books about Thailand: Hardship Posting - true tales of expat misadventure in Asia ...

Let me start with full disclosure. The author and editor of the Hardship Posting series is someone I know really well. Have done for years. In fact, all of my life. We grew up together, went to school together, and are practically inseparable as adults.

Well, it's um ... me. Jing jing!

I am blogging about this series of books now because they are just being released for the first time ever in an e-book format on Amazon. Click here to see inside the book online [insert subliminal ad message here -- Buy it! Buy it! buy it!]

Some have said it's the best Thailand travel guide because it deals with Bangkok bars, notorious Thai nightlife, airport and immigration stories and so on. But it's not really a travel guide to Thailand like the Lonely Planet. Nor is it a novel set in Thailand. Instead, it is a collection of 400 amazing and amusing stories collected from expats in Asia, covering the full spectrum of life. It just happens that most of the craziest episodes seem to happen in the Kingdom, for whatever reason (such as the British gent who posed as the High Commissioner to impress Bangkok bar girls).

There are bent police, slimy con-men, corrupt officials, and shady taxi drivers -- in other words just another day in Bangkok or Pattaya! There are also philandering expat husbands, language boo-boos, moving company dramas, etc.

I could go on and on raving about it ... it makes me feel a little awkward to do so. Honestly. Rather, listen to what various readers and reviewers have got to say about the best-selling series of 3 volumes which has already topped 70,000 sales.

"Sleazy, disgusting, politically incorrect and shockingly insensitive; I loved it" - Nury Vittachi of the HK Standard raved.

"Good fun. Everybody gets the shaft. Indeed the 280 page book isn't long enough. This reviewer often chuckled out loud." - Bernard Trink, The Bangkok Post

And, finally, one more from The Expat Magazine Singapore, who said:

"A mighty collection of tales. The bawdy humour comes thick and fast throughout. A rib-tickling read for the not-so-faint hearted."

Those last two words are important. Don't even open the cover if you are the least bit thin-skinned. You WILL be offended. No wonder it's banned in China, and unwelcome in polite society just about everywhere else.

So luckily you can buy it and download it from the privacy of your own computer now.


[The cartoons in Hardship Posting Vol 1 above, are by Larry Feign, the whizz behind the long-running World of Lily Wong strip.]

If you like the 'Washing your balls' cartoon, I have plenty of Thailand golf course stories and reviews on this blog. Such as this one from Phuket.

.

How to speak in Thai - according to Rosetta Stone and Saturday Night Live

This spoof clip from the popular comedy show Saturday Night Live is ruffling feathers.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Thai authorities are apparently requesting for it to be removed from You Tube.

Watch it. Do you think it warrants the fuss??? Is it any better or worse for the country's image than Hangover 2 which I blogged about last year?

If nothing else, it should encourage a hell of a lot more people to learn the Thai language. But frankly I think the government should concern itself with much bigger issues ... such as teaching Thais to speak English and engage with the global economy to get the country moving ahead so that it is not so reliant on the sex industry to provide jobs.

Otherwise it continues to provide comedic fodder for the outside world ...

More movies being made on location in Amazing Thailand ...

Just read in the Bangkok Post that a staggering 359 movies were shot in Bangkok last year. That's about one per day (with one week off for good behaviour).

I've blogged a lot about the movie Hangover 2 lately, but there's a whole bunch -- like around 358 -- I've obviously missed.

And outside Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi are also popular locations. In fact Kanchanaburi (home of the River Kwai but ironically not where the famous movie Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed) is an up and coming starlet, with 28 movies filmed there last year.

Best known of those was The Scorpion King. Anyone who follows Korean culture and movies would also be familiar with Sunny, which was shot there.

Anyone know which other movies were filmed in Bangkok or Amazing Thailand?