Isaan
Isaan (อีสาน) is the name of Thailand's northeastern region, the country's largest and most populous, and also historically its poorest and most rural. Culturally distinct from the rest of Thailand, with linguistic and culinary influences from neighboring Laos, Isaan matters in the context of this site mainly as the home region of a significant share of the Thai women who partner with foreigners, even when they end up living in Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Pattaya. Understanding Isaan as a concept — rather than just a geographic location — helps make sense of family financial responsibility, the dowry, and other cultural dynamics that come up again and again in our stories.
Frequently asked questions
What is Isaan best known for?
Its distinctive cuisine (like som tam or grilled chicken), its traditional music and dance, and being the home region for a large share of the population that migrates to Thai cities for economic reasons.
Why is Isaan mentioned so often on this site?
Because many of the Thai women in our stories were born there, and their home context helps explain financial and family decisions that, seen without that context, are sometimes misread.
Is being from Isaan the same as having a rural background?
Not exactly: Isaan includes both rural areas and sizeable cities, though it's true the region as a whole is more rural and agricultural than central Thailand.
Stories related to Isaan
An Australian messaged me to say the woman I'd fallen for was his girlfriend of a year. Today she's my wife.
At 44, divorced for a decade, an American meets Tay on Facebook. A month later, already in love, he finds out she'd spent the past year with an Australian man who'd visited her village in Isan. She confesses everything honestly and asks for one chance. Years later, they're married and building a house to retire in.
I kept coming back to Pattaya for thirteen years. In the third bar on Soi Honey I met Jib.
A 42-year-old Dutchman started visiting Pattaya in 2010 and never stopped coming back every January. In 2022, in a bar on Soi Honey, he met Jib, from Isaan. Two years later he bought land from her family, fully aware of what that meant.
I opened a joint account with the million-baht dowry. She started quietly withdrawing money without telling me.
A 62-year-old retired American recounts how he met Dada at a Pattaya massage shop, married her in a Buddhist ceremony in Isan, and everything fell apart when she started quietly withdrawing money from the joint account he'd opened for the dowry.
I gave her 400,000 baht and two years of my life. One day she went to a temple and never spoke to me again.
A 51-year-old Canadian recounts how he went from a tense relationship in Pattaya to supporting Lek for two years as she built a food stall in her village near Prakhon Chai, until she vanished without explanation after a temple retreat.
She called it being her boyfriend. Over time I realised I was actually her sponsor, one of several.
A recently retired American looks back on his relationship with a Thai woman he met in Hong Kong. What began as a romance with visits to Bangkok turned into a growing list of monthly payments, until he discovered he wasn't the only man supporting her.