Archive for the ‘Asia’ Category
Getting to know North Korea
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel to North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and closed-off countries? If you’d like a glimpse into North Korean life, you should read the story that Dean Owen wrote for the LA Times about his recent experiences traveling in that country. Visiting North [...]
Tourism in Afghanistan?
Yes, it’s true. It’s not an easy sell at the moment, but the Afghanistan government is looking to the future. It is training people to work in the tourism industry and is taking steps to try to lure travelers back to Afghanistan, which at one point was actually a popular stop on a tourist trail [...]
Seeing Vietnam with children
Most people would consider Vietnam a difficult enough country to visit on one’s own, never mind with 10- and 7-year-old children. But Cathryn Prince and her husband did just that, and she wrote about the experience for the Christian Science Monitor. When I told friends that my husband and I planned to travel to Vietnam [...]
Seeing Indonesia with your son
I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season! Now it’s back to work… Have you ever wanted to go to Indonesia? Would you go there with your two-year-old son? With your nine-year-old son? Lisa Reed did both – traveling there with her two-year-old son in 2001 and returning this year with the same child, now [...]
The wonders of Ladakh
Ladakh is a fascinating place. A Tibetan Buddhist culture in northern India, it has more in common with such neighbors as Bhutan and Nepal than it does with the country to which it belongs. David Desjardins and his family recently discovered that the Ladakhi landscape is also spectacular and the people are friendly and welcoming. [...]
The Indonesian wonder of the world
One of the most impressive but least known sites in the world is the Indonesian monument of Borobudur. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on this stunning edifice, which is considered the largest Buddhist monument in existence. Making lists of the world’s most impressive monuments is an irrational and ultimately pointless enterprise: Who has seen all [...]
Yoga retreat in India
Have you ever imagined what it’d be like to spend time at a yoga retreat in India? Well, now you can live vicariously through Kyle Jarrard, who wrote an account for the International Herald Tribune of the experience he and his wife had in Puducherry, India. The first sound in the morning is crows, right at 5. [...]
Laotian charms in Luang Prabang
The Southeast Asian nation of Laos is still a fairly untraveled destination, especially compared to its neighbor, Thailand. But the word is getting out about the charms of the Laotian town of Luang Prabang. Gayle Keck went there recently with her husband and wrote about their experiences for the Washington Post. Strangers talk to one another [...]
Biking Vietnam
It’s not a vacation for the faint of heart, given the chaotic vagaries of Vietnamese traffic, but Margo Pfeiff had an exhilarating time during a biking tour of Vietnam. She wrote about her experiences for the San Francisco Chronicle. Sucking in a deep breath, I launch myself into one of the most exhilarating and terrifying adrenaline [...]
Travels in Ladakh
I enjoy reading the travel writings of Pico Iyer, so I was happy to find this recent article of his about a trip he took to Ladakh, a Tibetan culture in the Himalayan region of northern India. I knew before I came to Ladakh — the high, dry region in northern India that borders Tibet [...]
To India with Mom
It’s one thing to take your mother on vacation, it’s quite another to take her to India – for her 75th birthday and her first trip to anyplace in Asia. But that’s just what Jeff Greenwald did. He wrote a charming article about the experience for the Los Angeles Times. Bringing my mother to India [...]
Pondicherry, an oasis in India
Tranquility is not a word often associated with tourism in India, but that’s just how Matt Gross described Pondicherry, a French colonial coastal city in southeastern India, in a recent travel article. An excerpt: Today, Puducherry, as it is officially known but rarely called, is capitalizing on a glammed-up version of that history, and emerging [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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