I've just read 'Working with the Thai's' it was OK, it skimmed the surface of managing and working with Thai people and I got a lot of really interesting stuff from it but, it was short and rather out of date. Anyway the interest has been sparked and I want to read more...
...any recommendations please?
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting" Milan Kundera
Thailand Fever has been well recommended by a few of my friends. It's entirely about Thai-Western relationships and the differences in culture.
Do you have coke?
For online reading, check New Mandala, 2bangkok, Bangkok Pundit for Politics, and links from all these will lead you endlessly through myriad web-readings. Also here: Paknam Web: Thailand Blogs - (Thailand Travel, Culture, Food and Life) is a good starting point.
Last edited by Matthew; 30th December 2009 at 13:35. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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A classic that has been updated is; Culture Shock. I don't remember the author, but it's a well known classic.
Frederick Douglass: Find out just what any people will quietly submit to
and you have found out the exact measure of injustice
and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these
will continue till they are resisted with either
words or blows, or with both.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn;
“Don’t believe them, don’t fear them, don’t ask
anything of them.”
Kick The Machine for film. Also WiseKwai.
Go to the Siam Society Library for books. TCDC, get on FCCT's mailing list,
if in P'Lok go to Sargent Major Thawee's Folk Museum.
Even "Culture Shock! Thailand" isn't a terrible read, though basic.
You might want to avoid being caught with Matt's last suggestion though!
More along the lines of the book in the OP:
reccomended this book many times -
"wondering into thai culture" by monte redmond.
Wondering into Thai Culture by Mont Redmond
not an easy read, quite esoteric in places but worth it. one of the first books i read on going to thailand and it still stays strong.
try the fiction of pira sudham.
Pira Sudham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and the films of apichatpong weerasethakul,
"vast and black. the thing that was poised, like a crow over the moon. round and smooth. cannon balls. things that have fallen from the sky to this earth. our slippery brains. things like cannon balls have fallen, in storms, upon this earth. like cannon balls are things that, in storms, have fallen to this earth. showers of blood. showers of blood. showers of blood. " c.f.
^ you can find both DVDs for 79 baht at Manapong (the Scorpion shop) these days! Killer.
Not "Syndromes and a Century" though.
Apichatpong, the one man, makes up for any lack in overall Thai cinema. What an artist.
oh i think thailand has a buzzing cinema scene! some fine directors; pen-ek ratanruang (last life in the universe, monrak transistor), nonzee nimibutr (ok baytong, jan dara) and wisit sasanatieng (tears of the balck tiger) to name just three. go back further and you have the wonderful prince chatrichalerm yukol (hotle angel, powder road). visual media and thai artists go together very well.Originally Posted by Matthew
i don't feel guilty talking about movies here. sometimes books aren't the best way to learn about a culture that is not book-orientated.
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'...just to name three...' well, Well, (haha) is that really appropriate? How many more truly good thai directors would you rattle off if you had the time? Even pen-ek ain't ALL that...i agree that there is gold in them hills...but thriving? Proliferate? Hardly...these guys don't stand a chance here...while oversees they are rightly acclaimed by those who know. Hell, i saw 'syndromes' in the MFA in Boston!
seems you feel the need for an argument after we were getting a long so nicely.
i happen to think pen-ek is a wicked director. sorry, just my opinion. i also think there are a few others. also look in the field of modern thai art; visual installations are what they do best. again, just my opinion.
Moon Lander Champion!Strongly agree with the reco. and what Hales said!!reccomended this book many times -
Wondering into Thai Culture by Mont Redmond
not an easy read, quite esoteric in places but worth it. one of the first books i read on going to thailand and it still stays strong.
Strongly agree with the reco. and what Hales said!!
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i'll have to give 'last life' another shot...didn't like it first time round..at all. But trust you on art, hales, and j.bo too, mooooostly..
Btw..lox..avoid the high brow intellectual junk by reading burdett mysteries..bangkok 8 etc..his thai copper hero expounds imo quite insightfully, addressing his audience directly and imo quite humorously as 'farang' on thai culture throughout.reading tne last one, bangkok haunts, right now.this one is funniest, most playful.
No, no you haven't.
You've just read 'Working With Thais.'
We kept waiting
Still nothing changes
It's a shame
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