My Volunteer Experience
I arrived in Nongkhai, Thailand in September. I had no idea what to expect except for that was going to a volunteer center to be trained for a few days in the local culture and language and then off to an eco-volunteer project in northern Thailand. After the initial excitement of the Tuktuk ride (small […]
Southeast Asia’s Most Famous Shopping Streets
Bargain finds, curios of different kinds, high-end retail goods — Southeast Asia’s shopping streets have them all. Never content to keep shopping locked away in malls and markets, Southeast Asia locals have taken their wares out to the sidewalks and thoroughfares, allowing easy access to ambulatory travelers with the stamina to walk for miles for […]
Southeast Asia’s Most Photography-Friendly Places
After your ticket and passport, your camera comes a close third as a travel essential for visiting Southeast Asia. Whether you’re in laid-back Brunei or bustling Singapore, you can’t leave your hotel or hostel without taking snapshots of the region’s scenery and people – visiting Southeast Asia otherwise would be pointless! For Instagrammers and serious […]
Southeast Asia’s Friendliest Backpacker Districts
There’s no shame in visiting Southeast Asia on a budget. The region’s major cities welcome budget travelers with open arms, by providing backpacker districts lined with hostels, diners, and shops selling traveler necessities. Many of them give travelers their first look at the local culture, too, from cultural shows to restaurants hawking affordable local food. […]
Watch (Or Join In) Southeast Asia’s Ancient Sports
As cradles of cultures reaching back into the millennia, the countries of Southeast Asia have developed their own sports that still thrive, even as football and basketball dominate popular culture. Many of these traditional sports developed from ancient livelihoods: warriors of the former Khmer, Thai and Mon empires; the farmers in Malaysia’s rice paddies; and […]
Southeast Asia’s Unique Fabric Art
For generations now, the graceful, colorful and intricate patterns that adorn batik cloths from Southeast Asia have captured the imagination of fashion-conscious travelers. Today’s batik-seeking tourists follow in the footsteps of 19th-century Dutch colonists in Indonesia: captivated by the radiant batiks worn by the Javanese, the Dutch brought batik artists to Holland in the 1830s, […]
Cambodia: Cultural & Heritage Tourism
The glory of the Khmer Empire lives on in these temple ruins in Cambodia; at least two have won UNESCO World Heritage recognition. 1.1. World Heritage Site Cambodia has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: one is an icon of Cambodian identity, the other is only catching up. Both are still worth visiting! 1.1.1. Angkor Wat, […]
Food Tours in Southeast Asia
I knew I was on to something special when I entered the Old Airport Road Hawker Centre in Singapore. This was street food, yes, but not street food as we know it: sanitized, brightened, but still emanating that undeniable authenticity handed down by generations of Singaporean food sellers. But as traditional as they were, they the Old […]
Exploring Southeast Asia’s Royal Palaces
They ruled Southeast Asia once upon a time, though their lives were hardly the stuff of fairy tales. Before Europeans changed the local political landscape, power was exercised by local kings. As absolute masters of their respective realms, Southeast Asia’s monarchs waged wars and built civilizations for thousands of years, creating the local cultures that […]
Thailand: Cultural & Heritage Tourism
Influences from successive empires – among them the Khmer and Sukhothai – have left behind a number of historical ruins that modern tourists can still explore to this day. 1.1. Ayutthaya Historical Park This former capital of the Thai empire was invaded by the Burmese in 1767, leaving this city of 400 temples in ruins. […]