In the end it depends on what you are looking for in your travel experience. For one thing, South America is an entire continent with a much greater land area, making the geographical diversity much greater. The majority of travelers there were young (teenage or early twenties), Australian or European, on gap year trips or one month holidays. It is considered by scientists as the largest eagle in the world,[107] and is endemic to the Philippines' forests.

Six subspecies of the binturong or bearcat exist in the region, though the one endemic to the island of Palawan is now classed as vulnerable. The arts and literature in some of Southeast Asia is quite influenced by Hinduism, which was brought to them centuries ago. While Malaysia is split between more than half Malays and one-quarter Chinese, and also Indian minority in the West Malaysia however Dayaks make up the majority in Sarawak and Kadazan-dusun makes up the majority in Sabah which are in the East Malaysia.

The culture in Southeast Asia is very diverse: on mainland Southeast Asia, the culture is a mix of Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian and Thai (Indian) and Vietnamese (Chinese) cultures. Is there crime, yes, but it's mostly opportunistic, I spent about 4.5years in Latin America, during 2 of those years I lead tours around the continent, meaning that I lead hundreds of people around. [45] Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar, as well as commerce between Western Asia, eastern coast of India and Chinese southern coast. Since 2000, Cambodia has surpassed all other ASEAN countries and generated almost 15% of its GDP from tourism in 2006.

[90][91], Islam began to make contacts with Southeast Asia in the 8th-century CE, when the Umayyads established trade with the region via sea routes. I’ve been to a lot of countries in Southeast Asia but very limited places within those countries, Indonesia included. In the late Neolithic, the Austronesian peoples, who form the majority of the modern population in Brunei, Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, and the Philippines, migrated to Southeast Asia from Taiwan in the first seaborne human migration known as the Austronesian Expansion. South America of course is enormous, so the quality of the buses depends a lot on where you are. [62] In present-day Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the only country where its folk religion makes up the plurality. Hi! In the 11th century, a turbulent period occurred in the history of Maritime Southeast Asia. The official language of Indonesia is Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), widely used in educational, political, economic, and other formal situations.

The distribution of the religions and people is diverse in Southeast Asia and varies by country. Both continue to have strong cultural

If you know me at all you know what I’m going to say now: both regions of the world have their good points and there bad.

This include weaponry, such as the distinctive kris, and musical instruments, such as the gamelan.
"[95], There are several theories to the Islamisation process in Southeast Asia. [96], The United States took the Philippines from Spain in 1898. I guess I can agree with that sentiment, traveling in cold weather isn’t quite as nice as warm weather so that’s a definite downside to many parts of South America. The atmosphere was very party, party, sometimes to the point of a backpackers gone wild vibe. In 1258, 1285 and 1287, the Mongols tried to invade Đại Việt and Champa. There are cool jungles, dusty towns and amazing amazing beaches. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, the Verde Passage is dubbed by Conservation International as the world's "center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity".

Southeast Asia is bounded to the southeast by the Australian continent, a boundary which runs through Indonesia. I spent four months last year traveling around Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and I've now been in South America for four months as well. In general the backpacking crowd here is older as well: an average of mid to late twenties. That said, the feeling of discovery is unbeatable. Yes, the rich culture and tradition is important to a lot of backpackers (but unfortunately not all of them), but perhaps equally enticing is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dance the night away before watching the sun rise on the beach at one of Thailand’s full moon parties, or to lose your inhibitions at the infamous Lokis and Wild Rovers–the premier party hostels–of Peru. The tropical rain belt causes additional rainfall during the monsoon season. These belief systems were later supplanted by Hinduism and Buddhism after the region, especially coastal areas, came under contacts with Indian subcontinent during the 1st century. The list could go on, but for the sake of brevity (I’m trying, guys, I really am) I’ll stop there. But yes when it comes down to it, no wine and cheese (and no steak, no mexican food, no good coffee…) would really get to me! Mahayana Buddhism established presence in Maritime Southeast Asia, brought by Chinese monks during their transit in the region en route to Nalanda. Moreover, Vietnam is also categorized under the East Asian cultural sphere along with China, Korea, and Japan due to the large amount of Chinese influence embedded in their culture and lifestyle. Of the hundreds I led only a couple people got robbed, and that due to not paying attention. Pinatubo. The two worst regional hazes were in 1997 and 2006 in which multiple countries were covered with thick haze, mostly caused by "slash and burn" activities in Sumatra and Borneo. Another theory is trade.

The shallow waters of the Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems, where coral, fish and molluscs abound. Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar Hamka (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He. The Philippines has the largest Roman Catholic population in Asia. No individual Southeast Asian country is religiously homogeneous. What does the South China Sea ruling mean, and what's next? Soon, Malacca became the center of Islamic study and maritime trade, and other rulers followed suit. If I go to Asia I have a friend that I will visit, and my mom is also going to Asia at some point so I could meet up with her for a bit. In Burma, the Burmese account for more than two-thirds of the ethnic stock in this country, with the Indo-Aryan Rohingya make up a significant minority in Rakhine State. It doesn’t cater to tourists the way that Thailand or Cambodia do. Dance in much of Southeast Asia includes movement of the hands as well as the feet, to express the dance's emotion and meaning of the story that the ballerina is going to tell the audience. Both have large tourist sites- Southwest Asia with Jerusalem and Southeast Asia with Oceania. People of Southeast Asian origins are known as Southeast Asians or Aseanites. However I would definitely say that it’s more challenging to discover South America than it is to travel in Asia.

These differences make it difficult for me to think objectively about which one is “better,” as it feels a bit like comparing apples to oranges, and it kind of is. Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen, eds.

The mainland section of Southeast Asia was referred to as Indochina by European geographers due to its location between China and the Indian subcontinent and its having cultural influences from both neighboring regions.
2020 Magellan's voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships.