Brittany Hite

This executive avoids alcohol on the plane, drinks a lot of water and makes sure he has a busy schedule after he lands.

Rajesh Yohannan, CEO of foreign-exchange trading firm Oanda Asia Pacific, on learning other cultures through food, Hong Kong’s coffee shops and the nostalgia of India’s trains.

Sited within a glass-and-steel pyramid complex that has echoes of the Louvre’s main entrance, Hotel Éclat Beijing hosts a large private collection of art, including works by Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí and Zeng Fanzhi.

Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng won this year’s Man Asian Literary Prize for his novel “The Garden of Evening Mists.”

Worried that this preoccupation with English is contributing to a decline in native language skills, officials at the Ministry of Education are now trying to get students to return to their linguistic roots.

China’s Ministry of Culture last week released a list of 100 banned songs. Making the list were hits by the likes of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Owl City and a 1999 Backstreet Boys ballad.

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Ambiga Sreenevasan, chairwoman of the group that organized Saturday’s rally for government reform in Malaysia about the protests and the possibilities for change in the Southeast Asian nation.