I guess it was fitting that for my last trip of 2011, I went straight from one of the world’s most populated countries to one of the world’s least densely populated places on earth.

From the semi-arid deserts of Rajasthan to the open spaces of New Zealand, you couldn’t ask for starker contrasts in what you see, smell, eat and feel as a traveller.

Mother India hits you full force in the face wherever you go. Its cities teem with life as humans and animals share space with each other. My friend from Singapore said, “What I can’t handle is the livestock on the roads,” as our tuk-tuk swerved to avoid a huge cow sitting in the middle of the road in Bikaner.

In New Zealand, the livestock outnumber the humans but, like the approximate four million inhabitants, they live in wide open spaces, free to graze freely but within their boundaries.

In India, when you drive, you are encouraged to “please horn”, so everyone does it. It’s a matter of courtesy. In New Zealand, you long to “please horn” on certain stretches of road because you are not used to being so alone.

In India, food is cooked till it’s dead and no longer resembles what you know it to look like live. It’s hard to tell a chicken from a fish masala and in Mandawa, the first place where we spent the night in a Castle, they even served potatoes made to look like mushrooms.

In New Zealand, food is best when it’s raw – salads, fruits, honey – and a lamb shank even in a Thai restaurant, cooked in massaman curry, still manages to look like a lamb shank.

In India, history reaches deep and rich – ancient forts and monuments tell the passage of time several centuries old through remarkable architecture and incredible rich art works.

In New Zealand, I visited Puhoi, a town settled in 1863 by immigrants from Bohemia – the main attraction there is the Puhoi Pub where faded photographs trace the stories of the early settlers and tourists walk away with fresh cheeses. I recommend the blues.

Yet I also found similarities.

In the desert of Jaisalmer, where we slept in tented camps under the clear night sky, I saw stars twinkling and heard only birdsong.

In far north New Zealand, in the bays of Mangonui, where I slept in a motel, I saw stars twinkling and heard the wind, sea and birdsong.

In India, what fascinated me was how orderly things managed to be despite the disorder. No rules on the roads yet people manage to find their way. Any traffic altercation, we are told, is solved in 10 minutes.

In New Zealand, you buy honey from unmanned stalls where it’s up to you to put the money into the box.

And it made me wonder if things, left to their natural order, find their own level. If you expect people to be honest, do they become so? If you allow people to solve their own problems, do they?

India’s a nation of shopkeepers, traders and craftsmen. Like the caravan traders of old who used to ply this spice route we were travelling on, there’s always someone making, selling, trading something. In cities, people work hard. In the countryside, people work hard. It’s all out there for you to see.

New Zealand’s a nation of entrepreneurs and farmers. The wide open spaces lend themselves to agriculture and because it’s such a small population and so isolated, people have to create their own jobs.

I found cottage industries in both countries to be creative and noble. Outside Bikaner, we visited a village known for its carpet weaving and met a man who was taught his craft by his father who in turn was taught by his father. He showed us how it’s done and then opened up a book. “You know Richard Gere?” he asked. On our nodding, he shows us a photo of Mr Pretty Woman with him. Smashing Pumpkins, Prince Charles and Camilla, you name them, he’s got them.

He runs the cooperative and proceeds go towards the weavers who make the carpets.

At Mangonui Motel, my friend, the late Intan Myer built up a thriving business of glass beads and ran workshops teaching the craft to the community. Some of her beads have been donated as Beads of Courage to a local charity looking after children with cancer.

In 2012, I believe we in travel and tourism will see a rising force of entrepreneurship break the rules, change the game and touch hearts throughout Asia. Whether they are creating their own start-ups or working within huge corporations, it will be folks who are prepared to take risks, push the boundaries and challenge themselves that will stand out.

And thus, I enter 2012 inspired by my travels across extreme worlds and infused with the spirit of the late Christopher Hitchens and Intan.

Hitchens was a prolific writer who had the ability to write for many but to make you feel as though he was writing only for you and Intan had grace and compassion as her memorial so beautifully encapsulated.

Happy New Year.