"[Elephants] rescued by the Mahouts Elephant Foundation, which runs ethical experiences in partnership with the Karen community, are the focus of Experience Travel Group’s tailor-made Elephant Encounters in Thailand trip... In between, guests can walk in the forest with a mahout guide to see the rescued elephants in their natural habitat – though no interaction is allowed. Profits go straight back into the community."
"In Cambodia, they are happily dancing again. It’s enough to make the most cynical travel writer raise his delicious glass of cold Angkor beer and toast a new moon rising over the Tonle Sap. [In Phnom Penh], you will find lavishly refurbed or remarkable new hotels. Take Raffles... a shining opal of a French colonial hotel. At its nadir, it became the hangout for all the war journalists in The Killing Fields; now it gleams with its exquisite pools and serene pavilions. Nearby is the new Rosewood Hotel. Recently voted the Best Urban Hotel in Asia."
"One of the most scenic train rides in the world... celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. We are swallowed up and spat out by the landscape, careering through wide ravines watered by cascades, and squeezing into dark tunnels that burrow under palm-tipped mountains... As passengers talk in hushed tones, hawkers navigate seating booths and doorways, selling chilli mango and peanuts fried with curry leaves. A child waves at us from a river as we pass above him on a metal bridge, then dives under the caramel-coloured water like a fish."
"ChangChill is one of a new breed of ethical elephants camps in Thailand... In the eight-acre forest, there’s no riding, no touching, and the sharp bull hooks traditionally used by mahouts to exert control over their animals are nowhere in sight. Instead, we trek into the forest to watch elephants foraging from 10–15 metres away, chop sugar cane... and make energy balls of banana, tamarind, rice husks and the all-important medicinal herbs, which are fed to them by their mahouts, rather than us."
"'Without doubt, this is the greatest evening of my life,' I thought to myself as I galloped along 7km of deserted, unspoilt beach deep in a southern corner of Indonesia. A burning golden sunset cast the most beautiful light I’d ever seen, with only the sound of the Indian Ocean and the hoof beats of my native Sumbanese pony to accompany it."
Experience the joy of staying at Nihi Sumba.
"The inaugural Gourmet Galle food festival features 13 internationally recognised chefs in a series of culinary events... set in the most picturesque properties in the region. Among the participants are culinary luminaries such as Karan Gokani, renowned for his Hoppers cookbook and three London restaurants, alongside celebrity chefs such as Mark Hix."
Get a feel for the food festival.
"Soon the grey wash of Snooky’s pollution gives way to emerald cleanliness, exuberantly silver flying fish and the occasional dolphin. After half an hour, we arrived at a private pier on the western side of Koh Rong island – and one of the most exquisite, jaw-dropping beaches I have ever seen."
Discover Cambodia's unspoilt islands through the eyes of Sean Thomas.
"Actually the Pekoe Trail is not at all new. Its 200-mile, snail-shaped route starts just outside Kandy and weaves its way through the fertile Central Highlands up to Nuwara Eliya and the heart of the hill country. These tracks have existed since the British established the tea-growing industry here in the 19th century."
Find out what Louise Roddon discovered as she trekked the Pekoe Trail through Sri Lanka's tea country
"It is one of nature’s truly heart thudding, soul shuddering experiences. No one forgets their first sighting of a Komodo dragon in the wild... Today, though, humans are the dragons’ biggest threat."
Find out what happened when Robin Mckelvie met the modern-day dinosaurs, and how tourism will affect their future.
"This hospitality and food remains in my memory long after my visit to the teardrop-shaped island. Along with my new-found passion for fresh curry leaves."
Follow Audrey Gillan's culinary tour of Sri Lanka for National Geographic Traveller (UK) and find out her top 5 Sri Lankan staples.
"Finally I sat down with my family for a proper feast: green papaya soup with christophene (a knobbly gourd), chicken satay, steamed mahi mahi… And lots of rice. Yes, I’d found proper Balinese food, all right – and I’d cooked it, too."
Discover Les Dunn's journey to authentic Balinese cuisine, from the best restaurants to learning the ropes himself.
"My declaration duly arouses a small cheer, which is swiftly drowned out by the rumble of an urban train, rattling down the road, two yards from the door of this splendidly ramshackle bar, hidden away in the kinetic, mazy, twilit streets of central Hanoi in Vietnam."
Read all about Sean Thomas's trip to Vietnam to research the country's hottest new luxury hotels.
"Local tribes and the wider community are very much a part of the inspiring atmosphere at this wonderfully authentic lodge."
Travel writer, Catherine McCullin (née Fairweather) travelled to Sri Lanka with her husband, the legendary photographer, Don McCullin. Here she reviews a unique wildlife lodge.
"Her mummified body lay within a four-metre-tall duba-duba, a litter gilded with icons of buffalos, around which her encircled clan chanted a rowdy requiem."
What happened when Mark Stratton explored the fascinating funeral rituals of the Toraja people, Sulawesi?
"The absence of air conditioning (first class only) was hardly an issue; thanks to the open windows we could breath in the refreshing, cool air of the mountains. We passed jaw-dropping scences of lush vegetation, the odd flash of a temple stupa hidden within".
Find out what Adrian Bridge saw on The Ella Odyssey, perhaps one of the worlds most scenic railway journeys
