The family farm

Can someone who has a Thai boyfriend set me straight on why the Thais up-country are so tied to the family farm. One boy I know - he keeps asking for money because his family needs it, he says. His dad, his mom, his two sisters and he - that's 5 adults, all "work" the family farm. But it doesn't make them a living. They still need money, or so he says. Here in the States some of the kids would be off working and maybe if the farm wasn't earning someone a living they would sell up. Not in Thailand apparently. I don't get it.

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....maybe if the farm wasn't earning someone a living they would sell up.....

To do what?

....maybe if the farm wasn't earning someone a living they would sell up.....

To do what?

I'll assume you're not being a supercilious prick (a big assumption, I know, Hedda). Obviously the answer is to find some way to earn a living since farming isn't giving them one.

[Patexpat]

... and in the poor NE of Thailand there really aren't that many work options to be had. Hence the mass exodus of young people to the city lights trying to make a buck to send back, but of course the city lights are very dim at the moment.

but of course the city lights are very dim at the moment.

So are many of the posters here, but that doesn't stop the old dears, God love 'em.

[aussie_]

So are many of the posters here, but that doesn't stop the old dears, God love 'em.

You kwazee wabbit !!! :cheers:

[Dani69]

A lot of the money the boy earns is sent back to family its the way it works in Thailand but dont be too generous or the requests will never stop ......good luck.

He is asking for money for two reasons. First of all he is a prostitute and only interested in what he can get out of you but knows that he has more chance of a bigger handout if he plasters the sentiment on with a trowel.

Second, like most lower-class Thais, he is a pathological liar where Farang are concerned and regards you and the rest of the expats/holidaymakers there as the next best thing to an ATM.

Wake up and smell the coffee love - you are being ripped off and taken for a very expensive ride.

Wake up and smell the coffee love - you are being ripped off and taken for a very expensive ride.

While that is an interesting set of assumptions about me, I didn't say I was making any contributions at all. The comments about the boy's requests were a "peg" on which to hang the question. Given the apparent level of pain in your answer, you've been touched in the past. My question, which no-one has yet answered, is why the Thais have such an attachment to the land, when it doesn't return them a decent living?

[Bob]

My question, which no-one has yet answered, is why the Thais have such an attachment to the land, when it doesn't return them a decent living?

A rather simple answer in my view - they love the land because that's where they are from in most cases and, in many cases, that's where momma, daddy, grandma, siblings and the pet dog still reside. That's all they had and they made do. They still make do but, in the modern age, the family farm obviously doesn't make enough to buy the latest style jeans or cellphone (and, like almost everybody else in the world, who can blame them for wanting more?). Whether a farm does or doesn't "return them a decent living" isn't the #1 priority for most of them and that comment also tells me you likely never grew up on a farm.

Many farming families (in Thailand, the US, and elsewhere) love the land and the quality family life working together brings them so their litmus test for staying there isn't necessarily economic. And many of those farmers simply can't understand why you would tolerate living in the big city.