Anont Rotthong (58) has had little or no sleep over the past few days. A Thai durian seller is fielding hundreds of calls from interested suitors in response to his online ad offering his youngest daughter’s hand in marriage.
The perfect son-in-law would gain her love, 10 million baht ($313,500) and a likelihood to take over his successful business, he promised.
However, Anont has a strict set of criteria for its preferred candidate: he should be a hard-working, frugal, non-smoking and non-gambling man, aged 26-40 and willing to learn as much as possible in regards to the durian trade.
The father of 4 has a selected soft spot for Chinese men as he looks to interrupt into the lucrative Chinese market, which has turn into considered one of Thailand’s biggest export markets in recent times.
In a Facebook post, Anont indicated that he shouldn’t be picky about his suitor’s education level. “You don’t have to show me your college degree,” he wrote Saturday in a message that quickly went viral.
“He cannot be lazy and he should not know how to spend money in order to save it. All this for 10 million baht and 10 pickup trucks, which will help him start his durian business.”
Chinese consumers bought 80,000 durians after Alibaba signed a 3 billion yuan food cope with the Thai government
Chinese consumers bought 80,000 durians after Alibaba signed a 3 billion yuan food cope with the Thai government
The daughter in query, Kansita Rotthong, graduated with honors from Assumption University in Bangkok and holds a level in Chinese from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
She dated a Chinese man for 2 years, but “because of the space” it didn’t work out.
Kansita, while raising the problem, initially thought her father was joking. “I stopped laughing when this story went viral,” she said in a television interview on Monday.
A father’s desperate attempt to search out his daughter a husband has been met with heavy criticism on the Internet.
One Facebook user wrote: “You will get those who only want your money.”
Another commenter said, “Your efforts will make people think your daughter won’t find love on her own. I want her to find love, not someone who will make a fool of her.
Anont admitted that the announcement had also become a thorn in his wife’s side: “My wife is very unhappy at the moment. She said she didn’t want her daughter to look like she was unwanted.
China’s insatiable appetite for durian is swallowing up Malaysian tribal lands
China’s insatiable appetite for durian is swallowing up Malaysian tribal lands
But Anont, who has been working in the durian industry since he was 17, is determined.
To stay optimistic while vetting potential candidates, he snacked on – what else – durian.
“The reason why durian is called the ‘king of fruits’ is because it is so good,” Anont said. “I even have received hundreds of calls, but once I eat durian within the meantime, I do not feel so drained.”
Anont has three durian markets in Chanthaburi province within the east, Chumphon province within the south, where his family lives, and Yala within the deep south.
The ideal couple must comply with work in considered one of them, and if “they’re destined to be together, my daughter can marry him.”
Anont said he sells “hundreds of tons of durian in Thailand. I want to find someone to help me and continue my business because I am getting older, but there is more work every day.”
“I don’t care about his appearance either. I know how to judge people,” he said.
He invited interested parties to meet him in Chanthaburi, where he will travel on April 1 to buy the prickly fruit.
However, 26-year-old Kansita, who is single, has a different opinion about her life.
“Now that this story is all over the place, I’m starting to disagree with my father a little bit because ultimately I’m the one who chooses the man.
“He doesn’t have to be a durian trader like my father wants, but he has to be a good person,” she said. “I always take time to be with someone. For example, in terms of wealth, there shouldn’t be such a big gap between us. But apart from that, I have to see for myself.”
However, the Chinese can still hope.
“I think the Chinese are more hard-working compared to the Thais,” she said.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: The Durian seller makes a tasty offer for the proper son-in-law
