Heritage

One of Singapore’s stranger days out, Haw Par Villa features vistas and dioramas from Chinese and Western cultures – as well as damned sinners, torturing demons, and lessons on morality.

East to the highlands, north to the Rubies, west to the Irrawaddy, and cruise down south for a circumlocutory Road to Mandalay.

Traffic without end, water that never stills, and a market straddling a railroad – the chaos of Bangladesh’s Dhaka is unending and arresting.

To end the dry season, people gather to celebrate in Yasothon to drink, sing, and fire powerful handmade rockets into the heavens for the god Phaya Thaen to send the rains. It works.

Surrounded by alleys of old car parts and streets stained with motor oil, Bangkok’s Yaowarat plays host to Chinese opera, a cultural event that reaches back to Thailand’s ties to the Middle Kingdom.

Home to one of the wonders of the world, not to mention several others that could arguably be considered for the big seven, Siem Reap, Cambodia is packed with sites of interest that may seem daunting to navigate.

Having come a long way from its turbulent past, Trincomalee’s beaches, cultures, and accommodations are improving, returning to the halcyon days of the Tamil kings.

I’d been wanting to visit the Magical Tattoo Festival in Nakon Pathom for years. This year, I finally had the chance, and what a festival it was!

Kashgar, an ancient Silk Road gateway tucked into China’s far west corner, doesn’t boast a huge number of tourist attractions. But for me, it was a city brought to life by its people…

Those on a quest to discover the ancient Silk Road often make stops in Dunhuang, Urumqi, and Kashgar, all oases on the ancient trade route, but none with as much to offer as Turpan.

Xian, in central-northwest China, is one of the birthplaces of the ancient Chinese civilization. It’s bursting at the seams with colorful history, boasting over 3,000 years worth of it.

They say that travel is not about the destination, but the journey. I learned the true value of this statement on the long road from Lhasa to Gyantse in Tibet.