Category: Places & Tourism
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #2 – Penang, Malaysia
Where to begin? I moved to Penang or Pulau Pinang (Penang Island) in 2006 having never visited before that time. In 2006, it is safe to say that it would not have been #2 on such a list as this, but Penang slowing grows on you, creeping step by step into your chest like a…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #3 – Siem Reap, Cambodia
Siem Reap, in the northwestern corner of Cambodia, is the home of the ancient kingdom of Angkor, which dominated the region from the 9th to 13th century AD. It combines two things I love – Asia and history – making it one of my favorite places anywhere. This ancient Khmer kingdom has some interesting facts…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #4 – Beijing, China
My first trip to Beijing was in the summer of 1992 as I flew to Asia for the first time to teach in a summer English course in the northeastern city of Dalian. We were fortunate to stop-over in Beijing during both ways of our trip. The Beijing of 1992 is certainly a far cry…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #5 – Sabah, East Malaysia
Sabah is Malaysia’s most eastern state on the northeastern tip of the large island of Borneo. The charming city of Kota Kinabalu is the capital, and Mount Kinabalu is one of Malaysia’s top hiking destinations, rising more than 13,000 feet into the clouds. I’ve only been to Sabah once, but it has left a lasting…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #6 – southern Vietnam
I have had the privilege of visiting four different parts of southern Vietnam (admittedly, all of them are quite a ways back): Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Dalat, Ho Chi Minh City. When taken as a whole, southern Vietnam has quite the interesting scope, making it a wonderfully fun and exciting place to visit. Ho Chi…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #7 – Hong Kong
In some ways, I’ve always felt that Hong Kong feels like the anti-Singapore (which was #8 on my list.) Singapore seems western in many ways – especially in infrastructure and city-planning. Hong Kong feels Asian. Hong Kong has the crowded streets, the messiness, the small shops, restaurants, outdoor eateries that make it so fun and…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia – #8 – Singapore
In some ways, Singapore is the anti-Asia. But only in some ways. It’s clean. It’s extremely functional. You could live in their airport and be quite happy. It’s orderly. Did I mention that it’s clean? It’s like a beautifully developed city-state that just works. Sparkling malls. Manicured lawns. Beautiful parks. One of the nicest zoos…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #9 – Chiang Mai, Thailand
I have many fond memories of Chiang Mai, not the least of which is the day I walked my wife from the YMCA Hotel to Ram Hospital to have our second child. What an amazing experience that was! It certainly was easy, for this reason alone, for Chiang Mai to crack the top 10. But,…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: #10 – Malacca, Malaysia
Malacca is located on the Malay Peninsula, an hour and a half south of Kuala Lumpur and five hours from Johor Bahru and Singapore on the peninsula’s tip. The history of Malacca is what drew me to it; its charm is what keeps me going back. The history stuff first. Malacca was taken over by…
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My Top 10 Favorite Places in Asia: Not Making the Cut
I was doing an author’s interview recently and the interviewer asked what is my favorite place in Asia. That made me really stop and think. I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to some pretty cool places throughout east and southeast Asia. So I decided to do my blog’s first 10 ten series. I’ve compiled…
Author Mark W Sasse 