Southeast Asia travel guide

Southeast Asia

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This peninsula makes it easy to explore each unique culture and country.

Mist rising from ancient temples in the jungle, rain-soaked colonial towns with rickshaws, dirt-cheap bowls of noodles slurped on tiny stools - plus an endless choice of white-sand beaches and turquoise-blue water. Southeast Asia is no secret, but that doesn't mean you can't find your own piece of paradise. Many first-timers use Bangkok as a hub - with its glittering gold temples, floating markets, and super-spicy food. Looming north and northwest is classic Indochina and great Mekong River travels - through slow-to-stir Laos, Cambodia's Angkor Wat (recently seen in Tomb Raider) and Vietnam's rice paddies and postwar towns busy outgrowing communism. To the northwest is enigmatic Myanmar, which feels like stepping 50 years back (at least). South of Thailand, buses and planes stop off at techno-driven beach parties and wind up in more conservative Malaysia and Singapore. Reachable by ferry to the south are Indonesia's beaches in Bali and the ancient stupas of Borobudur. It takes a flight to reach remote mountain villages and islands of the Philippines. Give it a month, a year -- or longer. Some travelers find jobs and never leave.

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