The rest of the COL is pretty cheap as well:

> The children were born via caesarean section; the procedure, including a four-day hospital stay, cost about $1,200, far less than it would have in the United States.

> Monthly expenses here rarely exceed $2,000, even to live in a large unit like Rockhold’s, including the help of a cook and a cleaner.

Getting staff for that price in the US is next to impossible.

Yeah, but then you’d have to live in the rural midwest US rather than a beach city. The rural life just isn’t for some people. Also, old people like to retire to warmer places so they don’t feel cold all the time.

They also want to be able to afford housekeepers, gardeners, and cooks at a rate so low they can afford to have all three and still come out cheaper than having one of those in the US.

"afford" is just a way to rephrase "exploit" - due to the fundamentally unfair wealth distribution

you can "afford" a gardener as a retired middle manager only because a lot of poeple in that society are being enslaved

What a great idea! Let's retire there and have slaves!

Yeah, but you can't find an 18 year old woman to marry you as a modern day indentured servant in the midwest. Ninety percent or so of the old white men I encountered in SEA had his arm around some poor childlike girl.

While that is a horrible thing to say, I wouldn't disagree. I also saw some rather worrying couples when I was living in Saigon.

That said, some Asian women also just look young even at a surprisingly high age. I recently had Germans mistake my Asian mother in law to be my younger sister.

But sure, it is a big plus that in Saigon the $2k in retirement money pay not only for one person, but for an entire family. So if you're old and lonely, that might be a very attractive reason to go.

Absolutely, but I hope my comment was not taken as an endorsement by any means. I don't think most folks know how rampant it is. It was something I had read about and knew existed, but seeing it in person is eye opening. I know it's not my business and I shouldn't care, logically, but it makes me disgusted in some way every time.

If both people are getting what they want out of a relationship, what is the problem exactly?

The idea that relationships are based on love is not universal to say the least, many parts of the world still have arranged marriages that are explicitly transactional with an agreed dowry or bride price.

If it makes you feel a bit better, we are currently living through an unprecedented high in relationships based upon love rather than money.

That kind of thing's basically the norm among the rich, no matter where they live. Not really surprising that the non-rich do the same thing when they go somewhere that makes them, relative to the locals, rich.

I believe that it may well become an existential crisis for western cultures that guys are conditioned by advertisements to expect an attractive girlfriend in exchange for being successful at work, but in reality that rarely works out.

On the one side, that leads to men who feel like they deserve an attractive girlfriend and take evil methods for acquiring one.

On the other side, there's a booming industry in the US and Europe that teaches rich single white dudes how to be a decent enough human being for long enough to go on a normal date with a normal girl.

But for the guy, after they have committed most of their youth to financial success in the hopes that it will lead to a mate, switching course later on will be very painful. And lots of frustrated overly horny dudes might destabilize the country.

I didn't realize that non whites rich males don't do this as well.

In my experience that's significantly less common in Vietnam than in Thailand or the Philippines (having been to all three, and dated women in all three).

Agreed. I am going on my 4th year living in Vietnam, it is significantly less common here.

Of course you see a lot of sexpats, but Vietnamese culture is definitely less sexualized than in other SE Asia countries. It certainly exists literally everywhere, but it is just harder to find outside of the STD infected backpacker areas. The women are pretty adamant about having a bf.

For a long time, it was also more difficult and expensive to get a visa... so the guys looking to just get laid went to the easier countries. That is changing though as Vietnam now has an e-visa.

Thailand is no longer a particularly cheap country. Girls want cars and condos from their Western boyfriends. And they don't want old men.

Indeed, this is kind of a gross thing that is definitely happening in not-so-subtle ways. It's also been called "sex tourism."

In fact, it appears the man in the article may fit that profile. I think there's a big difference between "American couples are retiring to Thailand" and "single American men are retiring to Thailand and marrying Thai women."

"American girls found inferior to Asian girls by random rich old white dude from America". I wonder if that would be enough to trigger a shit-storm.

Suburban / Ungentrified urban Midwest