Cultural Encounters

Southeast Asia is awesome… and some spots can be a wee bit too awesome.
It's a high compliment, all these tourists visiting areas that have been lauded in

When Southeast Asia's beaches and temples don't do it for you anymore, consider something more challenging.

You didn't travel all the way to Southeast Asia to just watch the sights go by from behind your bus window.

For the ultimate in authentic experiences, you can't go wrong by staying at a local homestay in Southeast Asia.

For a grittier cultural experience in Southeast Asia, you can hardly do better than take up a local martial arts class.

Not a lot of travel brochures talk about the most rewarding Southeast Asia experience of all: giving time to a cause you believe in.

The “banana pancake trail” is looking a little too well worn. Its formerly out-of-the-way destinations, once much beloved by older backpackers, have since been deluged by crowds of package-tour travelers and flashpackers.

With Southeast Asia's summer season upon us, now's the time to review your beach options: where to go, what you'll find at each step, and a plan to move to the next one. We asked several bloggers to help us piece together a beach-only itinerary, and the resulting work (see below) gives readers a taste of the sunny, sandy landscapes you can explore this coming summer.

Avid hikers will go on and on about Southeast Asia's gorgeous multi-day trails – the hikes up Mount Fansipan in Vietnam and Myanmar's Kalaw to Inle Lake trail come to mind – but even the region's short hikes can give back far more than travelers dish out: amazing wildlife finds and stunning scenery out of all proportion to the effort hikers put in!

It's a big world out there – and Southeast Asia is just the right place for your kids to discover the color and adventure available outside of their comfort zone.

Go ahead, let your hair down: the parties in Southeast Asia give you the chance to let all your ya-yas out with great music, bottomless drinks and wonderful company.

Most of the ruling dynasties that once ruled over Southeast Asia may have gone the way of Ozymandias, but their glittering palaces remain. These stately homes used to house entire governments, maintaining the power of life and death over millions.

Gap year travelers are notoriously parsimonious, and Southeast Asia is a favorite gap year destination for precisely that reason: low cost.

History, heritage, culture and religion intersect in Bandar Seri Begawan...

Tutong is Brunei's ethnic melting pot. Home to five ethnic communities Dusun, Iban...

Cambodians find happiness to be a capital virtue, to be cultivated even in the ...

The islands of Java and Bali both share centuries of history and culture...

The regency of South Sulawesi contains the ancestral land of the Bugis people...

Walking around the picturesque, riverside town of Luang Prabang with its French colonial villas, traditional tribal houses, and magnificent gilded temples, it’s easy to see why UNESCO called the former old capital of Laos “the best preserved city in Asia

Malaysia's strength lies in its many cultures coming together. The Malay native community and the Chinese, Indian, and Eurasian communities that came later in the wake of centuries of trade and colonisation, have all combined into a modern Malaysian culture that is much stronger and more vibrant than the sum of its parts.