We’ve all got one of those friends who decide getting married in a church at home, like everybody else, is not good enough for them, and who decide that he and his fiancée are going to go to the other side of the world and get married there. Being his best friend, you’re invited and…
Story 1 Papaya Salad and an Unexpected Request in Isan It was 1988 in Chiaom, Isan. I had just recovered from hepatitis A and had taken to visiting the night market every evening for something to eat. There was a som tam vendor who was friendly with a circle of local women who used to…
I can’t use that excuse. People warned me. I saw things myself. There were probably 10 different moments when any sensible man would have walked away. I just happened to be extremely attracted to the woman causing all the problems. Now, this happened about 4 years ago. I was 38 and single and coming to…
A group of foreigners were staying in a large rented house just outside Bangkok. But according to Thai and Australian police, what was happening inside that house was anything but ordinary. When officers eventually went through the door, they found 13 foreign men, a living room converted into an office, rows of workstations, computers, telephones,…
It’s not very easy for me to comprehend what went down when I went to Thailand, but maybe getting it off my chest will be one way to try to heal. The reason that it was so hard is because I fell in love. Really, I did. I don’t want to listen to all these…
For about five months, I thought I was going to have a child there. I am from Australia and this happened a few years ago when I was 41. I’d been to Thailand a few times before and thought I was reasonably switched on. I wasn’t one of those men arriving for the first time…
As floodwaters begin to recede across Bangkok, there’s little opportunity to celebrate just yet. Fresh warnings of rising river levels have prompted some residents along the Chao Phraya to prepare to leave their homes again, even as other parts of the capital begin the enormous cleanup operation. For the hundreds, possibly thousands of motorists who…
I genuinely thought I had it all figured out. Turns out, I didn’t have a clue. Now, I met my girlfriend in a massage shop down in Hua Hin. Nothing dodgy or anything, just one of those standard little places you see everywhere with six plastic chairs outside, a couple of mattresses upstairs, and the…
Days of intense rain have flooded parts of Bangkok and central Thailand. And the knock-on effects are now reaching travelers here at the main international airport in the city while the government has enacted new measures. And there’s pushback online against influencer content amidst all the chaos. Since Saturday, Thai Airways passengers at Suvarnabhumi have…