The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: The Lost Motorbike: is my Thai girlfriend cheating me? Dear Pa Farang, I am a pensioner living in Krabi, enjoying a bit of the good life after many a cold winter in Manchester. Last year, a met a charming girl in her […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'By Subject' Category
Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on Bangkok nightlife today vs. 1995, Pt. II
Greetings to our loyal readers and I hope you are enjoying this blessing we call life as much as I am. In my August, 2010 column, I compared 1995 Bangkok to present day and detailed the changes in the nightlife industry. This month, I want to compare changes in cost, livability, transportation and relationships with “good […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan’s Criminal Underworld’
If you’re looking for a comprehensive book that provides great insight on Yakuaza business, history, culture, scams, players, this book is it, even though it was first published in 1986. Where it falls short is in the area of Yakuza and prostitution, where frankly, it has a lot of it wrong. We’ll explain why, but […]
Read the rest of this entry »The Good Manner: Should I pay a dowry for my Thai wife?
The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: Should I pay a dowry for my Thai wife? Note from Pa Farang: This week, I have received two letters that deal with two sides of the same coin. They appear consecutively, as they are thematically intertwined. Dear Pa Farang, My lovely […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Martin Booth’s ‘The Dragon Syndicates’
If, like those of us here at WoWasis, you’re a veteran traveler in SE Asia, you’ve done business with the Triads, the underworld syndicates that have their hands in businesses ranging from noodle shops, to food carts, to politics. That goes for some Western cities too, including London, New York, and cities in the San […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee’s tips on living modestly while the Thai baht rises in value
The world economy seems to be slowing down and the U.S. is especially weak. The U.S. dollar has recently weakened significantly against the Thai baht. This has had a major impact on many people including those of us living in Paradise. Most of my money is invested in the U.S., and many of my mates […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis wordsmith: Where does the word “punter” come from?
Here at WoWasis, we’re fond of using the word punter to describe men that favor the company of female entertainment providers. Those women could be dancers, freelancers on the street, gals working in beer gardens, or massage parlors. They all share one thing in common, their jobs entail meeting men for temporary or permanent financial […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Gold Warriors’ by Sterling & Peggy Seagrave
Sterling and Peggy Seagrave continue to amaze your WoWasis review staff. We’re veteran SE Asia travelers, and like many travelers revisiting the region, have more and more questions about the political and cultural factors that drive decisions and events in these countries. In the past couple of years, we’ve been hearing anecdotal stories from associates […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Joan Sinclair’s ‘Pink Box: Inside Japan’s Sex Clubs’
What struck us here at WoWasis about Joan Sinclair’s photo-essay book weren’t solely the photographs, but the glossary, referencing 177 terms used in Japan to describe the world of fuzoku, or commercial sex. That’s how we discovered mantaku, female anatomy ink prints, transferred from the lady’s posterior to paper, and sold to the customer as […]
Read the rest of this entry »Judge puts the kibosh on more NGO pedophile follies in Cambodia
Here at WoWasis, we earlier this year reported on alleged scams run by NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in Southeast Asia that have resulted in false allegations of pedophilia on the part of innocent Westerners. In August of this year, a Cambodian judge ruled in favor of a man he considered unjustly accused. According to the Phnom […]
Read the rest of this entry »
