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.
I have a friend that moved over there about 20 years ago for work, and has been very happily married to a Thai woman his age for about 15 years. They are a great couple and are quite happy.
Thai men are the ones that use nearly all the prostitutes over there, and they treat the Thai women like crap. Can you blame the Thai women for wanting American men and vice versa?
Its their lives, let them live it.
Humans are generally annoying.
I don't doubt that at all. The point is a lot of men also cheat on their wives. If you think it's bad now, just wait a few more years. Premarital and illicit sex is now at the highest rate in history. Only about 50% of young children have a married mother and father! If present trends continue, the "family" as we know it will have all but disappeared in the next 50 years.
I ran into an extended family that was here on holiday from Italy tonite at Costco, must have been 20 of them. I felt like I was in a Fellini film.
n : extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations; "adultery is often cited as grounds for divorce" [syn: criminal conversation, fornication]
The term has a lot of tradition that would complicate your rather glib dismissal. "Thou shalt not commit adultery" did not apply only to the married person.
Revolting, you don't have much of a sense of humor. Eh...the heck with it, you're not smart enough to bother...
Yeah, but Xenu kicks ass!
i don't get it-how is this man a perv for wanting a relationship with an adult woman?-to me a perv is a damn faggot,or pedophile-it probably is best to seek out someone in your own age group so you have the same frames of reference,but each to their own-when i was 58 i was dating an asian lady who was 46-she lived here in the usa and was not the least bit subservient-she liked to be treated nicely and return the same-we only broke up over where to live-very amicably too-save the perv stuff for those who deserve it-there are plenty out there deserving the label
LOL! Oops. What I meant was I like cotton panties…on women. Really, any panties will do, on or off…of women. I've got enough trouble on this thread without this.
You'd never make it as a stripper, that's for sure!
Read post 29. It's the whole picture, not just the marriage.
Pornchai Kittiwondsakul
Ya can't make this stuff up...
Eh?
I think the only answer to that is "thanks."
Cammie, the highly paid attorney, has already convicted this man of being gay, because he wore a pink shirt. Better catch up. :)
Art Bell married his second Asian wife (first one died), and he dearly loves her!
Two things, Dallas:
1) This thread is better than the Roseanne vs. The Don flap
2) Thread needs more pics
Merry Christmas!
Join one little cult and you never hear the end of it...
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