People in Europe, due to exuberant reports of Thailand, believe that all people here are living to the Buddhist teachings, with the aim to achieve the way to the eternal nirvana, and that one can live here in a quiet and undemanding society, will be disenchanted when confronted with the Thai reality, and will see that this imagination was an absolute dream.

 

In Thailand, money means prestige, and much more than in our countries. That is only possible, if one can demonstrate to the neighbor that one has money. That may be a thick gold chain, hanging around his neck, a new car or motorbike even when bought on installments or simply some generous hospitality for friends and acquaintances.

 

In Thailand, the concepts of wealth, possessions, power and prestige are overlapping, and are largely synonymous. The mere fact that someone is rich, no matter by what means he has got the money, secures his place and respect in the society. If someone in our countries earns money through methods that have a bad reputation, or even are criminal, most people will avoid him, and he will not enjoy high reputation in the society, despite his apparent wealth.

 

This is different in Thailand. He who has money will get from everybody the appropriate respect. When women are working for years as a prostitute in Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket, far from their hometown, and have actually managed to save a considerable sum, then when returning to their hometown nobody will ask for the origin of the money. This applies equally to business people who have achieved their success with usury or other disreputable, if not criminal methods.

 

In our countries we have tendency to save part of our money for possible emergencies, major purchases, or retirement. Not so in Thailand. For us Farang, it is often difficult to understand how unmindfully Thais are living from hand to mouth, spending their money as soon as they got a few baht in their fingers. Thais deal with the money, as dogs with a sausage. Money is there to enjoy and to get Sanuk. If somebody for any reason, e.g. by lottery prize gets some money, it must be immediately used to get Sanuk. Saving is a foreign word for Thais. Why save today, perhaps one is will die tomorrow, and then needs the money no more.

 

Perhaps the following story, which can be found in some Thai schoolbooks, will give a good idea of the way of thinking of the Thais: 

 

When the king on one of its journeys asked a farmer, what he makes with the money, which he is earning with his work, he answered: "that is very simple. The little money, which I earn with my work I will divide in four parts. One part I will bury in the earth; one part I will use to pay my creditors; one part I will throw into the river and the last part I will give to my enemy"

 

As the king was surprised by this strange arrangement, the farmer explained it clearer: The part, which I bury in the earth, is the money, which I give for the monastery and for mild gifts; the money will carry fruits for me in the next life. The part, which I give to my creditors, is to give back what I received from my old parents, who I owe my life. The part, which I throw into the river, is the money, which I spend on playing cards, drinking and with girls. The last part, which I give to my enemy, is the money I give to my wife, who argues everyday with me.

 

Depending upon the character of the particular individual, the respective parts will be of various sizes. This story has however, like all fables, a true background.  Money is not for saving, but for spending. One must not only think of the family, but also of ones own pleasure, of the parents and of the next life.

 

If however the money is not spent for having fun, then it is spent to buy gold.  With exception of those very rich, Thais wanting to plan for the future, don’t put their money in the bank, but buy gold, which can be changed quickly into money again if necessary. 

 

If one has no money, one will try to borrow it from someone. Sometimes borrowed money will be paid back, but very often not. While the debt-making in western countries is seen as a break with the discipline of moral aspirations, in Thailand not only making a debt, but also the non-repayment of debts is entirely normal.

 

Borrowed money is called in Thai "ngön tschüe", what means literally "trusted money". However to believe that one will get back the money borrowed by a Thai, is an illusion. This misconception was the cause for the economic crisis 10 years ago, when Western banks had lent their money to Thai banks because of high interest rates promised, and often without any collateral.

 

Lending in Thailand is something different than in our countries. When a Thai asks for a loan he has hardly the intention to give it back. Anybody who lends money to a Thai must be aware that he has given it away. Farang are generally classified as rich, and treated as ATM Machines on two legs. Instead of being stingy, they should spend their money for Sanuk with poorer people.

 

Since Thais like to forget that borrowed money must be repaid, no Thai Bank will give a loan without sufficient collateral, usually land papers. But since each family owns only a limited amount of land, and the bank will take in possession the land given as collateral  when the payments agreed in the contract cannot be paid, the farmers today have barely very little land left of their own, and work as tenants in the fields that once belonged to the family.

The easy way of dealing with money, above all if it comes out of the pockets of other people, is not at all confined to the small people, but also the way of acting of people who have much money The grave economic difficulties Thailand came into at1997, were above all to be attributed to the fact, that giant sums of money were borrowed from foreign banks, and invested in projects, with which from the beginning it was clear, that the necessary return would never be sufficient for the amortization and interest charges.

 

It was enjoyable to make investments, and a large part of the funds provided flowed into the pockets of influential politicians, but nobody worried about the repayment due one day.

 

This difference in attitudes to money and the low value Thais allow to provision for worse times, may be explained from the different life circumstances in the past. Over many centuries the people in Europe had to save stocks for the cold winter months, which had to be harvested in the summer month with hard physical work. The people would have starved in winter without stockpiles.

 

Thailand, however, due to its warm climate had always been blessed richly by nature. Throughout the year fruits and vegetables grew on their own and could be harvested, also fishes in the rivers could got in abundance, without much effort. For pigs, cows and other animals they had not make stables and not to build up stocks to feed the animals during the cold winter. Why worry about the future? Nature was providing living all year-round, without any hard work.

 

Therefore the Thais have not learned to save money for possible bad times. One lives here and now and with as much Sanuk as possible, and money is only a means to get Sanuk. Today one can find in every Thai household a TV, and even on the flat land, the kids run to school with a mobile phone at the ear. This is not only Sanuk; it also brings prestige, or "face" as the Thais say.

 

Chinese in Thailand are striving to make 2000 from 1000 Bath; Thai are only thinking how to get the most Sanuk for this money. No wonder that today most shops and industrial companies in Thailand are in Chinese hands. .

 

A "retraining" by the Farang is not possible. For the Farang living under, or with Thais it comes down finally to the only truth I have learned in the 20 years I have lived in Thailand; the only leverage one has as a Farang to make Thais do something is the wallet. If one is to lavish, everything goes down the stream, if there is too little one is called a "kie niao", that means cheap charley Every Farang here must know how much he can spend without being ripped off, or even broke.