The sharper edge to traveling in Asia

Shakespeare film banned in Thailand

In April, Thailand’s culture ministry banned a film based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. citing “content that causes divisiveness among the people of the nation”.  On July 5, 2012, Bangkok’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT)  is hosting a discussion pertaining to that event. Censorship is always an issue in Thailand, and the discussion will no doubt be pointed, and […]

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A memorable day in Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park

Just over 200 km east of Bangkok and spanning over four provinces is Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park. Khao Yai became Thailand’s first National Park in the fall of 1962 and is part of the larger Dong Phayayen forest complex. At more than 2,165 square km, Khao Yai is the third largest National Park world […]

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Top 3 Things to see in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand

It’s doubtful that you’ll come to the Isaan city of Ubon intentionally, unless you have relatives here, or you’ll be traveling to Laos through the Chong Mek border station, as I was.  If you do happen to be here, you’ll find a pleasant, clean city with several interesting places worth stopping to see. How did […]

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Ban Phiphithaphan, Bangkok’s exceptional hidden retro Museum

For those willing to spend 200 baht taxi fare and travel a few kilometers west of the Pin Klao bridge, one of Bangkok’s more fascinating museums awaits.  Founders Anake and Wanna Nawigamune have here compiled a lifetime’s worth of everyday objects found —until the last decade or so —  in homes, barbershops, candy stores, and […]

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WoWasis book review: Boye De Mente’s ‘Women of the Orient’

Many men have loved exotic women from the Orient, but few have written as passionately on the subject as adventurer Boye De Mente, in his small but encyclopedic Women of the Orient (1995, ISBN 0-8048-1880-0).  Here, he chronicles the habits, looks, and proclivities of women from six Asian countries, China (Hong Kong & Taiwan), Japan, Korea, […]

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