A couple of years ago, the author moved next door to the King of Thailand working as an editor of an online magazine published in Hua Hin, a seaside town. At the time, the king lived there permanently in his summer palace known in Thai as the Klang Kangnon palace, which delightfully translates as ‘Far from Worries’. The book is a chronicle of the author’s year there, but in a larger sense, it is a portrait of contemporary Thailand; part memoir, part history and part travel book.
Todd Crowell spent more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent, first in Hong Kong and later in Hua Hin Thailand, the setting for this book. While living in Thailand he covered King Bhumibol’s 60th anniversary. He is the author of six books on Asia.