Further south again, South Goa lays claim to the very best of the state's beaches, a slower pace both of life and of tourism development, and a heady combination of emerald paddy fields, white sands beaches and warm, azure waters.

BBC: Goa's boutique gems

The food for which the enclave is renowned traces the route by which the Portuguese came to Macau--past Africa, the southern Middle East, Goa and Malacca--and by the ingredients available on the south China coast.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Macau

South India is different, as if an invisible line had been drawn across the country below Goa and its hordes of tourists and ravers.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Travel Watch | Afoot and Afloat, Kerala Is Worth the Journey