Hi everyone,

I'm single and have been living in Thailand for a year. I'm now researching other women's experiences of living longterm in Bangkok. I'm particularly interested in middle-aged ex-pat women who came here because their husbands were relocated for work, and perhaps have raised families here... Have your marriages all survived? Has anyone found themselves single again in their forties? Was anyone here in the late 1980s? How has Bangkok changed? Any information/anecdotes gratefully received.......

You are asking for quite a bit of personal information, that I doubt you will get. Especially since you are looking for middle-aged women.

May I suggest, you get in touch with the American Women's Club. They have a meeting group for women who are getting divorced, or think they are about to get divorced and stuff along those lines. That group might help you with the "single" again question.

Then you can also ask them for members who might meet the other criteria you are looking for.

There is also the British Womens' group (a little harder to reach), the German womens group.. hard to talk to, the Dutch Women, and International Womens association.. and I am sure one of them can help you ..

p.s. what is your definition of middle aged? as in how old is old?

OP what/why are you doing this research, you really ought to introduce yourself before asking for such personal info.

Bangkok in the mid-80s? Wow, THAT was wayyyyyyyy before the appearance of the taxi meters! You got around by tuc-tuc. Air quality was much worse then and when you were in a tuc-tuc you got all the extra-black fumes from buses etc. Traffic was thick already, espeically on Sukhumvit and around Hua Lampong, but on the weekends there was a visible improvement. Instead of going out of Bangkok you took your kids to "Daen Neramid" in the Lad Prao area. No sky-train, of course, no metro...

What strikes me: as far as I remember there were mainly 'normal' beggars around, but the number of disfigured ones is shocking to me right now.

Anyone remembers 'Big Bell' near Soi Ruam Rudi?

OP what/why are you doing this research, you really ought to introduce yourself before asking for such personal info.

Apologies. I'm a novelist doing research for a main character (she's in her early forties and moved to Bangkok when her son was five). I've been reading a lot of stories in more male-dominated Thai forums where men have gone into great personal detail about their relationships. I presumed that this was because of the relative anonymity of a forum. I was also really struck by the bitterness against farang women (something I've encountered only once). After reading the thirtieth account of how a married man fell for a bar girl, I was curious to know how these men's wives coped. Where were the stories about the difficulties these woman must have faced? What was it like for them raising their kids in a foreign country and so on. I want to write something from a female perspective. Sutnyod - your info is really helpful, thankyou; and LaReina thankyou for your suggestions.