Book Reviews

Japanese Military Transport on Thai Railways during World War II by Ichiro Kakizaki.

White Lotus Press, 2019, 303 pages. www.seateservices.online

All WWII buffs, most Thais, those who survived the terrible ordeal, and hardcore cinema buffs all know about ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’, ‘The Death Railway’. Based on Pierre Boulle’s 1952 book and an epic 1957 film by David Lean, both are classics.

Ichiro Kakizaki has rendered noteworthy service to Thailand’s history by detailing the almost unknown tale of the four year struggle between the Japanese military and Thai government officials in constantly wrestling over control of the Royal Thai Railway System. The Japanese commandeered almost all of Thailand’s rolling stock from the first day to use for military purposes. The Thais fought a constant battle to regain the railroads for their own civilian use. Highly detailed and well researched, the book does credible service in pinpointing where all the Japanese garrisons were located, plus where and when the railways were used. The tremendous struggle went right down to the war’s last day. For all WWII and Thai history buffs plus railway enthusiasts.

The Nora Bird Dance of Southern Thailand and Dancing for the Gods, Vol. 2: 

The endangered spirit lineage of Nora Dance in Southern Thailand by Marlane Guelden.

White Lotus Books, 2018 & 2019, 425 pages & 424 pages. www.seateservices.online

These books are the first comprehensive look at the Nora Bird Dance of Southern Thailand. The author uses many years of cultural anthropological research along with many Thai academic sources and texts that have never been translated in English. She tells a compelling story about the struggle between ancient customs and traditions pitted against encroaching modernity. The Nora Bird Dance is famous for its loud, colourful dance drama and spirit possession. It is an exploration of the ancient Nora (Manora) Buddhist community.

Marlane Guelden does credible service in exploring the real back story of the Nora Bird Dance: the capitalist motives, spirit mediums in their communications with the spirit world and gender tensions. Additionally she digs into the history, ancient and Buddhist traditions and background of the whole very fascinating culture. For anyone interested in ethnic dance, Southern Thai culture and ancient rituals.

by Andrew Hicks

Monsoon Books, Ltd. Pte., 296 pages, 2011. https://amazon.com

I was in graduate school here in Bangkok one fine day a decade ago. We had a special guest lecturer, a Thai man educated in England most of his life, then lived overseas after. His speech (or lamentation) was all on how Thais should be more like “foreigners” (read: westerners). Thais were inefficient, not well organised, always running late, the list of faults went on. I should have said then “Thais have developed their society over several millennium to deal with problems as they see them to make the society work as a whole. In my mind the way Thai society operates is what makes it charming, even exotic”.

Andrew Hicks has written a charming personal take on his experience with Thai society. He was written a very accurately observed, insightfully astute effort on interacting closely with Thais. He is most perceptive on his take of the ups and downs in living in the LOS. A most enjoyable read.

Three Elephants Publications, 2011, 288 pages. www,amazon.com

Having been in the U.S. military, one thing I (and probably every other military person) do when watching a movie is to see if the film producers got it all ‘correct’ on the screen. That means are the ribbons on the uniform in the right order, are they using the right equipment for the scene and the year being portrayed, is the always colorful military jargon being spoken accurately, regardless of what the plot is – did they get it all ‘right’? (Nothing is more irritating to see if they did not).

Stephen Leather gets it ‘right’ in ‘Bangkok Bob and the missing mormon’. Our protagonist, an ex New Orleans policeman named Bob Turtledove, gets deeply immersed in a simple missing person case. But he also quickly finds is the usual Bangkok situation that all private detectives here constantly face: Russian mafia types, contract assassins, kickboxing thugs and other lowlife, nasty ‘farangs’ bent on his early demise. A real rollercoaster ride of great entertainment. For hardcore Bangkok murder mystery buffs. Five stars plus.

Metta Visions, 2010, 156 pages. www.amazon.com

Underneath all the glittering temples, dazzling beaches, shop-‘til-you-drop mega-malls, friendly smiles of the locals who rolled-the-red-carpet-out for you, and always over-the-top entertainment here is a gritty, shadowy and hard-as-nails night life revolving around Bangkok’s pool scene (table not water).

‘Bangkok pool blues’ is a deep dive into this rarely seen colourful world (once you get inside the pool halls) of domestic and foreign pool hustlers, amateur and international green baize table players and those who follow them both gambling for stakes. It is a real insider’s look-behind-the-scenes view of Bangkok’s vibrant night culture including entertainment and gambling. As Bangkok gains in stature as a must-visit venue for international globetrotters, it has attracted all manner of players (in every sense of the word). The book is gripping in its detail of the interplay of all the participants in a well written, riveting series of vignettes. Doused with expert shots by Yoon Ki Kim, a noted Korean photographer based in Bangkok, it is a fascinating look at Thailand’s counter culture. For very hardcore pool players. Five stars.

Book review ‘Leaving Thailand’ by Steve Rosse

When we were thirty three years old, both Steve Rosse and myself were planning a visit to Thailand, to stay there for an extended period of time. We both had close relatives who were sick and we were worried about leaving them. Both of our relatives urged us to leave and follow our dream. We both did. That is how we arrived, and mostly, that’s where our similarities end. 

Steve spent most of his time in Thailand in the south of the country, either on Phuket, or nearby, and lived an eventful and sometimes crazy lifestyle. Which changed him in ways that he perhaps never expected… despite having read the classic novel A Woman of Bangkok, which he cites as one of the reasons he upped and moved to Thailand.

Part way through the book Steve notes that men are more lineal in their way of thinking, whilst a woman’s mind tends to flit about rather more. Steve enjoyed the company of many a lady while in Thailand, for longer or shorter periods of time, and his affinity to the fairer sex, I would say, has resulted in Steves’ way of thinking becoming a little more like that of the ladies that he adores. Not quite as lineal as he imagines a man’s mind to be.

As you read through his pages he takes us on a rollercoaster ride through many of his jobs, experiences, and the colourful people he met along the way. Both male and female. One moment he is a set dresser for an Oliver Stone movie, the next he is a newspaper columnist, the next he is working as a public relations chief for a five star hotel. 

The narrative moves without warning from a smoke filled room with a hack typing his latest story, to hobnobbing with movie stars on a Hollywood size movie set, to welcoming royalty in an elegant hotel property. Or living a romantic dream with the love of his life, on a beach – for five months, ten days.

While the title of the book is Leaving Thailand, most of it is taken up with stories of his life there, or reminiscences of it while he is back in the States. It is an interesting insight into a guy that came to live his life in Thailand at the same time as I did.

Stu Lloyd is well-known in Thailand and Southeast Asia for his books on the region, and his ability to see the funny side of things in just about everything he comes across. His latest book ‘Tales From the Tiger’s Den’ is something of a departure from his usual style, as he takes time out to focus on other people who have lived in or around Southeast Asia or the Orient. They are businessmen, accidental entrepreneurs, authors, et al … but all have that spirit of adventure that led them to experience a life outside that of their homeland. We learn about the places they lived in, first-hand, from their reminiscences, delving into their best-remembered and most precious memories. It all feels very real. You might find yourself wishing you had had the same sort of experiences. Maybe you still can. 

The respected author of 39 books and many magazine articles, Jerry Hopkins, did something similar with his well-received anthology ‘Romancing the East’. Jerry passed away in Bangkok in his early 80s only three years ago. I think Jerry would have been pleased to read Stu Lloyd’s latest tome.

Tales From the Tiger’s Den sees Stu heading out to chat with the people he writes about, and has come up with an absorbing book that sheds a little light on times gone by, and also gives us an insight into the people who lived in them. A few are still with us, others, sadly, are not. But here they live on. 

The book looks at  twenty-one quite different people, some of whom you may already be familiar with, some not so much, and some not at all. No worries, here you have the tools to let you become a little closer to them all. For myself, I was immediately drawn to travel writer Harold ‘Steve’ Stephens, as I have been familiar with him for over 30 years, since I came to live in Thailand, and I have enjoyed reading many of his magazine or newspaper articles. Harold Stephens passed away in Bangkok, January 2021, at the age of 94. He was born in the USA, but came to the Orient via the armed forces, when the US had joined forces with the Chinese, to oust the invading Japanese. Harold was a true-life ‘action man’ who travelled the world and wrote about the places he had been to and the people he met. But actually, one of his friends, writer James Clavell, once mentioned that a book based around the exploits of ‘Steve’ (as he liked to be called) would probably be more exciting than even his own fiction novels. It would include Steve’s 200,000 mile sailboat trip around the world, studying at a university with Jacqueline Kennedy, driving the length and breadth of Africa, being employed as a ‘travel writer’ in Vietnam during the war, working as an extra on Mutiny on the Bounty, and becoming a drinking buddy of Marlon Brando, and, and, and…

You will enjoy reading about Steve, sure.

Stu does not leave the ladies out of things in Tales From the Tiger’s Den’, how could he. One of the most interesting ladies you will discover as you read is Marie Bohman, and one of her earliest memories is of a mob in India, shouting ‘Break your houses! Cut your throats! Throw you in the river!’ Marie was a young girl and she and her family were being threatened by an angry Hindi mob in the European compound of the Czech-owned Bata shoe company in Mokameh, during the times of independence from British rule, and the partition of India.

Marie, by now a pensioner, was speaking in 2006 to Stu for his interview in Sydney, Australia, in a large well-appointed house, along with her life-long friend Ivan Volenta. The connection between her and Ivan began due to both of their fathers working for Bata, and they have many similar memories of growing up during colonial-era India and its transition to a self-governing independent nation. 

They can remember the first township the company built, Batanagar, and the Eastern European and British kids they played with during the colonial times. The Bata empire went from strength to strength and took over more and more towns, where the local economies grew alongside the size of the factories and their workforce. Much of the childhood of these firm friends was spent living nearby the banks of the holy Ganges river, with freshwater crocodiles, vultures, dolphins, jackals, and snakes …  lots of snakes, Marie recalled. 

The strife and struggles the country and its people suffered during the end of colonial times remains fresh in her memory. She vividly remembers when the father of one of her school-friends was burnt alive, only a few feet away from the safety of his house.

But all was not bad; although she missed her parents while away at boarding school she gained a love of classical music, and her schoolmates included the Nepalese royal family, and a girl who would become the famous British actress Vivien Leigh.

Marie never married, and has never been back to India; Ivan took his son back on a visit to show him his heritage … both their lives are now so different, but even after living in Australia for 45 years, Ivan and Marie still enjoy meeting to talk about their early life.And Marie is writing a book about her experiences. Should be a good read. 

The eclectic mix of people you will meet in Stu Lloyd’s book, and their stories, will give you many delightful  insights into another world. Or maybe one or two of them might even mirror your own. 

Down & Out Books, 218 pages.  www.amazon.com

Our half-Thai/half-American, ex-U.S. Special Forces, locally based Bangkok hero is right back at it in the third installment of the Matt Chance series, entitled Bangkok Gamble. The first two, Viper’s Tale and Murder in the Slaughterhouse, introduced our man of action to the world with rousing action and totally believable plot lines. Trouble always seems to find our protagonist like street beggars zeroing in on any “farang” along Sukhumvit’s sidewalks.

Again the action never quits. The reader (and Chance) gets thrown right off the deep end into a continual set of turbulent situations and frantic action. This time our reluctant detective/man of mystery/action hero has to battle a crazy monk, get a beautiful daughter of a gambling kingpin back safe and sound from a kidnapping, plus deal with assorted bad guys both here in Bangkok and Macao. Along for the ride with a few CIA types and Special Forces buddies all lending a hand there and there. 

Highly recommended!

Billington Publishing, 2020, 270 pages  Available on www.amazon.com next month

It is always an authentic thrill to see a new literary genre being launched. Edgar Allen Poe invented detective stories: Jules Verne invented science fiction, and Lady Murasaki invented the novel. Andrew Youngson has added to the world’s unique literary history by launching a brand new sub-genre called “Thai SciFi”!

All novels are autobiographical. Andrew Youngson again proves this adage to be true. The author makes an impressive (the British would say “not bad” in a flat tone of voice) debut in his inaugural novel. The protagonist grabs the reader by the collar and drags them through the tale of horror, mystery and metaphysical surreality in fine style along with heavy doses of Thai culture. The action builds slowly as the reader sinks into the saga, like walking on a Bangkok pavement made of concrete mixed with seawater. It slowly crumbles beneath your feet as you get a queasy sinking feeling that will not end well.  The final verdict?  Master of the new genre.  Cult following.  Netflix movie.