Intro
I am a quiet American who has come to love his adopted homeland, the quintessentially Asian kingdom of Thailand.
The historical origins of Thailand?s people lie in the hills of southern China. Its religion comes from the plains of northern India. It lies at the heart and cultural crossroads of both Asia and Southeast Asia, not only reflecting the influences of Asia?s two magnates?China and India?but of all of its neighbours, in the true Thai tradition of tolerance. Thailand features Burmese temples and traditions in the north, cultural affinity with Laos in the northeast, centuries-old stone temples plus linguistic and religious borrowing from Cambodia in Isaan and elsewhere, and the Muslim tradition of Malaya in Thailand?s Deep South. A vibrant history of uninterrupted independence has, however,always ensured the survival and advancement of things uniquely Thai.
With such a vibrant and cultural history, it was no wonder I knew that I had found a home away from home even before I got there. The icing on the cake has been an assortment of odd and wonderful smells and flavours, and a combination of Western creature comforts (state-of-the-art movie theatres,big English-language bookstores, a great variety of cuisines) and Thai accents such as a tradition of great hospitality,tolerance for various ways of life, and an intriguing way for foreigners to come to know who they really are and even reinvent themselves.
After spending 12 years in the kingdom, the people I have met?starting with my wife Sutamon?and exotic places I have seen have confirmed that I had picked the right country to live in. I have at all times felt welcomed and at ease in Thai society. Thailand simply seemed to be a better fit for my personality, and all the more so as my relationship with the country has grown into a mature love.
As an untypical American, I have ome to thrive in the typically East Asian country of Thailand, and appreciate how things get done there with subtlety, not bravado, and how the focus is put on teamwork and sharing, not overt competition or individualism.
While I still considered myself a patriot, appreciating America?s great museums, wide open spaces, clean air, sense of freedom, charming small cities like San Francisco and Boston, and a forthright style of communicating, I found myself more attuned to the life of an expatriate in the East.
A love for lesser publicised and quieter facets of Thailand inspired me to write this book.
The first part of this book thematically describes how I grew to be fond of Thailand in my 20s?after not feeling satisfied with the jobs available to me in the US?and how I came to further enjoy living and working in the kingdom. I then take readers back to my earliest interests in Asia as a
young child, and then, as my interests in the continent kept increased, as a teenager.
Working in Bangkok as an editor and freelance writer opened the international world of possibilities for me. It was through profiling intriguing people and organisations and telling travellers? tales for The Nation newspaper that I came to fully appreciate the opportunities that Thailand presented me.
The second part of this book comprises travel articles published in The Nation. Most of the 20 or so travel articles I have written over the last eight years have been on Asian destinations, as they best matched my own needs for exotic enchantment. I have marveled at the overwhelming scale of? Cambodia?s Angkor, the dazzling intricacy of Thai and Lao temples, Confucianism?s impact on the Vietnamese and Koreans, Brunei?s grandiose surprises, the comprehensive Christian/Islamic holiness of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and above all?literally?the welcoming peoples and Vajrayana Buddhist
temples in the Himalayas.
Everyone who comes to Thailand has a unique tale about how they got here. This is my story.