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resources

Time Traveler

LCC. low-cost carriers

JetStar Asia.  Hong Kong, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Taipei

Air Asia.  Domestic flights within Malaysia.  Departs

Tiger Airways.  Based in Singapore, but only flies out of Macau.  ASEAN travel through Thailand, Vietnam 

siem reap. cambodia

Sample Itinerary

Canby Publications guide.  Very comprehensive.

Pavillon Indochine.  11-room guesthouse with themed accommodations.  $33 for room with terrace

Visa Application.  $20 on arrival or at consulate:
General Consulate of Cambodia in China
Room No 3606 Singga
CC 144-151
Connaught Road West
Hong Kong, China Tel: (852) 2546 0718, 2362 3656
Fax: (852) 2803 0570
Email:cacghk@netvigator.com

15 minutes--HKD 200
Bring passport, copy, 2 photos
9-1 pm, 2-5pm M-F

Touch of Heaven.  Visaya Spa at the FCC.  USD 160 for four hours

Hot Air Balloon views of Ankor Wat. $11

Seeing Hands Massage.  $4/hour.  Given by the blind.

Tourist Training Center for lunch or afternoon tea.

Phnom Kulen riverbed carvings

Dining: Madame Butterfly (in a Khmer house), Khmer Kitchen, Red Piano (Western food, where Tomb Raider was filmed, balcony seating), Dead Fish Tower (multimedia dining setting on river tables), The Blue Pumpkin (happening Bed Supper Club scene)

yunnan province. china

Sample Itinerary

SHANGHAI, China

Economist City Guide.  Business-oriented for Shanghai

Captain's Hostel.  Reminiscent of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zisou

Shanghai, a Far East Feast.  Article from NYTimes on Shanghai dining

City Weekend.  Entertainment magazine

USA Today.  Guide

Indoor Skiing.  Snow-maker indoors

Time Magazine.  Feature cover on Shanghai

Business Beijing Online

Shanghart Art Gallery

GREEN MASSAGE An affordable place that boasts some of the best traditional acupressure treatments

NIGHTLIFE

COTTON CLUB Blues after 9 pm

Art House.  Underground Chinese rock bands.  Check out the Honeys

House of Blues and Jazz Sunday night jams

Hanzhou Gardens with Dragon Well tea

Train Travel in China.  Comprehensive guide of timetables, fares, and basics

Dining: M on the Bund (terrace tea), Nan Xiang (xiao lung bao),

Malaysia--Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Langkawi, Taman Negara

vietnam

Hilltribe trek and homestay in Sapa

Halong Bay with sidetrip to Cac Ba

Tam Coc (from Ninh Binh), the Halong Bay of rice paddies.  Boat via the Ngo Dong River

Hue Perfume River Cruises to visit Royal Tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda

Hoi An Old Town
    Cooking lessons at Hai's Scout Cafe or Mermaid Restaurant

 Mui Ne sand sledding
    Bike to see the sights

Fly to Phu Quoc Island

Phu Quoc Island

No go:

Da Lat
    Canyoning with waterfall abseils 22 USD
Nha Trang.  Did we go here last time we went to Vietnam?

Mekong Delta
Bus HCMH - My Tho 2 hours (10,000 d)
Ferry to Ben Tre - 30 minutes
Can Tho floating markets

Vietnam Consulate 15/F Great Smart Tower, 230 Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong 25914510, 25914517

BANGKOK
Thonglor
The definition of Thai Modern (known here as 'dern)

THE SCENE Humid sidewalks heaving with satay hawkers quickly give way to steel-and-glass shopping developments teeming with music executives, models both foreign and Thai, and body-conscious youth. As recently as 2003, this corner of Bangkok was mostly residential; a couple of decades ago, there were rice paddies steps away. But the opening of H1 (998 Sukhumvit Soi 55; 66-2/714-9578), a striking Modernist reimagining of the mini-mall designed by starchitect Duangrit Bunnag two years back, ushered in a quirky collection of locally owned boutiques that are now drawing a steady stream of customers, who arrive via the newly extended underground system.
THE EPICENTER In the skylit central hall of Playground! (818 Sukhumvit Soi 55; 66-2/714-7888), shoppers lie for hours on yellow, green, and blue beanbags beneath a giant hot-pink dinosaur as DJ's spin lounge and ambient music. The open-plan space has racks of small-run, cultish Thai labels like the unisex clothing line Sunshine Headquarter, the bohemian Rabbit Habit, and ethnic Kit-Ti jewelry. On the top floor, there's even Planet 2001—a shop that sells contemporary furniture made from water hyacinths. You could spend days in this place, and many people do.
SHOPPING H1's shops and restaurants are best visited at night, when the buildings are illuminated. Eclectic outlets run the gamut: GEO (66-2/381-4324) displays house and garden gadgets, handmade picture frames, and leather binders—most of them chosen by celebrated editor Sakchai Guy; Basheer Graphic Books (66-2/391-9815) is a top-shelf design bookstore; To Die For (66-2/381-4714; dinner for two $49), owned by fashion designer Bhanu Inkawat, has become the city's hottest table. Late-night (and daylight) browsing is also possible at the recently opened shopping center J Avenue (323/1 Sukhumvit Soi 55; 66-2/381-3218), which has every kind of boutique—along with a handful of see-and-be-seen cafés.
NIGHTLIFE Face (29 Sukhumvit Soi 38; 66-2/713-6048) is the only address you need to know for a night out. Strewn with opium beds and veiled in dusky, sensual light, the bar is an ideal prelude to the northern-Indian restaurant within, Hazara (dinner for two $35). If you have the energy after one of Hazara's filling dishes of pomfret curry, hit the dance floor of the hip-hop club Escudo (289/1 Sukhumvit Soi 55; 66-2/712-5335) after midnight. For a sweeter nightcap, head to Buono Gelato Italian (5 Sukhumvit Soi 63; 66-2/662-0415) to sample tropical sorbets, or stop by J Avenue's Greyhound Café (66-2/712-6547; dinner for two $15), where high-society wives and film stars gossip over spaghetti stir-fried with Thai anchovies, chiles, and holy basil.

SHANGHAI
Julu Road
A new-world spin on Old Shanghai

THE SCENE In the twenties and thirties, before the rise of Communism, Julu Road was known as Rue Bâtard—an address highly sought after for its stone row houses and its gardens, which you can still glimpse near the corner of Hanshan Road. The strip fell into disrepair as Shanghai slumped through the eighties; until just a year ago, it was best known for the beer-soaked girlie bars—which are finally being pushed out, one by one. Restaurateurs, besotted with the magnificent buildings, are now luring architects, creative media types, and an increasingly diverse group of foreigners to this burgeoning restaurant row, which has helped spark Julu's second golden age.
THE EPICENTER Weekend brunches at Mesa (748 Julu Rd.; 86-21/6289-9108; brunch for two $36) have become an institution, thanks to the terraced outdoor seating (reserve a week in advance). Black-clad Chinese women and expats crowd the former bank cafeteria for Steve Baker's daily-made sausages and eggs Benedict. After hours, the adjoining Manifesto Bar (748 Julu Rd.; 86-21/ 6289-9108) pours Shanghai's best caipirinhas in a warm space with lipstick-red walls and banquettes.
RESTAURANTS Julu Road's ethnic diversity is best experienced through its food. Rich clove-infused curries, a Himalayan answer to gougères (Burgundian cheese puffs), and a mutton-and-chile stir-fry are the signature dishes at Nepali Kitchen (819 Julu Rd.; 86-21/5404-6281; dinner for two $40). Spicy noodles and galangal-scented Thai curries are presented in a leafy garden at Coconut Paradise (38 Fumin Rd.; 86-21/6248-1998; dinner for two $45), and fiery Hunan cuisine draws an A-list crowd to Guyi (87 Fumin Rd.; 86-21/6249-5628; dinner for two $20). Perhaps the most memorable spaces in the area are Shintori Null 2 (803 Julu Rd.; 86-21/ 5404-5252; dinner for two $65), a Japanese food palace with soaring ceilings, and People's 7 (805 Julu Rd.; 86-21/5404-0707), the glass-encased bar next door that looks out on an enclosed bamboo garden.
SHOPPING Spin (758 Julu Rd., Bldg. 3, first floor; 86-21/6279-2545) sells the same Japanese-inspired earthenware that gives Shintori Null 2's table settings such a distinctive minimalist style. The well-edited textiles at Brocade Country (616 Julu Rd.; 86-21/6279-2677) are dyed with indigo and have simple graphic patterns; they're made by the Miao people in Guizhou province.
PAMPERING Hidden among nameless boutiques peddling vintage silk qipao you'll find Magpie (685 Julu Rd.; 86-21/5404-3867). Try to time your aromatherapy massage or Chinese pedicure so that you emerge from the salon at sunset, when the street lanterns shine on the Parisian-style plane trees and dim yellow lights flicker in the pre-war brick apartment buildings.  

This spectacular natural playground offers a full range of outdoor activities.

The most perfectly preserved historic town in all Southeast Asia, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A major Viet Minh headquarters during the Indochina Wars, with limestone karst scenery reminiscent of Chinese paintings.

One of the world's great archeological mysteries: hundreds of ancient giant stone urns scattered across the Xiang Khouang Plateau.

Vang Vieng Experience (1 day kayaking and caving)

Opium