South-East Asia is the south-eastern section of Asia, a collection of dissimilar but not unrelated states squeezed between the twin giants of India and China.

Map of South-East Asia

Countries

• Brunei - tiny oil-rich sultanate in Borneo

• Cambodia - recovering from decades of war and home of Angkor

• East Timor - one of the world's newest states, at the eastern tip of Indonesia

• Indonesia - the giant of the region, with more than 18,000 islands and a population of over 240 million

• Laos - the forgotten, but growing, country of South-East Asia, landlocked by Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam

• Malaysia - multicultural country covering the skyscrapers of KL and the jungle headhunters of Borneo

• Myanmar (Burma) - military dictatorship open to the adventurous traveller

• Philippines - freewheeling former Spanish and American colony

• Singapore - clean and orderly island-city state

• Thailand - the most popular destination in the region

• Vietnam - firmly marching down the long road to capitalism

Understand

South Beach, Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

Southeast Asia is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, and for a reason. Some of the countries here have it all: a tropical climate, warm (or hot!) all year around, rich culture, gorgeous beaches, wonderful food and last but not least, low prices.

Southeast Asian history is very diverse, and has to an important extent been shaped by European colonialism. The very term Southeast Asia was invented by American Naval strategists around 1940. Southeast Asia was prior to WWII referred to with reference to the colonial powers; farther India for Burma and Thailand, with reference to the main British colony of India, although Thailand was never formally colonized; Indochina referred to the French colonies of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and Indonesia and parts of maritime Southeast Asia was referred to as the Dutch East Indies.

Indianization

Pre-historic Southeast Asia was largely underpopulated. A process of immigration from India across the Bay of Bengal is referred to as the process of Indianization. Exactly how and when it happened is contested; however, the population of the mainland region largely happened through immigration from India. The sanskrit script still used as the basis for modern Thai, Burmese and Khmer has its roots from this process.

Colonialization

Liberation struggles

Modern Southeast Asia

Talk

Southeast Asia's major languages are not mutually intelligible. English is a traveller's most useful language overall, although for longer stays in any Southeast Asian country (except maybe Singapore) picking up at least some of the local language is essential.

Get in

By plane

The main international gateways to Southeast Asia are Bangkok (Thailand) and Singapore, with Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) a distant third.

By train

The only place in Southeast Asia reachable by train is Vietnam, which can be reached from China and consequently also Russia and even Europe. Alas, Cambodia's network was badly hit by the civil war and it is not possible to transit through Cambodia to Thailand by train — although there are plans afoot to correct this sorry state of affairs.

Get around

By plane

Much of Southeast Asia is now covered by a dense web of discount carriers, making this a fast and affordable way of getting around.

By train

Train services are generally a little limited and best experienced for their nostalgic value. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are connected to each other by rail, but the networks in Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar are decrepit.

See

Itineraries

• One month in Southeast Asia
• Overland from Singapore to Shanghai (via Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Guangzhou)

Do

Eat

Rice is the main Southeast Asian staple, with noodles of all sorts an important second option.

Drink

Stay safe

Get out

• East Asia
• South Asia