Dr Tim Rackett does me too great an honour in his review of my book ‘Thailand Beyond the Fringe’. It’s great to have deep sociological substance read into my words, and I cannot but agree with all Dr Rackett says so well — being Thai again.

But to be honest, in as far as that is possible when talking of a land and people economical with the truth, the book was written as a bit of a laugh. There is really nothing too deep about most of the content. When I write the section, ‘On finding your wife dancing naked in your local pub’, the advice I give was in no way to be interpreted a la Levi-Strauss. Many such sub-headings are deliberately ambiguous: did you find i.e. meet your wife while she (or maybe you) were dancing naked in your pub, or did you unexpectedly find your already married (unfortunately to you) wife dancing naked in your local in front of your mates. And as an anthropologist who used to write serious stuff, I rather feel like Dr Goebels — on hearing the name Levi-Strauss, I reach for my gun.

Raw rather than cooked (a sop to those who, like me spent years thinking Levi Strauss was actually saying something) ‘Beyond the Fringe’ is supposed to make the reader laugh. If he can do that, he is already better placed to cope with a land where people wake up one morning to find tanks and soldiers in the streets and spontaneously (and sensibly) disarm the soldiers by giving them flowers and their babies. I refer to the last coup. Great TV. Unfortunately I published the book before Taksin Shinawat-related follies made foreigners stranded at Phuket’s airport think twice about those smiling faces and the ubiquitous question, ‘Why you come Thailand?’, otherwise dear old Taksin would be in there, probably as the complete and perfect Thai. Which of course he is, or will be upon return.

Anyway, Levi-Strauss was most known for telling anthropologists to spend their time one-third in remote villages, where they refrain from any criticism, and two-thirds at home, where they are rabid radicals. The fact that he himself hardly stepped out of France was perhaps his little joke on the middle-class, who had to buy his books.

‘Fringe’ is a follow up to the rather more serious ‘Culture Shock Thailand’ and if it contains a lesson it is this: don’t take Thailand or the Thais or yourself and your homeland too seriously. If you do, you might make it to the crescent of Thai society, but you are more likely to take the suicide option.

After many many years in thailand, I still like it and its peoples. But I have chosen to live across the river in the good old LPDR. There, inter alia, Ihave written and published ‘Culture Shock Laos’. I think I’ll wait a bit though before doing a Laos Beyond the Fringe. After all, residence visas are a priority and as that remarkable anthropologist Spike Milligan said, “Everybody gotta be some place”. (Or was it Groucho Marx?)

Thanks for the great review. Makes me feel undeservedly good and hopefully will sell some books and encourage Bernard Tink to give it a mention in the Post.

Yours sincerely — and I really mean that — Robert Cooper (Dr).

This sums up the attitude of many, many-a expat attempting to ‘ride it out in the LOS’.

Quite sad. Many will come right back with a ‘you don’t understand Thai culture’, etc, etc, etc. They have no idea …