TRAVEL IN THE FAR EAST

OF his travels to the Far East, Author Lafcadio Hearn wrote in 1904: "Here, all is enchantment. You have entered bodily into Fairyland--into a world that is not and never can be your own. You have been transported out of your century into an era forgotten, back to something as ancient as Nineveh." In 1956 nearly 75,000 U.S. visitors, more than ever before, will journey to the Far East looking for some of the same enchantment. The main travel spots:

India, where U.S. tourists will find one of the world's oldest cultures and some of its most awesomely rugged scenery. Within reach of the big cities are such sights as the magnificent, white marble Taj Mahal at Agra, the ancient Holy City of Benares, Mt. Everest looming over the green tea gardens of Darjeeling. Off the beaten track are trips to the village of Molar Bund, 16 miles from New Delhi, which is entirely inhabited by snake charmers, and to the famed cave temples of Elephanta and Ajanta. For $1,500 per person, two-week tiger hunts can be arranged; a rebate is guaranteed if no tiger is seen, but not if the hunter misses, since "no responsibility is taken for bad shooting."

India's hotels in New Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay are on a par with the Western world's finest, charge around $17 per day for an air-conditioned double room with meals, and serve splendid Indian food, e.g., curried shrimp, Tandoori chicken fried with spices. What to buy in India: fine carved ivory, emeralds and other gems well under U.S. prices, silk scarves and $10 saris, which local dressmakers turn info evening dresses for $40 v. $150 for sari dresses in the U.S. Average touring cost: about $26 per day per person.

The Philippines, where an Asian culture is heavily leavened with Spanish and U.S. influence. Tourists visiting the islands in hope of seeing the World War II battlefield on Bataan are likely to be disappointed; it is hard to get to and has few tourist facilities. But there is much more to see and do: the handsome Philippine Capitol at Malacanan Palace, where President Magsaysay enjoys shaking hands with visitors, tours through the tropical countryside which include a look at native dancing and cockfighting plus a whopping big Filipino meal (a barbecued pig, prawns, coconut ice cream eaten out of a coconut shell). One local delicacy for the daring: balut, a duck egg ready to hatch.

Manila's Western-style hotels are good, with a double room running about $13 per day without meals. The peso exchange rate is two to the dollar, though black-market rates run as high as three to the dollar. Best buys: straw sandals and native handicrafts.

Singapore, the stepping-off stone for trips to Indonesia, South Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand. In Singapore itself, visitors can wander through fragrant, junglelike botanical gardens, try out the famed Chinese restaurants, take a side trip across the causeway to the Malayan mainland for a view of the Sultan of Johore's famed palace. Singapore's best hotel is the renowned Raffles, where rates average $20 per day for a double room v. $15 elsewhere. Best shopping bets: jade, Chinese scrolls and painted silk. Average tourist expense in Southeast Asia: $30 to $50 per day per person.

Hong Kong, which Author James Michener calls "the pearl of Asia." From it's high hills visitors can look north across the border to the barren red hills of Communist China; they can spend an evening at the stylized Chinese opera, tramp up and down narrow "ladder" streets and take a 40-mile boat ride down the coast to Portuguese Macao, which will give Americans their best look at China.

Hong Kong's hotels are modest and medium priced ($6 to

$10 for a double room), while its restaurants, with every

kind of Chinese cooking from Cantonese to Szechwanese,

are rated the best in Asia. Since Hong Kong is a free port,

it is a shopper's paradise with luxury goods from England,

cameras from Japan and Germany, locally woven brocades,

teakwood furniture, ivory, silks and pearls, all 10% to 20% cheaper than in the countries they came from. One thing to pass up: all goods originating in Red China; U.S. Customs will not allow them into the country.

Japan, a land of startling contrasts. Its capital, Tokyo, is as big (pop. more than 8,000,000), bustling and gaudily expensive a city (a first-rate geisha party runs up to $60 per person) as any on earth. Yet a few miles outside, Japan goes back centuries to a bygone world of tiny, meticulously tilled farms, tranquil lotus ponds and brilliantly colored shrines and temples. The finest temples are at Kyoto, Nara, where the 1,349-year-old Horyuji Temple is said to be the world's oldest wooden building, and at Nikko, where the brilliant Toshogu Shrine is set in a fairyland of rugged mountains, waterfalls and virgin forests. Tourists also like to drive along the Izu Peninsula, with its tiny fishing villages and bubbling hot springs, visit Hakone for the best view of snow-capped Fujiyama, and stop at Toba, near Ago Bay, where they can see the world's biggest culture pearl operation and find some rare bargains.

In the major cities Japanese hotels ($9 to $15 for a double room) have all the comforts of home, but in the provinces tourists should be prepared for hard beds, little heat and no inside plumbing. Japanese food is generally heartier than Chinese cooking, with tender steaks and sizzling sukiyaki, a thin-sliced beef dish cooked at tableside. Things to buy: tortoise shell, pearls, lacquerware, porcelain, embroidered kimonos, art, furs, cameras, binoculars.

Australia, which has been passed up by most tourists in the past, expects that the 1956 Olympics will bring in many. Visitors follow the relaxed, happy life of Australians, splash in the surf that pounds its beaches, and go to see the original Teddy bears at the Koala Bear Sanctuary in Brisbane. More adventurous types can fly out to Hayman Island (round trip: $209) on the Great Barrier Reef, where there is a good hotel ($5 per day) and some of the world's best skindiving and big game fishing, or go on a three-week hunting trip (cost: $210) for monster crocodiles in the lonely Bay of Carpenteria.

Australia's big hotels are first class, run about $10 per day for a double room with breakfast, but food is expensive ($9 to $22 for dinner for two). What to buy: Australian opals at $10 and up per gem, shell jewelry, and some of the world's finest woolens. What to avoid: back-country hotels, long, dusty, cross-country train and bus trips, confidence men peddling uranium mines and kangaroo farms.

New Zealand is just beginning to cash in on its natural wonders. In its waters, both salt and fresh, there is good fishing, while deer are so numerous that they are actually classed as vermin with no closed season. The scenery ranges from the verdant near-tropical in the north to cool alpine mountains in the south, with bubbling thermal pools and glaciers. The cost of living is much lower than the U.S., and a couple can tour in style for $20 per day.

In most of Asia, back-country hotels are primitive, trains and buses are slow. Away from big cities, drinking water should be boiled, and raw, unpeeled fruits and vegetables avoided.

Outside of Red China, the only country that tourists are advised by American Express to avoid is Burma, steaming in the jungle between India and China. Rangoon itself is safe enough, but guerrilla bands rove the countryside. Travelers can see nearby Thailand, from temple-strewn jungles to cosmopolitan Bangkok, with its winding, Venice-like canals, hundreds of golden-roofed temples and exquisite silverware. Despite Communists in the North, southern Viet Nam and Cambodia are safe for tourists anxious to visit the vast ruins at Ankgor Wat and Saigon, the "Paris of the East." Indonesia is difficult to visit; yet anyone making the trip will find that on the beautiful island of Bali the lovely women and soft scenery are unspoiled.

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