Farang beach rubbish collectors wowing Thais

[stevenl]

I often hear folks on TV warning about doing good deeds, without pay in Thailand that they will get in trouble for not having a work permit.

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

The whole thing behind work permits is to prevent non Thai people from taking paying jobs away from Thai people.

Unless someone has been paying Thai people to pick up trash on the beach and have lost their jobs because foreign volunteers have done such a good job that trash no longer exists....I don't see a problem.

I have volunteered to help out at my local school before ( without a work permit ) and worked right along side local police officers and Immigration officers who were also volunteering and were aware of my status and they had no problem with me helping at all.

Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!

Th

You don't see a problem and I understand why but you are not in an official position and as a civil servant warned me it only takes one person to complain to set things in motion.

I know a couple of foreigners whose wives are the registered owners of a small restaurant / bar and they were warned by officials to do nothing that remotely constituted work or they could find themselves in trouble.

Working for a profit is not what he was talking about.

Thank you, i could never have understood without your help.

Now do you understand that a work permit is needed no matter what and payment or otherwise doesn't come into it ?

Of course you do but you're just being yourself trying to get a ' smart ' comment in.

I'll (more or less) repeat a post a just made, and won't react to your flame:

Yes, such is the law.

However, one more point was made that you are ignoring: "Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.". Have you?

[Winniedapu]

Taking jobs away from the Burmese.

Littering here, whether on a massive scale where people dump trash by the tuck-load in vacant lots, or the folks in the back of the pick-up throwing some trash from the moving vehicle, or just the Thai chap at 7/11, throwing a wrapper on the ground millimeters away from the trash can, is definitely a pet peeve.

The lack of respect, or complete unawareness, is always surprising.

It doesn't surprise me. It is 'Thainess' not to take responsibility for anything "mai bpen rai" is their creed

You don't know what "Thainess" is do you? Instead of looking smart you look the opposite!

If that is what Thainess means to him, then that is what Thais have taught him to conclude by the term Thainess.

I happen to agree with him for what that's worth (and it may not be worth anything). IMHO, Thais are widely considered to be feckless, and that reputation did not arise by them being honest, hardworking and well educated..

You cannot say an opinion about something subjective or interpreted is right or wrong, you can only say if you agree or not. Having a broader perspective is one advantage of a good education. Saying someone looks 'not smart' for expressing an opinion which you do not agree with is a disadvantage of a poor education.

Winnie

Edited June 20, 2016 by Winniedapu

[nkg]

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

Then you never researched the aftermath of the tsunami in Patong and Phi Phi.

What aftermath? How many tsunami volunteers went to jail? It's strange that there are no newspaper articles online about tsunami volunteers who went to jail.

Find me ONE newspaper article documenting the trial of a farang tsunami volunteer. I bet you can't. You've been fooled by anecdotes and bar talk, and the rubbish that gets spouted on this forum.

[impulse]

In a country where they commonly have 5 girls behind the counter at an Amazon coffee shop and an endless supply of migrant labor willing to do such work. It boggles my mind that every beach does not at least have 1 guy that picks up trash.

What are people looking for in a beach holiday. Number 1 has to be, a clean beach.

'Long as you have the 5 girls, the guys will come, no matter what the beach looks like.

OP kind of reminds me of Tom Sawyer....

Meanwhile, at Samila Beach in Songkhla, the day after a storm blew through...

[silverado]

manual cleanup is nice, but a small tractor with the right rake equipment can drag the beach daily at low tide and do so in a fairly small amount of time.

http://www.legiret.com/fr/le-goemonier/rateau-de-nettoyage-de-pl/images/zoom/805_1_1089.jpg?66964,45

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/108/830/603/603830108_000.JPG

[Winniedapu]

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

Then you never researched the aftermath of the tsunami in Patong and Phi Phi.

What aftermath? How many tsunami volunteers went to jail? It's strange that there are no newspaper articles online about tsunami volunteers who went to jail.

Find me ONE newspaper article documenting the trial of a farang tsunami volunteer. I bet you can't. You've been fooled by anecdotes and bar talk, and the rubbish that gets spouted on this forum.

There are lots of places on the web which deal with work permits and the consequences of not having one. Foreigners being deported or extorted in order to get another chance do not generally make the news, but there's no shortage of anecdotal evidence.

Google is your friend.

Winnie

[nkg]

There are lots of places on the web which deal with work permits and the consequences of not having one. Foreigners being deported or extorted in order to get another chance do not generally make the news, but there's no shortage of anecdotal evidence.

Google is your friend.

Winnie

There are dozens, maybe hundreds of newspaper articles detailing foreigners being deported due to working for money without a permit.

What a news story it would have been if someone from Europe or the US had been deported while they were doing voluntary work after the tsunami. Thaivisa would have been in a frenzy. It would be the front page story in the Phuket Gazette, Phuket News, Phuketwan etc.

But there is no story. It never happened. No tsunami volunteers were jailed or deported. It's an urban legend that gets repeated on this site all the time. The anecdotes are BS. Where is the hard evidence?

[GAZZPA]

Sure it's impressive. Now wait for Immigration Police to issue warnings for working without a permit and doing work that Thais could and should do.

T.A.T., take note. "Come to Thailand and clean up an amazing beach"

I often hear folks on TV warning about doing good deeds, without pay in Thailand that they will get in trouble for not having a work permit.

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

The whole thing behind work permits is to prevent non Thai people from taking paying jobs away from Thai people.

Unless someone has been paying Thai people to pick up trash on the beach and have lost their jobs because foreign volunteers have done such a good job that trash no longer exists....I don't see a problem.

I have volunteered to help out at my local school before ( without a work permit ) and worked right along side local police officers and Immigration officers who were also volunteering and were aware of my status and they had no problem with me helping at all.

Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!

Th

Good to hear you say that. I'm sure you are right.

[Emster23]

"Farang Thai beach rubbish collectors wowing Thais Farangs"

I wonder if I'll live long enough to ever see this headline

[williamgeorgeallen]

Sure it's impressive. Now wait for Immigration Police to issue warnings for working without a permit and doing work that Thais could and should do.

T.A.T., take note. "Come to Thailand and clean up an amazing beach"

I often hear folks on TV warning about doing good deeds, without pay in Thailand that they will get in trouble for not having a work permit.

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

The whole thing behind work permits is to prevent non Thai people from taking paying jobs away from Thai people.

Unless someone has been paying Thai people to pick up trash on the beach and have lost their jobs because foreign volunteers have done such a good job that trash no longer exists....I don't see a problem.

I have volunteered to help out at my local school before ( without a work permit ) and worked right along side local police officers and Immigration officers who were also volunteering and were aware of my status and they had no problem with me helping at all.

Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!

Th

well of course it is nice of them to be cleaning up the mess but it is taking a job away from a thai person so they are breaking the law, as stupid as that is. worst case of people breaking the law for volunteering was the german team of forensic experts that came over to help retrieve the bodies after the tsunami. they were ordered to stop and returned home while the bodies were left to rot in the sun. thailand is a great country to live but often i am left scratching my head.

[SOTIRIOS]

...pathetic....

...and 'impressed' is not the word.....

,,,,Trillions in Tourist Revenues....why don't they pay some one to clean the beaches...etc...

[irwinfc]

"Farang Thai beach rubbish collectors wowing Thais Farangs"

I wonder if I'll live long enough to ever see this headline

don't hold your breath

[hdkane]

Thailand is such a beautiful nation, with beaches, mountains, and even terrain that resembles desert...I've always been disappointed that they don't seem to care about their own country...Thais are terrible stewards of nature...

The farangs are getting attention because it's so UNUSUAL for anyone to be so responsible as to pick up litter...

[stevenl]

"Farang Thai beach rubbish collectors wowing Thais Farangs"

I wonder if I'll live long enough to ever see this headline

I would hope not. Farang is a Thai word, and Thai language does not do plurals. So it at least should be 'farang' in stead of 'farangs'.

[soalbundy]

Sure it's impressive. Now wait for Immigration Police to issue warnings for working without a permit and doing work that Thais could and should do.

T.A.T., take note. "Come to Thailand and clean up an amazing beach"

I often hear folks on TV warning about doing good deeds, without pay in Thailand that they will get in trouble for not having a work permit.

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

The whole thing behind work permits is to prevent non Thai people from taking paying jobs away from Thai people.

Unless someone has been paying Thai people to pick up trash on the beach and have lost their jobs because foreign volunteers have done such a good job that trash no longer exists....I don't see a problem.

I have volunteered to help out at my local school before ( without a work permit ) and worked right along side local police officers and Immigration officers who were also volunteering and were aware of my status and they had no problem with me helping at all.

Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!

Th

You don't see a problem and I understand why but you are not in an official position and as a civil servant warned me it only takes one person to complain to set things in motion.

I know a couple of foreigners whose wives are the registered owners of a small restaurant / bar and they were warned by officials to do nothing that remotely constituted work or they could find themselves in trouble.

I don't know if this is true but i have heard that if you are legally married you wont be arrested for helping your wife run her business as by Thai law you are obliged to help your wife in all of life's situations,any thoughts on this?

[wombat]

my first visit to LOS was to Samui,the hotel raked the beach every morning,nice touch i thought.

[soalbundy]

Sure it's impressive. Now wait for Immigration Police to issue warnings for working without a permit and doing work that Thais could and should do.

T.A.T., take note. "Come to Thailand and clean up an amazing beach"

I often hear folks on TV warning about doing good deeds, without pay in Thailand that they will get in trouble for not having a work permit.

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

The whole thing behind work permits is to prevent non Thai people from taking paying jobs away from Thai people.

Unless someone has been paying Thai people to pick up trash on the beach and have lost their jobs because foreign volunteers have done such a good job that trash no longer exists....I don't see a problem.

I have volunteered to help out at my local school before ( without a work permit ) and worked right along side local police officers and Immigration officers who were also volunteering and were aware of my status and they had no problem with me helping at all.

Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!

Th

i know an Englishman who helped out for free at a homeless dog shelter and was warned by the police that he faced arrest if he continued. I was asked at my son's school to help with the English lessons, i refused as i told the headmaster i don't fancy seeing the inside of a Thai prison.

[shawn000]

What i never get is with all the money that is made from tourism that they can't hire some people to clean beaches. I must say in most smaller Islands they do clean the beaches. (at least the ones I went to in the South of Thailand)

Go to a remote beach where they really don't get cleaned and you will see the difference, the simple fact is that there is a large amount of rubbish coming ashore every day, I have been on beaches where the plastic is piled three feet high at the high tide mark.

[Winniedapu]

Sure it's impressive. Now wait for Immigration Police to issue warnings for working without a permit and doing work that Thais could and should do.

T.A.T., take note. "Come to Thailand and clean up an amazing beach"

I often hear folks on TV warning about doing good deeds, without pay in Thailand that they will get in trouble for not having a work permit.

Yet, I have never met a person or even read a post from a person who has had problems because the volunteered to do something good for the sake of doing something good.

The whole thing behind work permits is to prevent non Thai people from taking paying jobs away from Thai people.

Unless someone has been paying Thai people to pick up trash on the beach and have lost their jobs because foreign volunteers have done such a good job that trash no longer exists....I don't see a problem.

I have volunteered to help out at my local school before ( without a work permit ) and worked right along side local police officers and Immigration officers who were also volunteering and were aware of my status and they had no problem with me helping at all.

Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!

Th

You don't see a problem and I understand why but you are not in an official position and as a civil servant warned me it only takes one person to complain to set things in motion.

I know a couple of foreigners whose wives are the registered owners of a small restaurant / bar and they were warned by officials to do nothing that remotely constituted work or they could find themselves in trouble.

I don't know if this is true but i have heard that if you are legally married you wont be arrested for helping your wife run her business as by Thai law you are obliged to help your wife in all of life's situations,any thoughts on this?

I think that may be correct now, but has only been a policy change which was announced a few weeks ago. Until then, just sitting in your wife's office - esp if tidying up or answering the phone was regarded as work. I did hear of one case that involved a foreigner literally sitting in his wife's office in case a phone should ring, was acted on, but I don't know if that is urban legend or not.

Best policy might be to check the law with the police and get something in writing with a signature. \Laws in Thailand are apt to be translated differently according to who you talk to, and this is not accidental.

Law drafting in Thailand is as professional or otherwise as most other things in Thailand, and the quest for opportunities to extract money for breaches real or imagined is ubiquitous.

Winnie

[gandalf12]

Taking jobs away from the Burmese.

Littering here, whether on a massive scale where people dump trash by the tuck-load in vacant lots, or the folks in the back of the pick-up throwing some trash from the moving vehicle, or just the Thai chap at 7/11, throwing a wrapper on the ground millimeters away from the trash can, is definitely a pet peeve.

The lack of respect, or complete unawareness, is always surprising.

It doesn't surprise me. It is 'Thainess' not to take responsibility for anything "mai bpen rai" is their creed

I dont believe it is that simple. I reckon no Thai wants to see him / her self as being low enough to collect rubbish. Consequently they leave it to someone else....who never comes.

[shawn000]

"Farang Thai beach rubbish collectors wowing Thais Farangs"

I wonder if I'll live long enough to ever see this headline

I would hope not. Farang is a Thai word, and Thai language does not do plurals. So it at least should be 'farang' in stead of 'farangs'.

The thing with using foreign words within an English sentence is that they are adapted to the English grammar set, so we would not only ignore other Thai rules within the sentence, but we would also pluralize the word farang.

farang

Noun

(plural farangs)

1. (Thailand, sometimes derogatory) A Caucasian or a white foreigner; one who comes to Thailand from another country.

Origin

From Thai ฝรั่ง (farang, “foreigner”)

[Netease]

Yes, if the tourist don't do it. who will?

The Thai's say they love their country? I say BS, as they toss their plastic garbage all along the beach... They are all like little children, with no sense of responsibility.

My wife and her family are not like that

[thaibeachlovers]

What i never get is with all the money that is made from tourism that they can't hire some people to clean beaches. I must say in most smaller Islands they do clean the beaches. (at least the ones I went to in the South of Thailand)

They've always cleaned the beaches, but not usually during the monsoon season as the rubbish just keeps on coming in. Even back in the early 90s they cleaned Chaweng beach.

However, it's just the resort staff cleaning the beach in front of their property.

Don't know why it's such a big deal now. I always cleaned the beach where I was staying, but no one made an issue out of it. At least I did on the islands where there were few people. I would never do it on Pattaya beach, or Patong beach if I ever went back there.

[thaibeachlovers]

Yes, if the tourist don't do it. who will?

The Thai's say they love their country? I say BS, as they toss their plastic garbage all along the beach... They are all like little children, with no sense of responsibility.

My wife and her family are not like that

My wife used to, but she gets told off if she does now, so she stopped.

[reptile91602]

What I don't understand is why foreigners are cleaning the larger more public beaches. So much of the trash is from the fishermen and as long as people clean the beaches the source of the problem is ignored. The ocean shouldn't be a garbage can for the Thai fishermen. It would be so easy to tell them they can't and fine them if they do. Education. It is just like a doctor putting cream on your rash when it could be stopped by eliminated something known from your diet.

[sahibji]

if this volunteer act of the Farang does something to creates social awareness that cleaning the beach is a community problem best solved by community action it would have served its purpose.

perhaps collective activities can be organised to clean up not only the beaches but parks as well.

[Roomuck]

"Thai people are not as stupid and unreasonable as some foreigners would like to believe they are!"

How do you suppose so many foreigners came to think this about Thais? Because Thais are honest, hard-working and well-educated?

I suspect not.

It's the same when BKK Thais call Isaan Thais 'kwai' - meaning they are lazy, dirty and stupid. If there were no truth to that, it would not be so widespread a belief. Same same, it's not all, not even mostly, racism.

But too much Kool-Aid will predispose you to think what it suits your outlook on life to think, rather than what is real.

Winnie

They also call the farang "Kwai" so according to you it must be truth in it.

A big body, smelly, small brain and able to be lead around by the nose by small bodied females.

I see this kind of Kwai in central Festival Pattaya Beach all the time. Being lead around by a small bar girl.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Roomuck

[goodheart555]

What i never get is with all the money that is made from tourism that they can't hire some people to clean beaches. I must say in most smaller Islands they do clean the beaches. (at least the ones I went to in the South of Thailand)

Go to a remote beach where they really don't get cleaned and you will see the difference, the simple fact is that there is a large amount of rubbish coming ashore every day, I have been on beaches where the plastic is piled three feet high at the high tide mark.

That is true, seen it myself many times...or even worse beaches that mostly Thai people go to.

[bheard]

Local administration chief Sompong Damrongorntrakun said that about ten tourists were helping to clear up and that this was most impressive. He said that his department was not sitting idly by - there are regular weekly collections of rubbish by his men too helping to keep the beach as clean as possible.

Oh please, spare me.

[renaissanc]

I've been here 32 years. I know that it's not worth taking the risk of doing voluntary work. It only takes one person with a chip on his shoulder to cause you trouble. If the local Labour Department or Immigration official or Policeman is behind on his payments for his new resort, house, land, or Mercedes Benz, you may have to pay the missing payment(s) for the problem to disappear.