What Do Thai Girls Want

So, I was chatting with one of my readers the other day. He is going to Thailand next week to visit his girlfriend and was wondering if I had any suggestions for what a Thai girl might like as a gift. Read more

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Are All Ladyboys Prostitutes?

It seems that many of the men that visit Thailand have a preconceived notion that all of Thailand’s ladyboys are also prostitutes. It’s true that normally foreign men only meet the ladyboys that work in bars and restaurants, however this is only a small percentage of all the kathoeys in Thailand. Read more

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Meeting and Dating Thai Girls

I get a lot of questions here via email about Thai girls and dating. What is the proper way to approach a Thai girl, how can I tell if she’s a “good” girl vs a bar girl, how to avoid internet scams and that sort of thing. Read more

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Why Do Thai Girls Marry Older Foreign Guys?

Several weeks ago I wrote a post “What Do You Want to Know About Thailand” and I got some very good questions. I know I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked since then and I still have a few questions hanging out there so I want to finish answering those and if anyone else has any questions about Thailand or Thai culture please go back to that post and leave a comment or contact us with your question. I’ll be posting all of the answers here at Thailand Musings so don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss any of the great questions and answers.

Here is another question regarding Thai culture and the willingness of Thai women to meet and marry significantly older western men. I find this a particularly good subject because it is exactly the question that Golf asked me when we first met on ThaiLoveLinks. I think her question went something like “Why do so many old guys try to chat the young girl on here”. Needless to say I took this a bit personally and felt it necessary to explain. The rest is history.

Question about age differences: Let’s face the facts, I am a 55 year old guy talking with a 30 year old Thai woman. I am well aware that I could produce children. But I may not be still around past age 75, who knows? And I could have ten year old kids when I reach retirement age. I do not want to put a woman and kids at risk, and can certainly make provisions for their support after I am gone. I’d be interested in any success or failure stories you have encountered regarding this. Of course, here in the US, this degree of age difference in marriage is relatively rare, and perhaps even somewhat scandalous. Not that I am ungrateful, but why is a large age span seemingly so acceptable for many Thai women?

Stories regarding Thai women and western men meeting and dating or marrying are very common on the internet and will run the gamut from wildly successful to depressing failures. Do a Google search for Thai women + foreign men and you’ll find hours of reading material. For success stories go to the testimonials of ThaiLoveLinks (where Golf and I met) or simply read about Golf and I. The International Herald has a good story about this subject as well. For failure stories you’ll find plenty, but most of them involve Thai bar girls. By meeting a good Thai girl you can avoid a lot of the common pitfalls you find on the internet.

The reason a large age span is acceptable is often very personal to the girls and I hate to generalize, but if I have to do so then there are several commonly accepted reasons that Thai girls date and/or marry foreigners so much older than themselves.

First, many Thai girls are looking for stability, both financial and in the relationship, and older foreign men are typically able to provide both. They are in general financially well off, especially by Thai standards and this is viewed as a definite positive. They are also more settled and less prone to wander than their Thai counterparts. Add to that the western cultural ideal of monogamy and they become even more attractive to Thai women who are used to seeing Thai men that are promiscuous and prone to having mistresses.

Thai’s also value white skin very much and in fact those with darker skin are perceived to be of a lower class in Thai society. Typically children of Thai/western marriages tend to be much lighter skinned and thus more accepted in society. The Thai’s even have a name for such children of mixed parentage which is ‘Luk Kreung’ and literally means ‘child half”. You’ll find many famous Thai actors and models are luk kreung including pop singers Tata Young and Lanna Cumming.

One aspect that is often overlooked by westerners is that traditionally Thai marriages were often arranged by parents, not on the basis of love, but for mutual benefits between the families such as a property tie up or business merger. Westerners don’t understand this type of arranged marriage and often don’t consider this aspect of Thai culture yet it is very ingrained and accepted in Thailand. Because of this Thai women can sometimes view their bodies as property (Thai men view them this way as well which is a reason Thai women don’t care for Thai men) and as such have no problem using it to gain a better social or financial standing.

In the beginning the Thai girl may not even like her husband much, but over time a love and mutual respect grows. As the two get to know each other better an assimilation of each others culture begins to occur and the bonds between a Thai woman and her foreign husband can grow very strong. It’s good to understand these dynamics better, but I think we older western guys should just be thankful for our beautiful Thai ladies and not question too much. After all, it sure beats the alternative.

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Nana Plaza - History and Future of Bangkoks Naughty Nightlife

As I look through my logs it seems a lot of people are finding Thailand Musings looking for information about Thai girls, specifically bad Thai girls, katoeys and Thai bar girls. Since I am not one to judge I am going to take the time to give you a bit more of what you are looking for.

Keep in mind that there is already a good amount of information about good Thai girls in the section on Thai ladies, Thai dating and Thai marriage. As the husband of a good Thai girl I know that you could do much worse than getting a Thai girl as your wife. If you’re unfamiliar with Golf and myself take a look at About Golf and Steve for more information.

Now on to the ‘bad’ Thai girls…

While you can spend weeks in Thailand without ever seeing a prostitute there are some areas of the City of Angels that are designed with nothing more in mind than the sex tourist. There are also some other places that tend to draw Thai girls who are looking for involvement with a farang – Khao San Road immediately comes to mind. Today’s post will focus on the largest of the pay4play entertainment areas in Bangkok known as Nana Plaza.

Nana Entertainment Plaza (or NEP) began 25 years ago when several bars on Soi 14-Soi 16 were forced to close indefinitely because of construction on Sukhumvit Road. In mid 1982 the Rosemarys (1&2) , The Three Roses and The Rainbow Bar all moved into Nana plaza which was formerly your normal run of the Thai strip mall and parking area. Since that time it has grown to almost 40 bars packed into the central court area of Nana Plaza.

For almost 2 decades now Nana Plaza has been the center of naughty nightlife in Bangkok. It does see some competition from Soi Cowboy area bars, but Nana Plaza is the top of the heap when it comes to A-Go-Go bars, with stages and shows throughout the complex. Nana is famous for it’s Go-Go bars where you can find scads of scantily clothes Thai girls gyrating on stage and around shiny poles, all meant to excite and titillate the variety of visitors that come just for that purpose. Nana Plaza is also famous for the katoey or ladyboy bars in the area. Many are the man who hasn’t understood the difference between the lovely katoeys in Nana Plaza and been handed a large surprise later.

Nana Plaza does seem to fluctuate in popularity from year to year with the expatriates and sexpatriates visiting Thailand. One year you can go there and find the area packed to capacity and another year will see NEP almost empty. 2007 was a slow year and 2008 looks to be the same with many of the bars reporting their take to be down 20-30% from normal. Some of this is due to the strength of the Thai baht which is affecting all areas of tourism in Thailand. Other reasons mentioned are the declining upkeep of the clubs, the rising price of the girls and the poor attitude of many of the staff and girls. Another hit is coming in the form of a smoking ban in all restaurants and bars in Thailand which is supposed to take effect February 11^th, 2008. It will be interesting to see if this ban is actually enforced.

The first time visitor to Nana Plaza should be prepared for a surreal experience with the area looking like a neon lit circus midway in full swing and music pumping from the various bars surrounding Nana Plaza. Bible thumping missionaries, prostitutes, western sexpats, camera wielding Japanese tourists and curious tourist young and old fill the area making it a great place to sip a beer and watch the diversity of humanity in all its forms. No matter how far and wide you travel you are unlikely to see another place even remotely like it.

With dozens of bars, brightly flashing neon, hundreds of girls and all the sights, smells and sounds of Nana Plaza I have only scratched the surface of what Nana Plaza is. Go and see for yourself, you’ll be amazed and possibly shocked, but it will be different than any other experience of your life.

If you’ve been or plan to go to Nana Plaza I’d love to hear from you. Leave us some comments below specific to the bars you’ve been too or an update of the current party scene in Nana Plaza.

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