A Broad Abroad
in Thailand
Dodie Cross
Reviewed by Carianne Carleo-Evangelist
A Broad Abroad in
Thailand by Dodie Cross is an intriguing look at a
world far away in a time
seemingly far away. The book recounts the author’s experience as an
expat wife
when her husband accepts a job with a construction firm in Thailand
in the early 1990s.
Cross takes us through tales familiar to
travelers: packing the house only to
realize that everything save one item (in her case, a curling iron) is
available at your destination as well as carefully sorting your items
between
items to be delivered by ship and those to bring with you, only to
learn the
crucial item such as her husband’s underwear is coming by sea. The
author, a
veteran expat having lived in Iran
before and during the revolution, also shows us that no matter how much
you
travel, there are always challenges.
Their challenges were exasperated on two levels: a newly
married couple adjusting not only to a new country and culture but also
controlling bosses who sought to govern every moment of their time. I
cannot
imagine living overseas in an environment such as that, nonetheless
Cross tries
to make the best of it. It seems as if she really enjoys Thailand
and wants to make the best of her time there. Personally, I’m not sure
I would
have lasted the year she did.
While the author acknowledges that she had to make some
changes to protect the privacy of the people, the story remains largely
true to
history owing in part to her journals. Looking back now, with word
processing
having evolved past WordPerfect 5.0 and $70,000 homes replacing shacks
– along
with the less favorable aspects such as the Boxing Day Tsunami and the
Asian
Financial Crisis which started in Thailand
in 1997, it’s interesting to see how time and space framed the author’s
experiences. What would she experience if she were an expat wife now?