Pattaya farang lost souls

[Butch 3,456]

Every so often a topic is posted about farang guys who have lost everything and return home penniless, more often than not through their own mistakes or lack of control, willpower or by simply being too trusting. I briefly touched over this event in one of my recent TR's, but I wish to go into more detail as it has been playing on my mind ever since.

 

Many of us can name a few we've met previously, or at least can recall some of the faces of those who've returned home never to come back to Pattaya. My reason for writing this particular topic is not to serve as a warning, but to get something off my chest. I recently visited in May and it wasn't a great trip because my mother fell ill just a day before I flew out and she was very sick during my trip, so most of the nightime was spent on the phone and video calling the UK. She managed to hang on until I returned home after cutting my trip short, and passed away shortly after.

 

thus, my "head" wasn't in the right place for the trip and I didn't relax, I wasn't great company (and a thanks to Grazel for lending an ear when it was needed) but I digress. I often found myself sitting in beer bars in the early afternoon, and in one case, fairly early in the morning. One particular morning I was sat in the Billabong bar chatting to a friend over a breakfast of Tiger beer when we noticed a farang guy walking along LK Metro.

 

He was about 6', grey dirty hair and a beard, wearing a pair of shorts unbuttoned and unzipped , no shirt and a pair of old flip flops. He was well tanned, and perhaps in a previous time would have been well built, he didn't have any tattoo's either, but he had a distended belly and had shit himself, it had run down his legs and dried up. My friend thought they were scratches, but the flies that followed him and settled on the seats he sat on told a different story.

As he wandered along, he was drinking the offerings the girls had put on the buddha shrines, he did this to every "outside" shrine on the LK. He came to the Billabong, sat next to the shrine on the corner, helped himself and sat on a seat. he then got up and continued down the Soi, leaving shit and flies all over the seat and table. He bent down picking up discarded cigarettes and smoked them as he walked along, he also seemed totaly oblivious to us, and to my surprise the Thais did nothing, they merely replaced the offering on the shrine ( I found out why later).

 

Being slightly shocked, our conversation turned to this guy and how he might have ended up the way he was. This would have been a man who entered the kingdom in clean clothes, with a nice suitcase, good shoes, a watch, a haircut and probably some money behind him, perhaps leaving family behind. He maybe even had a house or apartment to go to, or maybe a hotel room. Now, he is picking up discarded cigarettes and stealing alcohol, covered in his own shit with just a pair of shorts to his name. He had no rings on him either, he had absolutely nothing. He wandered out of sight and after about 20 minutes returned, wandering along. I managed to get a look at him and noticed he was quite jaundiced, and his belly was showing the signs of perhaps a more serious problem than I initially thought. The compassionate part of me wanted to try to help him out, even if it meant washing him in the street with a hose or bucket and getting him some clothes, but I was stopped by my friend who just said "he's lost mate - another one for Soi 9 tomorrow".

 

The man then took a seat where the MC taxi guys stand was, luckily for him there were none there all this time, as perhaps they might have stopped him taking the drink. he stayed there and wandered off again, out of sight to the end of the Soi and took a left towards Honey. An MC Taxi guy did come back a bit later and looked at the shit covered seat with an element of shock, then looked at his mate who turned up with a bit of suspicion, it was oddly quite comical given the circumstances. Later on that evening I returned from my usual Skyfall sojourn into LKM and was walking along past Treetown where I copped sight of the same guy again. He was passed out, asleep in a doorway and was in a pool of his own faeces. I walked on, thinking that giving him any money is bloody pointless and in his state it'll only get stolen. When I got back to the hotel I asked the receptionist to call the Police and report it, not to grass the bloke up but to get the poor bugger a bit of help.

 

The following day I related this yarn to a Thai freind of mine, and asked him why no one stopped him taking the stuff off the shrines. He told me that they would look at it as his bad luck, it's on him because he is making the choices to do it, and the state he is in is proof of the bad karma he is reaping.

 

Unlike me ( as i'm a bit of a selfish cunt ) I find myself thinking about this guy quite a bit. I'm not beating myself up about not helping him, merely wondering how and why it happened to him and how it could actually happen to any of us. We often see broken farangs in Pattaya, I recall a blonde young guy who would pick up litter down Soi 8 all day long and replace stones on the sidewalk of Soi 10 wearing a blue shirt and cream coloured shorts. It goes to show that for some people, life really fucking sucks.

 

 

I asked my friend who works in Billabong if she had seen him before and she said she had, but she doesn't "see" him per se, she selectively ignores him as I expect most people do. I asked her to say a prayer to Buddha for him for all the good it will do.

 

There are some broken men in Pattaya, but in all my years I've never seen anyone as broken as this man was.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Butch

[TheFiend 1,181]

When I was on LKM last month I saw a guy similar to what you described wandering down the soi..... flip flops tied to his feet with string...

[Butch 3,456]

When I was on LKM last month I saw a guy similar to what you described wandering down the soi..... flip flops tied to his feet with string...

 

Same bloke now I come to think of it, Mr Fiend.

[js007 795]

It's not just in Thailand. You can find people like that just about everywhere. Usually, they have a problem with mental illness, alcohol, or drugs.

 

Back in the 70s I lived in NYC, not far from the Bowery and the East Village. Homeless people were everywhere. They'd sleep on the sidewalk, on steps, in doorways, camped out in the park... They'd spend the morning hours asking people for spare change and the afternoon drinking wine or whatever until they passed out. At some point the city of New York made an effort to give them shelter and I suppose that's why they're not still there in such numbers.

 

If you want to help, donate to a charity that helps the homeless.

[TheFiend 1,181]

 

Same bloke now I come to think of it, Mr Fiend.

 

Didn't look like he had shit himself when I saw him, might have been on a different day to when you saw him...

[texasfarang 202]

How about the guy who got paid to tattoo crazy stuff on his face....talk about 10 pounds of crazy in a 1 pound bag there's no turning around from that insanity.

 

I had a friend/acquaintance who was making big money at Enron and overnight he lost everything when the company collapsed and indictments and arrest warrants were being handed out to management types like hits of acid at Woodstock. One year later he was living homeless on the streets of Houston and more about mental illness than money.

 

Several of us working in the energy biz took him in and got him back on track but it took a year for his ego to accept the fact that he had nothing and needed help from people who despised him and vice versa.

 

He ended up a Born Again Christian working outreach centers around Texas last I heard form him.

 

Not just Pattaya it happens everywhere.

[gs joe 1,780]

How about the guy who got paid to tattoo crazy stuff on his face....talk about 10 pounds of crazy in a 1 pound bag there's no turning around from that insanity

Can't think of anything good about the guys mind set that paid him ,

 

Joe

[Chang_paarp 253]

It's not just in Thailand. You can find people like that just about everywhere. Usually, they have a problem with mental illness, alcohol, or drugs.

 

Back in the 70s I lived in NYC, not far from the Bowery and the East Village. Homeless people were everywhere. They'd sleep on the sidewalk, on steps, in doorways, camped out in the park... They'd spend the morning hours asking people for spare change and the afternoon drinking wine or whatever until they passed out. At some point the city of New York made an effort to give them shelter and I suppose that's why they're not still there in such numbers.

 

If you want to help, donate to a charity that helps the homeless.

 

As I remember it, a lot of those people were put on the street as a result of a (Regan?) federal decision to not house them in prisons/asylums and not given any support as a cost saving exercise. There was not enough support outside of the institutions they were previously housed so most of them ended up on the street.

[maipenrai 476]

How about the guy who got paid to tattoo crazy stuff on his face....talk about 10 pounds of crazy in a 1 pound bag there's no turning around from that insanity.

 

 

 

If this is the guy I am thinking of, he was a homeless Thai fellow nicknamed "Chicken George" who used to hang around Soi 8; I used to see him in the old Cherry Bar there and he passed away some years ago. There are homeless people everywhere, even in my part of the frozen north where they have a pretty good time in the long summer days but face a different outlook in the long winter months - mostly aboriginal, they usually find a place to crash somewhere when it's really cold but I certainly don't envy them the lifestyle....

[BigusDicus 9,881]

It's not just in Thailand. You can find people like that just about everywhere. Usually, they have a problem with mental illness, alcohol or drugs.

 

Back in the 70s I lived in NYC, not far from the Bowery and the East Village. Homeless people were everywhere. They'd sleep on the sidewalk, on steps, in doorways, camped out in the park... They'd spend the morning hours asking people for spare change and the afternoon drinking wine or whatever until they passed out. At some point the city of New York made an effort to give them shelter and I suppose that's why they're not still there in such numbers.

 

If you want to help, donate to a charity that helps the homeless. Butch's story is very sad but unique to Thailand by no means. There are parts of LA & San Francisco, major US metropolises that are like science fiction movies

 

 

 

As I remember it, a lot of those people were put on the street as a result of a (Regan?) federal decision to not house them in prisons/asylums and not given any support as a cost saving exercise. There was not enough support outside of the institutions they were previously housed so most of them ended up on the street.

 

Actually Reagan was governor of California at that time, had nothing to do with what happened in national scope. The real culprit was the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).

 

Before the ACLU actions there were institutions where vagrants, homeless, etc. were welcomed. Many who refused treatment, being considered a danger to themselves and/or the community were in fact forcibly incarcerated. Simply put that is why there were not that many chronically homeless/mentally ill people on the street back then.

 

Enter the ACLU, convinced they can solve all of societies issues and problems with social engineering (and of course many donations). They brought cases to court, first in California and then national in scope saying it is wrong incarcerating individuals who are mentally ill involuntarily. Reagan's name is associated with it because the epicenter of the movement was initially California.

 

Simple fact: A significant portion of the chronically homeless are mentally ill / drug/alcohol addicted. There are shelters and treatment available. But the shelters will not allow individuals to stay drunk, under the influence, etc. for obvious reasons. So they refuse help and treatment. The ACLU and idiot politicians will not allow those hopelessly out of control to be involuntarily committed.

[Butch 3,456]

 

If this is the guy I am thinking of, he was a homeless Thai fellow nicknamed "Chicken George" who used to hang around Soi 8; I used to see him in the old Cherry Bar there and he passed away some years ago. There are homeless people everywhere, even in my part of the frozen north where they have a pretty good time in the long summer days but face a different outlook in the long winter months - mostly aboriginal, they usually find a place to crash somewhere when it's really cold but I certainly don't envy them the lifestyle....

 

I remember him well, some called him "tony". He was found dead one morning by one of the girls. He had tattoos all over his face paid for by a some farang guys who thought it was "funny", they would get him drunk and then pay him some baht to get a tattoo done. Much like the "pale face lady" who also died a few years ago, mental health was the underlying issue they both suffered. Another person who may or may not be remembered by some is the girl who would walk around Soi Yamato / post office / pattayaland wearing a green T shirt and grey shorts, with a shaved head shouting at farang. Never knew what happened to her.

 

It's just crazy that in 2018 there are still examples of farang who have really become broken by Pattaya. It's not the best place in the world to be if you have any kind of mental health or alcohol issues.

[TheFiend 1,181]

 

I remember him well, some called him "tony". He was found dead one morning by one of the girls. He had tattoos all over his face paid for by a some farang guys who thought it was "funny", they would get him drunk and then pay him some baht to get a tattoo done. Much like the "pale face lady" who also died a few years ago, mental health was the underlying issue they both suffered. Another person who may or may not be remembered by some is the girl who would walk around Soi Yamato / post office / pattayaland wearing a green T shirt and grey shorts, with a shaved head shouting at farang. Never knew what happened to her.

 

It's just crazy that in 2018 there are still examples of farang who have really become broken by Pattaya. It's not the best place in the world to be if you have any kind of mental health or alcohol issues.

 

Remember Chicken George and "Pale face lady " well. The were always hanging around Soi 7 and 8.....

[Lantern 193]

Used to buy Chicken George a beer now and then.

The folk who used to get him the tats are a really low bunch.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Lantern

[Big_Brian 179]

 

I remember him well, some called him "tony". He was found dead one morning by one of the girls. He had tattoos all over his face paid for by a some farang guys who thought it was "funny", they would get him drunk and then pay him some baht to get a tattoo done. Much like the "pale face lady" who also died a few years ago, mental health was the underlying issue they both suffered. Another person who may or may not be remembered by some is the girl who would walk around Soi Yamato / post office / pattayaland wearing a green T shirt and grey shorts, with a shaved head shouting at farang. Never knew what happened to her.

 

It's just crazy that in 2018 there are still examples of farang who have really become broken by Pattaya. It's not the best place in the world to be if you have any kind of mental health or alcohol issues.

I knew him as "Bird". Used to shag a soi dog if he couldn't get a lady. There's a video of him picking up brains in a carrier bag after a nasty motorbike accident - 2Welsh lads IIRC.

[atlas2 4,329]

I wrote about this a couple of years ago.........

I've known about this falang's existence for a while now, but last night I got more of the story. I was so touched by what I heard I became dewey-eyed.... filled-up....Getting soft with age you see.

It was told to me by a lady business owner in North Pattaya I'm close too. Three years ago, two of her staff had approached a falang they noticed sleeping rough, not far from their shop. They tried to get the story of why a respectable looking and it turned out, polite falang would be behaving like this.

The story he told....(uncorroborated).......was of a wife and a child in Ubon. The falang receives a pension but sends almost all of it to Ubon to support his child... and that one day he will go back.....maybe. Then she adds touchingly that his,'wife and child don't know of his situation......'

That may well be bollocks....the rest isn't.

This man is...by all accounts, well-spoken and extremely polite, began sleeping rough on the bare floor, under a canopy...outside of another major business after it closes at ten.....

I think my lady friend may have began the kindnesses that followed. One evening she took him a pillow and a blanket.

Over the following three years...... a nearby bank allowed him to use a water-tap at the rear of their premises to wash himself and his clothes.

Waitresses from a restaurant, (with the falang owner's permission) bring him a box of left-over food each night.

A nearby 24 supermarket have a toilet that they allow him to use.

The business he sleeps outside of, takes-in his bag of possessions each morning, and places them outside again, or hand them back to him when they close.

Sometimes my on/off buys him falang food, but tells him, 'It's food left-over from her ladies'

Others Thais treat him in the same caring way........

I knew nothing of this.......By now I'm gob-smacked...but there's more.

I ask, 'How does he stay without money and therefore without visa? How come the police haven't arrested him?'

"Oh police come...They talk with him......They ask if he need anything? Does he want to go home?.....he say, 'No thank you I'm OK' and they go away"

The Thais in this little locality have adopted the softly spoken falang.....They take care of him......and protect him.

During the day he walks to Big C and reads a free paper.......sitting in the air-con. Then he wanders 'home'



'Bit tong lang Pra' is a Thai idiom. It means, 'To put gold on the back of Buddha statue.' In other words do good for good's sake, not for show or reward.

Three years and my Lady friend never mentioned any of this.....But it's a real life, 'Thai TV Advert'... Real Thais are the stars.




PS
I've changed some details to protect this man and disguise the whereabouts of this lovely Thai locality.

Edited June 25, 2018 by atlas2

[Alphonse 109]

Thank you, Atlas; great story .

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

 

We are all lost souls at some level.

[Alphonse 109]

 

 

 

Actually Reagan was governor of California at that time, had nothing to do with what happened in national scope. The real culprit was the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).

 

Before the ACLU actions there were institutions where vagrants, homeless, etc. were welcomed. Many who refused treatment, being considered a danger to themselves and/or the community were in fact forcibly incarcerated. Simply put that is why there were not that many chronically homeless/mentally ill people on the street back then.

 

Enter the ACLU, convinced they can solve all of societies issues and problems with social engineering (and of course many donations). They brought cases to court, first in California and then national in scope saying it is wrong incarcerating individuals who are mentally ill involuntarily. Reagan's name is associated with it because the epicenter of the movement was initially California.

 

Simple fact: A significant portion of the chronically homeless are mentally ill / drug/alcohol addicted. There are shelters and treatment available. But the shelters will not allow individuals to stay drunk, under the influence, etc. for obvious reasons. So they refuse help and treatment. The ACLU and idiot politicians will not allow those hopelessly out of control to be involuntarily committed.

Having lived in CA at that time I remember it was not only the ACLU (by the way, they do some very good things too for those who can't help themselves) but a large portion of the professional psychiatric community that was pushing the notion that the warehouse mental institutions had outlived their usefulness. The alternative was to be small community based sites akin to half-way houses. Once the big centers were shut down the state was to provide funding for the new paradigm; unfortunately the legislature never came up with the money and the result is the ghastly situation now seen in many CA cities.

[wacmedia 277]

Having lived in CA at that time I remember it was not only the ACLU (by the way, they do some very good things too for those who can't help themselves) but a large portion of the professional psychiatric community that was pushing the notion that the warehouse mental institutions had outlived their usefulness. The alternative was to be small community based sites akin to half-way houses. Once the big centers were shut down the state was to provide funding for the new paradigm; unfortunately the legislature never came up with the money and the result is the ghastly situation now seen in many CA cities.

 

Hi,

 

They closed the hospitals here as welll and replaced it with "Care in the Community" ! There is no care in the community.

[Fireman Sam 336]

Getting back to Pattaya and Thailand, used to see quite a few Falangs begging in Bangkok around the Pratunam area. Not been down there for a few years so unsure if they’re still around or been shipped back to country of origin.

 

 

 

Regards

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

This is the worst case of a homeless farang I've seen in Pattaya, the German guy from 7-8 years ago:

 

 

I had a conversation with the poor guy in mid-September, 2011. I saw him sitting near the corner of Soi Diana and Second Road, close to Kiss. He looked terrible - filthy, in rags and clearly malnourished, perhaps even starving. You can see it in the pictures. No body fat and very little muscle on his arms or legs, His body was eating itself. The foot without the sandal was inflamed and swollen. I'm sure if it went untreated it would have become gangrenous. I had tried approaching him before, but he had been incoherent those days.

He looked so bad I felt I had to try to do something. Not knowing what to say, I just asked him in English, "You OK, man?" He nodded yes with a very unconcerned facial expression, then asked me if I knew of a hotel with a dinner buffet. That took me aback, but I answered without letting my jaw drop. I said I didn't, but I'd be happy to get him some take-away food at Kiss. He declined and said the food at Kiss was "too bad." He wanted a buffet! He wasn't begging, but he sure was choosing.

I offered him 100 baht to get food later, but he answered he didn't need it. He said he liked my shirt - I tend to wear loud print shirts - and I offered to get him one just like it. Again, he refused. I offered food or money one more time, but he repeated he didn't need it.

On one level, this was humorous: a raggedy homeless man refusing food at Kiss because of its poor quality. But on another level, it was tragic and not at all funny. For a man in his condition to refuse food is a clear indication he had become so delusional he was a threat to himself. He needed to be institutionalized at least in the short run, but that wouldn't happen in Pattaya. A few weeks later, after many, many complaints, the police did pick him up and I heard he was deported back to Germany where he would receive appropriate care. I wonder how things turned out for him and if he's still choosy about his food.

Evil

[VPI78 11,528]

 

This is the worst case of a homeless farang I've seen in Pattaya, the German guy from 7-8 years ago:

 

6.jpg

 

I had a conversation with the poor guy in mid-September, 2011. I saw him sitting near the corner of Soi Diana and Second Road, close to Kiss. He looked terrible - filthy, in rags and clearly malnourished, perhaps even starving. You can see it in the pictures. No body fat and very little muscle on his arms or legs, His body was eating itself. The foot without the sandal was inflamed and swollen. I'm sure if it went untreated it would have become gangrenous. I had tried approaching him before, but he had been incoherent those days.

He looked so bad I felt I had to try to do something. Not knowing what to say, I just asked him in English, "You OK, man?" He nodded yes with a very unconcerned facial expression, then asked me if I knew of a hotel with a dinner buffet. That took me aback, but I answered without letting my jaw drop. I said I didn't, but I'd be happy to get him some take-away food at Kiss. He declined and said the food at Kiss was "too bad." He wanted a buffet! He wasn't begging, but he sure was choosing.

I offered him 100 baht to get food later, but he answered he didn't need it. He said he liked my shirt - I tend to wear loud print shirts - and I offered to get him one just like it. Again, he refused. I offered food or money one more time, but he repeated he didn't need it.

On one level, this was humorous: a raggedy homeless man refusing food at Kiss because of its poor quality. But on another level, it was tragic and not at all funny. For a man in his condition to refuse food is a clear indication he had become so delusional he was a threat to himself. He needed to be institutionalized at least in the short run, but that wouldn't happen in Pattaya. A few weeks later, after many, many complaints, the police did pick him up and I heard he was deported back to Germany where he would receive appropriate care. I wonder how things turned out for him and if he's still choosy about his food.

Evil

 

 

For the next buffet-lover ... Lek Hotel 250 Baht.

[Butch 3,456]

Hi,

 

We are all lost souls at some level.

 

Speak for yourself Wac. I know exactly where mine is and where it is heading when the time comes.

[VPI78 11,528]

 

Speak for yourself Wac. I know exactly where mine is and where it is heading when the time comes.

 

Vegas?

[wacmedia 277]

 

Vegas?

Hi,

 

Nice one. :lol:Although I've lived quite a degenerate life I'm a spiritual person. We are here on vacation and move to a higher level when we leave our human conveyance.