While the majority of English language novels set in Thailand have focused on Bangkok, Pattaya and locations offering obvious and loud backdrops for the senses, the task of capturing Chiang Mai’s more subtle charms and allures has eluded most authors.
David Stewart’s new book, Pilgrim, published by Silkworm Books, stands apart for its comfortable familiarity with a Chiang Mai the author knows and obviously loves. He brings to life the eerily-silent bustling of pre-dawn city markets, expat-patronaged genteel city cafes, the joys of discovering a beloved street food vendor, the irresistible lures of Loi Kroh’s neon lit façade and darkly seductive inner sanctums as well as its layers and layers of mist-laden mountains where mystical temples and hidden villages hold secrets of the the spiritual realms.
The author was born in a world as far from Chiang Mai as can be imagined, growing up in Sydney’s wealthiest suburb with one of the priciest square metres in the world. A child of deep privilege, he followed a path seemingly pre-destined, joining his family’s large engineering business upon graduating from economics at university, marrying well and producing three sons. With an aptitude for business, Stewart’s life appeared to be set on a smooth, if predictable, path.
“There was a lot of ego,” Stewart said of his earlier years. “I started believing my own shit. And with success, I drank and did more and more party drugs. Soon, I had entered the cycle of hitting rock bottom, going to rehab, starting up again and so on and so forth. After some years, my marriage was ruined, I had sold the businesses and ended up working in banking to keep my kids in private school, a job I absolutely hated.”
Today, Stewart’s life is one of happy balance and joyful pursuit. He is married to a half Thai lady whose family is from Chiang Mai’s Mae Wang District, he has leveraged his wealthy connections and created a business connecting Australia’s richest to philanthropy opportunities, having secured 52 million Australian dollars in funding for non-profits in the past eight years. He has authored two books, One Day One Life which is a raw and honest portrayal of his journey from addiction to his current success and Pilgrim, a novel loosely based on his lived experiences which is also an homage to Chiang Mai.
And for much of his turnaround, he credits Chiang Mai, the hero of this latest book, Pilgrim.
The book is loosely about the protagonist Daniel’s journey from the rock bottom seedy hotel rooms of Sydney’s King’s Cross, where blood drips from needle-marked arms to his slow and painful journey of redemption, discovery and purpose provided by a cast of colourful Chiang Mai characters who offer answers to his many many life questions.
Upon first reading Pilgrim, Stewart’s poetic staccato style comes across as rather jarring. And just when the reading feels too focused on the delivery, he drops a gem of wisdom, something to make you reread the sentence, the page, the chapter. “I try to pack a lot of meaning into each sentence,” he explains. “I was also very deliberate in the use of common tropes in the early pages because these are preconceptions that many people have about Thailand. You can see how that changes as the book progresses,”
His vivid portrayal of the hungry foreign man seduced by the silken long haired Thai seductress is indeed familiar. But these scenes, including those of coke-crusted nostrils in King’s Cross district, are deliberate. Soon, readers are swept into a more flowing prose and exotic landscape as a story of fear, doubt, pain and ensuring redemption unfolds, as Chiang Mai churns out character after extraordinary character—real or imagined one is never quite sure—who help Daniel to heal, and to eventually be a far better man that he had ever been.
This is a story about redemption, as Daniel learns—yet at times still fails—to deny temptation. But we learn along with Daniel that denial isn’t the solution, the real solution is understanding. And this is when the novel takes an entirely different, and happily unexpected, turn towards feminism. Throughout his journey, Daniel’s familiar and unlikeable misogynistic worldview changes as he meets real women and ghostly temptresses, who slowly help him to understand and change how he views women, his relationship with women and eventually his entire world view of women.
This is a story about spiritual awakening, as Daniel, learns about Buddhism in the most esoteric way—making tofu with a geriatric monk from Kyoto. Through these quiet lessons and repetitive practices he meditates and discovers insight. And through characters sent his way, he unravels, digests answers and reformats his thinking. His journey culminates in an otherworldly awakening where mythical beings and mysterious feelings show him the errors of his past thinking and enlightens him on how he views not just himself but the world around him.
“I have grown up as a man so much in spiritual maturity and I believe in the higher power,” said Stewart. “I have a lot of personal experiences in these areas that I have passed through in this book. I did all of what Daniel did in terms of drinking and binging drugs and that urge whether to be connected physically and sexually for a man is so very palpable. A lot of men don’t talk about it, but I am now able to help a lot of men through volunteering with recovering rooms with men who are going through that. I realise now that I was very immature emotionally during my first marriage. As I recovered I realised that I had to become a man that a strong and lovely woman would be comfortable loving. I had to change and to work on myself and what I was sending out. My behaviour had to change before someone I wanted to be with would want to be with me. And that is when I learnt to embrace the feminine.”
Stewart’s own experiences as a Catholic by birth who has since found prayer and meditation to be enlightening was also echoed in Daniel’s story.
“Over many years of visiting Chiang Mai, I read a lot of books and learnt a lot about Thai people’s beliefs and close cultural relationships with ghosts and the fantasy realm. To many Thais these stories are as real as any on this plain. And since my mother has Aboriginal blood on her side of the family, it made sense to me to incorporate this otherworld into the novel. I have used that fantasy to soften my stronger messages. I am not trying to preach; I am just trying to get a message across by weaving fantasy into the narrative of the story.”
Pilgrim is a short novel, the first of what promises to be a trilogy. It is an easy read with many insightful sentences and passages pulling you back for a second or even third read. It tells a tale that is so familiar yet with a unique new perspective and a distinctive voice. It is philosophical, it is spiritual, it is honest and it is a celebration of the feminine.
It also paints a beautiful portrait of Chiang Mai—and we like that!
Silkworm Books has kindly offered a 25% discount to Citylife readers, which means that you can grab a copy of Pilgrim for 295 baht, down from the normal price of 395 baht.
The link to their website where ebook versions are available is http://bit.ly/3K1GHWR.
The book can be purchased here in Chiang Mai at Book Zone on Tha Pae Road.
In Bangkok, Pilgrim can be found at Kinokuniya, Asia Books, and Rimkobfah bookstore in Bang Phlat.
