When Foreigners Cross the Line 🌍🚫
A Tuesday Thread Discussion
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Last Friday, I shared a post about that viral video: the Israeli tourist on Koh Phangan who was caught on camera behaving with next-level arrogance — talking down to Thai staff, telling them that her people’s money built their country. If you missed it, catch up here.
The video triggered a huge uproar online — and for good reason. It hit a nerve.
Because this wasn’t just about one tourist being rude. It tapped into something bigger. Something simmering.
That tense, uncomfortable dynamic that can emerge when a foreigner — whether tourist, long-termer, or even local business owner — acts like they own the place.
So this week’s thread is a big one:
Have you ever witnessed a tourist or long-termer acting so arrogant, entitled, or disrespectful that you actually cringed thinking about how it must have come across to the locals?
We want your wildest stories:
🤯 The shocking moment
😳 Why it made your stomach turn
🌏 What you think the locals really saw in that moment
Let’s collect them. Let’s be honest. Let’s be better.
And yes — anonymous posts are welcome if you want to keep it diplomatic. 😬
💬 Drop your story in the comments. I’ll be reading every one.
👇 Let’s talk.
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I'll go first! Obviously I shared the video of the super rude comment by a tourist on Koh Phangan in last Friday's post. Here are 3 more examples from my years living abroad:
- Tourists walking hand-in-hand down the road as if cars don't exist.
- People sunbathing naked on the beach despite it being illegal and disrespectful to do so in a Buddhist country
- A tourist demanding a discount on his room because he didn't use the TV.
I love you so diplomatically asked if we've witnessed anything instead of being direct and saying 'have any of YOU ever done something like this?' 😂 I'm sure you must have some readers who have done some naughty stuff!
I didn't witness this, thank goodness, but while I was living in Latvia, one night a Brit got arrested for urinating on a statue and Eastern Europeans don't take too kindly to disrespecting their statues like that. Needles to say, it doesn't paint the UK in a flattering light, and that's the side effect of the low-cost airlines.
Nothing else specific and shocking to share, but I've experienced plenty of entitled obnoxious expats treating locals derisively, being rude and abrasive with their haughty airs. I've seen this just about everywhere I've lived, and in Nigeria it was particularly unpleasant.