Northern Laos especially presents many great trekking opportunities. Not only is the terrain very mountainous and largely swathed in forest, it is also home to a dazzling array of highly colourful minority tribal people who still pursue the traditional slash and burn (swidden) farming methods, unchanged for a thousand years.

Staying as a guest of a community can be a highly rewarding experience, adding real meaning to a holiday and creating opportunities for a genuine cultural exchange leaving all parties wiser and more enlightened to cultural differences. Koh Yao Yai...

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.

Cylce the tracks and trails of the verdant Mekong Delta through southern Vietnam and Cambodia.