Our favourite places in Malaysia

Stay in an eco-lodge on the banks of Sabah’s longest river, where elephants, macaques and gibbons forage in the dense riverside foliage, and frogmouths, nightjars and hornbills wheel overhead.

Rising 4,095 metres over Borneo and surrounded by rainforest, Mount Kinabalu is the tallest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea, and the national park that surrounds it is among the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

With coral reefs, dense mangroves, sandy beaches and thick jungle, all just fifteen minutes by speedboat from Sabah’s capital, Gaya Island is a microcosm of the Borneo wilderness and a true tropical paradise.

Danum Valley is one of the few places in the world that has never been settled, logged, hunted or otherwise interfered with by humans. Hidden in its untouched forests, wildlife thrives – from the world’s tallest tropical tree to the highest concentration of orangutans anywhere in the world.

Remote Batang Ai is the ancestral heartland of Sarawak’s Iban people and the best place to spot orangutans in the wild. After exploring the jungle, experience life in a tribal longhouse, sharing song, dance and tuak rice wine long into the night.

Just a hop, skip and a jump (read: a short bullet train ride) from Tokyo, on a good day Hakone offers views of Mount Fuji in all her glory — and it’s your best bet for a good time even if she doesn’t oblige.

If it’s tradition you’re after, Andong will get your senses tingling: a journey through the city’s sumptuous surrounding countryside will allow you to enjoy the sights and sounds – and some of the more pleasant smells – of a Korea now almost extinct.

Korea’s bustling second city often comes out in first place with visitors, and it should be no surprise – as well as boasting the country’s most popular beach and Asia’s biggest film festival, “Seoul by the sea” has spent the last decade cementing its reputation as the country’s hippest destination.

The chances are you’ve heard of Angkor Wat, but did you know that the Khmer Empire extended over a million square kilometres, and that their ruins lie hidden in every corner of Cambodia?

It’s not for nothing that Singapore is known as the “Garden City”, and the Jurong Gardens are among the best of the bunch.

Sometimes you don’t want to be a tourist. Sometimes you want to ditch the crowds, throw out the guidebook, and just get a taste of what it’s like to really live in a Japanese city. That’s when you book a ticket to Fukuoka.

30 years ago, Naoshima was just one of 3,000 tiny fishing islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Now, it’s home to an extraordinary collection of world-class modern art, spilling out of galleries and museums into abandoned houses, workshops, shrines and beaches.