The Travel Bug Goes Viral

Book excerpt: After retiring in 1999, the author enjoys travelling the globe with Lian, his Malaysian wife. This is the third book in the Travel Bug series, following the success of Catch the Travel Bug and No Cure for the Travel Bug. The trips have taught us the inherent friendliness of 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 handshake. Each chapter is self-contained and covers a different journey. It is not meant to be a guidebook. Just pick a section from 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 southwestern 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.