Torn up about traveling to China? You're not alone. Human rights, oppressive politics, environmental disasters, con. Incredible food (thanks Kalyn!), a culture so rich it's mind boggling, a nation in a staggering state of change? Pro! Every time I read about travels in China, every time I crack a National Geographic that's got a China feature I think two things. First, WOW, do I need to go to China. Do I ever. And secondly, WOW, China looks difficult and exhausting...I can hardly wait.

When I visited Beijing in late 2001, I certainly knew more about authentic Chinese food than the average American, but classes in Chinese cooking hadn't prepared me for what turned out to be the food adventure of a lifetime. This was before my food-blogger-with-digital-camera days, so I couldn't photograph my Beijing experiences, but plenty of other food bloggers have shared about food adventures in Beijing.

I had never imagined my first post from India would be about a series of terror attacks in two economically vibrant cities, 1,000-odd miles apart, which claimed over 50 lives and left more than 100 wounded.

Last week, BlogHer CE Lanaid's post raised the issue of racial biases among ethnic minorities in America: A former  professor of Indian-origin, who was unhappy that his son (then 19 years old with no college degree) had married an African-American woman, allegedly ordered his daughter-in-law to be killed. Lanaid's post has details about the case, so I'll skip those.

When I posted about sexual minorities in India few weeks back, I didn't imagine India's gay community would take this leap so soon: On June 29, hundreds of gays, lesbians and transgenders marched on the streets of the country's capital city, New Delhi, tech hub Bangalore (Bengaluru), and culture-conscious Kolkata (Calcutta), making it India's first multiple-city gay pride parade.

Don't be too possessive of your husband; be eager to learn from your mother-in-law; don't talk too much to the neighbor or maids; serve tea to your in-laws with a smile; control your temper. Tips such as these, offered by a "professional counselor and psychologist", are key to a happy marriage and well-adjusted family life with the in-laws. So what about it ticked off Indian bloggers? The advice is meant only for women and underscores the tradition that a marriage -- and building a relationship with in-laws --- is solely a woman's responsibility or burden.

In my post last week about Aruna Shanbaug -- the young nurse who was sodomized and strangulated in 1973 in a Mumbai (Bombay) hospital basement, and continues to live in a vegetative state -- I promised an interview with journalist Pinki Virani, who has written perhaps the most authoritative account of the case in her book Aruna's Story.

Part II: Interview with writer Pinki Virani

A lesbian couple in the south Indian city of Chennai reportedly burned themselves to death, unable to bear years of forced heterosexual marriages and a lifetime of scorn. Jaya Verma and Tanuja Chauhan, hailing from a small central Indian town, were luckier -- they didn't die. But the couple, who tied the knot in a Hindu ceremony in 2001, face similar social ostracization.

By now many of you have probably read about police officer Jiang Xiaojuan of China who became a national, and then international, hero practically over night. After the devastating Chinese earthquake on May 12, the 29 year-old mother of a 6-month-old son, was called to duty. What she encountered when she reported for duty was babies crying in hunger and that's when her maternal instincts kicked in.

If you had asked me a few days ago what an obstetric fistula was, I'd have shrugged my shoulders and told you, "I don't know." Thanks to advances in modern medicine and in obstetric and midwifery care, fistula has been eradicated in North America for over 100 years. Although the condition has been long since forgotten here, there are at least 2 million women in Africa, Asia and the Arab region living with fistula, and some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop each year. These estimates are believed to be low.

South Asia is going through turmoil -- some inflicted by nature, some by fellow humans. Myanmar's cyclone has mercilessly claimed lives in ways that we can't begin to fathom, no thanks to the Junta and its closed-door policies. Paddy fields in the Irrawaddy Delta have been washed away with bodies, bang in the middle of a global food crisis.