CultureShock! Thailand

CultureShock! Thailand provides a valuable crash course on the who’s who, and the whats and hows of the country, guiding readers through a wide range of topics for day-to-day living including how to interact with the local people and fit into Thai society. Discover when and how to wai as well as how to use the bathroom upcountry. Pick up useful information for settling in like where to stay, study and play and find out more about the Thai language and how to conduct business the Thai way. Full of humour and practical tips. 


Robert is a British subject who has lived overseas most of his life. He has a PhD in Economic Anthropology and was elected Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1979. In 1980, Robert left an academic career to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He has served with the UN in Laos, Geneva, Malawi, the Philippines, Bangkok, Chiang Kham in northern Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia. In 2000, he joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office as Head of the British Trade Office in Laos. He spent a year in Vietnam advising the government on poverty reduction, before returning in 2005 to live and write in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In addition to writings on Thai culture, Robert has written two books on the Hmong: Resource Scarcity and the Hmong Response (Singapore University Press) and The Hmong (Times Editions). He is the author of the companion volume to CultureShock! Thailand, entitled Thais Mean Business (Marshall Cavendish), in which he encourages the expat manager working in Thailand towards a middle path of hands-off management. He has also written cultural guides to Bahrain, Bhutan, Croatia, and Indonesia and three novels set in Asia and the UK.