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| The Sikh Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India |
If you want to understand the world, you need to understand Asia. That, in turn, means setting foot in China and India. Together, those two countries account for one-third of humanity and much of the world’s recent economic growth. They reflect two of our richest civilizations, two broad religious traditions and a vast share of the world’s artistic heritage — and its future.
So fly to Beijing and Shanghai, Xian and Guangzhou. But don’t just visit the giant metropolises. Go also to the countryside that is China’s soul. Visit a town like Datong, west of Beijing, home to stunning carved Buddhas several stories high. They are 1,500 years old and one of the most amazing sights in China, yet few foreign tourists know of Datong.
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| Thomas Nybo for The New York Times Nicholas D. Kristof |
Alternatively, especially in winter, go south to the warmer landscape of the Guangxi region. From Guilin, take a boat trip down the Li River, with views of those jutting spires that are featured in Chinese art, and spend a couple of days in the lovely town of Yangshuo. From there, you can easily rent bikes and explore the nearby countryside.
Wherever you go, drop in on a village. Residents will be surprised but hospitable, and if you have a Chinese speaker to translate, then you can have great conversations. Or drop by the local school, and you may find an English teacher delighted to practice conversational skills.
Then visit India, and likewise go beyond Delhi and Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. From Delhi, you can hire a car and visit the poor state of Rajasthan next door. Or explore the religious side of India, perhaps with a flight to Varanasi, on the holy Ganges River, where corpses are cremated on bonfires beside the waters. Or take a train to Amritsar and visit the Sikh Golden Temple.
As a backpacking student years ago, I slept a couple of nights free on the floor of a room on Temple grounds; it was as memorable as the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, one of the world’s best hotels. From Amritsar, you can also make a side trip by road to Lahore, Pakistan, a grand and relatively safe city just an hour across the border.
Wherever you go, try to interact not only with monuments but also with the people. My best experiences on the road have always been unscripted and spontaneous encounters with local people. On my first trip to China in 1983, I was caught in a furious rainstorm in Beijing without an umbrella, and a young couple took pity and invited me into their nearby apartment for a memorable evening of conversation, dinner and drying off. While riding a long-distance bus in Algeria, the man beside me invited me to get off with him at his village in the middle of nowhere, so I spent a couple of days living in underground tunnels in the desert with his family. In Indonesia, my wife and I got stuck in a remote Javanese village when a road proved impassible, but a family took us in, and we ended up delighted by our mishap.
So remember, the most amazing sights abroad are often the human ones. Too often, tourists see Tiananmen Square and the Taj Mahal, but don’t make friends or ever step into a Chinese or Indian home. Asia is important above all for its people, so get to know them!