Movies can do that magical thing of transporting us to another part of the world. As children, movies shape our opinion of a far-away destination, its people, geography, customs and food. As adults, movies often inspire us, whetting our appetite to travel somewhere or perhaps scaring us off that destination entirely. As we did several episodes earlier, discussing books about Asia that influenced our impressions of the region, on this episode we’ll chat about some noteworthy and most memorable movies about Asia or set in Asia. Get your popcorn ready!

Ep. 164: Interesting Movies About Asia

Experiencing wildlife in Asia is one of the world's great natural adventures. Few countries can compete with Indonesia for its diversity of terrain, flora, and fauna that thrive on soaring volcanoes, sandy beaches, humid jungles, and everything in between. Today we’re going to chat with travel journalist and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Mark Eveleigh, about what Indonesia has to offer those in search of wildlife and how to best approach this sort of trip.

Ep. 165: Planning an Indonesia Wildlife Experience with Mark Eveleigh

One of the best features of traveling in Asia is the broad variety of transport options that exist. From private cars, to motorbikes, planes, trains, and of course buses – Asia is one of the easiest continents to get around. Buses play an integral role in most journeys, from getting to and from an airport, sightseeing within a city, or moving between cities and provinces, buses can be one of your fastest and most affordable options. On this episode, we’ll cultivate our many, many years traveling Asia by bus, share some memorable stories, tips, and hopefully help to ensure you use buses to their fullest on your next journey to the region.

Ep. 166: Asian Bus Adventures

Some people travel to relax, unwind, and forget about the trials and tribulations of everyday life; some travel to expand their knowledge of the world; and others travel to make a contribution to the destination, or at least maximize the positive impact of travel while minimizing the negative impacts on local cultures, the environment, and economy. We’ve touched on the topic of responsible tourism a number of times on the show; but today we’ll talk about Environmental Educational Tourism and the impact tourism and tourism revenue has on the local people, their environment, and the regional economy, particularly in Khao Sok, Thailand, where our guests, Marius Herman and Mike Horrocks are working to turn tourism into a beneficial experience for everyone involved.

Ep. 169: Environmental Educational Tourism & Khao Sok

Everyone poops. There’s a book about it. Here in Siem Reap, Cambodia, there’s a blog that will direct you to the best nearby public toilet (which, incidentally is the preferred English word for a bathroom in Asia). Most people don’t plan their holidays around their trips to the toilet, but the experience is undoubtedly, and not always pleasantly, an unavoidable experience on every trip to Asia. Today, we’re going to share some of our experiences, offer a few tips to help you navigate the water closets of Asia, and hopefully give you a good laugh in the process.

Ep. 172: Asian Toilet Stories

Sandwiched in between Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Cambodia, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is one of SEA’s most lesser known tourist destinations. Landlocked, mostly mountainous, with rivers and waterfalls nearly everywhere in between, Laos is most famous for its natural beauty and friendly, laid-back locals. For those who may have heard a bit about it or have traveled there before, the mystical ancient capital of Luang Prabang or the rubber-tube river rafting party town of Vang Vieng spring to mind. But to those who listen to the show, you already know there’s so much more. We’ve covered a number of great destinations in Laos before, but today we’re going deeper, exploring Lesser Known Laos with Jason Rolan.

Ep. 171: Lesser Known Laos with Jason Rolan Pt. 1

Part 2 of our conversation with Jason Rolan - Sandwiched in between Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Cambodia, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is one of SEA’s most lesser known tourist destinations. Landlocked, mostly mountainous, with rivers and waterfalls nearly everywhere in between, Laos is most famous for its natural beauty and friendly, laid-back locals.

Ep. 173: Lesser Known Laos with Jason Rolan Pt. 2

Vietnam is a fascinating country that continues to get busier by the year as more and more travelers become intrigued and visit this country on the move. With a coastline of more than 3,000km, a varied landscape, and incredible food, it’s hot on many levels. Two destinations in the middle of the country, Hoi An and Hue are mainstays of a full Vietnam travel experience and have been famous for decades. Scott recently visited and today we’ll dive into what a trip to these neighbouring cities has to offer and what you can expect.

Ep. 174: Exploring Hoi An and Hue, Vietnam

According to the History Channel, the Frisbee story started in 1871 when William Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company. Students from Connecticut universities were soon throwing the tin pie plate to each other, yelling “Frisbie!” as they did so. In 1958, Wham-O (the company responsible for the Hula-Hoop, Super Ball and Water Wiggle) changed its name to the Frisbee disc (with two “ee”s at the end). By aggressively marketing Frisbee-playing as a new sport, Wham-O sold over 100 million discs by 1977. In 2023, while neither frisbee golf nor Ultimate frisbee have yet to become Olympic sports, both games played with frisbees are popular across the world, including in Asia, where our guest today will shed some light on the two sports, the itinerant character of many game players, and how you can make it a part of your trip to the region.

Ep. 175: Frisbee in Asia with Jared Cahners

When it comes to mammoth, legendary train journeys, the Trans-Siberian Railway is up there. Coming in at 9,289 kilometers, simply put, it’s the longest railway line in the world. Starting in Moscow, it chugs east to its terminus, Vladivostok, but has another interchange where it then forks south to Mongolia and continues to Beijing, ultimately linking two of the world’s great cities. So, nearly 180 episodes in to Talk Travel Asia, we’re going to finally talk about this epic journey, what’s entailed and hopefully give you enough background to either inspire or give you the idea that this journey is not for you. All aboard - here we go!

Ep. 176: Trans-Siberian Railway+

We chat with Pierre Andre Romano about artisanal crafts in Cambodia.

Ep.177: Cambodian Artisanal Handicrafts with Pierre Andre Romano

Taiwan is a country? - is it..? Okay, let’s start again… Taiwan is a territory that traditionally has way less people traveling it than should do so. Sitting off the east coast of China, there are few spots hotter geopolitically that Taiwan. But what’s there? Are the people the same as those from mainland China? What’s the terrain like? Is it safe? Friendly? Food decent? Well, you can say ‘yes’ to all of those things but today we’re not only going to touch on Taiwan as a travel destination for the second time on this show, but focus on cycle its east coast. So, pour yourself a cup of Oolong tea, steam some dumplings and let’s dream of what was once known as Fermosa.

Ep. 179: Cycling Taiwan's East Coast with Simon Foster

Suppose I told you that you were stranded on a deserted island? What’s the first thing you think of? Mine was, which island should it be? A random one in the south Pacific or a specific one I’ve long dreamt of returning to. Suppose you found a genie bottle there? What three wishes would you ask for? To be rescued, perhaps, or use one of the wishes to keep the island your secret hideaway. We’ve all had such thoughts, I hope – as Scott and I both have. Today, we thought it would be fun to pose such questions on an episode about Travel Fantasies and Future predictions.

Ep. 178: Scott & Trevor’s Excellent Travel Dreaming Adventure

When we travel, many of us hope to experience an exotic culture or visit a spectacular natural attraction. Often these are chosen based on recommendations from family and friends or may be long-awaited bucket list destinations. Little do many of us know, however, that the United Nations has already selected more than 1000 such sites, hundreds of which are in Asia. These World Heritage Sites are some of the most impressive destinations on Earth, and we’ll discuss some today that you may wish to consider adding to your next Asian adventure.

Ep. 180: Exploring Asian UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Road trips are one of travel’s great forms of adventures. From the Griswald’s cross-country family vacation to Wally World to my own explorations of Eastern Cambodia to design tours for international visitors, the road trip is a time-honored tradition. Nowadays, one might imagine traveling by camper-van to Mexico or Central America, or even renting a car in the north of Japan and driving it south from island to island, but who would ever imagine taking a road trip by car from Myanmar to Holland? Well, our guest Edwin Briels did just that, and today he’s going to share how it all went down. Buckle up!

Ep. 181: Myanmar to Holland by Car with Edwin Briels

A.I. - Artificial Intelligence. It’s almost the only thing anyone is talking about in some circles. AI seems to be everywhere nowadays and creative industry workers are panicking over being replaced. On the other end of the spectrum, those already using it to produce grant proposals or file TPS reports rave about AI’s efficiency and accuracy, saving them countless hours on otherwise tedious chores. But what about travel? Are AI travel agents, AI-generated travel guidebooks, and AI trip planners about to revolutionize travel? Or is this technology as far from replacing travel professionals as it from replacing movie stars: eventually, perhaps, but not quite yet. Today we’ll discuss AI and the travel industry.

Ep. 182: Travel in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

When most people think of Asia, the countries that come to mind aren’t likely to be those we’re about to discuss today. Located in Western Asia, on the border of Eastern Europe, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are countries most westerners are largely unfamiliar with at all. That's all the more reason to learn a bit about them, as each has unique cultures, history, and tourist attractions that make them fascinating destinations. Today, show co-host Scott Coates will share his experience traveling through these interesting West Asian nations.

Ep. 183: Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan

Those are the opening lines of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, a “musical and metaphorical drive toward some irresistible far-off horizon”. The song has long-enticed me with it’s melodic mysticism, and when former guest Dave Stamboulis told me that he’d, quote, “Just completed a rather wild journey to Kashmir and Ladakh,” I knew that we had to have him back on the show to tell us more about these spectacular areas of India, a country we’ve been eager to explore more on Talk Travel Asia.

Ep. 184: Wild Journey to Kashmir and Ladakh with Dave Stamboulis

One’s first trip to Asia: it’s something hard to forget. The smells, the sounds, the crowds, big cities, wild landscapes, exotic food, a sometimes frenetic pace, tropical beaches, incredible mountains - you’re in Asia! We recently got chatting about our early trips to the continent, started to feel old, or perhaps well-experienced, and thought it might be fun to recount our initial journeys here, reflect on those first impressions and contrast it to our current lives and how we see things now. In these two parts, I then Trevor will recount our first visits to Asia. Here we go…

Ep. 185: Scott’s First Trip to Asia

Slow travel is a buzzword that’s been kicking around a while. A “trend” in the travel industry, some might say, in the vein of ecotourism. Just as the terminology has evolved from global warming to climate change, however, more humans are increasingly considering their footprint, both on the environment and on the destinations they visit, often in an economic way. If slow travel means more than massive exhaust output of air travel – if slow travel means picking one particular destination instead of dozen and then using local means of transportation, bikes or hiking even, to explore an area more in depth, at a more leisurely pace, then I’m all for it. Today, we have a returning guest and longtime friend of the destinations he lives and works in, Stuart McDonald, to give us his understanding of and experiences with slow travel in Asia.

Ep. 186: Slow Travel with Stuart McDonald of Travelfish

One’s first trip to Asia. It’s something few forget. The smells, the sounds, the crowds, big cities, wild landscapes, exotic food, a sometimes frenetic pace, tropical beaches, incredible mountains - you’re in Asia! We recently got chatting about our early trips to the continent, started to feel old, or perhaps well-experienced, and thought it might be fun to recount our initial journeys here. Reflect on those initial impressions and contrast it to our current lives and how we see things now. In these two parts, Scott then I will recount their first visits to Asia. Here we go for part 2…

Ep. 187: Trevor’s First Trip to Asia

Donna Kitchen and her husband recently returned from a 3 month trip through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Koh Lanta, Thailand. It was their first trip to all but Thailand, where they traveled previously in 1994. As a couple in their 50s who use the IG handle (notsogreytravellers.com),  Donna and her companion traveled as glampackers, using local transport as much as possible. Donna started a blog about her travels, but never finished it, so she’s hoping we can help document her adventures on our podcast. Donna joins us from her home in Perth, Western Australia.

Ep. 188: Patron Adventures in Asia - Donna Kitchen

Ryan Ver Berkmoes has authored over 130 guidebooks to destinations worldwide, including Lonely Planet guidebooks for Oahu, Hawaii, Indonesia, Crete, and Sri Lanka. Today he joins us from Greece to talk about traveling Japan by train on Talk Travel Asia podcast with Scott Coates and Trevor Ranges.

Ep. 190: Japan by Train with Ryan Ver Berkmoes

As we near 200 episodes of Talk Travel Asia, on one hand we sometimes wonder what we could possibly still talk about, and on the other, we’re continually looking to up our game, think of topics we have not yet considered, and get even more interesting guests to share with us. We hope you have enjoyed the travel chat thus far and we have good news - we’re not slowing down. As we move further into 2024, we have a pretty sweet lineup of episodes ahead and thought it might be fun to share what’s coming with you.

Ep. 189: Sneak Preview of Upcoming Episodes

From time to time we receive messages from Talk Travel Asia listeners about their travels in Asia and we’re glad to have inspired or assisted them with their experiences. After some recent back and forths with several patrons about their Asian adventures, we decided to David Rockman to come on the show and share about his adult family trip to Bali so you can learn about it and perhaps find some inspiration for your next journey there.

Ep. 191: Patron Adventures in Asia - David Rockman on Family Travel Bali

As expats who have lived in Asia for almost 25-years each - how’s that possible! - we recently got thinking about our proximity to famous, royal palaces. Scott is not so far from Bangkok’s Grand Palace and Trevor for many years lived very close to Cambodia’s Khemarin Palace. That got us thinking about other royal palaces we’ve been to throughout Asia, along with ones we have not yet visited. Then we wondered what constitutes a royal palace? We bumped into our friends Greg & Ed from the Bangkok Podcast, mentioned this to them, and realized we had a good episode on our hands, but it would be a heck of a lot more fun to chat about this as a foursome. So here we are, our second crossover episode together, where we’ll explore the royal palaces of Asia.

Ep. 192: Royal Palaces of Asia (with BKK Podcast)

One of the world’s most exotic islands, Sri Lanka boasts diverse culture and religious beliefs, as well as considerable natural beauty. After five decades of civil war, peace in Sri Lanka opened the island to international travel in 2009; a decade later, a burgeoning tourism was nipped in the bud by COVID. Today, we’ll have a guest with great knowledge about the island – from a tourism perspective, in particular – who will share some of his top tips for visitors looking to explore this exotic island off the southeast coast of India, particularly Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority provinces.

Ep. 193: Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority provinces with Ryan Ver Berkmoes

On this Patron bonus episode (usually only for Patrons of the show but we're sharing with everyone this time) we chat with Inside Kyoto and Chris Rowthorn Tours.com founder, Chris Rowthorn, about an experiment where he tried to travel Japan just using his phone. And he shares tips on how you can setup your phone for travel in the country.

Patron Bonus: Traveling Japan by Phone w Chris Rowthorn

When we travel, many of us hope to experience an exotic culture or visit a spectacular natural attraction. Often these are chosen based on recommendations from family and friends or may be long-awaited bucket list destinations. Little do many of us know, however, that the United Nations has already selected more than 1000 such sites, hundreds of which are in Asia. These World Heritage Sites are some of the most impressive destinations on Earth, and we’ll discuss some today that you may wish to consider adding to your next Asian adventure, on our second episode about UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Asia.

Ep.194: Exploring Asian UNESCO World Heritage Sites Part 2

Tajikistan, one of several former Soviet republics located along the Silk Road linking Europe and Asia, may be one of the least well known — and least visited — tourist destinations in Asia. Over several episodes touching on the central Asian nations colloquially known as ‘the Stans’ we’ve explored Tajikistan briefly, including an episode with Lonely Planet writer Bradley Mayhew about Central Asia. This week, we’ll chat with a man some consider the ‘World’s most traveled’ and we’ll put his knowledge of obscure Asian destinations to the test by talking with him about little-known Tajikistan.

Ep. 195: Harry Mitsidis - ‘The World's Most Traveled Man’ - on his travels to Tajikistan

With more than 40-collective years living and working in Asia, co-hosts Trevor Ranges and Scott Coates know the ins and outs of travel in the region, and love sharing them. Having spent over a decade as a travel writer for the likes of National Geographic and Fodors, Trevor implicitly understands how to see and figure a destination out. Scott has spent much of his time crafting bespoke adventures as the co-founder of a luxury travel company and knows how to make travel truly flow. Whether traveling as pros or exploring as amateurs, they share their passion for travel in Asia with you on Talk Travel Asia.

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