123RF
India is a vast and complicated land of many cultures, languages and traditions, so it can be hard to know where to start. Even for someone who has been there a few times, knowing where to start is difficult.
So here are some resources on India.

The Lonely Planet, love it or hate it, is a useful starting place and has loads of practical information such as highlights, costs and how to get around. It’s useful for planning an itinerary and getting estimates on how much it could cost and how long it’ll take. Remember, it’s not the Travel Bible, it’s just a very practical guide and it will serve you fine.

The website has many of the features you’ll find in their books. Useful for an overview of a place and practicalities, they also have the Thorn Tree, an active forum where you can post questions about India and are likely to get some answers.
Out of the main travel books it seems to be the most comprehensive website.

Rough Guides introduction to India at first glance appears to have little information but this is deceptive. Click on ‘explore India’ and you can read about what the states of India have to offer and once there you can find out more information about each state.
Rough Guides are well written and entertaining. They also provide a useful overview of the country.


Footprint produces some very good guides books but their website has only limited information on India and the forum is not active at the moment. Looks like they are catching up with Lonely Planet and The Rough Guide


Incredible India, the government’s tourist webpage, is an attractive website with lots of gorgeous photos. The information is divided in many ways, from types of holidays (adventure sports, well being, beaches, etc) to destinations. There’s a lot of practical information to. Some of the specific holiday options they highlight are probably the more expensive ones.

Definitely worth a look to get ideas on what to do in India.

The great thing about India is that English is widely spoken and written. Indians have provided some of the best reads in English over the last 100 years. If you want to read about Indian’s opinions on a range of subject, this is a comprehensive introduction to Indian Bloggers.


Indian Travel blog written by photojournalist Arun, the site contains beautiful photos and write ups on his trips around India. The photos really show India off to its best and can give a feel for destinations much better than just reading a guide book.

I’ve read ‘The age of Kali’, which delves deeper into stories of the present and the past. Many of the stories have a political and social view, which can shed some light on why things are as they are in India. Stories include political intrigue and corruption in India’s poorest state – Bihar, the status of women and include interviews with Imran Khan and Benazir Bhutto as well as a host of other intriguing characters. The author is William Dalrymple.

Salman Rushie has written some wonderful books that capture the magic of the India, including Midnight Children and Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

Calling all Asian Photographers

If you have a DSLR camera, a passion for photography and an appetite for learning then microstocks could be for you. Treat it as an experiment and the very least it will do for you is to broaden your photographic horizons.

Also you have an advantage being in Asia as you have easier access to Asian things than most Western based photographers. You can convert your travel, interests and things that surround you into a new source of income. A source of income that has no setup costs.

You have a choice of agencies to start with but some require that you qualify for photography status first before you can submit i.e. Shutterstock, Istockphotos and Stockxpert.

I’d suggest that you first try Dreamstime, Fotolia and 123RF because;
• You can summit photographs straight away.
• If your photographs get rejected, you can still submit more.
• You will learn from rejections and be in a better position to submit more photos.

You can build up a portfolio and also understand which photos are the most suitable to use to gain qualified status at Shutterstock, Istockphotos and Stockxpert.

Shutterstock is now considered to be the number one in microstocks. It certainly is in my experience but it’s also notoriously hard to get accepted. It took me three goes and that knocked my confidence. After my first rejection, I didn’t try microstocks for another year and Shutterstock for another 15 months.

Here are some tips for submitting to Shutterstock.

Only submit photos that were taken at ISO 100 or less.
Submitted photos should be different from one another.
Use the Shutterstock forum to help. They have one specifically for critiquing new submitters.

And good luck. I’ve found that once you have been accepted by Shutterstock that they are fairly constant with what they accept and reject. It’s now my favourite site.

A similar approach with Stockxpert will get you accepted though I haven’t really summitted many more as I found their keyword requirements complicated.

Don’t ask me about Istockphotos; I’m still to be accepted there. They have an artistic qualification system where you submit three photos and they accept you depending on ‘artistic’ quality. I think if you have good stock photos of people then you’ll get accepted.


Submit Photos to Shutterstock and make $$$!









Click Here for link to Fotolia

Diving Options in Asia

photographer Krishna creations,Dreamstime








Here are some resources on diving in Asia. I'm no expert as I've only been on an assisted dive in Bohol, Philippines but after that experience I want to get my licence. Also, with some dismal reports that coral reefs will be a thing of the past in 50 years, now is the time to go.

Here are some great reads and beautiful pictures.

Cheap Dives in Asia and many more articles Divehappy

Lots of info on diving, seems to be focused on Thailand but has stuff about other Asian destinations. Finsonline Magazine

Top destinations in Asia, also has a top 100 dive sites for the world - if you're interested. Scubatravel

This site has a very active forum discussing 'Dive Questions' relating to Asia. Dive Forum on Asia

Learning to Dive in Taiwan. I've snorkeled in Green Island, Lanyu and Kending, Green Island was surprising good. I saw loads of fish and pretty good corals. Apparently for diving Lanyu is as good as Green Island. Taiwan Dive

Cheap Air Flights Asia

Accustomed to cheap flights in Europe, I was initially disappointed when I moved to Asia in 2005. Taipei is a destination rather than a hub of cheap flights in Asia. It wasn't until 2007 that I discovered cheap flights in Asia and that was primarily through 'attitude travel' website.

Attitude Travel - Asia

They list airlines that are considered cheap. I've used some of the Indian airlines they've listed. Whilst not dirty cheap, they do provide an affordable alternative to a one or two day train ride. For many of the tickets in India the added-on costs were more than the ticket cost, hence no dirty cheap deals.

Since then, the list of airlines have increased alot. Airasia seems to be the leading cheap airline in Asia now, oftering numerous flights from Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok to destinations in SE Asia, China, India and even London.

For expats and travellers, these airline open up huge possibilities for travel in Asia, especially SE Asia. They have opened up much of Indonesia

Lion Air (Indonesian Airline) flies from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to many destinations in Indonesia. Though I found their website frustrating to use and therefore haven't been able to provide any details on prices.

Some prices from Airasia (food is extra but can be prebooked at a 20% discount) click here to go to Airasia

Kuala Lumpur to Manado (Sulawesi) $105 return (I think with tax included) for flying in a month time.

KL to Guilin (China) $268 return (in one month time)

KL to Hong Kong $265 return (in one month time)

KL to Kochi (Kerela, India) $160 return (in one month time)


I get the feeling that most cheap airlines are primarily regionally focused i.e. SE Asia, the Indian Subcontinent. Attitude Travel said that Airasia has opened several SE Asia to India routes but that others have done this before and failed. I remembered trying to get a NOK flight back from India to Thailand but that route had already closed down.

I will do more investigating into cheap flights in Asia. There's plenty of choice and with time and patience these airlines will open up new distinations for you.

Live Asia, Travel Asia

Hi, I’m a Brit living in Asia. I’m currently based in Taipei, Taiwan, a modern place with the world’s tallest building (opened one at least)), great food and access to some stunning scenery. Saying this I’d love to try out other places in Asia too – Japan – to see if I can comprehend the place; China because increasingly it seems to be regaining its ‘heavenly kingdom’ status and it’s home to an incredible variety of cultures; Bangkok because it’s home to the most unique and maybe the most effective language program around, the Philippines – a tropical paradise, Vietnam, India, Korea – well the list just goes on.

Asia is also a place to gain experience. Many years ago I taught English in a refugee camps in the jungles of Thailand. I’ve never experienced anything like that before or since. Life is very different without electricity and concrete, with a constant threat from a murderous enemy and when your only access to a road is to wade through paddy fields for 20 mins so that you can get a hitch to the nearest town. Other friends have found their footing by trying to transform English Teaching into a more productive and enjoyable experience for kids. One friend has been busy writing and running English theme camps, which uses videos, computer games, real games and various challenges to make English come alive (a welcome break from book learning!).

Other people have become travel writers, photographers, bar owners from salons to girly bars, guest house owners from the luxury to the chaotic, TV presenters, radio stars and so on.


I’ve traveled quite extensively in the Far East and South Asia but there are many gaps even in countries where I’ve spent a lot of time. And despite advances in technology prompting many to say the world is getting smaller, we also have access to much more information than before, which makes me feel that the world is still an enormous place.

Anyway, this blog isn’t meant to be for me. It’s meant to explore the possibilities of living and traveling in Asia. The orient will be the focus but I’m open to Central Asia, the Subcontinent and the Middle East. It will provide information and access to cheap flights, travel and opportunities through the region.
One thing I’m especially interested in is learning in different places – or something called ‘mini-retirements’. This is when you take anything from a few months to a year off to pursue a life dream, which could be to learn another language, learn to cook, learn a marital art, become a dancer, do a photography project or whatever it is that makes you tick. Many Asia countries are ideal for these mini-retirements as they have a low cost of living and yet can still provide all of life’s necessities.

Also I would love to find out what other people are doing in Asia and how they are making Asia their own.