James Bond – Tom Vater

James Bond in Yangon

November 7, 2015November 11, 2015tomLeave a Comment

Went to see the new James Bond movie in Yangon (Burma) yesterday. A bit slow to start with, supported by plenty of crackling and chewing noises from the audience devouring vast amounts of sunflower seeds, Spectre was almost Citizen Bond, taking on the current global obsession with surveillance of everything, with 007 serving as a […]

Are You Mad Enough To Be A Travel Writer?

January 5, 2011January 11, 2011tom1 Comment

The website Tripbase offer information for would-be travel writers, on the whole very sensible and useful for prospective scribes. The introduction -The harsh realities laid bare- is both sobering and spot-on: Travel writing is a tough and competitive business, a trade for which one needs to have plenty of persistence and low financial expectations – […]

Life, Death and Game Shows in Bangkok

May 15, 2010July 19, 2012tom1 Comment

My friend’s wife Puk just gave birth to her second child, a son. His name is Duncan. Duncan was born in Vajira Hospital, the same clinic major general ‘Sae Daeng’ Khattiya, one of the most divisive figures in Thailand’s political crisis, now lies in, after being shot in the head by a sniper two days […]