I would like to introduce a very good online resource dedicated to Central Asia, one of those regions where traveling still comes with a fair amount of headaches. Caravanistan is a complete regional guide divided by country that I used a lot to check for actual information in the labyrinth which Central Asian bureaucracy can...

Recently I’ve been reading, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed . When the author was in her mid-twenties she solo hiked the Pacific Crest Trail . Her book unfolds as she treks north, nursing her blistered feet and cumbersome heavy pack along a majority of the 2,663mi (4,286km) trail. It initially begins at the Mexican border, passes...

When travelling for extended periods of time, it is easy to reach a point of tiredness, when everything seems a bit jaded. The joy of zipping from one place to the other across the travel maps becomes increasingly less exciting, and we may be craving for something more, something “different”. When this happened to me,...

The 10 day silent meditation retreat I attended last July in Wat Khao Tham , a monastery in Ko Phangan, Thailand, was my 4th experience of this sort, all but one of them in the land of smiles, each of them in a different temple. In this website there is already a guide to Meditation...

Cost/day: FREE (airfare not included - ha!) What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? As I write this, it is now 3:40am and I'm bunking in the San Francisco Airport after 16 hours of flight changes, delays and one emergency turn-around. Some of the things I've seen tonight include: Watching the pilots pack their bags...

Hitching a ride was, is and always will be evoking images of young, reckless, crazy travel. It is for adventurers, because you do not know who will pick you up and when you will arrive at your destination. And it is indeed for adventurous drivers too: our imagination is so full of hideous stories based...

Moral dilemma: there's a country with wonderful sites you'd love to see, but your tourist dollars might end up in the pockets of a military regime. Should you still go? That's the central theme in this New York Times article: Visiting Myanmar: It's Complicated . Since the nation has made small steps toward political reform,...

Since I got my own transport - a small 4 strokes Japanese motorbike -, I have not been considering the bus as a proper way of traveling. Instead, a bus line can be a great way to discover and feel a new city. I reconsidered this lost travel art while I was waiting for visa...

I recently got word that a new independent publisher is trying to kick the corporate media world’s bum by releasing hard hitting, pulpy noirs with Asian settings. I am talking about Crime Wave Press based in Hong Kong and brainchild of travel and Asian focused writer Tom Vater . The first two books are his...

I lived in China as a foreign expert teacher in 2007/2008: back then, things were definitely starting to look like the country would have immensely changed. Grey skeletons of new mass construction works were scarring the land all over, so much that, month by month, the only similar thing on a city bus route was...

With over 20 million people, Seoul is the second largest urban agglomeration in the world, far behind the endless tentacles of that postmodern monster commonly known as Tokyo. But Korea beat Japan in something his neighbour is famous: in fact Korea is the most ethnically and linguistic homogeneous country in this planet , even with...

During my recent adventures in the Indian Subcontinent, I tried to steer off the beaten tourist trail as much as I could. Thanks to some contacts and friendships I cultivated in other parts of the world – very often a great key for successful connections in other places – I was fortunate enough to venture...

Friends seem disappointed when I admit to skipping out on Thailand's famed Tiger parks, or interactive zoos where tourists can safely cuddle up to entire tiger families. The photos are pretty cute, and there were plenty of times when I was certainly tempted. Now back in the US, I've become determined to uncover the truth...

Located 300km South of Okinawa, Miyakojima and his tiny surroundings islands, are the quintessential beach destinations. This almost completely flat islands retain a very traditional living, where the day is spent working in the sugar cane fields or fishing with little boats. Miyako ancient culture has survived much better than his famous neighbor Okinawa. Cost/day:...

(CP> I'm preparing for my next trip overseas, so this month I decided to share a trip I took in 2010, as part of the Mongol Rally . If you're looking for an irreverent race that is challenging, yet incredibly fun, check it out.) Cost/day: ~$40/day (food / gas) What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen...

Kek Lok Si temple @ Penang - Picture by Kit Chan 2010 Most people passing through Penang do so because of the UNESCO World Heritage status given to this Malaysian tropical island on July 7 th , 2008. Few stay more than the couple days needed to breeze through the main sites and have a...

Being at the end of a four months stint across most of Northern India, I feel obliged to share a bit of technical tips to make your trip in this kaleidoscopic country a bit less daunting , and much more rewarding. As the biggest problem in India is the human number, the crowds and the...

Cost/day: $175/day loans-cash.net . It isn’t the cheapest place to travel to and there were too many fun activities (that cost money) to not spend money, but it can be done reasonably and you only really need a few days to get a good experience. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? Dubai brings a...

Once upon a time in Okinawa people were so healthy and happy that many of them lived more than one hundred years. The legend says it was because of their special diet, the very active lifestyle (Okinawa is the motherland of Karate) and the strong sense of community that keep everyone together. Still today Okinawa...

A few weeks ago, Marcus Sortijas published an interesting piece on Vagabonding describing the Couchsurfing experience in the United States. As I am a Couchsurfing aficionado and have travelled more than 10 Asian countries using it, I would like to spend some words describing how this beautiful service works in another side of the world....