Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal

by Karen Connelly

Winner of the 1993 Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction"Painfully bored" with school, 17-year-old Karen Connelly set off for rural Thailand to spend one year as an exchange student. This is her intensely honest account of living in a beautiful but sometimes infuriating culture."I already look forward to reading Touch the Dragon again--and again."--Timothy Findley

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Asia, Canada, Biography, Canadian Literature

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Karen Connelly was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1969, to a large working class family. She's the author of eleven best-selling books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. She has read from her work and lectured in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She has won the Pat Lowther Award for her poetry, the Governor General’s Award for her non-fiction, and Britain’s Orange Broadband Prize for New Fiction for her first novel The Lizard Cage. Karen has served on the board member of PEN Canada and has been active in the Free Burma movement. A proficient to fluent speaker of several languages, she divides her time between her home in rural Greece and her home in Toronto, Canada. She is married with a young child.

Reviews

[Jann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touch the Dragon covers one year in the life of Karen Connelly who goes to Thailand on a Rotary International cultural visit. She stays with 2 different families in the same village, Denchai and grows to love the gentle Thai people. Connelly's writing is lyrical and her command of language is proven over and over again as she describes the countryside and the people she meets. Over the year her relations with the village residents ripens into many friendships and she finds that the Thai reserve hides some of the same longings that women everywhere feel, the same dominance that men of many countries exhibit. The women aid and abet Connelly as she temporarily escapes the scrutiny of the Rotary 'father's' who all feel that she must be keep safe and under their thumb. The men can't accept that in Canada, she has had many freedoms that are not granted to Thai women.

One little anecdote sticks out in my mind. From the beginning Connelly has been taught that the head is 'sacred' and the feet are very much not so. As she was going down one of the streets Connelly dropped some coins and instinctively stepped on one as it was rolling away. She then quickly realized that in the eyes of any Thais watching her, she had defiled the image on the coin, the Thai King Bhumibol. She quickly picked it up, dusted it off and did a 'wai' to it, a Thai bow. She had to be constantly vigilant for these little transgressions she might perform.

As her year draws to a close, she realizes how much the various people in her daily life have meant to her . The teachers at the local school who have helped her learn to speak, read and write Thai, the classmates, the family members of the two homes she has lived in have all become very dear to her. While reading I have been privileged to have, in a minor way, shared this journey with Connelly and I'm so grateful that she published her memoirs in this book.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an exchange student in Thailand right now it was incredibly helpful. Karen is very descriptive and gives true insight into thai culture. A must read for all exchange students traveling to a Asian Country.

[Fran Burdsall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I visited Thailand a few years ago and I was delighted and amazed by the gentle Buddhist culture and the green lush landscape. Karen Connelly does a beautiful job of putting the memory into words that bring back those images for me. It was a joy to read about her experience - I could totally relate.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading books about people's experiences living in other countries. Connelly went to Thailand in 1985 at age 17 on a Rotary International Exchange program. She lived in a rural area and was the only "falang" or foreigner in the area. Her descriptions of living in Thailand are very interesting and revealing about the differences between western and Thai culture. I didn't like her attempts at poetic description (the first page was almost bad enough to stop me from reading more)but she was young and she was obviously taken with the intensely different colors of Thailand. She is distressed about the position of women in Thailand, yet she is emotionally tied up with a (by my reading total jerk) young man in Canada and doesn't seem to recognize her own buy in to a traditional female role. I suspect Connelly was a bit of a handful for western or Thai parents but she is intensely interested in many things.

A short book and worth reading

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intelligent, maturely written account of a student's exchange trip to Thailand during her grade 12 years. Connolly's insight is consistently fresh, her imagery evocative, writing and wit sharp. I felt drawn into Connolly's journey, as much a quest for self-identity as a journey to understand and truly touch the Thai culture. Despite the young age at which Connolly penned her travel memoir, she offers a much more meaningful and engaging journey than Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love.

[Lorra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh this was beautiful. The entire time I just wanted it to never end, and all I could think of was returning to Thailand. She GETS it in this book, she writes so vividly. My favourite part was her encounter with the Rhinoceros beetle.
Now I am off to read everything else by Karen.

[Jane Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this upon my return from a year in Asia and working in Thailand. Well written journal account of living in a new culture.

[Christopher Nilssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first non-digital (can we say analog?) book that I've read in a long time. It came recommended by a poetry workshop professor after they read my piece "Ten Years in Tokyo", a muddling little thing that struggles to bookend my decade in Japan. Connelly's book has a strong poetic voice, and there were several beautiful images.

I read the book on the toilet, as that's been my habit of late: rather than bringing the phone I make this weak attempt to better use the time. 200 pages in about two weeks. The chapters were short and breezy, and in the end I gained a real appreciation for someone brave enough to throw themselves into the wilds of Asia at a young and impressionable age. The reading made me glad I spent my time in Tokyo, though. The countryside of Thailand sounds like rather hard going for someone addicted to the creature comforts of highly developed cities.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract now occupies the bathroom bookshelf. I'll let you know how that goes.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diary of a teenager who goes on exchnage to a small village in Thailand for one year. She becomes so much a part of the Thai family and village she is stayin with that she feels torn apart at the thought of returning to Canada. A wonderful writer - I had a greater understanding of these wonderful people after reading this book.

[Matt Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. The story it tells is engrossing....a young woman's immersion in a culture and society that are both new to her. And apart from that...it is beautifully written. Ms. Connelly is not only a good writer; she is a published poet as well, and her descriptions are always immersive and compelling. I am looking forward to re-re-reading this book.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful journey to Thailand, by a seventeen year old Canadian girl who had a chance to live there for a year. At times I could almost feel the heat and humidity, the colours, the shy, gentle people that made up her world in Thailand.

[Crazytourists_books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book, it is quite vivid and real. The author was very young when she wrote it (in a diary form) and her views of Thailand, it's people and the culture are through a white lens of privilege but overall it is quite interesting and enjoyable to read.

[Kate Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

inspiring

[Piper Winchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading about Karen's time in Thailand and coping with the differences with culture and finding friends etc

[Oak Rasmussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book I loved the writing style!

[Norma Guinevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting memoir. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Camille West · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had beautiful scenery and it was interesting to learn about Thai culture, but the narrator was annoying and complained too much.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sure a lot of editing happened before this was published. Very typically teenager - both mature and immature. She rants about foreign travelers and other annoyances and then turns around and displays the stereotype she claimed to hate. But if you keep reminding yourself that she was 17 years ago you can enjoy a glimpse at an exchange students life, prior to the internet. No skype, email, facebook...it would be interesting to see how different such an account would be today.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is beautifully written, and really tells what it is like to be a Rotary exchange student. Karen Connelly (from Canada) spent a year in a small town in Thailand in the mid-80's, and truly embraced the experience. If you want to know what it is like to become a part of another culture, you might want to read this. I notice that the author bio says she has lived in Spain and Greece also, so I suspect like many exchange students she has continued to live an international life.

[Zinat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was a very interesting account of Karen's experiences living in Thailand. I could relate to a lot of things since I live in Thailand. It did not take long to finish this book and I enjoyed reading it. It was even humorous and at parts. Keep in mind this book was written quite a long time ago and Thailand is a very different place now.

[Tanya Pham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an actual journal that holds beautiful reflections on one year of life as a visiting foreigner in provincial Thailand. Seventeen year old Karen narrates honestly and poetically, deftly using language and observation many teens never access at that age. I thought her depictions were poignant, funny, introspective, and honest. Definitely enjoyed.

[Sam - Spines in a Line · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read this in school for a travel unit. Karen did a great job of incorporating humour into her story, yet still giving us the facts of Thailand, enough to encourage the readers to take a trip of their own.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The beginning was a bit poetic but once it got past that it was an excellent read.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Picked it up at a secondhand bookstore recently and enjoyed visualizing a trip to this country through a very expressive author's eyes and words.

[Ruba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11651361

[Juliek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book eons ago, loved it. I wonder if I still own it? Would like to re-read it.

[Meg Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably my favorite in the genre, perhaps in part bc her experience was so similar to mine.

[Heather Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story about life as a Thai exchange student. Definetly gave us some inside stories about Thailand before we visited!

[Ruane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teenager's encounter with Thailand.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A high school exchange student goes to Thailand and this is about her experiences.