Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic books and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
Bangkok is not a rocknroll town, at least not in the literal sense of the word. And the city´s burgeoning punk scene is a modest affair - a tiny conglomeration of young bands, some good, some bad, some ugly, who have few venues to play and no one to play to, except each other.
Last night, [...]
The crowd surges forward. The singer, a 40 something skinny white guy, screams into the microphone, which has been taped to the top of a camera stand. The room is so hot that water drops from the ceiling. The linoleum is coming off the floor in long torn rolls of dirty plastic. The drums thud [...]
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Yesterday, the tense, month long stand-off between the Thai government and the Red shirts, supporters of international fugitive and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, fought pitched battles around Khao San Road, the backpacker mile in Bangkok, Thailand. Several friends of mine were on site in the Banglamphu area, where more than two million budget tourists [...]
The Khao San Road, one of the world’s greatest and most fascinating tourist ghettos, is coming of age.
Last week the first MacDonald’s outlet opened inside one of the guesthouse complexes on the strip. Legendary hippy hangout, subject of a Hollywood blockbuster and barely more than 300 metres long, the Khao San Road offers a stop-over [...]