FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS CLUB OF THAILAND

Book launch and discussion at the foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand,
in Bangkok on 13 February 2020. Moderated by Brian Mertens.

“We are living in this exceptional and exemplary city and it finally gets the exceptional and exemplary book that it has long deserved. What’s exceptional about the book is that Philip resists the temptation to romanticise all this. It’s actually a rather serious investigation, deep and broad, of what makes the city work. The approach that he takes is very innovative, very original, exploring how the city affects the senses, 20 senses in fact. For example, the sense of balance, or the Sixth Sense – things that I think no other author observer has ever commented upon before.” — Brian Mertens, FCCT

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:

VERY BANGKOK: In the City of the Senses Book launch and discussion In an engaging follow-up to his acclaimed book “Very Thai,” author Philip Cornwel-Smith profiles his adoptive hometown, capturing the essence of one of the world’s great — and quirkiest — cities. He cuts through lurid clichés to explore this vast metropolis from unexpected angles, revealing its nature and the patterns behind its wild reputation. Throughout, he traces how “Bangkokness” differs from “Thainess.”

Unlike conventional guidebooks, ”Very Bangkok” explores this megacity via 20 senses, bringing to life the impact of its sounds, smells and sights. In the process, it explores Bangkok’s particular way with space, balance and movement, as well as the impact of the digital era on both traditional and contemporary facets of city.

The core of the book, Heart, delves into the communities, identities and mindsets of the Thai capital, and how it contrasts with upcountry views of the city. Several chapters enter the subcultures of informal markets, youth tribes and ethnic roots. We see how this cosmopolitan ’world city’ enables those who aren’t Thai to become Bangkokian.

In the section called Face, the author assesses the ways insiders and outsiders depict Bangkok. He compares how the city promotes itself though tourism to its edited memory of the past. The conclusion considers visions of the future and the city’s resilience in the face of climate change. In all these areas of formal and informal life, we see how Bangkokians navigate the tensions between creative chaos and dreams of order. This is also a book about cities. Very Bangkok considers new ways of digitally mapping the city, and applies the latest “messy urban” thinking to this fast-changing tropical metropolis.