In 1994 the Song river flowed sedately through Vang Vieng, a small village-town just off Route 13 in Vientiane province, Lao PDR. Local women washed their hair in the river’s shallow waters, men pushed their bicycles across the smooth pebbles lining its bed and children pointed and cried when they saw some of the first…
Read moreThe Good Cook
Edited by Richard Olney This finely-photographed book is food pornography at its most sophisticated. It’s both more and less than a true cook book, with theoretical and practical information taking up the bulk of the book, and a recipe section with directions that need a good reading through before you start as they can be…
Read moreSaving the endangered
In the dead of night, the turtle makes its way up the sand slowly, leaving a trail like a tyre-track in its wake. Nobody has laid eyes on this reptile since she left this very beach between ten and thirty years ago – but probably nobody saw her even then. She’s spent her entire life…
Read moreFinding balance
Petcharapan Sangsawang used to suffer from allergies. Nearly every morning, her nose ran, she would sneeze and her head would be uncomfortably congested. “Now I know how to breathe,” she says. “My lungs are healthier and stronger, so they can cope with the allergies.” What did she do to alleviate her problems? She studied Iyengar…
Read moreSlurp up the cultural soup
Whether you’re a farang needing to kill a couple of days waiting for a visa or just a tourist wanting to immerse yourself in another culture for a few days, Georgetown is a gem of a destination. History lives in the colonial streets of this town, the capital of Malaysia’s Penang Island. What immediately strikes…
Read moreYoga bare
Want to learn how to stand on your head? Maybe your shoulders? No, not for a party trick, but to improve both your physical health and that of your mind as well? American Justin Herold has been teaching Iyengar yoga around the traps in Bangok since 1992, but last October became more accessible to everyone…
Read morePhetburi
Need to hire a motorcycle assassin? If you pay attention to the press, Phetburi is the place to go for some of the best. We didn’t notice any hanging around advertising their wares, but that’s not what we went to Phetburi for… Just three hours by bus or train from Bangkok, Phetburi was founded in…
Read moreFirst They Killed My Father
By Loung UngThis powerful narrative describes the true experiences of a child who suffers at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. When Loung is five-years-old the regime takes Phnom Penh, and she and her family are forced to flee into the countryside where they are vigilant in keeping their middle-class past secret. Eventually her father…
Read moreThe latin connection
I have a theory about why the Latino craze originally kicked off in Thailand: it was the Ricky Martin-World Cup connection. With literally millions of Thais glued to their screens for the biggest soccer event on earth way back in 1998, it was perhaps inevitable that they would be seduced by the Puerto Rican’s rhythmic…
Read moreGuard’s story fires blanks
The Bodyguard’s Story By Trevor Rees-Jones Who would bother to read this review? Let’s face it: if you’re into the British Royals, you’ll be into Princess Diana and you’ll remember precisely where you were when you heard about her death and burst into tears. And you’ll definitely buy The Bodyguard’s Story because it’s the tale…
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