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"I wish I were dining under the stars with my daughter, Emma, in the balmy night heat of Sabah in the Malaysian part of Borneo.

There, at the Shangri-la Rasa Ria hotel, we ate the most wonderful southeast Asian cooking, served from stalls built in an arc around the beach. The exotic smells of garlic, chilli, ginger and spices entice you as you walk from stall to stall, choosing which dish to sample next. The seafood was supreme, the naan bread was made to order, the array of fresh vegetables was a feast for the eyes and the palate. In the forest reserve behind us, we knew orphaned orang-utans would be settling down for the night. And, every now and then, a porcupine would wander across the sand, hoping for scraps of food.