Tea is an essential part of Sri Lankan culture, and is their second leading export commodity, behind textiles. Sri Lanka’s hill country is liberally dotted with terraced tea plantations, and many of them have wonderful tea houses right at the road side where you can relax, drink their teas, and enjoy the mountain atmosphere. And […]
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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 »WoWasis bids fond goodbye to publisher Barney Rosset
Legendary publisher and WoWasis friend Barney Rosset died this week at the age of 89. Although primarily known as the publisher of Grove Press and the Evergreen Review, he is particularly memorable in Thailand for publishing Patpong Sisters, the late Cleo Odzer’s role-switching romp through the nightlife of Bangkok. We interviewed him back in 2004 […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis visits Sri Lanka’s Spice Garden hawkers
On the road from Colombo to Kandy, especially near the area close to the Elephant Orphanage (which we feel is overpriced and unworth the visit, unless you’ve never seen an elephant before), you’ll find a number of signs saying ‘Spice Garden,’ or ‘Spice Grove,’ fronting local spice operations. We visited one of them, The Island 25 […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: of tea plantations in Sri Lanka
Herman Gunaratne is a well-known Sri Lankan tea planter, executive, and politician, who worked himself up through the ranks at the lowest levels in plantation life. He has written his fascinating memoirs in The Suicide Club (2010, ISBN 978-955-0000-02-9), the title of which refers to an exclusive and informal club, of which his illustrious grandfather […]
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 »Bangkok’s abandoned rails get new life for food cart transport
Here at WoWasis, one of our most popular posts is about Cambodia’s bamboo train, which makes use of abandoned rails and cars made from army tank wheels. As we found out this week, Bangkok’s not far behind in determining new uses for abandoned railroad tracks. It’s been years since any train rolled down the tracks […]
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