Vietnam’s Cu Chi tunnels were a particularly nasty element in the Vietnam war. Built by the Viet Cong, they went for miles underground, and there were nasty things living in there, aside from Viet Cong soldiers, including rats, massive spiders, and stinging mites that lived in the tree roots. Novelist Stephen Leather has managed to [...]
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WoWasis visits the Irish Rover bookstore in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Here at WoWasis, we just love used bookstores. And here’s a great one we discovered in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It’s called the Irish Rover Bookstore and Café, and sure enough the personable proprietor, John McCoy, is Irish. Here’s what he has to say about his bookstore: “There are many Chinese tourists here this year. In [...]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Stephen Leather’s ‘Live Fire’
If you’re a Brit and love adventure fiction, you’ve probably read Stephen Leather. If you’re a Yank, you probably haven’t. Fact is, Leather sells tons of books in the UK. He’s written more than thirty novels, sold nearly three million books in all, and did get some U.S. traction with his eBook The Basement, which [...]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis introduces author Harold Stephens’ people of Southeast Asia
Harold Stephens knows Southeast Asia about as well as any author we’ve read. He knows it by sea as well as by land, and has written two books based on the fascinating people he’s met in Asia over the years, At Home in Asia: Expatriates in Southeast Asia and Their Stories, and The Strange Disappearance [...]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Harold Stephens’ ‘The Voyages of the Schooner Third Sea’
Ever thought about cashing it all in, grabbing a sailboat, and traveling in the South Seas? Writer Harold Stephens did just that, and chronicles the romance and challenges of doing so in his thrilling book The Voyages of the Schooner Third Sea (2012, ISBN 978-0-9786951-5-6). Here at WoWasis, we’ve become real fans of the travel [...]
Read the rest of this entry »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 [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Medical tourism continues to boom in Asia, but do ensure a professional diagnosis before agreeing to a procedure
Countries such as Thailand, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines are posting big numbers in terms of medical tourism, according to a story written by Peerapan Tungsuwan in the January 14, 2013 issue of the Bangkok Post. Worldwide, medical tourism accounts for an estimated $100 billion in revenue annually. While Asia’s share [...]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Strange Disappearance of Jim Thompson’ by Harold Stephens
Don’t let the title of the book fool you. There’s more here than just a story of the demise of the legendary silk king. Harold Stephens’ The Strange Disappearance of Jim Thompson and Stories of Other Expats in Southeast Asia (2003, ISBN 0-9642521-7-1), which originally was published in 1978 under the title Asian Portraits, is [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Easy to die in Thailand if you’re not a VIP… man denied an ambulance is proof
In Bangkok, all of a sudden you have a stroke and an ambulance is called. You’re a photographer there to cover a news story. Everyone in the medical profession knows that it’s critical to get you to the hospital within an hour, before you begin to lose brain function that will soon be unrecoverable. You’re [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Welcome to Bangladesh: an introduction
Welcome to Bangladesh! Here, braving the challenges of a country that doesn’t have much of a travel infrastructure for the westerner does have significant rewards. You’ll see things most people you know haven’t, like the wonderful historical temples and mosques outside of Rajshahi and Bagerhat, outside of Khulna. The Sundarbans National Park consists of the [...]
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