Asia

Does Boracay Live Up To The Hype?

January 12, 2011 by Robert Schrader 11 Comments

Like so many of the developing world’s previously well-kept secrets, this sandcastle island of Boracay in the Philippines calls into question the extent to which a cool place stays cool once uncool people make a habit of going there.

WWII History in Corregidor Island, Philippines

January 10, 2011 by Robert Schrader 8 Comments

About 28 miles from the Philippine capital at the mouth of Manila Bay sits Corregidor, a tadpole-shaped island that was the last Allied holdout in the Pacific during World War II–and yet strangely, has gone all-but-unmentioned in film and television productions commemorating the conflict.

A Lake Inside a Volcano Inside a Lake

January 5, 2011 by Robert Schrader 9 Comments

If you mention the world “Ta’al” to a Filipino, the first image to pops into his mind will likely be that of an active volcano just south of Manila. The second — if there is one — is a town with the same name and charm.

Manila’s Many Faces

January 3, 2011 by Robert Schrader 7 Comments

Thanks to the many flags that have flown over it, Manila possesses a complex charm that calls to mind every period of its long history.

Mandalay’s Crown Jewels

December 30, 2010 by Robert Schrader 16 Comments

A trio of dazzling hamlets–one a hillside studded with pagodas, the next an ancient settlement with its very own “leaning tower” and the third a monastic base with an eponymous, ramshackle bridge–awaits you just an hour outside Mandalay.

Machismo, Gold and Grit

December 26, 2010 by Robert Schrader 9 Comments

The swanky Las Vegas hotel which apparently lifts its name from Mandalay will be the furthest thing from your mind as your vehicle pulls in.

Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda

December 22, 2010 by Robert Schrader 6 Comments

Around 500 years before a certain Messianic baby was born somewhere in the Middle East, legend has it that two Burmese merchants visited India, gave the Buddha honey cakes and took a few of his hairs back with them. Their reward? A 30-story, solid gold pagoda.