(BOOK REVIEW) Pattaya is, as anyone’s who’s either visited or lived here for more than five minutes well knows, a place with a reputation for providing pleasures of the flesh, at a price. There are businesspeople in Pattaya who like to pretend this...
Some are lucky enough to find true love so breathtaking that it is more than able to disable a person when it is crushed. The psycological pain that felt at that stage is so overwhelming that it can also be directed into physical pain. And in total...
This is a Book Review! This week I was presented with yet another book about life in Thailand, and a side oflife that most of us would publicly shun. Written by Derek Sharron, My Name Lon – You Like Me? (ISBN 974-92721-5-3, publisher Bangkok Book...
The Thais call their capital city Krungthep, not Bangkok, as it is know internationally. It is short of what the Guinness Book of World Records dub the longest name for a city – Krungthepmahanakorn Amornrattanakosin Mahintrayuthaya Mahadilokpob...
Northern Thai Cuisine Thai food of the north, in some way, is cooked with the sole thought for the taste for the northern people. The recipe consists of vegetable and ingredients available in their immediate vicinity. The common meal includes...
Historically speaking the knowledge of traditional Thai massage reached South East Asia some 2500 years ago. It is said to have been introduced then by a doctor from Northern India by the name of Jivaka Kumar Bhacca, a contemporary of Buddha and...
In Thailand there are four allies in maintaining stability of Buddhism: Buddhist monks, the King, the government and Buddhist lay people. 1. The Order of Buddhist Monks (Sangha) The Sangha or the Buddhist Church is a sacred and spiritual institution...
If you pick up a tourist brochure, or look at a website, or even talk with one of the expatriates who live there, you’ll keep stumbling on the phrase “paradise” used to describe Pattaya. On arrival the casual observer may be a little mystified by...
A golden brownish leaf floats in the early morning breeze from a teak tree towering high above the road that climbs through Khao Yai National Park. I watched it drift; its graceful descent to the tarmac caught by sunlight filtering through the trees...
One thing first-time visitors to Thailand find intriguing is the spirit house, ubiquitously found in the yard of almost every Thai home or building. In Bangkok, the biggest and most popular spirit house is that located in front of the Grand Hyatt...