Article In Todays Observer (17 August) Re Farangs And Bar Girls

[R123]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/1...ndrelationships

[britmaveric]

[GuestHouse]

Thailand could not buy this kind of publicity.

[JimmyFoxx]

Yep. And then there's that classic line: 'I thought she loved me, but she only wanted my money after all...'

No kidding

You just watch this woman walk free. No justice for foreigners.

[Spee]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/1...ndrelationships

Uhm ... I think the article said "up to" 70 applications per week, not 3500 something per year as your title might imply. It's possible that the embassy may have only seen one week all of last year where there were 70 apps and the writer was sensationalizing.

And sorry, but those so-called "friends" don't sound much like friends to me. A friend wouldn't be standing by while someone gets set up for the kill. He or she would be doing something to try to prevent it.

Edit:

The article also implies that all that all bar girls are prostitutes, which is not true.

The article also implies that all bargirls are out to shake down tourists, which is not true.

The article also implies there is rampant starvation in NE Thailand, which is not true.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Spee

[R123]

Thank you Spee, perhaps the mederator can amend the heading and add in "up to "before the words 70 applications per week.

[Sir Burr]

My girl's different..........

..........no, really, it's true.

[think_too_mut]

The article also implies there is rampant starvation in NE Thailand, which is not true.

This is more than "implying", what a nonsense:

From Isan's desperately poor, rice farming villages, where hunger is the norm, the bars of Bangkok or Pattaya are a welcome escape.

Edited August 17, 2008 by think_too_mut

[Heng]

The author should send this in to all of the major in flight magazines. Might be able to get a permanent stipend from it.

[britmaveric]

Wouldnt help much - as Sir Burr has correctly stated the facts.

[lazeeboy]

its a shame when papers write about thailand its always doom and gloom,there are as many nice stories out there as bad,unfortunatly those nice stories dont sell papers ,so they only write up the bad ......

[britmaveric]

Sex/Sordid tales sells... ALWAYS HAS AND ALWAYS WILL!!!!

[gymshark]

Retarded journalism at it's best, but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who would go to live in an alien environment without being able to understand the lingo, the feeling of isolation must get to you after a while, just learning the basics of Thai / Issan would surely make life so much easier.

There are thieving bitches all over the world but to paint rural Thai women like this is a disgraceful generalisation.

[Neeranam]

Edit:

The article also implies that all that all bar girls are prostitutes, which is not true.

The article also implies that all bargirls are out to shake down tourists, which is not true.

How many bar girls have you known? In my experience, 99.99% of bar girls are prostitutes and the other 0.01 % are the ones married to foriegners

Edited August 17, 2008 by Neeranam

[petitechevre]

they are all prostitutes, those that 'arent' are just unable to get laid for $ due to physical appearence.

those that say no to you, are just picky.

[garro]

I must admit feeling a bit disappointed to see this type of article in The Guardian. Any attempt to describe people by stereotype is always a mistake in my opinion. My experience in Thailand is that all ex-pats and their Thai partners are unique with different dynamics involved.

[think_too_mut]

but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who would go to live in an alien environment without being able to understand the lingo, the feeling of isolation must get to you after a while, just learning the basics of Thai / Issan would surely make life so much easier.

Then be amazed that I have been living and prospering in Japan for 5 years with hardly any Japanese.

Not only that, I am bringing in my Thai family next month.

[sylviex]

While hunger in the NE is inaccurate (compare with "cheap food and drink"), I think the article does highlight some interesting, recurring patterns and takes a look at outcomes of the close-to-mutual-exploitation scenario. It gives the views of both the Thai and foreign ex-partner in the example.

If the men thinking of getting involved in a similar scenario realised that theirs was not some unique and special Romeo and Juliet story, they might see what they are doing in a different light. If they still wish to continue, there's not much anyone can do, but at least these men might pay more attention to possible future events, especially regarding their finances.

[poshthai]

Retarded journalism at it's best, but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who would go to live in an alien environment without being able to understand the lingo, the feeling of isolation must get to you after a while, just learning the basics of Thai / Issan would surely make life so much easier.

There are thieving bitches all over the world but to paint rural Thai women like this is a disgraceful generalisation.

well said gymshark.The tabloid papers have got it all wrong with this story.they should stick to the facts,and the facts are that a guy has been murdered up country and his ex and new bf have been caught.My ex wife of 27 years turned into a thieving bitch and a drunkard too and she is english and white not thai so same same i think,and she did it when i was very sick and nearly died.

[onzestan]

Same stereotyping, same sensationalism, same exaggerations, in short same bs over and over and over again.

my 2 cents

onzestan

[sylviex]

While hunger in the NE is inaccurate (compare with "cheap food and drink"), I think the article does highlight some interesting, recurring patterns and takes a look at outcomes of the close-to-mutual-exploitation scenario. It gives the views of both the Thai and foreign ex-partner in the example.

If the men thinking of getting involved in a similar scenario realised that theirs was not some unique and special Romeo and Juliet story, they might see what they are doing in a different light. If they still wish to continue, there's not much anyone can do, but at least these men might pay more attention to possible future events, especially regarding their finances.

P.S. I wonder who is that "marked man" they mention at the end. At least the recent, shocking murder and articles like this may cause some people's friends & relatives to look out for them better.

[Ulysses G.]

I have seen a lot of farangs marry bar girls and the marriages are good and have lasted. The biggest problem seems to be the guys, NOT the girls, as they can't keep their weenies under control!

Edited August 17, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[grantbkk]

Bar girl and the expat: a killing foretold

Every year hundreds of Britons leave the UK to marry Thai brides. The perils of such liaisons were revealed last week when retired engineer Ian Beeston was murdered by his wife and her lover. Ian MacKinnon and Andrew Drummond in Suwannaphum investigate a ruthless marriage market in which money can buy beauty but not necessarily love...

Now you're telling me it takes two English, so called journalists, to produce this tripe. Stylized foreign intrigue for a good Sunday Morning read. They expanded a few facts into an article in which they say that the older English guys that come here and even some of the younger ones are ugly. Thai girls and women are predisposed to cheat their husbands and boyfriends but we should feel sorry for them because they are poor. Well to me this piece was done with a full five minutes of research based on the fading memories of two aging freelance (unemployed) journalists over a few beers in a Thai bar.

Change the players names and country of residence, find a publication that is hungry for some sensationalized news then print it again for some spending money. This is journalism at its finest. I suggest they change the country name to Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, the Philippines, etc. You get the idea. No country is crime free. I think the description of the nightlife areas in Bangkok and Pattaya were lifted directly from fiction I've read. Has anyone actually observed newly mated coupes skipping down the streets of Bangkok in the daytime? What a bunch of BS.

Edited August 17, 2008 by grantbkk

[Travel2003]

I must admit feeling a bit disappointed to see this type of article in The Guardian. Any attempt to describe people by stereotype is always a mistake in my opinion. My experience in Thailand is that all ex-pats and their Thai partners are unique with different dynamics involved.

True.

Articles like this also feed the impression people have on all tourists and expats as well.

I only hope that many of the Forums members from UK will take the time once in a while to send something to other papers in UK, making this particular news paper and reporter look bad.

Should not be a problem as we seem to have many active members from UK. Some of you can without a doubt write very good articles yourself. Im sure of that.

Why not take the time?

[toptuan]

The article also implies there is rampant starvation in NE Thailand, which is not true.

This is more than "implying", what a nonsense:

From Isan's desperately poor, rice farming villages, where hunger is the norm, the bars of Bangkok or Pattaya are a welcome escape.

What a crock!

I spend most of my weekends with these "starving" farmers in the villages, and many of them are quite a bit more portly than moi. Plenty of excess food is fed to the chickens and dogs after every meal.

The forest and land abounds with natural food. My own little plot sports papaya, pumpkin, squash, jack fruit, lemon grass, basil, takob fruit trees--none of which I planted--all growing naturally.

[sriracha john]

I have seen a lot of farangs marry bar girls and the marriages are good and have lasted. The biggest problem seems to be the guys, NOT the girls, as they can't keep their weenies under control!

But he sounds like such a nice guy...

Four months ago a furious Beeston banished Wanna to a corrugated shack in the back garden.

[think_too_mut]

I suggest they change the country name to Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, the Philippines, etc. You get the idea. No country is crime free.

Really? How would the story sound were it set in Singapore, Korea or Japan? Would it ring true, or even possible?

I think the description of the nightlife areas in Bangkok and Pattaya were lifted directly from fiction I've read. Has anyone actually observed newly mated coupes skipping down the streets of Bangkok in the daytime?

Hundreds and hundreds (well, not at once but hardly a few minutes apart) while I had to commute on SkyTrain.

Old-fat-bald men holding hands, even groping, their barfines in broad daylight.

See them parading at Emporium, cinemas....everywhere.

A constant source of irritation.

[garro]

The shittiness of this article has caused me to send my first ever letter to a newspaper editor;

Dear Editor, I am just writing to express my disappointment at your article' Bar girl and the expat: a killing foretold' by Ian MacKinnon and Andrew Drummond. I now live in Thailand, but previously lived in the UK and regularly enjoyed reading the Observer on Sundays. I always found your paper to be fair and honest - at least in as much as you can expect from a newspaper. I am an Irish citizen and always felt that you dealt with the issues of Northern Ireland in a balanced way.

The article 'Bar girl and the expat: a killing foretold' is in no way a balanced portrayal of life here in Thailand. It is sensational and is full of cliched stereotypes. It once again portrays all Western men who come to Thailand as sex tourists and Thai women as prostitutes. I suppose it's easy journalism and these type of stories sell well, but you could at least try and provide another point of view. I guess if you did send a reporter to investigate this story then he must have hit the first bar he could find and got the story from the first drunk he met. It reads like the sort of thing you would only hear from somebody who would dribble on your shoulder as they tell you - quickly followed by their general theory of women.

I am an Irish man married to a Thai, but I did not come to Thailand as a sex tourist. I came to learn meditation. I fell for a local women and we later married and had a child and have lived her now for six years. I am 38 years old and work as a teacher. I previously worked as a nurse in the UK. I am like many other ex-pats who came to Thailand and fell in love with the place and decided to make a life here. I do not recognise the picture you paint of the ex-pats here. Perhaps The Observer/Guardian can no longer be associated with fairness- that's a pity.

I feel very sad about what happened Mr Herrington. It was a horrible way for him to die. Perhaps he would have been safer in crime-free Britain.

[Travel2003]

The shittiness of this article has caused me to send my first ever letter to a newspaper editor;

Thank you mate.

Thank you so much.

[toptuan]

Kudos Garro. Well-written and points forcefully made!