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A review by sapuche
Another Bangkok: Reflections on the City by Alex Kerr
5.0
I’m quite a fan of Kerr’s writing and have numerous books he’s written about Japan. Having spent 11 years in Vietnam, with numerous trips made to Thailand (starting in 1994), I was keen for his book to help me delve deeper than I was able to manage on my own during the generally short periods of time I spent in "The Land of Smiles." I was also hoping that the focus on Thai culture would help dispel some of the bad taste my travels there had left in me (an airport taxi driver kidnapping me in Krabi and, later with his boss, demanding I pay my own ransom; walking on a sidewalk in Chiang Mai at the moment an overhead sewage pipe burst and rained down on me, causing, a few hours later, a 24-hour, 40C fever that left me hallucinating and requiring a hospital visit; a national airline admitting in person and later on paper that they’d broken my laptop due to their having flung it through the air from the check-in counter to the luggage belt, but refusing to reimburse me any amount whatsoever to replace it; etc.).
I still like Thailand, but bad experiences there have outnumbered the good ones. Or at least they’ve stayed with me. Learning more about Thai culture, when it’s interesting and enriching, I thought might set me on a new path. And the book managed to do this for me. I enjoyed learning the mix of influences on a wide range of things I encountered there: architecture, fashion, cooking, language, dance, puppetry, and so forth. And though the section was short, I enjoyed learning about the distinctive flower arrangements and the uses they’re put to in Thailand. Also, it’s interesting to see a different side of Kerr-the-writer emerge here after having become familiar with the side that’s so deeply knowledgeable about Japan. Overall, it was an eye-opening book in many ways and I really enjoyed the feeling Kerr gave in his writing of including the reader in his wide-ranging discussions.
I still like Thailand, but bad experiences there have outnumbered the good ones. Or at least they’ve stayed with me. Learning more about Thai culture, when it’s interesting and enriching, I thought might set me on a new path. And the book managed to do this for me. I enjoyed learning the mix of influences on a wide range of things I encountered there: architecture, fashion, cooking, language, dance, puppetry, and so forth. And though the section was short, I enjoyed learning about the distinctive flower arrangements and the uses they’re put to in Thailand. Also, it’s interesting to see a different side of Kerr-the-writer emerge here after having become familiar with the side that’s so deeply knowledgeable about Japan. Overall, it was an eye-opening book in many ways and I really enjoyed the feeling Kerr gave in his writing of including the reader in his wide-ranging discussions.