Take the example of 40-year-old internet entrepreneur Yodchatri Sityodtong, who
was born into what he describes as an "upper middle-class family" in Bangkok. He
said that he never wanted for anything as a child. However, everything changed
when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997. "My family went bankrupt and lost
everything. My father lost his life savings and my parents and younger brother were
basically homeless. They became fruit vendors on the streets of Pattaya [a city in
the east of the