JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA - Why were outcasts and criminals always exiled to the most beautiful places on Earth back in ancient times?

JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA - We were travelling the beautiful coast road that wraps around this tourist island headed to the airport after a few days of R&R when someone in the car pointed at the rocky shoreline and asked “what’s that?”

SEOUL - There are hundreds of attractions and lots to do and see in Korea – but here’s 20 things Travelife.ca writers suggest you put on your “must do” list when in Korea:

KANAZAWA, JAPAN – It’s a bright sun-drenched day when our motor coach enters the abyss of a volcanic mountain tunnel and quickly our vision is drawn to a tiny speck of light in the distance.

TOKYO – When looking for affordable places to dine in Japan’s capital, it helps to have tunnel vision. That’s because many of Tokyo’s cheapest and best “neighbourhood” restaurants can be found tucked away in the tunneled archways beneath the elevated portions of the city’s main rail line, the one on which the super-fast Shinkansen (bullet train) I’m aboard is travelling.

TOKYO - From a vantage point 50 stories above Tokyo in the lounge of the Park Hyatt Hotel, it becomes clear that this is a city that sprawls endlessly in every direction. Like Bill Murray’s character Bob Harris in the 2003 film Lost in Translation, I have only a few days to understand not only the city, but local culture, as well.Like that character, I’m also based in the luxurious Park Hyatt in Tokyo’s Shinjuku business district.

KYOTO, JAPAN - I was led to believe Japan is a male-dominated world. So why is the tiny woman wrapped in silk wrappings, complete with a bow at the back, ordering me to take my shoes off before entering a hotel in this ancient city. Well, as I soon discover, this is no ordinary hotel. And the grandmotherly figure shouting orders is no ordinary woman. “We have slipper for you,” says the diminutive Akemi Nishimura as she glances down at my size 10 feet before shuffling off in search of footwear.

KAGOSHIMA CITY, JAPAN - It rains pink petals in this southern Japanese city. Each year, when the cherry trees shed their pink coats and a gentle wind blows off the surrounding sea, the pedals flutter about like snow flakes and the people of this charming city celebrate the event by gathering in parks to picnic.

GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA -The slender man standing behind the trishaw, this old colonial town’s version of the more famous rickshaw, invited my partner and I to let him show us the sights of this mini-Singapore.

The sun slowly rises over the tallest peak on Friday Mountain, signaling another glorious day is about to begin on this tropical island outpost. Despite the early hour, the Andaman Sea beach outside the Four Seasons Langkawi Resort is hot to the touch. Debris, washed ashore overnight, is being swept up and bagged by an army of local women dressed in denim overalls. Their heads are covered with straw hats and scarves, as Muslim dress code demands. The pampered guests staying at Langkawi’s most l...