Let's face it: Second-hand bookshops have it bad here in Bangkok.

With the advent and growing popularity of e-readers, second-hand shops in the developing metropolis that is Bangkok are hurting. This side of the world isn't immune to Amazon nor Barnes and Noble and its ilk. Perhaps it is the more modern, more urban cadence, as the Thai capital speedily moves upward and forward to the beat of technology's drum. Maybe it is a penchant for the brand new and shiny, wrapped in plastic and betraying a sense of minty freshness. We can't blame it all on Steve Jobs. Nor on Kinokuniya, the Borders of southeast Asia.

Yet there is still an enduring charm of these indie bookshops; there is something about them that maintains a dignity amid all the euphoria of the latter-day sheen.

Dasa Bookstore on Sukhumvit Road remains strong and fiercely independent. With over 16,000 books and in a city that caters to a slew of foreigners, Dasa ('servant' in Pali) fulfills that urge for the seeker of second-hands. Meandering in and around their isles is akin to an enriching, meditative walk, the kind of walk that sates a particular hunger for knowledge and understanding. Could it be the fact that I am in Thailand that I feel this palpable sense of slowness and calm? It's possible. Is it the longing for a piece of home that Dasa immediately satisfies. That is likely. 

But it's more the solidarity I feel with other bibliophiles out there. The search for titles is more than finding that creased pulp to read on the beach. It's that earthy combination of appreciating something that was once possibly appreciated too. It's that almost wolfish appetite that makes us subservient to that particular copy you have been hunting for all along.