“Asian Trail Mix offers a rich array of vicarious travel experiences for the homebound. … We roam through Raffles Hotel in Singapore, visiting the haunts of Noel Coward, Herman Hesse, and Somerset Maugham. We then journey for 22 hours by jeep to Berau in Indonesian Borneo, following in the footsteps of Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. We visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center … On a three-wheeled pedicab, we brave roaring traffic to experience bustling Saigon. On Elephant Island in Thailand we backpack through rainforest, avoid king cobras, and lie in a hammock looking up at stars. In Japan we watch participants risk a horrible death at an Onbashira festival, a once-every-six-year Shinto event that involves riding huge logs down a steep slope … On the whole a well written and engaging description of travel experiences.” — Edward Dickey, former director at the National Endowment for the Arts and author of Shakespeare Meets the Buddha
“The title might lead you to expect fluff and/or hippie vibes. Neither is the case, although the book is a trip, quite literally, and is gemmy and poetic with writing that is lush and emotive. This springs from the author’s literary background and sensibility … and curiosity, all adding up to creativity coming from, as Henri Matisse has it, courage, raw courage which takes him so far off the beaten track you almost feel beaten down with the rigor of his adventures! Nonetheless, it was a real joy to backpack with the author through the jungles of Thailand and “cyclo” through the insane traffic of Saigon. I loved that he didn’t leave out the budget tree houses and bamboo huts filled with the latest Lost Generation. In sum, I found it fascinating and not something that you’d ever learn from a typical travel book.” — Wayne Antoine, Amsterdam
Asian Trail Mix: True Tales from Borneo to Japan is available on Amazon as ebook and paperback.