Well here's a cautionary tale if there ever was one. The main guy featured in this 43 minute Canadian documentary could have really used a wing-man in Thailand - or at least a $6/month subscription to CH...

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/The+Passionate+Eye/ID/2335966475/

If the program doesn't stream outside Canada, well, basically the guy meets a (not very attractive) Thai girl in a bar; marries her; builds her a brand new house and pig farm - after liquidating everything he had back in England; and, well, it's then that he starts being treated with complete indifference. He'd already given her total control of the money and, by law I guess, he couldn't be the registered owner of the house. He says in the interview he had to beg her for beer money; for money to fill up his motor scooter.

In the end, he returns to England pretty much flat broke. Good thing for him they've a generous welfare system over there. (I know - because a friend of mine owns his own flat there but still the Government pays him welfare).

I wonder what our CBC TV network paid him to tell his embarrassing story.