With the exception of Laos, we at WoWasis feel that Vietnam has the best beer in Southeast Asia. What you’ll find is that Viet beers are stronger than most beers at home, so plan your evening accordingly, understanding that you’ll be overcharged for everything if your seller, whether it be a food vendor, taxi driver, […]
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Vietnam tourists killed in Ha Long Bay boat tragedy
Twelve international travelers were killed this week in the sinking of one of Ha Long Bay’s ubiquitous “sleep-over” boats. The Truong Hai 06 listed precariously for several hours before finally plunging into the waters of the bay during the early morning hours as visitors were sleeping. Scores of these wooden boats take visitors on overnight […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Clifford Kinvig’s ‘River Kwai Railway’
You’ve seen the terrific movie, you’ve read Philippe Boulle’s compelling book. Great stories, but they’re both fiction. For a worthy overview of the situation as it actually occurred, we at WoWasis recommend reading military historian Clifford Kinvig’s River Kwai Railway: the Story of the Burma-Siam Railroad (1992, ISBN 1-84486-021-3). An estimated 100,000 workers died during […]
Read the rest of this entry »Taipei’s e-Library Waiting Lounge at Taoyuan Airport: Taiwan finally goes high tech!
Taiwan’s Taoyuan airport in the capital city of Taipei has been deservedly maligned as being possibly the most Neolithic — from a westerner perspective — capital city airport in Asia. Forget about Western food (Asians will tell you the Asian food stinks, too). In fact, Taipei resident Jenna Cody, quoted in the February 13 issue […]
Read the rest of this entry »In memory of Caryl Olivieri, Bangkok furniture designer and artisan
We at WoWasis originally found furniture designer Caryl Olivieri on the top floor of his Artitude shop at Bangkok’s Gaysorn shopping complex. We were impressed by the designer’s bold, colorful furniture uses of traditional rattan, but with a new twist: it was woven into fine strips, and molded in contours that snake around cushions, armrests, […]
Read the rest of this entry »Making merit: Tham boon at a Thai temple
Many — and here we’ll take the risk of saying Most — Thais make merit at a wat (temple) periodically. Making merit is the act of taking a small gift to the wat, presenting it to a monk, reflecting on good wishes in the name of others, and receiving a blessing from the monk. Everyone […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis nightlife review: Ladyboy bars in Bangkok’s Nana Entertainment Plaza
Updated January, 2016 Ladyboy entertainment establishments are all over Bangkok. At Bangkok’s massive three-story Nana Entertainment Plaza on Sukhumvit Soi 4 (BTS Skytrain Nana station), there are a large number of adult-oriented gogo bars and beer bars, each catering to its own distinctive clientele. Seven of these are ladyboy bars. WoWasis readers have been asking […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thailand-Cambodian military skirmish damages historic Preah Vihear temple
Sophomoric saber-rattling on the part of Thailand and Cambodian politicians has escalated to military forces battling over a 4.6 square kilometer patch of disputed territory has damaged the historic 11th century Preah Vihear temple (also known as Khao Phra Viharn), according to Thai army sources reported in the Bangkok Post. This small patch of earth […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on obese western women and shameless Thai ladies
Recently I have started to think that perhaps I need to work on my people skills. Now, I have to say that I have never been the most diplomatic guy, and one of the things that I love about living in Thailand is the total lack of political correctness that is so pervasive in the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Broken computer in Bangkok: Where do I fix it?
Sooner or later, one of your electronic gizmos will go on the fritz while you’re in the tropics. Here at WoWasis, our USB thumb drive went out while we were in Bangkok. It stores all our backups, and we wanted to preserve some of the data on it before buying another drive. We were referred […]
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