New York Times Article On Farang Husbands In Issan

[tonititan]

P.S. Yes, I think he seems as douchy as the rest of you all do, but that doesn't make him trailer trash! I admire his honesty, actually. I'd rather hear from a douchy, honest guy than a delusional one any day.

[ilyelol]

Trailer trash is an expression which might mean poor dirty uneducated as well as a loser or a "failed at life douchebag"

I dont see why you nitpick when you agree with us. He's a funny loser, thats it. His picture made my day better.

[tonititan]

Trailer trash is an expression which might mean poor dirty uneducated as well as a loser or a "failed at life douchebag"

I dont see why you nitpick when you agree with us. He's a funny loser, thats it. His picture made my day better.

I starting "nitpicking" the meaning of trailer trash when you said that the article didn't apply (presumably to most of the other 11,000 other foreign husbands in Issan) because he was "trailer park trash," as opposed to a normal guy. I still maintain that, although I don't agree with all his thoughts, he doesn't seem like trailer park trash. So then how does his story not apply to other guys as well?

And no, the term "trailer trash" isn't a broad term that means "failed at life douchebag." (Look it up if needed.) Would you describe a drug addicted, homeless man in New York City as "trailer trash?" No. How about a black man, from a wealthy London family, who dropped out of school and is now supported by his family? No, not trailer trash. "Failed at life douchebag" yes, but not trailer trash. They are not synonymous.

I noticed that you didn't answer my question, though. So let me ask again. You said:

His choice of an uneducated bargirl with bad english is only because "women" are such an angry annoying species right? Theres no chance in hel_l he's just an uneducated trailerpark trash who waited his whole life to have a long mullet and a 'slave' wife that would not understand him, therefore wouldn't be put off by his dumbness.

It seems that you are implying that the only reason he married an uneducated bar girl with poor English is because he's uneducated trailer park trash who wants a "slave." Yes?

[citizen33]

One of the earlier posters said that age and culture are both against these relationships. They may be, but I'd say that cultural difference in particular can make a woman who wouldn't seem very special to a Thai man interesting to a Western partner, and vice versa (especially with an older guy). Because of Thai social structure most Isaan women over about 30 won't have had too much education, but that doesn't mean they are stupid. I find it fascinating that some of these women, against the odds and irrespective of class, have transformed their lives to a quite remarkable degree. I'd guess that for many of them that is not just about money but is a real adventure.

[mca]

One street where Western men gather to eat and drink is popularly known as “Foreign Son-in-Law Street.”

Using a satnav around Udon Thani.

" Turn right at the next junction into " Thai Brother-in-Law Came Home Wrecked Last Night And Proceeded To Knock The Living Crap Out Of His Wife While The Whole Family Stood There Shouting And Screaming As I Tried To Convince Myself This Was Normal Behavior Avenue "

Proceed 200 metres and turn left into " Wife Isn't Speaking To Me Because Her Cousin Has Just Married A Swiss Guy Who Built Her A Bigger House Than Ours And My Wife's Jealous Lane "

At the roundabout take the second exit along " Father In Law Borrowed My New Vigo Without Permission And Stacked It Into The Side Of A New 5 Series BMW And I'll Have To Pay For The Damage Because He Hasn't Got 2 Satang To Rub Together Boulevard "

Take the next left along " I'm Down The Pub At 10 In The Morning Because I Just Discovered My Wife's Brother Is In Fact Her Husband And While I Was Back Home Attending My Grandmother's Funeral They Re-Mortgaged The House I Paid For And Blew The Lot On Playing Cards And Betting On The Premier League Cul-De-Sac "

You have reached your destination.

(All in jest folks)

[Loz]

I'm not a Jouro but I've had work published. I don't claim to be an authority by any stretch of the imagination.

I would say the formula is pretty simple.

Joe represents the middle of the road nice "normal" bloke who some might find a little mysoginistic but basically "relatable"

Desmond was as close to the cautionary tale as they were willing to go. The Money problems, the wife that showed no affection, the house over run by extended family.

And Klaus (didn't catch his real name) the german chap who was under no illusions about the nature of the relationship and had adjusted to make it work.

The old three sided coin trick. something for everyone. Enough to provoke discussion. Seems like it worked.

I'll bet a pound to pinch of <deleted> any farang living in Isaan could find someone in each of the presented "sterotypes" that is in their aquaintence. I know I can.

[MSingh]

The key line in teh article, right from the Horses's mouth.....

“It looks pretty good and they look pretty happy,” said Rojjana Udomsri, 30, who is married to a Thai man and has a 2-year-old son. “They have money to spend and they can go anywhere they want.” But she said she had her doubts.

“I don’t know if they are really happy,” she said. “There were times I wanted to have a good life like them, but I can’t live with a person I don’t love. With someone I love I can go through all the hardships of life together.”

[MSingh]

& i just watched the Video, there is no way in teh World the little Fat Boy is half Caucasian.

Edited September 26, 2010 by MSingh

[MJP]

is that a clueless article? or an article about clueless farangs?

I thought the article wasn't too biased. They showed a success story and they showed everyone happy. Not one mention of balcony jumpers or todgers being cut off!

[MJP]

One street where Western men gather to eat and drink is popularly known as "Foreign Son-in-Law Street."

Using a satnav around Udon Thani.

" Turn right at the next junction into " Thai Brother-in-Law Came Home Wrecked Last Night  And Proceeded To Knock The Living Crap Out Of His Wife While The Whole Family Stood There Shouting And Screaming As I Tried To Convince Myself This Was Normal Behavior Avenue "

Proceed 200 metres and turn left into " Wife Isn't Speaking To Me Because Her Cousin Has Just Married A Swiss Guy Who Built Her A Bigger House Than Ours And My Wife's Jealous Lane "

At the roundabout take the second exit along " Father In Law Borrowed My New Vigo Without Permission And Stacked It Into The Side Of A New 5 Series BMW And I'll Have To Pay For The Damage Because He Hasn't Got 2 Satang To Rub Together Boulevard "

Take the next left along " I'm Down The Pub At 10 In The Morning Because I Just Discovered My Wife's Brother Is In Fact Her Husband And While I Was Back Home Attending My Grandmother's Funeral They Re-Mortgaged The House I Paid For And Blew The Lot On Playing Cards And Betting On The Premier League Cul-De-Sac "

You have reached your destination.

(All in jest folks)  

:jap:

[JimmyTheMook]

"Him Big Heart , Take Care Good"

OK also fat bloated out slob , have money for family and pay bill.

[Loz]

conclusion:

Pride is for sale at various levels.

Store is open 24/7

Buyer beware! (the small print can ruin an otherwise perfectly good day)

[Berkshire]

The key line in teh article, right from the Horses's mouth.....

"It looks pretty good and they look pretty happy," said Rojjana Udomsri, 30, who is married to a Thai man and has a 2-year-old son. "They have money to spend and they can go anywhere they want." But she said she had her doubts.

"I don't know if they are really happy," she said. "There were times I wanted to have a good life like them, but I can't live with a person I don't love. With someone I love I can go through all the hardships of life together."

Noticed that last paragraph as well. Really says a lot about these other women, the so-called "farang-hunters."

[IanForbes]

One street where Western men gather to eat and drink is popularly known as "Foreign Son-in-Law Street."

Using a satnav around Udon Thani.

" Turn right at the next junction into " Thai Brother-in-Law Came Home Wrecked Last Night And Proceeded To Knock The Living Crap Out Of His Wife While The Whole Family Stood There Shouting And Screaming As I Tried To Convince Myself This Was Normal Behavior Avenue "

Proceed 200 metres and turn left into " Wife Isn't Speaking To Me Because Her Cousin Has Just Married A Swiss Guy Who Built Her A Bigger House Than Ours And My Wife's Jealous Lane "

At the roundabout take the second exit along " Father In Law Borrowed My New Vigo Without Permission And Stacked It Into The Side Of A New 5 Series BMW And I'll Have To Pay For The Damage Because He Hasn't Got 2 Satang To Rub Together Boulevard "

Take the next left along " I'm Down The Pub At 10 In The Morning Because I Just Discovered My Wife's Brother Is In Fact Her Husband And While I Was Back Home Attending My Grandmother's Funeral They Re-Mortgaged The House I Paid For And Blew The Lot On Playing Cards And Betting On The Premier League Cul-De-Sac "

You have reached your destination.

(All in jest folks)

:lol:

You've been reading too many of the true life sagas on thaivisa forum. You've got them all memorized.

[F1fanatic]

The article is clearly rubbish.

Most Isaan women are with farang men of their own age - therefore its obviously love, not money.

The writer is jealous that he was unable to attract a woman from the region.

[Ricardo]

(All in jest folks)

and definitely worth a 'greenie' !

[Loz]

And in conclusion...

[longstebe]

The article was pretty fair I thought. 11000 farangs in Udon alone maybe???

[nocturn]

the story couldn't be more cliche.

sorensen and his wife life in utter squalor. i certainly couldn't do it.

[evanson]

I really don't get articles like this. If you're a woman from a poor background with no chance of anything getting any better (ever), owing to lack of education = opportunities, living in a country where the top 20% earn a gazillion times more than the bottom 20% you look around at what your mates have managed to get and think, 'hold up, all I have to do is hook up with one of these sad lonely old guys and I'm set for life!' (Albeit a few of them are never satisfied and keep moving on to the next one).

'What's love got to do with it?' indeed. If the country can't/won't offer them access to better opportunities to enable them a better life, who can blame them?

C'mon. Can't argue with the logic. Particularly from mindsets made up of 'women in the West now think they're human beings too! Where's me dinnah!!!!

Edited September 28, 2010 by evanson

[mca]

That reminds me, l am well overdue for a BigMac.

You've really got the cravings for a Maccy at the moment haven't you mate? Tell you what, I might just order a delivery this evening just to spite you. Now where did I put that menu? Hmm.... 1 Big Mac or 2? Or possibly a double cheeseburger and a couple of double Filet O Fish just to be a real greedy bastard.

[StreetCowboy]

8>< NESTED QUOTES DELETED ><8

You've really got the cravings for a Maccy at the moment haven't you mate? ...

Oh that takes me back to my night out in Macc. Actually, it was a bit of an anti-climax, though it did end up at the Doctor's - not the Doctors' that would have been quite a crawl!

SC

[kurnell]

What does it mean when they refer to meeting each other at the beach?

[Spee]

It was a reasonable article with a fairly accurate portrayal of what goes on. There didn't seem to be any bigoted opinions or portrayals.

Did we read the same article??

For many years, the New York Times has been a discredited left wing rag, hemmorrhaging money and barely staying afloat. Trying googling "Jayson Blair." The National Enquirer does more accurate reporting for chrissakes.

I found the article to be highly generalized, demeaning and patronistic, just what one would expect from the snooty, inbred, liberal elite of the Northeast US.

[David006]

lol what a joke of an article. Gotta pay for that vacation to Thailand somehow though. You could make a bot to write up these clueless farang articles about Thailand

As a former magazine writer I could say that about any article about any subject in any magazine or newspaper today.

Take a trip somewhere, write 1500 words in a fairly articulate fashion and you are done.

Yeah...Makes you wonder that NY Times would bother printing something so generic , think there's better "stories" on TV What a yawn!!!.....maybe it was a TN or PG disguard?

[StreetCowboy]

It was a reasonable article with a fairly accurate portrayal of what goes on. There didn't seem to be any bigoted opinions or portrayals.

Did we read the same article??

For many years, the New York Times has been a discredited left wing rag, hemmorrhaging money and barely staying afloat. Trying googling "Jayson Blair." The National Enquirer does more accurate reporting for chrissakes.

I found the article to be highly generalized, demeaning and patronistic, just what one would expect from the snooty, inbred, liberal elite of the Northeast US.

Ha Ha! Most of our readers will miss the self-parodying irony of this post, and might take it seriously.

Remember that stupidity is like atomic power - best handled carefully, and you don't want to get any on you.

SC

[murzik16]

The article is clearly rubbish.

Most Isaan women are with farang men of their own age - therefore its obviously love, not money.

The writer is jealous that he was unable to attract a woman from the region.

Just because they are with someone of the same age does in no way mean its love and not money, and any man that goes to Thailand could easily find themselves a Thai wife without much hard work. I personally think of the normal western man/Thai woman relationship as not really a relationship but more like a business partnership, the woman likes being with the man for his money, and her pride, and the man likes to be with someone beautiful, so it works But i definitely would not call it love in many cases. Not saying that this is all cases but on the whole Thai woman are brought up from a young age admiring Western men like something to be bought, or something to Have ... like a gold necklace.. but in no way do young Thai woman think i want to fall in Love with a western man. ( not to mention an old ugly, fat western man)

Again im sure there are lots of relationships that aren't like this that are of different circumstances, but i've only come across 1 or 2 in my time in Thailand. Not that i care if it works for both then great, but the article i would not say is rubbish and that the writer is jealous...i don't think so.

Also the guy in the video who says Thai people don't care or gossip about the fact that he is 30 yrs older than his wife... that is just absolute crap. Many Thai woman who don't like the idea of marrying for money gossip about these ladies, many Thai men too... when you see a fat western man with a young 20 yr old wife i can tell you now not every Thai person just looks and thinks that is absolutely fine, many are just as disgusted as any westerner would be they just aren't as obvious about it.

[Berkshire]

Just because they are with someone of the same age does in no way mean its love and not money, and any man that goes to Thailand could easily find themselves a Thai wife without much hard work. I personally think of the normal western man/Thai woman relationship as not really a relationship but more like a business partnership, the woman likes being with the man for his money, and her pride, and the man likes to be with someone beautiful, so it works But i definitely would not call it love in many cases. Not saying that this is all cases but on the whole Thai woman are brought up from a young age admiring Western men like something to be bought, or something to Have ... like a gold necklace.. but in no way do young Thai woman think i want to fall in Love with a western man. ( not to mention an old ugly, fat western man)

Again im sure there are lots of relationships that aren't like this that are of different circumstances, but i've only come across 1 or 2 in my time in Thailand. Not that i care if it works for both then great, but the article i would not say is rubbish and that the writer is jealous...i don't think so.

Also the guy in the video who says Thai people don't care or gossip about the fact that he is 30 yrs older than his wife... that is just absolute crap. Many Thai woman who don't like the idea of marrying for money gossip about these ladies, many Thai men too... when you see a fat western man with a young 20 yr old wife i can tell you now not every Thai person just looks and thinks that is absolutely fine, many are just as disgusted as any westerner would be they just aren't as obvious about it.

Interesting. Your comments are very similar to what was written here: http://www.stickmanb.../reader5917.htm

[Loz]

The fact he beleives they are not gossiping about him could, in no small way be related to the fact that he DOES NOT UNDERSTAND enough Thai language to evesdrop on their conversations.

Earlier this week I spent the afternoon with a very respectable lady, the mother of one of my students. She is married to a local surgeon, a nicer man you could not hope to meet. Anyway, a lift home turned into going for a coffee and a trip to the mall and picking kids up from school and at each juncture I was aware of the stares and pointing. I asked her if it bothered her and she replied, "No, its natural for people to gossip when they see a farang with a thai woman. My husband knows me, he accepts me and we have no secrets. It doesn't matter". Later at her "country home" while watching her sons play tennis her husband arrived and she recounted the conversation to him. He just smiled and nodded. Now, these are to professional people of good standing in the community and if they tell me its natural for thais to gossip when they see me with a thai lady, I am going to take them at their word.

The fact that my own experience backs up their observation helps too.

If other farang want to live in a bubble and pretend that everything in the gardern smells of roses, thats their business. We all live our own reality and if its not hurting anyone, where is the harm in a few old boys grinding out their twilight years on some willing thai maiden? No harm at all.

Edited October 1, 2010 by Loz

[Berkshire]

We all live our own reality and if its not hurting anyone, where is the harm in a few old boys grinding out their twilight years on some willing thai maiden? No harm at all.

At the end of the day, that's really all that matters, isn't it? Live and let live, baby!