Due to the nature of Thai society, with no financial aid from the government for the unemployed, low-waged etc and with few people having anything remotely like a pension in Thailand, some people struggle to find money to live. In most cases, other family members rally around, scraping a few baht to help buy food and pay bills and so on, but yet there are still a few beggars that you will see on a daily basis on certain roads in Udon Thani.
If you walk between bus terminal 1 on Sai Uthit and ferang alley on Soi Sampanthamit, you will find three to five regulars, sitting in exactly the same spot they were the day before. There are normally two near the 7/11 store and hotel on the corner of Sai Uthit. One elderly man or woman, and another woman a little further away. On the other side of the road, between Central Plaza and ferang alley, there are normally three elderly women, all within about a 50m stretch of the pavement. Note that I have mentioned only elderly people, and all of those I have seen are on the wrong side of 60.
Most of the ladies are sitting on the floor with a bowl in front of them, offering a wai as people pass by, to ask for them to make a contribution. However, just the other day I saw the laziest beggar ever - he was asleep on 'the job'! See reason number 4 below as to why he was out cold.
I refer to these people as professional beggars and absolutely refuse to toss a coin in to their tin or bowl. You might be thinking what a mean spirited git I am by not helping them out, so to defend myself and to warn others, here are the reasons as to why I will never give them anything.
1. If I fall on hard times while in Thailand, who is going to throw money at me? Will any Thai do it? No, I would be royally screwed and would have to either find another way or place to exist.
2. Every day, the local Thai's give them more than enough money to keep them going. Indeed after watching one of these old ladies for several hours (for research purposes), she easily had more than 500 baht given to her - nearly twice what someone earns working in a shop, hotel, for restaurant for 10 - 12 hours a day! These people do not need any help from us expats or visitors.
3. In direct connection to number 2 - these people are making enough money to not need to go begging on Saturday or Sunday! Most people in the Udon area have to work seven days a week to earn enough money to live on.
One of the ladies has a working husband, so she is only doing it to make more by not actually doing anything.
The other lady I have seen before, as she is a real professional who does this as a job well in to the evening. I saw here visiting a restaurant one evening, and I just happened to be enjoying a meal there at the time. She was bent over and hobbling through the tables begging for money and I thought nothing of it at the time (as this was the first time I had seen her). Just a few minutes later I went to the front of the restaurant to have a smoke, and saw this little old frail lady leave the building, straightening up her back and jumping on to the back of a motorbike and riding off - Not only is she a beggar, she is a fraudster! So if you are not happy with the three reasons above, let this be a warning to you.