• Duncan Forgan left his hometown in Scotland and moved to Asia 15 years ago. • He's raising his son in Bangkok and realizes they'll never share the same sense of belonging. • Still, Forgan credits Bangkok for giving him freedoms he would never have found at home.

It was the bagpipe guitars that did it.

One moment, I was minding my own business, listening to a Scottish pop playlist in the back of a cab on my way to the airport in Bangkok. Next, I was a bubbling mess.

By the time we reached Suvarnabhumi Airport, I was undone by the bombastic strains of "In a Big Country," a 1983 hit from my Fife brethren Big Country, which gave way to "Sunshine on Leith" by The Proclaimers — a lovelorn ode to my old university stomping ground in Edinburgh.

There's nothing like a sudden hit of nostal

See Full Page