I guess as a newbie, it can be charming or adventurous, but it sure does wear you down after a while and you just want it to end. I’m sure a Thai would find their first -40ºC winter in Canada an adventure too, but they’d soon change their mind.

As for the Biggest Dude, he sure doesn’t beat around the bush, but that’s why we love him.

You give great advice. I’ve been pondering your post a bit.. perhaps because I spend a lot of time in Cambodia recently where the begging and being approached is far more intense there. And perhaps because I host a lot of visitors who willingly use my home as a free hotel. We had a similar discussion over dinner last night and that finally helped me figure out my thoughts.

I find the first comment by Biggest Dude rather harsh, especially on the tourists. The beggars, yes, I share the same frustration with the two of you.

Many of us who travel often and afar or live abroad learn to deal, if not understand or accept, to roll with how the locals act. For a majority of Westerners, especially Americans I know, see Asia as a truly exotic realm that they don’t have a frequent opportunity to visit. And for many of them who do make it across the Pacific, Asia *is* a complete change from what they are used to. The reverse is the same, which is why many Asian tourists go in clusters of guided tour buses.

In many ways it’s plain unfair anyway. Tourists to many parts of the Western world generally don’t get approached and be told that the Lincoln Memorial, the Uffizi Galleries, the Niagara Falls, the Louvre are closed when they aren’t. And there’s no denying many of us, even living here, end up paying “farang” prices for a lot of things, as much as we attempt to negotiate. The blatant scamming is very aggressive here. Living here, I find it wears my patience out. Tourists on the other hand are here only briefly.

As I spend more time, I find myself wavering between amusement, frustration, impatience, and indifference on these things. When I first arrived, I used to give long winded stories and dissertations on what not to do and what to avoid. Now, I’m gradually perfecting my advice into succinct simple instructions. “Don’t get in a parked taxi, Don’t get into a tuktuk without me, Here’s the list of jewelry stores…” But I have the benefit of time on the group to refine my understanding. One-week tourists don’t.

THat beggar you linked to “Bob” I spoke with him, well I gave him shit when he first started begging. I told him he was a disgrace and not to sit near my apartment at the time, and I threatened him with physical removal if I saw him nearby again – which is why he moved to Asoke.

The reason. I told him to get a job teaching English, he laughed and said 20,000 Baht a month isn’t enough – I was living on 15,000 Baht a month at that time from my internet income.

“Looking for work” what sort of softie was that blogger “ex-pat only wages” tells you he doesn’t really want to work.

And those lazy buggers who lay in the street, I step right near their face, and turn around surprised “Oh sorry, didn’t see you there”. I have seen one guy with his fake leg on top of a nearby bus shelter while he begs. My mates Thai girlfriend told us not to give them money as she saw one time the Police come and the sliding beggar hop up and attempt to hop away, he had a bag of coins as big as a soccer ball – that is why they crawl around belly down all day.

As you said Greg it is not a pleasant disability but it is not major either. Plenty of limbless people are gainfully employed and going about their living in Poi Pet for example. Nothing to stop them going to school and learning to use their brain either – last I checked a web developer didn’t need 2 functional natural legs as a job requirement.