The sharper edge to traveling in Asia

Archive for the 'China' Category

WoWasis book review: ‘Take China: The Last of the China Marines’ by Harold Stephens

Harold Stephens, author of Take China: The Last of the China Marines (2003, ISBN 0-9642521-8-X), maintains that the book is a novel, but in actuality it’s a memoir, his autobiographical tales of serving with the U.S. Marines, transitioning from the end of World War II to mainland China. He’s changed the names, but it’s all […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘The Vets’ … Hong Kong and Bangkok intrigue by Stephen Leather

British novelist Stephen Leather has written an amazing body of fiction books centering on Southeast Asia. In The Vets (1993, ISBN 978-0-340-59770-5), he includes Hong Kong in the mix, in a fast-paced thriller that displays his knowledge of HK prior to its takeover by the Chinese as well as his understanding of the powerful mainland […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘The Solitary Man,’ Golden Triangle adventure by Stephen Leather

We’d imagine that comparatively few of our WoWasis readers have served time in their nation’s prisons. Fewer have served in overseas prisons. And fewer still in the legendarily filthy prisons of Thailand. And that’s why so many people just love to read about them. From shit-encrusted holes in the floor that serve as toilets to […]

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Thai crime scams: international crooks find a home in Thailand, authorities classify them by ethnicity and crime type

Thailand’s easy atmosphere has made it a home base for millions of tourists, but, according to Thai police, it’s also a haven for groups of international criminals. Amazingly, the police have mapped various ethnicities to certain types of crimes, according to an article appearing in the January 14, 2013 issue of the Bangkok Post. Here […]

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WoWasis product review: a wristwatch compass that’s efficient and inexpensive

Carry this great small compass with you whenever you’re in an unfamliar place

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WoWasis book review: ‘Sex at the Margins’ by Laura María Agustín

The author of this book on the prostitution “rescue industry” caught our eye here on a WoWasis blog post earlier this year, when we reported this comment in her own blog, quoted from a Thai women’s organization: We have now reached a point in history where there are more women in the Thai sex industry being […]

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How to avoid excessive phone charges when traveling in Asia

Avoiding excessive phone charges while traveling is easy. Here’s how…

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WoWasis book review: ‘The Snakehead’: of smuggling Chinese nationals into the U.S.

WoWasis has already reported on the AAMP (Asian Apartment Massage Parlor) scene in the western U.S. In that environment, based on our interviews, it would appear that most of the women involved in the trade view the United States as a quick way to make great money, and a way-stop on their way back home. Whether […]

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Grey Man: yet another Sex Trafficking NGO found to be falsifying data

NGOs investigtaing alleged sex trafficking continue to be challenged in providing truthful information

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Dr Laura Agustín and Thai sex workers: Anti-trafficking Rescues are Our Biggest Problem

Perhaps the most controversial topic we write about here at WoWasis is the excesses of the NGOs and governmental bodies involved in policing the sex trade in Asia. $30,000 Pedophilia NGO scam: if allegations are true, who’s watching the Watchers?    NGO Pedophilia controversy heats up in Cambodia and Is it time for a website to archive […]

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