Films, Books & Music

[bkkmadness]

Ok, bit of an odd topic maybe, and really looking for some more inspiring works, so would love to hear some of your recomendations.

ok, a book I think definately worth reading for those new to Asia.

James Clavell's Shogun Novel - about a foreigner who ends up in Japan in I think the 1600s, totally unaware of their culture and way of thinking - concept of face etc. and how he gradually transforms himself to live and think the Asian way, and become the fish and rice eating 'civilised' person as oppose to the meat and beer drinking 'barbarian'. Definately recommended for anyone that wants to live in any part of Asia at it really helps explain how the Asian mind works and shows how he as a foreigner seems unpolite and uncultured to the Japanese.

So I see a load of people on here recommending Private Dancer on threads, what other books, films or music either inspired you to live here, or has helped you understand Asia and live here easier.

[khun jim]

Ok, bit of an odd topic maybe, and really looking for some more inspiring works, so would love to hear some of your recomendations.

ok, a book I think definately worth reading for those new to Asia.

James Clavell's Shogun Novel - about a foreigner who ends up in Japan in I think the 1600s, totally unaware of their culture and way of thinking - concept of face etc. and how he gradually transforms himself to live and think the Asian way, and become the fish and rice eating 'civilised' person as oppose to the meat and beer drinking 'barbarian'.  Definately recommended for anyone that wants to live in any part of Asia at it really helps explain how the Asian mind works and shows how he as a foreigner seems unpolite and uncultured to the Japanese.

So I see a load of people on here recommending Private Dancer on threads, what other books, films or music either inspired you to live here, or has helped you understand Asia and live here easier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the beach

[bkkmadness]

yep, forgot about that, the beach was a good book, crap film though.

Actually thinking about it, an article on Goa in Loaded magazine was probably the first thing that sent me in this direction.

[khun jim]

I first set foot in Thailand in 1979 in the navy and it opened my eye as intresting place ,compared to the rest of asia at the time. Met and married a Thai woman in america 23 years and having been comming back yearly since. now considering moving there .

[ProfessorFart]

Jon Swain's River of Time. Although it paints a somewhat sugary sweet and romanticised picture of life in Indochina during the Vietnam war and before the KR came to power, the book still captures a bygone era beautifully.

Youth by Joseph Conrad.

Conrad managed to paint a somewhat harsh picture of life in Asia from the eyes of his non entity heros. They were always from the under classes; privilegeless underdogs struggling with the realities of life miles from home yet even in this potentially depressing context he still managed to romanticise the East though his stunning descriptive prose.

[khun jim]

are you thr professer fart of lonely planet site/

[buadhai]

One of my favorite films with an Asian theme is the 1982 flick, The Year of Living Dangerously. I think it does a fair job of portraying what it's like being an expat in Asia. Slightly romanticized, perhaps, but still a good movie.

[ProfessorFart]

No books or film inspired me to go as that was word of mouth but there are plenty of music which makes me want to return.

On my first trip I only took about 5 tapes and they were an odd bunch but they even now whisk me back.

They were an odd mix - Focus III by Focus, Incantations by Mike Oldfield, Master of Puppets by Metallica, ###### Awaits by Slayer, and Art for Arts Sake by 10CC.

I can't listen to any of them now without being back in Bangkok taking those first faltering steps.....

[Thomas_Merton]

"Bangkok 8" by John Burdett

Synopsis

SURREAL BANGKOK ...City of temples and brothels, where Buddhist monks in saffron robes walk the same streets as world-class gangsters, where bodies and souls are for sale or rent, and where the way you die may be more important than the way you live. Inside a locked Mercedes, an African-American Marine sergeant is killed by a maddened python and a swarm of cobras. Two cops - the only two in the city not on the take - arrive too late. Minutes later, only one is alive. Sworn to avenge the death of his partner and soul brother, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a fair-skinned Thai and a devout Buddhist, works his way through District 8. His tools are the forensic techniques of the modern police department; no less vital is his profound understanding of the mystical workings of the spirit world. Soon he is in a realm he has never before encountered: the moneyed underbelly of Bangkok, where desire rules and the human body is as custom-designable as a raw hunk of jade - and where Sonchai eventually tracks the killer, a predator of an even more sinister variety.

Read and learn about this wonderful city, the Thai mind and the boys in brown.

You will not be disappointed.

[sriracha john]

what  music

RUSH LYRICS

A Passage To Bangkok

Our first stop is in Bogota

To check Colombian fields

The natives smile and pass along

A sample of their yield

Sweet Jamaican pipe dreams

Golden Acapulco nights

Then Morocco, and the East,

Fly by morning light

We're on the train to Bangkok

Aboard the Thailand Express

We'll hit the stops along the way

We only stop for the best

Wreathed in smoke in Lebanon

We burn the midnight oil

The fragrance of Afghanistan

Rewards a long day's toil

Pulling into Katmandu

Smoke rings fill the air

Perfumed by a Nepal night

The Express gets you there

We're on the train to Bangkok

Aboard the Thailand Express

We'll hit the stops along the way

We only stop for the best

[Insight]

"Private Dancer" and "Hello My Big, Big Honey"

Please note that I am taking the p!ss...

[Jai Dee]

Focus III by Focus

What a great band they were...

Another good album of theirs was Hamburger Concerto... a musical masterpiece.

I'd love to get my hands on a CD. I've only got it on vinyl.

[Jack Jones]

Not Thai related but the Quiet American by Greene is one of my fav Asia related books

[bkkmadness]

I liked the film, is the book better?

[ProfessorFart]

I liked the film, is the book better?

About 100 times better. For me its Greene's finest work. Its a real roller coaster of a novel where you share Fowler's ups and downs throughout, which was a key element lacking from the film in my opinion.

For me the film was just an espionage film (albeit a very good one!) with a bit of romantic intrigue thrown in alsmost as a side issue. The book goes so much deeper than that.

[bkkmadness]

This is what I was hoping Prof, a few ideas, I will grab it next time I'm up the book shop, coz I just finished Noble House and got nothing to read now.

[bkkmadness]

This is what I was hoping Prof, a few ideas, I will grab it next time I'm up the book shop, coz I just finished Noble House and got nothing to read now.

oops, sorry for double post, the board was playing up.

Edited March 31, 2005 by bkkmadness

[penzman]

what  music

RUSH LYRICS

A Passage To Bangkok

Our first stop is in Bogota

To check Colombian fields

The natives smile and pass along

A sample of their yield

Sweet Jamaican pipe dreams

Golden Acapulco nights

Then Morocco, and the East,

Fly by morning light

We're on the train to Bangkok

Aboard the Thailand Express

We'll hit the stops along the way

We only stop for the best

Wreathed in smoke in Lebanon

We burn the midnight oil

The fragrance of Afghanistan

Rewards a long day's toil

Pulling into Katmandu

Smoke rings fill the air

Perfumed by a Nepal night

The Express gets you there

We're on the train to Bangkok

Aboard the Thailand Express

We'll hit the stops along the way

We only stop for the best

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Being a great Rush fan, this song had me dreaming for years.

[ProfessorFart]

It always comes to mind when I get on the train at Butterworth.

[sriracha john]

IMHO, the best 3-member band ever... one helluva sound for just 3 guys..