Asia Travel Information Blog

Bounded to the north by the Java Sea and the south by the low Bogor Hills, Indonesia’s overwhelming capital, JAKARTA, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. From a mere 900,000 inhabitants in 1945, the current population is well over ten million and continues to grow at a rate of 200,000 every year.

A city as small as Singapore can be toured in just three days, many would say, but to see all the highlights and get beneath the skin of this charming place definitely warrants a longer stay. A tour planned around the major districts allows one to appreciate its history, people and rich cultural diversity in an optimal period of time. Here is the best of Singapore not to be missed.

From a tourist map, the island of Penang looks somewhat like a mink’s pelt. Georgetown, its capital, sits roughly on the right arm of the skin, while the site of the Muka Head Lighthouse on the left signaled its strategic appeal when the British East India Company came calling two centuries ago. Somewhere near the head lies a cluster of good beaches that lends Penang the euphemism of a resort island. Penang Hill sits at the centre, near where the animal’s heart might have been, while the figurative legs are hosts to an international airport and the Batu Maung Fishing Village. Across the straits, Seberang Perai (formerly Province Wellesley), the other territorial half of the Penang State, is linked by ferry and the Penang Bridge.

On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO – the last great conurbation before the yawning chasm of the Pacific Ocean – is one of the world’s most perplexing cities. On the one hand, gaudily hung about with eyeball-searing neon and messy overhead cables, plagued by seemingly incessant noise, often clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic and packed with twelve million people squashed into minute apartments, it can seem like the stereotypical urban nightmare. Yet behind the barely ordered chaos lie remnants of a very different way of life.

Seoul is a great place to experience a wide variety of spicy yet mouth-watering foods, especially the local cuisine with its distinctive tastes based on garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper powder and fermented soybean paste. Korean dishes, such as bibimpab (vegetables mixed with rice and hot pepper paste, topped with a cooked egg), kalbi (succulent beef ribs marinated in a special sauce, then char-broiled) and kimchi (Chinese cabbage or radish, salted and impregnated with various spices, including red hot pepper powder and pickled fish sauces), are becoming increasingly popular around the world.

Kimchi, in fact, is the country’s staple, accompanying almost every meal. Most of the city’s restaurants, whether high-priced or inexpensive, large or small, serve this popular condiment as a side dish. As many Koreans put it, “A meal without kimchi would be like trying to walk without legs.” The existence of some 200 kinds of Kimchi shows how important it is to the local diet.

The headlong pace and flawed modernity of BANGKOK (called “Krung Thep” in Thai) match few people’s visions of the capital of exotic Siam. Spiked with scores of highrise buildings of concrete and glass, it’s a vast flatness which holds a population of at least nine million, and feels even bigger. But under the shadow of the skyscrapers you’ll find a heady mix of frenetic markets and hushed golden temples, of glossy cutting-edge clubs and early-morning almsgiving ceremonies. Most budget travellers head for the Banglamphu district, which is just a short walk from the dazzling Grand Palace and Wat Po and the very worthwhile National Museum. For livelier scenes, explore the dark alleys of Chinatown’s bazaars or head for the water: the great Chao Phraya River is the backbone of a network of canals and a useful way of crossing the city.

Taipei, the political and financial center of Taiwan, is the island’s most populous city. Taipei originated as a small trading port over two hundred years ago before becoming the administrative capital under the Qing Dynasty. During the last few decades there has been tremendous growth in the city. Now a sprawling metropolis, Taipei is an ideal place to visit for those who love the hustle and bustle of the big city. Bei Tou (Peitou) Located in the northwest, Bei Tou is famous for its sulfur springs, spas and hotels. One of the more popular sulfur pits is Hell Valley. Bei Tou is in the middle of a small mountain range connected to Wellington Heights and Yang Ming Shan by public transport. Yang Ming Shan National Park is a great place to go hiking.

Hong Kong works as a useful gateway into Southeast Asia and into China. It is also an interesting place in its own right – an extraordinary, complex territory of seven million people that’s a repository of traditional Chinese culture, a recently relinquished British outpost, and one of the key economies of the Pacific Rim. The view of sky-scrapered Hong Kong Island, across the harbour from Kowloon, is one of the most stunning urban panoramas on earth, but Hong Kong also holds some surprises for the traveller – alongside the myriad shopping possibilities (not all of them such a bargain as they used to be), are a surprising number of inviting beaches, rewarding hiking trails and some surviving bastions of Chinese village life, most of them in the New Territories. An excellent infrastructure, an efficient underground system and all the other facilities of an international city make this an extremely soft entry into the Chinese world.

On first impressions, DELHI, with its jam-packed streets, tower blocks and temples, forts, mosques and colonial mansions, can be both disorienting and fascinating. It certainly takes a while to find your feet, as you attempt to weave a path through buses, trucks, nippy modern cars, mopeds, rickshaws, cows, bullock carts, hand-pulled trolleys and even the occasional elephant being ridden along with the flow of traffic. You’ll find unlikely juxtapositions are everywhere you look: suit-and-tie businessmen rub shoulders with traditionally dressed orthodox Hindus and Muslims; groups of young Levis-clad Delhi-ites pile into burger joints, bars and discos; turbaned snake charmers tease hypnotizing moans out of curved pipes; pundits pontificate while sadhus smoke their chillums; and ragged beggars clutching dusty children plead for a little help towards a meal.

The capital of the Philippines, a grouping of twelve cities and five municipalities, is technically known as Metro Manila but usually referred to simply as MANILA, home to 9.5 million people. Manila will never be a serious tourist destination until the authorities deal with the twin evils of traffic and pollution; most tourists are in the capital because they have a day or two to kill either at the beginning or the end of a trip to the rest of the country. In its favour, Manila has friendly people, some excellent nightlife, a few historical sights that are worth the effort, plus some of the most cavernous shopping malls in Asia. At first sight, the city may seem clamorous, unkempt and rough around the edges, but what it lacks in architectural sophistication it makes up for with an accessible chaotic charm. The way to enjoy it is to step into the fray and go with the flow, which is exactly what Manileños have learned to do.