Thai Women & Foreign Husbands

About 15 percent of all marriages in the northeast, a study published by Khon Kaen University found, are now between Thai women and foreign men. Most of the men are Europeans, but there are upwards of 300 or so Americans, many of them veterans of the Vietnam War who were based in Udon Thani in the 1960s and early 1970s and are living here, most of them with Thai wives as well. There is a village in Roi Et Province, the Thai press reports, where 200 women are married to foreigners, the majority of them German and Swiss. There are only 500 families in the entire village.

Many of the women have painful stories, of working as prostitutes, of abandonment by Thai husbands and boyfriends, of children they couldn't afford to take care of. They make no secret of the fact that marrying some nice, older foreign man saved both them and their extended families from poverty and unhappiness.

According to that university study, marrying a foreigner not so long ago carried a stigma. Now, asked what they want for their daughters, 90 percent of the inhabitants of the Thai northeast replied: "I want for them to marry a foreigner." Ed. A.K.A. Knowing on which side your bread's buttered........ [via International Herald Tribune]

Sierra Tangos

• Summer's annual meteor shower promises to put on a dazzling show when it peaks this weekend — provided you're far from city lights. With no moon in sight to interfere with the Perseid meteor shower, sky gazers can expect to spot streaking fireballs late Sunday into dawn Monday regardless of time zone. Astronomers estimate as many as 60 meteors per hour could flit across the sky at the shower's peak.
  Last year's Perseid shower was somewhat of a dud because the moon's glare washed out many of the faint meteors. This weekend's meteor shower coincides with a new moon, which means the skies will be dark and perfect for viewing meteors [via Yahoo News]
  

• Rio Natsume - Famous Japanese Gravure Idol. Wonder why!
  

• Brownnose Bloodsuckers - No, this is not an article about lads from Burnley..... A man was admitted to Bua Yai Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima on June 7 with complaints of abdominal pains, which he said were caused by a leech that crawled up inside his anus while he was trying to catch fish for his wife’s dinner. Exactly how was he trying to catch the fish is what I want to know? If my imagination is not getting away from me on this one, who would eat the fish anyway!! K. Nong explained that on May 16 his wife said she wanted fish for dinner, so he went to try and catch some at a pond nearby railway tracks in Namcharoen Village. B

  After a while, he began to feel itchy. Coming out of the water, he noticed a number of leeches clinging to his body. He pulled the bloodsuckers off and got back in the water, determined to catch a fish. She must be one scary wife...... It's when he went back in that he felt an itching around his rear entry. “I want to warn anyone who goes swimming to wear tight-fitting underpants as a leech could crawl into your bottom and you’ll end up with the same problem as me,” K. Nong said. You couldn't make this stuff up. Watch out for fishing groups from Burnley swimming legs akimbo in a pond by the railway tracks... [via Phuket Gazette]

• Common Fitness Myths Debunked - Full article at WebMD
  

• A man boarded an aircraft at London's Heathrow Airport and taking his seat as he settled in he noticed a very beautiful woman boarding the plane.
  He realised she was heading straight toward his seat and bingo! she took the seat right beside him.
  Eager to strike up a conversation, he blurted out, "Business trip or vacation?"
  She turned, smiled enchantingly and said, "Business. I'm going to the annual nymphomaniac convention in the United States"
  He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting for nymphomaniacs!
  Struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, "What's your business role at this convention?"
  "Lecturer", she responded. "I use my experience to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality"
  "Really", he smiled, "...what myths are those?"
  "Well", she explained, "one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well endowed when, in fact, it's the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that French men are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Greek descent. We have also found that the best potential lovers in all categories are the Irish"
  Suddenly, the woman became uncomfortable and blushed. "I'm sorry", she said. "I really shouldn't be discussing this with you, I don't even know your name!"
  "Tonto", the man said. "Tonto Papadopoulos, but my friends call me Paddy"
  

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