AsianEuro, FilipinaHeart, ThaiLoveLinks, and VietnamCupid, are part of the Cupid Media family of websites that began in 2003. Whew, that’s a lot of sites to think about in one all encompassing broad based review! But rest assured that there is a method to the madness. They operate almost identically but each site focuses on the region that their respective names indicate. These sites are truly brilliant. What makes these sites so great, is what also makes them a bit difficult to use. The owners of these sites decided, rather than just creating a whole new database of foreign women, why not leverage existing “regular” dating sites in each country, for that purpose. What they did was legally lift or borrow profiles from dating sites in Asia that really only were viewable in its own countries language on a local dating website. That is, these sites are really just normal internet dating sites that have been translated into English and then turn around and cater to an international audience. That makes them incredibly intriguing because men can meet more “typical” females on these sites than they theoretically can on traditional foreign dating sites. Plus, many Asian foreign ladies who would themselves target an international audience of men are signing up on these sites. The upside of this strategy is that oftentimes there are more sincere women on these sites (for now anyway). Plus, the sheer number of women on these sites is huge and growing rapidly. Although it appears that membership profiles overlap at the Cupid Media sites, AsianEuro currently has an amazing 800,000 members, FilipinaHeart has a whopping 1,300,000 members, ThaiLoveLinks has an incredible 500,000 members, and VietnamCupid has a respectable 312,000 members! The number one strength of these sites is their sheer number of women. A second interesting and positive feature of these sites is that men can actually communicate with women (who are paying members themselves) without paying one single cent.
The most notable downside to these sites is that men may find that their women are sometimes not as receptive to Western men as the women at other more traditional foreign dating and marriage websites. Another downside is that the women sometimes only write in their native language and the translation software that converts such into English is not even close to perfect. Since the cost of using this service is basically one of the lowest in the industry however, and the sheer number of women coming on these sites is so high, I give them the # 5 Best of Asian Dating Sites Choice Award. For Western men who do not mind a bit of digging around to find a diamond in the rough and are comfortable using online translation software or not always getting the gist of a message, these sites will seem like the Holy Grail. On the other hand, for men who are not as technically savvy with the communication gap and such, or who don’t want to spend hours on in fishing around for foreign women who themselves may not be that interested in meeting a foreign man, these sites may not be that powerful for you and I therefore would put my number 1, 2, and 4 sites listed here before these sites because they are more targeted. Also, my # 3 choice is even better than these sites simply because of the sheer volume of women in the FriendFinder network. The one exception is FilipinaHeart however, which has the largest database of Filipina women in the world. That is, for guys interested in women from the Philippines, I would focus my energy on Blossoms, A Foreign Affair, Cebuanas, FilipinaHeart, and only then on FilipinoFriendFinder. Yes, I realize that that is all a bit confusing but once you spend some time on all of these sites, you will fully understand and appreciate what I mean.
As I mentioned, the cost structure of these Cupid Media sites is incredibly reasonable. Men can conduct searches and browse profiles for free but to see the women’s profiles in full and to write the ladies (who aren’t paid members themselves) men need to buy either a Gold or Platinum membership. Here are the costs for both:
Gold Memberships:
1 month-$24.99
3 months-$49.99
6 months-$74.99
12 months-$99.99 (It’s hard to beat this price!)
Platinum Memberships:
1 month-$29.99
3 months-$59.99
6 months-$99.99
12 months-$119.99
Gold members get to view profiles in their entirety, can do more specific searches, can contact unlimited members through email or instant messenger, and can participate in chat rooms. Also, Gold member profiles rank above regular members. The main difference between these two plans however, is that Platinum members get to access video messages and voice mail, get automatic email translation, and their profiles rank above Gold members profiles. The difference in cost is pretty negligible so go ahead and purchase the upgraded plan if you like those added features but I do not think it is needed. Note that people can just go to Yahoo’s Babel Fish! for good free translation software.
In conclusion, these sites really work like traditional dating websites. Men can search for and contact women, show them “interest,” and filter the results based on whether the women want a Penpal, Friendship, Romance/Dating, or Marriage. Since it is more like a dating site than a foreign bride service, these websites do not offer romance tours, telephone translation services, immigration and VISA support services, etc. But none of these items present insurmountable obstacles to meeting and dating and even marrying foreign women. Men should probably not think too long and hard about this service because it is only $100 for an entire year and can potentially be responsible for introducing a man to the love of his life. These sites collectively rank as my # 5 Best Asian dating sites in the world for their volume of women and their relatively low price. Simply click on the link below to give them a try.
