Becoming a Farang & Other Astonishing Transformations
In his latest book, Becoming a Farang & Other Astonishing Transformations, Fels invites the reader to join him on a three-month stay in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. With a combination of humor, personal history, introspection, and insight, Fels explores aesthetics, sexuality, ageing, spirituality, religion, the environment, and more.
Whether or not this book convinces you to make Thailand a travel destination, it does offer one example of how to engage more deeply with wherever you happen to be.
Sample Text
“I’d been to Thailand twice before – first, in 2018 when I stayed with my oldest friend, Neal, who I’d known since the fifth year of elementary school, and his wife, Yvonne, in the two-bedroom apartment they’d rented for their annual three-month stay in the Kingdom. The apartment was in the trendy, tourist packed, Nimman district of Chiang Mai. Almost anything we needed was a short walk away and if we had to go somewhere that was too far to walk, we could easily pay a few Thai baht to the driver of one of the ubiquitous, three-wheeled tuk-tuks that buzzed through the Nimman district like a scourge of mosquitoes.”
What Readers Say
“I just finished reading Becoming a Farang and Other Astonishing Transformations. You have lived, and are living, a fascinating life! You have mastered the art of writing in your own voice—lyrically, with clarity and wit. Your book was a pleasure to read and kept my attention throughout. I just downloaded A Circle of Elephants to continue my personal Michael David Fels book club! You have a gift. I hope you continue to write about your life experiences.”
L. M., Healdsburg, CA
Michael has a great sense of humor and his reflections of not only himself but of others are sensitive, respectful and often hilarious. Many of us have been to Asia, but few have the temerity- especially at 80- to drive there. When he finds himself forced to be the driver, he takes us through a hilarious list of all the catastrophes-in-waiting from tuk-tuks to road crews leaving the reader amazed that he survived. Like many of the adventures and misadventures his “nervous old man” view of himself is belied by his continuing sense of adventure.
D. D. W., Sonoma County