Worst...blog...ever...

Okay, I have a confession to make. You know how the "LOCATION:" heading of this blog has said "GOREME, TURKEY" for the past several weeks? Well, that is a lie. I haven't been in Goreme, or Turkey, or even Europe for that matter.

My current location? Bangkok, Thailand.

Yes, it's time I came clean. There is one last regional stop on the Universal Traveler itinerary, and that stop is Southeast Asia. Why did I choose to come here? Well, for a variety of reasons. First, it's nothing like New Zealand or Europe. Second, although it seems wildly exotic to most Americans, Southeast Asia is actually a well-traveled backpacker destination by global standards. Third, everything is dirt cheap here, and it's more or less the only region left on the globe (short of sub-Saharan Africa and select South American countries) that I can afford.

At the moment, I am stuck in Bangkok waiting for my Laos visa to be processed. This will take at least two more days, during which I'll try to fill in the blanks about my first three weeks in Thailand. But here's a small taste of what I've been up to so far:

I have...

• ...skanked to the sounds of a Thai ska band, as improbable as that sounds.
• ...been given ten seconds of airtime on a Bangkok pop radio station.
• ...sat next to a saffron-robed monk on a regional bus ride.
• ...discovered the taste sensation that is the banana pancake.
• ...driven a motorbike through the mountains northwest of Chiang Mai.
• ...pushed said motorbike to just over 100 km/hour on straightaways (if you are my mom, don't read that last sentence).
• ...scuba dived among the coral reefs off the coast of Koh Tao.

Details (hopefully) forthcoming.