The street dogs of Kathmandu spend most of the year in a kind of dignified obscurity. They doze in doorways, trot along temple steps with the unbothered confidence of longtime residents, and generally receive the same attention any city gives its strays, which is to say very little. Then, for one day each autumn, everything changes. The same dogs that were ignored on Monday wake up on Tuesday to find themselves garlanded in marigolds, marked …
Browsing: Asia
There is a particular kind of place in this world that doesn’t call out to you. It simply exists, waiting for the traveler who has finally learned that the most meaningful destinations are the ones that ask something of you in return. Kagawa is one of those places.
In the northeastern corner of Shikoku, facing the calm waters of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan’s smallest prefecture wears its scale lightly. You won’t find the breathless …
Mongolia needs to be approached not as a checklist destination but as a study in contrast—between nomadic past and urban present, isolation and global ambition.
Its capital, Ulaanbaatar, is not a city that eases you in gently. It rises from the Tuul River valley in a sweep of concrete towers, Buddhist monasteries, Soviet-era blocks and distant mountains that seem to hold the capital in a quiet embrace. Bordering the vast expanse of Bogd Khan Uul …
There is a Japan that most visitors never find, along a rugged coast where the Sea of Japan meets the shore and centuries of isolation forged some of the world’s most extraordinary craft traditions. This is Hokuriku: the three-prefecture arc of Toyama, Ishikawa, and Fukui that stretches along Honshu’s northwestern flank. Once requiring a full day’s journey to reach from Tokyo, the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen has redrawn the map of Japanese travel, placing …
It’s always the weird sights that grab my attention on holiday.
While other tourists are admiring a gaudy temple in Ho Chi Minh City, I’m fascinated by a frog. He’s supposed to be compliantly waiting for death in a metal bowl in a pavement market. But this is Adventure Frog. He suddenly springs clean out of the bowl and starts hopping for freedom down the street. The stallholder leaps up and gives chase, plonking him …
I travel frequently, and always prepare for my various jaunts doing fact-finding, participating in forums, asking friends, and even reading literature from my destination country. I’m prepared, but not too prepared, ever open to the spur-of-the-moment experiences traveling promises. For my month-long voyage to Southern India I spent an excessive amount of time planning. Hours, days, and months were spent investigating the merits of the SteriPEN® and concocting a route south from Mumbai. I weighed …
Thailand is a diverse and wondrous country located in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is also one of the most popular tourist destinations worldwide, offering beautiful islands, tropical jungles, and ancient temples. There are several misconceptions about traveling in Thailand, ranging from the sex culture (not all male tourists are seeking prostitutes) to ice (not all water is contaminated). Here are five travel myths to consider if you are planning a visit to Thailand:…
Bangkok is one of the world’s most visited destinations. It is deemed one of the largest capital cities on the globe, with a population of over 11 million people. As the capital city of Thailand, the appeal is easy to see with its spectacular temples, exotic sites and a variety of specialty markets. It is in these markets that visitors can experience the local culture through interaction with vendors and fellow shoppers. Most are open …
As iconic as New York City is to the USA, Mumbai is to India. This Alpha city is India’s financial powerhouse, one of the world’s top ten centers of commerce, and one of the most populous urban regions in the world. It’s the country’s fashion capital, entertainment HQ, and the trigger point of religious tension. It’s also home to one of Asia’s biggest slums, yet has some of the world’s most expensive real estate. Above …
As the home of Mount Fuji, there’s already an expectation that Shizuoka will be a scenic delight of any trip to Japan. But outside the shadow of Japan’s highest mountain is a cultural heritage, beaches, and fresh seafood cuisine.
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I seem to have lost Hong Kong. It was there a moment ago, with 1,295 steel and glass skyscrapers glinting in a stunning display of wealth and style. Now the spectacular skyline has disappeared inside moody storm clouds, with just a few neon lights flickering through the gloom like displaced lighthouses.
Hong Kong has more skyscrapers, billionaires and Rolls Royces than any other city. It’s an addictive, crowded scuffle of sights and sounds with lots …
I’d been up since midnight – something big gave an audible deep throated grunt under the veranda of my wooden bungalow, off to one side of the 7,000 sq ft Stanmore Plantation House in Valparia (a hill station in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu). I’d left the balcony doors and windows standing open, hoping for a cool breeze. Now on my third cup of Masala Chai, the world began to look a beautiful place.…
In Rajasthan, it’s the colors that strike you first.
It’s the vibrant, striking colors worn by the residents of this ancient – and very proud – region, called “Land of Kings” because of a royal history like no other part of India. The land in which they live is a dry, often-monochromatic desert. But the history of Rajasthan is anything but monochromatic. It pulses with the ebbs and tides of a tumultuous history. And even …
Tianzi Mountain and Yuanjiajie in Hunan Province, China, offer visitors a surreal landscape that served as inspiration for the floating mountains in James Cameron’s blockbuster movie “Avatar.” The enormous limestone pinnacles, draped in vegetation and often veiled in mist, create an otherworldly atmosphere. The unique landscape of towering sandstone pillars, some reaching heights of over 3,000 feet, offer views that indeed seem to belong to another planet entirely.
The area was once a vast sea. …