All in Travel
TIME magazine’s 2018 World’s Greatest Places listing featured many places to visit, eat, drink and stay in Asia. We reviewed the list and came up with the top 20 places that we think will be of most interest to older travellers. These include some diverse and interesting places that have only opened in the past year.
Once the centre of a decades-long tin mining boom, Malaysia’s third-largest city, Ipoh, has now come into its own as holiday destination. Its historic old town has seen a renaissance and is a popular shopping and dining district. The craggy limestone hills that surround the city contain many caves, some housing temples. It’s a city that will appeal to senior travellers in search of history, good food and a bit of easy adventure.
House sitting offers retirees without time constraints the opportunity to visit other countries and save on accommodation costs. It enables travellers to enjoy new cultural experiences and live like a local. House sitting has been popular in the US, UK and Australia/New Zealand for many years, but is now taking off in Asia.
The Chinese city of Chengdu has long been famous for its pandas. Its renowned panda breeding centre is one of the best places in the world to see these vulnerable, solitary animals. Chengdu’s other attractions – not least its spicy Sichuanese cuisine and its relaxed atmosphere – are helping turn it into an increasingly popular destination for foreign visitors.
The orangutan is among the most loved of Asia’s wild animals. But it is critically endangered and its numbers are continuing to decline as its natural habitat, the rainforest, is destroyed. Today orangutans can be found only in Borneo and Indonesia’s North Sumatra. But there are still relatively easy ways for travellers to see them in the wild or forest rehabilitation reserves.
Many older travellers have Tibet on their bucket list but are discouraged to travel there because of the travel costs and fears of altitude sickness. A cheaper alternative is India’s Ladakh region which is known as ‘Little Tibet’ because of its similarity in scenery and culture. It also offers options for overland travel to reduce the risk of suffering altitude sickness.
The humble bullock cart has been an important means of transport in Asia since ancient times. It has survived into the modern age and continues to be used in many parts of the continent despite fierce competition from tractors and other motorised transport. The bullock cart represents a side of Asia where tradition holds sway even in the 21st century.
Turkmenistan is Central Asia’s least visited country. Its capital, Ashgabat, is a city like no other: a showcase of large white marble buildings, interspersed with grand monuments, golden statues and well-manicured parks. It provides an intriguing interlude for travellers in search of something different.
Asia is a less risky continent in which to travel from a health perspective than Africa or South America. However, some precautions still need to be taken — especially in the tropical countries of Asia — to ensure that a holiday or extended travel is not ruined by illness or injury. This succinct guide lists the key facts that the older traveller needs to know.
Visitors to Hanoi who want an experience combining Vietnam’s past and present can take a walk across the city’s historic Long Bien Bridge. Built by the French and bombed by the Americans, the 115-year-old bridge across the Red River has become a symbol of the country’s resilience.
Baby boomers and senior citizens are travelling the world like never before, ticking off destinations on their bucket lists and spending retirement savings on travel experiences that they weren’t able to accomplish in their younger working years. From budget travel to luxury travel, more and more boomers and seniors are on the road. But do these terms for older travellers mean the same?
For those who practice yoga regularly, India has always been the ultimate destination. It is the home of yoga and its sister science of ayurveda. For older travellers who are still active yogis, here is a concise guide to the six best places in India for combining a vacation with yoga and ayurveda.
The story of Hachiko, the dog who waited at a Tokyo railway station for almost a decade for the arrival of his deceased master, is well known in Japan. A memorial to Hachiko outside the busy Shibuya Station is a testament to how Japanese people value loyalty and perseverance.
Indian wellness centres offer older travellers the opportunity to detox and rejuvenate without hard exercise regimes. Many are located in regions that are hard to reach, but newer centres are opening closer to major cities to meet demand from stressed out urbanites.
The Malaysian city of Kuching in Sarawak is known as the launch pad for adventure holidays in Borneo. Visitors pass through on their way to the rainforests and caves of the interior. But travellers who choose to spend a few days here will find it has attractions of its own. For a start, it has a surprisingly rich and well-preserved colonial history.
The Asian elephant still lives in the wild in at least 13 countries. But it’s facing ever-growing competition for land from humans and its numbers are declining. Many others live in captivity and work in the logging industry, at temples and in the tourism business. Travellers who want to see these gentle giants at close hand have several options.
