The world is getting smaller. Thanks to the Internet that unites people across the globe and airplanes that can make journeys in hours that once took years, virtually nowhere on earth in inaccessible. Mostly, that’s a good thing. But for world travelers, I’ve heard this is a real bummer. That everywhere they go, they’re surrounded by Guess jeans and McDonalds. That the terrain is basically spoiled by globalization and no place is unique anymore. But what if there were still a place, hidden away, unknown […]
Buddhism, Sex and Snakes: Culture Shock in Thailand
Apparently Bangkok thrillers have a certain notoriety for sensationalism, and Burdett’s Bangkok 8 doesn’t fail in that regard, but it is also so much more. In fact, this noir detective story could be a Phillip Marlowe, if it weren’t for the fact that its hero’s name is a little harder to pronounce. Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is the son of a Thai bar girl and a long-gone Vietnam-era American soldier, is a little too comfortable with many of the denizens of Bangkok’s notorious red-light districts, is […]