Yvonne van Dongen gets a telling off about her improper tea drinking habits from her Basil Fawlty-esque guide in the Cameron Highlands.

Sumo wrestlers come in all sizes, finds Brett Atkinson, but the man mountains are the most fascinating.

A modern-day Chinese emigration wave is already underway, and the US is their preferred destination, with buyers snapping up $11b worth of US properties last year.

Bich Ngoc, who earns less than $60 a week, cobbled together four months of savings to buy the latest iPhone so she could impress her colleagues.

For years, wealthy Chinese have been transferring billions overseas to buy pricey real estate, despite their country's currency restrictions. How are they doing it?

Travel back in time from the war cemeteries of Gallipoli to the ancient wonders of Istanbul.

Companies in Japan are among the world's most vulnerable to cyber attacks, and threats against state entities have more than doubled since 2010 to one every 30 seconds.

The pachinko industry in Japan wants casinos, driven by attendance that has sunk more than 60 per cent since the mid-90s and an uncertain legal status.

Travelling from Chau Doc to Ho Chi Minh City, Nick Redmayne encounters an optimistic country.

So busy is Audrey Young reflecting on the meaning of life at the Haeinsa Temple, that she doesn't even get around to breaking open her emergency rations.

Not all beer drinkers want to grab a cold one. Molson Coors Brewing discovered this in China where drinking cold liquids is widely seen as undesirable.

Japan's cultural barriers may seem immense but Sarah MacDonald finds getting to know the locals in the busy city can be easy.

Graham Reid considers the lifelines of India.

Taiwanese festivals are a dazzling frenzy of colour and noise, finds Justine Tyerman.

In the mid-1990s, Gus, a polar bear in the Central Park Zoo, alarmed visitors by compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool, sometimes for 12 hours a day.

India will offload about a quarter of its rice stockpiles and ease restrictions on selling fruit and veggies as a weak monsoon threatens crop output.

Graham Reid visits a photogenic spot that isn't quite as famous as it looks.

Two teenage cousins found hanging from a mango tree may in fact have been murdered in an honour killing by members of their own family.

After a fruitless three-month hunt for flight MH370, Australian authorities have taken the first step towards handing over search operations to a private contractor.

A travel insurer has warned tourists about the risk of drinking arak, a locally made alcohol in Bali.

A British woman sailing near Indonesia at the time MH370 vanished says she saw a plane 'burning' and billowing smoke before it crashed.

Vietnam's Phu Quoc is what Phuket was 40 years ago. But it won't last, says Jacqueline Le.

Len Brown is taking his first overseas trip since the furore of his affair, which raised questions about a trip he made to Hong Kong.

Can a Kiwi cyclist out-sprint a hungry brown bear? In Japan Victoria Clark fixates on this point while pedalling through Hokkaido's forests. She need not have worried.

Pam Neville finds an unexpected joie de vivre among Beijing's bustling population.

Roll up! Roll up! For the chance to ride some of the best double-decker trams in Hong Kong, writes Russell Maclennan-Jones.

See Bangkok life from different perspectives, says Megan Singleton.

Kiwis are being urged not to travel to some areas of Thailand and to be extremely careful in others after martial law was declared across the country.