Travelguides: January 2009

Delhi, India

On first impressions, DELHI, with its jam-packed streets, tower blocks and temples, forts, mosques and colonial mansions, can be both disorienting and fascinating. It certainly takes a while to find your feet, as you attempt to weave a path through buses, trucks, nippy modern cars, mopeds, rickshaws, cows, bullock carts, hand-pulled trolleys and even the occasional elephant being ridden along with the flow of traffic. You'll find unlikely juxtapositions are everywhere you look: suit-and-tie businessmen rub shoulders with traditionally dressed orthodox Hindus and Muslims; groups of young Levis-clad Delhi-ites pile into burger joints, bars and discos; turbaned snake charmers tease hypnotizing moans out of curved pipes; pundits pontificate while sadhus smoke their chillums; and ragged beggars clutching dusty children plead for a little help towards a meal.

Delhi's daunting scale becomes more manageable as you start to appreciate that, geographicall as well as historically, it consists of several distinct cities, an amalgamation and expansion of the "Seven Cities" of tradition (seven fortress settlements built at different times here by different rulers). The hub of the metropolis is New Delhi, an orderly plan of wide roads lined with sturdy colonial buildings, which was established soon after the imperial capital of British India moved here from Calcutta in 1911. Many of the city's hotels are here, concentrated amid the colonnaded facades of Connaught Place. A couple of kilometres south, the broad, green east–west swathe of Raj Path links India Gate and the Indian parliamentary buildings, once considered to be the architectural jewels in the Imperial crown. Old Delhi, Shah Jahan's seventeenth-century capital of Shahjahanabad, lies 3km northwest of Connaught Place. This is Delhi at its most quintessentially Indian, where the traditional lifestyle of its predominantly Muslim population has changed little over two hundred years. A visit to the mighty Lal Qila or Red Fort and Jami Masjid, India's largest mosque, is a must, and should be combined with a stroll through the area's ancient bazaars, a warren of clustered houses, buzzing with commotion, and infused with aromatic smells drifting from open-fronted restaurants, spice shops and temples.

Firozabad, another of Delhi's ex-capitals, is centred around Delhi Gate, while the other five former capitals, further south, are today all but deserted, standing as impressive reminders of long-vanished dynasties. Among them you'll find the towering free-standing twelfth-century column erected by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the Qutb Minar – it marks the first capital, Qila Rai Pithora, and signalled the development of the city that visitors see today. Walls and dilapidated pillars survive from the fourteenth-century city of Tughluqabad, and Purana Qila, the sixth capital. Interspersed between these historic ruins are the grand tombs of Delhi's former rulers, plus a plethora of Hindu temples, and domed mosques, introduced by the Muslims, which dramatically changed the conventional mould of Indian cities. Perhaps the finest expressions of the Moghuls' architectural genius were the grand charbagh (quartered garden) mausoleums of Humayun's Tomb, and, most famously, the Taj Mahal in Agra. The major monument of the great Moghul period is Lal Qila (the Red Fort) in Old Delhi.

As befits a national capital, Delhi, with its many museums and art treasures, cultural performances and crafts, provides a showcase of the country's diverse heritage. Shops trade in goods from every corner of India, and with a little legwork you can find anything from Tibetan carpets, antiques and jewellery to modern art and designer clothes. After years of economic isolation caused by India's draconian post-Independence trading laws, Delhi is enjoying a tremendous economic boom. With plenty of spending money and a new sense of confidence among the wealthier classes, the city now boasts a great nightlife scene, with designer bars, chic cafés and good clubs. Its auditoria host a wide range of national music and dance events, drawing on the richness of India's great classical traditions. Smart new cinemas show innumerable Bollywood and Hollywood movies, while theatres hold performances in both Hindi and English.

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Manila, Philippines

The capital of the Philippines, a grouping of twelve cities and five municipalities, is technically known as Metro Manila but usually referred to simply as MANILA, home to 9.5 million people. Manila will never be a serious tourist destination until the authorities deal with the twin evils of traffic and pollution; most tourists are in the capital because they have a day or two to kill either at the beginning or the end of a trip to the rest of the country. In its favour, Manila has friendly people, some excellent nightlife, a few historical sights that are worth the effort, plus some of the most cavernous shopping malls in Asia. At first sight, the city may seem clamorous, unkempt and rough around the edges, but what it lacks in architectural sophistication it makes up for with an accessible chaotic charm. The way to enjoy it is to step into the fray and go with the flow, which is exactly what Manileños have learned to do.

Manila started life as a tiny settlement around the banks of the Pasig River. The name comes from the words may ("there is") and nilad (a type of plant that grew near the Pasig). With Spanish colonization, it grew into an important port. King Philip II of Spain called Manila Insigne y Siempre Leal Ciudad (Distinguished and Ever Loyal City). Images of the city in the eighteenth century show grand merchants' houses and schooners moored in the Pasig. The area around Binondo, later to become Chinatown, was alive with mercantile activity. Nineteenth-century travellers arriving in Manila were enchanted. Manila's population was 150,000 and there had been one murder in five years.

But it was a doomed city. At 7pm on June 3, 1863, an earthquake struck and Manila crumbled, burying hundreds in its ruins. The new Manila that grew in its stead was thoroughly modern, with streetcars, steam trains and American-style public architecture. This was one of the most elegant and cosmopolitan cities in the Orient, but when the smoke cleared at the end of Japanese occupation in March 1945, it was once again in ruins, having undergone relentless shelling from American howitzers and been set alight by retreating Japanese troops. The Battle of Manila lasted 29 days and claimed 100,000 civilian lives. Rebuilding was slow and plagued by corruption and government inertia. As a consequence, the city that greets visitors today is one of emotional counterpoints, with areas of extreme poverty encroaching on frothy mansions, glass skyscrapers and designer boutiques.

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On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO – the last great conurbation before the yawning chasm of the Pacific Ocean – is one of the world's most perplexing cities. On the one hand, gaudily hung about with eyeball-searing neon and messy overhead cables, plagued by seemingly incessant noise, often clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic and packed with twelve million people squashed into minute apartments, it can seem like the stereotypical urban nightmare. Yet behind the barely ordered chaos lie remnants of a very different way of life. Step back from the frenetic main roads and chances are you'll find yourself in a world of tranquil backstreets, where wooden houses are fronted by neatly clipped bonsai trees; wander beyond the high-tech department stores, and you'll find ancient temples and shrines. In this city of 24-hour shops and vending machines, a festival is held virtually every day of the year, people regularly visit their local shrine or temple and scrupulously observe the passing seasons. And, at the centre of it all, is the mysterious green void of the Imperial Palace – home to the emperor and a tangible link to the past.

In many ways Tokyo is also something of a modern-day utopia. Trains run on time; the crime rate is hardly worth worrying about; shops and vending machines provide everything you could need (and many things you never thought you needed) 24 hours a day; the people wear the coolest fashions, eat in fabulous restaurants and party in the hippest clubs. It's almost impossible to be bored here and first-time visitors should be prepared for a massive assault on the senses – just walking the streets of this hyperactive city can be an energizing experience. You'll also be surprised how affordable many things are. Cheap-and-cheerful izakaya (bars that serve food) and noodle shacks far outnumber the big-ticket French restaurants and high-class ryotei, where geisha serve minimalist Japanese cuisine, while day-tickets for a sumo tournament or a Kabuki play can be bought for the price of a few drinks. Many of the city's highlights are even free: a stroll through the evocative Shitamachi (low city) area around Asakusa and the major Buddhist temple Senso-ji; a visit to the tranquil wooded grounds of Meiji-jingu, the city's most venerable Shinto shrine, and the nearby teenage shopping mecca of Harajuku; the frenetic fish market at Tsukiji; the crackling, neon-saturated atmosphere of the mini-city Shinjuku – you don't need to part with lots of cash to explore this city.

Even if you don't arrive in Tokyo, chances are you will end up here or pass through on your way to other parts of Japan, since the capital is the major transport hub. Every day, scores of Shinkansen (bullet trains) speed up to the far north of Honsho or south to Kyushu, while flights, buses and ferries connect Tokyo to the far-flung corners and islands of the Japanese archipelago.

The only time Tokyo is best avoided is during the steamy height of summer in August and early September, when the city's humidity sees its citizens scurrying from one air-conditioned haven to another. October and November, by contrast, are great months to take in the spectacular fireburst of autumn leaves in Tokyo's parks and gardens. Temperatures dip to freezing in the winter months, though the crisp blue skies are rarely disturbed by rain or snow showers. April is the month when Tokyoites love to party beneath the flurries of falling cherry blossoms – one of the best months to visit the capital. Carrying an umbrella is a good idea during tsuyu, the rainy season in June and September, when typhoons occasionally strike the coast.

Legend says that a giant catfish sleeps beneath Tokyo Bay, and its wriggling can be felt in the hundreds of small tremors that rumble the capital each year. Around every seventy years, the catfish awakes, resulting in the kind of major earthquake seen in 1995 in Kobe. There is a long-running, half-hearted debate about moving the Diet and main government offices out of Tokyo, away from danger. Yet, despite the fact that the city is well overdue for the Big One, talk of relocating the capital always comes to nothing. Now, more than ever before, Tokyo is the centre of Japan, and nobody wants to leave and miss any of the action.

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Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong works as a useful gateway into Southeast Asia and into China. It is also an interesting place in its own right – an extraordinary, complex territory of seven million people that's a repository of traditional Chinese culture, a recently relinquished British outpost, and one of the key economies of the Pacific Rim. The view of sky-scrapered Hong Kong Island, across the harbour from Kowloon, is one of the most stunning urban panoramas on earth, but Hong Kong also holds some surprises for the traveller – alongside the myriad shopping possibilities (not all of them such a bargain as they used to be), are a surprising number of inviting beaches, rewarding hiking trails and some surviving bastions of Chinese village life, most of them in the New Territories. An excellent infrastructure, an efficient underground system and all the other facilities of an international city make this an extremely soft entry into the Chinese world.

Some visitors dislike the speed, the obsessive materialism and the addiction to shopping, money and brand names in Hong Kong. Downtown is certainly not a place to recover from a headache, but it's hard not to enjoy the sheer energy of its street and commercial life. Hong Kong's per capita GNP has doubled in a decade, overtaking that of the former imperial power, and the territory is currently the largest trading partner and largest source of foreign investment for the People's Republic of China, a country of 1.3 billion people. Yet the inequality of incomes is staggering: the conspicuous consumption of the few hundred super-rich (all Cantonese), for which Hong Kong is famous, tends to mask the fact that most people work long hours and live in crowded, tiny apartments.

Since the handover to China in 1997 the people of Hong Kong have found themselves in a unique position: subject to the ultimate rule of Beijing, they live in a semi-democratic capitalist enclave – a "Special Administrative Region of China" – under the control of an unaccountable communist state. This is not to say that the people of Hong Kong were not glad to see the end of colonialism – an overwhelming majority supported the transfer of power, and a huge majority speak only the Cantonese dialect, eat only Cantonese food, pray in Chinese temples and enjoy close cultural and blood relations with the Cantonese population that lives just over the border, in the southern provinces of mainland China. Indeed, it is hard to overstate the symbolic importance that the handover had for the entire Chinese population, marking the end of the era of foreign domination. However, worrying questions remain, notably whether the One Country/Two Systems policy created by Deng Xiaoping will work in the longer term, especially if China's own economic progress begins to falter.

Hong Kong's climate is subtropical. The pleasantest time to visit is between October and April. The weather is cooler, humidity and pollution levels drop, and the flowers are in bloom. In January and February it can get quite rainy and cold – you'll need a light jacket and sweater. The temperature and humidity start to pick up in mid-April, and between late June and early September readings of 30ÞC and 95 percent humidity or more are the norm. Walking and other physical activities become unpleasant and sleeping without air-con difficult. May to September is also the peak typhoon season, when ferry and airline timetables are often disrupted by bad weather.

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Shanghai, China

After forty years of stagnation, the great metropolis of SHANGHAI is currently undergoing one of the fastest economic expansions that the world has ever seen. While shops overflow and the skyline fills with skyscrapers, Shanghai now seems certain to recapture its position as East Asia's leading business city, a status it last held before World War II. And yet, for all the modernization Shanghai has retained deep links with its colonial past.

Shanghai is still known in the West for its infamous role as the base of European imperialism in mainland China – its decadence, illicit pleasures, racism, appalling social inequalities, and Mafia syndicates. The intervening fifty years have almost been forgotten, as though the period from when the Communists arrived and the foreigners moved out was an era in which nothing happened. To some extent this perception is actually true: for most of the Communist period into the early 1990s, the central government in Beijing deliberately ran Shanghai down, siphoning off its surplus to other parts of the country to the point where the city came to resemble a living museum, frozen in time since the 1940s, and housing the largest array of Art Deco architecture in the world.

Yet the Shanghainese never lost their ability to make waves for themselves and, in recent years, China's central government has come to be dominated by individuals from the Shanghai area, who look with favour on the rebuilding of their old metropolis. In the mid 1980s, the decision was made to push Shanghai once again to the forefront of China's drive for modernization, and an explosion of economic activity has been unleashed. In the last two decades, city planners have been busy creating a subway network, colossal highways, flyovers and bridges, shopping malls, hotel complexes and the beginnings of a "New Bund" – the Special Economic Zone across the river in Pudong, soon to be crowned with the world's tallest building. Significantly, China's main money-printing mint is near here, hence the high proportion of shiny new coins and bills in circulation in the city. The Shanghainese are by far the most highly skilled labour force in the country, renowned for their ability to combine style and sophistication with a sharp sense for business, and international in outlook. Thanks to them their city is riding high.

Not that the old Shanghai is set to disappear overnight. Although the pace of redevelopment has quickened, parts of the city still resemble a 1920s vision of the future; a grimy metropolis of monolithic pseudo-classical facades, threaded with overhead cables and walkways, and choked by vast crowds and rattling trolley buses. Unlike other major Chinese cities, Shanghai has only recently been subjected to large-scale rebuilding. Most of the urban area was partitioned between foreign powers until 1949, and their former embassies, banks and official residences still give large areas of Shanghai an early-twentieth-century European flavour that the odd Soviet-inspired government building cannot overshadow. It is still possible to make out the boundaries of what used to be the foreign concessions, with the bewildering tangle of alleyways of the old Chinese city at its heart. Only along the Huangpu waterfront, amid the stolid grandeur of the Bund, is there some sense of space – and here you feel the past more strongly than ever, its outward forms, shabby and battered, still very much a working part of the city. Today, strolling the Bund is a required attraction for any visitor to Shanghai, and it's ironic that relics of hated foreign imperialism such as the Bund are now protected as city monuments.

Like Hong Kong, its model of economic development, Shanghai does not brim with obvious attractions to see. Besides the Shanghai Museum, the Suzhou-reminiscent Yu Yuan Gardens, and the Huangpu River Cruise, there are few sights with broad appeal – many travellers leave the city with a sense of letdown. But the beauty of visiting Shanghai lies not so much in scurrying from attraction to attraction, but in less obvious pleasures: strolling the Bund, exploring the pockets of colonial architecture in the old French Concession, sampling the exploding restaurant and nightlife scene, or wandering the shopping streets and absorbing the rebirth of one of the world's great cities.

Inevitably, many of the social ills that the Communists were supposed to have eliminated after 1949 are making a comeback. Unemployment, drug abuse and prostitution are rife. But the dynamic contrast that Shanghai presents with the rest of China is one that even the most China-weary of travellers can hardly fail to enjoy.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Founded in the mid-nineteenth century, KUALA LUMPUR, or KL as it's popularly known, is the youngest Southeast Asian capital and the most economically successful after Singapore – and it's still growing: building sites abound and the city is awash with stunning examples of modern architecture, not least the famous Petronas Towers and the recently opened Museum of Islamic Arts. It's not one of Malaysia's most charming cities, perhaps: it doesn't have, for example, the narrow alleys, bicycles and mahjong games of Melaka or Kota Bharu or the atmospheric waterfront of Kuching. But it's safe and sociable, and with a population of nearly two million, it's usually exciting in the day and always buzzing with energy at night. From a cultural standpoint, it certainly has enough interesting monuments, galleries, markets and museums to keep visitors busy for at least a week.

KL began life as a swampy staging post for Chinese tin miners in 1857 – Kuala Lumpur means "muddy estuary" in Malay – and blossomed under the competitive rule of pioneering merchants. But as fights over tin concessions erupted across the country, the British used gunboat diplomacy to settle the Selangor Civil War and the British Resident, Frank Swettenham, took command of KL, making it the capital of the state and, in 1896, the capital of the Federated Malay States. Swettenham imported British architects from India to design suitably grand buildings, and thousands of Tamil labourers poured in to build them; development continued steadily through the first quarter of the twentieth century. The Japanese invaded in December 1941, but although they bombed the city, they missed their main targets. Following the Japanese surrender in September 1945, the British were once more in charge in the capital, but Nationalist demands had replaced the Malays' former acceptance of the colonizers, and Malaysian independence – Merdeka – finally came in 1957.

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The headlong pace and flawed modernity of BANGKOK (called "Krung Thep" in Thai) match few people's visions of the capital of exotic Siam. Spiked with scores of highrise buildings of concrete and glass, it's a vast flatness which holds a population of at least nine million, and feels even bigger. But under the shadow of the skyscrapers you'll find a heady mix of frenetic markets and hushed golden temples, of glossy cutting-edge clubs and early-morning almsgiving ceremonies. Most budget travellers head for the Banglamphu district, which is just a short walk from the dazzling Grand Palace and Wat Po and the very worthwhile National Museum. For livelier scenes, explore the dark alleys of Chinatown's bazaars or head for the water: the great Chao Phraya River is the backbone of a network of canals and a useful way of crossing the city.

Bangkok is a relatively young capital, established in 1782 after the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya, the former capital. A temporary base was set up on the western bank of the Chao Phraya, in what is now Thonburi, before work started on the more defensible east bank. The first king of the new dynasty, Rama I, built his palace at Ratanakosin and this remains the city's spiritual heart. Initially, the city was largely amphibious: only the temples and royal palaces were built on dry land, while ordinary residences floated on thick bamboo rafts on the river and canals, and even shops and warehouses were moored to the river bank. In the late nineteenth century, Rama IV and Rama V modernized their capital along European lines, building roads and constructing a new royal residence in Dusit, north of Ratanakosin.

Since World War II, and especially from the mid-1960s onwards, Bangkok has seen an explosion of modernization, leaving the city without an obvious centre. Most of the canals have been filled in, to be replaced by endless rows of concrete shop-houses, sprawling over a built-up area of 330 square kilometres. The benefits of the economic boom of the 1980s and early 1990s were concentrated in Bangkok, as were the calamitous effects of the late-1990s economic crisis, both of which attracted mass migration from all over Thailand and made the capital ever more dominant: the population is now forty times that of the second city, Chiang Mai, and Bangkokians own four-fifths of the nation's cars.

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