WHEN I RETURNED to Bangkok from a dull weekend in Phetchaburi and realized that I had nothing to write about, I booked a train to Malaysia in a panic.  With my girlfriend occupied at school and my friend laid up for a few days at the hotel from another night of excess there was nothing to keep…

WHILE IN BANGKOK I was offered a job writing for an online “lifestyle magazine” based in Paris.  I’d applied for the position even though their ad was short on details.  It simply said, “Writers Needed”.  In their contact e-mail they asked for a sample article of around 300 words.  The problem was that they wanted me…

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…