CultureShock! Thailand is the complete guide for those who wish to make sense of the fascinating, manifold and often contradictory aspects of this ancient kingdom. Can you tell your tom yum goong from your tom kha kai? Do Buddhist monks eat meat? Why do Thais all seem to call each other “Khun”? When introduced to someone, do you shake hands, wai or do both? What is Buddhist Lent? What is a farang to make of the famous Thai Smile? Whether you’re in Bangkok for business, Hua Hin to soak up the sun, or on a retreat at a forest wat to find inner peace, get the most out of your stay with this essential guide written by an old hand at the intriguing mass of contradictions that is Thailand—the country with so much that is often both calming and infuriating, violent and passive, and beautiful and ugly.

Dr Robert Cooper has a PhD in Economic Anthropology and was elected Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1979. He has served with the UN in Laos, Malawi, the Philippines and Thailand, among others, and spent a year advising the Vietnamese government on poverty reduction before settling in Vientiane, Laos, where he currently manages Book-Café Vientiane, the largest bookshop in the country. He is the author of The Hmong and Thais Mean Business, in addition to various cultural guides and novels.