So much of the media surrounding Africa depicts places with mud huts, wide open spaces, people clothed in cloths or barely at all. Even if that portrayal is diminishing, those are the visuals in people’s minds when they think of the continent. Which is a big reason why I loved “An African City” so much.
A quick scroll through the Peace Corps Couchsurfing Facebook group will easily turn up a handful of posts from other volunteers who are coming to Thailand, either to get away from the cold of their country of service or to celebrate with a Close of Service vacation. Bangkok is also the medical hub for the Europe, Mediterranean and Asia region, and often the islands in the Pacific as well. I met a couple in Cambodia, whose response to me telling them I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand was, “I didn’t know we still had Peace Corps in Thailand.”
The infrastructure – paved roads, running water, consistent electricity. The amenities – 3G Internet, a wide variety of Western and ethnic food choices in multiple cities, washing machines. These things have earned Peace Corps Thailand the somewhat derogatory title of “Posh Corps” in the Peace Corps community. And Thailand is not the only one.
Returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV) Alan Toth served in South Africa, another country that has the Posh Corps label attached to it, and made a documentary about volunteers in South Africa exploring what it means to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer and touches on serving in a more developed country.
A quick search of the Internet for top vacation and retirement destinations will frequently turn up Thailand. A jaunt over to Amazon to find some books about Thailand will inevitably return numerous guidebooks and works of fiction written by white men who have either moved or vacationed here. There is not much fiction written in English by a Thai author. Which is why I was excited to find “Sightseeing” by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, a collection of short stories about Thailand.
I want to start this post with a moment of gratitude for my younger sister, who gave me her Kindle before I left. It has gotten me through unbearable hot days and provided more entertainment that I could have asked for. Thank you, Katie. And with that, I would like to review some books that I read after moving to site that give some insight into Thailand.