ASIA

Bali
Diane Embree, Michael's Travel Centre, Westlake Village, California
Embree enjoys introducing travelers to the hidden Bali that so many visitors miss. Her clients can learn to play gamelan music with a village orchestra, undergo a purification ritual at a holy spring, create traditional Balinese masks in a workshop, or visit a village medicine man. She's also plugged in to the best hotels—both the well-known multinationals (the Oberoi, the Amanresorts) and the small local gems (818-717-0785; dianee@michaelstravel.com).

Bhutan
Brent Olson, Geographic Expeditions, San Francisco
Olson, who has been to Bhutan 40 times in the past 21 years and oversees trips there for 600 travelers annually, knows a broad cross section of Bhutanese, from villagers to high-ranking government officials and members of the royal family. He gets his clients access to places that remain unknown to most tourists-—certain temples and monasteries and, in special cases, private festivals or prayer ceremonies (800-777-8183; brent@geoex.com).

Cambodia
Andrea Ross, Journeys Within Tour Company, Truckee, California
Ross lives in Cambodia six months of the year—when not in California, she runs the Journeys Within B&B in Siem Reap with her husband—and can pepper Southeast Asian itineraries with philanthropic elements, enabling travelers to give back to the local community. Her favorite secret destination? Battambang, Cambodia's little-visited second-largest city, which fell under Thai rule for more than a century but today has few crowds visiting its beautiful temples. Her affordable rates make her a great option for travelers on a budget (877-454-3672; andrea@journeys-within.com).

Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam
G. W. "Sandy" Ferguson, Asia Desk, Duluth, Georgia
A former resident of Thailand who returns for two months every year and who speaks Thai and even some Lao, Ferguson is known for his fabulous handpicked guides and savvy hotel choices. In Cambodia he can arrange for you to join the monks of a mountaintop temple for their pre-dawn prayers (followed by a gourmet picnic breakfast), and in Vietnam he can introduce you to one of the elders from Cu Chi, the village outside Saigon that infamously withstood repeated attacks from the U.S. Army during the war (800-667-4993; sandy@asiadesk.net).

China
Gerald Hatherly, Abercrombie & Kent, Hong Kong
There are many ways a traveler can get utterly lost in China. But with Hatherly—who is fluent in Mandarin and spends 150 days a year traveling throughout the country—you can rest easy. He knows the best ways to negotiate megalopolises like Beijing and Shanghai, and he's equally expert at leading guests off the beaten track and into lesser-known areas such as the rice terraces of Longsheng or the bamboo forests of Zhejiang, where the raw beauty of fast-vanishing rural China can still be found (852-2865-7818; hatherly@abercrombiekent.com.hk).