Last Bus to Korat — Robert A. Johnson

While vacationing in his wife's small hometown in Thailand, Bob Swift, a crass, overly opinionated, somewhat dimwitted, nearly retired, beer loving good old boy, takes a solo bus trip into the treacherous big city. Swift is a likable American whose outspokenness and simplistic take on the strange culture leads him into bizarre situations, weird encounters, and odd friendships. His twisted sense of humor and unconventional interaction with the natives creates an unpredictable mix of self-imposed difficulties and hilarious confrontations.

Fancying himself as a lady's man and renown world traveler, this bored-to-death desk jockey in dire search of being someone exciting slips into delusional moments of adventure as he trips his way through the foreign land. The self-indulgent, prejudiced, one-dimensional man begins to see a different side of the people he is dealing with. "Why in the hell are these Thai people always smiling? How come they're so damn happy all the time?" he keeps asking himself.

Surviving his harrowing experiences with dare-devil cabbies, devious merchants, luscious masseuses, misplaced expatriates, and his newly found 'girlfriend, ' along with a cast of other shady characters, Swift begins to learn a few things about himself and his new world. But, upon returning back home to his lovely wife, Swift, a partly changed individual, is faced once again with a major dilemma, though this time one of revealing the secret he has carried throughout his day-long journey.