You Married A Woman From Where?

I cringe when someone tells me they are married to a woman from Isaan.

I have zero respect for any foreigner who marries a woman from Isaan. The people of Isaan are the trailer trash of Thailand, looked down on by most of the Thai population and for very good reason. Don‘t take my word for it, take that of the Thais.

Most Thais see the people of Isaan as lazy, unskilled, poorly educated farmers whose purpose in life is to do the jobs that nobody else wants to do. Farm work. Factory work. Construction work. Maids. And of course whores.

Isaan might be part of Thailand today but it was not always that way. Much of the Isaan region was once part of Cambodia or Laos and the people of Isaan, the real Isaan people, those living in the countryside who work the fields have much more in common with their brethren to the East than they do with Bangkok or other urban Thais.

Not everyone living in Isaan is truly Isaan. There are many Chinese Thai families living and working in the region mostly in the big cities. Isaan may have been their home for generations. But these are not the real Isaan people. They are ethnically Chinese, perhaps ethnically Thai, and if you married one of them you dodged a bullet. If you had married their neighbour you might have gotten a native of Isaan. That would have been a big mistake.

The people of Isaan are not known for their good looks. A typical Isaan native is short and dark-skinned with facial features that on noone’s list of the features of beauty. But a gigantic jaw, a bridgeless nose, a protruding forehead and so bad skin are sure signs of ugliness. Granted they may be in good shape physically if they have worked in the fields with very low body fat and a lean appearance.

This doesn’t manifest itself into classic beauty however. Lean often means little on the chest and no ass. Rural Isaanettes can look like boys from behind, such is there a lack of any feminine curves. And don‘t get me started on the lack of feminine grace. A Bangkok Thai walks with grace and femininity. The classic saying goes that an Isaan native walks like they just got out of a rice field….because they probably just did.

It is unfortunate that many families from Isaan, particularly those in rural areas, battle to make ends meet economically. Farming pays little and many families are unable to send their children to complete high school, let alone study at college. The children are therefore prepared for little more a life indifferent to that of their parents, an endless struggle as farmers. With materialism and its evils such a major part of Thai society nowadays, the promise of easy money at Patpong and Pattaya provide a strong lure.

Women from Isaan make up the majority of prostitutes catering to foreign men in Thailand. Probably more than ¾ of the sex workers consorting with foreign men in Thailand are from Isaan. These women do not have an exit strategy from the bar industry and invariably their only means of escape from is by marrying a customer. Pray to God you‘re not the customer.

A customer. Yes, anyone who marries a bargirl, irrespective of the circumstances is a customer for life. You can’t blame the girls for choosing to be sex workers, but that doesn’t mean you should marry them.

I fail to comprehend what foreign men see in Isaan women.

An Isaan woman may appear to be in better shape physically than a Western woman, and she might be prepared to put up with him where a Western woman wouldn’t. Western women can see through the types of Western men who frequent Thailand but Isaan women can’t. They just don’t have the frames of reference for comparison. Isaan women promise the earth and many a Westerner marrying his Isaan sweetheart thinks that he will be her first priority. Wrong! Her parents come first, followed by any children she may have. The best a foreigner can hope for is to come third, and even then he might be in competition with other members of her family, her friends or in a worst case scenario with her gambling friends.

Isaan women are interested in foreign men because most foreign men today are generally weak and ignorant when it comes to the opposite sex. Foreign men get walked all over by women in their own country and if a woman so much as smiles at them he is in love. Most foreign men have not discovered that you can meet many of the decent women in Thailand, no problem at all. Thai women want a good man. The truth is that most foreigners in Thailand are not good men at all, especially the guys who read sites like this which is a magnet for loser foreigners.

Marriage to an Isaan woman is the start of a nightmare period in the life of the foreign man. Once married, with the ring on her finger and the dowry deposited into her parents’ back account, his Isaan wife can forget about all of the promises previously made and can now concentrate on doing as little as possible while extracting as much as she can out of him, be it financial resources, time, love, devotion or advice.

Men who marry Isaan women and live with them in Thailand are looked down on as low class citizens by most Thais. Foreigners, or perhaps more specifically, white foreigners e.g. farangs, are considered more sophisticated and worldly than the average Thai. We are also considered to be richer and these assumptions are fair. So why oh why is the farang with a woman from Isaan the neighbours and colleagues, wonder. A Western man with a low class woman from Isaan will lose the automatic respect he had just for having white skin! Why didn’t he marry a nice Bangkok office girl from a nice family people will rightfully wonder. With so many single Thai women, it is inexplicable.

If he is stupid enough to take her to his country it will be like the arrival of a child in an adult’s body. He will have to teach her everything. Not only teach her to drive, and pay for her to get English lessons, he will also have to teach her how to use such basic appliances as a microwave and a coffee maker. She will complain endlessly about how things are too expensive, people don’t smile and how she misses her family and Thai food. She won’t adapt. Period. She won’t adapt.

But many of these men don’t complain. Even with all of the shit they put up with they are happy. You know why? Because they are losers. They could not get a decent woman at home and now they have someone. They might even think of her as a trophy wife. How ironic!

Isaan women want a foreign man and they are not much concerned about anything else. They just want a foreign man. Isaan women don‘t marry good Thai men because good Thai men don‘t want them! Poland, Russia, Hungary, France, England or Australia, any farang country will do. (That is why all you guys who find Thai women in bars or at Khao San Road or online suffer torturous marriages and end up being taken to the cleaners. She had a long term plan to fleece the foreigner all along.)

I’ll give you a clue when it comes to marrying a Thai woman. Marry a woman who wants to find a good man. Don’t marry a woman who wants to find a foreign man and has ruled out Thai men completely. The best Thai women are those who hadn‘t even considered a foreigner but are impressed by a good foreign man when he comes along because he is just that, a good man. The worst type of Thai woman is the woman who wants a farang specifically. And most of them are from Isaan.

It is appalling that so many of the members of this forum claim to be so happy with their Isaan wife. XXXXXXXX (or is it XXXXXXXXX) met his in a department store and XXXXXXXXXX met his on a tennis court. Stickman tried to outdo everyone and yet again ends up looking like a fool. His wife is from Korat and his mia noi from Udon. <Complete lies. Stickman has NEVER had a mia noi – Stick>

Women from Isaan can be pretty creatures in their late teens and early ‘20s when have child-like features making them appear cute as well as a friendliness and docility that can be quaintly charming. By the time they pass 30 their appearance starts to deteriorate rapidly. A 30 year old Isaanette might pass for 25 but by the time she is 40 she will look 45, or more. After 30 Isaan women age fast and the features that were once cute become more pronounced and they end up looking ugly. There’s no other word for it. They become ugly. They might not balloon the same way Western women do but they don’t retain the prettiness of their youth for long. And it was their looks you married them for right? Their brain didn‘t enchant you, did it?

I really do pity those of you who married into Isaan. I have zero respect for you.

Stickman‘s thoughts:

That is way, way over the top harsh and is the second submission in a week I seriously considered not running. Some of what you say is tacky and totally uncalled for. Have you been burned by an Isaan woman?

MANY Western men have very happy friendships, relationships and marriages with Thai women. Most Westerners working in Thailand have many colleagues form the Isaan region. The taxi drivers are for the most part from Isaan and are a fun bunch.

Many of us have travelled throughout the Isaan region and had wonderful experiences. For me personally, I enjoy travelling in Isaan more than anywhere else in Thailand and have had countless wonderful trips there. The people are real characters and the culture is rich and fascinating. It really is the real Thailand.

Your comments are unreasonably harsh and completely over the top.

I would like to make it clear to all readers that I do not agree with what the author says, and that readers are free to make their own views known to him at the email address below.