25 most unseen destination in asia

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by Tiffany Lam, Sara Schonhardt, Niels Footman, Gregory Curley, Helen Clark, Mitch Moxley, Jenara Nerenberg

20 April, 2010 print

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Unseen Asia: 25 of Asia's most overlookeddestinations

Can't get home to Europe or looking for new takes on familiar countries? Here are our picks of Asia's

25 most overlooked tourist stunners

Hoh Xil, Tibet

It’s not hard to see why Tibetian plateau Hoh Xil is the world’s third least

populated area.

The 45,000-square-kilometer nature reserve sits at 4,700 meters above

sea level, and is subject to harsh rains and sandstorms throughout the

year.

Despite the extreme climes, Hoh Xil, or Kekexili, supports up to 21

endangered wildlife species, including the Tibetan antelope, the wild yak,

and the Tibetan wild donkey. The Chinese government lifted a ban on

visitors to the ecologically fraught area last year, and now explorers can

apply for five to six day eco-tours to Hoh Xil. We’re expecting queues as

the amount is limited to under 1,000 every year.

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An Bang Beach, Vietnam

Coastal old town Hoi An in Central Vietnam is best known for its

bespoke tailors’ shops, excellent beaches and fresh seafood. Most

tourists head to Cua Dai beach at the end of Cua Dai road, some four

kilometers out of town.

Although it’s a lovely spot, it can become crowded and is prone to police

surveillance.

An Bang, a beach at the end of Hai Bai Trung street outside town, is a

great alternative. It’s mostly a hangout for local holiday makers but

recently foreigners have opened a few beach shack bars. There’s good

food, hammocks a-plenty and the odd film night at these locations.

The watering holes can get blown away during the violent storm season,

but rest assured -- they’re usually rebuilt in a flash.

Find out about the intoxicating world of Vietnam's rice wine culture

Shodoshima, Japan

Shodoshima, or the Island of Little Beans, is Japan’s take on

Mediterranean sensibilities.

Although you’d be hard-pressed to find a foreign traveler who knows

about the island, it’s famous among Japanese domestic tourists for its

verdant olive groves, hot springs and wild monkeys. The 817-meterMount Hoshigajo-san, which translates as “Mount Kingdom of Stars,” is

an excellent vantage point for Shodoshima’s scenic landscape, including

the famous Kankakei and Choshi-kei valleys.

The island’s many hot springs provides reprieve for tired feet after a long

day of country rambling.

The Wild Wall, China

The Great Wall of China might have kept out barbarian hordes, but is futile against Chinese kitsch. The Wall's most

popular areas -- Badaling and Mutianyu -- are often overrun with tourists and hawkers.

Hiking and camping on the Wild Wall -- the unrestored bits, often in ruins and overgrown --– is the best way to experience

its true majesty. There are some 640 km of wall north of Beijing, much more in bordering Hebei province and beyond, and

it’s remarkably easy to find a section to yourself. At sections of the Wild Wall you can hike for hours without seeing





another traveler. Bring a sleeping bag, spend the night in a crumbling

watchtower and imagine you’re a Ming sentry waiting for an encroaching

Mongol army.

A 10-km stretch of Wild Wall between Jinshanling and Simatai is a

popular section for hiking, and Huanghuacheng also has well-preserved

sections. Beijing taxis will take you to the wall for about US$70 round

trip.

Discover Shanghai's Muslim market: A friendly, foodie bazaar

Garden of

Dreams, Nepal

After spending a few

days in Nepal’s chaotic

capital of Kathmandu,

head straight to Garden

of Dreams for

sanctuary.

The Garden of Dreams,

also known as Keshar

Mahal, is just inside the

entrance to Thamel on

the right, across from

Fire and Ice Pizzeria.

While Thamel is usually a traveler's first stop in Kathmandu, many tourists and residents pass by the deserving Garden of

Dreams without a blink.

With exotic plants and distinctly European-influenced Nepali pavilions and gardens, along with the restaurant and bar

operated by the prestigious Dwarika’s Hotel, Garden of Dreams is a great place to relax. Walk through the small exhibit

showcasing the renovations the garden went through from royal decay to Austrian-led restorations, or read a book next to

the fountains and doze off for a light nap. It's best to visit in the early evening, so you can view the grounds in daylight

and dine in the romantically-lit pavilions later. Entry fee is Rs 160.

Ratu Boko, Indonesia

The Yogyakarta region is practically a museum of Indonesia’s dynastic history. The famed Buddhist temple Borobodur

and its Hindu counterpart Prambanan typically lures crowds for its detailed relief.

Nearby, however, the oft-overlooked palace complex of Ratu Boko provides an even more imaginative glimpse of the

region’s cultural and religious origins.

Set on a ridge called the Thousand Hills, Ratu Boko offers expansive views of Prambanan as well as Java’s most active

volcano, Mt Merapi. Only the foundation of the palace remains, as do former bathing pools. A mysterious well near the

complex’s cremation site is a place of pilgrimage for the region’s Hindus, who say the water has sacred properties.





Rua da Tercena,

Macau

Amid Macau’s casino

boom, the antiquated

Rua da Tercena

remains an overlooked

part of town.

A drastic departure from

the overdone tourist

kitsch that’s invaded the

other parts of Macau,

Rua da Tercena

reminds visitors of what

the old Macau was like

before the multinational corps moved in. Craftsmen crouch in the street making Chinese furniture and cluttered antique

stores don’t open until late in the afternoon. Street food stalls in street corners sells sumptuous local delicacies such as

stewed cow offal and coconut ice cream.

Read up on CNNGo’s coverage of the street’s linkages with the cultural heritage of Macau here.

Rua da Tercena lies next to bustling tourist hotspot Rua de Sao Paulo, and is within walkable distance from Sofitel at

Ponte 16.

Koh Kood, Thailand

Thailand’s Koh Kood is possibly one of the very few places that can live

up to the myth of the unpeopled Asian beachy paradise. It’s got the

necessary props -- a rainforest, quaint fishing villages, coconut

plantations, snorkeling spots, and a population of less than 2,000.

It’s also sufficiently out-of-the-way. Getting there requires an hour’s

plane ride from Bangkok’s Trat airport, or a train and boat expedition

from Bangkok. The Koh Kood experience is like taking a step back in

civilization: minimal electricity, Internet access, and cars.

The accommodation on the island ranges from wildly expensive resorts

to homestays.

Other suggestions for Thailand? Try our take on the country's

understated wild west

Haedong Yonggung Temple, South Korea

Busan’s Haedong Yonggung Temple is sits next to a cliff, making it an anomaly among Korea’s other mountain-facing

traditional temples. It’s also just about as far from city congestion as one can get.





Founded by the great monk Naong, it is the south-most temple near the

east sea. Many come here to worship the Great Goddess Buddha of

Mercy who, legend goes, appeared from the sea on the back of a dragon

clad in a white robe.

The temple was destroyed by fire at the time of the Japanese

occupation, but was later rebuilt to its current state in the 1930’s.Although this hideaway warrants a visit any time of year, we think it's

best to head down for the annual Lotus Lantern Festival.

Shandur Polo

Tournament,

Pakistan

You’ll have to be one

die-hard polo fan to

want to watch the

Shandur Polo

Tournament first-hand,

since it’s probably the

most remote polo

tournament in the world.

Held every July in the

Pakistian’s Shandur

Pass, the horse-fuelled

action occurs some 3,700 meters above sea level. It takes nine hours of bumpy driving from Chitral to the west, and 13

hours from Gilgit to the east.

Six teams from both sides of the pass compete in the contest, which has been held annual since 1936. Despite its

elusiveness, however, thousands swarm to the craggy pass every year to soak in the excitement and festivities, including

the country’s president.

Sea Urchin farm, Hong Kong

In a move that can rival Japan’s famous fish markets, Hong Kong’s Sai Kung is now farming and dishing up fresh sea

urchins on the cheap.

A fresh purple sea urchin at the farm at Leung Shuen Wan costs less than HK$33. The farm is also starting to get a bit of

traction among local foodie circles for its Chinese-style cooked urchin dishes, such as the steamed egg white with sea

urchin and urchin spring rolls.

There are buses to Sai Kung all around the city, and the farm is located at 2 Tung Ya Village, Leung Shuen Wan.

Off the beaten track: 45 Hong Kong sightseeing tips your guidebook won't include





Miho Museum,

Japan

Like the Guggenheim,

the architecture of

Japan’s magnificent

Miho Museum upstages

the art inside. Not that

you can spot the 250-

acre structure from a

distance, since 80

percent of it is

submerged in a

mountain.

The glass and

limestone structure, which was designed by IM Pei, takes inspiration from an elusive Chinese utopia described by

Chinese poet Tai Yuanming in the poem “Peach Blossom Spring.”

True to its evasive muse, on top of being virtually invisible from afar, to get there you’ll have to pass through a tunnel and

a bridge, all neatly tucked away in Shiga Prefecture’s serene woodlands.

The building’s exterior is fashioned after a Japanese shrine, and inside you’ll find, somewhat anti-climatically, around 250

Asian and Western antiques on display.

Terelj National Park, MongoliaLocated just 60 km from the capital, Terelj National Park offers a glimpse

into nomadic Mongolian life without having to journey for days via truck

and unpaved road. It can be done in a day, but many visitors choose to

stay with a family and sleep in a ger, the traditional yurt dwelling that

many people continue to call home.

The small area of the park that is populated can seem a bit touristy, but

Terelj is vast, largely uninhabited and can be explored on foot or

horseback. A few minutes ride from the main camp and you’ll see

Mongolian cowboys breaking wild horses and herding sheep. Other

activities include rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking and cross

country skiing. Stop by Khagiin Khar Lake, a twenty meter deep glacier

lake, and Yestii Hot Springs.

Tour operators in Ulan Bator such as SSS Travel and Tseren Tours offer

day and overnight trips to Terelj, including accommodation and transport.





Haputale, Sri Lanka

The misty Sri Lankan town of Haputale is a spectacle at dawn. Every

morning, bundled-up Tamils sell English vegetables on the streets while

the town’s clanging bazaars and buses slowly come alive.

You’d think you were in an English market, only it’s perched bizarrely on

a narrow mountain ridge with a sheer drop on both sides.

Haputale, which has an elevation of 1,579 meters, sits on the southern

edge of the Sri Lankian central highlands. You’ll find remnants of Sri

Lanka’s British legacy in the numerous tea plantations around the town,

among them the Dambatenne Tea Estate, which processes tea leaves

using Victorian machines to this day.

To get to Haputale, jump on trains on the Columbo-Badulla line to Kandy

or Nuwara Eliya.

Hai Ba Trung district, Vietnam

Hanoi’s Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake are must-sees on the tourist

circuit. The traditional architecture, street food and chaotic traffic are all

very charming, but there’s more to the city than its crowded ‘36’ streets.

Hai Ba Trung is directly south of Hoan Kiem Lake. It’s the city’s largest

residential district, stretching from tree-lined streets filled with old French

colonial buildings to a university precinct.

The most interesting part of town runs from where it edges into central

Hoan Kiem district south to multi-story mall Vincom Tower. Trieu Viet

Vuong is famous for its thriving student café scene, which get busy from

nightfall till 11pm on most nights. Communist-themed Cong Café and

Tadioto, café-cum-bar-cum-gallery, are our favorites.

Lenin Park on the nearby Le Duan street is the capital’s largest park. If

you’re lucky, you will be able to spot old folks doing tai chi against the backdrop of breakdancing youngsters in the early

mornings.

Kota Gede, Indonesia

Most visitor’s first stop in Yogyakarta is the Sultan’s palace, the geographical heart of the city that’s crawling with tour

buses. But nostalgic Kota Gede, better known as the old city, provides an even better view of Yogyakarta’s history.

Kota Gede's mosque is the city’s oldest, and serves as a burial ground for past sultans and their families. The site is

blissfully free from vendors and tourist crowds, and you’re likely to find only residents milling about the place eating sate,

and local children watching on curiously.





En route to the mosque, there are silver workshops which sell intricate

silver jewelry for very little. Compared to the stuffy royal palace, Kota

Gede is a lively, down-to-earth look at Yogyakarta’s beginnings.

Kranji farms,

Singapore

For a bit of rustic

relaxation in the Lion

City, head over to the

suburb Kranji, which

has close to a dozen

urban farms jostling to

sell you fresh produce.

Most of the farms are

open to the public, and

range from the organic

farms like Bollywood

Veggies and Fireflies

Health Farm, to a frog ranch. Hay Dairies farm Education Tour sells goat's milk and the Hausmann Marketing Aquariam

has prawn fishing and tortoise-feeding for the tots.

Kranji also offers 'farm stays' -- although the resort looks suspiciously like a luxury villa in disguise.

Read up on CNNGo's coverage of Bollywood Veggies and other ways to go green in Singapore here.

We can't do without these 40 Singapore foods. Can you?

Pekan, Malaysia

The Malaysian town of Pekan is vastly overlooked by the tourist circuit,

and we prefer it that way.

Pekan is located on the banks of the Pahang River, and its relative

anonymity among foreign tourists means that locals still giggle shyly

when they spot strangers. There’s a promenade of old shops near the

river, and a beach some 15 minutes away from the town.

It also has its share of interesting sights, such as including a museum

that houses a mystic dagger, and the Abu Bakar Royal Mosque.





Serosugil, South Korea

With funky boutiques and offbeat eateries galore, Garosugil used to be

the hippest spot in Seoul.

But as the crowds boomed in Garosugil, so did the property prices. Theresult was an exodus of designers and small stores, and an influx of

Starbucks and Mister Donuts. But in this case, the small-timers

decamped only as far as the surrounding streets, dotting what had been

a nondescript residential area with wonderfully atmospheric cafes, shops

and bars.

Serosugil, as Garosugil’s peripheral area is now called, has clusters of

wine bars and coffee shops, such as the Sugar Bean Lloyd, Sarubia and

a superb sandwich place called Deli Heinzburg. Shopping freaks would

want to head to vintage emporiums such as 60 Mod and Bell &

Nouveau.

To get there, take subway line No. 3 to Sinsa Station, leave via exit 8, walk for about three blocks and turn left at the J

Tower. The numerous small lanes running off Garosugil from the left and right all lead to Serosugil.

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum,

Japan

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum isn’t your average stuffy,

boxed-in depositary. It bends time and space by transporting preserved

historic buildings from around the country and cramming it into seven

hectares of open space. Better yet? Visitors are allowed to trample on

the relics.

The 25 buildings on display range from Meiji-era thatched farmhouses to

a prime minister’s home from the 1920s.

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is located inside the

Koganei Park, some 25 minutes from Tokyo’s Shinjuku rail station.

Burma

Many politically minded travelers have avoided the tumultuous Burma since the 1990s under the urging of opposition

leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but now, thanks to her calls to drop the boycott last year, it’s back on the tourist radar.

Burma is a goldmine for the curious traveler if they look past the political strife. Former capital Yangon is lined with golden

pagodas. Legendary hotel The Strand, where luminaries such as George Orwell and Graham Greene once stayed,

retains much of its Old World Charm.





Custom travel service Remote Lands also arranges great ways to see

the country, from hot air balloon rides above the temple-lined Pagan, to

cruising down the Irrawaddy River in the sunset.

To see some amazing Burma photos, check out CNNGO's Gallery:

Myanmar's exquisite landscapes .

San Joaquin

church,

Philippines

In a province crammed

with Spanish colonial

monuments, you’d

hardly think that a littlechurch tucked away in a

sleepy town would

cause a stir.

Wrong. The little-known

San Joaquin Church in

the Filipino province of

Iloilo is a shocker.

Instead of limestone bricks and Virgin Marys, its bass relief disquietingly depicts a bloody battle scene, complete with rifle

action and men jostled off horses.

The only church in the Philippines with a “military theme,” the San Joaquin Church was erected in 1869 to commemorate

how the Spanish thrashed the Moors in the Battle of Tetuan.

The church stands in the seaside town of Iloilo, which has one of the most gorgeous sea coasts in the Visayas. A flight

from Manila to Iloilo takes an hour and most of the city’s destinations are accessible with a Jeepney.

Doi Inthanon, Thailand, the back way

If you plan on driving up Thailand's tallest mountain Doi Inthanonm and want to ditch the traffic along the usual route,

there's a road less traveled out back that offers an equally pretty ride.

From Chaing Mai, drive south to Chom Tong. Make a right at Sanpatong about 30 km south to hit the road to Mae Wang.

As you're bumping along on the undulating hilly roads, keep an eye out for a paved turning to the left on a ridge. Follow it

and it'll take you all the way up to the park headquarters of the 8,415 ft Doi Inthanonm, which is halfway to the summit.





Jungles near

Tasik Chini,

Malaysia

Tasik Chini is mostlyknown for being

Malaysia’s second-

largest freshwater lake,

but what many people

overlook are the

stunning jungles on the

embankment.

The forests of Tasik

Chini are one of the

least disturbed in the

country. It’s dotted with waterfalls and caves, and is the known home of endangered wildlife such as tigers, elephants and

wild boars.

Bird watchers will want to wait until October to March to visit, when migratory birds flock to the area from northern Asia.

Tarim Poplar Forest Natural Reserve, XinjiangWhile not one of China's most instantly recognizable landmarks, the

Tarim Poplar Forest Natural Reserve of Xinjiang's mysticism and history

makes the long trek there worthwhile.

XinJiang's tourism officials claim that 90 percent of the world's

diversifolious poplar trees are distributed along the Tarim River. Chinese

legend has it that the poplars at Tarim could live up to a millennium, then

slowly die without rotting over another 2,000 years. While we're not

entirely sold, the giant poplars at Xinjiang do give the myth reasonable

cred.

Come fall, visitors will find themselves wrapped in a forest of gold and

red against gentle dunes in the distance. Most visitors get to the reserve

by driving from Urumqi.

Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.





DadsforLife 25 May, 2010

Priceless ideas. Too bad people know about it now. Not so priceless anymore.

add your own

Writer/photographer Gregory Curley left his native Canada for

South Korea seven years ago. He’s been making Seoul his

home ever since. When he’s not busy trying to appear creative

as a copywriter, he’s blogging away or contributing assignments to both CNNGo and SEOUL magazine.Read more

about Gregory Curley

Jenara, a Harvard graduate, splits her time between Kathmandu and Miami Beach as a writer, producer,entrepreneur, and on-camera personality.Read more about Jenara Nerenberg

Mitch Moxley is a journalist based in Beijing. He's written for publications including Time, The Globe and

Mail, Foreign Policy and The Guardian from China, Mongolia, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Read

more about Mitch Moxley

London-born, Edinburgh-raised Niels Footman has been living and working in the South Korean capital of

Seoul for eight years.Read more about Niels Footman

Sara has lived in Thailand and Cambodia and currently lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. She likes to keep

moving and uses these pages to write about the exciting things she learns along the way.Read more

about Sara Schonhardt

Staff writer and editorial assistant Tiffany Lam produced and scripted current affairs documentaries and

was a reporter for a local English newspaper before making the brave, brave decision to write about things

she’s actually interested about, at CNNGo.Read more about Tiffany Lam

Tags: unseen asia, destinations, Buddhist temples

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