My name is Andy Hill. I'm originally from the U.S. (Kansas City), but moved around from Boston, to Portland, and Taos, New Mexico (including a six month stint as a student in Brussels, Belgium).

From when I was a little kid (probably by the time I saw Indiana Jones for the first time) I have wanted to be in places foreign to me, among people foreign to me, doing things in a way that were foreign to me.

So, soon after the global financial debacle of late 2008 (which found me working the graveyard shift at a convenience store, months after graduating from university at 25) I left the States to teach English in Busan, South Korea. After two raucous years there, I began traveling throughout Southeast Asia, and haven't stopped (longer than a couple years anywhere) since.

I milked goats on a farm in northern Laos, built biosand water filters for a project in Cambodia, co-founded a mud built, permacultural hostel in Lombok, slept on the steps of temples in Thailand and parks in Hong Kong, ate sea cucumber in China, played drums at an end-of-Ramadan punk rock block party in Tetebatu, felt the otherworldly silence deep in the bowels of Borneo's Niah Cave, swam with a head full of acid for Christmas on Koh Phi Phi, vomited with a hundred other addicts for weeks at the infamous Thamkrabok Detox outside Bangkok, crashed bikes, overstayed visas, forged many friendships, and experienced the kindness and unconditional hospitality of countless people who have known me for only five minutes.

Throughout these times, I would invariably be found at some point in the day, streetside with a coffee, coconut, or beer, scribbling in a journal or pecking away at my laptop, trying to make some kind of sense out of all the new, bizarre, and wonderful things I was surrounded by.

I'm a big fan of museums, libraries, and galleries, as well. Sometimes I sneak a bottle of rum in and make a day out of it. Back in 2008, I earned a degree in Comparative Religion from Goddard College, a small, uber-progressive school that allows you to essentially create your own curriculum, and traveling has always been a study-abroad experience, an opportunity to learn as much as I can about the places I find myself in: their histories, traditions, arts, foods, politics, modes of being and ways of interacting with one another.

I am fascinated by how religious and spirituality influence cultural traditions and daily life, whether it is Buddhism in Thailand, Islam in Indonesia, Confucian and Taoist traditions in China, Christianity in Timor Leste, animism in Borneo, and so forth.

I have written and kept journals since I was a kid, including a novel based on my travels (called Mystic Fool) and hundreds of articles on travel and culture.

On Land of 1000 Smiles, I will write about my experiences, and the things I learn along the way.

I hope to hear your stories, comments and questions, and most importantly, I hope you enjoy the ride!