AN INSIDER'S GUIDE TO SEVEN CITIES From Seoul to Singapore, the most frequent Asian stops on the business traveler's itinerary are great places to visit. But it helps to know what you're looking for.
By Sara Hammes REPORTER ASSOCIATE Laurie Kretchmar

(FORTUNE Magazine) – GLOBAL competition is making Asian business travel almost commonplace, but the typical Western visitor -- overbooked, exhausted, or fearful -- often sticks close to hotels and meeting places. Indeed, anyone staying in the seven bustling cities described on these pages could remain indefinitely within a cozy cocoon of Hyatts and Burger Kings. But why do that? If you're lucky enough to go to Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, or Taipei, you ought to poke around. Playing tourist in the Pacific Rim is not always easy, but the rewards can be enormous. One caveat: Groaning under the weight of new wealth and squeezed by exploding populations, these cities are expanding at a frantic pace. New buildings overshadow ancient temples, construction cranes darken the skies, and traffic on outdated roads can verge on the intolerable. To avoid gridlock, pick a hotel as close as possible to the place where you intend to do business. A few reliable chains serve most of these cities: Hilton, Hyatt, Regent, Mandarin Oriental, and Shangri-La. Walk whenever you can, and before climbing into a taxi, get someone to write down your destination in the local language. The alternative, convenient but expensive, is to hire a car and chauffeur. Never drive yourself. Only experts can navigate safely among Asia's aggressive drivers, and any foreigner who gets into an accident will likely experience the legal hassle of a lifetime. Despite appearances that may seem threatening to the groggy new arrival, most of these places are safer than the typical American city. A visitor can feel utterly secure on Tokyo's streets, and Singapore rivals Geneva for both safety and cleanliness. And rest assured that you will encounter English speakers in most of the places you'll go. -- SEOUL can be a tough town for business travelers. Its four-season climate is pleasant enough in spring and fall, but winters are freezing, and sultry months follow the June rainy season. Koreans are stubborn and pushy at times. On the sidewalk they may well shove another pedestrian out of their way -- behavior that can show up in negotiations. After enduring centuries of invasion and occupation, South Koreans are determined to prove themselves to the world. Since 1953, when the Korean war ended in an armed, uneasy cease-fire, Seoul has rebuilt itself from a virtual wasteland. The frenzy of modernization, however, has left so much rubble lying about that one may wonder whether the fighting ever stopped. The city is becoming wealthy and modern, with brand-new office buildings casting long shadows over wooden shacks where you can buy dried squid or chocolate bars. Telecommunications are excellent, but good Western food is harder to find. That's a shame, unless you can develop a taste for sea cucumbers and silkworm larvae. The fastest way around town is on Seoul's efficient subway system. It is fairly easy for outsiders to use, but avoid rush hour if you are prone to claustrophobia or can't stand the smell of garlic, a staple of Korean cuisine. When you do business in Seoul, be ready to lift a glass. Known as the Irish of Asia, Koreans consume more alcohol per capita than any people save Russians. Soju, a harsh, 90-proof rice liquor, is the drink of choice at business dinners, but the local beer, OB, is better suited to Western tastes. If you have a free day, consider visiting the demilitarized zone along the North Korean border, where American MPs and North Korean soldiers glare at each other across a narrow no man's land. It's a 45-minute drive from Seoul, past occasional bridges to nowhere that are actually tank traps designed to slow down an invasion from the North. A glimpse of the DMZ will help you understand the driven nature of Koreans. This is a country still technically at war. And if North and South Korea eventually go the way of the two Germanies, you can say you were there before they took down the barbed wire. Your hotel can help arrange a tour. -- KUALA LUMPUR means ''muddy estuary,'' and the climate is hot and humid year-round. But don't be discouraged, for this lushly green city -- known to seasoned travelers as KL -- ranks among Asia's most delightful. Unlike Seoul, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur has a population appropriate to its size and so has maintained an extraordinary amount of free space. The pace is slow here, the manners easy and informal. Unless the press of business intrudes, you will find this a refreshing, relaxing spot. KL's unique atmosphere depends on its unusually rich mixture of cultures: Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Muslim mosques, Buddhist and Hindu temples, and Christian churches share the streets. The local cuisine, gentle yet exotic, melds seasonings from far-flung lands. The appealing street fare, including rice baked in banana leaves and sweet coconut desserts, merits a try. With the ethnic mix come customs and sensitivities that wise Westerners will respect. When dining with Hindus, don't order up a slab of sacred cow; eating pork will offend Malays. Keep your left hand in your lap at table, and never touch anyone with it: The people here associate it with toilet functions. Raising your voice will make you lose face, so try to lighten up. Watch your drinking, since folks in the predominantly Islamic city disapprove. In addition to the chain hotels, KL offers the magnificent Carcosa Seri Negara. Situated on 40 lovely acres just minutes from downtown, the complex originally housed the British governor. With only 13 suites, the hotel specializes in doting personal service, assigning a butler to each suite 24 hours a day. Have fun, but don't expect to live like royalty for nothing: Suites range in price from $317 to $933 per night. Less expensive and just as delightful are the spectacular beaches on the South China Sea an hour's drive away. -- TOKYO, neon lit and crackling with energy, feels like the most modern city in the world. Its climate is similar to Washington, D.C.'s, except for a rainy season in June and July. After a stay in Kuala Lumpur, this city shocks the senses, especially in the Shinjuku district with its steel and glass skyscrapers or in the nighttime playground of Roppongi. Tokyo's wooden low- rise houses and shops were firebombed during World War II, but you can still see glimpses of the old city here and there. The world's highest-quality goods are for sale here, at some of the world's highest prices. Tokyo's stylish boutiques rival those of Paris, and a gold- headed golf putter isn't hard to find (at the Mitsukoshi department store, $8,965). The deliciously tender Kobe beef sells for up to $13 per ounce, and an apple can set you back $1.50. The Tokyo subway system gets you around town so much faster than any alternative that visitors really should learn how to use it. Most station names are in English, and the cars are spotless. Don't be offended if your business contact squires you around on the subway. During rush hours trains are scheduled less than two minutes apart, but expect to stand. One sign of the system's amazing efficiency: A first-time American visitor to Tokyo left behind a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black, then worth $100 there, on a subway car. Encouraged by a Japanese friend to report the loss, he was stunned when the bottle was returned within hours. Proof that even Tokyo's efficiency falls short of perfection is Narita airport, described by one disgruntled businessman as ''worthy of a Third World country.'' Driving on the chronically jammed expressway between the city and the airport can take two hours. When Narita was built, airport officials promised to build a high-speed bullet train along that route, but the only sign of it is the airport's train station. Since there's no train connected to it, the station serves as an extra waiting room. Take a bus, not a cab. Worse, Narita has only one runway, because for years intransigent local farmers and their radical supporters have staged demonstrations, some of them violent, to block expansion. Air traffic through Narita is so limited that travelers book their holiday flights months in advance. The arrival and departure lounges are often crowded and not always clean. Security against demonstrators can get so tight that you may feel as if you're breaking out of prison when you drive out of the airport. But relax. Eventually the misery will end, and if you're inbound, you can refresh your spirits at the Meiji shrine in downtown Tokyo. -- HONG KONG, which will become part of the People's Republic of China in 1997, has flourished because of a free-market mentality. For more than a hundred years people have come to Hong Kong to make money. Anyone can be an entrepreneur. The climate is subtropical: Summers are long and hot, but in February you'll want to zip the lining into your raincoat. Since the chilly weather rarely lasts very long, many of Hong Kong's older hotels were built without central heating. Make sure the hotel your travel agent has in mind for you isn't among the holdouts from that era. Arriving by air may terrorize the fainthearted. Planes approaching from the west swoop so close to apartment buildings that you can see the laundry hanging from the windows. Though operating near capacity, the airport is efficient and very close to the city center: One expat who lived there remembers driving from the airport to his home on Victoria Peak in 22 minutes. Once on the ground, you will find Hong Kong an ideal city for walking, but watch for careering left-side-of-the-road drivers. Within the Central District, where most business appointments take place, a ten-minute stroll will get you almost anywhere. And this big rock rising from the sea offers vistas unmatched by any other Asian city. While business and government run along Western lines, the way of life here is thrillingly Chinese. Street life is frenetic, as double-decker buses and occasional rickshaws meet on narrow roads. Excellent Western food is readily available, but be sure to visit the Chinese restaurants, which put America's pallid versions to shame. To cross the harbor, hop onto the Star Ferry. Thirteen cents buys you a first-class ticket and a spectacular view of the most picturesque waterway in the world. Brightly colored sampans, junks, tugboats, container ships, and fishing boats move through the harbor 24 hours a day. -- BANGKOK is the only important city in Southeast Asia without a colonial past. Tolerant of foreigners, King Mongkut (of The King and I fame) and other Thai leaders cleverly avoided domination by European powers while luring overseas investors to finance Bangkok's grand boulevards. One result of this policy is a mix of architectural styles ranging from Gothic to Indian to the native style best expressed in the omnipresent wats, or temples. Gorgeously painted in bright colors and gold leaf, these magically brilliant buildings appear in even the poorest neighborhoods. Tropical Bangkok suffers from an uncomfortable climate. During what locals call the hot season, from March to May, the heat and humidity are positively stifling. The city, located on a river delta, is gradually sinking below sea level. During monsoon season, from June to October, parts of Bangkok are sometimes awash in several feet of murky brown water. The Thais are an easygoing lot who accept the chaos around them with serenity and grace. The nation shrugs off stress with the favorite phrase, mai pen rai, equivalent to ''never mind.'' The phrase will come in handy to anyone who braves Bangkok's incomparably horrific traffic jams: You can easily spend an hour traveling just three city blocks. So severe are the delays that seasoned visitors, when doing business with companies in different neighborhoods, sometimes schedule their appointments on successive days, switching hotels before the next set of meetings. Brave souls cut through traffic jams in motorized trishaws called tuk-tuks, driven by fearless young men who play chicken with the traffic. If the exhaust fumes don't kill you, you may remember your tuk-tuk ride as an exhilarating experience. Thai food is a gourmet's delight. The range and combination of seasonings produce a smooth amalgam of flavors that subtly play across your taste buds. Beware: If anyone warns you that a dish is spicy hot, believe him, especially if the dish is a curry. Perhaps you think you're tough because you like hot Mexican food, but one bite of Thai curry can bring on a sweat that ten beers and 15 glasses of water won't stop. Once your mouth stops burning, of course, you'll notice that the food tastes wonderful. -- SINGAPORE, another favorite of business travelers, is the cleanest, safest, and most comfortable metropolis in Asia. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew governs this city-state with a paternalistic hand and dictates on such topics as morality, cleanliness, and how to treat tourists. After enduring the dust and clutter of other Asian cities, you may rejoice to find a place where everything works, where streets are scrubbed, English is spoken, and the shopping malls are just like home. But this city, which so coddles Westerners, is also the most sterile in Asia, with much of its former cultural vitality wiped out by Lee's endless rules and regulations. In Singapore almost anything can become the target of a law or national campaign. Lee has spent years exhorting citizens to smile more and act more polite. As part of a drive to stop people from urinating in public elevators, the government ordered landlords to install devices that sound alarms and jam ; the doors as soon as liquid hits the floor. Singapore's ''killer litter'' laws are designed (sensibly enough) to stop people from throwing old flowerpots and other garbage out of the windows of their high-rise apartments. Equatorial Singapore seethes with heat and humidity year round, but refreshing breezes often cross the Strait of Malacca and almost every place you'll go will be air-conditioned -- even the subway platforms. Don't worry about the monsoon season lasting from October to February -- it brings welcome coolness. Singapore's airport is a pleasure. Plants and trees beautify its spacious terminal. More important, you can usually find your bags and clear customs in less than half an hour. The airport contains a mini-shopping mall, and the duty-free shop there charges half as much for a bottle of whiskey as you'd pay downtown. Like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore is ethnically mixed, and the cuisine is similarly wonderful and varied. Thanks to Lee's insistence on high standards of hygiene, you can confidently try the street fare here even if you dared not in other cities. If you are hopelessly timid, you can still go to almost any hotel coffee shop and eat a memorable Asian or Western meal. -- TAIPEI is the Asian city that Western business travelers dislike most. The infrastructure of Taiwan's capital is a wreck, its hotels are mediocre, and prices are dismayingly high, especially considering the prevailing low level of service. The efficiency for which the other great cities in this region are famous is almost unknown here. The local architecture, which depends mainly on concrete, is as drab and gray as the skies above, which seem perpetually overcast. And Taipei's air pollution is severe. Residents joke that on bad days the air is so filled with dirt it raises the ground level ten stories. This is not a vacation spot. Getting around is almost as difficult here as in Bangkok. The city has finally started building a subway system that has been on the drawing board -- and desperately needed -- for a decade. Unfortunately, digging a subway means tearing up the roads, which were pretty bad to begin with. Nor can you evade the problem by walking: Where they are not pitted with deep holes, the sidewalks are often blocked by motor scooters. Mercifully, taxis are plentiful and, unlike almost everything else in Taipei, cheap. But they are also likely to scare you to death. Taipei's congested roads seem to bring out the machismo in local drivers. Barry Fogel, a marketing executive from California, recalls: ''On my first trip to Taipei, I was awed by the density of the traffic. I found myself constantly closing my eyes because I just knew we were going to hit something.'' Fogel survived to tell his tale. No city is all bad, not even Taipei. As wealth seeps into the middle class, more people are demanding the consumer goods that Asians in other places take for granted. Interesting shops are opening at a rapid clip, and local folk are starting to turn out in high-fashion finery. Though the hotels are overpriced, they're faultlessly clean. One woman who visits Taipei often as a buyer of giftware noticed that every time she returned to her room, no matter how brief or frequent her absences, it was freshly cleaned. Since she never saw any maids lurking about, she wondered how they tracked her comings and goings. One day she divined the hotel's secret: a match stuck in the doorjamb, which fell when the door was opened. Taipei's saving grace is the range and quality of its Chinese food. Every school of Chinese cooking is represented, and delicious meals are hard to avoid. One favorite dish is the Cho Dofu, or Stinky Tofu. Though it smells like rotting meat, those brave enough to try it insist that it tastes wonderful. Art lovers will appreciate the city's National Palace Museum. When Chiang Kai-shek's soldiers fled the Communists -- and the mainland -- in 1949, they took along many of China's art treasures. To the business traveler with the gumption to get out of the hotel and look around, even the least attractive of Asia's main cities offers a window into the some of the world's most complex and fascinating cultures. With business booming all along the Pacific Rim, the odds of return trips are increasing. Today's awkward tourist may be tomorrow's knowledgeable Asia hand.