Marc Atchison recalls the National Geographic moments he experienced while visiting the Malaysian paradise known as Langkawi, where a trip the island's mangrove forest was an adventure of a lifetime.

KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA — The only thing hotter than the suffocating air hanging over this city’s bustling night market are the flames I see spewing from the mouth of a man standing just a few metres from me.

BORNEO, MALAYSIA - This is unlike any other island I am familiar with, shared by three separate countries — Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia as well as orangutans, proboscis monkeys, dwarf rhinos (which you will never see) and tribes of former head hunters. It is so far away from Peninsular Malaysia that your passport is rechecked upon arrival in Malaysian Borneo, as though you were arriving in a new land. And until recently, its highest mountain, Mount Kinabalu, was definitely unknown to most Ca...

GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA -The slender man standing behind the trishaw, this old colonial town’s version of the more famous rickshaw, invited my partner and I to let him show us the sights of this mini-Singapore.

The sun slowly rises over the tallest peak on Friday Mountain, signaling another glorious day is about to begin on this tropical island outpost. Despite the early hour, the Andaman Sea beach outside the Four Seasons Langkawi Resort is hot to the touch. Debris, washed ashore overnight, is being swept up and bagged by an army of local women dressed in denim overalls. Their heads are covered with straw hats and scarves, as Muslim dress code demands. The pampered guests staying at Langkawi’s most l...