting the land-border visa runs – so he considered selling the business and move on to Cambodia, much easier to stay in and the excitement of “old time Thailand”. Going home was not an option, as he had nothing there and would not be entitles to government retirement, when he became old enough, as he had been abroad too many years. I’m afraid he told about his thoughts – or plans – to too many, because one day his lady asked him, what he was doing in her house and shop...?

Heard the he was send back on embassy account, and after that no one here ever heard anything more – but the motorcycle rental busines is still open...

Yes, I’ve seen some farangs that looked like successful business, suddenly falling apart, sitting alone drinking and looking sad in front of a closed shop, and after some time they vanish. Also seen “usual suspects” in front of convenient stores, always the same people sitting there day-in day-out for several years on the bench, drinking – but I don’t know their stories...

But don’t you see homeless, “plastic-bag people”, almost everywhere – seems like they also appear in Europe and some of the Scandinavian countries, where they should have be taken well care off by the authorities...?

[MAJIC]

What the OP doesn't understand is the many reasons that people can hit rock bottom,we don't know this guys story,losing your house and/ or money is not the only reason."There but for the grace of God go I".

[micmichd]

This happended to me before, and the next one could be YOU.

[joshstiles]

oh wiser-than-a-sage.....what country does an old person go to to get a job or assistance that will give them a "comfortable" life which is better than living on the street??????????????????????????

I think there is a less colorful part of life which you know nothing about.... try living in a box for a year....see if perhaps you do not receive some additional education and insight.

[Craig krup]

There but for the grace of God...

Have seen some who are very good people but who made poor business decisions and ended up on the street. They try desperately to keep their business afloat, hoping it will turn around and then a bomb goes off in Bangkok or there is a murder in Koh Tao and that's the end of that. Try to differentiate between the deserving and the undeserving. Nobody gets married to get divorced, nobody starts a business to lose their shirt and not everyone is the sharpest knife in the drawer. Some people are a walking train wreck, while others you just cannot predict.

Callous bunch.

Well, as Daniel Kahneman says, assume that the average applies to you unless you've got an awfully good reason to think that it doesn't. People don't think that they will get divorced if by "think" you mean "have a passion or a sentiment".

But -

1) The concede that people do get divorced.

2) They (reluctantly) concede that they can't think of a good reason why they're different.

3) They (therefore) concede that they might.

There is, often, a kind of arrogance baked into a disaster. Strutting sneering people aren't cautious. They go from "Johnny Big Potatoes" to "Woe is me", without ever passing through, "I probably shouldn't be doing this s*it".

[drbill]

Over the years I've seen a few throughout Bangkok, mainly alcoholics that have come here for a easy life and then lose it.

I saw one near a market the other day walking with my son sleeping on the steps of a shop house with a old pair of shorts and dirty t shirt.

Likely the vast majority. Alcoholic’s now suffereing from near dementia. It happens alll over the planet. Not just Thailand.

A farang I chat with in MaeRim who belongs to AA mentioned knowing a couple of these unfortunate souls when he used

to frequent the Chiang Mai bars.

[misterphil]

Is this one of the people you are talking about?

I see this man walking up and down Sukhumvit road in Pattaya, and also along Thepprasit too. Ive nearly knocked him over a couple of times.

Why does he walk in the middle of the road and not on the pavement?

[micmichd]

Even the homeless have privacy, please respect it.

[prb]

Sad stories.

If I would loose all my savings to build something with a girl I love and be kicked out at the first occasion, i would surely go mental and finish in the street myself.

I guess the only advice would be that one only invest in business / house in the name of his GF the money that he could afford to loose.

Edited September 10, 2015 by prb

[Craig krup]

@ little mary sunshine:

Not so easy, I'll try to explain how deviant behaviour is treated in Germany.

Germans that expatriate to Thailand are generally considered sexpats and losers. That's their image in the media, and Germans believe in media. If someone comes back from Thailand, he will be labeled as a super-loser because he couldn't even make it in Thailand. Nobody will talk to a super-loser, folks think it's a contagious disease. No job, no flat, no money. Living in the streets is impossible in Germany, so this homeless "super-loser" will be picked up by lllice and handed over to mental hospital. Some try suicide, that make things faster. Some might be lucky and end up it a place for the homeless. Wherever, all these places have something in common:

Taylorized overcare.

Deviants will be intensively examined first to find out what's wrong with them. This will be done in a total organization where all services are slized in tiny pieces. The homeless will be forced to comply to all kinds of regulafions, which psychopharmaca or worse. No decision will be left over to him, he has to obey.

The same principle will be applied when it comes to (social) therapy.

If everything went oK, the homeless repatriate will be released. But he was only trained to conformity.

Outside "in the real world" it's different. You need permanent improvisation to survive in a quick-changing environment, and you must be able to make your own decisions. But exactly these skills are considered a menace to care-taking organizations and consequently suppressed.

Many (maybe most) people that are relrased from a total institution feel completely helpless outside. Some try to commit suicide, others drink or take drugs (doctors prescribe them), and many come back to mental hospital again and again.

Even if they stay outside, they will still be stigmatized. Forever, if they don't manage to lie about their past.

Society doesn't accect deviant losers, especially not if they had mental issues.

Guess many homeless Farangs in Thailand have been through this, and many are afraid of this.

You should read "The Drinker" by Hans Fallada.

[thrilled]

We have seen all the answers.I feel for them.I don't spend my change.When I see be begers I give them A few baht.It don't make A

Difference to me what nationally they are.They can either get their next fix,something to eat or whatever.I never miss the money.

[saakura]

How can you be homeless in a country where rent is as little as 900 baht a month?? Must have absolutely no income whatsoever.

I ain't homeless or desperate but just curious where you rent a place for 900/month?

I am paying 3500 for a bolt hole in Bangkok which I think is a bargain but 900 sounds pretty sweet.

You can try in the slums of Khlong Toey. There is an old man who cleans the staircase and alleyways in my office. Looks very starved so i buy him some food sometimes. He told me that he rents a part of a shack in the Khlong Toey slum for 800 Baht a month.

[WitawatWatawit]

Is this one of the people you are talking about?

I see this man walking up and down Sukhumvit road in Pattaya, and also along Thepprasit too. Ive nearly knocked him over a couple of times.

Why does he walk in the middle of the road and not on the pavement?

I have seen this guy around for more than 3 years. He likes to hang around the Khao Talo intersection, and seems harmless. I heard that some kind Thai folk give him a room on Theprasit and feed him. He's a little bit bigger than me, otherwise I would give him some of my shirts which I no longer wear since I retired.

If you go further up Khao Talo, you might come across a tiny old Thai lady who pushes a cart around all day. But she never seems to collect much junk to recycle.

[Craig krup]

If you've been in jail you must really be in the crap. [i'm guessing an orange boiler suit with a number across the backside is what they let you keep at the end of the sentence. Getting rid of that would be step number one: it's like a sign saying, "Monks and others - Do not feed".]

Edited September 10, 2015 by Craig krup

[little mary sunshine]

"There but for the grace......." Give me a break. God gives you

A brain and the free choice how to use it, pickle it with Booz,

Smoke it up with dope and kill the cells, wind up in the gutter,

Your choice, God has little to do with how we use the gifts

Given to us, "It's called living a decent life".

[theonetrueaussie]

what gets me is foreigners cannot own anything in thailand so they put everything in the wife /gf's name and then they are surprised when she takes everything and he is left with nothing....It happens time and time again but people never seem to learn....

[VIPinthailand]

what gets me is foreigners cannot own anything in thailand so they put everything in the wife /gf's name and then they are surprised when she takes everything and he is left with nothing....It happens time and time again but people never seem to learn....

we call this 'love' ! Edited September 10, 2015 by VIPinthailand

[micmichd]

@ little mary sunshine:

Not so easy, I'll try to explain how deviant behaviour is treated in Germany.

Germans that expatriate to Thailand are generally considered sexpats and losers. That's their image in the media, and Germans believe in media. If someone comes back from Thailand, he will be labeled as a super-loser because he couldn't even make it in Thailand. Nobody will talk to a super-loser, folks think it's a contagious disease. No job, no flat, no money. Living in the streets is impossible in Germany, so this homeless "super-loser" will be picked up by lllice and handed over to mental hospital. Some try suicide, that make things faster. Some might be lucky and end up it a place for the homeless. Wherever, all these places have something in common:

Taylorized overcare.

Deviants will be intensively examined first to find out what's wrong with them. This will be done in a total organization where all services are slized in tiny pieces. The homeless will be forced to comply to all kinds of regulafions, which psychopharmaca or worse. No decision will be left over to him, he has to obey.

The same principle will be applied when it comes to (social) therapy.

If everything went oK, the homeless repatriate will be released. But he was only trained to conformity.

Outside "in the real world" it's different. You need permanent improvisation to survive in a quick-changing environment, and you must be able to make your own decisions. But exactly these skills are considered a menace to care-taking organizations and consequently suppressed.

Many (maybe most) people that are relrased from a total institution feel completely helpless outside. Some try to commit suicide, others drink or take drugs (doctors prescribe them), and many come back to mental hospital again and again.

Even if they stay outside, they will still be stigmatized. Forever, if they don't manage to lie about their past.

Society doesn't accect deviant losers, especially not if they had mental issues.

Guess many homeless Farangs in Thailand have been through this, and many are afraid of this.

You should read "The Drinker" by Hans Fallada.

They made a movie from that, starring Harald Juhnke (an alcoholic). I've seen it on TV, very realistic.

Guess alcoholism is the biggest problem in Pattaya.