Bangkok seems to be a city of great cultural and ethnic diversity. There are white folks from every country in Western Europe. There are white folks from New Zealand. There are white folks from Australia. So many from Australia that I am wondering if maybe the two countries of Australia and Thailand didn't just trade their citizens with with one another. The King doesn't look at all like Yul Brynner from the King and I. He looks more like the doctor with ...

We were cruising over the Bering Sea, just off the tip of Alaska when I heard the Captain of our B777 announce that the flight attendants should return to their seats. I bounced a couple of times like a football against the walls of my tiny toilet cubicle before I was able to open the door. A flight attendant who was lying in front of me shouted "on floor please". I immediately went to the floor and grabbed the last row's seat leg with my left hand. My right...

The best beer in Central America comes from Nicaragua and it's called Victoria. It's a full-bodied brew with a very refreshing aftertaste. Costa Rica has a couple of decent choices in Pilsen and Imperial. These three golden thirst quenchers rank at least as high as any of the mass-produced beers of Canada. In Guatemala things change for the worse. The beer of choice there is called Gallo or "Rooster" in English. It could be likened to an American beer, wa...

A couple of years earlier I'd hatched a plan to import hammocks from Nicaragua with the idea of selling them wholesale to retailers in and around Toronto. So Elenka and I flew down to Liberia, then climbed onto a bus and eventually made our way to the village of Masaya, Nicaragua. Once there we found a hammock maker and consummated the deal. It was a business that worked well ... that was until I realized that I don't really like selling things. We spent...