Canadian Lesley Hogya, an Iyengar yoga instructor currently teaching pre-natal classes in Bangkok, certainly makes yoga during pregnancy sound like a treat. "It’s a special time in your life, especially if it’s your first pregnancy, so you should indulge and take care of yourself. Yoga poses can nurture the pregnant woman in a way that…
Read moreEast-west fusion
When the chef has tried some 600 combinations of ingredients to make the best possible Indian naan bread – with a Western twist – you know the restaurant under their charge has got to be special.Willment Leong, chef at the lavish Merchant Court Hotel’s Doc Cheng’s, says he may have even tried 700 combinations to…
Read moreGirl, Interrupted
By Susanna Kaysen When Susanna Kaysen is 18 years old she makes a feeble attempt to take her own life. After a single session with a psychiatrist she is diagnosed as having a ‘borderline personality’ and is sent away to McLean Hospital, the private psychiatric centre that treated Sylvia Plath and Ray Charles, among other…
Read moreWhen We Were Orphans
By Kazuo Ishiguro Christopher Banks was born in Shanghai to British parents in the early 20th century while opium was all the rage. His father’s apparent kidnapping is followed shortly afterwards by his mother’s disappearance, and thereafter he is sent back to England. He becomes a successful detective, and eventually returns to Shanghai just prior…
Read moreBangkok-style Bauhaus
Just the thought of renovating a home can make some people shudder; renovating a home while living in a foreign country presents an even greater challenge. But completely renovating a home overseas when you don’t even own it? To Australian designer Kristina Zanic and her fiance, it seemed like the obvious thing to do. Bangkok-based…
Read morePre-natal poses
“Yoga poses can nurture the pregnant woman in a way that other forms of exercise won’t. Lying on bolsters and having pillows and blankets all around you – I mean, how luxurious!. And then being told to just lie there and breath…” Canadian Leslie Hogya, an Iyengar yoga instructor currently teaching pre-natal yoga classes at…
Read moreMaking a difference from your desk
Picture contributing to your community in some way and you may assume you’d have to spend half a day at a shelter a week or maybe drive a van on the streets. In Bangkok, Australian Margo Towie found a way to assist pregnant and post-natal women without needing to leave her office. Since January 1999,…
Read moreThey who wield the hammer
“She’s very good at art.” “I think clients like her! She’s very patient when it comes to talking to clients.” “But I don’t have good eyes like her!” “Oh, but she has a good eye for jewellery.” So two friends who work together enthusiastically point out each others’ good points. Yaovanee Nirandara has a passion…
Read moreBangkok dining and drinking guide
Thais take their food very seriously. Combine this fact with Bangkok’s vibrant cosmopolitanism and you have a city that will consistently keep your taste buds singing. You might dine in a traditional Thai house serving the finest of Thai cuisine, or find yourself tucked away in a French restaurant able to compete with the best…
Read moreBangkok district guide
To put it simply, Bangkok can seem like a nightmare to the uninitiated. Sprawling expressways and overpasses, the huge new Sky Train and crowded streets full of vendors give the city a distinct Blade Runneresque feel. To confuse matters further, there’s no true ‘centre’ to the city, with various districts famed for different reasons being…
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