'Begpacking' is a term you might be more than familiar with in Southeast Asia. It's a portmanteau of the words 'begging' and 'backpacking', and the people who engage in this form of travel usually consist of Caucasian westerners who flock to Southeast Asia with a minimal budget (almost always intentionally), entrusting their travel funds to be paid for by kind-hearted (perhaps a little na?ve), lower-earning locals.
How do they do this? It's simple: Beg on the streets, maybe offer 'free hugs' and ask for 'donations' because they're free spirits who want to 'see the world' and 'find' themselves. In essence, they're basically going on vacation for free, in developing countries that were once (most probably) colonized or exploited by their own.
IMAGE: The Times
So if you weren't familiar with the term before, you probably get the gist now.
Ah shit, here we go again.
While we can all agree that the pandemic severely impacted the local economies of Southeast Asia, driving many people out of business and into unemployment, it also led to some blessings in disguise – like the reduction of crime, as well as begpackers.
After all, travel restrictions and stringent COVID-19 safety measures prevented people from moving freely during the early stages of the pandemic. Malaysia, for instance, imposed its Movement Control Order (MCO), which acted as a lockdown dictating what people could do and where they could go. Naturally, this led to the exodus of begpackers, with no locals to trick into funding their travels out on the streets. Travel, as it was, had ceased to exist.
But it's 2022 now, and COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, aside from soft rules that require the wearing of masks in certain places. Global borders have reopened and international flight tickets have been selling like hotcakes. This marks the dreaded return of begpackers on the streets of Southeast Asia. There it is, the fuckening.
IMAGE: hangtua / Reddit
The strange phenomenon was recently highlighted in the r/Malaysia subreddit, showing a photo of a Western begpacker selling trinkets by the side of a walkway at the Pavilion shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. According to u/hangtua, the user who posted the photo, the begpacker had claimed that he was actually "entitled to block the pathway at Pavilion KL to get money for his travels in Southeast Asia". Okay, buddy.
While kind-hearted passersby will definitely give this man what he wants, there's a certain air of frustration that many Malaysians (and Southeast Asians) feel when these things happen. Suffice to say, these frustrations have definitely been shared in the comments section of the discussion, even by other visiting Westerners.
One of the biggest question marks that come to mind is the fact that he's wearing what looks like an expensive pair of Air Jordans. Sure, they could be counterfeit. But the fact is: He managed to get on a plane to Kuala Lumpur – and as we all know, flight tickets are a luxury.
"He’s wearing Jordans too which are expensive shoes. Not a good look overall," Reddit user u/sharkattack85 says.
Though some people might think we Southeast Asians are being a little xenophobic (surely there are some who actually are), laziness and an inflated sense of entitlement seem to be the general consensus reached by people who come across begpackers.
"Hi, Westerner (German) here. I think they should be sent back to their home country, paid for from their embassy's budget. I'm pretty sure that would get some attention in their home countries," shares u/lostfocus.
"I'm surprising myself with this pretty hard-line stance because I'm usually of the opinion that it should be much easier for people to travel and move around. I guess something about their weird entitlement just rubs me the wrong way."
But is it even legal in the first place?
IMAGE: QbIx08 / Twitter
Begpacking comes in a few different forms. While it's generally unethical to be engaging in it, there are 'less horrible' ways to go about taking advantage of locals in a developing nation. As you can tell, you're still horrible if you do it.
For one, if a begpacker were to busk on the streets, they could technically get away with it in some Southeast Asian nations – most major cities have designated busking zones anyway. However, these zones are almost always reserved for locals – not people coming in on tourist visas. Enforcement is quite lax, of course, especially when dealing with people with... lighter... pigments.
Anyone holding a tourist visa is technically not allowed to earn money in the country they're visiting – including begging, let alone busking or selling trinkets.
The begpacking phenomenon isn't exclusive to Southeast Asia, though. It's seen significant prominence in other parts of Asia, like South Korea and Hong Kong. But thanks to the power of social media pressure, some governments have taken steps to curb begpacking.
IMAGE: @cmsteknologies / Twitter
Thailand, for example, requires visitors to have at least 10,000 baht (US$262) in cash per person in order to enter the country. This doesn't technically mean begpackers have been vanquished. They could technically bring that cash with them and still beg on the streets.
As Seoul-based British journalist Raphael Rashid once said, “Begpacking is dishonest emotional bribery."
So, what should you do if you're unfortunate enough to come across a begpacker out in the wild? Just keep on walking. If you're so inclined, you could report them to the authorities, though there's no guarantee that anything will be done – again, because white people are apparently untouchable.
Of course, it's also important to bear in mind that some begpackers unwittingly fall into dire circumstances, forcing them to beg on the streets. In these cases, what you can do as a good samaritan is to help them get in touch with their respective embassy, high commission, or consulate. From there, you've done your job as a do-gooder.
Have you come across any begpackers?
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