[Buddha-l] Fake Monks in Thailand

[Curt Steinmetz]

I think this entry in the Hobotraveler blog looks like an exaggeration 
or even a hoax being perpetuated to discourage tourists from giving 
donations to Buddhist monks and temples - and encouraging tourists to 
generally view Buddhist monks with suspicion. Or it could just be some 
publicity stunt designed to drive traffic to the hobotraveler website.

The "hobotraveler" entry cites "stickmanweekly.com" as a source. That 
site, in turn, appears to be primarily devoted to promoting the 
sex-trade business in Bangkok. Here are a few of the other "stories" 
featured at stickmanweekly.com site:

"The Bargirl's Ten Commandments"
"Naughty Boys and Digital Cameras"
"The advantages of being white"
"Drug & Alcohol Rehab in Thailand"
"The 10 Biggest mistakes western men make with Thai women"
"The dangers of drug smuggling in Thailand"
"Meeting Thai women: back to basics"
"The adventures of an online voyeur"

The other link in the original post is to "prweb.com" which is site that 
will publish absolutely anything - it's basically just a random 
selection of unrelated junk from the internet.

In July of 2007, there were two articles that appeared in the "Straits 
Times", a Singapore newspaper, about fake monks *from* Thailand plying 
their trade in Singapore. According to those stories this had already 
been going on for at least two years. Here is a link to an article from, 
of all people, the "Gay Buddhist Fellowship" of Singapore:
http://heartlandsg.org/2007/07/15/fake-monks-in-singapore/

Can you imagine anyone in the US pretending to be a Buddhist monk as a 
way to make money?

Curt

BP wrote:
>   Report Released Warning Tourist of Fake Monks in Thailand by Andy of
>   HoboTraveler.com Travel Blog
>
> /Andy of HoboTraveler.com released a video and photo report showing how 
> fake Monks from China are collecting money donations in the Khao San 
> Road tourist area of Bangkok, Thailand./
>
> Bangkok, Thailand (PRWEB <http://www.prweb.com/>) November 19, 2008 -- 
> Andy of HoboTraveler.com released a video and photo report showing how 
> fake Monks from China are collecting money donations in the Khao San 
> Road tourist area of Bangkok, Thailand.
>
> The report explains how normal Buddhist Monks from Thailand do not 
> collect money donations, then explains the differences between a real 
> Monks and a fake Monks in photo and video expose.
>
> Read full post with pictures and video by Andy of HoboTraveler.com 
> Travel Blog on this link:
> http://www.hobotraveler.com/2008/11/mafia-of-fake-monks-prey-on-thailand.html 
>
>
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