Phi Phi is a fast-growing tourist site in southern Thailand. The site is renown for its karst, limestone mountains, cliffs, and caves. The views are dramatic, stunning, and awe-inspiring. Its long, white sandy beaches are idyllic. The Phi Phi islands first gained notoriety when the movies The Beach and Gold Finger were filmed here.

Tourist numbers are scant in Jordan, making visits to its historical sights all the more memorable.

Inle Lake in central Myanmar is a place where you feel like time stands still, the extraordinary is ordinary, and all is right with the world. It is a lake with 70,000 tribal people who live on the shores and fish and farm for a living. It is a lake with 48 square miles of serene surface. It is a lake with a market that travels from one village to another throughout the week.

Rangoon was once the richest city in the richest country in Southeast Asia. Today it is a poor city in the poorest country in the region. Myanmar’s economy today is outstripped by those of Laos and Cambodia – nearby countries that have suffered the ravages of foreign invasions and a despotic government.

When I saw the picture of the Golden Rock Pagoda, I was struck by the danger of choosing such a dangerous site as a place for a pagoda. The presence of a reliquary spire of a hair of Buddha embedded in the rock prevents the rock from toppling down the side of the mountain.

Bagan was the capitol of Burma from 850 to 1300. At that time, there were some 13,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monasteries scattered over 50 sq km in Bagan. Today there are only about 2,200 left. Kublia Kahn’s conquest of Thaton in 1057 led to the destruction of thousands of these temples.

In Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, it is not unusual to see people build their houses partly or completely over water even when there is dry land nearby. Why? Beats me! But they do it so often I have to believe there is a reason for it; Jan Wall explores several Asian quirks and customs!