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I love Southeast Asia. As a child, I lived in that part of the world. My first time in Burma was in 1958 with my parents.

I've been visiting Thailand for more than 20 years but didn't fall in love with it until I visited Phuket Town in Phuket. The northern part of Phuket is one of the most fascinating places I've ever been, and largely unspoilt and unknown.

My favorite place in Indonesia is Bali. I was there with my family in Nusa Dua, and my kids loved it. I'm a workaholic, so for me, Bali is a place where you can have a vacation, but you can have your own moment as well. You feel like you blend with nature - and I love the beach.

Southeast Asia is an area in which there is a form of Islam which is both devout and progressive, and therefore to be supported. It's an area in which I see a congruence of American interests and local interests: to have tolerant societies and become more prosperous.

I've got a place in Portugal, which I like very much, but I've just been working in Malaysia for five weeks. My family had a chance to come over and we really loved it, particularly the island of Pangkor.

I would really love to go to Thailand as so many people have told me how wonderful it is.

I don't much like Singapore. It's very big, very modern and very urbanised. As a rule, I prefer older places where you get a sense of the history.

India I have visited a great many times, though there is a lot about it I will never understand.

Singapore has been incredibly well-managed. It was created out of the swamp, with a strong emotional idea: a safe place for mostly Chinese, but accepting other cultures and other races.

No place is perfect, but I admire Oahu for its offering of the tropical and the urban, and then its Asian-inflected culture and cuisines.