meritgudluk

[BigRed]

Am I the only one plagued by this phrase? Not only do I have to drive the wife for an hour to our local temple for 'special occasions' and hang around while tangoman chants until your knee give up but I'm then expected to smile and bow while the wife places a small fortune next to him for meritgudluk. Not give him mind, they won't stoop to accepting something directly from the people looking after them.

I sent some money to the family last week only to be told that it had gone to meritgudluk in Thailand. I watch the wife try the 'lucky numbers' that she has received from tangoman on the lottery, but she is still convinced they are lucky even though she hasn't even won a tenner.

I saw the temple they are still building outside Bankok and there's thousands of them there, all being waited on hand and foot. I thought the early morning treck around town scrounging food in Thailand was supposed to teach them humility and remind them who supports them, but in the UK they roll out of bed and have everything laid out on the table for them.

What's happened to the no material possessions? they are all there with their mobiles, pdas, electronic dictionaries etc. and getting gourmet meals waiting on the table every day. They have also seen more of the UK than I have, plus they have trips to Europe.


OK, rant over, but I've yet to see any of them do anything useful.

[Texpat]

I gave a ride to one of the feckers in the back of my truck a few months ago. He was walking with some box of papers in this arms. When he tapped on the cab to be let off, he then started chatting up my wife and in the end, she gave him 300 baht.

Now wtf? I give the guy a lift, spare him from walking down a long dusty road, and he thanks me by pressuring my wife into another goddamn donation.

That's the last monk that gets a ride from me.

[DrB0b]

Never heard that exact phrase before, just the Tam Boon part, but I know the situation well. I embarrass the hell out of my wife by asking the monks just what exactly they plan to do with the money before I give it to them. Lots of temples do a lot of good with donations but I'm damned if i'm going to contribute to the "buy a new Mercedes for the Abbot fund". I also never give money to monks on their own outside temples. There are a couple of temples I contribute to on a regular basis, both because they do good with the money and a record of charitable contributions is useful when applying for permanent residence.

[Dalton]

Your not the only one trust me, so if missy needs to go some-where, she can drive herself and take the othe from the village with her, changing them each 20 baht, I' amazed over how many people can fit on a pick-up...

[Happyman]

Got a new bike on Saturday ( Ok! Ok! an Air Blade, but thats not the point) was parked outside the local bar and a couple of monks came by.
They asked the old boy who was sorting out the empties "was it new and who does it belong to?"
He said "Yes" and pointed at me.
Next thing I know there is one of them chanting and preparing to put grubby gold fingermarks on the matt black headlamp housing and the other was trying to tap me up for 500 Baht !!!
Afraid the "angry falang" syndrome kicked in big time and they departed with a new grasp of the usage of the English language.
Cheeky bastards!!!
Was having a quiet drink with my brother - not seen him for a year - and these cnuts just pissed me off.

Rant over