North-East Asia [antikvár]

Introduction North-East Asia is many different and contrasting things: high-energy Hong Kong, a British colony nervously watching the countdown for its return to China; tiny Macau, a curious and colourful colonial relic; Japan, the economic powerhouse of the world, with myriad glimpses of a picture-postcard rural side still to be found; Mongolia, once the world's largest empire but now one of Asia's least visited backwaters; Korea, exotic and dynamic but split into two violently opposed halves; Taiwan, another dynamic economy but also uneasy about the intentions of its huge would-be parent; and finally China, ancient, vast, varied and stumbling towards modernisation. Hong Kong, with its superb natural harbour, is the key to this whole region, the centre from which to explore other parts of North-East Asia. This over-populated city-state, offset by beautiful and sparsely populated islands, wins this role through its central position and its reputation as an office for issuing visas and a supermarket for cheap air fares. Just an hour away by jetfoil is Macau, the oldest European settlement in the East and an interesting contrast to the bustle of Hong Kong. Yet it offers one form of modernisation that Hong Kong lacks - casino gambling. Individual travel in China will provide you with a host of impressions: a giant statue of Mickey Mouse (adored by the Chinese), the ancient splendour of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, or the hackwork that is creating modem China. And every so often China throws up something that takes you completely by surprise - like a village lifted lock, stock and barrel out of Switzerland and grafted onto a Chinese mountaintop. In Japan, despite overwhelming modernisation, you can still find the traditional way of life. In Tohoku in northern Honshu there are towns with old thatched-roof buildings that have survived earthquakes and wars. Despite its comprehensive transport system, Japan is still a country of heavily beaten highways and barely visited back roads. Taiwan also remains a land of sharp contrasts - heavy industrialisation has taken its toll on the urban environment, yet the rural areas remain amazingly unspoilt. The island is extremely mountainous and offers some of the best hiking opportunities in the region. Traditional Chinese culture flourishes and is in fact better preserved in Taiwan than on the Chinese mainland. Although parts of North-East Asia are the most advanced and developed in the whole of Asia, others are as backward as you'll come across. Travellers have been beating a shoestring path across Hong Kong and China for years, but South Korea and Taiwan are relatively little known. Tales of high costs have scared many travellers away from Japan, while Mongolia and North Korea have until recently been about as isolated as the South Pole. North-East Asia is waiting for you to explore it.