Bangkok Found: Reflections on the City

by Alex Kerr, Vasit Kasemsap (Illustrator), Navin Rawanchaikul (Illustrator)

Evocative and incisive, Bangkok Found looks deep within traditional culture to discover how Bangkok is like no other contemporary city. It's the book you read after you've seen the temples and enjoyed the nightlife - and then start to wonder where the mysterious appeal of Bangkok really lies. With wit and a wealth of anecdotes from Kerr's thirty years of experience in Thailand,Bangkok Found,sequel to his award-winning Lost Japan,takes you on a journey to the essential and the quirky, the factual and the mythical. In this series of meditations on the city, old culture meets global fusion in the crossroads that is Bangkok.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, History

316 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2010

About the author

Born in 1952, he's an American writer and Japanologist that has lived in Japan since 1977.


Librarian note: There are other authors with the same name. To see the English historian go to Alex Kerr.

Reviews

[Christopher G. Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long-term Thailand expats are not rare birds. The flock contains many nationalities who have nested in Thailand since the end of World War II and the large numbers currently living here started no more than 25 years ago. But only a handful of expat writers have managed to capture the ‘spirit’ of expat experience, the history and culture of Thailand, and context of expat life. Alex Kerr because he has taken the time to make friends with Thais and learn the language, has written a fine book that describes and discusses the relationship between the native Thais and the expats quite unlike any other book you will read. Alex Kerr’s Bangkok Found Reflections on The City has written a beautifully illustrated and rare book. One that fills a gap in the expat literature.

Bangkok Found is filled with a luminous insight and intelligence by an expat whose Asian experience began in Japan at age twelve when his father, a naval officer, was sent to that country.

Alex speaks fluent Japanese, Chinese and Thai, and what makes Bangkok Found one of the best books you will read about an expat’s life in Asia in general, and Thailand in particular, is that his cross-cultural and linguistic training has equipped him with an ability to see, record, evaluate an explain aspects of Thai life that escapes most expats who have written about Thailand. Kerr is also a first class observer of people, language and culture.

Kerr has befriended many Thais during his thirty-years since first coming to Thailand, and his Thai friends like Ping who took him to the old capital of Ayutthaya gave him an early grounding into the Thai society. He also made friends among members of the colourful expat community that he has met over the years. His chapter on Thai Expat Society charts their work and lives as writers, restaurant owners, collectors, philanderers, and businessmen. Their intermarriage and the luk khrueng children are part of their legacy. Foreigners are painted against the larger canvas of Thai political, social and economic life. Kerr places the expats into historical and contemporary context. So long as barbarian Westerners don’t rock the boat, they can stay on board. The cross-cultural references to Japan make Bangkok Found an original and highly engaging read, and answers the basic question as to why large numbers of Westerners voluntary chose to live long-term in Thailand as opposed to Japan.

If you buy only one book about the connection of the Westerner to Thailand, I’d highly recommend that you buy Bangkok Found. It is truly a gem.
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[Hana]

Thailand for my Around-the-World tour.

[Stephen Perrenod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insights into Thai culture. Bangkok is a city of "Chinese Hindus", who would have thought so?

[Burcu Basar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very good company if you are visiting Thailand and want to get a better idea of its culture. The author uses a lot of comparisons with some other Asian countries such as Japan or China and it worked well for me since I have been to both countries. There were some chapters such as the dance one which felt too technical for a person not into that sort of dance but the book was in general such as a pleasant and captivating read, nearly as good as Lost Japan by the same author.

[Edwin Pietersma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but in need of a critical read and high knowledge

A very interesting book with a lot of witty comments and interesting thoughts. However, one needs to be careful as this work is much more of an autobiography of the author’s life in Bangkok and in constant comparison with Japan, making it hard to read for people knowing nothing of Japan. In addition, the author seems to romanticize/mystify Thailand as well, which one could argue against.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Kerr is an amazing connoisseur, writer, and artist. I have been looking for a writer who can illuminate Thailand and Southeast Asia.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Kerr has written some interesting and provocative books about Japan and Japanese culture in the past (Lost Japan and Demons and Dogs) and has also written a similarly compelling book on Bangkok and Thai culture, Bangkok Found (2010). Kerr has studied Chinese and Japanese history academically and had lived most of his adult life in Japan before he moved to Bangkok permanently in 1997, therefore he makes several points by comparing or contrast aspects of Thai culture with those of Chinese or Japanese culture. For example he discusses the different roof designs from traditional buildings in China and Japan that point down to the ground whereas Thai roof eaves point up deflecting the negative energy away from the earth. I think he also does an excellent job of explaining Bangkok's appeal to foreigners and why it is such a fascinating and interesting place. Much of this has to do with Thailand's openness to foreigners and all things foreign. Kerr's background and interests lie in traditional arts like dance, flower arranging, and collecting art objects like pots, vases, and the like; therefore he explores the differences of these arts between his experiences in Japan and those in Bangkok. I found the section on Thai etiquette also quite interesting because the wai and bow is something that is absolutely charming and indicative of Thai-ness, but so frequent and out in the open that one doesn't really contemplate the meaning and significance of such gestures. It is important enough to Kerr that he teaches about it, along with the other arts in the Thai culture school, called Origin, that he founded. It is part memoir, part cultural history, and part love letter to one of my favorite cities in the world.

[Sergey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive and deep book on Thailand culture.
Alex covers literally everything in very detail (everyday life, culture, religion, history, Thai way of doing business etc.). He is amazing writer and expert in Asia.