A 64 year old Irishman has promised a 7 figure dowry to the family of his 44 year old wife-to-be. Richard McAllister, an Irish IT executive and Natpaphat Jaratporakun, from Surin, are due to tie the knot very soon.
It’s been a much debated topic amongst us foreigners for as long as I can remember, and I’ve never once heard the same opinion twice. What am I talking about? It’s the “dowry” of course, or “sin-sod” as our Thai friends refer to it.
The official statement coming out of the Thai embassy reads as follows:
“An average middle-class, university-educated Thai lady deserves a dowry of 100,000- 300,000 baht. A dowry of a million baht for an uneducated lady of modest means is just ridiculous. Thai dowry prices fall drastically if your bride-to-be has been previously married, already has children, or is not a virgin anymore.”
Over the years I’ve heard all sorts of nightmare situations regarding the topic. The problem is, it’s simply not something that happens in our culture back home, and I think that is one of the main reason’s there is so much confusion over it.
Now I could be totally wrong, and I apologise in advance if I am, but I’m pretty sure that a 44 year old Thai lady is definitely not a virgin. I’m also confident in saying that she has probably been married before, and I’ll even go as far as saying she probably has children too. With that in mind, I think that a 7 figure dowry is far too much.
That being said, the Irish gentleman may have built up such substantial wealth during his career that the money is simply not an issue, and he just wants to be happy. I hope that’s the case and wish the happy couple well for the future.
Source: T-News
