To the relief of millions of punters worldwide, Bangkok’s Nana Entertainment Plaza has had its master lease renewed for another ten years. This three story atrium boasts dozens of go-go and beers bars, to go along with five ladyboy bars. In short, there’s something here for everyone. Prior to the signing of the lease, there […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Business' Category
WoWasis introduces the colorful street stall vendors of Bangladesh
A poor country by economic standards, Bangladesh is rich in both the color and breadth of its internal commercial enterprises. It’s never more apparent than when visiting street stalls, with riots of color at every turn. It could be bread, fruit, textiles, or tools, but Bangladeshis have an eye for design and color as they […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Ideal Man: The Tragedy of Jim Thompson’ by Joshua Kurlantzick
Here at WoWasis, we believe that there are at least two schools of thought on how best to live the expatriate experience in Asia. One we call “ping-ponging,” bouncing back and forth between one’s mother country and Asia. Regarding Thailand, one advocate who lives part-time in the U.S. states, “I go to Thailand, and after […]
Read the rest of this entry »A mad dash for university placement in Khulna, Bangladesh
Unversity exams in Bangladesh are critical to future success
Read the rest of this entry »Bangkok traffic to get worse, fast, with new car-buying program now in force
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s new first-time car buyer program, while solidifying future votes, will add an estimated 1.3 million vehicles to Thailand’s streets, much of it in already overcrowded Bangkok. It’s already being called a transportation nightmare, where gridlock slows incoming traffic to an average speed of 16.5 km per hour. A brainchild of […]
Read the rest of this entry »Banisanta: a sex workers’ hell in Bangladesh
Just south of the southern Bangladeshi city of Mongla is a tiny town on the Pushur River, consisting of a number of houses and shops made of mud, straw, wood and tin. It’s called Banisanta, and it’s home to dozens of professional current and retired sex workers, mama-sans, barkeeps, shopkeepers, and their children. Its evolution […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Dwarf,’ a Korean novel by Cho Se-hui
Originally written in 1978, Korean writer Cho Se-hui’s novel The Dwarf (2006, ISBN-10 0-8248-3101-2) isn’t an east grasp for westerners. The story represents characters in black and white, and the tale, of workers vs. management, is didactic. Two things helped us here at WoWasis through this otherwise well-crafted novel, translator Bruce Fulton’s afterword, and the […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Boye de Mente’s ‘Etiquette Guide to Korea’ and ‘Korean Business Etiquette’
Boyé Lafayette De Mente has been writing books on Asian themes for decades. And not just books on Asian etiquette, either. He’s written on Asian women, Hawaiian culture, and Japanese Geisha. He certainly qualifies as an old Asia Hand. So it shouldn’t have surprised us here at WoWasis that Korea’s been on the Korea beat, as […]
Read the rest of this entry »How to avoid car rental snafus on Korea’s Jeju Island
Here at WoWasis, the worst car rental snafu we ever had was in Manila. We booked a car from a well-known rental car company, and when we got to Manila, there was no desk and no representative. It turns out that there hadn’t been one for months. On Korea’s Jeju Island, we nearly had a […]
Read the rest of this entry »5 tips to using a computer on the road while in Korea
Note: Plan on using your computer in Korea? Print this page before you go, and take it with you. As we discussed in our post on using telephones in Korea, this technologically advanced country is unlike other Asian countries with which you may be familiar. In the case of personal computers, there are relatively few […]
Read the rest of this entry »
