Snakes are abundant in much of Asia, particularly SE Asia. Visitors to the region might be seeking them out as part of a wildlife holiday, but likely many more persons at some point during their journey are thinking about how they can avoid snakes during a trip. But alas, snakes are likely not as dangerous as some might think and even if you’re not here to see snakes, perhaps there are some good rules of thumb you can follow to see them, or avoid them. On this episode we’ll talk with a man who works with snakes in Cambodia for his living, Mark Dainty, to get the inside scoop. This is bound to be a slithery episode!

When one thinks of Iraq, they likely aren’t considering it as their next holiday destination. Those more familiar with the country know its location in the Fertile Crescent was responsible for the earliest human civilizations to call Iraq home. But one must also wonder if decades of war has left any remaining history of ancient Babylonia available for tourists to visit. Is it even secure enough to explore the sites along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers or the more mountainous regions of the north, where ethnic Kurds offer altogether different cultural experiences. Today we’ll find out when we discuss Travelling Iraq with John Fiddler.

Between the two of us, Trevor and I have lived and worked in Asia for nearly 50-years. This has also coincided with most of our adult years, when people tend to discover more about who they really are and more fully form as individuals. But damn, 50-years is a long amount of time to live in what was a foreign land and is now simply ‘home’. This got us reminiscing about how we’ve changed while living in Asia, mostly for the better. There have been some life-changing items, we feel we’re now better citizens of the world, and want to share some of these with you. Giddy up!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.