Thailand has many Buddhist festivals throughout the year, but some of the most interesting for visitors to the country to experience are the colourful candle festivals held at the start of the annual rains retreat. The parades are held on both city streets and waterways and feature the transportation of candles to the temples ranging from individual offerings in floral displays up to massive wax carvings on motorised floats that take up to a year to make.
Bangkok is one of those cities to which travellers return many times. If you’ve done the Grand Palace, the Temple of Dawn and the floating markets on previous trips, and shopped until you dropped at MBK and CentralWorld, then it’s time to slow down the pace and savour the many other attractions that Bangkok has to offer. Here are eight places and experiences you should include on your next visit to the Thai capital.
Paintings make great souvenirs to bring home from a trip to Asia. They not only serve as a reminder of places that you’ve visited, but will look great on the walls of your home. Original paintings may appreciate in value and are a better buy than reproductions. Our guide to buying art in Asia tells you where the best places are to buy original paintings, how to transport your paintings home, and where to see the best art if you aren’t in the mood to buy yet.
Asia is one of two continents where there is a higher risk of contracting rabies than elsewhere in the world. Rabies is a serious disease because it is almost always fatal if not treated. Therefore it is important for travellers to know how transmission can occur and what action to take in the event that they come into contact with a rabid animal. If promptly treated, rabies is 100 percent curable.
There are only 10 countries in Asia that allow travellers to use camera drones without a permit. In about 20 others, the process of acquiring permits ranges from relatively easy to extremely hard. In many others, recreational flying of drones is banned. Even in countries where drones are permitted, there are many no-fly zones and regulations that have to be followed. Penalties for breaching drone laws can be heavy fines or even imprisonment. This article summarises where you can and cannot fly drones in Asia.
There are many different tropical fruits available from markets and street stalls throughout Asia. Not all of them may be familiar to visitors from other parts of the world because some tropical fruits do not travel well, so are only readily available in the countries where they are grown. Travellers should therefore try to sample local fruits that are in season whenever the opportunity arises. Here are six of our “must try” fruits for visitors to the region.
Asian countries comprise the majority of the countries on which travellers are searching for information online. That may come as no surprise given the diversity of the continent and the large number of year-round holiday destinations. But what may be a surprise are the names of the countries that are showing the biggest increases in interest. They are not all ones you might expect!
The three historic Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley offer visitors a journey into the heart of Nepal’s heritage. They contain many of country’s finest temples, both Hindu and Buddhist, along with centuries-old royal palaces. Despite being badly damaged in the 2015 earthquake, the squares remain full of atmosphere, and of buildings that retain the power to dazzle any visitor.
Thailand is well known for its luxury spas and beach resorts, and now many of these are competing with India offering high quality yoga and meditation retreats. Our yoga expert takes a look at what is on offer from Phuket in the south up to Chiang Mai in the north, and recommends five of the best — two in the luxury category, two mid-range resorts and one that will appeal to the budget traveller.
Jewel Changi Airport is Singapore’s latest attraction. A huge glass and steel dome, it’s designed to add to the Changi experience and increase visitor numbers, with its remarkable indoor waterfall, entertainment areas, shops, gardens and over 100 eateries. We take a look at what Jewel has to offer senior travellers.
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu is well known for its white beaches and historic temples. Being a Hindu pilgrimage town, it receives a large number of domestic tourists, but it’s also a popular inclusion on South India tour itineraries for international visitors. A local travel expert recommends the top 5 places to see in Rameswaram for senior travellers.
Singapore may be one of Asia’s wealthiest and most advanced countries but it has taken care to preserve memories of its colourful past as a British colony. This is particularly true of the pivotal role it played in World War II. Older travellers with an interest in history are likely to find a visit to the country’s only surviving coastal fort, Fort Siloso, absorbing. Built on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, the fort is today a military museum focusing on the tumultuous events of the war.
It’s always enjoyable to do something new in a city you’ve visited before. This is especially true when it offers the opportunity to get out of the city centre and travel into the surrounding countryside. One such attraction in Nepal is the Chandragiri Hills cable car on the outskirts of Kathmandu, which opened in 2016.
Visiting the colourful provincial festivals in the Philippines can be a stressful experience for senior travellers because of the distance, heat, crowds and noise. But there is one festival close to Manila that can be enjoyed at a more leisurely pace, and still offers all the elements of the larger ones — colour, tradition, culture and local foods to sample.
India has hundreds of trekking destinations from the Himalayas in the north to the bottom end of the Western Gnats in the south, but not all are suitable for older travellers. Manmohan Singh describes his five favourites that are ideal for over-50s and other travellers who like to do their trekking at a slower pace.
The fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on 15 April 2019 has revived memories of how accidents and natural disasters have devastated sacred buildings in other countries. We take a look at similar tragedies in Asian countries, and how the authorities have handled them.
