Been out of Taiwan about a year.
Had an amazing time, all told…
But I realized that 10-30% of the population will take advantage of nicey-nice gwailo / bule / barang / farang in a million subtle ways…
No point in griping, but it’s fun to list the games…
More later…
GAME ONE: The guilt trip industry.
Very rare in TW, and I think all of us appreciate that a lot
I started hanging out with some squatters last August… drank SoJu with them on my birthday. I talk to everyone.
They told me they were “broke”. I don’t believe in paying for friends. So I paid them 8 bucks to take me round the neighbourhood identifying wild plants, then cooking them. 8 bucks for a medicinal soup lesson is a bargain.
They were happy, so was I.
Then they spent the money on METH.
lol.
So the HHC Hope For SE Asia Program made their lives worse.
GAME 2: Whitest Skin Pays
Again, rare in TW.
You go out with some people and they just assume that you are going to pick up the tab for their fried chicken and beer. I knew a Polish guy who thought he was so much fun that everyone should buy him 3 meals a day.
Why?
Why am I writing this down? Because the guilty forienger who cant say no is prevalent enough that we are all taking a hit.
Hahaha. No, I am stone cold sober.
My life is GOOD here, Im just clearing out my OS.
Scams account for about 5% of my life here. Im a little cagey today cos Ive been woodshedding Khmer, and ended learning about 3 words. Pathetic.
Onward.
Surely the Polish guy was the whitest guy.
There are farangs that have lost everything to some chick with a cute smile and a sick water buffalo. That’s well documented. I just wonder about the more subtle scams.
Game 3. You are just a dumb cash mule.
I went to Oecusse in East Timor, to meet someone Ive known for 15 years. He’s in his group, Im in mine.
The children in his village have stunted growth. Why? Cos instead of farming, the adults are all pincing around learning Silat. Which is good, but not if your kids are a quarter of a way to looking like thery’re in a famine.
It has nothing to do with money. The adults all smoke like chimneys. 2-3 dollars for ciggies. 2-3 dollars for a ton of vegetable for your family.
They chose ciggies.
I saw with my own eyes wheat the kids ate. A medium portion of rice with ONE tiny cabbage leaf, and ONE string bean.
Do you know what these geniuses development plan was?
Build a janky reservoir, then build a Macdonalds.
Im not making this up.
I swear Ashton Kutcher is going to walk in.
During the 8 days I was there, he didnt ask one question.
ANYONE from forumosa could have helped them with solar panels, wind, hydroponics, ditch digging, wells, water filtration.
But no, they are too proud to ask whitey anything.
Meanwhile, he spent every day trying to drain cash off me.
I was supposed to stay for a year, and learn Silat.
I left after eight days because the entire village made me ill. ha.
Thats what I was thinking. But he gets a pass cos of his Slavic genes.
Guilty guilty western Europe has to pay.
He was kind of like a low rent Fonzee.
He met this girl on Facebook.
She was sending him money.
He said, I MAKE HER FEEL GILLLTY HAHAHA. I DO THIS TO HER. Then he made a wringing motion with his arms, like wringing a rag.
Nice collection .
Did you ever learn any Silat ?
Ah, yes, no group of people is more known for their “niceness” than Brits on other continents. The history books are filled with tales of your kindness to people of other races.
Im so awfully sorry, would you like a thousand pounds?
Poor locals scam dumb well-off foreigner, news at 11.
But all those whitey’s like being taken advantage of because they expect something in return no?
No they lost everything to stupidity from their own actions.
So you met some “work is the curse of the drinking classes” types. It happens.
The way I see it, the real problem here (for you) is this:
I talk to everyone.
There are over 8,000,000,000 humans now. There are just a little over 2,500,000,000 seconds in a vaguely average human lifespan (80 years). That means there is literally not enough time to spend one second talking to every human.
My coping strategy is to be selective about which humans I spend my time communicating with. I’m not very good at it, but I’m certainly less bad at it than I used to be. 
Yer, it is like those old people that get tricked into giving over their bank details by scammers. They shouldn’t have been so stupid. 
Ha. Yeah, amusing. But I rarely get scammed.
Street Hustler alienates 20 potential allies per day, stays in economic gutter.
News at 12.
Here’s Tom with the Weather.
I must say I like your Escher-like logic in Finley’s humbug thread.
I have started being way more selective in who I talk to, as well.
Everyone sorts and filters. We are sorting machines.
But how do you filter? I filter by Kindness, Respect and Productivity. KRP.
But I still have to keep myself open to talking to anyone. I actually meant talk to Anyone, not Everyone.
Ive got much better at smiling and cutting the conversation respectfully and quick once anyone falls below 90%.
Why talk to anyone?
Because People of Myth, when they holiday in our world, often come in as Taxi Drivers or Roadside sellers, to filter out social climbers.
The Game gets interesting at a certain level.
