good read about Mr Jim Thompson and the secret war in laos
Quite an interesting character

How America's longtime man in Southeast Asia, Jim Thompson, fought to stop the CIA's progression from a small spy ring to a large paramilitary agency -- and was never seen again.

Thompson's anger at U.S. policy carried over into his private life; he had grown so agitated that friends encouraged him to take a much-needed vacation. He traveled to Malaysia in the spring of 1967. On Easter Sunday, while taking a short hike on vacation in the highlands, Thompson suddenly vanished. When his relatives tried to find out where he might have disappeared to, the U.S. embassies in the region, and the CIA, stonewalled them. Despite a massive manhunt that was the largest in the region for its time, no trace of Jim Thompson was ever found.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... land_laos_

Fast forward to 2014 and the disappearance on MH370

Long time I've heard of Jim Thomson, but first time I heard anything but the surface "silk business" part of the story. Sad end for an interesting guy. There must be some of his friends from the day now very old in the North who could tell some amazing stories. I wonder how they view how things have gone in SE Asia.
Thanks for the link.

Brilliant find.

frank lee bent wrote:Brilliant find.

That was a great read. I am from the A.D.D. generation and I found that short article interesting. I always wonder what it would be like, for better or worse to have been around S.E. Asia back around those decades discussed in the article, especially leading up to the war in Vietnam with America.

I've only been in Cambodia for going on 2 years now. I often hear people talk about what S.E. Asia was like 10 or 15 years ago. People talk about how radically different Cambodia was and how Thailand was a more welcoming place, for lack of better words. When was the golden age in S.E Asia for the white man from the west? Obviously we today tend to think in terms of about 1900s onward, so when do you all think the golden days were for this region of the world we all call home? Were the 1950s and early 1960s Bangkok the best? Was it 1930s Phnom Penh? 1940s Saigon?

golden age,
well its always been

"you should have been here yesterday, last week, last year......"

I would think pre ww2 1935-42 an than the 50-60's before the Vietnam war
when Shanghai, PP, Bangkok, Rangoon were all exotic

read Burmese days by George Orwell for a view of the 1800's when the white man was god

phuketrichard wrote:golden age,
well its always been

"you should have been here yesterday, last week, last year......"

I would think pre ww2 1935-42 an than the 50-60's before the Vietnam war
when Shanghai, PP, Bangkok, Rangoon were all exotic

read Burmese days by George Orwell for a view of the 1800's when the white man was god

Haha, ain't that true! I think the 1700s good...

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:golden age,
well its always been

"you should have been here yesterday, last week, last year......"

I would think pre ww2 1935-42 an than the 50-60's before the Vietnam war
when Shanghai, PP, Bangkok, Rangoon were all exotic

read Burmese days by George Orwell for a view of the 1800's when the white man was god

Haha, ain't that true! I think the 1700s good...

Utter bullshit, the 1600s were the shit!

The Golden Age as defined in SEA is any previous point in time in which I was here and you were not, thus making me an expert at at least something in my miserable existence.

No disrespect to those good old boys that I've met and drank with, this is for the keyboard warriors out there that settle onto their barstool everyday and whine fearfully about all the do-gooders messing with the herd.