War and civil strife made Vietnam impenetrable for decades. Tragically, a country rich in culture and history, propitious geography and climate and profuse natural resources lay dormant. In the aftermath of the American withdrawal and subsequent, necessary adjustment period, transformative, hyperkinetic change has come to Vietnam in relative short order and, indeed, to the rest … More

Has another country had more positive PR in recent times than Singapore? A pocket rocket of a city-state, the tip of the Malay Peninsula enjoys strong political and economic ententes with all the global big boys, from China and Japan to the European Union and the United States. The Singapore Model has become the envy … More

If coaxed to pick one metropolis, just one, to serve as a poster child for urban drive and vigour, which city would you deign to choose over Tokyo? The prodigious capital of Japan takes on all comers and challengers and deftly flicks them aside (metaphorically and in our humble opinion, of course). A Godzilla of … More

Ah, the night market. A wonderful, inclusive tradition in East and Southeast Asia that strikes a singular zenith in the Republic of China. Indeed, one can confidently assert that no other country ritualises night markets quite like Taiwan. As a first-time visitor to the island, it is common for locals to beseech you with invitations … More

Singapore is a spectacular 9 to 5 city that moves, in no small part, at the behest of the business and finance turbo engine economy. The pocket city-state, however, has had a wild side going all the way back to the high seas swashbuckler era of yore. Today, of course, Singapore’s after-midnight ways correspond directly … More

Choose a city that best defines China’s lustful embrace of rampant state-run capitalism. Has to be Shanghai, no? Well, allow us to make the case for Shenzhen, the Pearl River Delta Special Economic Zone poster city. Not so long ago, in 1982, Shenzhen was a backwater with 350,000 people – tiny by urban China’s standards. … More