To The Freakshow I Met Last Night
Sitting at a regae bar last night with some mates I had an experience that happens quite a lot to me in Thailand and that's meeting backpackers. This guy comes to the bar and orders a drink and says hello to me. The american in me would never start a random conversation especially with this dude but the outgoing Aussie in me always has to say hello. I wish now I'd got a photo of this guy however the guy looks similar to the picture below.
So the first thing I notice about this dude is the overly large earing he has stuck through his nose, the ear piercings that look like plates in his ears and the fact he is covered in tats. Not the kinda guy I'd hang with regardless of his personality because he'd probably scare the girls away, but whatever, i'm havin a good time I say hello back and he starts to chat.
I don't have a problem with backpackers in general but I can only stand them so much, the conversation always goes something like this:
What's your name
Where you come from
Where have you been
Where are you going
After you've answered these questions the backpacker types start telling you how they've been to 18 countries in the past few months and how you should go here and have you been there "oh your missing out" that somehow I'm less than because I don't stick a bag on my back and sleep in $3 rooms with 10 other dudes. Inevitably after they tell you all about the world they have nothing left to say except how excited they are to put the bag on their back again and sleep in another shitty room.
Listing to this guy last night I'm being polite and interested when he got to that point where he'd rambled on about his travels enough that he didn't have much more to say so he asks me what I do. So I told him part of the truth, I own Living Thai a blog on Thai girls and Thai hookers and sex in Thailand. Should of seen this guys eyes, he looks at me with total horror like I'm a child molester or something and he exclaims "I don't like that, that's wrong" maybe he was lost for words? Not sure, but I'll never forget this guys eyes it was priceless.
So this guy is obviously offended by sex (looking at him you know he doesn't get much) or at least Thai hookers or the fact that girls sell themselves for money. So yes it's true, i'm a pimp, and this site is #1 for information about Thai hookers. I don't hide the fact or pretty it up in anyway and why should I? This is life dude, this shit happens and why should I make apologies for it?
This is how these Khao San Road types are like, they'll be quick to attack you if you judge them for looping a bull ring through their nose or having enough ink to kill a whale and then attack you again if you don't also ink yourself up with tribal tats and stab yourself with rings making dance circles spinning fire singing coombaya the world is a lovely place. It's not dude, you gotta get outta your fairyland and talking to "likeminded" people to find out it's not. Try to understand the world for what it is not just suck up the shit you like. Open your mind a little.
I don't need to travel around the world to know that the world is shit, it's dark, and there are terrible people doing terrible things. So many people pass through Thailand with their eyes closed believing if they ignore it or don't partake in it then it doesn't happen or that they are helping. Many expats are like this too, they think cause they spend a few thousand dollars a month in Thailand that they are "helping" Thai people and Thailand should reciprocate with an easy and cheap visa so they can keep spending 30-40 thousand baht a month in the country. You're contribution is so small, no you do not make a difference especially to the average Thai.
I don't normally talk to dudes that look like they just came out of a clown carnival (for reasons stated) but I'm not going to judge a guy off the bat because he looks like a freakshow either. Maybe the dude would of respected me more if when he spoke to me i said "I don't talk to clowns".
I’ve been travelling myself for 4 years and have stayed in a few hostels along the way (although only two nights in dorms – I always take private rooms with ensuite – often the difference is not that much more money), but its true what you say about backpackers. They are mostly a bunch of naive kids and overgrown greenies who think they are being independent by backpacking and seeing the world rather than just going on a 2 week package holiday, but really all they do is follow the Lonely Planet and move from party hostel to party hostel with other backpackers, completely cocooned in a bubble with other travellers. They never really mix with locals or dare to get away from the backpack scene. But they always think they know the culture cos they got pissed a few weeks in the hostel with all their backpacking chums and saw a few shanty house outside the winder of their vip tourist bus to the next town. Me though, I usually tried to find the local scene, drink in bars only locals frequented, and meet a local girl (of the working and non-working variety – whoever I could find). Backpackers – OK in small measures, but mostly just cheapskate pissheads with overinflated opinions and no real sense of local customs
Well said!
I’ve listened to backpackers tell me all about the different countries and cultures they have experienced. And they tell me how much they respect the locals and contribute to poor countries by spending money there,and in the next breath tell about how they find the cheapest accommodation and food they can,even try to bargain for cheaper. I remember being at a small,family ran bar one time during happy hour (50 cents a beer) and these bloody backpackers are trying to bargain the beer down to 25 cents. I took all my strength to not drag them outside and beat them senseless.
He’s probably young and stupid, like we all were, and when he grows up he’ll smile at his foolishness but if he has all those tattoo’s THAT is something he will not smile about.
I don’t chat to backpackers, generally, as they are a pain in the arse and ‘keeniow’.
I would make an exception if i met a cute young female backpacker with BIG tits who wanted to earn some sideline cash 😛
The helping the economy shit gets me everytime, especially people who are like ‘Piss tests for drugs? Well, Thailand has lost my business!’ like the baht is gonna crash once they get back on the plane to nowheresville.
I once met a backpacker that claimed Chaing Mai had little culture and was same as the west!. I could only ask what city in the west has Mauy Thai Boxing stadiums, 300 Temples local monks and local tribes only a short drive away!
WTF what was he wanting to see? people dressed in traditional clothes of 150+ years ago and daily Thai dancing at Thapae gate’s main square! all while the local transport is carts pulled by bufallos and tuk tuks!
Maybe he just visited zoe and thought thats all there was to chiang mai
Many of these backpacker types feel they’re holier than thou because they dont partake in the monger scene. Most of them believe the urban legends and fake news spewed out by western media that the majority of women selling sex in Thailand, and other parts of SE Asia, are victims of human trafficking. But we all know that this is simply untrue. It has been disproven time and time again. 95% of women selling sex in Thailand are doing it out of their own free will. They like the easy money and many even enjoy sex work.
I don’t really mind that these backpacker types want to pierce and tattoo themselves up, grow dreadlocks, not shower for weeks, and walk around like a total freakshow. But what gets me is that these same idiots won’t hesitate to talk down on people and sexpats for mongering but at the same time, they have no problem promoting the use of illicit drugs like ecstasy, heroine, crystal meth etc. at places like the Full Moon Party at Koh Phangan. Recreational drug abuse has harmed more people and taken more lives than the sex industry ever has or ever will.
Back packers stink. Fuck em