Posted on 12/23/2006 5:15:33 PM PST by Dallas59
BANGKOK (AFP) - "I could not find anybody in the States. There was nothing in America for me. That's why I'm here," says the clean-cut 52-year-old bachelor, who bears a passing resemblance to Hollywood actor Michael Douglas.
Sullivan, an emergency nurse from Florida, is one of a growing number of foreign men seeking young and beautiful Thai brides via the Internet.
Speaking at the Bangkok office of Sweet Singles, a Thai bride-by-Internet company, Sullivan says he has decided to "go beyond boundaries" in his search for a wife after a futile quest in the United States.
"American women in my age are, basically, a wreck. They are physically and emotionally beaten up from relationships and life. They are untrusting," says the well-built Sullivan, sporting a pink shirt and white pants.
"I think the feminist movement in America in the 60s really trashed American feminism. American women lack a certain femininity about them that women of other countries have," he laughs.
Sullivan contacted Sweet Singles six months ago and was introduced to Yoshita Tongsalee, an attractive 27-year-old teacher of traditional Thai dancing.
After corresponding with her via e-mails for three weeks, Sullivan decided to meet her and flew to Bangkok in early December.
"Just from e-mails, I knew she was the one. I just knew," says the American, his emerald earring dazzling.
"I find Thai women in general to be less self-centered and more family-centered than I find in western women," he says. The couple plans to marry next year.
John, a 43-year-old Briton who got married to a Thai woman four years ago via an Internet bride agency, also has grievances about western women.
"English women are very demanding and they expect you to be good-looking and have plenty of money and give them lots of attention. They drink a lot and they smoke a lot and they eat a lot," says John, who declined to give his last name.
"I am not very good at getting women anyway. I'm not the best-looking guy in the world. I'm quite short and it's very hard for me to find an English woman who is shorter than me," he says on the telephone from London.
Before marrying his Thai bride, John dated six British women, but his relationships with them were anything but happy.
"I'm just fed up with British women. They are not so loyal," he says.
When he met six Thai ladies in Bangkok via the Internet, including a 32-year-old business woman who later became his wife, John says he was struck by their kindness and family-centered values.
"I think Thai women are more loyal to their husbands. They are not just 'take, take take.' Also they have old-fashioned family values, which we used to have in this country," he says. John and his wife now have two young boys.
John and Marc declined to say how much they paid to get their Thai wives. Sweet Singles says it can charge a foreign man up to 1,700 dollars for a three-year membership to meet Thai ladies.
Some 10,000 foreign men have signed up with Sweet Singles over the last decade, and nearly half of them were previously divorced, says Bee, the company's customer service manager.
Some 80 percent of them get married to Thai women through the agency.
Americans account for 60 percent of the company's male clients, with the rest mostly from Australia, Britain, Germany and Scandinavian countries. Their average age ranges from 55 to 60.
Some 20,000 Thai women have also joined Sweet Singles, with their ages ranging from 20 to 40. The company charges a Thai woman 700 baht (20 dollars) for membership.
Bee, a petite 40-something, says Thai woman often have a favorable impression of foreigners.
"Many Thai girls were disappointed by Thai men who are famous for womanizing, drinking and gambling. Thai woman believe Caucasian men are more responsible and sincere and not playing around with other women," she says.
Thanitchaya Buaban, a striking 26-year-old beauty from Thailand's northern tourist spot of Chiang Mai, says she used to have a Thai boyfriend but he cheated on her many times.
"I was heart-broken. After I joined Sweet Singles, I started meeting foreigners and they were very kind and polite," she says at the firm's office.
Thanitchaya says she now has many American suitors who are trying to win her love with diamond rings and necklaces.
"I'm going to choose the best one," she says with a big smile.
For Sullivan's fiancee Yoshita, her experiences with Thai men were more traumatic.
"I was planning to marry my first Thai boyfriend, but he did not show up on our wedding day. He embarrassed me and my family," Yoshita says. "My second boyfriend cheated on me and impregnated another woman."
But Yoshita, who wears a golden heart necklace, says she is looking forward to living in Florida with the man of her dreams -- even if she still refers to him by his last name.
"I believe Mr Sullivan is a gift from God. He is really a good man and respects me. Every day I pray and thank Buddha for giving me Mr Sullivan," she says.
Sullivan nodded and held her hand.
"I have to step outside my own culture to find someone with whom I am compatible. I am not narrow-minded in that regard," he smiles.
"You women do it too" - I happen to be a heterosexual male. Among the circle of my acquaintances, the ratio [of the known to me cuckolds of both sexes] is more like 8 to 10, with men in a slight lead. Since I do not claim, nor do I want, to know everything about them, I'd say that the numbers are comparable, and leave the matter there.
Sadly I knew one too. He wasn't bad looking but he had very bad breath. He got his wife over the internet and it worked out well for a couple of months. She turned out to be very demanding and violent. Sad.
A guy who gets off on making cuckolds of his fellow men probably has Daddy issues, too.
I'm assuming you were on the left side...
The weekend was wonderful...
Thank you.
Hmmm: Hot (american) wife, couple kids, engineering degree, real estate, big paycheck and 16 years in the Nat. Guard....
Yeah, pathetic....
As opposed to American women, most of whom seem to think that the best way to a man's heart is through the sternum and rib cage?
Mark
Maybe it's not a WOMAN he's looking for? Isn't Thailand known for their child prostitutes?
It's simple, no 123 posts required: American males don't want chicks with dicks!
Bronzewound, don't try to use words you don't understand, like "logic."
As long as you fully understand you're being used for your money...good luck to you!
*shrug* I'd probably put 40 as the extreme lower age limit.
So let him make a life for himself in Thailand and raise a Thai family over there.
Oh, I agree about Melvin as a character; but he got it right about how to write from a woman's mind. See post 116.
LOL. Could be Mamzelle.
No--just the fat-assed 50 year old american screeching harpies; I was very clear on that. It is odd that you conflated them with 'women' in general. You are making my point here.
are you the guy your wife is cheating on or the guy some woman is cheating with? Because it seems with you it's one or the other...
I'm the guy she cheats with every day--we happen to be married!
or, oh, now I get it...your wife is the only American woman of any value.
No, there are some others out there....
The rest? adulterers, tramps, or pigs. Got it.
Seems like it sometimes. I can't blame the guys who look elsewhere, can you?
I stand by my comment.
You go abroad and you see women wearing dresses, skirts, in other words, dressed like women. Here, I haven't seen a woman wearing a dress in 6 months! Jeans with flys in front? Helllllloooooo!
I met a number of wonderful, attractive women who I was fortunate enough to have as friends. Interestingly enough, as soon as I got MARRIED they all started appearing at the rate of one every few years.
They are out there, but they HIDE, if a man is available, I guess.
Maybe as soon as the "Dog humping someone's leg" look disappears, they come out of hiding?
I know, I know, if only
1: A cloning machine and
2) a Time Machine! hahahaha.
"Hmmm: Hot (american) wife, couple kids, engineering degree, real estate, big paycheck and 16 years in the Nat. Guard....
Yeah, pathetic...."
Aw, look, paulat, he turned it into a d*ck-swinging contest. I bet you never would have expected that from him, eh?
Uh, no, the other one. Back before what remains of my hair wasn't grey...
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