Asia

From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up....

The epic history of the crossroads of the world - the meeting place of East and West and the birthplace of civilization....

The Ridiculous Misadventures of a Single Girl gives listeners an intimate look into what Gabrielle went through when she returned home from her grand European adventure....

A landmark in travel writing, this is the incredible true story of Heinrich Harrer’s escape across the Himalayas to Tibet....

This fascinating history tells the story of the people of Japan, from ancient teenage priest-queens to teeming hordes of salarymen, a nation that once sought to conquer China, yet also shut itself away for two centuries in self-imposed seclusion....

The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia....

Amid escalating nuclear tensions, Kim Jong-un and North Korea's other leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party state, quashing any nascent opposition movements and sending all suspected dissidents to its brutal concentration camps for "re-education"....

In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled the country....

Colin Thubron undertakes a journey along the greatest land route on earth: the Silk Road....

A witty and irreverent look at the world and a celebration of the glory of train travel. Rajesh offers a wonderfully vivid account of life, history and culture in an audiobook that will make you laugh out loud - and reflect on what it means to be a global citizen.... 

A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India....

An entertaining and thought-provoking portrait of Indonesia: a rich, dynamic, and often maddening nation awash with contradictions....

From the author of the enduring classic The Solace of Open Spaces, here is a wondrous meditation on how water, light, wind, mountain, bird, and horse have shaped her life and her understanding of a world besieged by a climate crisis....

South Korea's amazing rise from the ashes: the inside story of an economic, political, and cultural phenomenon....

When the travel bug bit, J. Maarten Troost took on the world's most populous and intriguing nation....

Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world....

Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times's most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this wondrous and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals....

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo Read by Walter Covell. Take a fascinating journey through strange and exotic countries...

Arising out of Naipaul’s lifelong obsession and passion for a country that is at once his and totally alien, India: A Million Mutinies Now relates the stories of many of the people he met traveling there more than 50 years ago....

An immersive journey through the culture and cuisine of one Japanese town, its forest, and its watershed - where ducks are hunted by net, saké is brewed from the purest mountain water, and charcoal is fired in stone kilns - by an American writer and food stylist who spent years there....

In this adventurous, original book, NPR correspondent Frank Langfitt describes how he created a free taxi service - offering rides in exchange for illuminating conversation - to go beyond the headlines and get to know a wide range of colorful, compelling characters....

Best-selling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes....

A hard-charging CEO of a large enterprise, Ben Feder discovers that he is losing the very things that sustained him over his years of business success. Unsettled by his insight and determined to rebuild family relationships and rejuvenate his sense of purpose....

For many outsiders, Thailand still conjures up images of the East at its most mysterious and enchanting. Never conquered by foreigners, this proud and ancient land has been shaped by Buddhism, the monarchy, and the military....

Most people want out of North Korea. Wendy Simmons wanted in....

Whether your taste runs to crocodiles, ancient relics, or flying saucers, you’re sure to find entertainment and illumination in this collection of 21 true travel stories.Join in the author’s adventures as she makes a pilgrimage to see a 2,500-year-old tooth, considers the fate of a three-legged elephant, learns the chilling secrets of the Jamaica Inn pirates, participates in a shamanic ayahuasca ritual, talks alien spaceship propulsion with a SETI scientist, and more.

Ever since Europeans started exploring the world’s highest mountains and trying to reach their summits in the early 20th century, Sherpas have been an integral part of mountaineering expeditions to the Himalayas. In this anthology curated from his popular Footsteps on the Mountain blog, Mark Horrell explores the evolution of Sherpa mountaineers, from the porters of early expeditions to the superstar climbers of the present day.

Stu Nugent was never a good candidate for a round-the-world cycling trip. He was, and remains, a coward. In a flash of uncharacteristic daring, he attempted to cycle the Northern Silk Road, from Shanghai to Europe. He failed. He failed dramatically. Against a backdrop of the world's most staggering, awe-inspiring landscapes, he was forced to smoke opium at gunpoint, attacked by a snake in a remote Kyrgyz river, robbed at gunpoint by the police, and eventually imprisoned in anonymous jail somewhere on the Kazakh steppe. How did it all go so wrong?

It’s 1992 and magazine journalist Nigel Simmonds escapes corporate life to move to Bali, the Island of The Gods. His first port of call is Ubud, below sacred Mount Agung, where he sets up home among a collection of characters for whom life in the West–known as The Machine–has become untenable. 

Making It Big in Japan is your ultimate guide to living, working, and playing in Japan. The information you get about Japan from reading articles online in English only scratches the surface. Like an outdated textbook, the advice seems to be stuck in the 1980s without reflecting the real pace of change in Japan. There is a need for more clarity and explanations of information that is often only available in Japanese. To fill this gap, I have interviewed the people who influenced me, served as role models, or offered valuable perspectives along my seven-year journey in Japan.