Tag: tradition

Welcome Me To The Kingdom: Stories by Mai Nardone

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Welcome Me To The Kingdom: Stories by Mai Nardone

It is so rare to find novels and creative fiction that is not only set in Southeast Asia, but written by Southeast Asian authors (rare, not impossible!) that when I saw this coming out in 2023 I JUMPED on it! And I am so glad I did. This is a book that makes my heart sing!

Nardone’s Welcome Me to the Kingdom is a novel woven in stories, revolving around the lives of Thais who live in Thailand or beyond in the diaspora, transnational and transcultural Thais. This is a book about people, individuals as they navigate the multiethnic and multicultural world of Thailand, and what it means to be Thai for them. The characters, as diverse as they are in terms of ethnicity, class, and gender, are connected together in this novel; they and their lives serve as a microcosmic diorama of Thai realities where muslims of the south grapple with discrimination, poverty stricken girls from the village migrate to the city, mixed race Thai/White kids straddle two worlds and belong not quite fully into either one.

The stories span across several decades and generations, allowing the reader a view, not only into modern Thainess, but also how the concept has changed over time and the ways in which being Thai is differently defined for individuals of different religions, classes, genders, etc. Language is a significant element in these stories, not surprisingly since Thailand (like so many other parts of Southeast Asia) has and remains affected by colonialism and its invasive culture (though it was never politically colonized). Welcome Me to the Kingdom is about the rubbing together of cultures, the tension and chafing as multiple perspectives collide. This is a historical novel offering readers a textured, multi-faceted sense of contemporary Thailand, a place in which tradition and modernity coexist, sometimes contentiously, sometimes not.

My favorite characters were Nam and Lara, their story, interwoven with Pea’s and Rick’s, was my favorite, though I probably identified most with Ping. I think readers will find a little bit of themselves in these pages, whether they are Thai or not, as the emotion driving these stories is universal. Nardome’s stories are about desire, ambition, longing, and fear — that inevitable friction between parents and children, within families, the old(er) and new(er) attempting to find common ground.

For readers who enjoy anthropology, history, and postcolonial literature, Welcome Me to the Kingdom will be an especially enjoyable read.

Malaysia 2010, 2011, 2013

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I have so many hundreds of photos of Malaysia and all things Malaysian: people, food, places, sites, random pictures of stray cats. Here I’ve picked some of my favorites from the past three trips there. They’re from all over Malaysia, some from Penang, some from Melaka, one from Pahang when I was in Kuantan. And of course, Kuala Lumpur.

I visited these places in multiple capacities, as a tourist, as a local, as an anthropologist, as a student, as a photographer. Most of the photos are “found”, none of them were posed or premeditated.

Most of these photos were taken using a really cheap-O point and shoot, or my iPhone 4.

Here’s a Chinese “folk religion” temple on the island of Penang, where some people are praying to the deity “housed” here. The temple has an open court yard to allow the incense to waft up and out into the sky.
Bukit Bintang is the center for shopping, nightlife and modern fun in Kuala Lumpur. All the best and worst hotels/motels/B&Bs are here. In the background is the KLCC tower, once the world’s tallest building.
Walking around late one night in Melaka I came across a pig butchering operation. Malaysia is a plural society, so while there are muslims who refrain from porcine products, there are also Chinese and Indians (and many others) who do not live under the same religious or legal restrictions.
While in Pahang I got to visit a keropok lekor factory. Keropok Lekor is a fried fish snack, which I find super, super tasty. It was a small operation, maybe 10 people in all, in a non-airconditioned, sheet metal roofed and walled building. It smelled a bit fishy, as you can imagine, but it was fascinating.
This was one of the heritage styled hotels in Melaka. They’ve kept up the nyonya/Straits Chinese architectural style, here illuminated wonderfully by the modern neon lights. Modern meets traditional is always a favorite theme of mine in Malaysia.
Up on the hill in Melaka, there’s an old Portuguese/Dutch church ruin and through its many windows and doorways you can get a panoramic view of modern, downtown Melaka. Here you can see one of the sprawling shopping centers in the not-so-far-off distance. Modern meets Traditional.
I got my first tattoo in Borneo in 2010, and the following year when I went back I got a 2nd one. Both were done traditionally, using a hammer. Perhaps it was placement, but both of these hurt far less than the machined one I got later. They also healed super quickly, taking about a week to scab.
Here’s a Hindu deity sculpture on the exterior wall of a Hindu kuil in Penang, in the Little India section of Georgetown.
Here’s a Hindu deity sculpture on the exterior wall of a Hindu kuil in Penang, in the Little India section of Georgetown.
Here’s a Hindu deity sculpture on the exterior wall of a Hindu kuil in Penang, in the Little India section of Georgetown.
Around Historic Georgetown in Penang, tourists get around by taking rickshaws, powered by bicycle by these men. When I spoke to them they said they were having a hard time finding young people to start doing this work. At the same time, they were glad that young people had other, better opportunities, as rickshaw driving is very physically strenuous. These guys are taking a break on the sidewalk, playing checkers with bottle caps and one man is having his take-away mixed rice lunch. Hawker stalls here wrap up lunch for you in plastic and brown paper, then rubber-band it.