Tales of the Foreign Brides...; No girl? Ram the car then

The happy, and the sad.

Related: 喜喜

Edit (Jan 12): The coverage in the local papers continues (and debated on sammyboy's kopitiam)

The Electric New Paper :
BABY BOOM FOR VIET BRIDES
By Dawn Chia
10 January 2006

THE stork has been arriving early for couples who meet through matchmaking agencies.

Take the Tans for example. Mr Eric Tan, 36, and his Vietnamese wife, Ms Pei Rou Jiang, 18, are already expecting their first baby, just six months after they wed.

His wife is now about six months pregnant. They wasted no time in starting a family because both wanted to settle down quickly without the fuss of courtship.

The Tans' speedy trip to parenthood is a reflection of the matches which matchmaker Mark Lin does for his clients.

About 60 per cent of the Vietnamese brides in his agency, Vietnam Brides International Matchmaker, become pregnant within a year of marriage, Mr Lin said.

Speaking to The New Paper at an annual lunch organised by the agency that helped him find his wife, Mr Tan said: 'Before meeting my wife, I had a girlfriend of eight years. I wanted to settle down and start a family, but she kept asking me to wait.

'After a while, I decided I couldn't wait forever, so I called the relationship off.'

The break-up made him actively look to other avenues for a life partner.

Eventually, he came across a newspaper advertisement for Vietnamese brides and decided to give it a go.

Mr Tan said: 'My mother was very supportive of my decision. So were my friends.

'When I saw my wife, I decided that she was the one - it was her fair skin that attracted me.'

While it was physical appearance which drew the couple together at first, they are now bound by love, as well as a responsibility to their unborn child.

Coincidentally, the couple are both the youngest of four siblings in their families.

Ms Pei, who is from Tay Ninh province, said she was initially fearful of her husband when they were making plans for the marriage.

Although she did not have any expectations of her potential life partner, she was apprehensive about marrying someone she hardly knew.

She said shyly: 'He looked dependable, but we're strangers after all, and I didn't know whether I had made the right decision by agreeing to marry him.

'But I took the leap of faith and married him because my elder sister, who also married a Singaporean, told me that Singaporean men can be trusted and treat their wives very well.'

Like other women at the lunch yesterday, Ms Pei had heard about the plight of the Vietnamese bride who was duped into having sex with a 64-year-old cobbler, thinking that he would marry her.

She said: 'I feel sorry for the girl, but I will still encourage my friends and relatives to come to look for a husband here.

Mr Tan, on the other hand, acknowledged the risks which the women face when they travel far in search of a husband.

He said: 'Going to a foreign land to look for a husband can be a very dangerous experience, and I shudder at what my wife could have gone through had she met the conman.

'But not all men intend to cheat.

'It depends on the individual to have a conscience and be responsible for his own actions.'

Pregnancy joy

ABOUT six in every 10 couples can look forward to children within a year of marriage, says matchmaker Mark Lin.

The managing director of Vietnam Brides International Matchmaker added that the remaining couples usually become pregnant within two to three years of marriage.

His agency matchmakes about 60 to 70 couples a year, and the women are aged between 18 and 30s.

Ms Ou Shi Hui, 23, has been married for four months.

She isn't pregnant yet, and turned up to meet her friends who got married recently.

She said: 'I'm very excited to have started a new life here.

'My husband treats me very well and I'm glad to be able to meet my friends again.

'At least I know that there are people from my country here whom I can confide in if I need to.'

For the unmarried few who are waiting to be picked as brides, the gathering gives them an opportunity to meet their married friends and learn from them.

Miss Li Hong Shuang, 19, said: 'From what I hear, Singaporean men treat their wives very well, especially when they're pregnant.

'I can't wait to be married!'

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Extremely depressing to be out on a road trip with 3 couples and being the odd guy out. I get to ram the accelerator though. Eat my dust!

Don't you hate it when they make out in the back seats?

Trivia: Minimum speed along most of the highway sections outside of the major metropolitan areas is posted as 40 mph. It is displayed prominently on those signboards you see by the side of the road. Nobody really cares, of course.