Bangkok Days

I read this book concurrently with [b:Farang 7427205 Farang Iain Corness https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349018157l/7427205.SX50.jpg 9397941] by Iain Corness, as a sort of antidote to that books vanilla content.The author travelled to Thailand to get some cut price dentistry, and discovered he could live in Bangkok for practically no money, so he stayed. Throughout the book he comes and goes from Thailand, but it is never really explained. At various points he has no money, and resorts to stealing, other times he is just poor, and is supported by his fellow farang, other times he seems well off.His story revolves around the non-touristy Bangkok. He spends a lot of time walking around the lesser known parts of the city. The parts where the servants to the wealthy live and the urban areas and their hidden sights. And of course, it tells the story of his fellow expat weirdos, and the unusual lives they live in Bangkok.The book contains some great descriptive writing, and the author is obviously fond of the back streets, the grit, the aging colour and the fringe culture. While there are many mentions of sex and the prostitution well known in Bangkok, it is certainly not central to the narrative, but always present, and the author remains surprisingly coy about his involvement along these lines. There is a certain cynicism to the book, which suggests the author is living alongside the other characters, rather than with them. It is probably worth touching on the other farang in this book, as the large part of the story revolves around them. They are, I guess, a pretty sad, but realistic bunch of expats living (hiding?) in the city. They include the ex-military Scotsman, living across the border is Cambodia, running an adventure guiding business among the mines - who spends more time in Bangkok looking for guests than he does with his wife in Cambodia; there is the aging and lonely retired Australian bank manager, preparing to die here; a strange an eccentric Spanish artist; the mysterious McGinnis whose background and business are never clear; Lionel the gay French journalist with the attractive wife in a marriage of convenience; a German BMW salesman having a testicle amputated who Osborne meets in hospital.The book covers a lot of ground, and there is a lot of detail in the stories, but one can't help thinking there is a bit of embellishment going on here. There is plenty of opportunity to mix and match stories, as there is no real avenue for validation - however the sleazy bars, the decaying temples, the strange characters all make for a good read. On this train of thought, I like the quote on the back cover: Far more than a travel book, Bangkok Days explores both the little-known, extraordinary city and the lives of a handful of doomed expatriates living there, ‘as vivid a set of liars and losers as was ever invented by Graham Greene'Three and a half stars, rounded up.