I’ve covered a lot of ground in Asia and North America since my last serious round of blog updates. My return home started in my jungle hometown (now former jungle hometown) of Ranong, where I moved out of my apartment and headed for Bangkok, where — in addition to scoring a cheap one-way China Air ticket to San Francisco — I had the pleasure of throwing a cocktail party for Sean and Nick of Bootsnall.com. After nearly a year of working “virtually” with those guys, it was nice to meet them in person. You can find record of Sean’s further travels, I believe, at ThaiBlog, and Nick’s updates from BnA’s Bali office can be found at BaliBlog. My thanks to elephant polo diva Diana Moxon for hosting our Bangkok cocktail bash.

My other major activity of note in Bangkok was checking myself into Bumrungrad Hospital for a comprehensive medical checkup. This might seem like an odd activity during a jaunt through the Thai capital, but — at $275 for a full checkup, including (but not limited to) blood test, urine/stool test, chest x-ray, eye test, body-fat test, abdominal ultrasound, and exercise stress test — it was actually a great little travel activity. After all, one travels overseas to get good deals on beach resorts, textiles, and electronics — so why not throw medical care into the journey as well? I highly recommend Bumrungrad Hospital to anyone passing through Bangkok (and in fact I know several people, such as Jim Benning and Ken Vollmer, who’ve done stints there themselves). The hospital is internationally accredited, and a list of their services can be found here (click on “Packages & Pricing” for the different types of checkups). For prices in U.S. dollars, divide Thai baht prices by 42.

I’m afraid I’m running out of time to write this entry. For the rest of the story — including my recent foot surgery, a boozy adventure in Taipei, a dispatch from my farm in Kansas, and the reason I left Asia for California (for now) and Latin America (for the long-term), tune in again Wednesday.