Miri, Malaysia

From its humble origin as a small trading post, Miri has grown into a smart city of swanky hotels, sleek shopping malls and potential holiday resort. It serves as the take off point for adventure tours into the rainforests of Sarawak - Sarawak's famed Mulu National Park is 40 minutes away by air, Lambir Hills (the world's largest biodiversity site) is a mere 25 minutes away and the highly rated Niah Caves two hours by road. Not too far away, about half a day away by longboat or 4WD is the unusual Loagan Banut, a water body that recedes and expands with startling regularity and so provides a unique nesting place for many species of birds.

Less than an hours flying time away are the Bario Highlands, the home turf of the Kelabit tribe, an offshoot of the Orang Ulu people. This hilly region is remarkable for its natural beauty, surrounded as it is by the rainforest-covered mountains of Kalimantan and Brunei. The Kelabit are the only farming community on the island of Borneo who cultivate rice in traditional waterlogged fields and their neat rows of paddy plants add both nuances of colour and style to the rugged landscape. Incidentally, the rice they grow is highly rated for its quality, especially its fragrance.

A happy, friendly people, the Kelabit delight in welcoming visitors to their longhouses - the long thatched dorm like house where the entire village kips down for the night. The major tourist attraction in the highlands is to go off on treks or mountain bike tours of varying duration through dense forests, across log bridges over fast flowing rivers- and to stopover at longhouses along the way. Some of the shorter treks even cross over into Kalimantan in neighbouring Indonesia. Amateur climbers can join climbs up the 2,424m high Mt Murud while experienced mountaineers can try their skills at the very exacting climb up the Batu Lawi (2,043m).