Borderlines: A Journey in Thailand and Burma

This is the third of Charles Nicholl's books I have read. This one covers three months he spend in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) in 1986.

After some time in Bangkok on arrival, Nicholl heads north, heading toward the forest Buddhism temple he had planned to visit, but a chance meeting with Harry, a ruffled but experienced traveller sets him aside from that path. While the ever cagey Harry doesn't share a lot, he temps Nicholl enough to change his plans and head north to the Golden Triangle, on the promise of being ‘shown around'. The Golden Triangle, of course, is the small area of land where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) meet, and is notorious with the growing of opium and cross border smuggling.

Katai makes up the third primary focus in the narrative. She is a twenty year old Thai girl from Bangkok, and Harry's girlfriend. When Harry has to leave Chang Mai to carryout some business, Nicholl is asked to meet her and travel further north with her to meet Harry in Chang Rai.

There is much that Harry (and Katai) are not sharing with Nicholl, which he realises, but gradually Harry shares more details with him. Harry is a trader, but primarily he says, a gem dealer. He is on the trail of Burmese Jade, and he has a contact in the Golden Triangle who he is trying to meeting up with.

In the best of Nicholl's books, The Fruit Palace, he goes full out, involving himself in the story. This time round he shows a bit more restraint, and while he is illegally crossing borders, messing with opium and along for the journey with the potential smuggling operation, you can sense he has more restraint this time around. Indeed, at one point he departs leaving Harry and Katai to visit his forest Buddhist retreat before a chance encounter with Harry gives his story the closure it needs.

Borderlines, as a theme is explored throughout the book - the border between waking and sleep, the borderlines of trust, friendship and understanding, and the physical borders of the country (although in the Golden Triangle these borders are invisible and more permeable than most).

While Nicholl presents his story in a full and honest way, sharing his thoughts and motives, usually without the benefit of hindsight, it seems to me that some of the naivety he shows is not real, but written in later. Remember that in 1986 Nicholl is 36 years old - not a 20-something backpacker with wide eyes, and his experiences in Colombia three years earlier (see The Fruit Palace link above) would have made him only too aware how things he gets wrapped up in can be out of his own control.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great book, and Nicholl has the ability to sniff out a story, otherwise he would never have tagged along with Harry in the first place.

4 stars.