With more than a thousand limestone peaks rising out of its crystalline, emerald waters, Halong Bay is is rightly viewed as one of the natural wonders of Vietnam, and is one of the country's five UNESCO World Heritage sites. Lesser known, and therefore less touristed are the equally stunning Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long Bays.

Set amidst emerald-green rice fields and lush orchards, Khum Lanna gives you a luxurious home-stay experience combined with a cooking school specialising in traditional Northern Thai cuisine. A celebration of heritage, food and lifestyle, the Culinary & Wellness programme combines cultural exchanges with local communities with Thai cooking classes, herbal steam baths and massages.

Learn the Indonesian art of batik painting, study traditional Indonesian dance and theatre, learn to make the highly intricate carved masks worn by Lagong dancers and submerge yourself into two of Indonesia's most powerfully independent identities: the Javanese, the 'rulers' of Indonesia, and the gentle, aesthetic Balinese.

Amongst of the newest frontiers for adventurous divers in Indonesia are the many islands of the Laut Maluku - the Maluku Sea - that lies between Sulawesi's northern peninsular and the now famous dive sites of Raja Ampat on West Papua's Birdshead Peninsular.