Influenced and intrigued as he was by all things Asian, and desperate to escape the monotony of America's first planned community, when Carleton Cole's path took him to Thailand, it came as no surprise to him. For years he had been fascinated by Thailand, reading everything he could about the country and even taking a menial job in a local Thai restaurant to rub shoulders with Thais exiled in the American Midwest.

Confronted by the seriously limited employment options open to the holder of a liberal-arts bachelor's degree, he set about transplanting himself to what would soon become his adopted home, and a base for exploring the rest of Asia. An atypically quiet American who never really fit into US society, Carleton Cole has found his place in the Land of Smiles, and has developed and maintained a passion for things Thai and Asian.