absolutelyBangkok archive · Society
Originally published May 11, 2009
Recently, in Hua Hin, I tried to start a conversation with a monk who was watching the kite surfers on the beach. Turned out he didn’t speak a word of Thai.
“Chinese,” a local Thai said, and the bogus monk just kept on smiling. Bogus monks and monks who have lost their way are obviously a problem in Thailand.
This TV report by France 24 takes you on patrol with the “Thai monk brigade” whose mission is to find and police impostors who cheat people for their donations.
It’s a lucrative business carried out by bogus Buddhists and former monks. But now there’s the monk police:
From the absolutelyBangkok archive. Back to all stories