This book has really made me thirsty for more interesting reads. Thanks for dropping the names of the other books...I will definitely check them out. To answer Marc's question I think the author you were speaking of is Christopher G. Moore. Apparantly he is the one who originally labeled the Thermae coffee house in Bangkok "The bar from the original Star Wars." Here is a link to a sample of his description of the old Thermae. I went to the new one last year and left after 5 minutes...wasn't my scene at all. But if I had a time machine I would love to visit the original!
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/1107/ksmile.html
Happy reading!
Robio