Travelers' Tales Thailand: True Stories

Travelers' Tales Guides

by James O'Reilly (Editor)

"The first title in a revolutionary new style of travel guidebooks.... It is an enriching and absorbing collection - a perfect traveling companion." - New York Times News Service
Notable authors include: Jeff Greenwald, Karen Swenson, Charles Nicholl, Pico Iyer, Ian Buruma, and Thalia Zepatos.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Asia, Short Stories, Memoir

488 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

James O'Reilly has been a traveler since infancy, and a storyteller almost as long. Born in Oxford, England, in 1953, he savors the early memory of walking as a five-year-old boy across the tarmac at Shannon Airport in Ireland and gazing up at the huge triple tails of the now-defunct Constellation aircraft. The smell of fuel and Irish fog and the amazing sight above him must have made a deep impression because he's been traveling willy-nilly ever since. After emigrating from Ireland to the United States, he grew up in San Francisco, where he was schooled by Jesuits, nuns and assorted yogis and eccentrics in the '60s. His eclectic education was formed as much by growing up in a large Roman Catholic family where he was the second of seven children as it was by being an omnivorous reader who was studying Eastern religion and meditation by his early teens. He traveled a great deal with his family - to Ireland, England, Scotland, and Canada - before heading off to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where, among other things, he spent a semester in Salamanca, Spain.

At Dartmouth, James met his good friend Larry Habegger, with whom he has collaborated since 1982 on projects ranging from radio shows to mystery serials, newspaper and magazine columns to world adventure travel. Since 1985, O'Reilly and Habegger have co-authored the nationally-syndicated travel column "World Travel Watch." In 1993, they co-founded the publishing company Travelers' Tales with James's brother Tim, and have since worked on more than 100 books together, winning many awards for excellence, including the prestigious Lowell Thomas award for outstanding travel book. James has been an active member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) since 1990, and is a former board member of the Tibet Information Network.

James has visited over forty countries and lived in four. Among his favorite travel memories are visiting headhunters in Borneo, rafting the legendary Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, enjoying a meal cooked by blowtorch in Tibet, and hanging out laundry with nuns in Florence. He has made traveling with his own family a priority, and together he and his wife and three daughters have roamed all over Europe. He lives in Palo Alto, California, where he is usually conspiring to be somewhere else.

Reviews

[Yigal Zur · Rating 4 out of 5]

writing and researching material for my new thriller Passport to Death where the plot is based in Thailand i had to use many sources beside leaning on my own experience. i found this book as a rich background to read, draw from ideas and vivid. a lot of interesting stories of different travelers from many walks of life.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish there were more Travelers' Tales books -- about many countries. Great reading while actually there!

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as exciting or as well written as I would have hoped. Some of the stories were really dated white-man's burden type of shtick.

[Kristianne]

As a collection of stories from many different travelers who have walked, biked, climbed, swam, meditated, cooked, slept and been lost in Thailand, you are offered a lot of different points of view about the place and the people. The stories are, of course, all over the board in terms of both quality and content. As always, I loved Pico Iyer's investigations and I really enjoyed the clips from Alan Rabinowitz's book about saving Thailand's wild cats. I appreciate learning about a country through the stories of travelers, rather than just their lists of accommodations, historical dates and sites to see.
There are some romantic tales and some that provide a nice critical scrutiny on tourism and trade. There are great sidebar facts and pointers and embedded suggestions for meals and places to visit and things not to miss out on.
Thanks Seattle Public Library for having a very well-loved copy on hand to share with me.

[Dave Shichman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book is around 20 years old, it remains as relevant today as when it was gathered. I say gathered, because this is a collection of short stories from travelers in Thailand. It explores some of the seedier aspects of the country from prostitution to the poppy industry, as well as deep chapters on Buddhism and the Thai lifestyle. I long for the Farang lifestyle and I found this book difficult to put down. It’s a bit long and at times drags, some chapters are more interesting than others, but generally this covers a wide range of Thai culture and spends a good amount of time on the fantastic food. It is depressing at times to hear how the tourist industry has affected this beautiful country, but there is still a wealth of amazing sites to see and the Thai people are as friendly, polite and respectful today as when this book was written. A wonderful introduction to Thai culture, a must read for any traveler to the region.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this while traveling through Thailand, along with Thailand Confidential.
This was a lovely collection of stories of travelers in Thailand. While slightly narrow in breadth of experiences, it was enlightening to read these while traveling to the same or similar areas. So many of the stories are adventure travel, it can be hard to relate to the experiences, but I certainly felt they broadened my understanding of what I was, and was not, able to see in my travels.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all of the Travelers Tales series, this book aims to give the traveler a sense of the culture, geography, and activities that Thailand has to offer. It does so through engaging essays and excerpts from excellent travel writers that tackled the topic in a lengthier form.

Recommended for globe-trotters and armchair travelers alike.

[Marybeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! There a couple of stories I wasn't in love with...thus the 4 instead of 5. Although, there are 2 wonderful visuals that will stay in my head for the rest of my life. A perfect book to go to bed to.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of the Travelers Tales books, and while I'm not credited on the cover as an editor, the book was partly my creation. I came up with the concept, and did the final organization into the five parts that became part of the TT style.

[Georgeanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read every single story, but picking and choosing among what's here was a great way to get culturally prepared (and excited!) for our trip to Thailand. I'll check out more from this series for future trips.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make your way through Thailand on the backs of its travelers, explorers and truth seekers. A book of narratives and short stories and the country, its people and its language are your friends by the end.

[Nico Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough for a bedside read. Nicely written short stories perfect for a few pages of browsing before you snooze. A bit more than half of the stories are interesting traveler insights, the rest are dire, some even painful to read. And oh, most are from the perspective of western travellers.

[Tony D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very first story is fantastic; poetic, provocative. Some of the stories, not so much. If you're interested in Travelling to Thailand and want to get a feel for the experience (not the sex tourism or bucket party part) then this book is for you.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The good, the bad and the downright ugly of Thailand. Essays written by Western visitors discovering things like durian fruit, soul healers and dead squirrels in the marketplace. For adults only. WARNING: May give you an incurable craving for Thai food.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the short essays I was interested in, avoiding ones about food, for instance. They seem mostly to be articles taken from other publications.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoping to go in January to study Thai massage...would love to hear from anyone who has been to Thailand, especially anyone who has studied massage.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good background information before heading to Thailand - I would recommend other books in this series before traveling.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good reading for those traveling to Thailand (and even for those not).

[Jessie]

Helpful companion for traveling. Helped me get a better perspective on the country. However, I don't really like reading essays - I prefer novels - so I wasn't ever really excited about reading it.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to have a blast in Thailand!!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

got it at the Rockford Library...didn't finish. But good reference book

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

The BEST travel book I have ever read, and reread, and reread.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent before a first-time trip to Thailand. Wished for more deviation from the typical list of topics though.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The editor was asleep at the switch. Some of the stories stop in mid-stream, while others are very disjointed.

[keith koenigsberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Traveler's Tales series is very uneven. India and Food were great, Cuba was lousy. This one is somewhere in between. I'd skip the first boring 184 pages and pick it up from there.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable short travelogues, but the stories got a bit repetitive towards the end.