Tintin Forums

OK, not much to report this time, but I figured I at least had to wrap up the series. :)

On a tip from Paul Durdin, I kept my eyes open at the Vientiane morning market but found no evidence of Tintin whatsoever. :( Laos is pretty fascinating otherwise, though... ;)

And passing through Thailand on the way back (in the towns of Nong Khai and Udon Thani in the north, and then a long-ish layover in Bangkok on the way back to Manila) I tried to make amends for my earlier failure to capture a Thai Tintin during my first visit to the country.

Well, for the most developed country in Southeast Asia -- and seemingly the one with the most bookstores -- I certainly had some trouble finding anything, and eventually failed in my mission.

A visit to three or so bookstores in Bangkok proved fruitless, although I did teach three Thai booksellers who Tintin was (my original drawing for them elicited a response of "Scooby Doo?" because of Snowy... though my rendition was quite accurate, I dare say...).

The first one wrote down the name of a bookstore in Thai for me (to help me get directions) as well as the title to Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn... I tried explaining that I was looking for any book in the series, but that's a hard concept to communicate when you don't speak Thai, so that's what I had with me on a little scrap of paper.

The second bookstore had heard of Tintin, but had nothing. The third was huge, but too academic to have anything of the sort.

But I'm back in Vancouver now (parting for Toronto on Monday) and having returned with a Chinese and Vietnamese Tintin album is still an accomplishment as far as I'm concerned... :)

One other note: since I was living in the Philippines this whole time, you might wonder why I never made any effort to get a Tintin album in Tagalog (or Ilonggo or Cebuano or any other Filipino language). Seems the Filipinos all speak English too well to make it worth anyone's while. I did see albums in Manila, but only in English, and since verified with a Filipino Tintin fan that they're not published in any of the local tongues... :(

Very odd that many Thai booksellers don't know about Tintin; Thailand was the center of the pirated and X-rated "Tintin in Thailand", which appeared just as the Belgian prince was making a visit to Bangkok. Both Thailand and Belgium must have gone ballistic after finding out about that fake Tintin book (why did it have to appear??)...