Gold diggers

A remark in a book I am reading about Bangkok- a sort of travelogue of a long time British resident- caught my attention. He is talking about local women who want to get out of their poverty by marrying a "rich" foreigner (also known there as 'farang', similar to 'firang' used in India). He says, he is sympathetic towards the gold diggers (not only in Thailand, but all over) because that is a way to balance out the income inequity among men and women. Something like, when the men are many times richer than the women, what else can they do? You may agree with it or not, but I found it an interesting way to look at the phenomenon. He goes on to say, that men also come to terms with this kind of an arrangement, over time.

His descriptions of long term living in Thailand also contain interesting perspectives on Buddhism and its views about various things. For instance, the co-existence of materialism with non-materialism, or attitude towards love and life.