Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
I had just reached Don Sak pier, a coastal Thai ferry port for boats to the tourist islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, when I almost lost my mind. I was at the end of a 10-week, 80-destination travel stint for the British publisher Rough Guides, researching the Thailand chapter for the […]
Continue ReadingMy latest story with Laure Siegel in the Nikkei Asian Review from our temporary lockdown sanctuary, Koh Phangan in Thailand. KOH PHANGAN, Thailand — In the late afternoon sun, a long line of sandals snakes down the beachfront road in Thong Sala, the main town on Koh Phangan, a tourist island in the Gulf of […]
Continue ReadingTom Vater’s favorite opening line in literature is Hunter S Thompson’s awesome first words in ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’. We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. On a recent trip to California I drove from LA to Fresno. With Hunter in mind, […]
Continue ReadingFantastic and exhaustive review of the third Detective Maier novel, The Monsoon Ghost Image at Categorically Well Read, published by Crime Wave Press: I was curious as I read my way through this trilogy of thrillers why Vater decided to set them in 2001-2, the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With TMGI his […]
Continue ReadingThe 18th edition of my bestselling Thailand Handbuch is out now with Reise Know How, more than a 1000 pages packed with information on travel in Thailand. Co-authored, researched and updated with Rainer Krack. Content: Thailand ist seit Jahrzehnten eines der beliebtesten Reiseziele Asiens. Trotz Naturkatastrophen und politisch unruhigen Zeiten konnte das Land fast ständig […]
Continue ReadingI am interviewed by veteran correspondent Richard Ehrlich in his thorough exhumation of all things Patpong and the the opening of the Patpong Museum, which recounts the history of what is perhaps the world’ most notorious red light district in downtown Bangkok and its historical connection to the Vietnam War, in this thorough exhumation of […]
Continue ReadingMy thoughts on travel safety in Cambodia in his Telegraph piece. Behind the paywall, unfortunately. Tom Vater, one of Telegraph’s south-east Asian experts who travels frequently in Cambodia, says the recent boom in investment in Sihanoukville from China has led to the arrival of violent gangs and a rising crime rate. “Since 2018, the Cambodian […]
Continue ReadingLeonardo Di Caprio has been here. As have countless young backpackers from the West. Over the past forty years, Khao San Road, once a quiet residential street on the fringes of Bangkok’s historic centre, has morphed into the world’s best-known backpacker hub. Loud, inexpensive, garish and in your face, the 400 meter long strip has […]
Continue ReadingMy latest look at Bangkok in The Daily Telegraph. Welcome to Bangkok – a sprawling, humid metropolis of more than 10 million souls that rose along the eastern banks of the Chao Phraya river a little more than 200 years ago. Today, the Thai capital brims with interesting historic sites, stylish hotels, incredible culinary adventures, and […]
Continue ReadingI contributed eight pages on Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Thai history and my favorite place in Thailand (can you guess where? See above pic) to MERIAN Magazine. The current issue of Germany’s classic travel publication focuses exclusively on Thailand.
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