Backpackers swim in flood water on Khao San because, how often do they get to do that?

[outsider]

Idiots.

[Tomtomtom69]

"Looks like there are a few jealous old folks here!"

When I was a lad, I wanted a bike. My folks couldn't afford to give me one for my birthday, but my Dad borrowed a fiver to buy one from a friend of his. It was too big, the handlebars weren't straight (like my mates), there were no gears and no whitewall tyres. These things aren't important to me now, but as a lad of 9, they were.

When I fronted up at a friend's hous eto go on a lengthy bike ride, I got laughed at, seriously laughed at for the state of my birthday present bike.. So I withdrew and went home (crying as I recall). My mum cuddled me and said "Never mind, they're just jealous of your new bike".

Which was rubbish then. And it's rubbish now. I doubt any of the old fogeys on TV, including me, are jealous of backpackers, and it's a bizarre comment to make that they are.

Winnie

Trust. But verify.

I thought it was quite obvious that I am not saying anyone is jealous of someone because they have less money. Those kids had better bikes than you had so I agree would not be jealous. Backpackers on the other hand have youth and the ability to have fun even on a shoestring. The fogeys will mostly have lost both these qualities and rely on boasting about how much they can spend on posh hotels and the like to make themselves feel superior. They probably have a comfortable life but not much fun. Just because someone has less money than you does not mean you are in any way better than them (or visa versa).

A mate of mine was out on his scrambler a few years ago and met a group of lads on their bikes. They laughed at his kit - full face helmet, high vis jacket and wellies but he did have a decent bike. They had all the correct gear and looked the part. They all carried on together and when they got to a disused quarry took it in turns to go up a particularly steep bank. Out of those who had the bottle to try it, only my mate could make it to the top. When he left them they all respected him even if they were still laughing at his gear.

Another example of the well off thinking they are better than the rest of us and that we should conform to their ideals - a different mate was out on his bike going over some Welsh mountains, near his house, stopped to let a walker past. The man had a go at my mate for riding on the mountain saying it made a mess with the tyre tracks and was noisy etc. My mate then told the cockney prick to go back home and demolish London and turn it back into green fields and forests before coming 200 miles and expect the locals to keep Wales nice and tidy for him to walk through.

I would rather expect the backpackers to be jealous of someone like me. I own a new car, they see me driving around in comfort, meanwhile they have to drag their 30kg backpacks through flooded streets to battle it out with a tuk-tuk driver who will rip them off on the fare. Similarly, I can afford to spend time with my wife and even my friends at a nice hotel when I travel, enjoying good conversations. Yes, sometimes I even manage to meet new people just like me on my travels. Clearly I'm superior to them, if seen from this point of view.

But it's not just that. I know what these travelers are like - I've been drunk like they are. It gets old and boring after a while. In particular, once you realize that they are not interesting conversation partners but all they do all day is either 1) think about getting drunk or 2) actually getting drunk while on their travels, and usually going only to the same places that we've all been to already, actually I feel confident in the knowledge that my life is way more fun than theirs. And as I've mentioned before, in terms of my age, I'm not much older than most backpackers.

[Tomtomtom69]

To all those defending backpackers.

Getting drunk and doing stupid things, like some backpacker did just recently in Sihanoukville, Cambodia where she got naked and climbed onto a statue is cool? Now she faces arrest, humiliation, deportation and blacklisting. Not to mention embarrassment due to negative media coverage. You can read about it over on Khmer440.com.

Then there was the case of three backpackers caught riding bicycles naked near Kep last year. They were swiftly arrested and deported.

And the case of some arrogant backpackers stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. They can get on their high-horse and talk about their superiority (to whom exactly?) and how much "fun" they had all day, but if "fun" means getting ridiculed by the locals and even arrested, jailed and deported, then no thanks.

That just doesn't appeal to most normal people like me. If you want to do those things, fine by me. Like I care. However, no amount of justifying how much "fun" these people are having is going to convince me. Because getting naked and disrespecting local culture, risking arrest or just making a fool of yourself isn't "fun" at all. It's stupid.

I'm having a ball living the life I desire, backpackers for me are the lowest form of tourists, even lower than the $0 Chinese tours. At least the latter don't smell, get naked or drunk and constantly cause trouble everywhere they go.

[jeab1980]

To all those defending backpackers.

Getting drunk and doing stupid things, like some backpacker did just recently in Sihanoukville, Cambodia where she got naked and climbed onto a statue is cool? Now she faces arrest, humiliation, deportation and blacklisting. Not to mention embarrassment due to negative media coverage. You can read about it over on Khmer440.com.

Then there was the case of three backpackers caught riding bicycles naked near Kep last year. They were swiftly arrested and deported.

And the case of some arrogant backpackers stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. They can get on their high-horse and talk about their superiority (to whom exactly?) and how much "fun" they had all day, but if "fun" means getting ridiculed by the locals and even arrested, jailed and deported, then no thanks.

That just doesn't appeal to most normal people like me. If you want to do those things, fine by me. Like I care. However, no amount of justifying how much "fun" these people are having is going to convince me. Because getting naked and disrespecting local culture, risking arrest or just making a fool of yourself isn't "fun" at all. It's stupid.

I'm having a ball living the life I desire, backpackers for me are the lowest form of tourists, even lower than the $0 Chinese tours. At least the latter don't smell, get naked or drunk and constantly cause trouble everywhere they go.

I'm sure of two things.

1. They won'tbe wwasting there time reading this forum.

2. If they did they would be having a great laugh at your expense as I am , must be hard for you being so superior.

[Tomtomtom69]

To all those defending backpackers.

Getting drunk and doing stupid things, like some backpacker did just recently in Sihanoukville, Cambodia where she got naked and climbed onto a statue is cool? Now she faces arrest, humiliation, deportation and blacklisting. Not to mention embarrassment due to negative media coverage. You can read about it over on Khmer440.com.

Then there was the case of three backpackers caught riding bicycles naked near Kep last year. They were swiftly arrested and deported.

And the case of some arrogant backpackers stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. They can get on their high-horse and talk about their superiority (to whom exactly?) and how much "fun" they had all day, but if "fun" means getting ridiculed by the locals and even arrested, jailed and deported, then no thanks.

That just doesn't appeal to most normal people like me. If you want to do those things, fine by me. Like I care. However, no amount of justifying how much "fun" these people are having is going to convince me. Because getting naked and disrespecting local culture, risking arrest or just making a fool of yourself isn't "fun" at all. It's stupid.

I'm having a ball living the life I desire, backpackers for me are the lowest form of tourists, even lower than the $0 Chinese tours. At least the latter don't smell, get naked or drunk and constantly cause trouble everywhere they go.

I'm sure of two things.

1. They won'tbe wwasting there time reading this forum.

2. If they did they would be having a great laugh at your expense as I am , must be hard for you being so superior.

I'm sure of 3 things:

1) Backpackers DO read this forum. There was one case a year or two ago when some clueless backpacker in Phuket talked about how she found it more important to get drunk for the remaining week she was going to spend in Thailand, rather than doing a visa run to sort out her overstay. Backpackers will argue all day long on Lonely Planet's Thorntree if you tell them that going to an ATM in Myanmar is "no big deal because it only costs you $5".

2) Yes I am superior, to you at least.

3) By all means keep defending the insensitive and horrible behavior I have described. Hope you will follow suit by copying your dream demographic's behavior and get arrested for it. I will be the one commenting on a forum about your arrest and laughing at your expense.

Edited June 29, 2016 by Tomtomtom69

[jeab1980]

To all those defending backpackers.

Getting drunk and doing stupid things, like some backpacker did just recently in Sihanoukville, Cambodia where she got naked and climbed onto a statue is cool? Now she faces arrest, humiliation, deportation and blacklisting. Not to mention embarrassment due to negative media coverage. You can read about it over on Khmer440.com.

Then there was the case of three backpackers caught riding bicycles naked near Kep last year. They were swiftly arrested and deported.

And the case of some arrogant backpackers stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. They can get on their high-horse and talk about their superiority (to whom exactly?) and how much "fun" they had all day, but if "fun" means getting ridiculed by the locals and even arrested, jailed and deported, then no thanks.

That just doesn't appeal to most normal people like me. If you want to do those things, fine by me. Like I care. However, no amount of justifying how much "fun" these people are having is going to convince me. Because getting naked and disrespecting local culture, risking arrest or just making a fool of yourself isn't "fun" at all. It's stupid.

I'm having a ball living the life I desire, backpackers for me are the lowest form of tourists, even lower than the $0 Chinese tours. At least the latter don't smell, get naked or drunk and constantly cause trouble everywhere they go.

I'm sure of two things.

1. They won'tbe wwasting there time reading this forum.

2. If they did they would be having a great laugh at your expense as I am , must be hard for you being so superior.

I'm sure of 3 things:

1) Backpackers DO read this forum. There was one case a year or two ago when some clueless backpacker in Phuket talked about how she found it more important to get drunk for the remaining week she was going to spend in Thailand, rather than doing a visa run to sort out her overstay. Backpackers will argue all day long on Lonely Planet's Thorntree if you tell them that going to an ATM in Myanmar is "no big deal because it only costs you $5".

2) Yes I am superior, to you at least.

3) By all means keep defending the insensitive and horrible behavior I have described. Hope you will follow suit by copying your dream demographic's behavior and get arrested for it. I will be the one commenting on a forum about your arrest and laughing at your expense.

XXXXX much love Xxxxxx

[Franky Bear]

Wonderful people.

[whaleboneman]

To all those defending backpackers.

Getting drunk and doing stupid things, like some backpacker did just recently in Sihanoukville, Cambodia where she got naked and climbed onto a statue is cool? Now she faces arrest, humiliation, deportation and blacklisting. Not to mention embarrassment due to negative media coverage. You can read about it over on Khmer440.com.

Then there was the case of three backpackers caught riding bicycles naked near Kep last year. They were swiftly arrested and deported.

And the case of some arrogant backpackers stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. They can get on their high-horse and talk about their superiority (to whom exactly?) and how much "fun" they had all day, but if "fun" means getting ridiculed by the locals and even arrested, jailed and deported, then no thanks.

That just doesn't appeal to most normal people like me. If you want to do those things, fine by me. Like I care. However, no amount of justifying how much "fun" these people are having is going to convince me. Because getting naked and disrespecting local culture, risking arrest or just making a fool of yourself isn't "fun" at all. It's stupid.

I'm having a ball living the life I desire, backpackers for me are the lowest form of tourists, even lower than the $0 Chinese tours. At least the latter don't smell, get naked or drunk and constantly cause trouble everywhere they go.

It seems your issue is with public nudity and not backpackers.

Naked as I type this.

[Tomtomtom69]

To all those defending backpackers.

Getting drunk and doing stupid things, like some backpacker did just recently in Sihanoukville, Cambodia where she got naked and climbed onto a statue is cool? Now she faces arrest, humiliation, deportation and blacklisting. Not to mention embarrassment due to negative media coverage. You can read about it over on Khmer440.com.

Then there was the case of three backpackers caught riding bicycles naked near Kep last year. They were swiftly arrested and deported.

And the case of some arrogant backpackers stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. They can get on their high-horse and talk about their superiority (to whom exactly?) and how much "fun" they had all day, but if "fun" means getting ridiculed by the locals and even arrested, jailed and deported, then no thanks.

That just doesn't appeal to most normal people like me. If you want to do those things, fine by me. Like I care. However, no amount of justifying how much "fun" these people are having is going to convince me. Because getting naked and disrespecting local culture, risking arrest or just making a fool of yourself isn't "fun" at all. It's stupid.

I'm having a ball living the life I desire, backpackers for me are the lowest form of tourists, even lower than the $0 Chinese tours. At least the latter don't smell, get naked or drunk and constantly cause trouble everywhere they go.

It seems your issue is with public nudity and not backpackers.

Naked as I type this.

LOL.

Well yes, public nudity is an issue for me. However, in all these examples and many more, the perpetrators were backpackers (though I recognize that not all people who go out exhibiting their bodies are backpackers). It's easy to tell them apart though - the expat types are invariably older, usually drunk and tend to act alone; the backpackers are young and do stupid things like ride bicycles naked in groups.

I don't have a "beef" with backpackers per se, but I do have a problem with those who disrespect the culture, the "ultimate cheapskates" who get into a hissy fit when they find out they spent 10 Baht more on a t-shirt than another person, the unwashed types, the ones who only come to get drunk etc.

Backpackers who are interested in the culture, who want to know the best way of getting from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, places to visit in Vietnam etc. they are all fine. I'm happy to engage these people in conversation and make friends with them, as I often have.

[Tomtomtom69]

Wonderful people.

13528131_658997300925485_1029057126115233010_o.jpg

Looks like the Saladaeng intersection near the MRT and Skytrain entrances.

Saw two more backpackers (hitchhikers as they called themselves) yesterday in the Silom area, they were trying to sell postcards for "Free Price" whatever that means?

Sounds like they've been "hitch hiked" already, or is that just "backpacker" speak? I don't know, I don't speak "backpackerese"....