Learning Curve

With six novels showcased in Thai bookstores, expatriate author David Young celebrates over a decade of penmanship in the Land of Smiles (more…)

The English as a Foreign Language (EFL) industry has had tremendous impact in the development of Ayutthaya. This article looks at the first English teachers to be hired and how the teaching scene has changed over the years. (more…)

This interview is with an aging American-born woman who learned to become an elephant mahout. She explores the politics of being a foreign woman in a trade dominated by Thai males, her deep love for elephants, and the idea that she will have to leave this line-of-work one day. (more…)

This article focuses on the first wave of foreigners to ever work in Ayutthaya’s industrial parks. This initial expatriate boom started in the 1990s and continues today. This material is based on an interview with a sometimes frustrated expatriate who sought to invest in a handicraft village that makes knives and swords. (more…)

This travel article was an attempt to understand the boom in Thailand’s tourism industry, and how tourist ghettos such as “Khao San Road” originate. This research involved tracking down decades-old Lonely Planet guidebooks, and then physical visiting the locations mentioned to see the impact and change. (more…)

This article is inspired by a spontaneous culinary experiment with Thai “jungle” food — fresh cobra, crocodile entrails, jelly fish, wild boar, and a variety of bugs. The dinner was mixed with an aperitif of warm snake blood congealed with whiskey and the raw bile sack. (more…)

This article was being written as Muslim terrorists bombed several nightclubs in Bali. Over 180 tourists were killed and at least 300 were injured. At the time, I was wandering around Vietnam loaded up on some strange anti-malarial medication. By sheer fate,  I ended up in Vietnam rather than Bali, which made me consider the fragility of life.

This travel story was almost included in my book, Road Rash, but it barely missed the deadline due to post-bombing delays. (more…)