It’s been more than two years since our first episode went live on June 11, 2014 and we’re suddenly at our 50th episode of Talk Travel Asia podcast! It’s been a ton of fun thinking of topics to cover and share, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the ride as much as we have. To mark our 50th episode, we’re going to share 50 Things We Love About Traveling in Asia. The categories will be broad, responses at times surprising, and we guarantee there are a few things in here you’ll want to try. Thanks for listening and celebrating 50 episodes with us!

Favorite Food

1- Scott: Pho, Vietnam

2- Trevor: Agree: the food. Asia has such diversity. Every time I went back to Vietnam, I discovered something amazing. Vietnamese menus are like Thai ones: you could eat at the same restaurant once a week and order a different dish every visit for a year. One thing I can eat almost every day? Thai pad krapao.

3 -S: Rendang Curry, Java, Indonesia

4 – T: Weird foods: I ate a tarantula in Cambodia!

Transportation

5 – S: Ramork, Cambodia

6 – T: Local transportation options. There are so many different types of “tuk tuk” – I love riding public transportation simply because it’s the best way to interact with locals. But I also love riding on different types of busses, in the back of (or on top of) different trucks, etc. etc.

7 – S: Royal Enfield motorcycle, Nepal

8 – T: Longtail boats: they’re like water taxis in Thailand. You can cruise from beach to beach on Lanta and other islands, suh as taking a tour around Koh Tao…

Episodes of Talk Travel Asia Podcast

9 – S: Episode 37: Trekking Asia’s Tea Trails with Jeff Fuchs

10 – T: Episode 17: Favorite Watering Holes of Asia, which we recorded at the Foreign Correspondents club in Phnom Penh. Always fun to do shows on location.

11 – S: Special Episode: Traveling Nepal, Post-Earthquake with Mads Mathiasen

12 – T: Episode 13: Tantalizing Travel Tales: always fun to relive some of the best adventures and I think our first of these was one of our best.

History

13 – S: Chao Phraya River from Ayutthaya to Bangkok – then Mae Khlong River and area

14 – T: Khmer but really the whole region: these are fascinating cultures that have evolved over millennia and most of them we didn’t learn very much about in North American schools.

Wildlife

15 – T: Dugong – there are lots of exotic animals that are indigenous to Asia unlike any we have back home and lots of opportunities to experience them, either in their natural habitats or at wildlife preserves and even in everyday life, such as the water buffalo, one of my personal favorites: I’ve been paid to ride water buffalo twice!

16 – S: Semenggoh Wildlife Center, 24km from Kuching, Borneo Malaysia.

Meeting Others

17 – T: For my birthday every year (for many years) I used to travel to a place I’ve never been: in part for some recon, so that my next visit there would flow a bit more smoothly, but also simply to make new friends. Check into a backpacker, meet the other guests, and then hit the town and have a great time. Many people I’ve met on those trips continue to be active friends.

18 – S: Night in Phnom Penh during a travel conference in about 2009, went to Kingdom Brewery, met Zana, some others, pub, Nick Ray’s, then a big dance at a hotel.

Islands – Beaches

19 – S: Tha Kieb, Hua Hin

20  T: There are so many islands in Asia, it would be impossible to visit them all. But I’ve been making pretty good progress over the years, trying to discover up-and-coming destinations, like Malaysia’s Perhentian Islands, which I visited back in 1996. I even enjoy revisiting the most popular ones, like Thailand’s Koh Samui, which I also first went to in ‘96 and have been back to more than a dozen times, each time discovering new reasons to enjoy them. As I’ll soon be moving to Bali, I’m looking forward to exploring more of Indonesia’s 17000 islands soon.

21 – S: Ko Samet, Thailand.

22 – T: Dream Beach, Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia

Places to Drink

23 – S: Cheap Charlie’s, Bangkok

24 – T: Impossible to pick faves here: how about rooftop bars – Bangkok has some great ones, we hit one in KL together, Singapore has great one on Marina Bay, even Cambodia. Recently went to Skye in Jakarta. Always love a drink with a view.

25 – S: Upstairs Bar, Kathmandu

26 – T: Beachside anywhere, but the bars above Uluwatu in Bali are great: Single Fin, Edge, Delphi, also Potato Head pool bar in Seminyak is great too. Lots of good beach bars to choose from all around Asia.

27 – S: Smith St. Taps, Singapore

28 – T: Anywhere there’s craft beer: we didn’t have it here for soooo long aside from maybe Bier hoi in Vietnam. Now the craft beer revolution has finally occurred in Asia and home brewing is really taking off in Thailand too.

Places to Relax

29 – S: Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Rai, Thailand

30 – T: Bottle Beach on the north shore of Koh Phangan in Thailand was a fave for a while.

31 – S: Galle, Sri Lanka

32 – T: Luang Prabang was often one of my fave relaxing places in the world.

Walks/Hikes/Bike Rides

33 – S: Paths around downtown Singapore – Barrage, Marina Bay Sands, Clarke Quay, F1 venue, National Indoor Stadium

34 – T: l love cruising on a bike around Luang Prabang, Laos.

35 – S: Atop the wall of Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

36 – T: I love the walk from Bingin to Dreamland beaches on the Bali Bukit for a body surf and a beer. Make sure you get back before high tide.

Places to be in the Water

37 – S: Mirrisa, Sri Lanka

38 – T: Nusa Lembongan, Bali is one of my fave places to surf, snorkel, jump off the cliff at Nusa Cenningan…

39 – S: Mekong River, Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai

40 – T: I also love doing midnight swims: Golden Buddha Beach on Koh Phra Tong, Ranong Thailand was the last best place. Sooo private. Great for skinny-dipping.

Monuments

41 – S: Independence Monument, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

42 – T: Angkor. Obvs. I like Angkor Wat pre-sunrise or sunset when I can have it all to myself.

43 – S: Saigon Opera House, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

44 – T: Sukhotai, Bagan…the ancient cities

Trinkets/Souvenirs

45: – S: I’m usually not a souvenir guy and this is terrible, but I’ve always had a weakness for those plates with your photo on them.

46: – T: Buying from local artisans: I like buying things from the villages where they are made. Scarves on Mekong Island outside Phnom Penh or the marble Buddha I have from Pursat, Cambodia are great.

Place to Sleep

47 – S: In a tent on any mountainside in Nepal during a full-service supported trek.

48 – T: I love the wooden huts: the old-school style bungalows, especially on the beaches but also in the boutique resorts: I stayed in a 100 year old Javanese bridal suite at Bambu Indah in Ubud, Bali: really special.

Best Whatever

49 – S: I love dirt biking in Chiang Rai province

50 – T: Discovering new islands: Koh Tao Thailand back in the day and Koh Rong Cambodia not long ago were epic; more recently is was Trang and Ranong Provinces: Koh Ra and Koh Phra Tong, Thailand were two of my new discoveries, Koh Phayam is already starting to take off so… always looking for new areas to explore: Myanmar has lots to discover…

See a Photo Gallery of pictures from this episode!

To learn more about Scott & Trevor:

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• Scott’s Blog
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