The nation of Indonesia stretches along an equatorial archipelago numbering nearly 18,000 islands in total. Encompassing several ecosystem types as well as straddling the boundaries between the Oriental and Australasian faunal regions, Indonesia is one of the most biodiverse nations on Earth.

Mai Chau is located 135 km south-west of Hanoi in the Northern province of Hoa Binh which is bordered by Son La in the West, Phu Tho and Ha Tay in the North, Ha Nam and Ninh Binh in the East, and Thanh Hoa in the South.

Thailand's cultural and social roots are firmly set in the countryside, in fact, when Mahatma Gandhi said of his home country "... the real India is in the villages". He could just as easily have been referring to Thailand, a country whose political and cultural birth was in the "million rice fields" of the ancient Lanna Thai Kingdom.

The Philippines is an overlooked treasure of Southeast Asia, but that's due to its remoteness, not for lack of natural gems that range from coral-fringed islands, palm lined white-sand beaches to hot springs and majestic volcanoes.