Mount Kinabalu. © Robert Harding / Getty Images.

Southeast Asia's best travel destinations might be the ones you haven't heard of at all. Good thing local tourism boards are doing their darndest to get the word out.

Xinhua reports that Malaysia is plotting to add the Maliau basin to their list of World Heritage Sites, which currently includes Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Mulu National Park in Sarawak, Penang's Georgetown district, and Melaka. (The last one is a beaut - check out our walking tour through historical Melaka article.)

If they succeed, this will be the second World Heritage Site in Sabah: as opposed to Mt. Kinabalu, Maliau is a forested depression, a huge saucer-shaped area with a near-perfect circular perimeter about 15 miles in diameter.

Over in Indonesia, the local tourist board is busy revamping the attractions at Lake Toba to be more attractive to outside visitors. Lack of imagination and willpower is hampering the efforts to promote this beautiful site, though - the local administration needs to address difficult access, cleanliness, and a boring slate of attractions and events. It's a shame, because Lake Toba has so much to offer:

Lush green landscapes, waterfalls and small villages dominated by churches' bell towers and boat-shaped Batak Toba houses with their intricate wood sculpture create stunning sceneries. A tourist paradise, then? Definitely yes, except that little has been so far done to attract more travelers, especially a more sophisticated crowd with a bigger purchasing power.

Image © Jake Robillo, used with permission.

Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam is lovely in the autumn season, which was around the time when my cousin Jake and I visited. Not just the scenery, which is absolutely breathtaking. The human element around the lakeside is just as integral to the lake's charm.

More images after the jump. Read more...

Image © Mike Aquino, licensed to About.com.

Cebu Pacific and I have a long history together; whenever I'd commute back to my home town of Davao for school breaks and holidays, half the time I'd be on a Cebu Pacific flight. (My last trip to Vietnam was via Cebu Pacific.) So I really, really wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, even when I'd hear fellow bloggers opine about how Cebu Pacific's service has gone down the crapper.

My friend P, whose hair had practically gone white waiting for a refund, couldn't understand why I was still willing give Cebu Pacific the benefit of the doubt. "They cancelled the Manila-Hanoi route we'd booked a flight on, and yet they made me go through hell to get my money back," he practically screamed at me. "Why are you still taking their side?"

"Because I've never been screwed by them," I answered. "Yet," P snapped back.

P will be glad to know that "I've never been screwed by Cebu Pacific" is no longer strictly true. Read more...

Walkway along the mangroves of Peam Krasop Eco-Tourism Sanctuary. Image © Tourism Indochina, used with permission.

Peam Krasop in Southwestern Cambodia feels like another world entirely. Like many otherworldly sites in Southeast Asia, this world is in danger of disappearing - charcoal harvesting and shrimp farming are eating away at the fringes of this 23,000-hectare mangrove preserve, and it's not hard to imagine a day when the mangroves will disappear forever.

Peam Krasop is one place that benefits from ecotourism; visitors leave with an awesome travel experience to yarn about when they get home, they also leave dollars behind that will go to maintaining the mangrove sanctuary, money that stays useful long after the tourists have booked their return flights.

Read this article for more information: Peam Krasop Mangrove Forest and Wildlife Sanctuary.