EH

The last stop. The final frontier. Enter three familiar faces - Mother Henderson, Sister Henderson and the legendary Rick Johnson. A luxury hotel at last... a gym, restaurants, a swimming pool on the roof, hotel staff calling me 'sir'. This is proper backpacking! For the last five days of my trip, the Henderson women had arranged to come out. Mother H was born in Hong Kong so it was a homecoming of sorts, 50 years on. We searched for her old house up on the peak but they had built some new apartments up there. Never mind, the view from the peak once the clouds had parted was spectacular. It is the cityscape views that Hong Kong does like nowhere else in the world. I haven't seen the Manhattan skyline but surely the nighttime view ... read more

This is not the Perhenthians, no way. There is no perfect swimming beach and no lively young persons vibe but it's worth a visit all the same. The 'resort' of ABC is long and thin meaning there is no real centre and also means that you have to do a fair amount of walking. I stayed for 4 days and it was very quiet and chilled out. There are very very few people staying there. You are guaranteed to become personal friends with the bar and restaurant owners and if you see anyone else on the beach them you say hello because it is such an unusual event! Swimming out to see and looking back is propbably the best view of Tioman. The water is in parts spectacular blue, the beach unspolit light and the ... read more

For wildlife spotting this isn't the place to go. No doubt there are plenty of big names deep in the jungle mix but from Kuala Tahan there is little realistic chance of seeing much beyond leeches and bats. If they are your thing then you're in for a real treat. The dorm here in this ramshackle riverside village is arguably the best accommodation I have had in Malaysia. That says more about the poor standards in this country than anything else. Note to the Malaysian ministry of tourism - get some decent guest houses erected and STOP CUTTING DOWN EVERY TREE IN THE COUNTRY. Driving through central peninsula Malaysia you pass countless lorries bearing massive trees. The once dark green country side is now riddled with massive orange scars. Where they have replanted anything it ... read more

Pantai Cenang is meant to be the main and best beach on Langkawi so that is where I headed once my ferry from Penang arrived. It was a pretty decent beach I must say and absolutely no one on it. The sea was the hottest I had encountered which is saying something after a week in the soup in Goa. The Gecko Guest house provided me with a roof and a bathroom which was all that was asked of it. A prolonged and bloody mosquito massacre had to take place before I was content to go to sleep but the bloodshed was worth it - I slept in peace. There is a strip of restaurants and shops in Pantai Cenang. Great seafood is available and, because the island is duty free, the beer is cheap. ... read more

When I was introduced to my personal guide for the next day's tour in the lodge the night before I thought he seemed a bit young! He wasn't much over 5 foot, had shoulder length hair and spent much of the evening playing computer games. His name was Anon (short for Anonymous I assumed). We entered the Khao Yai National Park at 8 the next morning - just me Anon and the driver because there are so few tourists about at the moment. I was interested to see how good the two Thais would be at spotting wildlife. The most important thing one expects from a guide is that he sees wildlife that you simply wouldn't have known was there on your own. Within minutes he had pointed out elephant dung. Come on Anon, we've ... read more