Focus on Travel, Volunteering, Work, Study, and Living in Asia

India is often referred to as a subcontinent, and with good reason. The country is culturally and geographically so diverse, it could easily be made up of dozens of independent nations, all with their unique ethnic groups, cultures, natural features, and languages. Still, India has succeeded in forming a fairly stable unity despite its diversity. But this great geographic, cultural, and economic diversity also means that travel conditions change drastically from state to state. Northern India has the countries best-developed highway and railway system, but as soon as you leave the more populated and developed regions road conditions can change drastically. Within a day's bus ride from Delhi, travelers can travel on a modern four-lane highway and end up on a narrow dirt road leading up into the Himalayas...

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I first traveled to India nearly 20 years ago with a boyfriend who had an unyielding desire to visit the subcontinent. Though he had never been out of the U.S., and I had only visited England and Wales, we undertook a 3-month journey to Thailand, India, and Nepal.

In India, our senses were assaulted, our assumptions about the way the world functioned were completely dismantled, and our relationship became strained. After many years together, we broke up shortly after returning home. I can't completely blame our breakup on India, but I do believe that she sped up the process of my karmic path...

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India is a land of holy places, holy rivers and large religious festivals. Almost every aspect of life is infused with religious gestures, rites and meaning. The importance of Hinduism as India's most dominant religion extends far beyond the private sphere into the public realm. Every year hundreds of religious festivals and pilgrimages are celebrated all across this vast and diverse country, and being able to witness or participate in one or several of them is a great cultural or even spiritual experience for any visitor. Among India's most colorful and lively festivals is Durga Puja, honoring the Warrior Goddess Durga. Durga Puja is the most popular festival in Eastern India, but the festival is also celebrated in other parts of India, with a different name and a slightly different meaning...

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I wake up to the cries of the neighbor baby intruding through the wooden window shutters. Vietnamese karaoke blares from a house down the road. A funeral procession clamors past my house on the street above. A bird swoops above me in the bedroom. It must have fallen out of the nests in the rafters. It’s 7 a.m and the neighborhood is already bustling with activity. If I don’t get up soon, the sun will bake the corrugated metal roof and the house will heat up like an oven. I roll up the straw mat on the floor and fold my blankets. I didn’t bother with this before, but I found venomous centipedes and mice in my bedding earlier this week. The fan is already off. It’s Monday, so there’s no electricity today or tomorrow — at least during daylight hours...

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Like many young people living in Western or westernized countries, I was overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of the modern age; too much individual freedom can be paralyzing. I graduated from university with a major in Philosophy only to work odd jobs. There were not many job opportunities in Australia and so I made the decision to venture out into the larger world. Teaching English overseas was to be the ticket.

I found an English teaching job in the paper. The position offered was advertised as either for Shanghai or Seoul. It turned out to be Seoul. "When do I start," I asked? "We want you there in a week" was the reply. I discovered a few days before I left that the job was actually in Daegu, another city in Korea, where I ended up staying a year and a half...

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It is my first day teaching at a Korean hakwan, or private academy. I am jetlagged from the trans-pacific flight.

There are Korean children sitting on the desks, frolicking in the teachers' room, playing soccer in the lobby, doing each other's hair, screaming at the top of their lungs, and generally having the time of their lives. I look to the other native English-speaking teacher who's been here four months, and raise my eyebrows. She laughs. "Don't worry, it gets easier..."

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I must admit my image of Korea was somewhat hazy before my visit. Wedged between its better known neighbors, China and Japan, Korea can sometimes get a bit of a raw deal when it comes to international recognition, but as a nation it's done very well for itself. To get noticed Korea relies on its 48 million strong population who have turned a poor agricultural backwater ravaged by war into a technological and industrial giant, with brand names known across the globe. Modern as Korea may seem, this is still a society with deep-rooted and age-old traditions, many of which are strongly connected to food, dining and food preparation. My mission was to undertake a journey to sample the many and varied delights of Korean cuisine across the country...

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"But, aren't you scared of the bombs and terrorists?" said my friend when I announced I was leaving my job in Korea to move to Indonesia. Unfortunately, this can be an all too familiar question when you announce to your friends or family that you are going to live and work in Indonesia. But, despite the dramatic travel warnings and negative press about the place, Indonesia really is a hidden gem and what's more, one which offers good wages and a high standard of living. I'd long wanted to visit this archipelago of 17,000 islands, filled as I was with images of Komodo Dragons, Sumatran jungles and exotic Balinese beaches. Even the names of the islands, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi conjured up images of adventure and opportunity...

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Indonesia, a country of around 250 million people in South East Asia, is abundant in natural beauty; soaring volcanoes, spectacular rice terraces, and some of the best diving in the world. Aside from the odd location in Bali and Java, the cities are of little interest for the passing tourist. For longer stays, being in a larger city with Western amenities makes some of these seemingly characterless cities a lot more attractive – especially when you develop a network of like-minded friends and have the ability to travel to some spectacular locations such as Mount Bromo. Indonesians are naturally curious about foreigners and will pay you a lot of attention – whether you are walking down the street or sipping a quiet beer in a bar. Most of the attention involves basic questions: “Where are you from?” “What do you think of Indonesia?” If you speak a smattering of Indonesian then you will be granted a certain degree of respect; you have made the effort and Indonesians will make the effort to understand even the most pigeon form of Indonesian...

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As you can expect from a nation of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a food lover's paradise. However, it is a relatively undiscovered region which forever lives under the gourmet shadow of its northern rivals: Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Most people if they have any notion of Indonesian cuisine at all may associate it with nasi goring (fried rice) or satay (meat cooked and presented on skewers with peanut sauce), but despite the fact that both of these can be delicious, it does a great disservice to an archipelago containing hundreds of different cultures and a wide range of flora and fauna. There has also been a long history of immigration and integration so Chinese cooking and influences are very strong as to a lesser extent are Indian and Arabic flavors. However, these influences and styles vary greatly across a country which stretches more than 2800 miles from Medan in Sumatra to Jayapura in Papua. For those who truly want a gastronomic tour with a difference though there can be few things more adventurous and intriguing than traveling through Indonesia's regions and sampling the different delights on offer...

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...It was only after I was on the bus back to Lhasa that I began to understand what I had just witnessed. These men had committed themselves to a sacred discipline that had existed in China since ancient times. They had spent their days in dark rooms lighting incense and reciting ancient chants. Yet they still yearned for knowledge of the outside world; they still desired to be a part of the great changes that were and still are occurring in their country. I realized that these monks were representative of a culture that is at once desperately fighting to hold on to its traditional roots, yet is eagerly welcoming modern ideas and technology. This paradoxical struggle has created a unique mix of the old and the new. This is China...

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The stark contrast in day-to-day life between Western countries and China is vastly greater than most foreigners can possibly imagine prior to actually living and working here. No matter how well-traveled Westerners might otherwise be, unless they have previously lived in mainland China for at least three months, they will experience varying degrees of culture shock that will require at least several months to acclimate to. This article will discuss the five most predominant adjustment issues faced by all foreigners during their initial stay in China with suggestions about how to either best mentally prepare for or safeguard against them...

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For those of you who are seriously considering teaching English in China for the first time, it is imperative that you choose your first school and teaching position very carefully as there are a myriad of traps and pitfalls that await those who are relatively naive. To help you make the best choice possible, this article will discuss the most salient issues you should consider when reviewing job advertisements and before applying for a position...

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The concept of "face," i.e., mianzi, is a very difficult one to explain in a few sentences. It is also impossible to discuss "face" without introducing the related concept of guanxi, i.e., "relationship" or social networking. Nevertheless, these two concepts, and how they are expressed in day-to-day life in China, are absolutely essential for foreigners to understand, prior to their arrival, if they are to avoid feeling insulted or disrespected.

From a Western perspective, it is very difficult to fully appreciate just how critically important the role of face is in the day-to-day lives of the Chinese. A recent study conducted by the China Youth Daily found that over 93% of the 1,150 respondents surveyed admitted that face is very important to them, with 75% acknowledging that making a mistake in public was, by far, the most humiliating experience they could ever have (Shan, 2005). In other words, most Chinese will do whatever they can to avoid looking bad in public and that often manifests itself in an unwillingness to openly admit to any wrongdoing, no matter how small or insignificant the error might have been. This phenomenon goes a long way in explaining, for example, why the vast majority of Chinese students are so reluctant to voluntarily participate in class or even during less formal activities such as English corners: The fear of making a mistake in front of others is just too overwhelmingly prohibitive...

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You wake to the throaty bark of burly herding dogs, and open your eyes to take in the sunlit, smoky interior of a large black tent. Your host coaxes you out of your down sleeping bag with a cup of steaming yak butter tea, and you gladly take a sip to ward off the chill. You pull on stiff boots, glad to find that a night piled close about a yak dung fire has evaporated all traces of yesterday's knee deep snow and left them blissfully dry. Pushing back the heavy door of the tent and emerging into the morning sun, you wonder what all those jaded backpackers you met in Lhasa were talking about when they announced so confidently that the real Tibet was gone forever...

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The Hilltribes of Northern Thailand are comprised of seven major tribes: The Karen, Hmong, Yao, Lahu, Lawa, Liso and the Akah. The descendants of the Hilltribe people migrated to the area from southern China approximately 100 years ago, and their way of life has changed very little despite a recent influx of tourism. The Hilltribe people are proud of their Chinese heritage, but also of their Thai nationality. Consequently in school the children learn in Thai in the morning and Chinese in the afternoon

Our tour with Intrepid begins with a night in Chiang Rai to organize trekking equipment and to visit a restaurant and information center called “The Cabbage and Condom.” As expected, an explanation of the bizarre restaurant name is quickly given by the guides. The Population and Community Development Association (known in the area as the PDA) use the restaurant as a not-for-profit venture with the profits from the tourist trade to provide support and information to local communities including the people from surrounding hill tribes... Read more...

So you’ve landed a job, your flight is booked. The apartment is provided and a representative of the school will be at the airport to pick you up. You have landed in a new country, culture, and job. Sure, you don’t speak the language, but you’ll get by. After all, work is work, right?  Wrong!

Working in Japan can be culturally and financially rewarding. However, while foreigners in Japan are not expected to know all the rules of social behavior, a few key rules can make things run much more smoothly.  For teachers holding an education degree or a B.A., without a proper understanding of the work ethic in their adopted homeland, time there will quickly devolve into far less than had been anticipated...

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Everyone knows the terracotta warriors, and for Xi'an that fame is something of a quandary. That's because tourists narrowly equate the city with the terracotta warriors, most of them spending just two days in Xi'an, thinking they have seen what the destination has to offer. Yet Xi'an has so much else-it gave birth to the Han culture, and sustained a bewildering array of empires-that even a week of furious sightseeing isn't enough to cover just the heavy-weight attractions. Add to this the new sights that are popping up yearly, mostly associated with the city's royal epochs, and you begin to realize that you don't know Xi'an at all, and that it might be well impossible to see everything in one visit. Below is a roundup of eminent attractions that will keep you busy for a week; some of these attractions are well-known, and they have to be seen, but some others are new attractions that few people know of — they are even overlooked by guidebooks...

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...After several years of traveling around the world, I decided it was time to give something back. I signed up with VFV (Volunteer for the Visayans) through a tour operator specializing in volunteer placements. There are numerous volunteer options, but VFV appeared to be exactly what I was looking for, so I enrolled. I have not regretted doing so for a moment...

...VFV was founded in 2004 by two Americans who lived in the area and wanted to do something for the community. Today it is a locally run, not for profit, NGO which focuses on placing international volunteers in community programs in and around Tocloban City, the capital of Leyte. Emphasis is placed on introducing volunteers to Filipino culture. Volunteers stay with local Filipino families in clean private rooms, with breakfast and dinner included — just don't expect hot water. The home stay experience truly constitutes immersion into the Filipino way of life...

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Towns are made of houses and streets. To get from one place to another, you either walk, or take a car. Rivers are crossed by bridges. Streets connect to other streets that connect to other towns. That is what I learned when I was a child. Back then, I couldn't imagine the counterpart. Had never been in a place that was based on a completely different concept. Had never been at a border where the street ended.

"To cross into Cambodia, you take the boat," the man in the Sawadee guesthouse in Trat says to me. "There is no bus?" I ask. He shakes his head, realizing that I still haven't got the point. "There is no street," he explains. I don't believe it. "How do people get from town to town then," I object. "They take the boat," he says, bringing us right back to the starting point of the conversation...

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