So, to avoid any potential accusations of plagiarism, law suits, or possible extradition, I felt it would be a good idea to give a little credit to this great book.
The book is a compilation of letters written by a Chinese immigrant who has come to Thailand to escape the Cultural Revolution. Even though he has chosen Thailand as his new home, in his letters, he is often quite critical of Thais and Thai society and resists every opportunity to assimilate with Thai culture. Unlike flowery travel guides, "Letters from Thailand" offers insight into Thai Life from a foreigner's point of view who must live and survive in Thailand, not just enjoy its luxuries as a tourist. I understand that it's also used in Thai schools and universities to help Thais understand a foreigner’s perspective of living in Thailand. To give a balanced picture, I should add that although the narrator doesn't always paint a rosy picture of life in Thailand, he eventually comes to accept and appreciate Thai culture and Thai people, and when giving a blessing to his grandson, he says - “Let my child have the diligence of the Chinese, the morality of the farang (Westerner), and the heart of a Thai”.
Anyway, thinking about this book made me ask myself a strange question - am I an immigrant here in Thailand? Obviously, I'm not, but there was a brief moment where I couldn't quite define my current status as a resident of Earth. Although people have asked me if I have changed my citizenship since getting married, I have not and have never even considered it. In fact, you can't do it, or at least you need to have special connections, as only a few people a year are granted Thai citizenship. No, as it is, I'm just an American working overseas, an expat - who happens to have lived here for the last 7 years.
Back to the book. It's a good, easy read. Here's the Amazon link, if you're interested.
The other day, I googled "Letters from Thailand" to get a picture of the book's cover, and, also, I was curious if my blog would come up. Since it is set as private, it didn't appear, but I was shocked and chagrined to find that someone else had the nerve to start a web log 2 years before me and call it "Letters from Thailand". I'm calling my lawyers.
Once my rage eventually subsided, I ventured to take a look inside. Here's the link - Phil and Pook - It's a blog by Phil, a young missionary and his Thai wife, Pook. It's an interesting read, if you want to catch a glimpse of Thailand from a different perspective.
Here's an excerpt:
We saw a number of people get healed and really touched in prayer. Some of the highlights (at least in my mind) were a couple healings we had at the university campus with the Campus Crusade group - one girl was not a Christian and was just checking it out with her friend, but at the end of the meeting she got touched by the Lord in prayer and healed from something. I think after that she was a lot more interested =) At another meeting there was a guy who received prayer for chronic back pain that he had had for a long time. During prayer they discovered that he had one leg about 2 centimeters shorter than the other leg (he had no idea). One of the Thai girls prayed for his shorter leg to grow out, and it grew out to match the other leg over a period of a few seconds right in front of their eyes. After that his back pain was all gone.
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