Rise of Western backpackers begging to fund their trips in Asia

[kunfish]

Story on Dailymail about westerners begging their way across Asia. Pretty amazing. No shame whatsoever.

 

 

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[BigKahuna]

Who pays them? Ive never ever given to a beggar.

[kunfish]

No idea. Some play musical instruments instruments. Others flat out hold signs asking for trip fund.


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[BigKahuna]

Busking is different from begging. 

[samsensam]

 

you see them around siam every weekend, maybe week days too but i'm not there then. they bang drums or plastic bottles or sell crappy photos 'free price'. it's usually thai teenagers who give them money. not sure how profitable it is.

 

i cant help feeling it's pretty shameful behaviour expecting locals to fund their travel. what's wrong with getting a job and saving money as i used to? i guess some people have a thick skin.

[samsensam]

5 minutes ago, BigKahuna said:

Busking is different from begging. 

 

depends how you define busking, many just bang things, no apparent musical talent.

[kunfish]

Busking is different from begging. 

Understood, but in this form is more of bumming. Being a lazy bum.

I wonder how they sound when they play, as opposed to people with real musical talent.


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[BigKahuna]

1 hour ago, samsensam said:

 

depends how you define busking, many just bang things, no apparent musical talent.

Good buskers can make $200  or $300 in a day. Some professional musicians started out that way.

 

Bad ones would be lucky to make $20.

[kunfish]

Good buskers can make $200  or $300 in a day. Some professional musicians started out that way.
 
Bad ones would be lucky to make $20.

I'm just thinking Asians in Asia are likely to not have a good ear for western live music and pay a bum who strums 3 chords more money than they "should" be worth. But if the giver gives, more power to them.


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[BigKahuna]

Well if they learn Carabao and Loso they might earn more.

[Ijustcashier]

If a young scruffy looking person asks if I speak English I always answer in my native European tongue.

Except I slipped up a while back out the front of central Pattaya.

Dude tells me he just released from prison and begged money for food.

I told him go Rob the supermarket downstairs for food, you get caught its still win win back to prison for boiled rice!

[Crowes]

SE Asia is one of the least expensive places on earth. How sad.

[Ijustcashier]

SE Asia is one of the least expensive places on earth. How sad.

Also with the biggest temptations. Back packers have no interest in living up country to save money.. Even if it were free, besides its just a scam to get more money, very few are truly penniless

[kunfish]

Also with the biggest temptations. Back packers have no interest in living up country to save money.. Even if it were free, besides its just a scam to get more money, very few are truly penniless

This may be off-topic, but I have seen many backpackers in Thailand and they look like either slack-jawed idiots with not concern for the culture, or some who are hell-bent on fun, but just as ignorant.

They come here dressed all dumpy with skateboard and whatnot and think this is some free-for-all Disneyland and who gives a crap about the natives.


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[BigKahuna]

7 hours ago, kunfish said:

This may be off-topic, but I have seen many backpackers in Thailand and they look like either slack-jawed idiots with not concern for the culture, or some who are hell-bent on fun, but just as ignorant.

They come here dressed all dumpy with skateboard and whatnot and think this is some free-for-all Disneyland and who gives a crap about the natives.


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I havent seen many carrying a skateboard. Where are they going to skate?

[jerojero]

Get a job. Save some money. Have your trip. Lazy a-oles.

[NoshowJones]

18 hours ago, BigKahuna said:

Good buskers can make $200  or $300 in a day. Some professional musicians started out that way.

 

Bad ones would be lucky to make $20.

Does anyone really care about any "musical" ability from a street busker/beggar?

Are any of them that good that people will genuinely stop and listen to them?

If they have any decent musical ability, surely they would be able to make it with a professional band, or even as a solo act.

[BigKahuna]

14 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Does anyone really care about any "musical" ability from a street busker/beggar?

Are any of them that good that people will genuinely stop and listen to them?

If they have any decent musical ability, surely they would be able to make it with a professional band, or even as a solo act.

Lots of people stop and listen. Most bands make very little money. Earning $300 in a day busking is more than sharing $500 between 4 members for a live gig.

 

There are also people that busk standing there like a statue.

 

Circular Quay in Sydney was famous for good buskers.

 

 

[NoshowJones]

23 minutes ago, BigKahuna said:

Lots of people stop and listen. Most bands make very little money. Earning $300 in a day busking is more than sharing $500 between 4 members for a live gig.

 

There are also people that busk standing there like a statue.

 

Circular Quay in Sydney was famous for good buskers.

 

 

At a live gig you are working for about 3 hours, how many hours does a street busker work to earn the same money?

I know, I was a professional musician before I moved to Thailand.

[Wilsonandson]

[Wilsonandson]

http://observers.france24.com/en/20170410-%E2%80%9Cbeg-packers%E2%80%9D-white-tourists-who-beg-southeast-asia

 

“Beg-packers” is the word sometimes used to describe young Western tourists who play music or sell knick-knacks in the streets of southeast Asia to pay for their trips or to purchase their ticket back home.

[BigKahuna]

28 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

At a live gig you are working for about 3 hours, how many hours does a street busker work to earn the same money?

I know, I was a professional musician before I moved to Thailand.

A smart busker will work peak hours. Morning then late afternoon. So maybe 4 to 5 hours for $300. Thats better than an average gig.

 

The best ones at Circular quay were earning this type of money in the 1990s when $300 was really good money.