Experience the majesty of China’s biggest waterfall, check out the expanded Tokyo DisneySea, or escape the summer heat in the hills of Sri Lanka and India
Monsoon dodges
While much of Southeast Asia is deluged from May to October, a few destinations buck the bad-weather trend.
The east coast of Peninsular Malaysia enjoys cloudless skies, while hotel staff in Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines are sandbagging doorways to keep the monsoon rains out.
If you are seeking sunshine and the traveller’s holy trinity of frosty white sands, turquoise seas and swaying palms in the coming months, consider a trip to the Perhentian Islands.
Choose from bustling beaches or quiet coves minus the crowds, although if it is silence you are after, venture south to Pulau Kapas, a blink-and-you-miss-it speck of an island where the drone of jet skis and the thump of music from bars are notably absent.
You do not have to settle for skies the colour of concrete on the Indian subcontinent either. Try Trincomalee, on the east coast of Sri Lanka – the beach town and port experiences its dry season when other parts of the teardrop-shaped country are under water.
“Trinco” boasts an illustrious history as a military stronghold and trading centre. Marco Polo (1254-1324) stopped by, as did British sailor Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), who described the harbour as the finest in the world.
Head for the hills
It can get pretty hot, though, so to keep your cool, head into the mountains. Book a heritage hotel overlooking a golf course in Nuwara Eliya (altitude 1,890 metres/6,200ft) or a tea plantation in Haputale.
Here you’ll find Lipton’s Seat, named after Scottish tea tycoon Thomas Lipton (1848-1931). The viewpoint offers sweeping vistas of the surrounding hills and is a great place for watching sunsets.
Sri Lanka Travel Feneteko