d u d e r n e t

No, the world doesn't.

I was reading the Observer today, and came across this entertaining tidbit in their piece on Lonely Planet being bought by the Beeb:

Hilary Bradt, whose company concentrates on the more obscure destinations, published her first book in 1974, a year after the Wheelers did, although she wasn't even aware of the existence of [Lonely Planet] books at the time. There's no ignoring them now though.

'Everyone asks why we don't do a book on Thailand,' she says. 'In order to have something concrete to say, I counted up the number of Thailand guides in Stanfords the other day, and do you know how many there were? Forty-two. And the world doesn't need 43 guides to Thailand, that's for sure.'

Indeed.

THAIBALL NEWSALERT

BANGKOK -- My luggage has been found.

- 30 -

File under 'It could be worse'

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- All right; I may still have seven hours to go before I blow outta this popsicle stand, but among the good points:

- There are various and sundry smoking rooms in the airport. Sadly, not one in the EVA lounge, but not too far away.

- There is quite the ongoing buffet a mere 15 feet from where I type. I've got all the chicken fried rice, stir-fried noodles and pork buns I can cram down my gullet. (Which turns out to be a lot.)

- There's an open bar, and while I have partaken only in vodka tonics so far, I believe the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black will be calling my name soon.

See? My glass is always half-full. Of booze.

Yeah, great travel day.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Perhaps you heard about this.

A U.S. Customs computer outage that stranded thousands of passengers at LAX was blamed today on a hardware problem with electronic screening equipment. A backup computer system was inaccessible to many customs officers, leaving exhausted travelers sitting on planes or standing in long lines.

Great way to start the trip, let me tell you.

The computer outage, which began at 2 p.m. Saturday and lasted about 10 hours, came on a peak summer travel day when nearly 25,000 international passengers arrived at LAX.

And I think I smelled all 25,000 of them in the humid, B.O.-laden international terminal, as I waited until 6 a.m. for my 1:20 a.m. flight to board.

Also? Funny thing about the international terminal at LAX? No vending machines. Not one. Seriously. And, of course, every single vendor of food and/or drink had shut down well before midnight.

Good. Times.

Now, having, of course, missed my connection to Bangkok, I'm stuck in Taipei for eight and a half hours. But the business-class lounge here is nothing to complain about. Very little B.O. ... and now I must figure out a way to have a cigarette. Somewhere. Wish me luck.