Traversing The Orient Magazine

Steve Van Beek organizes small groups to kayak through some of Laos most remote regions. Here he describes the experience of journeying down four rivers that converge into the Mekong – a journey that enters some of the most remote and un-spoilt regions of Asia....

Taking an incredible and historic journey through the jungles of Borneo Steve Tomas retraces the routes of the infamous Sandakan death marches of the Second World War We’d stopped off at a stall in a small, near anonymous vil­lage in the north ...

Miguel Gao gets a rare chance to peer into the surreal reality of life in the world’s most bizarre nation The most popular adjectives with which to describe North Korea are Orwellian, paranoid and totalitarian. Repressive and isolated get ample play, as do dystopian and Kafkaesque. Vanity Fair writer and ...

Ben Hopkins travels to Thailand’s temple of tattoos, Wat Bang Phra, to witness a festival where devotees become imbued with the protective spirits etched into their skin In the mid-1970s the charismatic abbot Luang Phor Pern, be­gan administering Sak Yant tattoos and activating them in the Bang Phra ...

Liz Smailes visits one of Southeast Asia’s most popular tourism sights and finds tranquility away from the crowds There are two things you need when explor­ing the ancient city of Angkor in Cambo­dia’s Siem Reap: first -hire a quick-witted guide who can snake you in and out of tem­ples ...

Ben Hopkins travels to northwest Thailand – rides the rapids and survives to tell the tale Not so long ago the town of Pai – nestled away in a pastoral valley amongst the mountains of northwest Thailand - was a ...

Ben Hopkins traces the tilt of the globe on one of the world’s great train journeys - The Trans Manchurian Beijing West Railway Station  -  the  largest  in Asia  -  is a hub of frenetic activity where all corners of China converge ...

Allison Post’s mental, physical and technical skills are put to the test on the rocks of Khao Yai The following titles; 2 fngers, 3D, Forest and Children’s Playground may remind you of reading the back of a CD cover of a Linkin Park album, when in fact they are the  appropriately ...

Adrenalin addict Allison Post dives head first off the world’s highest sky jump platform. “How about we have a wander round the observation deck at the tower and a bite to eat?” suggested Big G, our adventure-loving friend and the ...

By Liz Smailes The Mekong River is the lifeblood of mainland Southeast Asia. It serves over 60 million people who depend on the watercourse and its tribu­taries for food, water, transport, trade, farming and many other aspects of their daily ...