From spending 24 Hours at Angkor Wat to aimlessly walking around the capital of Phnom Penh, in order to fit in to the Cambodian lifestyle, you will need to follow a few or possibly all of these tips.
1.  Parkas and Gore-Tex
If you venture outside or somewhere onto the street, whatever you do, don’t forget the North Face down parkas.  Locals don’t appreciate the glorious sunshine.  I saw numerous people rocking the latest in mittens, leggings,  scarves, and long johns.
2.  100cc Family Vehicle
The Dodge Caravan is no longer the family of 5 vehicle …

1. Chili Peppers…Please!
I grew up eating food with spice and sometimes with chili.  Throughout SE Asia however, I have nurtured my ever craving lust for the succulent seeded heat of chili peppers.  I simply can’t taste food unless there is an abundance of hot chilies involved in the meal.  In my month in Indonesia, I was able to come up with 9 mandatory foods to eat in Indonesia and every single dish would not be the same without a massive dollop of sambal chili sauce.
2. No Toilet Paper …

The jaunt from Batad to Mayoyao took nearly eight hours and included hiking, walking down completely barren mud roads, keeping my footing while crawling over fresh landslides, swinging back and forth on creeping jeeps, and clenching on to highly unstable homemade vehicular devices.
“In Mayoyao you are not just a tourist, but a family friend,”
said Efren, my guide.  “Let’s go and register at the town (village) municipality.”  I arrived to see 3 or 4 cops drinking coffee sprawled out in the office, elevated feet, and chuckling amongst themselves.  They sprang to …

Though I have been to only a fraction of Gawad Kalinga (GK) villages (if you are not sure what GK is check out Building Houses With Hope)(GK builds homes for the poorest of the poor in the Philippines giving people not only a living structure but a new perspective on life with an attitude to succeed), the Iriga Character village in the Bicol region of the Philippines was an astonishing example of how improvements are feasible in the midst of poverty.

I caught a 1.5 hour bus from Naga City to …

“If you can smell the garbage, you are entering Payatas,” said Tita Silver, the mother of my host family.
Our jeepney crackled through the streets amidst the hustle and bustle of vendors and commuters.  The stank of garbage was in the air and the streets and shops were not what you would call clean.
I was on a weekend trip in the Metro Manila area of Payatas (known as one of the main dump sites in Metro Manila) in Quezon City, joining a group of students from Ateneo de Manila University on …

Gawad Kalinga, known as GK, strives to create a Philippines and world with no more slums, no more violence, and no more poverty.  With dignity and honesty, GK and volunteers build homes, aiming to create sustainable villages, and forming safe communities as well as transforming danger and poverty into nation building and lifting each other up.  In the eyes of GK there is “less for self, more for others, [and] enough for all.”
GK provides the materials and builds homes for the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.  People who …

My first day walking around Manila, the Philippines and I happen to stumble upon a food item that I simply could not possibly pass by.  I took one look at the pile of “1 day old” chickens and decided I had to partake of them.

I ordered as the chef quickly threw one of the baby chickens into the boiling oil to reheat it.  He then poked it with a stick and pulled something very small out the mid section of the bird to discard (no idea what it was, but …

Throughout my brief stay in Singapore, I willingly indulged in various famed Hainanese style chicken rice platters.  Chicken rice is rather famous in Singapore for being a food to rely upon, something that is made with simple ingredients, but made correctly as a homey comfort dish.
Singapore chicken rice is as far away from regular chicken on top of rice as possible, yet still chicken and rice.  Artfully created by hands that have been making the same style chicken for countless years, boiled or roasted perfectly so the flesh is cooked …

After devouring 3 meals I asked a lady what the name of this magnificent two story buffet mall was named.  “Oden hawker center,” she replied, and briskly walked away.  I wasn’t satisfied.  I walked around, circulating the premises a number of times, before I saw the sign, “Golden Mile Food Center.”  Without realizing it, I had stuffed myself at the golden mile, what a “golden” stumble upon it was.
I am aimlessly walking around (one of my favorite activities) Singapore with no map, no idea of where I am going, but …

I landed in the semi chaotic and slightly overwhelming, sprawling capital city of Sumatra, Medan. The streets were loaded with hungry motorists, racing for an edge over their competition. Hawkers hustled for the next Rupiah, eating portions of rice along the way, yelling their product for the street to hear. On my first night I met nearly 20 locals who were all extremely friendly, talkative, and loved to help in any sort of way. It was from this moment that I discovered the warmth and hospitality …