Wow – 100 episodes! When we started this podcast, with our first episode on June 11, 2014, we didn’t envision hitting 100 episodes nearly 5 years later. Asia’s been home to us for 37-collective years, we’ve had a ton of incredible experiences, from jobs to travel and even marriage. Join us as we celebrate hitting the big 1-0-0 by sharing 100 Things We Love About Asia.
China has the world’s largest population, is the fourth largest in terms of physical size, and as a result has an incredibly wide variety of environments to explore. On this episode of Talk Travel Asia podcast we’ll dive into traveling China, a country we haven’t covered very much on our podcast, focusing on the northwestern region of Xinjiang. An American living in the region, who has written a travel book and hosts a YouTube show about the area’s exotic offering, will give us a unique insider’s perspective and hopefully pique your interest about this relatively unexplored corner of the People’s Republic of China. Continue reading
Dolphins on the Irrawaddy River: Photo courtesy of Paul Eshoo – Living Irrawaddy Dolphin Project
This week’s episode of Talk Travel Asia podcast is about Rock Climbing in Asia. Sometimes when we go on holiday we like to participate in an activity we enjoy doing at home. Sometimes that’s even the entire point of traveling to a certain place such as a liveaboard scuba trip in the Philippines or a skiing trip to Japan. We’ve done a few episodes on sports-travel in Asia over the years: kayaking along the west coast of Thailand, hiking and mountain biking in Hong Kong, trekking and mountain climbing in the Himalayas, and even skiing in Iran. Today we’re going to talk about rock climbing: an activity that’s quite popular here in Asia, both as something to try out when you’re on holiday as well as an activity that can be a destination in itself.
Myanmar is a country steeped in mystery and controversy. More or less closed to the outside world for 50 years by a military government, it opened up in 2012 and looked like it would soon become SE Asia’s hottest travel destination. It did take off, but hotel prices went through the roof, many people began to question the value of the rising cost of travel there, numbers tapered off, then the Rohingya crisis kicked off, seeing tourism numbers plunge by at least 40% in 2018. Whether or not you should travel to Myanmar is something we’ll leave to you to decide, and instead focus on our travel experiences to three of the country’s hotspots: Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake.
On this episode of Talk Travel Asia podcast, we’ll talk about one of our favorite areas in all of SE Asia – southern Laos – specifically the ancient Khmer temple of Vat Phou and 4,000 Islands, near the border with Cambodia. Laos, a country of 5.5-million, landlocked, and sandwiched between China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is little-known to most travelers. Sure, they’ve heard the name, but don’t know much about what it has to offer, or for that matter, often where exactly on the map it’s located. In a day and age when over-tourism is becoming a problem at many traditional sites and countries, now is a great time to strike out from the masses and discover this charming land-locked nation. Continue reading
Cambodia has emerged in the last decade as a popular travel destination for foreign travelers. Once viewed by many tourists as simply a quick extension trip from a neighboring country to see the incredible temples of Angkor, it’s now rightfully seen as a destination unto itself, worthy of an entire vacation. Its capital, Phnom Penh, is a fun, vibrant Asian city, the temples around Angkor stunning, and the hilltribe communities in the NE are intriguing, but the missing ingredient until recently has been the beach.
This Talk Travel Asia podcast features two experts on Tented Camps, a unique accommodation option for getting up close and personal with the great outdoors while traveling in Asia: Episode 81: Tented Camps in Asia with John Roberts and Marius Hermann.
Trevor kicks off this episode of Talk Travel Asia, Almost Asia! Hawaii for First Time Visitors explaining that “Hawaii lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and, while Scott and I have pretty extensive knowledge of the area, we haven’t done an episode on the islands as they are not officially part of ‘Asia’. That said, Hawaii is not really part of the Americas either; it lies within what is considered the Asia-Pacific Region, which is apt as Hawaii has strong Asian influences, including large populations of Filipinos, Chinese, and Japanese, who, over the centuries, have contributed diverse cultural influences to the islands from food to language to clothing (read Trevor’s History of the Hawaiian Aloha Shirt). Throw in a large number of Asian visitors and you realize that Hawaii is as “Asian” as it is anything else. So, kick back, crack open a cold coconut porter and enjoy an episode about my favorite place in the world, the islands of Hawai’i.” Continue reading
We’ve been lucky to travel quite a bit, and continue to do so. Between Trevor and I we usually end up in 10-plus countries in a year. Last year was quite a bit more. And, just like you, we’re getting older, one day at a time. While reminiscing over a couple cold beer about trips we’ve enjoyed, we decided it was time to share a few of our noteworthy Asian trips that still resonate. So, buckle in, and get ready to travel with us on Our Favorite Asian Adventures.
Travel, as we say in our intro, is one of life’s great pleasures. But with visiting other countries comes waste we generate and impact as guests. As more and more people have the means to travel, the stress on communities and countries is growing. If destinations are to remain pristine, beautiful and worth visiting, travelers and those working in tourism are going to have to make some adjustments to preserve the places we love. On this episode we’ll chat about practical travel issues and ways you as a traveler can reduce your footprint and impact.
On episode 72 of Talk Travel Asia podcast, Northern Myanmar with Nick Ray, Scott and Trevor talk with Lonely Planet author Nick Ray about his recent explorations of the northern regions of Myanmar for a new version of the Lonely Planet Myanmar guidebook.