Showing titles in Asia

Have you ever taken a holiday where you turn up hopelessly unprepared and end up having to sleep under a curtain? How about when someone (maybe you?) had to be airlifted home? Or what about the time you went away and neglected to visit any of the breathtaking, world-renowned sights? Well, Anna Hart has done all those holidays, and more. As an avid traveller and then travel journalist, she's spent most of her working life on a plane somewhere, and over 10 years writing about the places she's ended up. In Departures she brings all of that knowledge together with the signature warmth and wit of her journalism.

For decades now, Pico Iyer has been based for much of the year in Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife, Hiroko, share a two-room apartment. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all have to live with: how to hold on to the things we love, even though we know that we and they are dying.

In his latest entertaining and thought provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, is the enmity between these three 'tiger' nations and what prevents them from making peace. Currently China's economic power continues to grow, Japan is becoming more militaristic and Korea struggles to reconcile its westernized south with the dictatorial Communist north. Booth, long fascinated with the region, travels by car, ferry, train and foot, experiencing the people and culture of these nations up close. 

While living in Japan, I felt frustrated that I was unable to speak and listen to the common Japanese phrases that service workers use over and over again. Eventually, I decided I wanted to stop guessing at what was being said and start understanding & knowing how to respond.

Maugham spent the winter months of 1919 travelling 1500 miles up the Yangtze river. Always more interested in people than places, he noted down acute and finely crafted sketches of those he met on countless scraps of paper. In the resulting collection we encounter Western missionaries, army officers and company managers who are culturally out of their depth in the immensity of the Chinese civilisation.

"With this book, you feel you can stop time and savor the rituals of life." --Maira Kalman An immersive journey through the culture and cuisine of one Japanese town, its forest, and its watershed--where ducks are hunted by net, saké is brewed from the purest mountain water, and charcoal is...

Walkley Award-winning journalist, Sharri Markson is the Investigations Editor at The Australian and host of prime-time show Sharri on Sky News Australia. The origins of Covid-19 are shrouded in mystery. Scientists and government officials insisted, for a year and a half, that the virus had a...

The Japanese people have always seen themselves as a nation uniquely apart. Their exquisite art forms and elegant culture, military prowess and technological precision, have long been the envy of friend and foe alike. Today, even as Japan adapts to a rapidly changing world, its traditional culture and consensus-based philosophy have proved remarkably resilient. Culture Smart! Japan will broaden your perception and understanding of this complex, rich, and dynamic society. 

You don’t need a boyfriend, a travel partner, or anyone’s approval to travel the world. And you don’t need a massive bank account or an entire summer off work. If you’ve doubted yourself for one moment, remember this: Millions of girls travel across the globe all by themselves every damn day and you can, too. You are just as capable, just as smart, and just as brave as the rest of us. You don’t need permission - this is your life. Listen to your gut, follow your heart, and just book that ticket already! Your copy of The Solo Girl's Travel Guide is waiting to dissolve your worries and give you that extra push.

Thailand - Man Heaven? Or Man Hell? It's really as the Thai say "Up To You". You'll see plenty of books on kindle talking about the visible sex trade in Thailand. When you mention Thailand to many people that's the first thing that springs to mind. I'm not a genius but I can guess if you are looking at this book the chances are you are interested in seeing for yourself. The book is not the assassination job that the headline may suggest - it was based upon interviews with people that work in the trade.

"Japan Unveiled" is your essential companion to unlocking the wonders of the Land of the Rising Sun, curated by seasoned travelers.

No grammar tests. No memory drills. No chance of failure. Welcome to Learn with Paul Noble – a unique, tried and tested language learning method that has been used by almost a million people to speak fluently and confidently in no time at all. Take a simple, relaxed approach to learning a...

Beautifully simple age-old rituals for modern-day living that will enhance your well-being and give you back your zest for life. Prajña is the Sanskrit word for wisdom. Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest healing systems, rooted in the principle of a mind-body-spirit connection. Ayurveda comes from the Sanskrit words 'ayur' and 'veda', respectively 'life' and 'knowledge', meaning 'knowledge of life'. This book dips into this ancient knowledge base, extracts the essence of this Indian philosophy and revives a wealth of timeless rituals.

Take a trip to old Japan with William Scott Wilson as he travels the ancient Kiso Road, a legendary route that remains much the same today as it was hundreds of years ago. The Kisoji, which runs through the Kiso Valley in the Japanese Alps, has been in use since at least 701 CE. In the 17th century, it was the route that the daimyo (warlords) used for their biennial trips - along with their samurai and porters - to the new capital of Edo (now Tokyo).

The Indus rises in Tibet, flows west across India, and south through Pakistan. For millennia it has been worshipped as a god; for centuries used as a tool of imperial expansion. Empires of the Indus follows the river upstream and back in time, taking the listener on a voyage through two thousand miles of geography and more than five thousand years of history redolent with contemporary importance.

Fourteen years after the publication of his landmark travel narrative Among the Believers, V.S. Naipaul returned to the four non-Arab Islamic countries he reported on so vividly at the time of Ayatollah Khomeini’s triumph in Iran. Beyond Belief is the result of his five-month journey in 1995 through lands where descendants of Muslim converts live at odds with indigenous traditions.

In Isabel Losada's extraordinary For Tibet with Love, she explores whether it's possible for an ordinary person to change the world, just a little, and if something so serious can be achieved with joy in one's heart. From visits to Nepal and Tibet, to meetings with the Chinese ambassador and Tibetan awareness-raising groups, Isabel single-handedly hatches a stunning PR coup involving Nelson's Column, a 15-meter banner and a base-jumping parachutist that captured headlines worldwide.

Everything that could possibly be wrong with a city was wrong with Calcutta. When Kushanava Choudhury arrived in New Jersey at the age of 12, he had already migrated halfway around the world four times. After graduating from Princeton, he moved back to the world which his immigrant parents had abandoned, to a city built between a river and a swamp, where the moisture-drenched air swarms with mosquitos after sundown.

This is an incredible story of adventure, human ingenuity, persistence, and resilience that shows firsthand what it is to adventure as a woman in the most dangerous of circumstance, what it is to be truly alone in the wild, and why someone would challenge themselves with an expedition others would call crazy. For Marquis, her story is about freedom, being alive and wild by nature.

Plenty of guys fly to Thailand every year, hoping to meet a good Thai lady to spend the rest of their life with. The vast majority fly home disappointed, and even among those that do manage to meet a nice lady, a high percentage see their dreams flounder. I will tell you why. I will tell you the greatest singular mistake that men make when dealing with Thai women. Then I will tell you the next biggest mistake that far too many men make.