Archive for September, 2007
Jaundiced Farang In The Land Of Plenty
You heard it all before. The farang who came to Thailand and understood everything and soon lost everything. The farang who came to Thailand and felt being treated like a king while in reality being laughed at. The farang finally with that funny hairstyle and face – a comic figure really who looks oversized everywhere
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Stephen Leather, Bangkok’s Most Immortal Expat Writer
Meet Stephen Leather, world-known author of thrillers and the the Bangkok bar girl saga “Private Dancer” – a book Stephen had to publish by himself, as his publisher overseas was not too happy with the rather explicit and brutally candid Bangkok bar scene content. Stephen with the „perfect name Stephen Leather, great for a thriller
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State Of Euphoria: Bangkok Writers Guild
We had quite some stories now on absolutely about Bangkok writers. As we’re all writers in a way. Everybody at one point in one’s life was a writer. We all had a kind of diary, we all were writing about our early love affairs, first travels, grand ideas … And now the blog-mania. With absolutely
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AIS & 3G iPhone Soon?
Uncle Walt Mossberg told us recently – and later denied – that you can expect Apple’s next-generation 3G iPhone by mid-’08. Now why doesn’t that make you suspicious – because The Nation reported that Thailand’s AIS will debut a third-generation 3G service in Chiang Mai on May 6th, followed by Bangkok on June 15th. As
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Missing Lawyer Somchai: Murder With Impunity
It’s over four years since the disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit, a respected lawyer, on March 12th, 2004. Somchai vanished shortly after filing a complaint on behalf of five alleging they were tortured while in police custody. Somchai was the attorney for several ethnic Malay defendants accused of security-related offenses. His widow’s fight for the uncovering
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Bargain Salvation: Clearance Sale Of Thailand’s Lucky Charms
You were wondering – weren’t you? – why blessed tattoos and blessed amulets made Thais invincible. Or so it was said. Especially the holy Jatukam talismans from Nakhon Si Thammarat were said to bless the owner with money, luck and charm. Immortality really. And everybody fueled the frenzy: Newspapers, housewives, the monks. People were lining
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Thailand’s Wealthy Untouchables
Thai academic Thirayuth Boonmee recently assured us that Thai society is now deteriorating significantly – at a pace that Thailand’s judicial system is the only institution left which provides stability and which the people can rely upon. Khun Thirayuth, the former 1973 student uprising activist who now directs the Sanya Dhammasak Institute, mentioned five problems:
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The Vongthip Letter Apr 08
And you thought everything is going smoothly in the kingdom? With the new rulers in tempered control and the great puppet master quietly in the background? You couldn’t have been more wrong. Khun Vongthip Chumpani of Bangkok Bank explains you why. Welcome to another issue of Khun Vongthip’s monthly eye-openers. “Not so rosy a picture,”
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The Matchmaker
She’s the kind of woman you wouldn’t mind to marry yourself: She’s beautiful, cheerful, bright – and has a smartphone not to show off with. She’s a Thai woman who actually knows how to use that phone. Meet Nikki Assavathorn aka Khun Nikki, as she’s known among her hundreds of no more lonely hearts in
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The Psychology Of Songkran
The time of the year so many try to avoid is here again: Songkran. Thailand’s damp-chaotic New Year celebration. But there’s more to the celebration than just good wishes and water battles. The national insanity, with the country transforming itself into a madhouse, is a stabilizing factor. From our dear officials you’ll hear that they
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