Our favourite places in Malaysia

Hidden in the mountains of central Laos, the vast chambers, twisted rock formations, and glowing emerald pools of Kong Lor Cave are a geological wonder accessible only on a wet-and-wild sampan ride through the darkness.

You’d never guess it now, but Champasak was once the seat of an independent royal kingdom that thrived for over 200 years. Today, this tiny, sleepy, riverside town is best-known as the gateway to the lush and laid-back 4,000 Islands.

Si Phan Don, or the 4,000 Islands, is landlocked Laos’s answer to the coast: laid-back, palm-fringed, and lush beyond belief, this riverine archipelago is the ultimate place to relax.

Beyond the New Territories and the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong is a province of islands — 261 of them to be precise — riddled with pirate caves, fishing villages, 3,000-year-old rock carvings and unexpected histories.

Fringing the edge of Kowloon and radiating northwards into mainland China, the New Territories are a place for long bike rides through country parks, kayaking along craggy coastlines, and visiting clan villages dating back to the Qing and Ming dynasties.

If you’re looking for nostalgic Hong Kong — the gritty, neon-lit street-food markets of post-war photograhs, or perhaps the saturated cityscapes of 1990s Hong Kong as envisioned by Wong Kar-wai — Kowloon is where you’ll find it (or remnants of it, at least).

Picture that iconic skyline: bristling with skyscrapers; backed by green mountains; the waters of Victoria Harbour glittering just below. You’re picturing Hong Kong Island.

With its hodgepodge of Buddhist heritage, fishing villages, high-rise shopping centres and theme parks, Hong Kong’s largest island is a patchwork of a place — but one that’s worth exploring.

Part of one of Southeast Asia’s largest remaining wilderness areas, the densely forested Southern Cardamom Mountains are a refuge for Asian elephants, pileated gibbons, clouded leopards and countless species as yet unknown to science.

Forget jostling with sharp-elbowed crowds to get that perfect sunrise snap of Angkor Wat. What if you could explore 800-year-old cave temples with only silver langur, barking deer and pileated gibbons for company?

A visit to Mondulkiri is about feeling as far away from civilisation as it’s possible to be, sleeping in rainforest huts surrounded by the hoots of yellow-cheeked crested gibbons and trekking through jungle to meet rescued elephants.

Covering most of Preah Vihear Province in the remote northern plains, Kulen Promtep is a haven for rare birds, and one of the few remaining places to see the endangered giant ibis — Cambodia’s national bird.