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One of the first things noticeable in Amsterdam, upon exiting the massive train station, is the  quiet, which only deepens its impression on you the more steps you take from the jumble.   Only 200m from the station, taking a path along the row houses in the Jordan, you are encompassed by a blanket of stillness and rapture, broken only by the odd bicycle, whooshing by, or the odd -- and, ill-welcomed, it must be said -- Vespa scooter.  Other than a few stirring breezes, you are alone to admire the manicured stilt houses, the juniper trees, the Disneylandesque canals, the...

Singapore is quiet most of the time. Things run neatly, the streets are free of most traffic due to discouraging vehicle taxes, and people go about their business quietly. It is refreshing. Getting in and out if the airport couldn't be more seamless, with taxis never taking more than 30 minutes from downtown, and the MRT itself taking you for only S$2.20 (US$ 2), probably the least expensive airport trip fare in the world.Bangkok's skytrain, by contrast, is a multitude of noises. The mass transit BTS trains have advertising signage squeezed into every nook and cranny, a TV blaring commercials on board....

VIETNAM NOTES JAN 2012 [NOTE: Vietnam is changing rapidly and what might have been true in 2012 does not mean it even exists in 2018 as economic growth tends to make things more pleasant for everyone.]Poverty makes anxiety.People are Not the same.  Not the same in the same town, province, house.  But still, you can generalize.  Americans and Irish people are smily, friendly people.  Germans and Russians do not smile even if they work the front desk.  Thais smile and laugh easily, but they are from a nation of peace and plenty;  the Vietnamese have 1000 years of occupation preventing...

I'm going to tell you a secret about Tokyo: the world's most populated city, home of the largest producers of vehicles on the planet, has almost no cars on the roads. Ten million people take the mass transit everyday, a few drive, many millions more bicycle and walk. It's a healthy thought for the future of cities, most grid-locked and choking in pollution,  and the Japanese have already done it.That scarcity is with purpose. People are healthier if they walk a lot, but in a nation where everyone can afford a car, you must make it unaffordable or unwanted so...

As you descend from the clouds and glimpse the edge of this vast island, you are struck by the greenness of the place.  In fact, up until the moment you drop onto the Tarmac, lush, tropical green dominates every little hamlet, village and yard. Sri Lanka, once called 'Sarendip' (like 'serendipity'), curiously fitting into the side of India's Southeastern groove on maps, is most certainly a tropical island, offering unique flora and fauna, dating back epochs to the early shifting of tectonic plates.  It is also thrusting forward in development, with the last strangleholds of Tamil resistance brought to order,...