For anyone wishing to know more about what goes on behind the scenes in North Korea, Kang Chol-hwan’s The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag (2000, ISBN 0-465-01102-0) is a must- read. Kang’s expat North Korean family became wealthy in Japan and had a good life. At the urging of his […]
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WoWasis introduces Krasue, Thailand’s most feared ghost
Thailand is a country obsessed with ghosts, known as phii. Here at WoWasis, we’ve learned never to joke about them, because joking about them is considered to bring on bad luck to the speaker as well as all listeners. And never joke about a ghost before your girlfriend enters the shower, especially at night: everyone […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Japanesque: The Japanese Print in the Era of Impressionism’
For centuries, Western art lovers have been fascinated by Japanese woodcuts of landscapes made by noted Ukiyo-e “floating world” artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, and of scenes from daily life by master artists Kitagawa Utamaro and Suzuki Harunobu. These woodcuts have directly inspired the work of Westerns artists, but perhaps never more […]
Read the rest of this entry »Another man lives in my apartment with me and my girlfriend
The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: Another man lives in my apartment with me and my girlfriend Dear Pa Farang, My Thai lady and I are still getting used to each other, even after living together for a couple of years. Last month, I got a surprise: her younger […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Brian Mertens’ Bangkok Thai Ideas in Design
We here at WoWasis have been fans of Bangkok Fashion for a decade now. One of the city’s strengths is in having a culture that embraces the arts, and she is particularly strong in fashion and design, the latter of which includes progressive home furnishings. Brian Mertens’ spiffy coffee table book, Bangkok: Thai Ideas in […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Reports: Apartment Asian Massage Parlors (AAMP) in North America
Today, your WoWasiscorrespondents visit North America to report on Apartment Asian Massage Parlors. Also, read the WoWasis post on commonly used AAMP acronyms relating to practices at North American massage parlors). AAMPs, as they are commonly known, are most typically found in large apartment complexes, although a few “float” in hotels. Part of the service consists […]
Read the rest of this entry »Foreign marriages to Cambodian women now kaput?
The Cambodian government recently outlawed all marriages between foreign men over 50 and Cambodian women of any age. Its stated reasons were to prevent trafficking and abuse. So it’s OK if you’re under 50, right? Wrong again. Foreigners who earn less than $2,550 USD per month are also excluded. That means a yearly salary of […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis and the Genographic Project: using DNA to discover your ancestors
Wouldn’t you like to know the migratory path your ancestors took to get to your part of the world? Here at WoWasis, we were curious about our own ethnic origins, and now we’re going to find out, through the Genographic Project, a joint partnership of the National Geographic Society and IBM. And it’s only going […]
Read the rest of this entry »‘Pilgrimage,’ a short story by Steve Rosse
Note: this is a short story from Steve Rosse’s new book, She Kept the Bar Between Them. Read the WoWasis review of the book here. Pilgrimage The lights of Bangkok’s skyline slid up the taxi’s windscreen like a meteor shower in reverse. Murray’s eyes felt cleansed by the sight of it. The sound of the […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Red-Light Nights, Bangkok Daze’ by William Sparrow
When we here at WoWasis first saw William Sparrow’s Red-Light Nights, Bangkok Days: Chronicles of Sexuality Across Asia (ISBN 2008, ISBN 978-981-08-1076-4) at our nearby bookstore, our first thought was “sheesh, who needs another book about sex in Asia?” Fiction and non-fiction books on sexual themes involving Southeast Asia no doubt number in the thousands. […]
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