After a slight diving incident in Malaysian Borneo, I suddenly found myself with five days to kill until my flight out of Tawau in Borneo’s south. After consulting Mr Google, I stumbled upon the Tawau Hills National Park.

And the best part was, I had it all to myself...

Examining my bodily functions isn’t usually on my list of things to do on holiday. Explaining them to a man named Mr Moon isn’t exactly high on my radar, either. But, at the Sanctuary on the island of Koh Phangan off southern Thailand, I’m doing both these things and it’s all in the name of my health.

Warning: this story contains the word 'colonic'. Read at your own risk!

We were invited to a wedding in Datai Bay on the Malaysian island of Langkawi. The Bay has two main hotels; the Andaman and the Datai. Each hotel has its charms, and since we couldn't decide between the two, we decided to stay at both.

Here's what I thought.
 

After spending a week with the kids in Singapore, I have two main pieces of advice: start saving and don’t go in September.

While volunteering at the WFFT rescue centre in Thailand, I quickly learned that monkeys are not to be trusted.

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was a city I'd only ever been to on my way to somewhere else. So we decided it was time to treat it like a destination and spent 8 days there with the kids.

There was so much to do, we didn't even make it all the way through our list.

As a child, I remember sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, staring at the aquarium and wondering what it would be like to get in there with all those fish. After diving at Sipadan in Borneo, I no longer have to wonder.

From teaching English to orphans in Cambodia to shovelling bear poo in Thailand, my voluntourism experiences have all enriched my life.

There are plenty of opportunities to 'give back' in Asia, and here are a few.