Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic books and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
On a recent trip to Cambodia, I noticed that my first non fiction book Beyond the Pancake Trench is still being sold as a bootleg photocopy in Siem Reap bookshops.
I was browsing the shelves of a pirate DVD shop in Phnom Penh a couple days ago, when I found, much to my surprise, that The [...]
Just passed through Siem Reap International Airport in Cambodia today and spotted my new book Sacred Skin in the airport bookshop, displayed prominently next to Birds of South East Asia and Ferns of the Tropics…hm, topical. Spent a week on assignment in Siem Reap before returning to a flooded Bangkok. Sacred Skin is the first [...]
The following text is an account of a journey to the grave of Pol Pot near Anlong Veng, Cambodia in 2002. It is part of my non fiction book Beyond the Pancake Trench - Road Tales from the Wild East, published by Orchid Books in 2005, which made Book of the Week in the South [...]
While I was in Cambodia last week, I noticed that my 2006 non-fiction title Beyond the Pancake Trench is still available as a photocopied bootleg in several outlets around the country.
My very own work, pirated by nefarious greedy people, does not sell nearly as well as the multitude of Lonely Planet titles that are available [...]
Every year in March, thousands of Buddhist devotees gather at a temple an hour west of Bangkok to worship and celebrate one of Thailand’s strangest cults: At Wat Bang Phra, Buddhist monks use long needles to tattoo magic images and prayers on the believers’ skin. The tattoos are believed to give the wearer protection, especially [...]
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While in Cambodia, I noticed that my non-fiction title Beyond the Pancake Trench, published by Orchid Books, is being sold in bookshops around the country, along with scores of other titles, as a photocopied bootleg.
Damn.
The majority of books currently sold in Cambodia are probably pirated products, as is the vast majority of DVDs, CDs, software [...]
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Vater’s observations on the human condition, as he experiences it firsthand along the less tourist-beaten paths of South and Southeast Asia, result in a no-holds-barred account of life in the region, distinctly as not described in the glossy brochures. Figuratively and at times literally far removed from the glittering urban centers and pampering resorts - [...]