BootsnAll Travel Community

RE: http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/08-02/what-to-expect-...o-thailand-asia.html

This (and part one) is very readable. You capture Bangkok from a traveller's perspective very well. No need to justify your story by repeating the mantra 'I aim to entertain.'

Hi

I just want to say that I admire your ability to write such a long article. IMHO, however, if you want to be an entertainer; maybe you should take up singing, or acting, or even juggling. You do a massive disservice to, not only fellow travelers, but, in particular, the local people (of any locality), when you project your illusions of knowledge on an audience that may actually believe you. Sorry Mate, but you don't get Thailand, you don't get Bankok, and you really don't get Women! It's nice you did a little walking in Bangkok, if you want to write about it, do a little digging too.

P.S.
Thailand is generally safe. Bankok, especially poorer areas, is not necessarily so (like any destitute area of a city with a population of 10,000,000). Be aware, avoid criminal activity (prostitution in Thailand is a crime), and your biggest problem, unless you're from western Australia, will be the heat

O.K. Two posts in a row, I guess I'm not going to look good, but hey, I'm in good company. I thought perhaps I should do my due diligence and look up part one, and encountered the very first words of part two "Bud light in hand" and some of the last --go to the Four Seasons or Phuket.

I now have to add that you don't even know anything about beer!

I bet you get beat up in bars a lot, geez!

I have to agree with Alphonse that you don't know anything about beer (or maybe you do but just have a liking for Bud)
I know Bangkok well and I think you 'get' a city as well as anyone else can a metropolis of 10 million people or so, especially if they're there for a short stay , as the vast majority of visitors to Bangkok are. I suspect if you had 'dug' as much as Alphonse suggests then you would have got a different perspective, and possibly too serious a one. Your aim, as you stated, was to entertain (and sometimes entertaining means being unfair).
Love to know what a native Bangkok dweller makes of it. (It was interesting, for example, that a recent story about Romania, which admittedly was badly-written, was deemed offensive by a Romanian after the rest of us had come to the conclusion that it wasn't especially offensive. Any Bangkok people out there in BnA?

Hey all
These were my articles and I (obviously) enjoy poking fun and appreciate having a laugh at my expense. However I am not self important enough to actually defend my rambling brash Yankee thoughts(some would say those words are synonymous with American, the some chiefly meaning the British). However I would like to note that both articles were edited with a needlessly heavy hand; the originals were funnier and much more articulate. Enjoy your travels!
Joe

Okay, I'll admit that I found part one a bit over the top in the "ugly American rants on about a foreign place" category. But I did read it through, and that is the fundamental goal of every writer -- to keep the eyeballs on the words.

I didn't expect to be coming to Karelin's defense, but here I am. Part two toned the prejudice down just a hair, which made it a little funnier (but still not uproarious). The observations about the great tailors, for example, show that he's not a complete prat and does actually appreciate the opportunity to spend time in a foreign city. As for the Bud Lite, well, we all have our flaws.

The tone reminds me, just a little, of Bill Bryson's tongue-in-cheek style.