After retiring in 1999, he enjoys travelling the globe with Lian, his Malaysian wife. This is the third book in the Travel Bug series, following 'Catch the Travel Bug' and 'No Cure for the Travel Bug', and again follows the trials and tribulations encountered by independent travellers to places normally thought to be off the beaten track. Michael's goal is to let a reader feel that they have shared the experience of the trip being described, but all from the safety of their armchair. The trips have taught us of the inherent friendliness of the local people we have met all over the world, and all that is required is a smile and a greeting to turn suspicion and a frown into a hug or a handshake. Each chapter is self-contained, and covers a different trip, and is not meant to be guidebook. Just pick out a chapter in the Contents Page that interests you, and let us transport you there. Included are trips to: Ladakh in northern India - the delta region of Vietnam - a trek in Upper Mustang, Nepal for the 3-day Tiji Festival - travels around Costa Rica and Panama in Central America - Hokkaido in Japan - snorkel with the Whale Sharks off Cebu Island in the Philippines - by road from Yangon to Inle Lake in Myanmar (Burma) - Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and the ancient cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand - China, take the southern Silk Route from Kashgar to Xian - to West Timor in Indonesia for audience with the Raja of Boti - Kerala and the backwaters of south western India - find a 'living bridge' in Sumatra, Indonesia - to Palawan Island in the Philippines and its underground river, - Cuba and old Habana, - a climb into an active volcano with the sulphur miners on the Indonesian island of Java.