Bizarre
Thailand promises “tales of crime, sex and black magic” and has been
written by long-time expat Jim Algie, who apparently can wield some type of
musical instrument in a Canadian punk rock band as well as write for
magazines and now pens this book Bizarre Thailand (ISBN
978-981-4302-81-4, Marshall Cavendish Editions, Singapore, 2010).
In the introduction, author Algie does state that when
“approaching sensationalistic subject matter, (a writer) can only go in one
of two directions: the senseless shock value and moral indignation of
tabloid journalism and TV, or trying to look at the subjects and the subject
matter with a bit more balance and empathy. Aside from the occasional
headless motorcyclist, I have tried to navigate the latter route.” In the
main, he has achieved his goal, but the item “Pattaya, the Vegas of Vice”,
whilst attractively alliterative is not really reality. But then, since I
live in Pattaya I might just be biased.
The other sections encompass Misadventure Travels, Sex
Files, Strange Celebrities, Creature Features and The Supernatural. Amongst
Strange Celebrities is Dr. Porntip Rojanasunan, who is a celebrity in
Thailand, though I would personally stop short of labeling her as being
“strange”.
Whilst covering the bizarre, Jim Algie manages to look
dispassionately at the 2006 coup where a message came up on screen to say
“We have taken over the city. Apologies for the inconvenience” and where the
next day, tourists were having their photographs taken with an army tank and
its soldiers. Bizarre indeed.
The item on Moo Bahn Tao was quite new to me, where the
village keeps ‘sacred’ tortoises. These rather mundane creatures have been
imbued with powerful spirits relating to the late abbot of the temple, and
woe betide anyone who inconveniences a tortoise. The locals will all tell of
fates that became those who did! Certainly Bizarre once more.
One anecdote that we have all experienced is that
creature that Algie calls “the most deadly reptile of all in Thailand: a
police officer.” This particular defender of the public described in the
book extracted (or accepted) the B. 200 attached to the driver’s license the
penalty for speeding, clocked by radar. However, he did then point out that
there were no further radar traps between his point and the destination, so
they could go as fast as they liked. Other writers might just call this TIT
(This Is Thailand).
Jim Algie is a good descriptive writer and able to keep
the pace belting along at a good clip, making this an easy read. However,
with some of the chapters he has relied perhaps a little too much on the
published books on Thailand’s executioner Javuret Charuboon, the Angel of
Bang Kwang prison Susan Aldous and the old ladyboy Aunty Nong. He has
unearthed so much original items that he really did not need to rehash items
already covered by the Maverick House books. Next time perhaps?
A good and interesting book, with the rider of rehashing
above. At B. 630 it is not a cheap read but it does have a place in the
shelves of literature about this country.
