Project Wanderlust Awards Ceremony

Alrighty....here, as promised, is the Project Wanderlust Awards Ceremony. This is where the accolades and the condemnations are dished out in full glorious abundance, the praise sidelined with the critiques, the good, the bad, and the ugly mixed and mussed up, and the pats on the back coupled with bitch slaps to the face. Wanna know all the best - and the worst - that Asia has to offer? Find out here. Right now. Read on, and enjoy. :-)

Best City For Shopping:

Bangkok

In need of a whole new wardrobe for less than a hundred dollars? Bangkok is your place. Looking for fantastic imitation knock-offs that will fool all your friends back home into believing that you can afford to have eight Gucci purses? Head on down to Bangkok. How about a suit tailored to your every inch? Get your butt to Bangkok. Souvenirs, cultural artifacts, and tacky knick-knacks from every corner of the Kingdom? Bangkok's got 'em. Designer labels...at real designer label prices. Yep - in Bangkok. Want to replenish your aging CD tower with a new music colleciton for real real cheap? Bangkok's the place to be. Basically, if you're in the mood for shopping for, well, anything, you can find it in Bangkok. And for the best prices this side of the Pacific too! Bangkok truly is a shopper's paradise. Bangkok also wins the prize for Best Nightlife in Asia as well.

(Honourable Mentions for Shopping: Kuala Lumpur, Singapore)

Cleanest City In Asia:

Singapore

Yes, all the rumours you've heard are true. Singapore is really, really damn clean. Steep penalties for littering and advanced recycling programs coupled with plenty of greenery and flowers and hard-working street-cleaners makes for one lean, mean, clean urban oasis. After months of treading through the rubbish and raw sewage of Asian megacities, Singapore will seem like a mirage in the distance. Too good to be true? Impossible to reach? Not at all. Come check out this city-state just north of the equator and check up on its unofficial city motto: "Singapore: So Clean We Dare You To Eat Off Our Streets!"

Asian City Most On The Move:

Beijing

With the 2008 Summer Olympics quickly barrelling down on them, Beijing is a city truly undergoing the makeover of all urban makeovers. Construction cranes are the new skyline, and with them the promises of a brand new Chinese capital to welcome the world. Five new subway lines are being built as we speak, along with dozens of new shiny sports stadiums, thousands of new hotel rooms, and millions upon millions of new trees to grace the previously barren hillslopes. Blink and you'll miss something, turn your head 360 and by the time you've turned back your view will have changed completely. While the city's 14 million residents certainly appreciate the new greenery and the government's supposed commitment to relocating the majority of the city's polluting heavy industry to outside of the city limits, all of this fast-forward construction comes at a price. The thousands of remaining hutong courtyard homes are being bulldozed and replaced with bland apartment complexes, entirel neighbourhoods are being erased or sanitized to the point of losing all of their traditional feel, and housing rates are escalating into the stratosphere. The world may be able to enjoy a cleaner, greener Beijing three years from now, but not without a heavy burden to those who actually call the capital home.

City Most Dangerous To Cross the Street In:

Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City

These two urban giants of Vietnam are gonna have to share this award, cause really it is hard to tell which city is more life-threatening for the proverbial chicken to cross that road. The danger here comes not from cars, but from the milions upon millions of motorbikes that race the streets as if every day's goal is to fulfill one's own desperate suicidal death wish. The key to survival here is not to listen to your instinct and run like mad (don't every try that, you'll never make it) but to walk across very, very slowly so that each and every individual bike can speed around you. Or, atleast you're praying that they're gonna steer by. No promises here, folks. Good luck, and godspeed!

Most Disgusting City In Asia:

Medan

This city in Sumatra is an urban hellhole if there ever was one. Perpetual gridlock chokes the dark and dingy streets, thick air pollution suffocates what little greenery has not been stripped already, big trucks and stinking busses mix company with maniacal tuk-tuks and frustrated citizens. The buildings here cry out to be whitewashed, but know in their hearts that demolition is their best hope. If there was ever a city to drop a nuke on out of sheer pity, or at least one to avoid visiting at all costs, Medan is the one. But, if you must pass through, as my sister and I were forced to twice, hold your breath, close your eyes and ears, and hope for the best. It ain't a pretty place baby.

Asia's Belle Of The Ball:

Luang Prabang

Pretty much the exact opposite of Medan in every single way, this little city in Laos is truly the prime gem in Asia's crown of urban jewels. Situated on the banks of the mighty Mekong River and surrounded by the lushest, greenest hills you could ever imagine, this entire town has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides the surrounding awe-inspiring scenery, Luang Prabang is home to nearly forty Buddhist temples, each of them beautifully decorated with bright gold and colourful jewels. Luang Prabang is the kind of place where you could easily relax-away more days than you had planned for, and once that will surely leave its mark as a most memorable stop in your backpacking odyssey.

Asia's Most Futuristic City:

Shanghai

If you want a glimpse of what the future holds, come and take a look at Shanghai and you'll get a pretty good idea. It's here where weird and wacky, taller-than-tall skyscrapers compete for airspace, and ginormous spear-and-bauble towers pierce the neon skies. In Shanghai magnetic-powered trains zip across the city at over 400 km/hr and every corner brings about another view of some zany museum or art gallery. China is determined to put Shanghai on the map as the planet's most modern, most incredibly futuristic World City, and they've only just begun. I can't even begin to imagine what this place is going to look like in five yeras, never mind twenty or thirty! You really do have to see it to believe it.

Asia's Most Over-rated City:

Chiang Mai

Along the backpacker's circuit you'll be hearing everyone talking up Chiang Mai, Thailand's northern capital and gateway to trekking, rafting, and lots of other outdoorsy fun. Maybe it was because I had unrealistic expectations, or simply just cause everyone else had talked it up so much, but upon arrival in Chiang Mai I never did see what all the fuss was about. The city is rather boring, not all that pretty, and really is completely over-run with tourists. Especially the package/I'm-deadset-on-seeing-every-bit-of-Thailand-in-my-short-8-day-holiday sort of tourists. Eww. And unless you're on a tour/trek that is going way, way out of the city, you'll have to compete with the hordes for a piece of that jungle recreation. Unless your idea of fun is trekking through empty fields along well-trodden paths and running into another tour group every 37 minutes, skip out on Chiang Mai and choose somewhere a little more remote to get your jungle fix (like Chiang Rai or Pai.)

Best Architecture In Asia:

Hoi An

Long unknown by the outside world, this little town in central Vietnam managed to survive the war relatively untouched. Today it's home to an incredible legacy of a kaleidoscope of architectural styles. Thanks to UN funding, the town centre has been saved from modernization and restored to its former glory. Stroll along the waterfront and imagine all the European tall ships that used to dock at is wharves, or meander through the quiet streets admiring the pastels of colonial grandeur. A truly beautiful place.

City With The Saddest History:

Phnom Penh

Paying respect to local customs and history is an important aspect of being a 'responsible tourist', and nowhere in Asia is it more fitting to take a day or two out of touring temples and markets than here in the Cambodian capital. The evil tentacles of mass genocide may have touched every corner of this small nation, but it is here in Phmon Penh where the most emotional legacies of Pol Pot's regime remain. The Tuong Sleng Genocide Museum, and infamous Killing Fields just outside of town, may not seem like conventional tourist attractions, but are places that every backpacker who's passing through Cambodia should visit. If there was ever any doubt left in your mind, these two absolutely chilling sites solidify forever one's belief that war is never, ever the answer, and affirm the dangers of what happens when a country cries out but the world turns away.

Best Gateway For Outdoor Recreation:

a two-way tie between Yangshuo, China, and Vang Vieng, Laos

If you're at all interested in hiking through spectacular scenery, biking through placid rice paddies, whitewater rafting or kayaking along raging rivers, rock-climbing up soaring limestone peaks, spelunking in caves or plunging into pools of underground mud, these two places are a must-visit on your trip. Opportunities for outdoor recreation abound here aplenty, and all of the above can be done for a fraction of the price of what you'd pay back home.

Coolest, Most-Livable City In Asia:

Hong Kong

I've been to a long of cool places in Asia, and many of them will always have special places in my heart, but if there was one city that I could move to in a heartbeat, Hong Kong would be the one. Blessed with a unique historical blend of Eastern & Western fusion, this former British colony is a true star. Fantastic nightlife, incredible food, world-famous shopping, efficient transit, an abundance of museums and galleries, beautiful scenery, and a heart-stopping jaw-dropping mind-blowing skyline to boot. Hong Kong may be crowded and smoggy like many of it's Asian counterparts, and be plagued with housing prices that would numb Donald Trump, but few cities in Asia can offer you the best of all worlds, all in the same day. Sample some dim sum for breakfast, and then enjoy a delicious French dinner. Banter over bargains in the markets, and then after shop up a storm in a glitzy shopping mall. Wander through traditional Chinese alleyways, and then get a neck cramp staring up at the unbelievably tall skyscrapers. Get caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of a major world city, and then escape to a green mountainscape or quiet beach just over the hill. Hong Kong's got it all baby, and an electric pulse and infectious energy to keep you going all day, and all night. Once you get a taste of this place, you'll guaranteed be wanting to come back for more!

And here's a few other noteworthy recipients:

Most Boring City In Asia:

Ventiane, Laos

Most Polluted City In Asia:

Xian, China

Most European City In Asia:

Macau

Most Over-Commercialized Asian City:

Kuta, Bali

City With The Scariest Monkeys:

Lopburi, Thailand

City That Lives & Breathes Its Existence For One Single Attraction:

Siem Reap, Cambodia

City Not Nearly As Scary As Everyone Tells You It Is:

Jakarta, Indonesia

Best City To Hook Up With A Motorcycle Man In:

Dalat, Vietnam