We can be fascinated by the evil and the scary. Certain countries just scream, "Danger!" which only makes us all the more interested in them. One such nation is North Korea. This article in The Guardian UK will go down as one of the most memorable articles I've ever read: How one man escaped from...

Cost/day: 35$ per day and I have been hosted 6 nights out of 7. My last night in Tokyo I slept in a internet-cafè which cost me 1450yen for 10 hours package+ 800 to secure my bag in a locker for 2 days. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? Sanitary masks. Many people in...

Many moons ago I was flown to the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica to evaluate a business plan for horse tours on a 2,024 hectare family owned ranch. It has mangroves, jungle, two river estuaries and 3.5 km of undeveloped shoreline. The family was in the beginning stages of protecting a good chunk of that...

There has been a recent debate about budget travel against cheap travel: the article draws some interesting comparisons between budgeting your trip, and actually being too much of a cheapo to make the best out of it. As much as I agree with many of the statements presented in the article, I had to stop...

Before you decide to get a tattoo from one of the many long haired, rasta-looking Thai men in the foreigner-inking business during a holiday in Thailand, think twice. There are enormous differences between the design you are going to get, and the rigid ink lines we can sometime spot etching a Thai person’s skin, spurting...

Three kids recently asked if they could sing a song for me outside of Phnom Penh's National Museum . They were between five and ten years old, barefoot, and covered in dirt. Baffled, I obliged. They sang an adorable (and broken) version of a Sean Kingston song before breaking out into a more original number,...

Bethlehem, Palestine On Sunday, CBS's 60 Minutes aired film footage of San Francisco in 1906 . The footage, taken by a camera attached to a cable car going down Market Street, is less than 12 minutes long, and it is mesmerizing in a way a still photo cannot be. We see bodies moving, faces moving,...

Ba Chuc, Vietnam Ba Chuc , a Vietnamese community in the Mekong Delta, sits just across the border from Cambodia. In April 1978, Khmer Rouge soldiers entered the village from Cambodia and massacred 3,157 men, women, and children—almost the entire population. Today the skulls of the victims are on display in an outdoor memorial. Statistics,...

Lahore, Pakistan Anyone who travels will commit a cultural error from time to time. But generally speaking, if you want to err in such a way that a national uproar will ensue, it helps to be famous. Take the case of Princess Diana’s 1991 visit to Lahore, Pakistan. Lahore, the Pakistani cultural capital, is home...

Chiang Khong, Thailand It was seven years ago this week that a Honda dealership in Mae Sai , the northernmost town in Thailand, begrudgingly rented me a motorbike for the day. “We don’t want to do this,” the woman at the counter said, since it wasn’t profitable for them, but she also said that thanks...

It's that time of year again when STA travel picks this summers World Traveler Interns and the two lucky candidates have been announced. The 2011 interns are Brigette Muller and Dutch Simpson. You can read more about who they are and what inspired them to apply for the position here , on the STA website....

Hat Yai, Thailand Hat Yai is known as southern Thailand's transportation hub and sex capital. But too few know it has the West Side Saloon , where bartenders and waitstaff are dressed in cowboy gear, serving jovial customers -- mostly Malaysians who've hopped across the border for a short holiday -- as a band plays...

I have to confess: I don’t recall the last time I read a fiction story. While there are fiction books that I’ve enjoyed over the years, I yearn for the true story of a person or place. Every once in a while, I get my hands on a non-fiction book with such strong characters that...

For those living and working abroad in Korea, one way to really get to know the roots of the culture better is to go on a temple stay. These weekend visits are offered regularly in Korea and are organized by local hiking and culture groups. Even though these trips are so common and such a...

One of the fun parts of travel is getting out and trying to navigate a foreign city on your own. Many travelers relish the simple task of trying to navigate public transit from the airport to the hostel where they are staying. There is simply a fresh zeal to figuring the workings of local buses...

China is a huge country, and an even bigger topic to tackle in a movie. Filmmaker Brook Silva-Braga took on that daunting challenge in his new documentary, "The China Question." This is the divisive issue that causes American workers to worry, politicians to vacillate, and businesspeople to make deals: "What does China's rise mean for...

Every year, as spring makes its slow way across Korea, the country is set upon by the phenomenon of "yellow dust". You might draw the curtains in the morning and find the jaundiced haze thick over the city, or leave for work in the morning to find your bike, scooter, car covered in a thin...

The New York Times travel section is recently dedicated to covering the Far East: 37 Asian Odysseys . Although the media is dominated by coverage of Japan's natural and nuclear disaster, the rest of the continent is humming along as usual. With booming economies and traditional cultures, Asia has long had a special place in...

As someone living a mere ferry ride from the coast of Japan, I've been hearing a lot of debate among ESL teachers as to whether they should leave the area or not. Italy has offered a free flight home to their citizens living in the area, and other countries have issued warnings to leave at...

Japan's massive 8.9 earthquake last week creates new headlines every day as the world sits and watches the rescue and recovery mission. People everywhere seem to be asking how they can get involved and help in the recovery process. Many of the headlines are the same. Professionals in the area are asking that people wait...