2018 – Page 3 – Tom Vater

3rd Edition of the Moon Guide to Angkor Wat is out October 2nd

August 13, 2018tomLeave a Comment

The third edition of my guide to the Angkor temples, published by Moon in the US, is out October 2nd. Lots of changes around the Cambodian temples and in Siem Reap which is growing at an extraordinary pace. And lots of new hotels, eateries and other attractions in the new edition. Trip of a lifetime! […]

Crime Wave Press – Criminally Cool Summer Sale – All ebook titles US$2.99!

July 17, 2018July 17, 2018tomLeave a Comment

Meet The Off The Beaten Path Explorer: Tom Vater

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018tomLeave a Comment

Today’s interview is with a very special friend of the Where Sidewalks End community. It is my honour to introduce to you Mr Tom Vater. Tom is a published author, a long time journalist in the field, co-owner of a publishing house “Crime Wave Press”, and a long time explorer of the world, with a […]

Wat Bang Phra – Thailand’s Tattoo Temple Revisited

July 5, 2018July 5, 2018tomLeave a Comment

Back in March, I guided a group of visitors to Thailand to the annual Wai Khru (Respect your teacher) at Wat Bang Phra temple, an hour west of Bangkok, the largest event celebrating all things sak yant, Thailand’s spirit tattoos, in the country. Great group, wonderful day. Thanks to Where Sidewalks End and Ian Ord. […]

Some of my best recent stories in the Nikkei Asian Review

June 23, 2018June 23, 2018tomLeave a Comment

From a punk rock collective in Borneo to European proto-colonies and ethnic minorities in India, rock stars and a circus from Cambodia, the scourge of development in Laos, female motorcycle taxi drivers in Thailand, Japanese entrepreneurs in France and my eye witness reports of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Asian Nikkei Review has published some […]

ATC Books publishes host of tattoo stories, including Chris Roy – The Death Row Tattooist

May 27, 2018May 27, 2018tomLeave a Comment

The market for good print stories is getting smaller all the time. Especially for off the wall, niche or sub-cultural stuff. So it’s great to see some of my recent work published specially to be read on smart phones. Almost everyone has one and there’s more to life than Candy Crush. ATC Tattoo Books have […]

Vang Vieng, Laos: From party capital to eco-adventure paradise on CNN Travel

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018tomLeave a Comment

Sitting on the banks of the Song River, the rural town might seem serene now. But Vang Vieng has seen a tumultuous 15 years, evolving from an agricultural community to a hedonistic party capital when it was “discovered” by Western shoestring travelers in the late 1990s. Excessive drinking, drugs, trash, concrete construction and fatal accidents […]

The Tom Vater Collection at the British Library to be digitally preserved

May 14, 2018May 15, 2018tomLeave a Comment

This recording is part of the Tom Vater Collection (C799) at the British Library. A longer extract has been published on The Moken: sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea (Topic Records TSCD919, 2001). The full collection also includes recordings from India, Laos and Cambodia. It will be digitally preserved as part of the Unlocking our […]

North Korea or Putting Up Mirrors In The City Of The Blind

April 28, 2018April 28, 2018tomLeave a Comment

So now that the media is gushing over the fact that there are human beings living in North Korea, does this mean that the reclusive terror state we can hardly point to on a map will soon be another impoverished capitalist nation selling kimchi flavored coca cola toxins to its liberated citizens, producing nothing […]

Literary Flits reviews The Man with the Golden Mind

April 25, 2018April 25, 2018tomLeave a Comment

Great review at Literary Flits of my second Detective Maier thriller, The Man with the Golden Mind, from a while back. Somehow this one escaped me altogether. I am again impressed with a Crime Wave Press offering, this one being a Cold War aftermath spy thriller set in a country about which I knew very […]