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Good book on Patpong


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Hey guys forget Cleo's book it really does suck. Check out Patpong: Bangkok's Twilight Zone

by Nick Nostitz

I met Nick just before the book was published and he was showing me many of the pictures that are now in the book. He spent almost ten years of his life researching and taking photos on Patpong. Very insightful and sorry to say very sad. You can pick up a copy in Bangkok at Asia books. If you like more info go to amazon and so a search under patpong. I will be in Bangkok in August and may be able to arrange to get a book signed (I am staying with a friend who lives in the same building as him). I'm not his agent or anything just really impressed by his work. Check it out.

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I have the book. I'll simply describe it.

75% photos (all black and white, except for roughly one color photo between chapters). 24% text, which is all either newspaper clippings, hand-written, or photos of sheets of paper typed with a manual typewriter, including typos, cross-outs, etc.

The common theme to the text is the story of a handful of European farangs, living on shoestring budgets, 1991-1999 (?), and mostly either drunk or high on drugs.

I found no beauty, no sensuality, nothing erotic about the book. It also contained no information or insight into Bangkok that even approached what you could get from one pass around this UBB board.

From a technical standpoint, I believe the black and white photography is probably very good - the author is indisputably talented at composing photos and capturing moments in time.

If you want a book to fill in a space in a larger collection - that space being the gritty underside of a group of drunken, druggie farangs living in the slums, then this is the perfect book to fill that niche.

If you want a book to capture what is probably a typical current image of Patpong - colorful, upbeat, farang visitors having a good time - then this book will do nothing for you.

Cheers!

Bangkok Butterfly

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It should also be pointed out that quite a lot of the photos are not of Patpong but of the original Thermae, NEP in the early '90s etc. For someone whose time in Bangkok spans the same period as the book I found it triggered a lot of powerful memories. Some of the faces in there haven't been seen here for a long time.

It also does well to capture the reality of the scene here for many people rather than the glossy, glamourous side. If your only experience of Bangkok is Soi 33, the Grande and the Landmark Rib Room then it will not push many buttons, but for those who have scratched a little below the surface then I think it does the job very well.

If anyone has read and enjoyed the stories of Alexander Turner, this book, to me, is the perfect companion.

LG

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Well put, LongGun.

This is a powerful book. It is not pretty, but most of Thermae also is not pretty. It bears the name "Patpong," for marketing purposes, mostly. The book really centers around NEP/Thermae. Several burn-outs' life stories are well told and the photos will evoke multiple feelings in you. Good stuff (Nostitz was a frequent photo contributor to BKK Metro Magazine). His book is available in the Bookazine bookstore ACROSS the street from the Landmark Hotel, next to Starbucks. (Maybe not from Asia Books inside the Landmark Hotel mall?).

vtom hopes you check it out. (Though, it has already been out for 9 months, so why are we talking about it now???) crazy.gif" border="0

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Sorry to say, I also found Nicks book of very little interest. I read everything on Bangkok. On the other hand I did find Cleo's book to be a good read and I do believe it gave a little insight into the psyche of the bar girl.

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Cleo's book was good in showing how farang women fall for the same stuff.

Has anyone else read 'A woman of Bangkok'. It was written in the 1950s, so it documents Bangkok prostitution in the dancing hall era and it's written in a slightly annoying style, but it goes into the women's thoughts in an interesting way.

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