The golden rule for young single guys moving to Thailand is to never get a girlfriend within the first 6 months.
And no, it's not because in the first 6 months you should go full-retard, party every night meeting girls in Bangkok clubs and Thai Friendly (although I highly recommend it).
It's because you don't know the lay of the land and there's a good chance:
* You'll go broke
* Get married
* Have a child
* buy land in her name or;
* All of the above
This holds especially true for socially inept people (the bulk of people coming here, me included) and people coming to Asia for the first time.
The spectrum of Thai girls
There's a wide range of Thai girls ranging from normal hard-working girls (the one we all want to meet) to ladyboys, gold diggers, Thai bar girls and stage 9 clingers (the ones we don't want to meet...too often).
As you first make your way through Bangkok, because you don't know where to go or what to expect, most likely you're going to interact with the looney bin (the red and orange sections in the graph below):
If you haven't touched a girl for months, you'll naturally be drawn to the gold diggers or stage 9 clingers because they offer the least resistance, and can be found in all the night clubs guides written about Bangkok.
A hard working Thai girl may want to date you several times before taking things further and months if not years before moving in. Whereas a gold-digger or looney is ready to take your money or move in within the first few weeks or months.
I've known good friends who moved to Bangkok and within 48 hours had a girlfriend. One just moved here 6 months ago and is now becoming a dad (congrats) with a Thai girlfriend who is well passed being a stage 9 clinger, doing the usual checking his phone etc, calling every 30mins when he's out etc.
He says he loves her and I'm sure he does and she loves him, but there is only one place this train is heading....
Audit yourself before you come to Thailand
I think every guy coming to live in Thailand needs to audit themselves, or get a friend to audit on their behalf.
You should ask yourself:
- Am I a white knight?
- Am I a passive beta?
- Am I easy to walk over?
- Do I always (or more often than not) get my own way?
- Do I have a backbone?
- Am I a kunt? (You kind of need to be 30% kunt or more to get past the first 6 months scar free)
- In my last relationship, did I do what I wanted or did she control everything?
If you're a white knight, passive beta who is easily walked on....
Some looney is going to lock their eyes on you and pretty much own you like a bitch. If this is the case you really should apply this rule and maybe even get a sponsor like friend to stop you having a girlfriend during your teething phase of Thailand.
If you're someone who takes no shit and is ready to punch any kunt who touches their phone in the face, you're probably going to make it.
You'll be good to go after 6-12 months
Within the first year of living in Thailand, if you have common sense and can read situations you'll be able to spot the loonies from a mile away.
It takes time to build a Thai girl radar and the more experiences you have the better it will become.
Think of yourself as a computer program, you've been running the Western version and your bios isn't working optimally in Thailand and it needs to be re-written.
Apply the no girlfriend rule for at least 6 months and meet all types of girls to build a new, more relevant operating system that will safeguard you from danger.
This way you will avoid becoming the next "I just married a Thai girl" story and reduce the risk of losing money or being locked in a negative relationship.
