 Really enjoyed "Thai Touch" |
| Review Date: January 13, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Kevin Sutton, |
I'm visiting Thailand in a couple of weeks, and decided to get "Thai Touch" after reading about it in the East Bay Express, an alternative weekly newspaper published in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Rubacher has lived in Thailand for years, and reports on the good and bad in his "Land of Smiles". I especially liked his portraits of various people throughout Thai society, both Thais and foreigners. His comic touch means he is not judgmental, whether he writes about Miss Jumbo, or the Forrest Gump of Thailand, or the 72 year old woman whole magical milk has healing powers, or his many friends in Thailand.
It was also a revelation to read how the King of Thailand was instrumental in overthrowing two previous dictators who had engineered coups in 1972 and 1991. Without a shot being fired, the king worked behind the scenes and persuaded the military dictators to volunteer themselves into exile.
Rubacher satisfied my curiosity about the country, and really made me look forward to my upcoming trip. I especially liked his "32 reasons for loving Thailand too much." |
Going to Thailand
|
| Review Date: December 24, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Raymond Hill, Lancaster PA |
This little book drew me from in the moment I saw its cover. The title, Thai Touch, didn't compel me. I had read another book by Richard Rubacher and the prospect of another odd tour of Mr. Rubacher's didn't thrill me. The cover photograph attracted my attention.
A trip to Thailand has engaged my imagination for many years. I wanted to meet oriental women but didn't want to be associated with any of the so called "sex tours". Considering all, that fascination probably is my real interest. My life in the States has been very busy. But, work hasn't made me rich. I'm comfortable and retired. And, I am bored with my faults.
I'm not the kind of man who easily introduces himself to a stranger, a person he finds attractive. I hoped "Thai Touch" would tell me truthfully what a late middle aged unmarried man could expect - in cost, in politics, in laws, in diversions. As I said, I didn't want to associate myself with any tours. I would be an older single man traveling (some of) the world and traveling alone. Scary? Yes, for me.
That's how Richard Rubacher traveled to Thailand. His narrative allowed me a look into the Thai Kingdom, a place he is very happy with. From his pages, I learned the Thai attitude toward sex is wholesome but not the same as in the United States. I learned that sex workers are of two types, organized and unorganized and how both are not intimidating. I learned reverencing Lord Buddha is the source of most Thai religion. I learned that living and playing in Thailand is exotic, sexy and full of adventure. Richard Rubacher introduces his reader to the Thai Forrest Gump, to his girl friend Lek Lek, to the Thai concepts of virginity.
Generally, Thai girls are prim and proper as any in the world. Many, when they hit their eighteenth birthdays, come to major cities and work in the sex industry. Some work as masseuses, legitimately, some masseuses are interested in extra money and they aren't shy about explaining their purpose to interested ferang (foreigners).
It is quite possible to make lasting relationships with much younger women than you and living in Thailand is inexpensive.
I believe that it is possible to enjoy a few weeks or a month or more in Thailand in the company of lively, lovely younger women. The Thai attitude about sex boils down to: to each his own. The law clearly affirms that it is illegal to engage in sexual activity with anyone under eighteen years of age. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, as it is in most of the United States. But the kingdom is a "happy place" where people who don't harm one another find fun and relaxation.
The Thai Kingdom is a happy place.
|
Enjoyed the book
|
| Review Date: June 30, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Trond Haugen, |
| I really enjoyed all the stories that Richard Rubacher told to paint his picture of Thailand. |
The Knowing Nose doesn't lie
|
| Review Date: April 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Joseph Haschka, Glendale, CA USA |
Several years ago, I read Private Dancer, a fictional account of a British travel writer who, upon finding himself in Thailand and confronted by the fleshpots of Bangkok, allows his sex drive to overwhelm good sense. Written by Stephen Leather, a onetime journalist for London's Daily Mirror and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, it was (by his own admission to me) based partly on his own youthful indiscretions in Thailand's capital. PRIVATE DANCER is a very good read.
The same curiosity that caused me to pick up Leather's book was operative here with Richard Rubacher's THAI TOUCH, a collection of fifteen stories that the author apparently hopes will demonstrate to the reader the exotic nature of Thailand and the good-nature and playfulness of its people.
Rubacher, in his early sixties when he wrote THAI TOUCH in 2005, is obviously infatuated with the place. And rightly so, perhaps. It's a locale I'd like to visit, but probably never will. In any case, Richard's approach is that of a journalist reporting on various aspects of what he's found there to be especially interesting and captivating.
Thailand, and especially Bangkok, is known for its prevalent sex industry; foreign companies run tours to the place for randy males to indulge themselves and their fantasies. So, of course, Rubacher must report on his own experience with getting a "naughty" massage as well as reveal the backgrounds and motivations of the female sex workers that he interviewed. But THAI TOUCH contains more than that. He also explores such topics as the personality of the highly revered current monarch, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the expats' clubs, the "Bangkok Haircut" - penis amputation by a jealous spouse reminiscent of Lorena Bobbitt's hatchet job - and the local surgical specialty that has developed to reattach the offending member, the "miracle" breast milk of the 70+ year old fortune-teller Pissamai Trapsukhorn, the spiritual benefits of Thai meditation techniques, the circumstances under which Rubacher met his Thai girlfriend, and Thailand's annual "Miss Jumbo Queen" contest. And then there's the chapter in which the author tests the veracity of bar girls' statements with a homemade lie detector pendulum, a crystal on the end of a silver chain, which he calls "Knowing Nose."
For me, the successful travel essay will leave me either wanting to catch the next plane out or determined to avoid the destination at all costs. THAI TOUCH did neither; my strongest reaction to the book is a shoulder shrug. For me, the chapters were only marginally interesting and the journalistic reporting, if it can be called such, was light weight. Perhaps the lightest was the chapter inquiring into the reasons why four Thai women watched "Sex and the City" and their reactions to it. Oh, puhleeze!
THAI TOUCH isn't wonderful or awful; it's just one that I wouldn't recommend unless you're stranded on a desert island and it's the only book that'd washed up onto the beach. Rather, look further down the shoreline for PRIVATE DANCER. |
|
No details are available for this product
No video reviews found for this product.
