Most single Isaan women want a Western husband

[Nereus]

There may be a lot more Americans than you realise, HHF. A lot of the ex forces personnel that stayed here after Vietnam, have completely assimilated into the, mostly small, local communities with their Thai families. They are all now at an age where they have no reason to be involved in "expat" type activities, and therefore go unnoticed.

Maybe Pete can comment on this?

[hhfarang]

You may be right Nereus,

I've heard, for instance, that there is a somewhat substantial American population of ex Viet Nam war veterans living in and around Udon Thani. I think the airport there was once an airfield on a U.S. base.

[STEVE G]

I know of a couple of Vietnam era ex-pats living around our place in Nong Ki, and as Nereus points out they tend to be living the quite life in the villages.
Actually you tend to find that the older ex-pats of all nationalities that you find out in the sticks are generally of the type who are happy to keep to themselves and are not immediately obvious.
Most of them are living on modest pensions with a bit of interest in local farming to help keep the family fed.
The only part of the TV forum I ever bother to read is the Issan farming section where you will find some ex-pats with an incredible knowledge of the regional agricultural industry.

[PeteC]

There may be a lot more Americans than you realise, HHF. A lot of the ex forces personnel that stayed here after Vietnam, have completely assimilated into the, mostly small, local communities with their Thai families. They are all now at an age where they have no reason to be involved in "expat" type activities, and therefore go unnoticed.

Maybe Pete can comment on this?

Yes, there are a lot of the Vietnam era guys here around all the old airbases, Korat, Udorn, Ubon, NKP in Issan. Takhli in central, and U-Tapao over here where I am. They have also spread out from there to places like Khon Kaen, Saraburi, Chiapoom(sp), Chantaburi etc. However I think the count is no where near the Brit population. I don't have exact numbers or percentages, but if asked how many 55-70 year old ex-Vietnam/Thailand veterans are here, I would say 5,000-8,000.

Unfortunately there are quite a few who have gone completely underground. No family left in the USA, no need to go out of country, therefore some have simply stopped renewing their passports and visas. Many times that's why you'll see these guys keeping very much to themselves around strangers. Here until they pass away. Pete

[niggle]

So ...." 92% of Isaan women do not like their men wearing long socks with their sandals".
Huh, are you trying to tell me that my long socks with sandals, baggy shorts and tight Tshirt showing my man boobs are not sexy?
SO how come lal the bar girls shout to tell me I am a sexy handsome man ???
Hah answer me that then

[Spitfire]

I think it's quite simple why the girls like the English man most, no offence to the Scotts or Welsh, but it's because of the Premiership football, it's the home of the English language that they are told is so important these days by their Thai teachers when young and the fact that King Rama V went to school in Oxford. He brought so many ideas back here which can still be seen everywhere if you bother to cast an inquisitive eye around you, everything from the pomp and pagantry of the palace guards in red with big black bear skin hats to the traffic lights and driving on the left side of the road. All can be traced back to the famous king and the fact that he liked it in Oxford. Look at almost all the pictures of him and he appears like an English country gent with a tash.

There are certainly "good" countries and "bad" countries in Europe to originate from in their eyes.

Probably more to it that others can add but I rest my case along these lines.

[PeteC]

A lot of the ex forces personnel that stayed here after Vietnam........

A comment about this aspect. You almost needed an act of congress to get discharged over here regardless if retiring after 20-30 years of service, or just ending your normal enlistment. They forced you to go back to a USA stateside base to process out of the service.

Perhaps a good thing, and probably a deal with Thailand to avoid literally thousands simply putting down roots here immediately with no known means of support or jobs. There was no industry here then, or any expat working population.

You then had to work hard to get back over here, not have it handed to you on a silver platter.

I have heard there were some exceptions if legally married to a Thai and you could prove you could support yourself. I have no clue what kind of visa was available to these men back then. Pete

[Roel]

spitfire wrote:

I think it's quite simple why the girls like the English man most, no offence to the Scotts or Welsh, but it's because of the Premiership football, it's the home of the English language that they are told is so important these days by their Thai teachers when young and the fact that King Rama V went to school in Oxford. He brought so many ideas back here which can still be seen everywhere if you bother to cast an inquisitive eye around you, everything from the pomp and pagantry of the palace guards in red with big black bear skin hats to the traffic lights and driving on the left side of the road. All can be traced back to the famous king and the fact that he liked it in Oxford. Look at almost all the pictures of him and he appears like an English country gent with a tash.

The Premiership should draw the attention to other nationalities since there is only a handful of English playing in the top teams and almost every other nationality is present. But it surely draws attention to the UK as a whole.
But linking the preference with the Oxford education of Rama V? I really do not think that Isaan famer's daughters (with all respect of course) do lay this link.
And why no preference for the USA where his majestity King Bhumibol was born (according to Wiki) or for Switserland where he grew up and studied?

I cannot agree that they make a distinction between good and bad Western European countries (most are not very positive about Eastern European countries, true). But based on personal experience or on that from friends and relatives who had either a good or a bad experience with someone with nationality X they tend to generalize: ALL people from X are good/bad.

[Spitfire]

You might be right Mr. Roel but you also could be giving them too much credit. I agree about the Premiership containing many nationalities but they may not be so abstractly aware of this point. Maybe they are simple conforming with the accepted norm, wouldn't be a surprise if this is so.

However, I could be wrong.

[Super Joe]

Thai girls I've spoken to think Amercian's are stress-cases and a bit tight. They threaten to sue if dinner is 5 minutes late or the peas are cold.

Us English are funny one's, we're either trampy, arrogant, jumped-up, self-important tight-ar$ed pr!cks or the complete opposite.

SJ

[barrys]

And apart from that, most Thai girls don't have a bull's notion about what continent a country is in anyway

[johnnyk]

And apart from that, most Thai girls don't have a bull's notion about what continent a country is in anyway

Exactly. Many of them don't know the name of the next road.
They like L'pool or ManU because they've seen the shirts and like the colour or, like Everton, it says 'Chang' across the front.

They revere Rama V but I doubt they know he went to Oxford (Okfoad? Wha'dat?). They know he was a great Thai king but not the details.

And a lot of US air force types did retire up in Isaan. Udon Thani was a major airbase housing B-52s. Look at the map, a very short sortie across Laos to bomb the shite out of NVN. The USAF guys may have gone home to be discharged but many back quickly as they found the US unappealing after being away.

A friend lives in my house and he is ex-USMC. He told me he loved SEAsia fromhe moment he got there back about 1965-66. Took him a few decades but he got back!
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[hhfarang]

Thai girls I've spoken to think Amercian's are stress-cases and a bit tight. They threaten to sue if dinner is 5 minutes late or the peas are cold.

With us it's just the opposite. Since TIT and I usually don't have anything pressing anyway, I am rarely bothered by slow service but my (Thai) wife can get very impatient and upset with restaurant staff... perhaps she converted while living in the U.S. for over eight years.

[Big Boy]

I have several friends from Scotland and Wales who always tell Thai girls that they are from England. It's not that they're ashamed of being Scottish or Welsh, it's because everybody associates with England. The Thai girls may have heard of Scotland or Wales, but they don't realise that they are merely suburbs of England

[Condoking]

I have several friends from Scotland and Wales who always tell Thai girls that they are from England. It's not that they're ashamed of being Scottish or Welsh, it's because everybody associates with England. The Thai girls may have heard of Scotland or Wales, but they don't realise that they are merely suburbs of England

You mean like Bradford and Luton