I HAD A BAD FEELING about Kanchanaburi the moment I got off the phone.  I’d just booked two nights in what sounded like the perfect weekend getaway: a floating bungalow on a river, close to national parks and mountains.  The problem was the price.  It was too low.  What kind of accommodation could I expect for…

LIKE A PAGE torn from Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar, our journey began on the Chumphon Express from Bangkok, a sleeper train bound for southern Thailand and the islands of the Gulf.  My girlfriend needed this trip even more than I did; she was working as an English teacher in Bangkok and the heat,…

AFTER HAVING WRITTEN ABOUT ELEPHANTS in a previous story, and dismissing the whole concept of turning them into a self-sustaining economic commodity in service to man, I had a few issues to struggle with before plunking down 500 baht for an elephant ride.  The fact of the matter is that I just wanted a picture…

FIVE YEARS AGO  in Lopburi, Thailand, the local population of macaque monkeys rioted in an internecine battle that spilled out into the surrounding streets and brought traffic to a standstill.  The old alpha male of the troop, now aged and nearly blind, had either died or been killed.  The troop had then split into two…

LIKE MANY PEOPLE preparing for a trip abroad, I’d first picked up a guidebook for the country.  In my case, the country was Thailand.  One of the things I was interested in seeing was Thailand’s national symbol: the Asian elephant.  Having lived and worked in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area for over twenty years, I was curious…