Tom Vater
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Asia based writer of crime fiction/non fiction & writing for @NikkeiAsia, @Telegraph, @TheEconomist etc.
New true crime thriller SHARKMAN.
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Articles by Tom Vater
"Grzeczne dziewczyny idą do nieba, niegrzeczne do Pattayi". Jak biedna rybacka wioska stała się centrum światowej rozpusty
Co roku tysiące turystów odwiedzają to hedonistyczne centrum — a we wrzesniu dołączyło do nich jeszcze pięć tysięcy osób więcej niż zwykle. W środę, 2 września, USS Abraham Lincoln zacumował w porcie Laem Chabang po rekordowych 286 dniach na morzu (tak wyczerpująca misja wzbudziła niepokój w Waszyngtonie). Kilka tysięcy marynarzy wsiadło do autobusów jadących do Pattayi, gdzie lokalne firmy przewidywały, że podczas krótkiego pobytu wydadzą około 100 milionów bahtów tajskich (11,5 mln zł).
What Lies Beneath
In a potato field in Attapeu Province, a farmer named Mr. Hat made a discovery that would stop most hearts: three American 500-pound bombs, buried in his soil for more than half a century. UXO Lao teams destroyed them in May 2026. A month earlier, in a coffee plantation near Paksong, village chief Somphone Duangchampa, already scarred by a UXO accident decades ago, cleared grass and found another.
Spaces with Soul
Most of the year, it’s too hot in Bangkok to linger in the city’s few parks and green spaces. And that’s not likely to improve. In fact, some climate experts suggest that Thailand’s annual average temperature could rival the Sahara’s current 29°C by 2070, or even by 2057 in a high-emissions future, fundamentally shifting its baseline environment toward desert-level heat.
Lords of the flies: Thailand's edible insect innovators
Protein meal made from black soldier fly larvae is inspected during quality control at Full Circle Biotechnology in Thailand. From animal feed to probiotics, insect-based products are emerging as a more sustainable alternative to conventional protein sources. (Courtesy of Full Circle Biotechnology) Life Lords of the flies: Thailand's edible insect innovators Entrepreneurs are turning six-legged livestock into protein, pet food and probiotics
A Dib Immersion
Dib Bangkok, the city’s first international contemporary art museum, opened its doors in December 2025. It is a privately funded museum built around the extensive art collection of Petch Osathanugrah, the former CEO of Osotspa, the beverage company best known in Thailand for its M-150 energy drinks.
Luang Prabang in a Day
Luang Prabang is a gem of a city, situated among the rolling hills of northern Laos and perched on a peninsula between the mighty Mekong River and the smaller Nam Khan River. This UNESCO World Heritage Site once served as the capital of the Laotian kingdom of Lan Xang before being occupied by the French. Today, Luang Prabang is a compact and largely traffic-free city, dotted with reminders of its turbulent history.
Freedom in the Forest
“We have just rescued a couple of bear cubs. The poachers usually kill the mothers and then take the cubs,” Sone, our guide at the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, explains while showing us the tiny steel cages the animals are kept in. The bear cubs are very recent arrivals and are busy playing in a large outdoor compound, one of eleven dotted around a valley some 30 kilometres outside the UNESCO World Heritage city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos.
From Noir to Five-Star
“In 2008, one of my images of the Dalai Lama was auctioned at a charity event at the Sheraton Grande in Bangkok. The owners liked my work and offered me a job photographing the hotel pool. I spent 48 hours shooting that pool to get the best possible images. They turned out well, and the hotel loved them.” That was how German photographer Ralf Tooten, best known for Eyes of Wisdom, a series of portraits of the world’s spiritual leaders, began photographing luxury hotels.
Peace at a Price
In the mid-18th century, the region that is now Nepal was a patchwork of small kingdoms and several city-states in the Kathmandu Valley, including Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kirtipur. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the king of Gorkha, launched a long and bloody campaign to unify these territories under a single rule and forge a strong, centralised Nepali state. Kirtipur played a pivotal role in this unification campaign.
Imagination Run Wild
Bill Bensley has spent four decades designing hotels that feel like elaborate fantasies. Jungle-tented camps reached by zipline, exuberant garden estates bursting with color, and maximalist resorts that blur the boundary between theater and architecture have become his signature across Asia and beyond.
Faded Glories
Kolkatans love their city’s monuments, regardless of who built them. A blend of East and West defines the character of the city, and this mix is embraced by locals and visitors alike, shaping Kolkata’s distinctive identity within India’s urban landscape. Unlike other large Indian cities, the capital of West Bengal has retained a remarkable degree of charm, largely due to the preservation of hundreds of magnificent, yet decaying, buildings dating back to the British occupation.
Heart of the Himalaya
The Kathmandu Valley has been home to two of the world’s great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, for millennia. From the 5th century AD onward, the valley’s Newar inhabitants shaped one of the world’s most accomplished artistic and architectural urban landscapes. Temples, stupas, and palaces display exceptional craftsmanship in brick, stone, wood, and bronze, with most major monuments dating from the 15th to 18th centuries.
Marked for Meaning
“Sak yant are becoming increasingly popular with foreigners,” says Ajarn Neng. “These days, visitors don’t just drop by. They communicate before they arrive. Some come solely for the tattoo; others combine it with their vacation.” Ajarn Neng sits in his work chair inside his studio on a quiet soi in On Nut, eastern Bangkok, reflecting on a remarkable career.
Scratch the Surface
“When I was a young boy, there were no concrete roads to Begnas Lake,” recalls Ganesh Pariyar. “People grew their own food and were mostly self-sufficient. We used to fetch water from local wells. Back then, leopards came into the villages at night, and children sometimes disappeared.
Pride and Procession
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, lined with spectacular temples and palaces, is packed with thousands of people. The steps of Maju Dewal and Trailokya Mohan, the pyramid-style temples in the center of the square, are overflowing with hundreds of spectators: women decked out in their finest saris, older men in traditional topis. Since morning, noisy processions have been crisscrossing the Nepali capital’s historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Cup Half Full
“My parents are okay living without money,” says Lee Ayu Chuepa. “But the world is changing quickly, and you can’t use papaya or pumpkin to pay school fees. There’s no point keeping our lives in the old way without connecting to the world.” Lee is a man on a mission: to bring quality coffee to the world while improving the lives of his Akha community. There are said to be about 80,000 Akha living in Thailand.
La rosa del nord
I tailandesi chiamano Chiang Mai la “rosa del nord”. La quinta città del paese è all’altezza di questo nome. A differenza di Bangkok, qui la vita è tranquilla, gli edifici non svettano fino a toccare il cielo, il paesaggio è dominato da templi secolari e la natura è ancora intatta. Il re Mangrai la costruì nel 1296 ai piedi del monte Doi Suthep e la chiamò “Città nuova”.
Inking spiritually
Back in 2003, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie visited Thailand and had herself tattooed by Ajarn Noo, aka Akraphat Kanphai, a master of sak yant, Thailand’s spirit tattoos.Since then, sak yant have attracted an ever-increasing global audience. More celebrities and thousands of tourists followed in Jolie’s wake, who has herself since returned to Thailand several times to get inked again. Sak yant have been around for centuries, of course and are an integral part of Thai working-class heritage.
Rollin’ on the River
Bangkok is one of the most visited and photographed cities in the world. Nowhere is the Thai capital more iconic than the banks of the Chao Phraya River, where numerous historical and culinary hotspots offer cultural, visual, and olfactory thrills. Here are some of the best locations to enjoy a tropical sunset and experience the charisma of Bangkok‘s legendary royal river.
A Matter of Taste
“My restaurant first opened in Patan 125 years ago. My grandfather started it all,” proclaims Ramesh Joshi. Joshi owns Honacha, an unassuming but legendary eatery in the heart of Patan. He is Newar, a distinct linguistic and cultural group that lives in the Kathmandu Valley, Sikkim, and Gorkhaland. The Newar speak their language and follow their brands of Hinduism and Buddhism. They dominated central Nepal for centuries, until 1768, when the the Gorkha conquered the Kathmandu Valley.
One for the Books
Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, the biggest in a hundred years, killed almost 10,000 people and destroyed countless old structures in the Kathmandu Valley—temples, palaces and shrines. It also damaged Kathmandu’s most famous historic library, located in a 130-year-old sprawling palace complex of several buildings, a large courtyard and stunning, verdant grounds, the Garden of Dreams. “In the months following the disaster, we lost many idols from temples and shrines around the valley.
À la découverte de la mythique vallée de Katmandou
Jusqu’aux années 1950, la vallée de Katmandou, la capitale du Népal, était un lieu dont beaucoup avaient entendu parler mais que peu avaient vu. Cette image mystérieuse a radicalement changé au fil des ans, mais nombre d’aspects de la culture traditionnelle népalaise demeurent. La vallée compte toujours d’innombrables temples et palais et plusieurs sites inscrits au Patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco.
The 10 best things to do in Bangkok
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The best bars and nightlife in Bangkok
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The best bars and nightlife in Bangkok
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Picking Up the Trail
“I was born on this street in 1956, in this house,” Prakash Ratna Shakya recounts, proudly showing off the traditional Nepali masks he sells in his small shop, the Tibetan Mask Center. “Growing up, I had many foreign friends who stayed in the cheap lodges around here. At night, the hippies used to sit in the street, it was very dark back then, and smoke hashish.
Shooting from the Hip
I got somewhat close to a lofty ambition of being a movie villain when Thapphawut Parinyapariwat, also known as Sun, the owner of Bangkok’s Red Light Lab & Studio, photographed me with his wet-plate vintage camera. Since the beginning of the year, Sun has been taking portraits of guests of The Siam Hotel Bangkok, a family-run property that ranks as one of the most unique stays in Thailand’s capital.
Sharkman: A True Story|eBook
In 1992, mechanic Peter Hauser and two friends bought three old cars and set off from southern Germany to cross the Sahara and drive to Togo, where they planned to sell their vehicles. They never reached their destination. The young, free-wheeling adventurers were ambushed by Tuareg bandits on the Algeria-Mali border, kidnapped and disappeared into the vast nothingness of the desert.
Sharkman ebook by Tom Vater - Rakuten Kobo
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Sharkman
In 1992, mechanic Peter Hauser and two friends bought three old cars and set off from southern Germany to cross the Sahara and drive to Togo, where they planned to sell their vehicles. They never reached their destination. The young, free-wheeling adventurers were ambushed by Tuareg bandits on the Algeria-Mali border, kidnapped and disappeared into the vast nothingness of the desert.
How to spend the ultimate holiday in Bangkok
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Detective Maier Mysteries Collection
Publisher Description All three books in Tom Vater's 'Detective Maier Mysteries' series, now in one volume! The Cambodian Book Of The Dead: In this thrilling tale, German detective Maier searches for the heir to a coffee empire in the aftermath of Cambodia's war, famine, and genocide.
Books: Doing laps with the Chinese 'emperor' - Nikkei Asia
Article Details Author / Journalist: TOM VATER Category: InvestingFinanceBusiness Markets: Topics: Source Website Secure: Yes (HTTPS) News Sentiment: Neutral Fact Checked: Legitimate Article Type: News Report Published On: 2023-01-03 @ 23:00:00 (13 hours ago) News Timezone: GMT +9:00 Ranking: #1111 (out of 2019 stories this day) News Source URL: news.google.com Language: English Article Length: 247 words Reading Time: 2 minutes read Sentences: 17 lines Sentence Length: 15 words per sentence...
The Green Panthers
Description Meet Clara Green, Emerald, Chartreuse, Olive, Hunter, Juniper and Forest. They are The Green Panthers: a privately sponsored, multi-national underground army, on a mission to hold corporate polluters to account. During the attempted rescue of a snow leopard hunted by British tycoons in Siberia, the Green Panthers stumble onto Project SILEO, a millionaires' plot to abandon an overpopulated, dying planet battered by climate change and pollution.
The Green Panthers ebook by Tom Vater - Rakuten Kobo
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The Green Panthers ebook by Tom Vater - Rakuten Kobo
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The Green Panthers
Meet Clara Green, Emerald, Chartreuse, Olive, Hunter, Juniper and Forest. They are The Green Panthers: a privately sponsored, multi-national underground army, on a mission to hold corporate polluters to account. During the attempted rescue of a snow leopard hunted by British tycoons in Siberia, the Green Panthers stumble onto Project SILEO, a millionaires’ plot to abandon an overpopulated, dying planet battered by climate change and pollution.
A Forest Saved? - Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao Protected Forest escapes logging but faces an uncertain future
For months, local media had been reporting that parts of the forest had been transferred to private ownership and that several tycoons or their companies were to receive the land. The documents seen by Cambodian journalists did not specify which part of the forest were to be destroyed nor an exact date. The beneficiaries included tycoon Khun Sea’s TP Moral Group and well-known music video producer Leng Navatra.
A forest saved - Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao protected forest last minute reprieve
For months, local media had been reporting that parts of the forest had been transferred to private ownership and that several tycoons or their companies were to receive the land. The documents seen by Cambodian journalists did not specify which part of the forest were to be destroyed nor an exact date. The beneficiaries included tycoon Khun Sea’s TP Moral Group and well-known music video producer Leng Navatra.
Asia's coral gardener on a quest to save the world's imperilled reefs
Over the past 30 years, more than 50 per cent of reefs have disappeared and more than 75 per cent are damaged. Another 40 per cet of the remaining coral may disappear in the next 30 years, unless there is a global conservation rethink. With every reef lost, essential food, protection and spawning grounds for marine life disappears and biodiversity decreases. With coral on the wane across the globe, the marine food chain is under strain and commercial fishing stocks are threatened.
Southeast Asia’s sinking cities: can they be saved?
In March 2022, Pei-Chin Wu, Meng (Matt) Wei and Steven D’Hondt published a report on subsidence in coastal cities around the world in Geophysical Research Letters. The authors noted that subsidence contributed more to the sinking of cities than rising sea levels and that many of the fastest sinking urban centres were located in Asia. Jakarta frequently tops this list, but yearly, worsening flooding in Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and Bangkok are a harbinger of things to come.
Musician Hugo Chakrabongse on the journeys that made him
Hugo Chakrabongse Levy is more than one of Thailand’s biggest musical artists: he’s also been a soap opera star, a songwriter for Beyoncé – and he’s the great-great grandson of King Chulalongkorn of Thailand. He shares his life’s journey Hugo Chakrabongse Levy is a warm, otherworldly, and handsome presence – a man of bell-bottom trousers, ornate shirts, wide-brimmed hats, and hand-rolled orange-flavoured cigarettes. He’s also a rock star.
Crime Mystery Book Series Set In Southeast Asia
Detective Maier Mysteries by Tom Vater Series Excerpt “Vodka orange, please.” The Foreign Correspondents Club, the FCC, was Maier’s first port of call in Phnom Penh. As the sun set, Maier sat on the front terrace on the first floor of the handsome French colonial-era corner building and watched the action along Sisowath Quay, the wide road that ran along the banks of the Tonlé Sap River. Since his last visit three years earlier, things had changed.
Thailand has cannabis fever - but how green will the Kingdom's ganja trade be?
Thailand’s high-end hotels serve cannabis cocktails, spas work with cannabis oils and swanky restaurants have cannabis-laced curries on their menus. Supermarkets sell bags of cannabis leaves and cannabis-themed cafés are all the rage. In May, the country’s public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that he would distribute one million cannabis plants for household cultivation once the necessary legislation passes in June.
Kolkata Noir
Becker is a British traveler in trouble. Madhurima is a rising star police officer. In these three explosive tales, the two join forces to investigate the city’s crooked high society. On the way, they take on deluded would-be messiahs in search of Mother Teresa’s stolen millions, encounter fanatics, circus freaks and cannibals, fall in and out of love, and pay homage to one of the world’s most beautiful and toughest cities.
The best books about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge
Home Khmer Rouge books Tom's list Who am I? I'm a writer and journalist with an eye on South and Southeast Asia. I first visited Cambodia in 1995, an ill-fated trip into Koh Kong, then a war-torn backwater town. I returned in 2001 to research a TV documentary about the likely effects of tourism on the Angkor monuments, Cambodia’s tourist magnet.
Allyson A. recommends The Devil’s Road To Kathmandu
In 1976, three friends, Dan, Fred, and Tim decided to take an adventure driving a bus to make a drug run. They see it as exploring and having fun, along the way they pick up a fourth friend, Thierry after meeting him at a place called The Blue Parrot. The owners of the Blue Parrot are special and delight everyone with their voices. At the end of the performance, Thierry is told to get out while he can due to financial problems.
Book Review: Kolkata Noir By Tom Vater
Book– Kolkata Noir Author – Tom Vater Book Details Publisher – Next Chapter; Large type / Large print edition (7 July 2021) Publication date- 7 July 2021 Language- English Genre – Crime Fiction Paperback – 210 pages Format – Paperback, hardcover, and ebook ISBN-10 – 4867516406 ISBN-13 – 978-4867516409 Kolkata Noir by Tom Vater Synopsis Becker is a British traveler in trouble. Madhurima is a rising star police officer.
Crossroads
When Chuan stepped out of the shower, hearing his phone ring for the 10th time in the last hour, he knew they were serious. He knew they were after him. He knew they could get him any time. He had no defense, no weapons, no influential wealthy friends in high places. He lit a cigarette and let it ring. +++++His wife had left on the afternoon flight to Paris. They’d said he was a traitor to the country, a nation hater, because he was married to a foreigner.
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