What do you think about Etienne trips to Thailand, he appear more of a "normal" and not rich guy?
In Thailand the avrage salary is between 7000-10,000 BAT a month -which is around 225-322$$. Some people don't even make 7000 Bat a month but even the ones who get to 7000-10,000 BAT still don't have it easy. After they pay for a room, food, etc... they don't have spare money left.
now let's see:
1 US dollar = 30 Bat (Thai money)
so even if I stay at a cheap guest house which is let's say:
10$ a night - that is 300 Bat (a night)
300 Bat x 30 days is 9000 Bat a month which I spend just on a hotel room.
Now when you add the food and shopping I make in Thailand to that equation=
I'm already much better off financially than most avrage Thai people.
Now add to it the fact that I have money for plane tickets to get to Thailand. And that I can afford to take time off work or school. Avrage Thai people could never afford a plane ticket to Israel or France....
So you see: even an avrage man from the west is much better off than avrage working Thai people- even if he does not pose as a rich man.
Now Etienne spend a long time in Thailand, I don't know which hotels he was at or how much money he spent. But I just gave you an example of how even an avrage man from the west which is not rich already has a higher social status by default.
Now as I said, some Thai women would love to hook up with a western man just for a chance to live and work in the west. In any western country the minimum wage is much higher than in Thailand.
Now I don't know what kind of women Etienne was with and
I'm not saying that all Thai women are gold diggers.
All I'm saying is that women of high quality in Thailand are not sleeping around and will only sleep with someone who dates them for a while and shows he is serious.
Also, women in Thailand do care about money and social status- so to say that they are only after 'energy' is hooey.