Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia Deserves a Second Look and More
What do Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Christmas Island and Singapore have in common? They all belong to the same corner of the world, Southeast Asia. Other countries in the neighborhood are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei, East Timor, Vietnam and East Timor. Together they form the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), through which they help each other out economically.
Meanwhile, not many people elsewhere in the world know about Laos or Myanmar, some don’t even know where Brunei or East Timor are, while a few more know about Vietnam, Cambodia and East Timor only for the wars.
The more popular countries here are Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and their fame is enough for Southeast Asia to deserve a second look. Malaysia and Singapore have robust economies that can compete with the best of Europe and North America. In fact, according to Forbes, Singapore is the third wealthiest country in the world, next only to Qatar and Luxembourg.
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are not far behind, economy-wise, but they too can compete with the rest of the world in the arena of natural sites and topnotch tourist attractions. Indonesia’s Bali, Thailand’s Phuket and the Philippines’ Boracay constantly rank as the world’s most beautiful island-beach resorts.
Three other top tourist sites in Southeast Asia are Cambodia’s Angkor Archeological Park where you can find massive and dumbfounding ancient temples that would make you look twice not sure whether what you’re looking at are real or not.
Not to be outdone, Myanmar presents to the world its own collection of ancient temples on the Bagan plains. The sight of thousands of majestic temples lined up and clustered together across the rustic plain will stay with you for a long time.
And third, the Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines. How to describe this spectacular dive site? Divers from all over the world are calling it the Garden of Eden underwater. That alone should tell you why Southeast Asia is in itself a kind of paradise.
