In hindsight, maybe fluttering off the tour guide's red line wasn't such a good idea. But Jon has neither hindsight nor foresight as his vacation unfolds in real time. Acting without consequence, he discovers that real life is funnier, crazier, and more interesting than fiction, as he encounters football hooligans, crooked tour guides, domino hustlers, root salesman, transvestite karaoke stars, restroom massage gangs, and angels - not with wings and halos, but g-strings and high heels.
While pursuing his shallow desires, he finds that he himself is in danger of becoming a fictional character, as he struggles to define the line between fantasy and reality. Thinking the truth is too complicated, he spins a web of deception that ultimately unravels, and leads him head first into - The Butterfly Trap.
1. Unknown Cargo
2. King of the Chao Praya
3. Jump in the Fire
4. Exit Nana Left
5. Trick or Treat
6. Ayuttaya to Pattaya
7. Nok
8. Paradise Found
9. Fishing for Trouble
10. Paradise Flushed
11. Land of Smiles
12. Kiss Off
13. Angel Five
14. One Night in Bangkok
15. The Looking Glass
"With his willingness to do things the typical travel author dare not--or at least not admit--and his insistence on truthfulness, ofter at his own expense, Jon elevates the travelogue into an art form."
-- Joseph P. Lin --
"This is great writing. There are no moments of over-reaching for linguistic effects, no self-consciousness poetry, no false, romanticized truth because the sense of reality is so acutely aware."
-- Gar Flack --