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Bangkok DaysBy Lawrence Osborne Vintage Books, £8.99

Lawrence Osborne travels to Bangkok, or so he claims, for its cheap dentistry, but he makes the liberating discovery that he can survive comfortably on a few dollars a day. Deciding that the west is too expensive, he decamps to the Thai capital for life “on the lam”, milling from one day to the next, dining on insects and cocktails while wandering the streets of his beloved Bangkok, an unswerving chronicler of his lover’s legion of faults, and never one to miss the scent of mystery down shabby side streets.

Osborne is a gifted writer who dexterously evokes the tumultuous city; in the same breath, though, he’ll whip out a shockingly funny and offensive line, and careen off in morally anarchic directions – a bit like the city he finds himself pursuing. He marries this with an exhaustive store of detail that lures the reader in.

Osborne takes breaks from his wandering to examine an obscure mental illness known as latah (like much in this book, the undertone is darkly sexual); he discusses how the active ingredient in mosquito coils is combined with Xanax, cough syrup and few other bits and pieces to make a drug the Thai military classifies as a mind- control substance. (An associate shovels the stuff

into himself, calling it Fliegerschokolade, or flying chocolate, which is what "Luftwaffe pilots called the methamphetamine-spiked chocolate they sucked down during long bombing missions.")

Prostitution and exploitation are never far from these pages, but don’t expect any hand-wringing: Osborne seems happy enough to take part, and his dubious comrades are proud of what western mores would deem their deprivations.

This is a wild book, deeply complex and humming with truth and experience. It is a vivid and rewarding read that is unlikely to make Osborne many friends but should certainly make him many fans.

lmackin@irishtimes.com