So that was 2006, eh?

* The Australian newspaper ran my 1600-word feature on the Sandakan Death March challenge trek as a cover story in their travel section, along with a few of my colour pics. Headlined 'Walking Matilda' I played up the emotional aspects of the 6-day walk, which were as draining as the physical side of it. See http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20651281-5002031,00.html

* On a similar theme, I'm going to be recce-ing the Bataan Death March trek in December. This was a similar episode in which US soldiers were marched to their deaths by the Japanese in the Philippines. Thanks to Consuelo Jones and Philippines Department of Tourism (http://www.wowphilippines.com.ph)for their assistance. I'm also going to be spending some time checking out Leyte Island, where General MacArthur fulfilled his WW2 promise of 'I shall return'. Then it's on to Davao for some scuba diving.

* Thanks to my kind sponsors who helped out on my recent trip to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand. The Eastern and Oriental Hotel in Penang ( www.e-o-hotel.com ) was as magical as I thought it was going to be. No, more so. I chose this hotel as one of the ports-of-call on my WW2 POW tours I'm leading next year. Truly enchanting, it was built by the Sarkies Brothers who then went on to create the Raffles in Singapore.

* Many kind thanks also to Sally McCann at Small Luxury Hotels and Khun Jeera at the Anantara Resort, Golden Triangle, Thailand (http://www.anantara.com/html/resort/thailand/golden/intro.html). What a joy to spend time playing with their elephants (they have around a dozen in camp there); feeding them, walking them, and doing a mahout course. I failed my driving test dismally. Well, it was all going well, you see, until the very end when my elephant decided he'd much rather trek cross-country through the jungle than listen to my directions. So I took up Thai cooking instead, the results being mostly edible. Also did a longtail boat trip along the Mekhong River and got wonderfully tipsy on 40% proof snake whisky at a Laos market.

* Book signings: did a book signing at Times Newslink at Changi Airport, and Kinokuniya in Singapore to promote GONE TROPPO. The audience seemed to enjoy my tales from the tropics, and my tinklings on the ukelele, and I ended up running way over time. This unfortunately meant cutting short the amount of sponsor's booze I could tuck into at the Singapore Rugby Sevens before flying out to Australia again. Thanks to Mark Greedy and Leading Hotels of the World for their superb hospitality.

* While in Singapore I was also interviewed by the Sunday Times and 8 Days magazine, and really enjoyed my 45-minute session on Radio 93.8 Live talking to folks about their tropical holidays. (Although one caller was a clearly confused -- Melbourne was his choice of tropical paradise!)

* Hare of the Dog: I sold out all remaining supplies from Thailand at the InterHash in Chiang Mai. There are literally only a couple of dozen of these now remaining for sale on the internet, and it will not be reprinted again. So they've become a collector's item.

* I finally finished writing 'In the Shadow of a Scarecrow'. That must rank as the hardest 100,000 words I've ever written. Not only because you need to be very pedantic with military history, but also because it's such a gruelling subject matter. It brought back memories of the trip I did last year to research it, sleeping on the concrete floor of that damn prison in Johor, Malaysia, last year. What was I thinking? Looking forward to the POW tours I'm leading, starting February (see http://www.mynrma.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/mynrma/hs.xsl/pow_special_interest_tour.htm?cpssessionid=SID-3F5768EC-D68DA279 )

* The Steaming Latrines (my little acoustic group) have now added a drummer to the fold, and are getting ready for our massive summer tour -- one garden party booked so far! Tantrum, on the other hand, has been in full rehearsal for the end-of-year party season, fingers nicely caloused from my smoking Telecaster guitar.

* Harold Stephens, my inspirational travel writing buddy in Bangkok -- who must be 80 by now -- shared this great thought with me the other day: 'Old writers never retire ... they just starve to death!' Very funny but sadly, possibly, true. Which made me think that I should include a bon mot of my own personal philosophies in each edition of my newsletter.

So here goes. And, remember, you heard it here first: 'The worst thing about being a travel writer is that I haven't had a holiday in years.'

Best wishes for a peaceful and healthy 2007 everyone. Cheers, Stu.