Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Bangkok Stories

Gold, diamonds, turtles and eels ? Jan McGirk on Thailand's wedding of the year. And how Bangkok's strip clubs are enforcing strict new anti-smoking laws

Sunday 10 November 2002 01:00 GMT
Comments

For romantically inclined Thais, size matters – at least, the size of the groom's bank account does. It is perfectly acceptable and politically correct for a bride to marry for money. In fact, "marrying well" is a euphemism for marrying wealth.

Porntip Nakhirunkanok is considered to be rather long in the tooth for a Thai bride at 34. But even 14 years after winning the Miss Universe title, the willowy beauty continues to be one of the most celebrated women in South-east Asia.

Porntip is A-list, and still gets mobbed at the airport. Nobody here sniggers over her first name, which is commonplace. Her relatives must have wondered how this lovely luminary could ever meet someone with enough money to match her, but there's no doubt about it: Porntip's ship has just come in again – in triplicate.

When she married a portly billionaire from Los Angeles last week, the groom sent three lavish barges laden with wedding gifts across the Chao Phya river. All water traffic was brought to a halt while the bride's family haggled over the ceremonial "tolls" collected from the groom's party.

This was no ordinary betrothal. Herb Simon, 57, who made his fortune in US shopping malls, gave the bride five sets of diamond ornaments and a Porsche, plus nine bars of gold and the auspicious sum of 9.99m baht in cash (£146,000). By the time he produced the wedding ring, with a hulking nine-carat diamond, and slid it on to Porntip's slender finger, the bride's unabashed upward mobility had won national approval.

The couple released 35kg of eels, nine large turtles and one tapap nam (soft-shelled turtle) into the Chao Phya, in accordance with Buddhist custom. Afterwards, 50 young attendants dressed in cloth of gold escorted the bride and groom to dine with their 150 wedding guests across the river.

In comparison with all this, the actual wedding was extremely discreet. Only eight witnesses were allowed into Klaikangwol Palace to watch Thailand's Queen Sirikrit ceremonially pour water over the hands of the bride and groom. Soothsayers calculated the best astrological moment to start married life: 6:29pm.

This moment was, apparently, long postponed. "For four years he pursued me, and for four years I tried to run away," Porntip giggled to reporters. "But finally I stopped to wonder why ... and here we are." When asked if she was ready to start a family, Porntip did not hesitate. "Definitely," she said, "but I have to get Herb to start practising." The groom's sweaty face reddened, but he blamed it on the sticky weather and the heavy silk coats he and his best man had donned for the occasion.

Anything goes in Bangkok, they say, but bouncers at the karaoke bars and strip joints of Patpong have started frisking patrons. What are they looking for? Offensive weapons? No, cigarettes.

Starting this weekend, any air-conditioned bar which serves food must enforce a no-smoking policy. Fines of 20,000 baht (£293) will be levied against any business owner who allows his chilled air to be sullied with tobacco smoke. My friend Panee complains that this is the first step in making Bangkok as joyless as Singapore.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in