Download or read book Understanding Thailand's Money Culture written by Chan Joon Yee and published by Dewdrop Publications. This book was released on 2016-06-20 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to the Land of Smiles. You’ve heard a lot about Thailand’s bad reputation on the popular tourist trails and you want to go off the beaten track and prove the idiots wrong. You arrive at Ban Nowhere and you’re charmed by the peaceful settings and the friendly, generous and seemingly altruistic people. You thought you’ve found paradise until … The story can be continued in a number of ways. This book focusses on issues related to money and spending. If you’re like most Farangs (White foreigners), you’ll become an instant celebrity soon after you settle in. You make friends faster than lingerie models on Facebook. People bring food and snacks to you every single day. You can’t believe your luck. You think you may retire here without spending any money until … There is usually only one course the story can take from here. Some people will vehemently disagree with my observations and interpretations. They may not need to read my book – yet as they probably haven’t reached the second “until”. If you don’t believe that generalisations are generally true, and that there is no such thing as typical Thai behaviour, then you probably shouldn’t be reading this book either. The not-so-lucky folks out there often turn to online forums for advice and consolation. This is not always helpful as every Farang would claim to be an expert and judgementally dismiss the victims’ predicament as the result of being a sex tourist and going for bar girls, prostitutes and spoilt politicians’ daughters. Of course, most of the observations here do not apply to Westernised, modern-thinking Thais. The mentality I’m describing is something very common in the general population. It needs to be understood from the start that Thailand’s unhealthy money culture does not only apply to shady characters.