Journey to fabulous, legendary Siam with 20 year old Edna Bruner as she impulsively agreed to teach in a missionary girls school in 1903. Through her eyes we glimpse this fascinating country and its people. Go with her as copes with monsoon rains, troublesome insects, encounters primitive tribes and strange animals, witness ceremonies seldom seen by foreigners and participate in the pagentry of royal celebrations. Edna raised seven children with her doctor-husband and witnessed the reign of five kings during her 34 year stay.

From one of the most respected authorities on Thai cooking comes this beautiful and deeply personal ode to Bangkok, the top-ranked travel destination in the world. WINNER OF THE ART OF EATING PRIZE Every year, more than 16 million visitors flock to Thailand’s capital city, and leave transfixed by the vibrant culture and unforgettable food they encounter along the way. Thai cuisine is more popular today than ever, yet there is no book that chronicles the real food that Thai people eat every day—until now. In Bangkok, award-winning author Leela Punyaratabandhu offers 120 recipes that capture the true spirit of the city—from heirloom family dishes to restaurant classics to everyday street eats to modern cosmopolitan fare. Beautiful food and location photography will make this a must-have keepsake for any reader who has fallen under Bangkok’s spell.

With over 350 vibrant photographs, extensive commentary and architectural plans, this architecture and design book showcases the modern luxury homes of Asia. The Sustainable Asian House celebrates modern architecture as an expression of environmental, social and cultural sustainability, as seen in some of the most breathtaking luxury homes in Southeast Asia. Gorgeous residences in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines beautifully exemplify the trend towards sustainable architecture that engages with the natural world. The 27 houses featured in this fascinating and stunningly photographed architectural digest provide endless inspiration for architects, designers, builders and home buyers. The Sustainable Asian House illuminates the region's reinterpretation of tropical architecture and the growing interest in traditional materials and craftsmanship. There is a new emphasis on fresh air, natural light and spatial variety, reflecting the importance of well-being. Designers are considering issues such as orientation to the sun and prevailing winds to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint. Instead of treating the tropical climate as something to overcome, the architects featured in this book present regional solutions on how to live appropriately in the contemporary tropical world.

This is about how Andrew Hicks met Cat, a ‘Thai girl’ half his age and how they set up home together in her village out in the rice fields of North Eastern Thailand. He'll tell you of toads in the toilet, of ants' eggs for breakfast, how they took up frog farming and how he got married without really meaning to. It's also a book about the countryside, of the old Thailand where the rhythm of the seasons and belief in the spirits and Buddhism remain strong. Though how could Andrew, a greying English lawyer, ever fit into the lives of a Thai rice farming family? Can Cat and Andrew with their many differences really be compatible?

A collection of unspeakable degradation, fear, and agony through the eyesof an American locked up...

At forty-five, successful businessman Peter Robinson gave up his comfortable life in London to ordain as a Buddhist monk in Bangkok. But the new path he had chosen was not always as easy or as straightforward as he hoped it would be. In this truly extraordinary memoir, Phra Peter Pannapadipo describes his ten-year metamorphosis into a practicing Buddhist monk, while being initiated into the intricacies of an unfamiliar Southeast Asian culture. Phra Peter tells his story with compassion, humour and unflinching honesty. It's the story of a 'Phra Farang' - a foreign monk - living and practicing his faith in an exotic and intriguing land.

Living in Paradise brims with the best of tropical residential designs. Architecture and interior design experts Annie Kelly and Tim Street-Porter have selected unique interiors that will inspire readers to create their own paradises. The stunning venues in lush settings profiled here range in style from the environmentally sustainable utilizing indigenous materials, such as thatching and bamboo, to breezy courtyard spaces. These homes take into account the dramatic natural landscapes--some are surrounded by tropical plantings, while others open onto dramatic sun-drenched beaches. The interiors incorporate organic textures such as cane and bamboo furnishings, some covered in exotic Indonesian fabrics, including ikat- and batik-style textiles. Pool pavilions with decorative roof details are perfect for outdoor entertaining, and infinity pools are presented as a striking and organic part of the landscape. Beautifully photographed, this will inspire readers with design ideas that can be gleaned from these breathtaking dwellings.

Millions of Burmese women migrate into Thailand each year to form the basis of the Thai agricultural and manufacturing workforce. Un-documented and unregulated, this army of migrant workers constitutes the ultimate 'disposable' labour force, enduring gruelling working conditions and much aggression from the Thai police and immigration authorities. This insightful book ventures into a part of the global economy rarely witnessed by Western observers. Based on unique empirical research, it provides the reader with a gendered account of the role of women migrant workers in Thailand's factories and interrogates the ways in which they manage their families and their futures.

"A house in the center of Bangkok becomes the point of confluence where lives are shaped by upheaval, memory, and the lure of home. Witness to two centuries' flux in one of the world's most restless cities, a house plays host to longings and losses past, present, and future. A nineteenth-century missionary doctor pines for the comforts of New England even as he finds the vibrant foreign chaos of Siam increasingly difficult to resist. A post-war society woman marries, mothers, and holds court, little suspecting the course of her future. A jazz pianist is summoned in the 1970s to conjure music that will pacify resident spirits, even as he's haunted by ghosts of his former life. Not long after, a young woman gives swimming lessons in the luxury condos that have eclipsed the old house, trying to outpace the long shadow of her political past. And in the post-submergence Bangkok of the future, a band of savvy teenagers guides tourists and former residents past waterlogged, ruined landmarks, selling them tissues to wipe their tears for places they themselves do not remember. Time collapses as these stories collide and converge, linked by blood, memory, yearning, chance, and the forces voraciously making and remaking the amphibian, ever-morphing city itself"--Provided by publisher.