Tropical = Paradise, right? Wrong! Travel writer Stu Lloyd simply wanted to enjoy seamless sunshine, frolic in azure waters with dusky maidens, and drink chilled beers in exotic climes-all at the publisher's expense. Too much to ask? Apparently so ... In this riotous romp through The Tropics, Stu often finds more Purgatory than Paradise, more Hell than Heaven. He is pick-pocketed in India, gets becalmed in the pirate-infested waters of Malaysia, bribes an over-zealous policeman in the Philippines and is hospitalised with dengue fever in Singapore. He swims with sharks off Costa Rica, and discovers a new breed in Thailand: 'Koh Samui is home to three types of sharks: black-tip reef sharks, leopard sharks and German property developers.' But none of this curbs his passion for The Tropics. Or cold beer: 'We were so delightfully, deliriously drunk, Hunter S. Thompson could've been our designated driver.' So lie back in a deckchair, put on your sunscreen and join Stu in this quirky quest for Paradise as he swims, hikes, dives, rides and sails his way through Durban, Langkawi, Koh Samui, Singapore, the Philippines, Delhi and Goa, Tijuana, Costa Rica and Rarotonga. And don't forget to keep the fluids up!