Finding a Thai Bride: Western Men Looking for Love in Thailand

There has been a trend in Thailand for many years. A trend of Western men coming to Thailand and signing with dating agencies to find Thai brides. As Western society changes and Western women become more independent and more like men, traditional Western men are looking to Thailand to find a more traditional wife. Thai women are often beautiful, thin, take very good care of themselves and also take care of their husbands. They cook, they clean, they take care of the children and they make their man feel like he is a King. It's no wonder Western men want Thai wives. But, although this sounds wonderful, what are the drawbacks to having a Thai wife? Even more interesting, what are the drawbacks for Thai women having a Western husband?

For the women, the men are seen as a good catch. Western men, even poorer ones, usually have more money than Thai men. Western men offer a Thai woman a chance to leave Thailand and see another country. Western men are seen by some Thai women as being kinder than Thai men (I'm not really sure where they get this idea from?), and Thai men have a reputation of not being faithful. Many Thai men also don't settle down after marriage, and will still have a mistress even though they have a wife and children at home. So for some Thai women, a Western man offers things a Thai man does not.

When Western men come to Thailand to meet a woman, many of them will sign up with one of the dating agencies that abound in Bangkok. Here, they will meet several women who match their criteria, most of them young and attractive and, for a high percentage of these men, marriage will follow quickly. They end up with a younger wife, who is usually very beautiful and has everything a man thinks he wants.

For the women who sign up with the dating agencies, they usually mention they want somebody who is "kind, gentle, will take care of me, has money and a good job". When they meet an older Western man, they assume he has all these things.