Dear Hillary,
I have been dating a nice Thai girl for the past three months and we are starting to get serious. Well, I thought we were serious, but now she tells me she is going back to her home village because her mother wants her there. She just dropped this on me the other night. Is this usual? How do I get her to change her mind?
Sam
Dear Sam,
Forget about getting her to change her mind – her mind has been made up by her mother. “Family” counts for everything in Thai culture, with “Mother” at the top of the tree (just thinking of Xmas trees) and farang BF is way down the bottom of the list, I’m afraid, somewhere after the neighbor’s cat and the soi dog that comes for food every afternoon. Sam, my Petal, you are an alien in a foreign land. Don’t forget that. And don’t try and change it, please!
