My Thai Girl and I

My Thai Girl and I

Recently released by Andrew Hicks, author of the best selling novel, “Thai Girl”, “My Thai Girl and I” is a departure from the fiction of his sophomore release . My Thai Girl and I is about his life in Thailand after retiring early as a corporate lawyer and university professor in England to live in rural Thailand with his Thai wife Cat.

This is how I met Cat, a ‘Thai girl’ half my age and how we set up home together in her village out in the rice fields of North Eastern Thailand.
I’ll tell you of toads in the toilet, of ants’ eggs for breakfast, how we took up frog farming and how I got married without really meaning to.
It’s also a book about the countryside, of the old Thailand where the rhythm of the seasons and belief in the spirits and Buddhism remain strong.
Though how could I, a greying English lawyer, ever fit into the lives of a Thai rice farming family. Can Cat and I with our many differences really be compatible?
If you’re curious to know what it’s like to start a totally new life as I did, to slow down and ‘go with the flow’, I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading the story of ‘my Thai girl and I’.

With many books published and being published about the Thai/falang (Thai word for foreigner) relationship and experience it’s refreshing to see one thats written from the rural Thai experience instead of the tried but true Bankok or Pattaya settings.

I started writing it when we’d been together about two years. I went back to my diaries and I racked my brains but it wasn’t difficult as I had a vivid recall of the many special experiences we’d shared together. I wanted to write about Isaan, the dry North East of Thailand where we live among the rice fields and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

I hope it’s funny and I hope it’s fair. I hope that it portrays the agonies and the ecstacies of reinventing oneself and finding a new life in a context I could never before have imagined I’d find myself in. And it’s about a very special relationship and of building bridges across our vast differences of culture and age.

So how hard is it to retire in Thailand in the bosom of a Thai family and to find happiness then? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!

Andrew Hicks first book “Thai Girl” was written out of despair for the lack of Thai credibility and experience so often encountered in books about, or set in Thailand. One notable book ” The Beach”, supposedly set in Thailand, really had nothing to do with Thailand at all and what traces of Thailand that were injected resorted to typical stereotypes showing Thai people as gun toting thugs or prostitutes.

I wondered if I could write something different with strong Thai characters and which made the Thai setting pivotal; not just an exotic cliche? but a place inhabited by real people that was fundamental to the story. In particular I wanted the book to challenge readers to think about Thailand and its people and perhaps to learn something from it.

But that was not to be an easy assignment. Dickens was good at social comment, but as the novice author of Thai Girl, I have little idea if I have succeeded in my aims for the novel which I now present to you.

I love Thailand, and issues such as poverty, and tourism and commercial sex trouble me; it is so easy for visitors to exploit the Thai people. I therefore hope Thai Girl does not look like another trashy Bangkok bar story. It is about well-meaning young people taking a life-check and briefly travelling through Thailand and is not about the older hoodlums of the typical sex novel. Mass tourism brings visitors of all sorts here in large numbers and they are bound to have an impact. Perhaps that is what the novel is about.

This looks to be an interesting read especially for someone such as myself that is thinking about making the move to Thailand and living in the the rural areas of Issan. I’ve just ordered the book and will let you know what I think once I read it.

If you are interested in finding out more information on ” My Thai girl and I” or “Thai girl” there is a website dedicated to the books and author: Thai Girl

Likewise both books can be found at Asia Books

Andrew Hicks also has a blog if you would like to find out more about the author and what he’s up to Thai Girl 2004

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2 Comment(s)

  1. Thanks Thalen for your very thorough run-down on my new book, MY THAI GIRL AND I. I appreciate it very much and hope you enjoy it.

    Incidentally more details can be found on http://www.thaigirl2004.blogspot.com.

    Happy reading!

    Andrew Hicks

    Andrew Hickss last blog post..1

    Andrew Hicks | Apr 28, 2008 | Reply

  2. a lot of people are retiring to thailand.
    Here’s one of many websites for those interested
    http://www.retire2thailand.com/
    As always, the lure often clouds the reality.
    Moving to another culture can be a real challenge
    Look before you leap

    Norris Hall | Apr 28, 2008 | Reply

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