Sri Lanka is a wonderful place to visit, not as touristed as other countries in the area, and full of friendly people and terrific sites. Like any other country, there are some things to keep in mind, and a few things to avoid. We here at WoWasis have already written an informative post on hiring […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Crime Scams & Espionage' Category
Are guests getting fleeced at Bangkok’s Nana Hotel by accounting and checkout staff?
Word has reached WoWasis this week that at least one guest at Bangkok’s Nana Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 4 recently had his bill accidentally increased by a factor of ten (!) when he paid his bill by credit card upon his departure. The problem? Nana Hotel didn’t want to credit the $3000 USD back to […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Bangkok forensic science maven Porntip Rojanasunan’s new book ‘The Dead DO Talk’
The Director of Thailand’s General Institute of Forensic Science is the famous Dr. Porntip Rojanasunan, who co-founded the agency in 2002. With her jet-set hair, stylish wardrobe, and enthusiasm for forensic science, she’s one of the most photographed women in Thailand. She’s also well-loved and humble, and was voted by Reader’s Digest readers in 2010 […]
Read the rest of this entry »Was I nearly the victim of a drug scam in Malaysia?
The Good Manner: Advice on Asia from WoWasis’ Pa Farang Today’s dilemma: was I nearly a victim of a Malaysian drug scam? Dear Pa Farang, A friend and I had a strange thing happen to us on a recent trip to Patong. While walking down a major thoroughfare, we were approached by two men who […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Nihal De Silva’s ‘The Road from Elephant Pass’ Sri Lanka
Every so often an exceptional book by an emerging author reaches out and strikes the reader unaware. Somewhat less often does the book encompass more than 400 pages. And rarer than that are cases in which the author, in some sense, predicts his own upcoming death. In an apt metaphor, the finally-fledged Sri Lankan writer […]
Read the rest of this entry »New Bangkok 5-star hotel to be razed in building dispute?
One of our favorite topics here at WoWasis is building scams in Thailand, so we just couldn’t resist what we think may be the juiciest story this week: the plush, new Aetas Bankok Hotel and Conference Center has been ordered to be demolished, because it’s in violation of a municipal code. Here’s the story: In […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bangkok street stall thugs endangering pedestrians and shop owners alike
One of the most common complaints we at WoWasis hear from people living near the intersection of Sukhumvit Soi 3 is the illegal proliferation of stalls selling the usual tourist “junk,” running from So 3 to roughly Soi 15. The stalls are on both sides of the sidewalk, making the sidewalk virtually unusable for foot […]
Read the rest of this entry »5 rules to hiring a car & driver in Asia: avoid these mistakes and you’ll have a great time
(Also read our post on avoiding scams in Sri Lanka) As much as we love to drive ourselves in Asia, occasionally we here at WoWasis find it necessary to hire a car and driver. Sri Lanka was one such country that pretty much required it. Our GPS unit was virtually useless, as the roads aren’t […]
Read the rest of this entry »New Drug scam in Malaysia endangers tourists?
The Good Manner: Advice on Asia from WoWasis’ Pa Farang Today’s question: Drug scam in Malaysia? Dear Pa Farang, A friend and I had a strange thing happen to us on a recent trip to Patong. While walking down a major thoroughfare, we were approached by two men who flashed badges at us, told us […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Mao Tse-Tung on Guerilla Warfare
Here at WoWasis, we’d guess that the collective United States military never got around to reading Mao Tse-Tung’s 73 page Yu Chi Chan, an expert treatise on the art of guerilla war, before it got hopelessly bogged down in the quagmire called Vietnam. Translated brilliantly by Brigadier General Samuel B. Griffith, USMC (Ret.) as Mao […]
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