Tour Yangon now! Welcome to Rangoon (also known as Yangon), with its amazing golden Shwedagon Temple, traditional architecture, and ubiquitous tearooms. WoWasis visitors will find Rangoon to be a fascinating, rambling city mixing new and old. At night you’re likely turn a corner to find a street taken over by a raucously fascinating puppet theatre […]
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WoWasis Top 6 sights in Inle Lake, Burma
Welcome to Inle Lake, one of Southeast Asia’s most picturesque and relaxing spots. Here, we at WoWasis found boatmen who power their wooden crafts by wrapping one leg around an oar, then pulling the oar through the water. Their conical fishing nets add a wonderful local touch, and you’ll see them everywhere on this calm […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis visits the spectacular Bagan temples in Burma
Welcome to Bagan, a WoWasis top destination in Burma, where thousands of ancient temples dot an open plain.You can spend two days here or a week, and Bagan boasts great resorts, good hotels, and an interesting museum. Bagan is divided into two zones, the town of New Bagan, and Old Bagan, located in the Bagan […]
Read the rest of this entry »Top 3 in Vientiane, capital of Laos
Tour Vientiane now! Here at WoWasis, Vientiane gets our vote as one of the nicest cities in Southeast Asia. Although it’s the capital of Laos, it’s relatively small, at just over 130,000 people, and is easy to navigate. It’s got a decidedly different vibe as a capital city, without Bangkok’s crowds, or Phnom Penh’s edginess. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Top 5 sights in Luang Prabang, Laos… the most beautiful city in Southeast Asia?
Tour Luang Prabang now! Here are WoWasis, the gorgeous Laotian city of Luang Prabang gets our vote as the most beautiful city in Southeast Asia. This oasis surrounded by hills, with more than thirty temples to visit, sits in a serene setting next to the Mekong River. The city has only 16,000 people, is easily […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on bar survival during Bangkok’s low season
Just returned from an 18 day trip to America and what a shock to my system! Thailand and America are on opposite sides of the planet and I don’t think they could be any more different. How strange to experience culture shock when returning to one’s own home country. I am so spoiled living in […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis banned book review: Paul Handley’s ‘The King Never Smiles’
As it says on the back cover, “Any journalist or academic who takes an interest in Thailand soon learns that one topic is off limits: the modern monarchy.” It also mentions that “it is dangerous, and one risks expulsion or jail for lèse-majesté” for reporting on sensitive matters relating to the royal family. And thusly, […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Book review: Timothy Hallinan’s ‘Breathing Water’
Breathing Water: A Bangkok Thriller (2009, ISBN 978-0-06-167223-1) is Bangkok Fiction writer Timothy Hallinan’s current foray into the ongoing saga of travel writer Poke Rafferty and his family, ex- bar girl Rose, and adopted daughter Miaow. The novel is rather timely, in terms of what’s been happening politically in Bangkok during the first half of […]
Read the rest of this entry »The Good Manner: Is this Thai marriage or extortion?
The Good Manner: Love & Relationship Advice from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: Thai marriage or extortion? Dear Pa Farang, A serious matter of money is endangering the relationship between me and my Thai girlfriend of one year. I’m not a cheapskate, take her out to nice dinners, and buy her nice things. She’s […]
Read the rest of this entry »Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye: how Warren nearly met his demise
Here at WoWasis, we keep a pretty sharp eye on ways to meet one’s end in Southeast Asia. One of our favorite true stories was told by private eye Warren Olson, whose book Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye: True stories from the case files of Warren Olson is a must read (more info at […]
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