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How to tip: The delicate art of greasing palms in Asia
Where to party like a local in Asia
Pairing wine with Asian food? Yes, it can be done
Richard Quest: Remember the golden rule

How to tip: The delicate art of greasing palms in Asia

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 07:20 AM PDT

It's that moment the international traveler knows only too well.

After consuming a delicious meal you start to feel queasy, your palms perspire and your eyes desperately rove for the exit signs.

Such symptoms can mean only one of two things. Either the prawn curry was a bad idea, or it's time to figure out how to tip. And what to tip.

Knowing how to tip can be a stressful business, particularly across Asia where reactions can range from delight to displeasure.

To help, we've compiled a guide to gratuities across the region, explaining how to tip and what to tip.

How to tip: Overview

Most people anywhere are going to be happy to get a little something extra.

There's no escaping wild wealth disparities in Asia, and tipping guidelines seem to exaggerate these further.

Upscale restaurants often add a service charge of up to 15 percent on top of your check.

Don't forget to tip your tour guide. Unless you're in North Korea, like these tourists. Meanwhile, someone working in a popular street restaurant a few storefronts away expects nothing on top of the tiny sum he charges for almost exactly the same meal.

One argument circulated by skinflints is that handing generous tips to poor folk in the service industry discourages them from pursuing a decent education. It also sets a cheapskate precedent that "ruins it" for other budget travelers.

But look what a good education did for these miserable tourists. It left them believing that by withholding a few extra cents from a guy laboring away at a street cart they're doing a good thing.

Even if they're right, let's hope they order the prawn curry.

How to tip: China, Vietnam, Laos

Tightfisted travelers love countries like China because they assume dirty capitalist concepts like tipping aren't necessary.

But while running dog rewards might be scorned in backwater canteens, they're almost mandatory (though not required) in the glitzy haunts of China's urban elite.

The same can be said for Laos and Vietnam.

You can guarantee that if anyone has translated the menu into English, the language of tips will also be spoken.

Tipping isn't expected in cheaper restaurants, but no one is going to complain if you drop an extra five or 10 percent.

In some restaurants in China's tourist towns, there are two menus. The one with English names usually have higher prices. So consider a gratuity already included.

Likewise, there'll be no objections from taxi drivers if you want to chuck them some change and round up the fare -- richly deserved if they get you from A to B without mounting the sidewalk.

Tour guides are a different matter. In the cutthroat world of bellowing at visitors through tiny megaphones, wages are often slashed in anticipation of a tourist top-up. If you don't want to hear a grown adult sob into a cheap electronic amplifier, US$10-a-day should keep the tears at bay.

The communist exception is North Korea. While your tourist dollars would work wonders in the cash-strapped kingdom of the Kims, their possession might land ordinary citizens in a labor camp. Cigs, booze or cosmetics will serve as substitutes.

Where to party like a local in Asia

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 05:14 AM PDT

by Mark Manson

Breaking into the culture and nightlife scenes in most Asian mega-cities can seem impossible for the uninformed outsider.

In addition to major cultural differences, language barriers prevent visitors from even asking where the best parties are.

Many travelers get disenchanted with the shining lights of the East -– they find it hard to settle in and enjoy themselves after dark without falling into tourist traps. Or worse.

That's where we come in, with this handy guide to the local hotspots in Asia's top party cities.

Get there, belly up and order a beer, whiskey or martini (like Coca-Cola and Gangnam Style, all three are now part of the universally understood global lexicon) and figure out the rest.

Pairing wine with Asian food? Yes, it can be done

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 05:13 AM PDT

by Gavin Nazareth

Any old guzzler can trot out a bottle of industrial-grade red to go with a plate of cheese and crackers and have a decent chance of impressing the dinner guests.

But what happens when you need to pair a wine with the robust flavors of mutton biryani or the delicate zing of shrimp tempura?

That's when you need a real wine master around. Or at least her advice.

In Asia, that often means consulting Jeannie Cho Lee, one of the regions' leading authorities on wine.

After becoming the first Asian in the 54-year history of the Institute of Masters of Wine in London to pass the organization's notoriously difficult four-day exam, Lee became part of an elite group of 297 worldwide Masters of Wine.