Asia

The red on the thermometer crept past 30°C. In Chiang Mai, temperatures remain volatile, chilly in the morning and sweltering by afternoon. I was in an air-conditioned restaurant and had a bowl of khao soi before me, its turmeric-gold broth steaming a rich coconut bisque. The chanting of monks from the nearby temples, fading in and out in an ethereal cadence, was backdropped by the tinkle of the wind chimes.

America has a heartland. So does the Philippines. It has 7,600 islands organized into three major island groups, with the midlands comprising the welcoming Visayas region. My ninth trip there delivered an adventurous medley of down-to-earth pensions, a luxe island resort, and a perfect lifestyle mix of everything in between. I explored six different islands where one tune always sings true: this getaway means hospitality on steroids.

A lifeline uniting six countries, the Mekong River flows from the Himalayas through Southeast Asia. Beginning in Tibet, it traverses China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam en route to the broad South China Sea. For thousands of years, the fabled thoroughfare has provided a connection for merchants and traders from China to Southeast Asia.

Dharavi, in central Mumbai, is considered one of the largest slums in Asia, but deep within this neighborhood, below the shanty grey roofs, loosely comprised of scavenged, upcycled metal, lives a resourceful and innovative community that plays an imperative role in Mumbai’s city-wide waste management.

The Maldives islands are home to more than a thousand coral reefs, vibrant ecosystems that provide a home for marine life.

Over four years in the early 1970s, Cambodia, a Southeast Asian country now frequented by backpacking tourists, faced one of the worst human atrocities imaginable-- a state-sponsored genocide wiping out one-third of the nation’s population.

Although dwarfed by Manila’s staggering 28 million people, Cebu City, the second largest urban center, and its one million proud citizens, have something to say about what’s cool in the Philippines.

For Muslims around the world, and Sumatra in particular, Ramadan is a special time. It’s a holy month of fasting, introspection, and praying.

The Esplanade in Penang, Malaysia, is a historic seafront promenade that defines the character of the city's colonial past. A long granite seawall spans from the whitewashed Neo-Classical City Hall from one end to the cannon-bastioned Fort Cornwallis at the other.

It is 5:30 in the morning. Shawn leaves his home on a bike, pedaling toward a horizon painted in dusky orange, just minutes before sunrise. The only sound that awakens the silence comes from the soft clinking of the bike chain. He steers the handlebars toward a trailhead where his group of fellow walkers awaits. Every Saturday, the group meets to explore Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, on foot. A group made up of foreigners and locals, they share one thing in common: the love of being outdoors and building community. They call themselves “Dili Saturday Walkers.”

Baguio is a mountain town located on the pine-dotted plateau of the Cordillera Administrative Region in northern Luzon, Philippines. I took a weekend jaunt to Baguio from Manila. After nearly six hours northbound, the bus started ascending through the mountain loops. Outside my bus window, the sun-drenched plains reeled away into ranks of tapering pines, and the sweltering heat dissipated into cooler mountain air.

In the past few years, the term "immersive art experience" has been applied a bit too liberally, to abandoned convention centers and malls with famous artists' work projected onto blank walls. Van Gogh, Picasso, and Monet all got this special treatment, where visitors could walk amongst the moving images, popularized after appearing in a 2020 Netflix series. You couldn’t open Instagram without seeing people you knew posing in front of one of the works around the United States. But art isn’t just meant to be seen. It is also meant to be experienced, felt, and participated in. One gallery in particular has inspired a wave of others.