Stay updated with breaking news from Big chilli. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
The Expat Extraordinaire: Colin Hastings and his remarkable print publication in Thailand traveldailynews.asia - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from traveldailynews.asia Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
January 12, 2021 Facebook/Small Teak Boat Canal Adventure, Bangkok Dean Barrett, an American mystery writer, sits in an English-style tavern that is one of his remaining old haunts in Bangkok, sipping a black Russian cocktail as he ponders the curious quirks of fate. “My story is very simple,” says Barrett, a lanky 78-year-old with a moustache and a mischievous smile. “I love Chinese culture and history. But I’m sitting here and not at some American university as a professor.” The reason is that, in 1965, the Connecticut native enlisted in the US Army so he could learn Chinese at a military-run language institute in California. “Having trained me as a translator for a year, the army put me on a plane to Bangkok,” he says. “All I knew was that it was in Southeast Asia.” ....