Travel
writer Paul Theroux wrote, “Tourists
don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.” Jim
Soliski weighs in with, “Tourists pay what the taxi driver insists,
travelers ask Does Your Meter Work?!”
Tourists travel table d'hôte - temple tours on a schedule, then
cognac and a rubdown. Travelers travel à la carte, deferring to
the sweat and spit of the streets that is on the other side of
the glass of an air-conditioned bus.
Does Your Meter Work?! is
a crazy-quilted paper-back anthology of Oriental and Occidental
wanderings that have been published in fifty-some publications
around the world including The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe,
The San Francisco Examiner, The St. Petersburg Times, Travelers’ Tales,
Outpost Magazine, most of Canada’s major papers and so on…along
with a few yarns that editors haven’t been fooled on yet.
The
first story in Does Your
Meter Work?! reports on the difficulties in the simple task of taking
an airport taxi without taking a bath on
the fare. Speaking of fair, keep reading, and you’ll find the adventures
aren't always shady. Frustrations pop up, but so do triumph, enlightenment,
and erudition.
You can read about: a day
at the Philippine cock-fights; debating New York’s delis before white-water rafting through the Nepali Himalayas;
diving for cover from time-share sales rascals in Mexico; galumphing
over South-East Asia’s highest peak in Borneo; assault rifles up
the snoot in Sri Lanka; hitchhiking under a guardian angel's wing from
Brunei to Bangkok; immersing a foreigner’s heart and body in the
ineluctable mysteries of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
All told, a menu of 44 stories.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry,
you’ll read some stuff you didn’t want to know, and when
you’re done, you’ll think, “Whew…that was quite
a ride.” For pictures tied to each story, head to “Chapter
Summaries and Pictures” on this website. For some snazzy snaps
taken along the way, but aren’t necessarily associated with any
specific story, click on “Photos.”
Thanks
for stopping by. "Does Your Meter Work?!" is available in various
places including this website!
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