Analysing terror

Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison By David Chandler Some 1.5 million Cambodian people were killed or died as a result of policies implemented by the Khmer Rouge during its reign of terror between 1975 and 1979. How do you get your mind around something like that? By making analogies…

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Scoring at soccer

In a country as soccer-crazed as Thailand, it’s surprising that there’s so little of it played here. To Englishman Darren Jackson, a former professional player with an FA coaching badge, this is obviously something that needs to be rectifed. Wth assistant Andrew Jeffries, he’s doing his bit to teach children how to play soccer well…

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The taste of Takumi

Takumi: it means skilful and clever in Japanese. And it’s an apt name for this stylish restaurant, tucked away on the second floor of the vast Merchant Court Hotel. First impressions are important, and Takumi’s doesn’t let diners down here. The restaurant seats a total of 90, but there are eight elegant tatami rooms –…

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Beauty and brains: Areeya ‘Pop’ Chumsai

Areeya ‘Pop’ Chumsai might be best known as a former Miss- Thailand-turned-military-officer, but she’s a journalist by trade and it certainly shows. “I guess you’ll want background information first,” she says thoughtfully when the interview starts. “I’m thinking, how many column inches do we have here? What should be the focal point of the story?…

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Moving at the speed of Tata

Two years ago, her name was everywhere. She’d just been named by Elle as one of Thailand’s “Ten Most Influential People”, and Asiaweek had included her in their 1998 list of the “25 Most Exceptional People in Asia”. She appeared in her second film, O-Negative, for which she also put out an album – her…

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A prize-winning job

The Olympics are all about bringing sportslovers from different nations together: and not just as adversaries on the field. New Zealander Gay Horan has been coaching Thailand’s Olympic gold-medal rowing hopeful, Phuttharaksa Nikri, since 1996. “I read a newspaper article in The Nation about a girl called Phuttharaksa who wanted to row and had no…

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Thai me up, Thai me down

When I first arrived in Bangkok, I hated it. It was as if a black-and-white film of the post-industrial age was screening in front of my eyes and I wasn’t allowed to leave. I was overwhelmed by the traffic, the people, the noise. Slowly, I learned to see the colour. Unexpected beauty was everywhere if…

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A breath of fresh air: Yoga for expatriate women

The air might usually be filled with thick traffic fumes in Bangkok, but that doesn’t mean you should hold your breath. In fact, you’d be doing your body and your mind a great service if you were to learn to breathe properly in Bangkok – or anywhere else. Practising the ancient art of yoga can…

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Toward quality fiction

Like the Gaze of Statues: Selected Short Stories By Karen Schur What a refreshing book to find published in this city crying out to be captured by a competent fiction writer’s pen. But Karen Schur’s Like the Gaze of Statues ventures much further than Bangkok: this collection of twenty quietly-spoken short stories takes the world…

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Only the murder was missing

It was swish, smart and sumptuous. The Eastern and Oriental Express’ inaugural dinner journey from Bangkok’s Hualampong Station and back – the destination was hardly the point – was an extravagant, ostentatious affair. There was one disappointment to be had in the five hours of snaking our way through the Thai night in style: there…

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