A tiny Khmer girl joined her mother in picking up litter on the grounds of Angkor Thom. She was perhaps a wee too young to understand what the fuss was about, but clearly, her mother, a Spa Supervisor with Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa, knew the significance, and urged her on. Rom Syma is keen for her daughter to protect their natural heritage – the 13th century Bayon Temple, a World Heritage site - and Cambodia’s pride.

The city of Luang Prabang is facing a big challenge - having survived colonisation and communism, can it survive tourism?

Sarawakan Stephen and Danish Tine had a dream. Now the dream has been fulfilled. They have established an art gallery and a homestay called Jungle Blues Dream in the Ulung Palang longhouse in Bario, an amazing village in the Kelabit Highlands of northeast Sarawak, close to the Kalimantan border.

Just half hour from Denpasar on the eastern side of the island in the south, there is a festival of sorts to bring you back to life, and ahem, civilisation. Sanur Village Festival 2008 from 6-10 August covers all grounds – culinary, sports, culture, art, beach games, cycling tour, kite flying and music, like jazz, enough of reggae already!

Before anyone had ever heard of Greenpeace and the WWF, and long before Al Gore became an environmental superhero, there was one man who is generally credited for advancing the first theory on how mankind can destroy the environment, linking deforestation with rainfall and climate change.

The first meal was delicious. A simple vegetable curry served with brown rice and yogurt. I was not the only one to ask for more.From then on, the meals became more interesting. Eggplant served with corn on the cob. Tofu steaks with lasagna. And salads with, well, just too many sprouts. But it didn’t stop me from returning for more.

Fraser’s Hill straddling the States of Pahang and Selangor, West Malaysia is often an overlooked destination by vacation seekers but not by feathered fowl.

Singapore is probably not the country that readily springs to mind when we think of world music. This developed nation in Southeast Asia has probably more high-rise buildings dotting its coast compared to the collective high notes of symphony orchestras worldwide. Highways and traffic in the city create a greater din than the call of a million crows.

A drive up the Hume Highway about an hour and a half north of Melbourne city in Victoria takes us into the lush driveway of a most unusual vineyard. We were about to visit one that is sustainable. Elgo Estate is one of the few wineries in Australia and internationally that has a carbon negative footprint. In other words, it abrogates the effects of the pollution it does create with solutions that lower its carbon emissions.

Don’t start talking to Michel Saada about coconuts unless you have time to spare. The exuberant Frenchman is an authority on coconuts and is known to wax lyrical on the eco-friendliness of coconuts plus the huge number of things that can be derived from, a single nut.

Although you don’t find people still hunting mammoths with spears, you can still find people fishing in exactly the same way they did thousands of years ago. Bang Pat in Phrang Nha National Park, Thailand. Kompong Phluk in Prasat Bakong, Cambodia, and Kukup Village, Johor State, Malaysia.

In Spain, the man called Magellan was provisioning his ships for what would be the first time anyone would ever sail around our world. On the other side of the planet, deep in a forest in what is now known as Western Australia, a seed dropped from a massive tree onto the carpet of gum leaves beneath.

When people plan for a trip to Luang Prabang, they think of glittering temples, saffron-robed monks and a destination to restore one’s weary soul. Few know about the bustling night markets with their colourful wares or the impressive number of boutiques dedicated to showcasing Laos’ unique and long-standing tradition of arts, crafts and textiles.

If location is key, then Kingfisher is already onto something. It sits at the edge of Khiat Ngong village, overlooking the untouched wetlands in the 24,000-kilometre square Xe Pian National Park in Southern Laos, one of the most important biodiversity areas in Indochina and known for its large mammals and rare water birds.

It is possible to enjoy the best of Malaysian culinary in remote destinations where the noisiest thing heard is the call of the rooster. One such place is Aunty Aini Café located in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan where you have to be mindful of where you alight – watch out for those cow dung blobs on roadsides.

Most visitors to Singapore think of it as a clean, highly organised and sophisticated first-world city with some of the most advanced technology in Asia. It is. It boasts superb public transport, ubiquitous island-wide WiFi connectivity, and designer outlets galore in massive shopping malls galore.