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Depart 28 January 2023

Return 4 February 2023

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What 10915 DialAFlight clients thought of Asia

Very helpful all the way through

Ash, who helped me with everything, was an excellent travel agent - our 4 week holiday to Thailand was perfect

All went well thank you.

All worked really well. Special thanks to Calvin Ali who dd a great job!

Everything went very smoothly. Communication excellent at all times. Thanks to Russell Harrison for all his help. Would definitely use DialAFlight again.

Jerry Bushnell and team always go the extra mile and are ever helpful. Always there to reassure and help. BRILLIANT

So good to be able to talk plans through with a real person! Would definitely recommend

Great assistance whilst away travelling

Everything went like clockwork. Many thanks for everything!

Great service. Many thanks

KLM has too many delays - in the Philippines it was a two hour delay and same in Amsterdam on the way back to Scotland

Always a great service from Cody...been using them for over 20 years

Tony was brilliant as always with a “personal touch” you will struggle to get with other tour operators

All went according to plan. No fuss, no problems. Great job.

Excellent service from start to finish. Expert advice with excellent communication and updates.

Tara never fails in doing everything she can to help with a booking. I have used her many times and recommended her to others. She is professional, extremely helpful, knowledgeable and friendly

Brilliant service from DialAFlight

Very helpful when I booked my flight First class service

I have used DialAFlight for many years, Connie being my main point of contact and she is very good.

Extremely helpful - could not be happier with the service you provide. 10 out of 10

Vinnie is always helpful

All went like clockwork and my questions were answered promptly and were informative.

Ewan and his team are the best! We have worked with DialAFlight for close to two decades. Keep up the good work and customer focus.

I always use DialAFlight and find them very competitive and responsive

I have experience booking my own world travel but was recommended your company by a friend. Staff were polite, very helpful and efficient. The updates and tips on visas etc. for my flights were also very useful and could not be happier with the service I received

The accommodation at Centara Villas Samui was nice but not ideal for older people because it has lots of steps down to restaurants and the beach. But could not fault the food.

Great communication with Declan

All flights were as booked and I felt comfortable while travelling that Tammy was only a phone call away should any problem arise.

I dealt with Declan as I have done on many occasions, and as usual his advice and guidance was excellent. Plus the follow up phone call gives the service a personal touch.

Spencer was great from booking right through to contact when we ran into a problem. I would definitely recommend him for future holidays.

A dream escape

Pangkor Laut my island of dreams

It was Pavarotti's paradise and Joan Collins's honeymoon haven - but you don't have to be a celebrity to be a VIP on Pangkor Laut, as Helen Moss discovered

When Pavarotti first went to Pangkor Laut, he arrived with 26 suitcases – 20 for his clothes and six for his food. He then declared it the most beautiful place he’d ever seen. 'It's enchanting, it's a paradise,’ he gushed. ‘I almost cried to see what beautiful things God had done.’

But I don't know what the Italian opera star was doing with all those clothes.

If he were alive today, he’d need only one case for shorts and T-shirts - and definitely no nibbles. Pangkor Laut Resort, set on its own little island, now has six high-end restaurants, all open to the balmy sea air.

Smart casual is required at the adults-only Fisherman’s Cove. Male diners underdressed are discreetly handed a sarong.

This tropical haven of beaches, rainforest and five-star pampering three miles off the west coast of Malaysia has also been a favourite of Michael Schumacher, Eric Cantona, Tony Blair and British actress Ruth Wilson (from the TV thriller The Affair). Bond girl Michelle Yeoh (Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies) is a regular. And Joan Collins took her fifth and current husband, Percy Gibson, there on honeymoon.

A romantic dinner on the beach at Pangkor Laut Resort

However, you don’t need to be a celebrity to experience Pangkor Laut Resort's many delights.

From the airport at Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, Pangor Laut Resort can arrange for a car to take you to Marina Island Pangkor - the jetty near Teluk Batik from where boats to the island depart.

Even the transfer is a great sightseeing experience, with palm plantations, which have mostly replaced traditional rubber ones, as well as countless villages and their residents.

The 300-acre island is a short boat ride away - the first glimpse of it is little wooden villas perched on stilts above the ocean. These are individual luxury air-conditioned villas, connected by wooden walkways to the main resort, nestled between the beaches and gentle hills of the island’s north coast.

Below and all around you in your stilt villa is azure ocean; above is sun and sky. Each villa has a deck with sun loungers. Just five minutes of lying back - waves lapping beneath and the calls of tropical birds carried across by sea breezes - will melt your stresses into the sea.

If you're lucky, from your deck you might see eagles, hornbills, sea otters, turtles and other wildlife.

On a wildlife tour with resident expert Aris, expect to see fruit bats, monkeys (long-tailed macaques, which are very cheeky), wild boar, two types of snake - both non-lethal to humans - and very rare pangolins. These look a bit like anteaters and have been hunted to near-extinction by the Chinese and Vietnamese, who deep-fry the skin and eat it as crackers. Pangkor Laut Resort is working to start a pangolin breeding programme - one of its many eco-projects.

The endangered Pangolin and Resident wildlife expert Aris

During my trek I was lucky enough to see a tiny paradise tree snake, a huge two-metre dragon-like monitor lizard and hollow crickets (known as skeleton cicadas).

Guests can enjoy yoga and tai chi sessions, fishing, snorkelling trips, golf, private cruises, gourmet picnics, kayaking, gym, jogging trails and cooking classes.

Treatments at the spa include one for men, the Bukit Gantang Warrior Treatment. It's far more relaxing than it sounds, and promises vitality, structural alignment and flexibility.

I had the two-and-a-half hour Campur Campur signature treatment, which began at the Bath House, where my feet were washed and the soles tapped with a wooden hammer. Then I was dressed in a sarong and guided through cold and hot pools and a Japanese washing hut before having my first massage, which also involved water, and was very refreshing.

The main massage, which lasted 105 minutes and took place in a dry spa room, was out of this world - the best I've ever had.

My masseuse, Putri, said the technique was unique to Pangkor Laut and that she and her colleagues had undergone special training. I thought I was very relaxed before I went in, but afterwards I was on a never-experienced-before level of chilled-out-ness.

The resort is a glorious feast for the senses – and a chance to be utterly pampered. No wonder Pavarotti sang its praises.

First published in the Mail Online - September 2016

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