One of the joys of visiting used bookstores is finding past gems, like Christopher Seymour’s Yakuza Diary: Doing Time in the Japanese Underworld (1996, 0-87113-604-X). Seymour, in riding around with and interviewing various Yakuza, seems to be, by the end of the book, clearly a fan of the Yakuza subculture. There are loads of great […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'By Country' Category
Building scams in Thailand: Why is my concrete structure falling apart?
We here at WoWasis first discovered a remarkable example of mass building fraud when we began looking to buy older condominiums in Bangkok. We probably looked at ten structures in the Sukhumvit Soi 1- Soi Asoke area. All condo structures had one thing in common: they were all literally falling apart. The most grievous structural […]
Read the rest of this entry »Miserable shopping experience for WoWasis in Taipei airport
The bookstore at the departure lounge in Taipei airport was staffed by three people, a girl at the cash register, a guy stacking magazines, and another guy just walking around. Your WoWasis correspondents noticed a high-design writing pen behind a locked glass door, selling for USD $150, and we wanted to see it, so asked […]
Read the rest of this entry »A colonial hotel and great restaurant in Vigan, Philippines
The picturesque northwestern Luzon city of Vigan is a colonial treasure, highly recommended by WoWasis for her outstanding architecture. While there, we stayed at the Villa Angela, a wonderful rambling colonial house that’s been turned into an inn, and found an exceptional restaurant, Café Leona. Villa Angela, on Quirino Boulevard, is within easy walking distance […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Sterling Seagrave’s ‘The Marcos Dynasty’
Travelers to the Philippines will invariably want to find out more about the history of the country after having seen it, but good books (and bookstores!) in the Philippines are hard to find. In particular, books on Philippine history are virtually impossible to be found anywhere. In the picturesque northern Luzon city of Vigan, for […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on Bangkok nightlife today vs. 1995
I’d like to take the time to compare Bangkok and the entertainment scene today to the reality of what it was like in 1995 when I first came here. I stress “reality” because I am constantly hearing whining voices saying “it was soooo much better in the good old days” and such nonsense as this. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Welcome to the WoWasis China Bookshelf
Chinese philosophy and business practices have long influenced Southeast Asia. Here at WoWasis, we found the following books to be especially compelling for Westerners, as the information in the books on this list, while particular to China, helps to explain much about life in Southeast Asia. We’ve grouped them into Nonfiction and Fiction categories. Nonfiction […]
Read the rest of this entry »Welcome to the WoWasis China blog pages
Chinese philosophy and business practices have long influenced Southeast Asia. While China is not geographically in Southeast Asia proper, it does border on several of those countries, and its culture and politics to a greater or lesser extent affects them all. Our first blog post is called the Chinese Bookshelf, a review of several books […]
Read the rest of this entry »The Good Manner: My religious brother married a Thai prostitute
The Good Manner: Love & Relationship Advice from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: My religious brother married a Thai prostitute Dear Pa Farang, I come from a God-fearing family who prides itself on honesty and respect. Last year my brother, who works in Thailand for a large multi-national firm, married a very nice Thai […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on class distinctions and discrimination imposed by Thai upper class young adults
A lot of guys have asked me what the difference is between the good girls in Thailand and the “entertainment providers.” I think I covered this pretty thoroughly in a previous column. Lately I am being asked more and more about the class differences in the gals. What is the difference between a low class […]
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