By LEAH KOHLENBERG /BANGKOK

ollowing in the footsteps of Lonely Planet creator Tony Wheeler may seem daunting--but it's a piece of cake compared with actually writing one of the travel guides in the well-respected series.

"People think Lonely Planet writers lead this carefree existence," says Chris Taylor, the new man in the saddle. "It's very exhausting." Taylor should know. The 36-year-old travel writer spent seven years updating several volumes in the series, including Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, which appreciative travelers often refer to as the "Yellow Bible." Taylor's latest project is to retrace the path taken by Wheeler and his wife, Maureen, 25 years ago, when they were preparing the first Lonely Planet guidebook, Across Asia on the Cheap. Taylor plans to turn the research into a book, A Groove in the Map, which is slated for publication next year.

The project is giving Taylor a rare opportunity to take things slowly. Deep into his research, Taylor--a cheerfully fatalistic chain-smoker--sits down to talk over a leisurely midday beer and pepper steak at a new pub on Bangkok's Khao San Road, a budget traveler's mecca. If he were working on a Lonely Planet guide he'd hardly have time to finish his drink. The guides tend to pack in so much information that a visit to the bar, a declasse Hard Rock Cafe knockoff called "Gulliver's Traveler's Tavern," would probably last just long enough to check the phone number, jot down a few selections from the menu and note the dead goldfish floating in the indoor pond. Lonely Planet guidebook writers are given about half a year to rewrite or update a book: three months on the road, three months for writing. "It's an incredible amount of pressure," says Taylor. "You are writing something people read and depend on."

Not that Taylor, a British national who grew up in Australia and first traveled to Asia when he was 20, regrets his years as a Lonely Planet scribe. He started at the company's head office in Melbourne, where he was hired in 1990 to head its phrasebook series. By then, he knew Asia well, having traveled extensively around the region, including more than a year teaching English in Japan. He also found the time to teach himself to read and speak Chinese. After a year, Wheeler asked him to help rewrite Lonely Planet's Japan book. That was followed by work on numerous other guides.

Eventually, Taylor moved to Taipei, where he now lives with his wife and young son. He wanted a break from the guidebook grind, and A Groove in the Map offered a chance to switch gears. Indeed, Groove is not a guidebook at all, but a travelogue. Taylor is revisiting the traveler's trail the Wheelers helped forge 25 years ago and describing how it looks today. Taylor promises plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor--of which there is no shortage in backpacker culture. On a beach in southern Thailand, for example, Taylor says he spent a day hiking, climbing and pursuing other healthy activities before he realized that, for one thing, he was in pain and, for another, he was alone: "Everybody else was drinking."

Another chapter will discuss life along Khao San Road. In Wheeler's day, Khao San was home to just a few guesthouses. Travelers between trips to other Asian destinations tended to hang out instead on Soi Ngam Duphli in southeast Bangkok. These days, Khao San has evolved into a much larger version of its old self: an eclectic bazaar of cheap hotel rooms and travel paraphernalia, brimming with bedraggled travelers searching for anything from cheap plane tickets to a decent cup of coffee to marijuana or a hit of Ecstasy. Cybercafes and upscale restaurants are now part of the mix. "To me, this shows the changing face of travel--there is a class of people who aren't interested in traveling only the cheapest way," says Taylor. "These people go for less time and travel with their credit card." Strolling along Khao San, Taylor spots a blond woman studying a Lonely Planet book, but walks quickly past. He tends to keep a low profile: announcing oneself as a Lonely Planet writer usually has the same effect as a doctor who lets his or her profession slip at a cocktail party--endless requests for free advice and the frequent challenge. "I've had people tell me the book is all wrong," he says, "and I've had people banging on my hotel door looking for advice."

Taylor's task for the day is to find the oldest guesthouse on the street. After poring over weathered old guides and questioning local guesthouse-owners, he figures it's probably Peachy's, a creaky old place with a small, empty beergarden. A visit to Peachy's yields no bizarre anecdotes, though, so Taylor adjourns to another cafe--a luxury he wouldn't allow himself if he were writing a travel guide. "With a guidebook, you have specific information you need to find," he says. "This book is more like traveling, because I'm waiting to see what unfolds."

Still, it's no picnic. The book advance for Groove doesn't come close to paying the bills, so Taylor has been hustling for other travel gigs to make ends meet. He's writing for other publications, including the online travel feature Wanderlust. "It is a myth that travel writers lead a glamorous life," Taylor says, sighing with exasperation after a long morning haggling over a tourist visa at the Indian embassy in Bangkok. Reality entails haggling over advances and paychecks, following grueling schedules and arguing over the fine print of book deals. Still, he says: "I suppose I travel for a living because the alternative--home, the nine-to-five and the commute--is so unbearable."

By SACHIKO SAKAMAKI /TOKYO

TOKYO FOR FREE By Susan Pompian
Kodansha International

Tokyo has always had a reputation as a prohibitively expensive place to visit. No longer. The yen has weakened 60% against the U.S. dollar since 1995. Japanese inns have lowered their prices. And now Susan Pompian shows travelers how to enjoy the capital without the usual stiff price tag.

Pompian lists 400 places in Tokyo that can be visited free of charge. She covers well-known spots such as the Tsukiji fish market, the temple in Asakusa and the Tokyo Metropolitan government building. But she has also discovered places even native-born residents might not know. Among them: a doll museum where a traditional artisan offers tours of his workshop, sumo stables where wrestlers can be viewed during morning practice sessions, company showrooms with high-tech robots to play with and a rice-wine center offering tastings.

While Tokyo's National Museum charges $3.20, there are numerous free museums, parks and temples. Sumida ward, the cultural center of medieval Tokyo, has many museums for learning about traditional Japan; Edo Tokyo Museum is the most far-ranging. The Tabi Museum at the Kikuya socks shop run by Miyauchi-san, a tenth-generation master sock maker, displays the foot outlines of the famous, including sumo champs Akebono and Konishiki, as well as Hollywood's John Wayne. And for aficionados of all stripes, there are museums dedicated to theater, bags, beer, cigarette lighters, eyeglasses, currency, horseracing and parasites.

Pompian spent three years knocking on doors to find which ones opened the easiest for foreigners--from shops that give special favors to gaijin to nice spots for a meal and a drink. Throughout the pages you can sense her excitement and love for Japan. That's a nice extra in an already useful guidebook.

WEB CR@WLING

CHINA VISTA
(www.chinavista.com)

VIRTUAL MAINLAND This cyber-smorgasbord samples the best of contemporary China through "virtual tours" of popular and yet-to-be-overrun destinations, enhanced with photos and local lore. The Website also features a recipe of the week (cuttle-fish slices, anyone?), tips on how to attend events like the "Respecting the Body and Keep Fit" festival in Bao-ding and backgrounders on cultural favorites like Beijing Opera.

MOSQUITOESwww.chinavista.com (www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/Harbour/SPECIES/MOSQUITO/ MOSQUITO.HTM)

ZZZZAP Know thine enemy! The sticky summer months are upon us, so why not learn more about everyone's favorite disease-toting pest? This site, run by biologists at McMaster University in Canada, provides profiles of all varieties of the buzzing bloodsuckers.

DETOURS

Renowned as the setting for booker Prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, India's Kerala state is hardly among the country's lesser-traveled regions--but there are some relatively unexplored parts of this lush green corner of India, located well to the south of Bombay. While tourists often head for the beaches, which are arguably among India's best, perhaps the most spectacular scenery can be seen while driving inland. Hire a car and driver in Kottayam, near where the novel is set, and travel along winding roads for a glimpse of rubber plantations, spice groves and, most dramatically, the famous tea plantations in Munnar, among the highest in the world. (If you're willing to go out of the way, a good stopover is the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Stay overnight at one of many cheap-to-mid-range hotels or, for more upmarket rooms, at the Casino Hotel's Spice Village, and take in the jungle by foot or boat.) Munnar's many hills, including southern India's highest peak, Anai (Anai Mudi in Hindi), offer stunning vistas of the plains and plantations. A popular spot among romantic Indian couples, the region hasn't yet seen tourist hordes. Catch this part of Kerala before they find it.

SHORT CUTS

NEW AIRPORTS This is a big year for airport openings in Asia. A completion date for the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport has just been set--again. Kuala Lumpur International, a larger and more modern edifice than the Malaysian capital's existing Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah International Airport, now is scheduled to open June 29--just days before the Hong Kong International Airport's July 6 debut. As in Hong Kong, construction of Malaysia's new airport is running several months behind schedule--the original completion date had been planned for January.

RUNNING LOW Japan's hot springs mineral baths may soon find themselves short on water. More and more resorts are opening around Tokyo, but the area may be (literally) unable to support so many springs. Since pulling mineral water and natural gases out of the ground can cause land to sink, restrictions have been placed on the amount of water the resorts can pump.