Last spring I was in Manila. During my visit I had a very nice dinner with three of our members: Pokkha, Zen and Corky.

Read about the dinner here

It sure was a memorable night for me.

A few days later I was in Seoul - and once more had a nice night out with one of our members. This time it was "aln" - or Lin Neumann, an experienced Asia journalist and editor.

These two nights with new friends gave me an idea: Wouldn't it be nice for other Asia Observer members also to meet each other when they are travelling? Therefore we have formed this new forum called Meetup.

This is how you could use it:

- Make a posting before travelling to see if other members will be in your planned destination about the same time. Maybe some of them are living there. Why not meetup? I am sure many of our members would love to meet fellow members visiting their city.
- You can also make a posting if you are looking for a travel companion for your Asia travel. Other members can respond in the forum - or they can send you a message using our internal messaging system.

I hope this forum will be used by our members!

Have a nice travel!

John