Sin sod advice
 

I need an advice on whether or not to pay sin sod.

I am due to meet my girlfriend's family in Thailand for first time of our 5 year relationship. I am 36, she is 33, we met and live in UK. I have been helping her out financially with rent, tuition fees etc for the last 5 years while she studied her phd. Together perhaps £8k in 5 years but I am fine with that since she tried to work too to support herself and I had a job. Her family helped her a lot too to be fair. For a year I have been supporting her entirely. She now has a British passport and looking for a job.

Her family, probably not very rich, insists that we need to have a ceremony when we arrive to see them in a small Issan village. My girlfriend arranged a sin sod of 100 000 bath (£2200) which is less than my monthly salary.

However, i am planning to buy a flat for us so every penny counts. As a graduate she has no savings so she cannot help at all. Having said how much she is being taken care of, is there still a moral ground for paying sin sod ?

Re: Sin sod advice
 

Hi, I got married 9yrs ago and paid a Sin Sot of 30,000 baht, a bit of gold, and a few pigs. We got got given back the money the next day by her parents.
It seems like it's bragging rights and saving face for the parents, on the day, so maybe you and the missus can come to some arrangement with her parents.

Re: Sin sod advice
 

Possibly the most complex issue anyone marrying a Thai has to face. Some girls demand a sin sod in the millions so 100K does not seem outrageous and, normally, it's given back to the couple by the girl's parents.

Re: Sin sod advice
 

I just talked with my girlfriend and told her I don't do sin sod. She still married me and we are together 7 years and happy. It's all about what you agree between yourselves. I don't do supporting families. My duty is to look after my wife but these days she is self supporting with very good income off here web based business. Not bad for a issan farm girl.

Re: Sin sod advice
 

First off, 100K baht is nothing these days. Just do it.

Now my rant. I am a Thai who has been educated and worked in Thailand, the US, and Europe.

Sin sod is not a Thai tradition. No. If you go back in back in time to the 1970's, no such animal existed. What existed was a groom paying some nominal amount - in a few cases. I mean very nominal amount!

I blame TV drama's starting in the 1980's and greed that now makes 100K baht sin sod seem reasonable. Don't feed the faux tradition but you need to do what you need to do.
Just think of it as 100k to 300K being reasonable to pay for a wedding happening.

Re: Sin sod advice
 

I don't go along with just pay it. You do what is right for you and if that means no Sin Sod then that is what it will be. If you want to impress the family and village she has a good ATM then pay it.

Re: Sin sod advice
 

555, I would suggest it is the years living together after marriage that would be more problematic!

Re: Sin sod advice
 

:rofl: :thumbup:

Re: Sin sod advice
 

I remebered that my sin sod was also around 100,000 THB...