The Good Manner: Advice on Asia from WoWasis’ Pa Farang Today’s question: Drug scam in Malaysia? Dear Pa Farang, A friend and I had a strange thing happen to us on a recent trip to Patong. While walking down a major thoroughfare, we were approached by two men who flashed badges at us, told us […]
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WoWasis book review: Mao Tse-Tung on Guerilla Warfare
Here at WoWasis, we’d guess that the collective United States military never got around to reading Mao Tse-Tung’s 73 page Yu Chi Chan, an expert treatise on the art of guerilla war, before it got hopelessly bogged down in the quagmire called Vietnam. Translated brilliantly by Brigadier General Samuel B. Griffith, USMC (Ret.) as Mao […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: The Tragedy of Sri Lanka: William McGowan’s ‘Only Man Is Vile’
Sri Lanka has stabilized, to the extent that the country is now charging for tourist visas, instead of for years practically begging people to come. Here at WoWasis, we’re going there next month to investigate. So what were the Civil War years, from 1983-2009 really all about. As journalist William McGowan so cogently describes in […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis travel clothing review: a Panama hat that’s packable and great looking
Here at WoWasis, we use the durable T3 Tilley Hat for just about everything we do in the bush, desert, jungle, and forest. But sometimes we need something a touch more fashionable when we’re wearing a light-colored summer suit in hot, tropical climates. And we can’t carry around a hat box, so we need a hat […]
Read the rest of this entry »French silicone breast implant scandal thought not to include SE Asia
The scandal involving French implant company Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP)’s use of substandard, industrial silicone for breast implants concerns potentially tens of thousands of women in at least half a dozen European countries. So far, it appears that none of these implants, which reportedly are prone to rupturing, were distributed in Southeast Asia. As reported […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on comparisons between Thailand and the U.S.
Sitting in one of my favorite bars with a mate last night, we were discussing our various methods of charming the opposite sex and satisfying our disgusting animal urges. My mate happened to mention that when making love to a woman “doggy” style he often attempts to enter another pleasure zone in that general region, […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Kempei Tai: Japanese Secret Service’ by Richard Deacon
Veteran espionage historian Richard Deacon really seems to love the Kempei Tai, Japan’s pre-Cold War military police-based intelligence agency. His Kempei Tai: A History of the Japanese Secret Service (1983, ISBN 0-8253-0131-9) is replete with personal histories of its founders and leaders, stories of intrigue, and arcane espionage factoids. The author emphasizes intelligence-gathering as practically […]
Read the rest of this entry »PC Air’s ladyboy flight attendants now flying in Thailand
As WoWasis reported earlier this year, Bangkok’s PC Air began to interview ladyboys as flight attendants. Now, they’re flying! This month, as reported by MailOnline, PC Air President Peter Chan has hired four ladyboys as flight attendants, Chayathisa Nakmai, Dissanai Chitpraphachin, Nathatai Sukkaset and Phuntakarn Sringern, after receiving more than 100 applications. The airline noted […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics’
Although the last of the remaining Chinese court eunuchs died in the early 20th century, the world continues to be fascinated by them. Kyoto University scholar Taisuke Mitamura’s Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics (1963, 1970 English translation by Charles A. Pomeroy) is an informative, readable monograph on the history of the individuals and […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Frances FitzGerald’s ‘Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam’
What would Frances FitzGerald say today? Her Pulitzer Prize/National Book Award/Bancroft Prize for History-winning book Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam (1972, ISBN 0-679-72394-3) was published in 1972. The U.S. still maintained a military presence there, and Nixon was still in power. Today’s visitors to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City are […]
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