Malaysia

Most travelers pause briefly in Pahang's capital and Malaysia's second-biggest port to break up longish bus trips. This is a shame; while the city isn’t especially geared towards tourism, it is definitely interesting enough to warrant a day or two’s exploration. There's an excellent museum, plenty of great places to eat, decent accommodation choices and the nearby sands of Teluk Chempedak with upmarket resort accommodation and beach views. The vast mosque is also a fantastic spectacle when illuminated at night, the padang is huge and refreshingly cool in the morning and at late afternoon, while food markets set up nearby towards evening.

Kuala Terengganu is the capital of Terengganu. It occupies a promontory jutting into the South China Sea and is flanked by the estuary of Sungai Terengganu. The city is a microcosm of Malaysia’s economic history: fishing village strikes oil and rapid modernity ensues. In just a few years this once sleepy town has been inextricably altered. Land reclamation and development of the waterfront has seen the creation of attractive parks and parades plus a modern harbour that has one of Asia's biggest drawbridges. Despite the rapid modernisation Kuala Terengganu retains plenty of charm. Here you'll find one of eastern Peninsular Malaysia’s prettiest and most interesting Chinatowns, and old kampong-style stilt-houses can still be found just across the river. With seafood-heavy local cuisine and good transport links, it's definitely worth spending a day or two in Kuala Terengganu in between the islands and jungles.

For many visitors, a journey to Peninsular Malaysia's largest state begins and ends on the enchanted isle of Tioman. Between its exhilarating diving, brilliant beaches, vegetation-choked jungle treks and spirited villages, its tropical-island allure is impossible to resist.

Sarawak makes access to Borneo’s natural wonders and cultural riches a breeze. From Kuching, the island’s most dynamic city, pristine rainforests – where you can spot orangutans, proboscis monkeys, crocodiles and the world’s largest flower, the rafflesia – can be visited on day trips, with time in the evening for a tasty meal and a drink by the waterfront. More adventurous travelers can take a ‘flying coffin’ riverboat up the 'Amazon of Borneo', the Batang Rejang, on their way east to hike from longhouse to longhouse in the cool environs of the Kelabit Highlands, or to the spectacular bat caves and extraordinary rock formations of Gunung Mulu National Park. For the best chance of seeing an orangutan in the wild, venture to the Batang Ai region.

Malaysia’s northeast coast is simply beautiful. Picturesque palm-fringed beaches and bucolic kampung (villages) abound, but what brings folks back to the region time and again are the tantalising tropical islands offshore. ‘Paradise’ barely does these gems justice, though that’ll likely be the word that comes to mind when you first lay eyes on the white sands and azure waters of Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Redang or Pulau Kapas. Snorkellers and divers revel in these crystal-clear waters featuring colorful coral gardens and myriads of fishes.

Gunung Kinabalu, as it is known in Malay, is the highest mountain on the world's third-largest island. It is also the highest point between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Rising almost twice as high as its Crocker Range neighbours, and culminating in a crown of wild granite spires, it is a sight to behold. March to August (dry season) is considered to be the best time to climb.

For travellers’ purposes, there are essentially two facets to Kedah: the tropical island of Langkawi and its surrounding islets, and the rural, little-visited mainland, known as Malaysia’s ‘rice bowl’.

It's easy to see why the colonialist ruler Raja Brooke chose this spot for his capital. Hugging the curves of the languid Sungai Sarawak, Kuching was an ideal trading post between other Asian sea ports and Borneo's interior. It's still a gateway to both jungle and sea, and Kuching’s proximity to national parks makes it the ideal base for day trips to wild coastal and rainforest destinations.

Looking out to distant isles across the Bay of Sandakan, where fishing trawlers dot the teal-blue waters, the former colonialist capital of British Borneo is a buzzing little city used by travelers as a  gateway to the Sungai Kinabatangan and Sepilok. German merchants, Dutch and Chinese planters, Arab and Indian traders, and pearl divers all had their heads turned by Sabah's second city at some point, until it was razed to the ground by the British during WWII in an attempt to shake off the invading Japanese. Today the compact centre is buoyed by the success of the palm-oil industry and those who linger here will find religious relics, colonial mansions and haunting mementoes of WWII dotted across the city.

Born of the British desire to fashion the teeming jungle into a pleasant park, the Lake Gardens (now officially named Tun Abdul Razak Heritage Park) remains a lush breathing space at KL's heart and home to top museums, themed parks and other monuments and sights. The transport and business hub KL Sentral and neighbouring Brickfields are immediately south of here.