However, there are other amazing things to see - rainbows after the frequent rainstorms, kids playing naked in the waterfalls and streams. Their life is so primitive: bamboo huts with no gas, no electricity, no pots and pans, no utensils. In the longhouse, where 20 to 30 families live and cook, there is a cutting board next to a hole where you can drop the waste down. Underneath they keep ducks, chicken, geese and pigs and they recycle the waste - it's not like there are rubbish collectors out there.

The tribespeople harvest wild rice and to cook it they stuff the rice into bamboo tubes, along with water, fresh peppercorn, lemon grass and chilli. They then plug the top with leaves and barbecue the whole thing. When cooked, they slice it in half with a machete.

To relax:

Sonoma Valley, California

This is a very small area with about 300 wineries and vineyards that you can walk or drive around, and there's also the Napa Valley wine train. There's mountain on one side and ocean on the other and fog rises in the morning and rolls down the hill, slowly moving like an army.

The early immigrants were European so you find very French, Spanish and Portuguese-style chateaus. Sitting on one of their patios, tasting wine and watching the fog is so relaxing. The patios tend to be four to six metres higher than the blanket of cloud so it really feels like you're in heaven.

To shop:

London, Britain

I like to shop in Chinatowns all round the world but particularly in London where it's right in the heart of the city where all the action is - theatres, shops, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square.

All the restaurants are pretty good, with chefs flown over from Hong Kong, but one of the best is Mr Ngan at Aroma [118 Shaftesbury Avenue, tel: 4420 7437 0377; 11 Gerrard Street, tel: 4420 7439 2720; 39 Gerrard Street, tel: 4420 7439 0534]. He is 75 years old and still uses a bamboo stick every day to knead the dough for egg roll wrappers, wonton wrappers and handmade noodles.

You can buy great produce in the supermarkets - everything you need to cook authentic Chinese cuisine. I did a show for the BBC when I took three single guys shopping in Chinatown then went back to their house and cooked a birthday dinner for 20 people with the ingredients.