This Kuala Lumpur-Thailand duo is the best summer-holiday idea

The pressures of the year melt away at this home away from home.

The Christmas spirit comes alive in a Muslim country. Bells jingle, trees glisten, families pose for photos in front of sleighs hauled by reindeer.

Kuala Lumpur turns on the festive season with gusto. Malls and hotels sparkle with tinsel and baubles, there's celebration in the air. Which is how it should be. Religious differences cast aside as everyone laps up the fun.

For years, a short stay in Kuala Lumpur followed by a fortnight in Thailand have made my summers memorable. Back home, in the popular coastal town I call home, the city folk swarm in for their summer holidays. I like to leave the place to them, heading somewhere different.

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Kuala Lumpur has become a second home after visiting more times than I can remember. The food, the people, have become so familiar, a summer visit feels like catching up with old friends. The doorman at the favourite hotel who remembers me from past visits. The shopkeepers who ask after family members who accompanied me in past years. The taxi drivers who beam with pride when you tell them you're a regular visitor.

But it's all a prelude. The real summer holiday begins further up on the Malay Peninsula, in southern Thailand's Krabi province. That first cooling spray of water - anointed by the Andaman Sea - on the longtail boat ride from Ao Nang pier to Railay Beach seems to loosen all the knots in a neck tensed from a year's work.

We've been many times but have never tired of the dramatic scenery - the forested limestone karsts that wise out of the sea, the long white beaches lapped by gentle waves and the fiery sunsets. Every time feels like stepping into a postcard.

After breakfast - watched keenly by monkeys in the overhanging trees - mornings are spent kayaking on the transparent waters. In the heat of the afternoon, a cooling spy novel has become tradition. I thought Le Carre's death would end it but Mick Herron, novelist of Slow Horses fame, has stepped up to fill the void.

At night, when the day trippers from Ao Nang and Krabi town have left on the longtail boats which brought them here, a hush seems to fall over Railay. Until you detect the jungle sounds. Frogs, insects, nocturnal birds strike up nature's orchestra, best listened to from an outside bath under the stars, the air thick with the fragrance of tropical flowers.

Around July every year, there's a struggle as the summer holiday is planned from the depths of winter. Should routine be broken, some other place chosen for the summer holiday? It's a momentary dilemma.

The Kuala Lumpur-Railay routine wins out every time. It's impossible to improve on perfection.