For the purpose of this directory, East Asia includes Mongolia, Korea, China, Tibet, Nepal, Butan, Bangladesh, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Timor and Indonesia. While there are many definitions of East Asia, we are simply including all countries north of Australia except Borneo which is included under Oceania and if your interested in understanding the geopolitics, please refer to the wiki article.

The region is typified as predominantly tropical with alternating dry and wet seasons. Travellers often find the heat and humidity a bit much from Indonesia to Hong Kong, but central China, Tibet and Mongolia features extensive deserts and sub zero temperatures in winter.

Culturally the people are warm and friendly although poverty is common as there are no welfare states. The region is modernizing and some of the rustic charm of yesteryear has given way to a mix indistinguishable modernization contrasted by amazing high tech developments as in Beijing and Shanghai.

Many places stand out as tourist destinations for cultural, scenic, social, beach or recreational activities. China being the largest country may have the most to offer from its tropical southern coast to the chilling cold of the northern winter where the Harbin Ice Festival is an annual event held in January.

Thailand and the Philippines invite tourists to participate in recreational activities and are working toward eliminating the sex tourism that boomed in the 70's & 80's in part due to the endemic poverty.

• China
• Bhutan
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Thailand