It’s rare that I will dig into a bowl of watery, bland soup here in the U.S. and I don’t harken back to happier times. Specifically, a certain afternoon in the bowels of Saigon sitting on a small, plastic chair chowing down on a freshly poured bowl of soup full [...]

One of the biggest adjustments I had to make when I moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after college was the idea that it is perfectly acceptable, expected even, to argue with a merchant about the price of their goods or services. It’s just a part of life. A [...]

I’m not a very touchy person. Hugs are reserved for good friends and family, and I can’t remember the last boyfriend whose hand I actually enjoyed holding. I’ll slap you a good ‘ol American high-five but please do not force me into the fashionable double-cheek kiss scenario. This preference for [...]

Good news Mr. and Mrs. I-haven’t-worn-pants-in-six-months, I-won’t-pay-more-than-one-dollar-for-lunch, that-street-vendor-won’t-get-away-with-charging-me-10%-more-than-the-locals, my-monthly-hostel-costs-equal-your-Netflix-fees, I’m-sick-of-Thailand-because-there-are-too-many-expats-like-myself-there backpacker in Asia, there’s going to be whole slew of new budget options for flights in the region coming up this year. As The WSJ is reporting, regional airliners including Cebu Air, Singapore Air, Tiger Airways, JetStar and AirAsia X [...]

Tam Coc, Vietnam (or as Lonely Planet dubs it, “Halong Bay on the rice paddies”), is named after the low caves that the Ngo Dong River flows, and which visitors are guided through, usually by a female rower. The longest, Hand Ca, is over 400 feet long, and is an [...]

Battambang, Cambodia’s second-largest city, is unfortunately overlooked by many travelers to the country. Given Battambang’s location about 5 hours west of Siem Reap, most people simply decide to head east instead, continuing on to Phnom Penh and then Vietnam (given the animosity between Thailand and Cambodia, traveling overland the other direction [...]

Southeast Asia is probably the best place in the world for your first extended backpacking trip. The food is delicious, the locals friendly, the beaches extraordinary, the accommodations well-established and the sites varied and unforgettable. You’re likely to return home with plenty of fond memories and incredible photos of Southeast [...]

With the end of Secretary of State Clinton’s historic visit to Myanmar (Burma) wrapping up last week — the first of any high-ranking official from the U.S. in 50 years — it’s safe to assume that a good portion of the millions of eyes that watched as Clinton toured Shwedegon [...]

Fresh from the crop of travel videes from our “Travel Videos” Vimeo group comes Asiantrip TV’s mini-epic from the Ha Long Bay portion of their trip in Southeast Asia. Yes, that is dreary fall outside your window you’re looking at. Yes, these French students are having way more fun than [...]

I’ve never been to Laos, but it seems like everyone who has inevitably spends some portion of their trip tubing in Van Vieng, a town in Vientiane Province that has begun to take on the dreaded moniker: “Backpacker Ghetto.” And when I hear this I ask why they ended up [...]