Random Notes from a Thai Village and The Chom Thian Chronicles

Random Notes from a Thai Village continues the narrative of an ex-pat's life in Ban Somboon, a tiny village that nestles close by the Cambodian border in Isaan, Thailand's poorest province. Its closeness to Cambodia means most of Ban Somboon's inhabitants are Khmer Thai who nurture and maintain most of the ancient Khmer customs and traditions. Ghosts, superstition and semi-sorcery are all part of daily life in the village. James chronicles the learning curve of adapting to life in an environment where clashes of culture bring about frequent and often hilarious misunderstandings. He has a close encounter with traditional Khmer clinical care, invests in an agricultural enterprise that operates on a very Buddhist business plan, extends his home, dubbed The Folly, which is then blessed in a ceremony involving half-a-dozen chanting monks, struggles with an impenetrable language and tries his best to adapt to local life. As an occasional change from his rural retreat James maintains a small apartment some 400km distant on at Chom Thian on the Thai coast. Here life takes on an entirely different character described in the concluding part of the book under the banner The Chom Thian Chronicles.