Posts for 'Tips ' Category

South East Asia retains a timeless beauty and mystique mixed with modern vibrancy and excitement. The cities of Singapore and Bangkok are dynamic, fast-moving and pulsating with the rhythm of contemporary life.

Close by are villages and countries where little has changed in centuries. To travel here is to journey through time as well as space, it is a place of dramatic contrasts and ever-changing landscapes.

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Asia

Asia is a continent full of wonder. No matter how you plan to travel Asia, there are many interesting countries to explore. For anyone planning to travel Asia, there are plenty of must see locations and relaxing vacation options.

Mongolia beckons you with a rare glimpse into an ancient culture and the last unspoiled wilderness in Asia. Discovering this land of nomadic horsemen and traditions dating back to the time of Chingis Khan is as much a journey back in time as an expedition of exploration.

Relatively unchanged for centuries, Mongolia has one of the last remaining horse-based, nomadic cultures in the world. Nomadic families are traditionally known for their warm hospitality offered to passing travelers in the form of food, shelter, and friendship. Hearty welcomes, warm smiles, and generousity are invariably offered by nomads in their traditional gers (felt tents).

Woven through the nomadic culture is a rich Tibetan-Buddhist tradition, which has incorporated some elements of Mongolia's ancient Shamanist practices. Although many buddhist moasteries were destroyed and religious expression was severely curtailed during the Stalinist purges of the 1930's, Mongolia's spirituality persisted and a resurgence of Buddhism began in 1990 when Mongolia became a democracy. Priceless artifacts, which were hidden for safekeeping, are now being returned to monasteries by nomadic families. Today, Mongolia is home to some of the finest collections of Buddhist art and artifacts found in Asia.

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Although Chinatown today is a colorful and a bustling tourist attraction, its history was of blood, sweat and toil of immigrants from mainland China . The Chinese was what Singapore's trade depended on.

Arriving with no money and in debt to boat captains who brought them here, the Chinese immigrants settled down in the Boat Quay and Clarke Quay areas (both these areas are now favorite attractions offering a smorgasbord of dining and entertainment experiences) and Chinatown was born. By living close to the river, the Chinese found work as coolies, port workers, laborers and much arduous physical demanding work.

Today, Singapore is a bustling and thriving modern city. It still keeps its free trade tradition of the past and that is why it has one of the busiest port in the world. It amazingly transformed itself from a third world country to first in just one generation thanks to its visionary leaders and hardworking population.

The Republic of Singapore is also rated as one of the most peaceful and safe to visit country in the world and that is why, the country continues to draw tourists on holiday vacation from all over the world because of this reputation.

Thailand is nestled between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, bordering Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. It is exotic yet accessible, with something for every visitor. Relax on white sand beaches, hike through vast areas of tropical forest, or live it up in the humming capital of Bangkok.

There is much for you to discover in Thailand. The country offers a huge range of new experiences in sights, sounds, tastes, and outlook. But different as it may be from your home, Thailand is probably the easiest exotic country for visitors. The people are friendly, leisure activities are well organized, the food is great and you receive excellent value for money.

The southern city of Guilin, along with the nearby Yangshuo is a backpacker's paradise, the south of China without the usual crowds associated with it. One of the main tourist attractions that keeps bringing people here every year is the quaint little waterway that connects the two cities: the Li River.

Though it's only about 40 miles in length, a Li River cruise is one of the highlights of any trip south, especially for those that won't be able to make it further to see the Yangtze River. A Li River cruise affords tourists much of the same style sights – but since most visitors that make it to this region come specifically for a boat tour of the river, the banks are saturated with cruise lines waiting to whisk you down the Li. While many tourists may scoff at the ever-rising ticket prices, lower fees can be arranged through nearby hotels or hostels, many of which provide shuttle service down to the docks.

A Li River tour offers a different side of China, especially if you have been concentrating your vacation in the larger metropolises. Concrete is nowhere to be seen here, replaced by miles of rice paddies and fields full of roaming water buffalo. Bamboo rafts are the main form of transportation here, scooting alongside the tour boats before dropping off to search for fish, while in the distance gentle mountains yearn to scrape the roof of the clouds.

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The Banglamphu district is located to the east of Ko Rattanakosin, and there are quite a few decent sights round here. It's not well defined where Banglamphu actually starts and finishes, and some sights included here such as Wat Saket and Wat Suthat are sometimes considered to be outside Banglamphu.

About 10 minutes walk north of Sanam Luang (in Ko Rattanakosin), is Khao San road. This is home to a very lively travelers scene, and a mass of budget accommodation is here. Some love it, some hate it but it's worth walking down even if you don't plan to stay here. A extensive market with a huge range of goods, from cheap clothes to Thai handicrafts, many inexpensive restaurants and all the different types of people that come here can make it a interesting experience. Somewhat surprisingly, the nearby backstreets retain a genuinely Thai feeling, much more so than Bangkok's other main tourist accommodation areas, Sukhumvit and Silom. The start of the film The Beach was also set in Khao San road, though filmed in Manila as the real Khao San was judged to be not 'realistic enough'. The guesthouse rooms shown in the film are accurate enough, but if you come expecting to be challenged to drink snake's blood as you walk along the street, you'll end up disappointed.

This November we celebrated our 10-year anniversary of living and travelling in Southeast Asia. In that time we’ve had the good fortune to live in three of Southeast Asia’s most interesting countries (Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand) and to travel extensively throughout the region. We arrived from Sydney, Australia back in 1997 with just the two backpacks, and by the time of our most recent move (Phnom Penh to Jakarta in 2005) the two rucksacks had bred — giving birth to a 20-foot container. In the past decade, aside from accumulating enough flotsam to fill a very big metal box, we’ve collected the following 15 pieces of advice that we hope will help you get the most out of your trip.

 only have to see the BBC’s excellent programme “Monsoon Railway” to realise something of the intricacy, human background, impressiveness and efficiency of India’s railways. Monsoon Railway tells the stories of some of the ordinary people who travel and work on these railways, that for the last 150 years have driven social and economic development in the country, providing an essential service to the billion-strong population who depend on it.

If you really want to see something of the true India, the railways are a fantastic way to get around the country, providing an insight into aspects of Indian life that you will not get from planes and tourbuses. With 63,000 kilometres of rail routes and 6,800 stations, the railway network in India is the third biggest in the world after Russia and China, and certainly the biggest in the world in terms of passenger kilometres. Indian Railways are also the world’s biggest employer, with over 1.5 million staff. In Britain, half a century or more ago, they used to say that if you got a job on the railways, you had a job for life, and this probably remains true today in India.

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You've trusted your eyes your whole life, but visit Cambodia and you just may start doubting them.

How else to explain the unthinkable splendour of the 9th- to 13th-century Khmer temples, the tropical islands with barely a beach hut in sight and the untold adventures lurking in northern forests?

Cambodia promises a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences to the intrepid traveller. Your heart will race at Angkor Wat, one of the world's greatest achievements, only to haltingly derail when faced with the impact of humankind's darkest moments. After two decades of war and isolation, only now is Cambodia truly starting to recover from the Khmer Rouge's genocidal 1975-79 rule.