At one point, former Yakuza Ijichi Eiji came into physician-writer Junichi Saga’s world as a patient, and thus began a series of conversations than turned into the memoirs that became the remarkable book Confessions of a Yakuza: a Life in Japan’s Underworld (1991, ISBN 978-4-7700-1948-6). The narratives detail the path taken by Eiji to become […]
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Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on rude Western women and weak Western men
I just returned from my twice a year pilgrimage to the gates of hell (United States) and the jet lag lingers on and on. It’s amazing that I lived my first 43 years in the USA and I still feel like an outsider when I return to visit. Let me tell you that those poor […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis visits sex fetish bar, ‘BarBar’ in Bangkok
Note: We here at WoWasis field all sorts of questions about Asia. Many of them are about entertainment options and Bangkok always heads the list. We’ve gotten several queries recently about fetish and S&M activities in Bangkok, so we thought we’d go right to the source by interviewing Barbara, who manages BarBar, a noted fetish […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: James Eckardt’s ‘Singapore Girl’ and ladyboys
“One thing for sure. I never want to be an old ladyboy.” -a WoWasis transgender friend (2002) Veteran Asia writer James Eckardt has written a number of fascinating books on the Southeast Asian scene, and he’s a good writer, having worked for the Bangkok Post, The Nation, and the Phnom Penh Post. His working creds […]
Read the rest of this entry »Gaining weight leads to bigger penis size, Thai Health Department suggests
Leave it to the Thais to finally find a natural solution to what men have been seeking for millennia: bigger cocks! According to a front page story in the July 13, 2013 Bangkok Post, the Thai government is now buying larger condoms to dole out to men under the age of 30. The Post quotes […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis crime review: Airport Baggage Theft Scam, the Booster Bag
Here at WoWasis, we’re pretty careful about scams in general, and one of our favorites is the booster bag, which is a device that, when placed over your own bag sitting on the ground, allows the perpetrator to carry off your bag before you know it. The perp is usually well-dressed, the last person you’d […]
Read the rest of this entry »Farewell to Bangkok’s Washington Square by Dean Barrett
One of Bangkok’s most treasured entertainment zones, Washington Square on Sukhumvit, has been plowed under. It was a haven for GIs, spooks, writers, oil workers, and drinkers. Bangkok author Dean Barrett has written a fine tribute to Washington Square, reprinted here as it appeared in the April, 2013 issue of After Dark Magazine. Molly […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on Songkran, the Thai New Year Festival, and the jealousy of Thai women
I managed to survive Songkran, the Thai New Year, and lived to love another day at least. Writer Dean Barrett chose to flee the country at water works time, as Songkran is the period that everyone douses everyone else with water, regardless of age, sex, national origin or whether or not you are dressed for […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thai Teens’ pregnancy rate appears to be uncontrollable, feeding Bangkok’s bar scene
In our tours around Bangkok’s night spots, we here at WoWasis has noted that seemingly a majority of the city’s bar girls are young mothers. In an article published by Reuters this week, the situation appears to be accelerating. The article reports that “even though the overall birthrate is dropping, teen births are on the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee’s Three Reasons to be wary of “dating” a bar girl
I was chatting with a friend the other day and he happened to mention that he was “dating” a gal who works in a Nana Plaza go-go bar. It is needless to say that one doesn’t “date” such a gal, but merely pays a certain amount of money for a certain amount of time and […]
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