I just spoke to a Thai woman who was excited about taking a bus tour to a nearby mountain, the highest peak in Thailand, which isn’t all that high, and records the coldest temperatures, just below freezing. She would rather pay two days average wages to ride on a bus with some other Thai people than drive there alone on her scooter.

I’ve done most of my traveling alone. Always have. I don’t like being told what to pay attention to. Sure, maybe I’ve missed out on a lot that way, but the sense of adventure and self-determination agrees with me.

Tours sell well with Asians. They like to recreate with lots of other people. There is no tradition of the solo vagabond. The lonesome drifter isn’t a romantic character here. Billy Jack, the mysterious stranger who drifts into town, Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper…the man without a family or a…