How successful are Thai-Farang relationships compared with same-culture relationships? If you believe the horror-stories on various websites you may think that the rate of failure is vastly superior to the rate of success.

It is difficult to make any kind of fair judgment on the relative success of Thai-Farang relationships, however. You will hear more horror stories from scorned men simply due to the fact that such men often find an outlet for their frustration and disillusionment in the form of internet forums or websites. People who are in successful relationships also tend not to participate so much in discussions on why some relationships fail or the relative success-rate of Thai-Farang relationships.

This is a shame, because in actual fact it seems that Thai-Farang relationships are becoming more and more prolific. Year on year the number of Thais relocating to the West is on the increase and Western men seem to migrate in the opposite direction in a steady stream as well.

This trend can be seen in how the number of issued settlement visas for Thai women have increased year on year in such a country as Denmark. (The fall in numbers after 2001 are to do with strict new immigration rules and so does not reflect the relative popularity of marrying Thai). Equally, statistics for Britain show that Western men overwhelmingly marry Thai women when they marry someone from a different cultural background. If you combine the numbers of Russian, Filipino and Brazilian women obtaining settlement visas in 2005 you still get a lower number than the total figure for Thailand! (source)  Britain and Denmark are probably not the only countries where this trend is dominant – other countries like Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the US, Canada etc. probably have very similar statistics as the trend in marrying Thai women is clearly a global one affecting many developed post-modern countries.

Western men overwhelmingly seem to prefer marrying Thai women and this is an indication of success. Most towns and cities in the Western world now have authentic Thai restaurants run by Thais – often Thais married to Farangs. This is another indication of how Thai people are establishing themselves in the West.

Nevertheless, the risks of failure in a Thai-Farang relationship is clearly there.

In the last part of this article I would like to point to a few valuable web-resources for Thai-Farang couples making a new existence together in a Western country:

Thai language:

A valuable resource in overcoming language difficulties is this extensive and well-presented online-dictionary:

http://www.thai-language.com/

Thai TV:

This site provides free Thai web-tv from most Thai channels:

http://www.kikugamo.com/thaionly.html

Thai Magazines:

The most popular Thai magazine:  

http://www.koosangkoosom.com/

Thai food:

Most countries have online shops to provide you with most ingredients. This is a channel showing recipes for and video-clips of the most popular Thai dishes:

http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaifoodtonight/recipes.htm

Other sites tell the personal tales of people in Thai-Farang relationships:

There are a few like this, but the ones I have found the most honest, well-written and informative are these two:

http://www.geoffandamy.com/GeoffandAmy.com/Welcome.html

This is a site that reflects the joy but also concerns of being in a new relationship with a Thai woman. It is a relatively new site but it promises to be a site of quality information and empathetic understanding.

http://marcusjournal.blogspot.com/

This is a website by a man who has enjoyed a long relationship with a Thai woman. This relationship has now sadly encountered a difficult impasse, but it serves to the credit of the author that he has always remained a respectful yet pondering attitude towards his wife and her motivations. It is a prime example of an adult way to deal with difficulties arsing from a cross-cultural relationship.

This selection of websites is by no means exhaustive. There are many more quality websites (and many poor ones) out there for people to benefit from. This is just a selection that will definitely not hurt your chances of being part of a Thai-Farang “success-rate”.