Customer Reviews

Bangkok Babylon: The Real-Life Exploits of Bangkok's Legendary Expatriates are often Stranger than Fiction

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this wonderful book last fall while I was visiting my "second home" of Chiang Mai, Thailand and fell in love with Jerry Hopkins' writing style at once. In this book, he has nailed so many of the "better known" expats in Thailand and done so in a honest way.
I have met some of these expats so I feel right at home with the manner Jerry uses, especially for my favorite author, Jason Schoonover.
With each chapter, Jerry gets into telling details about each man living permanently in Bangkok and why they decided to chuck living in the West to instead become expatriates in Thailand. I felt at home with each and every chapter!
If you want a better insight as to why certain people would rather be in Thailand than their native countries, purchase a copy of this wonderful book at once and have fun with it. I warn you, however, that as you get further and further into it, the more likely you'll be to buy some tickets for the next flight from your home to Bangkok!

What a wonderful, refreshing book about life in Thailand. I've only been there twice, and each time, I do believe I've met some of the characters in Hopkins' book. It almost seems like you're on the next barstool or taking a walk on the beach with the author. He's a natural raconteur, and tells a interesting series of 25 tales about the folks that he's met there, and those that have built long-term reputations. I also like how he displays empathy for the bargirls and for the poor people in general, with everyone trying to survive the best they can. An excellent review of Asian haps and it's great for starting conversations with some of the Asia hands/ex-pats. A good read - I liked it. Looking forward to another series of stories and exploits. Mai pen rai!

As an expat living in Bangkok, I can assure you Hopkins knows this city well, and the characters he describes are the most interesting bunch of characters you're ever likely to read about. Full of fun and panache on the surface, it also has a core of considerable importance: the fact that a person can reinvent him or herself and probably nowhere as easily as in Bangkok. Highly recommended.

I lived in Bangkok for a year and experienced many of the things written in this book first hand. Fortunately my wife is Thai and explained a lot of them but this book goes the extra mile and is an interesting and fun read.
It's easy to be a "fish out of water" in Bangkok if you're not familiar with the customs and etiquette. This book is highly recommended and Vermonter dot com approved!

Jerry Hopkin's Bangkok Babylon offers up a look at some interesting Ex-Pats who decided that Thailand offered up something more than what they left behind in their own countries.
It tells us more of interesting characters such as adventurer Tony Poe, Father Joe Maier- founder of Mercy Centre in Bangkok's worst slum, the poor's legal ace George Cooper, Lonely Planet's Joe Cummings, and even Oscar winning writer Stirling Silliphant and what drew them all to Southeast Asia.
And while it shines some light on some with better character in a gem of a country it also hones in on those without character like American pedophile Eric Rosser and others who took advantage of the Thai's mai pen rai attitude and scratched a few flaws into its face. Justice though prevailed.
The book's title is a misnomer because it is actually an interesting peek into the re-directed lives of some of the Ex-Pats, like Hopkins, who found the Thailand visitors hope to find but seldom do.

This book devotes one chapter each to a fascinating cross section of expatriate individuals( mainly Americans ) who, like the author, are now living, or have lived, in Thailand.
As Jerry Hopkins righly points out,adventurous travellers such as these do tend to be far more interesting than the average person who does not venture far, or for very long, from their native country and it's familair surroundings. This is well illustrated by the amazingly diverse characters and lives vivdly described here. Highly recommended.

Great book with insights on expats that have spent time in Bangkok. Easy to read short stories. Very interesting stories that tells about the lives of expats and how they became that way. It is definitely a chosen way of life.

The book was not bad. I have been to Thailand numerous times over the years and it was interesting to read about some of the other people that have been to this great country and decided to pack it all in and live there. Well written and interesting.

Great read and kept my interest with some great stories. I'm traveling to Thailand and was interested in reading some real accounts of the country instead of tour guides, and real accounts is what I got. Would recommend this book highly.

I have never been to Bangkok, but I enjoyed this book very much. Entertaining and an easy read, full of colorful characters and insight on living in Bangkok.