Eight Magazine 02/14 - Colour

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colour

welcome Life in technicolour In Thailand, each day is attributed a different colour. This tradition extends to birthdays, which are identified with a colour representing the day on which people were born. His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand came into the world on Monday 5 December, 1927, and each year his birthday is celebrated with yellow decorations and by the wearing of yellow clothes.

Taking the Thai day colours as our inspiration, we have created a book all about colour. This edition of Eight is divided, appropriately, into eight sections: yellow (Monday), pink (Tuesday), green (Wednesday), orange (Thursday), blue (Friday), purple (Saturday) and red (Sunday) – along with a section on white, a “non-colour”. All interviews, stories and images relate to that section’s colour.

It’s been terrific fun. We’ve met people who work with certain colours, and have explored the Dusit network of countries by their prominent colours.

We’ve investigated the legend of the White Lady in Guam, and in “Why isn’t food blue?” we’ve examined the psychology of colour in food preparation.

Photographer JeongMee has spent the last eight years cataloguing young girls’ obsession with pink, and we carry a selection of her stunning portraits, while science writer Philip Ball explains how the 19th-century invention of purple dye spawned an entire industry devoted to the colour.

In between the riot of colour and ideas, we introduce the Dusit portfolio of hotels. It’s my pleasure to introduce this issue of Eight, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it. If you have any feedback, write to us at customerservice@dusit.com ustom – we’d love to hear from you.

David Shackleton COO, Dusit International

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colour WHITE

PURPLE

RED

PINK

MULTI COLOURS

Myong Hong

Philip Ball

Jason Gagliardi

JeongMee Yoon

Thomas Sturrock & David Terrazas

Artist, filmmaker, musician and photographer Myong shot the images for our story “The White Lady of Guam”. As well as eagerly responding to our request to use infra-red, a technique with which he was only slightly familiar, Myong took intrepid writer – and first-time Guam visitor – Paul Chai on a tour of his home in search of its legends.

Myong’s favourite colour? Black, because it makes everyone look cool.

British science writer and author Philip explores the origins of purple dye, and how it led to the formation of an entire industry.

Philip’s favourite colour? “I was in London’s National Gallery recently and overwhelmed by fantastic colours, such as [Italian Renaissance painter] Veronese’s greens. So the only answer I can give is that I’m now spoiled for choice.”

A resident of Asia for 23 years and an established journalist with bylines in South China Morning Post, Time, Playboy and Sports Illustrated among others, Jason penned an essay all about red for this issue of Eight. An appalling teenage oil painter, former creative director in a Bangkok advertising agency and latter-day smartphone “Insta-art” aficionado, Jason has an appreciation of colours and how they can affect everything from moods to physical reactions to our perception of brands. Jason doesn’t have a favourite colour.

Photographer JeongMee started as a printmaker, then published her first photography series, “Zoo”, in 1998.

JeongMee’s captivating images of little girls surrounded by their pink belongings are part of “The Pink & Blue Project”, an ongoing exploration of why boys like blue and girls choose pink.

JeongMee’s favourite colour? Light blue.

Writer-photographer team Thomas and David – who first worked together on the inaugural issue of Eight – sourced, styled, interviewed and photographed our subjects for the “Working with Colour” series that appears throughout the book.

David’s favourite colour? Yellow, “because it’s warm and reminds me of the sun”.

Thomas, meanwhile, likes red because everything in red goes faster.

Ink ~ Liz Weselby Editor / Alexandra Karplus Contributing Editor / Peter Stephens Design Director / Jonathan Evans Chief Sub-Editor / Jeanina Peñas Photo Editor / Helen Punzalan Production Manager Jeffrey O’Rourke Chief Executive Officer / Jim Campbell Chief Operating Officer / Simon Leslie Publishing Director Michael Keating EVP Product & Business Development / Hamish McDougall Managing Director / Andrew Humphreys Group Editorial Director Cover image Getty Images / Section opener and ‘Travel by...’ images Getty Images, Aurora Photos / Hair and Make-up for ‘Working with...’ Suchila Aksonpaen Dusit International ~ Gerrit Klaus-Gunther Kruger Director of Branding & Loyalty Marketing Advertising Enquiries ~ Pritika Hemmady Group Publisher / Nayarorn Konrajpobmonkol Media Specialist - Tel: +65 6302 2389 - nayarorn.konrajpobmonkol@ink-global.com Eight is published on behalf of Dusit International by Ink Publishing Pte Ltd. All articles and photographs published herein are created by the authors and photographers at their own discretion and do not necessarily represent the views of Dusit. Dusit International holds no responsibility or liability arising out of the publication of such articles and photographs. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. All prices and data are correct at the time of publication.

Ink Publishing Pte Ltd 51 Changi Business Park Central 2, The Signature, #04-11A/12, Singapore 486066. Tel +65 6324 2386, fax +65 6491 5261, www.ink-global.com. Printed by Comform Co, Ltd. MCI (P) 117/02/2014

The colour of the sun, gold and vitality, yellow represents confidence, optimism and joy. It’s also believed to strengthen analytical thinking and mental agility

Working with yellow Yellow Fang, musicians

“Our lead singer, Pang, will come up with a riff,” Yellow Fang’s Pym explains. “And then she’ll come to the group to talk about lyrics.” Bandmate Praewa interjects: “And then we jam!”

So the Thai indie songstresses explain their creative process. Formed while studying fashion design at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, the trio – Piyamas “Pym” Muenprasertdee (bass and vocals), Praewa Chirapravati Na Ayudhya (drums and vocals) and Pimporn “Pang” Metchanun (guitar and vocals) – have developed an organic approach to songwriting.

However, the girls have different ways of describing Yellow Fang’s musical style.

Pang insists they’re rock.

But Praewa points out that their harmonies break down that edge, making the band’s sound more “surf rock”. One of their best-known tracks, “I Don’t Know”, features a roughly hewn guitar lick and

muscular drumline, which Pym suggests reflects Praewa’s love of electro. The video clip also features Praewa busting inspired moves in a yellow rabbit onesie, enthusiastically dusted off again here for their Eight photoshoot.

They have, at times, felt pressure to adopt a more “pop” sound and sensibility – it would be an easy option for these three stylish, photogenic Thai girls. Instead, Yellow Fang have chosen to carve out their own niche. “I think we felt that pressure,” Pym says.

“But it doesn’t suit us. I think we considered it, but it went against the grain to be more pop. [It affected] everything, the way we dress and the way we sing and the style of the music.”

Yellow Fang are therefore content to exist slightly outside the mainstream.

Fortunately, though, that hasn’t necessarily curtailed their ability to find an audience. Although the band has yet to secure a record deal, they released their first album earlier this year. “There are many ways to share our music – YouTube, SoundCloud and

facebook.com/yellowfangloveyou

Facebook,” says Pang, who was thrust into the spotlight at a young age when she advanced to the latter stages of a televised talent contest.

Pym agrees that Thailand’s indie scene is becoming richer and, accordingly, emerging acts can attract greater attention. “It’s easier now to make your own music at home as well,” she says.

“You can do everything at your house. There are some really interesting Thai bands, but if they’re not part of the mainstream you almost have to stumble upon them. With the internet and more festivals, that’s easier than before. We have a lot more rock bands and girl bands – and even a lot of Thai psychedelia.

“If you move to another level, more mainstream, there are people who don’t understand what we do. Our lyrics are not clear, and the music is unlike what they’re used to. That’s why we prefer smaller venues. We can see the familiar faces, friendly faces.”

The glory of gold Yellow-hued gold is a metal and colour that binds Asia – in culture, myths and traditions – like no other element. Eight uncovers the importance of gold, its heritage and its future as trading’s power base moves East Words Ninad D Sheth

The golden hue has an allsurpassing allure. No other colour captures a kaleidoscope of emotions quite like that of gold; there is a certain richness to gold that is unmatched by any other tint, shade or colour.

In its glimmer we witness the satisfaction of prosperity; in its sparkle is the promise of wealth. For a bejewelled bride, the colour of gold radiates true happiness. For the pilgrim it is

an offering to God, which in some traditions is thought to bring great rewards.

A golden shine also reflects greed. Gold is insurance against bad times, or a punt towards the good times. Unlike limited global gold reserves, the possibilities of gold are endless. In China, gold symbolises prosperity and plays a significant part in rituals that begin at birth and continue throughout life. The Chinese word for gold is kam, which sounds the same as the word for oranges; these sweet citrus fruits are the embodiment of gold, and represent wealth and luck.

A child’s first-month birthday is an important event in China: it is common practice to gift gold items, which are believed to assure the child future wealth. Similarly no Chinese wedding is

dusitD2 Fudu Binhu Changzhou overlooks the tranquil West Taihu Lake on the outskirts of the city centre www.dusit.com

complete without a touch of gold. Brides traditionally wear a red dress, which is richly embroidered with golden thread.

In another wedding-related ritual, the groom presents the wife token money, or li shi, in a red envelope, and this can contain either currency or gold.

Gold is present in Chinese food. For example jiao zi, the famous Chinese dumplings that contain meat and vegetables, resemble golden ingots that were traditionally used as currency in ancient China. The extent to which gold is revered in China is further evident in the story of a retailer in Binzhou, who created a transparent staircase encasing gold bars worth US$64 million; customers at the store could literally walk on gold.

Gold has equal importance in Indian traditions. During important Hindu festivals like Diwali and Akshaya Tritaya, gold offerings are made to the gods – a staggering 2,500,000kg of gold offerings are stored in temples across India. In the Sikh faith, Harmindir Sahib (the Golden

beauty on her wedding day; these cover her from head to toe, and range from an elaborately embroidered red and gold dress to flowers and jewellery. While India has outlawed dowry in marriages, in practice the offering of gold by the bride’s family still constitutes a central part of marriage rituals in the country.

Economically, gold plays an integral role in the development of China and India’s development. China is the world’s largest producer of gold and its third-largest consumer: it’s estimated the country will produce a record 14 million ounces in 2014. Meanwhile, India is the world’s largest consumer of gold and is estimated to hold 18,000 tonnes of the precious metal.

Given their dependence on gold, both countries have an increasing, vested interest in the trade of bullion (gold bars).

Currently, gold bullion prices are still set by just five banks in London, so China and India are exploring ways in which to exercise greater control. China took an aggressive step in September 2014 by setting up an independent exchange that will gauge price discovery for the lustrous substance. This could well be the game changer in gold markets. According to Reuters, if the new gold exchange takes off it could well set prices in the Chinese currency yuan, which will put pressure on London as the arbitrage centre.

Another contender as a centre for bullion trading is Dubai. The emirate traded nearly US$100 billion of the precious metal in 2013, and is establishing itself as a serious rival to London. With its famed gold souk, and predilection for gold leaf in both traditional and modern architecture, almost everything in Dubai has a golden tinge; customers could even order a gold-encrusted iPhone6 in Dubai before it is available anywhere else in the world. The gadget with the golden touch will set you back a mere US$5,700.

Over the last 40 years, gold has had two significant bull runs, which are difficult to match for any asset class. In the 1970s gold climbed from US$30 per ounce to a staggering US$850 within 10 years, giving an unbelievable 25-times return. More recently, a second golden run between the years of 2000 and 2010 gave an average annual return of 18% per year. Even the most experienced hedge-fund operators would sweat to bring about that kind of increment in value.

However, that rally in gold has now ended. In September 2014 gold traded at US$1,200 per ounce on the back of structural changes, a US recovery and a dollar bull run. The dollar has always been gold’s nemesis, and with the US likely to increase its interest rates, gold could make a recovery. Yet the current slump in gold prices could well be the buying opportunity of a lifetime.

In Hindu tradition there are 16 golden ornaments that a bride carries to enhance her beauty Temple), the most important pilgrimage centre in the city of Amritsar, is encased in an estimated 900kg of pure gold.

For Indian women, bangles made of gold symbolise marital status, as does the golden beaded mangralsutra, which is worn around the neck. In Hindu tradition, there are 16 golden ornaments (solah shringar) that a bride carries to enhance her

Travel by yellow

1. China Five pocket spender: with handouts from parents and grandparents boosting their own income, young Chinese women in the 18-29 age group – like the one featured here – are the world’s youngest and fastest luxury consumers.

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2. Cairo Known to Egyptians as Um-ad-Dunya (“Mother of the World”), Cairo is a sprawl of modern growth etched upon medieval foundations.

Stay Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo 3. Dubai Domes are a central element of Islamic architecture, with modern mosques such as Jumeirah Mosque in Dubai taking their cues from historic precedents.

Stay Dusit Thani Dubai 4. New Delhi Soldiers dress elaborately in bright yellow-trimmed uniform in preparation for the Republic Day Parade.

Stay Dusit Devarana New Delhi 5. Kenya The distinctive stripes of a zebra form a camouflage called disruptive coloration, which breaks up the outline of the body.

6. Dubai Deira Gold Souk was established

by Indian and Iranian traders in the 1940s, and has grown to house over 300 stalls.

7. China Strings of semi-precious and glass bead necklaces can be bought at the massive Panjiayuan flea-and-antique market in Beijing.

8. Dubai Two motorways blur into each other in this nighttime long-exposure shot. The camera’s shutter is left open longer, absorbing more light and outlining a moving light source.

Pink is the colour of romance and intimacy; it’s a non-threatening hue that calms and reassures

Working with pink Natalie Lorence, make-up artist

Natalie Lorence is a loyal advocate for pink, sometimes in the face of scepticism from women who associate the colour with a much younger, less sophisticated style.

“I’m pink-obsessed. I love everything pink,” explains the Russian-born make-up artist, who’s now resident in Bangkok. “I try to persuade every client toward pink lipstick. A lot of the time, women over 30 think of pink as cotton candy, bubblegum, watermelon, Barbie – those colours. But it’s not true.

The correct shade of pink lipstick or blush can liven up every woman’s face, whether she’s 18 or 65.”

For Natalie, the key is finding the correct shade of pink that complements natural skin tones. “The more natural a colour, the better it looks on a woman’s face,” she says.

“Black or blue or purple is fine in fashion, but in the real world, pink is the natural lip colour of every woman. Once

enhanced, it makes everyone look better and fresher. And there are millions of shades of pink – there’s salmon, pale pink, dusty rose, fuchsia. A lot of it depends on whether your skin is cool or warm – once you understand that, you can find the right kind of pink.”

“Pink make-up makes everyone feel younger. It certainly makes you look younger, but it also makes you feel younger at heart.

It’s important for women’s confidence and it also makes them feel more feminine.”

Having worked for many years as a model and actress, Natalie has picked up “every trick in the book” from having her own face made up.

“I’ve always loved make-up and always done my girlfriends’ wedding make-up,” she says.

Natalie’s work incorporates a variety of assignments, from magazines and fashion to bridal make-up for destination weddings.

“I always stick to the old rule – play up either the eyes or the lips, but never both,” she says. “If I’m playing up my eyes, I’ll go for a more subtle

natalielorencemakeup.com

pink lipstick. If I’m going out and I really want to play up my lips with a bright fuchsia or neon pink, I’ll keep my eyes quite nude with just mascara.”

Natalie has travelled throughout South-East Asia and done a wide variety of jobs, so is well placed to spot trends, while also maintaining a healthy respect for simpler, classic looks.

“There’s a trend of neon lipstick – most girls stick to more orange colours, but I’ve seen more neon shades, which I think looks great,” she remarks. “Either for women as an evening look or for girls during the day. It’s not quite glow-in-the-dark, but brighter pink with an orange undertone is quite popular.

“But one of my favourite looks for every skin tone is a fuchsia lipstick – an instant fashion statement. If a woman is wearing a little black dress, [with her] hair slicked back and fuchsia lipstick, it always looks amazing.”

Pretty in pink

JeongMee noticed that girls in the United States, Asia and Europe were choosing pink as their favourite colour, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background. Wondering what was influencing the children, she decided to investigate the trend with the tool she knew best: her camera.

Historically, pink was in fact associated with masculinity.

Considered to be a watered-down version of red, pink was believed to hold the power related with the darker hue. Blue, being considered prettier, gentler and more dainty, was a colour connoting “the fairer sex”.

The switch to “pink for girls and blue for boys” happened only after the Second World War. As cultural movements saw traditional gender barriers crumbling, and societies in the West moved closer to the egalitarian ideal, the associations once ascribed to blue and pink began to be reversed. The modern obsession for pink was given a boost in the mid-’80s, when scientific advances in prenatal testing allowed parents to discern the gender of their baby prior to birth, and thus prepare for its arrival by decorating and accessorising with the appropriate colour. Manufacturers caught onto this, and global marketing strategies targeting each gender by colour were born.

The gawdy, confectionery-pink objects that fill JeongMee’s images of little girls reveal a pervasive, culturally manipulated expression of femininity and a desire to be seen. JeongMee is not alone in believing that colour differences between girls’ and

boys’ objects affect children’s thinking and behavioural patterns: many toys and books for girls are pink, purple, or red, and relate to supposedly feminine topics of make-up, dressing up, cooking and domestic affairs. By contrast, most toys and books for boys are made from various shades of blue and relate to robots, industry, science and dinosaurs. This colour division deeply affects children’s

Historically, pink was in fact asscociated with masculinity... a watered-down version of red gender identification, and reinforces stereotypes of feminity and masculinity: girls subsconsciously begin to wear pink to “look” more feminine.

As girls grow older, their tastes diversify. By revisiting the girls every two to three years, YeongMee documents these changes and noticed the obsession for pink tends to be most potent until the age of seven, after which it subsides – at that point, many girls start to like purple. Later, there is another shift. However, their original identification with the colour remains.

The pioneering Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer (QSCBC) is setting up a hospice for underprivileged women with breast cancer, with Dusit International as a committed sponsor.

Eight talks to two of its most prominent advocates about plans for the hospice, the first of its kind in Thailand Words Thomas Sturrock ~ Photography David Terrazas

Dusit International’s growth into one of Asia’s most respected hospitality brands has been intertwined with a commitment to give back to society. The group helps raise funds for Operation Smile, a charity for children born with facial deformities, and has recently supported the development of education programs in remote northern provinces of Thailand and Myanmar. However, their next collaboration may be their most ambitious yet.

Dusit International is supporting the Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer (QSCBC) in the building of a hospice for underprivileged women afflicted with the condition. Known as the Pink Park Village, land in Bangkok’s Minburi district has already been donated, as have architectural plans. All that remains is the challenge of raising the funds.

Finola Chatamra, honorary adviser for the QSCBC and the Thai Red Cross Society, says the Pink Park Village is the latest step in the journey to improve care for women with breast cancer in Thailand.

“When I first came to Thailand, there was a great need for a centre of excellence, and that took a lot of time and money to develop,” she explains. “But the QSCBC now offers state-of the-art treatment.

We have all the clinical treatment machinery we need, and our staff have even travelled to the UK and USA to train in the latest techniques.

“After that was established, we saw the need for a place for patients to recover comfortably from treatment, and that’s what the Pink Park Village is about. Or, for those who are seriously ill, it is a place for them to pass away with dignity. It is a huge project, so we would love to attract the help of corporate sponsors – but small donations add up, too.”

The land set aside for the Pink Park Village is unused farmland. Finola’s aim is for the centre to be self-sustainable and to work alongside the local community. “There are a lot

of temples and mosques in the area, so we want it to be a sort of sanctuary,” she says.

“We want to grow our own organic rice and also involve the community. It’s going to be low-rise, so [it will] very much blend in with the landscape.

But we also want it to be cheerful, happy and bright.

“Ultimately, I would like it to become an education centre where we could also set

The Center will be a selfsustainable sanctuary that will involve the community up a diagnostic facility. And my hope is that eventually, we will accept people suffering from all cancers, with a special home for children. But of course, we first need to get established before we become specialised.”

For Dusit International executive Vipada Donavanik, the opportunity to get involved with a start-up charitable cause has a special appeal. “Being a family-founded company, Dusit is particularly interested in helping new projects get off the ground,” she explains. “If many

people are already helping with a project, we prefer to find something else that needs attention. The Pink Park Village is a new concept which hasn’t yet had much public support – it’s often those projects that not many people know about that need the most help.”

“Dusit Thani is a Thai company,” Vipada continues.

“We were established here. It is in our DNA to give back to society, to help Thai people.”

And even though Finola is not Thai, she too feels the need to give back to Thailand.

Her involvement with the project extends well beyond fundraising. She has been conducting outreach projects in Thai slums for 10 years. “Twenty-odd years ago, there was a real stigma around cancer, but we’ve helped turn that around. We had to get over a hump – there was real resistance. We’ve definitely seen a change, but there’s still a long way to go.”

To help support Pink Park Village or the QSCBC, go to qscbcfoundation.org for more information

Travel by pink

1. Maldives Native to the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, distinctively coloured clownfish (anemone fish) are known for their symbiotic relationship with anemone. They’re also hermaphrodites; each fish is born male, with some becoming female when ready to mate.

Stay Dusit Thani Maldives 2. Thailand Elephant-headed Ganesh is patron of the arts and sciences, remover of obstacles and god of creativity. A Hindu deity, he’s also revered by Buddhists.

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3. India Originating from Rajasthan, colourful patchwork carpets are made from old carpet or fabric pieces stitched together.

4. China Cherry blossom flourishes throughout north-eastern China.

Most cultivated varieties are ornamental and don’t produce fruit.

Upcoming Dusit Thani Qingyuan 5. New Delhi Fuschia paint powder is finely sieved before mixing.

Stay Dusit Devarana New Delhi 6. Thailand Ranging from light pink and violet to a deep purple, semi-precious amethysts are revered for their ability to still the mind.

Stay Dusit Thani Pattaya 7. China Pretty coloured eggs (known as red eggs) are cooked, then smeared with wet, red calligraphy paper which creates the pink hue. In Chinese culture, they’re often made for a child’s first birthday celebrations.

Upcoming Dusit Thani Shaoxing 8. Bangkok Pak Khlong Talad, the city’s flower market, is open 24 hours, but the freshest blooms are picked up at night. Flowers are sold in bulk, so you’ll take home at least 50 stems.

Stay dusitD2 Srinakarin Bangkok

Green is the colour of birth, renewal and growth.

Known for its relaxation properties, green renews and restores energy

Working with green Nan & Noon, owners, Thai Garden Design

A love of gardening runs in the Kowtho family. Somjit and Prapa Kowtho opened Pornchai Garden in the 1980s; their daughters Nan Shingleton and Noon Kowtho have run it, along with Nan’s British husband Ben, for the last seven years. Under their direction the company, which is now known as Thai Garden Design and operates four bases across the country, deals with all areas of outdoor and exterior design, including bespoke landscapes geared towards the tropical climate and environment.

Nan has created some of the most natural-looking, jungle-themed environments in Thailand. “Green is the most obvious and abundant

colour in any tropical garden,” she says. “Within densely planted, tropical settings, the ‘green-ness’ is what makes us think ‘jungle’, ‘wild’, ‘humidity’ and, most importantly, ‘natural’.

“Creating pools and pondscapes are a challenge, but a pleasure too. Designing waterfalls and ponds that look like they belong in the jungle, and transplanting those concepts into somebody’s home garden, is demanding yet rewarding.”

All of their projects in Thailand and South-East Asia use local tropical plants – there is so much colour and variety growing here that they never need to import. In particular, Nan’s designs incorporate a lot of evergreens and lowmaintenance plants.

“Because of Thailand’s climate, we have such a large paint palette to choose from when designing tropical gardens,” she says. “Many things grow well here, but the climate can be quite harsh on the more delicate species of flowers and plants – these tend to be more ‘shade-loving’.”

thaigardendesign.com

For these sisters, landscaping and garden design are unquestionably art forms.

It’s a matter of finding the right combination of plants, but also how they use paving materials to make a garden relaxing and easy to navigate.

Ultimately, the most enjoyable gardens are those that have had most time spent on them.

“We have clients from all countries and with different tastes,” Noon says. “Some have big budgets, others are more plant- and garden-lovers. We try to cater to them all. But all plants have characters. Some are big and bold, some tall and imposing, others dainty and shy.

Knowing what works best in each environment is what makes the job unique and interesting.”

A new green republic Earlier this year China’s Premier, Li Keqiang, boldly stated his intention to “declare war” on pollution. But the swelling ranks of eco-pioneers, innovators and influencers promoting grass-roots lifestyle changes are perhaps the country’s biggest hope for a sustainable future. Eight taps into the higher environmental consciousness that’s taking shape in the PRC Words Amy Fabris-Shi ~ Photography Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze

Environmental sustainability is a global concern, but as both the world’s most populous country and its largest manufacturer, the effects of pollution can be suffocating for the citizens of China. “Going green” is not simply a theoretical or moral issue when you’re dealing with the daily reality of toxic air, chemical-laced waterways and poisoned food chains; it’s a matter of survival. So while Li Keqiang has committed to spend US$1.65 billion on combating air pollution and $330 billion on alleviating water shortages, perhaps it’s not surprising that in a 2014 study of consumer values and behaviour, Dutch research agency Motivaction found that 64% of Chinese identify themselves as environmentalists – more than double the corresponding figure in Europe or the United States.

“The interest in sustainability is currently very energetic, particularly among the younger generation,” says Sherry Poon, founder of the Eco Design Fair in Shanghai. The Canadian-Chinese expat trained as an architect and worked in low-cost housing and sustainable design projects in Canada, Australia and Thailand. After the birth of her first child in Shanghai, she channelled her talents into founding childrenswear brand wobabybasics, which creates adorable, ethically produced clothing using 100% organic cotton and yak down.

Poon founded the Eco Design Fair in 2008 to develop a platform for showcasing sustainable design, raising awareness about environmental issues and making it easier for the public to make sustainable choices. “We started off with 32 exhibitors, and 99% of visitors were expatriates who were eager to source healthy products not readily available in Shanghai at the time,” she recalls.

Six years later, around 60% of the 150,000 visitors to the 2014 fair were Chinese. The same ratio was reflected

More than 64% of Chinese identify themselves as environmentalists

in the 120 exhibitors, with a dramatic increase in local eco start-ups offering environmentally friendly, sustainable, fair trade, organic, natural, ethical and socially responsible products and services – everything from bamboo clothing to cleaning products and in-home farm boxes.

Believing that education and exchange is essential, the event has expanded from being a marketplace to include a series of discussions with local professors and experts, bike rides and “green walks”, fashion shows and recycled art projects, with a live band adding to the community carnival ambience. The next Eco Design Fair, to be held in April 2015, will be the largest yet and for the first time will include a

B2B platform. “It’s important for us to create a dynamic community for anyone and everyone looking to improve our environment,” says Poon.

One of the local experts who participated in the 2014 Eco Design Fair was Pan Tao. Active in training, planning and consulting about sustainable urban development in China for more than 15 years, Pan studied environmental management in China and Germany, and currently directs the Low Carbon Cities program, part of the US-China Partnership for Climate Action (PCA). He is also the founder of Ecoland Club, spread across 8.5ha of farmland on the outskirts of Shanghai. Inspired

“City people need to be close to nature and to the origin of their food production” by the German Schrebergartens (non-residential gardening allotments) he encountered during his studies in Germany, Pan launched the family-style membership farm in 2010. “My vision was simply to create a clean and natural place to escape to at weekends, where people can connect to each other and to nature,” he says.

With 60% of China’s population expected to live in sprawling mega-cities by 2020, people’s connections with nature are becoming increasingly distant. Pan believes that re-establishing that link is an important step to appreciating and protecting our environment. “City people need to be close to nature and to the origin of their food production. Then they will realise how difficult it is to produce and consume good food.”

Ecoland Club currently has more than 200 members who tend to their individual plots and enjoy the communal facilities, including children’s play areas and an organic kitchen. Around a third of the members enjoy getting their hands dirty. For the others, the Club employs 15 local farmers who apply organic farming methods to members’ plots.

Recently returned from Tibet, where her winter coats were handmade from soft yak down by Tibetan villagers, Beijing-born fashion designer Zhang Na agrees it’s vital that we understand the natural processes that go into what we produce and consume. One of China’s pre-eminent young design talents, Zhang founded independent label-to-watch Fake Natoo in 2008 and almost accidentally became a poster girl for sustainable fashion in China through her Reclothing Bank project.

“We never learnt about sustainable design at fashion school, but I’ve always been drawn to creating clothes that have a strong relationship to the wearer and environment,” explains Zhang. “By the same token, I also love vintage pieces because they have a longer story. I

wanted to bring these stories into the present and future.”

After coming across Swiss accessories brand Freitag, she researched the concept of “upcycling” – recycling to create a product of higher quality – and decided to give it a go. Reclothing Bank employs a collective of underprivileged women in Beijing to source textile rejects from charity collection warehouses, then reconstruct pieces, or cut them up and re-sew them into a seasonal patchwork.

In between producing her high-fashion collections for Fake Natoo, Zhang creates twice-yearly ranges for Reclothing Bank. Chic, edgy and with a hint of nostalgia, the results are more Bloomingdales than Salvation Army. “Most of the time the buyer has no idea that it is upcycled,” says Zhang. “They are attracted to the designs and later learn the meaning behind the process.”

“Sustainable fashion is definitely here to stay,” confirms Christina Dean, whose Hong Kong-based NGO Redress works along the entire fashion industry supply chain to reduce textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption. “Much like we’ve seen with food, there is more interest from consumers about sustainable fashion, and the industry realises it is a genuine business consideration.”

As part of her efforts to clean up fashion’s act in the world’s clothing “factory”, Dean started the Eco Chic Design Award in 2011, challenging emerging designers to create mainstream clothing with minimal waste. The competition cycle takes designers on an education and design journey lasting several months. “Of course there is all the glamour of a global fashion design competition, but the education is the most important aspect,” she says.

For its 2014–15 iteration, the Eco Chic Design Award is partnering with the high-end outfitter Shanghai Tang.

The competition winner will be announced in January

Chic, edgy and with a hint of nostalgia, Reclothing Bank’s designs are more Bloomingdales than Salvation Army

2015, and will get the opportunity to design a capsule collection using upcycled textiles for China’s leading luxury fashion brand.

Dean is also gradually expanding the competition’s reach to include entries from countries around the globe, cautioning that we are all consumers of products that are “made in China”.

Pollution may be concentrated on China’s doorstep, but it is everyone’s responsibility to contribute to a greener, healthier world.

Slated to open in 2016, Dusit Thani Resort Panzhihua Sichuan is a luxury 200-villa resort in the city’s eco-tourism zone. www.dusit.com

Travel by green

1. China Bamboo is intrinsic to life in Asia, where it’s used as a building material and can be found in food, furniture, textiles and in paper. In China, bamboo represents uprightness, whereas in India it’s a symbol of friendship.

2. Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi accounts for more than 75% of the total mangrove forest area in the UAE. The forests protect coastland from erosion and are home to unique species of sea snakes, turtles and fish.

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3. Thailand Lime is the hero ingredient of the delectable Thai drink manao soda – a thirst-quenching mix of lime juice, soda water and sugar syrup, with a dash of salt.

Stay Pathumwan Princess MBA Centre, Bangkok 4. Phuket The dramatic cliffs and turquoise seas surrounding Phuket, make it an idyllic spot for snorkelling and diving.

Stay dusitD2 Phuket Resort 5. China Tea plantations in the UNESCO-listed Shennongjia Biosphere Reserve extend up to 2,100m above sea level, connecting the Tibetan Plateau in West China with the Yangtze plain in the East.

Upcoming Dusit Thani Huangdao, Qingdao 6. China “Gold has a value, jade is invaluable” – so the proverb goes in China. Jade ranges in colour from vivid green to lavender, and represents beauty, grace and purity.

7. Philippines Paddy fields are synonymous with rural life in Thailand, China and the Philippines, where rice is the staple food.

8. Thailand Gregarious, green-plumed bee-eaters thrive throughout Asia. The birds also eat wasps and other insects.

Stay Princes Hotel by Dusit Chiang Mai

Warm, fiery and extroverted, orange is uplifting, revitalising and fun.

Orange is proven to stimulate the appetite and inspire enthusiasm

Working with orange Bopit Chainork, flower buyer

Bopit Chainork certainly knows his way around Bangkok’s Pak Khlong Talad – the city’s teeming wholesale flower market. His work with gift-delivery service Thailand Blossom requires him to source flowers by the truckload; and few flowers are as significant in Thai culture as the bright orange marigold.

“There is a lot of orange in Thailand – in my opinion it is the colour of Buddhism,” Bopit says. “You might have seen the flag of Buddhism that has yellow and orange, and the robes of Buddhist monks are orange too.

“We believe anyone who has marigold in their house or garden will feel fulfilled, and be respected and successful. Famous, happy or making money – it makes people lucky.”

The Thai name for this vibrant flower is dao ruang – dao means star, ruang means glory – and a garland of marigold is considered a sure sign of good luck or, as they say in Thai, auspiciousness.

“We sell products by pictures, so when customers place an order, we will have to arrange everything as similarly to the pictures as we can,” Bopit explains. “Or we go beyond that – make it bigger by putting in even more flowers.

“The flowers must still be freshly cut, not yet fully blooming, to keep them fresh for the recipient as long as possible. For example, if we give roses or lilies when they’re blooming, it means the next day the petals start to fall off.”

Marigold garlands will often be presented to visiting dignitaries or monks.

Sometimes, they will be presented as tributes near images of Buddha. They are a mark of respect. But when travelling around Bangkok, the marigold is most commonly seen at the spirit houses, or san phra phum, that can be found

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in one corner of most larger houses or businesses.

These are shrines to protective spirits, and are usually miniature houses mounted on daises. Marigold is ever-present at these spirit houses, along with offerings of food.

“We use marigold in religious ceremonies,” Bopit says. “We leave it at spirit houses as a sign of respect and honour.”

For all the significance of marigold in Thai culture, when it comes to gift-giving, Bopit insists marigold is not as popular as roses or orchids. This may be because marigold crops up naturally throughout Thailand.

“It grows everywhere in Thailand,” Bopit says.

“If you plant it, it will flower within two months.”

the last giraffe?

As the only city in the world that has wild animals, including lions and rhinos, within its boundary, Nairobi offers a one-of-akind safari experience – and the Giraffe Manor and Center, with their freely roaming orange giants, are must-visit attractions Words Rupi Mangat

t’s midday and I’m enjoying a coffee at Giraffe Manor, watching the orange-hued beauties relaxing under the shade of the trees at the far end of the garden, when Helen strolls over. In a few stately strides, she’s looking down her nose at us. We, on the other hand, have to crane our necks to meet her gaze. With her huge, dazzling brown eyes, she has us hypnotised. “She likes hugs,” says Brown Kadilo of the Manor. “Go on, give her a hug.” Being a quarter of the giraffe’s six-metre height, I’m trying to figure out how to “hug”. “Here’s how,” demonstrates Nicholas Mwangi, her other carer. And I open my arms wide and circle her chest; to hug a giraffe is a singularly awesome experience.

Giraffes are only found in Africa, south of the Sahara, and Kenya is home to three of the nine subspecies: the Rothschild’s, Reticulated and Maasai. Rothschild’s giraffes – named after Walter Rothschild, the 19th-century British banker, politician and zoologist – are easily recognised. Their legs below the knees are white with no markings, and males have five horns – or ossicones, formed from cartilage – jutting out of their heads, whereas the other species have two. Reticulated giraffes have stark chestnut polygons divided by clean white lines; their natural habitat is Kenya’s northern drylands. Maasai giraffes, the most common species found south of the equator, have

patterns less defined than those of the Reticulated. Of the three, Rothschild’s are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered, although it won’t be long before the Reticulated joins the list too.

The story of how Rothschild’s giraffes found a home in Nairobi is the stuff of local legend. In 1974, American conservationist Betty LeslieMelville and her husband Jock bought the 1930s-built manor in the city’s south-west suburb, Ngong Hills. Soon after, the couple learned that the only remaining Rothschild’s giraffes in Kenya were in danger because the privately owned ranch in western Kenya, which was their sole habitat, was being sold and subdivided into smallholdings. The giraffes would have nowhere to go.

As the story goes, at one of the Leslie-Melvilles’ lively dinner parties the discussion turned to the fate of the Rothschild’s giraffes.

Apparently Betty, with her trademark charm, exclaimed, “Why not bring the giraffes to our garden?” The idea must have sounded absurd at first – move wild giraffes from almost 400km away to a private garden in a city?

Yet upon consideration, it wasn’t quite so far fetched.

The manor’s garden bordered Nairobi National Park, so it

wasn’t as though the giraffes were being transferred to an urban environment. Moreover, the Leslie-Melvilles had the commitment, and importantly, the contacts to make it work.

It was decided to move the herd to the manor and set up a breeding program with the aim of reintroducing Rothschild’s giraffes into the wild. The manor was no longer just a quaint, Scottishstyle residential lodge, but a sanctuary with an identity.

Setting up Giraffe Manor required significant resources, and Betty and her husband embarked on a fundraising mission, travelling to the USA to raise awareness of the animals’ plight. The first giraffe to arrive was the 2.5m-tall Daisy, who became the subject of Betty’s book Raising Daisy Rothschild, later adapted into the 1979 film The Last Giraffe.

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In 2007 it was suggested that the Rothschild’s giraffe was genetically distinct and should be considered as a separate species.

Genetic tests are ongoing; however, if confirmed, the Rothschild will become one of the most critically endangered mammals on the planet

Elevated platforms enable visitors to feed the animals: with their long tongues, the giraffes gingerly pick nuggets of food from your palm

Daisy was joined by Marlon, named after Marlon Brando – all the Manor’s giraffes were named after individuals who’d contributed to the project – and others followed.

Betty and Jock were resolute that the future of the Rothschild’s giraffe lay in the hands of Kenya’s youth.

They set up the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), which to this day uses the subspecies for its logo, and opened an education centre next to the Manor, where visitors could meet, feed and learn more about the giraffes. On any given day, the Giraffe Center attracts scores of children and tourists who come for an eye-to-eye encounter with the world’s tallest mammal. Elevated platforms enable visitors to feed the animals: with their 63cm-long tongues, the giraffes

gingerly pick the nuggets of food from your palm.

Several generations of Rothschild’s have been raised in the acacia-forested grove of Giraffe Manor and its Center, and subsequently relocated to other sanctuaries in Kenya.

Helen’s one of them. She’s extraspecial because she was born on 1 August, 2010, right in front of Giraffe Manor, watched by guests and even filmed for TV. Outside of Nairobi, essential conservation work is also being carried out to protect Kenya’s Rothschild’s giraffes. British biologist Zoe Muller set up the Giraffe Research & Conservation Trust (GRCT) in 2013, Africa’s first charitable organisation dedicated to giraffes. “The population of the Rothschild’s giraffe is estimated to be around 450 in Kenya, with a further 660 in Uganda,” says Zoe. “The current threats to populations in the wild include deforestation and conversion to farming land, oil exploration in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda and poaching.”

Zoe became interested in the Rothschild’s giraffe as a student, where she was looking for a research topic. Despite growing up in the UK, Zoe had always been fascinated by giraffes. “If you have not seen them in the wild, you wouldn’t believe such graceful creatures exist.” She discovered that unlike other African animals, giraffes were hugely understudied in the wild. “I thought it was about time something was done about that,” she says.

Opened in 2014, dusitD2 Nairobi’s design is modern with African accents, while its service balances African charm with Thai warmth. The hotel is located along the city’s leafy and secure Riverside Drive, close to the city centre www.dusit.com

In November, 2009, Zoe moved to Soysambu Conservancy on the shores of Lake Elmenteita, 120km north-west of Nairobi, to begin a four-year project on the giraffe – the firstever scientific assessment.

“Soysambu is a safe haven for a large population of the [Rothschild’s] giraffes,” explains Kat Combes of the Conservancy. “It’s home to 6% of the remaining global population [currently 1,100].

We are using a program called WILD ID to identify the giraffes on Soysambu – it’s amazing. We input an image of the torso of a giraffe and the program searches our library.

Within minutes we can identify the giraffe we observed during our monitoring session. To date we have identified 97.”

“The aim of GRCT is to ensure a future for all giraffes in the wild,” says Zoe. With Zoe’s infectious confidence, and the commitment of programs like the GRCT and Giraffe Centre, the future of the Rothschild’s giraffe seems a little brighter. All being well, many more visitors to Nairobi can look forward to hugging these friendly, elegant creatures.

Reservations can be made for lunch or high tea at Giraffe Manor (facebook. com/GiraffeManor), and the Giraffe Center is open to the public. giraffecenter.org; giraffetrust.org

Travel by orange

1. Phuket The dusitD2 Phuket Resort is decorated in warm and vibrant colours that strongly encapsulate Thai design.

While the exterior glows in a sunset tone cast down from hanging lamps, the 390 guest rooms display additional shades in everything from the burnt orange hardwood floors to tangerine furniture linen and walls painted with an amber hue.

2. Nairobi A large Indian population has influenced the flavours of Kenyan food. Stock up on spices at Nairobi’s City Market.

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3. Kenya Statuesque acacia trees are one of the most familiar sights of the African savannah.

4. Dubai Imagine the life of a nomadic camel herder, albeit with modern-day comforts, on a half- or one-day camel trekking tour.

Stay Dusit Thani Dubai 5. China The spectacular rainbowstriped rock formations of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park were formed over 24 million years ago.

6. Chiang Mai New Year’s Eve celebrations in the northern Thai city include releasing thousands of candlelit floating lanterns into the sky.

Stay Princess Hotel by Dusit Chiang Mai 7. Chiang Rai Fishermen cast their nets into the Mekong River at dawn. The aquatic biodiversity of this river system is the second highest in the world after the Amazon.

Stay Dusit Island Resort Chiang Rai 8. Abu Dhabi The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was built with marble, gold, crystals and semi-precious stones. Gold leaf is used for interior decoration.

Stay Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi

Blue is a peaceful hue that represents trust, honesty and loyalty.

The darker the hue, the more authority it has. Blue is sincere, conservative and understated

Working with blue Paul “Popeye” Durrell, dive master

It was a desire to follow in the footsteps of the legendary French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau that lured Paul “Popeye” Durrell to Bangkok. After a 12-year stint in the US Navy, which took him to the Balkans and two wars in Iraq, where he also worked as a civilian contractor, Popeye moved to Thailand and took up his current job, diving with sharks at the Siam Ocean World aquarium.

“I came to Thailand in 2000 when I was on a twoweek holiday and I liked it,” says Popeye, whose memorable nickname was acquired in the military. “I went back to work, but the next job wasn’t for four months. So I came back here and started doing my dive master course, and started picking up instructor’s skills.”

Even after Popeye returned to Iraq, he remained fascinated with the strange blue world beneath the seas.

“Being around the different marine life was something I wanted to get into – being able to explore and see different things,” he says. “I was back in Baghdad when I got the offer to come and dive with the sharks. I said yes, so I left Iraq and I’ve been here since.”

Moving from working in a warzone to getting up close and personal with the most feared predators of the deep is certainly an unusual career change, and one that perhaps suggests an attraction to dangerous situations. Popeye, for his part, doesn’t see it that way. Apparently, sharks are perfectly well mannered as long as you don’t annoy them.

“Sharks are like people, just as long as you don’t pull their tails or try to pet them,” he insists. “As long as you’re calm and relaxed, they won’t be aggressive. I’ve had sharks come right up to me. Just as long as you don’t touch or don’t try to push them away, they’ll swim right by you.

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“In the aquarium, they’re mostly reef sharks, so they’re easier to work with, even though the ragged-tooths are pretty intimidating. Our sharks are between 1.5 and 2 metres.

But they’re fine – just as long as you don’t get too close.”

Having lived and worked in 38 countries, Popeye has a long list of diving spots. “I got certified in Guam, and some other favourites are Palau and Yap in Micronesia,” he says. “In Yap [in the Caroline Islands], they have big manta rays – you can dive with them.

“My favourite place to dive in Thailand is Koh Tao. There’s a lot to see and do – the beaches are sparkling clean. And you can see eels, baby seahorses… things you’d normally have to look at from behind a glass window.”

Why isn’t food blue?

When did you last order a blue doughnut – or a turquoise or teal one for that matter? And how would you feel if you were served blue rice? The colour of food affects our taste, but more importantly it has an enormous impact on our perception of taste. As Morten Boejstrup Nielsen, group chef of Thai cuisine at Dusit Thani reveals, chefs are closely attuned to which colour will appeal when on a plate Words Tom Sturrock

StockFood

One of the earliest studies about the psychological cues attached to colours, conducted in the 1930s, found that blindfolded subjects could not identify any difference between dark chocolate and white chocolate. When their blindfolds were removed, though, the same subjects described the white chocolate as having a milkier, milder taste.

Over the years, variations on this study have reinforced the theory that learned associations skew the perception of flavour according to colour. For example, subjects asked to taste different-coloured Smarties were more likely to perceive other flavours than when they ate the sweets blindfolded. Similar tests have been carried out with soft drinks – sometimes coloured “inappropriately” to deliberately confuse drinkers – again supporting this link between colour and perceived flavour.

Chef Morten Boejstrup Nielsen is one of Bangkok’s most accomplished modern chefs, having worked at Nahm in London, Sra Bua

by Kiin Kiin in Bangkok and now Benjarong at Dusit Thani Bangkok. With his intense focus on presentation, Nielsen is acutely aware of the role of colour and posits his own version of “Smarties test”.

“Let’s say you have two jellies,” he says.

“One is beetroot-flavoured and the other is orange-flavoured. But you change the colours, and use a yellow beet and a blood orange – when you eat it, and you don’t know which one it is, your brain gets tricked. It confuses the senses.”

For Morten, colour plays an intrinsic part in food’s appeal and also in the way he selects produce. “The colours are reaching out to diners,” he says. “If a piece of meat is a certain colour, the fruits and the vegetables; they’re beautiful. Food is all about colours.

“You can assess herbs and vegetables based on the colour of the skin, the colour of the peel. If I go to the market and I’m looking at tomatoes, I want a nice red tomato. And the guests in the restaurant want that as well. So

every step of the way, we need that colour.”

Colour is also, according to Morten, an indicator as to whether the right technique has been employed. “When we’re cooking things, searing things, frying things,” he says.

“When we’re doing a piece of skin-fried fish, and you can see it’s golden brown and crispy, that’s a big influence on the guest. If you see a pale piece of fish, it’s not as appetising. “[With] some meats and

Our brains, it seems, are simply not hardwired to associate blue hues with food; they don’t trigger the same responses in us as greens or reds. “Green, of course, is a colour that we see in nature, so our minds like to see it on the plate,” Morten says. “And one chef I worked with a long time ago used to say, ‘Without red, the plate is dead’. In the old days, you always had a little bit of red in there. But blue is a colour that makes you think about clothes, a car, the ocean. You don’t think about it from a food perspective.”

That said, Morten is open to the challenge of creating blue dishes. He considers making an emulsion or a foam using blueberries, but quickly rules it out.

“It’s difficult to use a foam because if you have a blue colour and then emulsify it, it’s going to be quite light,” Morten says.

“I think you’d lose the blue. So I was thinking about Upon taking the helm blueberries, but at Benjarong in 2014, maybe in a dessert. chef Morten created an When I worked in imaginative menu that London we used combines modern techniques to do blueberry with traditional Thai flavours. fritters as a savoury, www.dusit.com but maybe we could do a blueberry ice cream.” Instead, Morten identifies a blue flower, known as anchan in Thailand but also referred to as a blue pea or butterfly pea. His plan is to use it as a colouring agent. “We’ll use this blue flower and try to make a blue salad,” he says. “I’ll try to extract some colour from it, then soak the onion and some cucumber in this blue flower and see if it’s powerful enough to give a bit of colouring. I’ll try. I’ll see how it comes out.”

“Blue makes you think of a car, the ocean. You don’t think about it in food” some vegetables, you can tell if they’re overcooked or undercooked. For a piece of red meat, if you overcook it, it’s grey and not very appetising. If you cook it right – I like it medium or medium rare – it still has a beautiful reddish colour.”

Modern cuisine allows chefs greater freedom when it comes to plate design or composition – it’s easier to inject a splash of colour when you use foams and emulsions.

But for all his innovation, Morten is reluctant to take this artistic licence too far. He is wary of food appearing synthetic and suggests this is why there are so few blue dishes.

Catch some rays

Seeing an adult manta ray approaching you from the big blue is a remarkable experience. Seeing a pair of rays is breathtaking.

But witnessing 100 or more manta rays majestically gliding through the tropical waters can make you feel like you’ve entered another universe. Welcome to Hanifaru Bay in the Maldives, home to one of the largest concentrations of mantas on the planet Words Jake Hamilton

Thomas Peschak/National Geographic, Getty Images

The graceful shapes, incredible size and extraordinary agility of manta rays make these imposing but harmless creatures seem more like extra-terrestrials than members of our marine kingdom. Solitary by nature, when mantas congregate it feels like a celestial event.

They are the ballerinas of the deep, somersaulting and spiralling together in glorious slow motion while gently flapping their pectoral wings and exposing their white underbellies: indeed, you may think you’re having a close encounter with alien life forms. But you’re not.

You’re in Hanifaru Bay in the Maldives, a playground for one of the largest gatherings of manta rays anywhere in the entire world.

Hanifaru Bay (known locally as Vandhumaafaru Adi) is situated in the Maldives’ famous Baa Atoll, to the west of the island nation’s coralreef chain. Studded with 75 islands, of which a mere 13 are inhabited by fewer than 11,000 people, Baa Atoll contains one of the largest and most important reef systems on the planet. It’s both a protected

marine environment and a designated UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, giving it the same global significance as the Galapagos Islands. The sheer density of marine life found here – soft and hard corals, thousands of reef fish, emperor wrasse, whale sharks, hawksbill turtles – has prompted the Maldives’ Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture to mix marine research with sustainable development through a green economy of eight resorts that are spread across an area of 1,200km².

The glittering diamond of the Baa Atoll crown is unquestionably the small, shallow area of Hanifaru Bay. Few inlets in the world can boast a near-perfect yearly calendar of whale shark gatherings, turtle sightings and, best of all, congregations of hundreds of manta rays, which feed on the plankton-rich soup. It’s surprising to find that Hanifaru Bay is no larger than your average car park, yet it has become one of best spots on the planet for underwater photography. There’s a reason for this. The bay traps plankton in a funnel during the West monsoon period, forcing the plankton to the surface in search of sunlight and thus attracting an oceanic manta population.

Understanding mantas and their secretive movements is vital to the conservation of Hanifaru Bay, so a trip out to the bay can be both a thrilling and educational experience. A close relative of the shark, mantas are fish and thus use their gills to respire underwater.

Like sharks, they must keep moving, meaning they can never stop, not even to sleep, if they wish to survive. The sheer size of mantas can be alarming at first: many have wingspans of 23ft or more. They weigh up to 2,000kg and are believed to live up to 100 years. Yet mantas are harmless giants, feeding on nothing more than some of the smallest organisms in the sea. Despite their size and diet, they are listed as a “vulnerable” species, which makes conservation efforts of paramount importance.

Hanifaru Bay is no larger than your average car park, yet it has become one of the best spots on the planet for underwater photography Getting the right balance between conservation and sustainable tourism is crucial. Excessive numbers of tourists can have dire consequences on the mantas’ feeding behaviour, hence the sensible guidelines enforced by the Maldivian government.

Designated water-taxis will take you to and from the bay. You can snorkel for a maximum of 45 minutes (diving is not permitted) and visitors are limited to 60 at any one time. To make videos you’ll need a special permit, which the resort can organise, but it’s worth the effort: the bay delivers breathtaking underwater images that few places on Earth can promise. Remember, never chase the mantas; they are extremely passive creatures and very skittish.

Instead, stay at a reasonable distance and wait for them to come to you on the surface. You’ll be surprised how curious these gentle giants are once they are made to feel comfortable.

Located on Mudhdhoo Island in Baa Atoll, Dusit Thani Maldives has its own house reef and is one of a handful of resorts to have access to Hanifaru Bay. www.dusit.com

Travel by blue

1. Maldives An aerial shot of Mudhdoo Island in the Baa Atoll, home to the luxurious all-villa resort Dusit Thani Maldives. The island is a 35-minute flight from the international airport.

2. Guilin The Li River is so eulogized in China it appears on the back of the 20-yuan banknote. Eager cormorant fisherman beat tourists to it in the early morning.

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3. Dubai Tom Cruise drove across it in Mission: Impossible III, but Dubai’s futuristic Meydan Bridge is closed save for a few times a year when it’s used as a VIP entrance to Meydan Racecourse.

Stay Dusit Thani Dubai 4. Philippines A short flight from Manila, Donsol Bay is one of the best places in the world to swim with whale sharks, the largest creatures in the sea.

Stay Dusit Thani Manila 5. China Often depicted in Chinese paintings and literature, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Huangshan mountain range is a major tourist destination.

Stay Dusit Thani Fudu Qingfeng Changzhou 6. Nairobi Looking good is big business in Kenya; the beauty industry is estimated to be worth over US$260 million per year.

Stay dusitD2 Nairobi 7. Singapore Brightly coloured and intricately embellished Tamil temples are widespread on the island of Singapore.

Upcoming Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore 8. Thailand Though not a native bird, the intelligent blue-headed macaw is a popular pet in the Land of Smiles.

Deep, dark, rich purple is associated with regality and nobility; it communicates wealth, quality, ingenuity and status. Purple is also known for its creative, calming influence

Working with purple David Shrubsole and Jib, Playhouse Theater Cabaret

Jib strikes a pose for the camera, her shoulders back, chin up and eyes radiating pure sensuality. As the lens clicks, her lustrous purple gown ripples softly under the light.

A picture of elegance, she is every inch the glamorous cabaret star.

Behind the glossy image is a story of hard work and dedication. At the Playhouse Theater Cabaret, every detail is rigorously choreographed, and the performers don’t just parade up and down in the dresses: they help make them.

“Most of the dancers are very proud to work on their own dress. We have to use different skills,” Jib says. “It is a very beautiful dress. The purple makes me feel mysterious.

When we are on stage and dancing we have to be energetic and alert, but when we are working on the dresses, we need to be very calm and neat.”

Playhouse’s owner and managing director David Shrubsole, the creative force behind the show, insists the costumes are one of the most important elements. “They’re part of what helps the

performers sell the glamour and sell their professionalism,” he says. “One of Jib’s numbers is ‘Fame’, and she appears in a big dress, but then the boys rip that off and she’s in a pantsuit.

Without that, the number would be a write-off.

“We look at how much colour we have in the show and where we need more. The costumes have to move. But the performers have a real input – they have to be able to somersault, dance and perform. It’s not just a matter of looking good.”

Indeed, the choreography at the Playhouse is perhaps even more demanding than everything that goes on backstage, partly because the cast are required to step into any role at a moment’s notice.

“Before I came to work at the Playhouse, I watched the shows on YouTube,” Jib says. “But when I tried to do it myself, it was much more difficult than I thought. I had to practise for seven years to get it right.

“We try to make the most of the costumes with the choreography and make the show come out smoothly.

Everything has to come

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together for it to be a good show and for it to look good.”

In the Playhouse show, purple is one of the most prominent colours. According to David, the show only truly comes alive when their Tina Turner performs ‘River Deep, Mountain High’, alongside an ensemble decked out in purple. But the colour also carries a symbolic importance.

“Purple is regarded as a very artistic colour,” David explains. “In Buddhism, purple corresponds to the Third Eye Chakra. Ganesha is the deity associated with the performing arts, and theatres have Ganeshas everywhere – that’s who the performers say their prayers to before going on stage. Ganesha has a purple eye, the Third Eye, and that focus and concentration keep the show together.”

Jib and her fellow cast bring the show to life twice a day in a whirlwind of music and movement with this heady combination of colour, hard work and spirituality. “We try to keep our performers as glamorous as possible,” David says. “The magic of it is: are they or aren’t they?”

The colour purple

Although purple occurs naturally, artists and dyers had no good way of making it until the mid19th century. The invention of the first purple dye that

If you want to understand why the 1850s were known as the Purple Decade, take a look at April Love, painted in 1856 by the pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes and now housed in the Tate Britain gallery in London. Her face anxious and fragile with love, the girl wears the kind of flowing purple skirt that was all the rage among prosperous English women thrilled by the appearance of bright new dyes for colouring the fabrics. The richly hued dresses that must have inspired Hughes would probably have been dyed with a substance known as murexide, a purple dye produced in the mid-19th century from the unlikely source of Peruvian bird guano, which was transformed into the dye by chemical processing in factories. In France this colour was named after the word for “mallow”, mauve.

would not fade was seized on by fashion designers – and also spawned the entire modern chemicals industry Words Philip Ball Illustration Matt Murphy

But Hughes could not have known what an extraordinary decade the 1850s was going to become for the colour purple. In 1858 a French zoologist named Félix Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers happened to see a Mediterranean fisherman break the shell of a marine mollusc and smear on his shirt the yellow liquid that oozed from it. Soon after, the liquid turned a purplish-red in the sun. Intrigued, Lacaze-Duthiers investigated further and found that the shellfish was one of three species from which a purple dye could be extracted. These, he realised, were the sources of the legendary Tyrian purple, the colour said to have been discovered by the ancient Phoenicians and used by the Romans to dye the robes of generals, senators and emperors.

The secret of how to make Tyrian purple had been lost ever since the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. It was no secret that the dye had come from shellfish – but which ones?

Molluscs of the genus Murex were the most likely candidates; however, there were lots of those, and since the dye was a weak yellow until sunlight altered it, no one had previously figured out how the Phoenicians had acquired the trick. Yet no one was going to restart that ancient industry, Quinine, which was in in which no fewer than a huge demand in the British quarter of a million shellfish Empire’s colonies, could only were needed to extract barely be obtained at great expense an ounce of dye. Besides, from the bark of a South there was no need, for an even American tree. If it could be more momentous discovery in made cheaply from coal tar, it purple took place in the same would revolutionise tropical year that Hughes painted his medicine. picture. At the Royal College Perkin didn’t succeed. of Chemistry in London, an Instead, he found his chemical 18-year-old student named reactions produced an William Perkin had been set unpromising blackish mass. the task of trying to make Instinct prompted Perkin the anti-malarial drug quinine not simply to flush this stuff from a chemical compound away but to try dissolving it in called aniline, which could methylated spirit, whereupon be made from substances he produced a beautiful purple extracted from the black solution. He found the purple sticky residue left after colour would stick to silk, converting coal and realised he might have a into gas for gas valuable new dye. Quitting lighting. his studies, he persuaded his brother and father to build a small factory in Harrow, northwest London, and soon orders were flooding in for Perkin’s purple: aniline mauve, the first of several bright “aniline dyes”. Many of the biggest chemical

companies today – Hoechst, Bayer, BASF, Ciba-Geigy – began as dye manufacturers in the wake of Perkin’s discovery.

You might think that Perkin got lucky. But a happy accident only becomes a major discovery if someone realises what they’ve found, and this kind of serendipity has driven innovations in making colour ever since antiquity. It was doubtless some Perkin-like figure of the ancient Middle East who, around the third millennium BC, found by accident that sand, chalk and copper ore can be combined in a kiln to make the pigment now known as Egyptian blue.

No one knows who discovered the manufacturing process for many other pigments of the ancient and medieval worlds, such as red vermilion (made from mercury and sulphur), lead-tin yellow and red lead. But there was surely someone to hand on those occasions who saw that these coloured materials might be useful to painters. Often these experiments were, like Perkin’s, aimed at making something else entirely: when Heinrich Diesbach discovered the pigment later known as Prussian blue in 1704, he was attempting to make a red pigment instead, but was given contaminated ingredients.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that the process of making colours became more systematic. This was the age in which chemistry began to flourish, and at the height of the Industrial Revolution governments and entrepreneurs realised that there was money to be

made from colour. So when French chemist NicolasLouis Vauquelin found that compounds of the newly discovered metal chromium were rich shades of yellow, orange and green, he soon advertised them as pigments.

The same with the yellow and orange stuff made in 1817 by German Friedrich Stromeyer from another new metal, cadmium. In the 1820s, a French industrial chemist even found how to make an artificial form of the most glorious blue pigment ever known: ultramarine, previously made from a very rare mineral from Afghanistan.

As these bright new colours flooded the market, painting itself was transformed. First the Pre-Raphaelites, then the Impressionists used them to stunning effect. In the art of post-Impressionists such as Matisse, Kandinsky and Klee, painting became all about colour itself: on their blazing canvases colour didn’t even have to depict the physical world, and abstract art was invented. “Colour has taken hold of me,” Klee declared.

“Colour and I are one.”

Further reading: Philip Ball, Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour (Vintage, 2008).

Travel by purple

1. Shanghai This eight-lane megacity highway is illuminated by violet lights at night. A long exposure, like that used in this photograph, captures the passing traffic in streaks of light.

Stay Dusit Thani Fudu Qingfeng Changzhou.

2. Pasadena California is a key area of the US for the production of lavender – it’s sold at farmers’ markets around Pasadena and north Los Angeles.

Stay dusitD2 Constance Pasadena.

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3. Thailand Purple water lilies have an abundance of uses, including as an Ayurvedic treatment for indigestion and as flavouring in Chinese soups.

Stay Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket 4. Thailand Purple sunsets happen when light is refracted off clouds high up in the atmosphere. They are rarer than red sunsets, as violet is at the far end of the light spectrum.

Stay dusitD2 Phuket Resort 5. Maldives One of the most vibrantly coloured sea creatures, the Spanish dancer is a type of nudibranch – a long, shell-free mollusc found in tropical waters.

Stay Dusit Thani Maldives 6. India Asian aubergines are widely used in Indian food and pickles.

Stay Dusit Devarana New Delhi 7. USA Rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s ode to the Cadillac in the 2013 hit “White Walls” is credited with a 48% upsurge in sales of the cars.

8. India A glowing sunset lights up Agra’s Taj Mahal. Widely thought of as one of the new seven wonders of the world, it was built in 1632 by emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife.

There is nothing subtle about red: it represents energy, primal life forces, extreme emotion and power. Red is stimulating and lively

Working with red Steve Craig, artisanal butcher

Butcher Steve Craig has firm opinions about red meat.

“When I’m buying, I look at three things: meat colour, fat colour and any marbling,” Steve says. “You want very white fat and almost a burgundy red, and an even flesh colour. And a bit of marbling helps, although it’s not always a tell-tale sign.”

And whatever you do, don’t go overcooking any of Steve’s prime cuts. “In general, it shouldn’t be more than medium rare,” he says. “You want it caramelised on the outside, but a nice even red throughout the centre. You need a good seasoning – salt goes on just before you cook it – and not an overly hot pan.

Put it in, a couple of minutes

each side. I turn it twice. Keep it on a medium heat and then take it out and leave it to rest for a few minutes. You don’t need high heat to cook a good steak. In Asian cooking, it’s all high heat – woks and stir-fries.

So it’s a different concept.”

Steve services a growing appetite for artisanal meats through his shop, The Accidental Butcher, which he opened last year in Bangkok’s fashionable Ekkamai neighbourhood. Having worked in South-East Asia since 1992, the low-key and laid-back Aussie has been paying close attention as the Asian market has embraced red meat.

“Asians are definitely eating more beef [than they used to],” he says. “I first saw it in Singapore, and the trend has been driven by children studying overseas, who come back home and drive their parents to change their eating habits from their staples of chicken, pork and fish.”

Steve’s speciality is grassfed beef from north-west Tasmania, which is reared without hormones, or growth

theaccidentalbutcher.com

promoters. “It’s natural,” he says. “It’s raised in a really good environment, in the cleanest air in the world.

The climate and the pastures, there’s a sea breeze – it all comes across in the flavour.

It’s like drinking a good wine.”

Of course, there’s more to The Accidental Butcher than slabs of premium beef.

Steve also makes his own sausages, cures his own bacon and can regularly be found at the front of his shop cooking up a seriously gourmet barbecue. “I’ll often do a South American cut of beef called a picanha,” Steve says.

“It’s very full in flavour, nice marbling. And I’ve also been known to do smoked brisket, US-style.”

The pimp of the palette, the paint-box pantomime clown and the visible spectrum’s biggest show-o: red clamours for attention, the hue that cries. Red is the most visible and arresting colour for humans in daylight hours, capable of causing discernible shifts in mood and arousal, and stirring appetites, passions and emotions. Sports teams that wear red tend to win more, as do boxers and martial artists. Women wearing red are judged more beautiful and desirable than those in other colours. Men with redder faces get more mates.

Yet red clings precariously to the edge of the visible spectrum, the first or last shade on the rainbow, bleeding into its mysterious and invisible cousin, infra-red. Just a few scant nanometres of wavelength are the dierence between celebrity and anonymity.

I was caught red-handed and left red-faced painting the town red when my red letter day saw me walk the red carpet, only to find a red herring. That was a red rag to a bull, the red mist descended and I saw red. That got me red-carded so I hopped on the red-eye, drank a Red Bull and got into a fight with some rednecks.

Red is life and death, love and hate, sickness and health, hurting and healing, headache and heartache, oppression and revolt, bureaucracy and

anarchy. Red is the capitalist, the communist and the fascist, the sailor’s dawn warning and afternoon delight. The Red Army marches in Red Square. The crimson gape of the Grand Canyon; Uluru, the big red rock in Australia’s parched Red Centre.

Writer Saul Bellow – now there’s a fellow who knew a thing or two about red’s starring role in the grand opera and farce of life. In The Adventures of Augie March his protagonist sears this image into the reader’s consciousness with colour: “The door opened; a woman sat before me in a wheelchair, and in her lap, just born in a cab or paddy wagon or in the lobby of the hospital, covered with blood and screaming so you could see sinews, square of chest and shoulder from the strain,

this bald kid, red and covering her with the red… She and the baby appeared like enemies forced to have each other, the figures of a war.”

Red is true at first light, and a lie at noon. Red rages against the dying of the light and does not go gentle into that dark night – the same long wavelength that almost renders red invisible is also the wavelength most able to survive night’s onslaught, painting the sky in sunset’s palette of reds, pinks and orange long after lesser colours have been sent bouncing off the atmosphere and into space.

Red is a stop sign. Red means run for your life.

Red is a sign and a signal, portent, warning and harbinger, The Masque of the Red Death that crashes the party. “Look out Mama, there’s a white boat coming up the river/With a big red beacon and a flag and a man on the rail,” sings Neil Young on “Powderfinger”, all blood and rust and thunder.

“Red means run, son, the numbers add up to nothing,” his young doomed hero recalls his father saying, as he raises his rifle to his eye and sees black as his face splashes in the sky.

Red is love. Valentine’s hearts and flaming arrows, stupid Cupid and wings of desire. Red is broken hearts and bruised souls and shattered dreams. “Loving him was red,” sings Taylor Swift, like driving a Maserati down a dead-end street.

Red is a she-wolf falling to pieces, and red wants to swing from the chandelier like tomorrow doesn’t exist, Lucille having a ball, the bombshell on the Memphis Belle.

“Roxanne, you don’t have to put on the red light.” Red is the love that conquers all, and the love that dare not speak its name. Red is Marvin Gaye on long play and Barry White’s baritone. Red is the love that hurts and scars, the love that slips from reach, and the love that lasts forever, or at least seems to, with a master of tantric sex on the job.

Red is moody, mercurial, from Mars. One

minute shy, blushing and embarrassed, the next, drunk with anger, rouged with booze, bursting with desire. Red is rash, the lash, crashes, crimson splashes, prickly heat and righteous ire. Red is raw, sticks in your craw, always wants more. Red pulses with anger and throbs with lust. Red’s under the bed, easily led, a prisoner of passions, beset by demons, ruled by emotions.

Red is for better and for worse, in sickness and in health. “A certain red makes your blood pressure rise,” said Henri Matisse. Red is rosycheeked and ruddy, bloody murder and black death, the circle of life and the rust that never sleeps. Red is attack, sustain, decay, release.

Red is sublime and ridiculous, a clown’s red nose and a lobster telephone, a Shakespearean sonnet, a sunset from Hamlet: “This brave overhanging firmament fretted with golden fire.”

It is Macbeth’s unchartable fear and loathing, and his red right hand that would “The multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”

Red is delicious and deadly: a rock lobster and red snapper, red-back spiders and red-bellied black snakes, the rooster’s comb, the robin’s breast.

Red is revelation, the Great Harlot and Whore of Babylon from the Bible’s Book of Revelation, astride a many-headed scarlet beast, drunk on the blood of the saints, mystery written on her face.

Red is the primary colour that dares to shout its name, first among equals on the colour wheel and over the rainbow. Blue is too busy moping and yellow hasn’t been the same since becoming a Coldplay song. Red makes blue green with envy, and tells yellow the future’s orange. Red banishes the plangent, finger-picking blues with a comforting binge on finger-licking fried chicken, splurges on burgers. Red creates appetite and stimulates super-sized urges. Just ask Colonel Sanders and Ronald McDonald.

Red is cherries, strawberries, raspberries, apples, rose apples, beetroot, blood oranges, cranberries, guava, papaya, pomegranate, bell peppers, chilli peppers, tomatoes.

Red is in the blood, hameoglobin, binder of oxygen, Red, in essence, is blood. Red cells and iron filings, heavy metal. Red is the communion chalice, the sacrifice and the redemption, forgiveness and absolution. The Lord tells Isaiah (in 1:18): “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Red is a fairy tale and fantasy, myth and legend. The Red Shoes, The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Rose Red, thorns and pricks and Prince Charmings and Sleeping

Beauties, poisons and potions, kings and crones.

Red is lucky, red hot in poker, half a chance in roulette, Red when the chips are down, red-hot favourites on redletter days. Yet red is ruinous, ominous on a ledger, the colour of bankruptcy and scandal, penury and failure.

Buck up. It’s a new day and here comes rosy-fingered dawn.

Red is inevitable, ineffable, incandescent. Crimson.

Vermillion. Cadmium. Alizarin.

Pigments that started wars and shaped empires, adorned the robes of kings and emperors, worn by tyrants who unleashed rivers of blood.

Red is a slap in the face on a crisp winter morning and a mad dog’s bite at noon, welts and weals and wounds. Red is maple leaves, Mapplethorpe’s flowers, a Ferrari Testarossa, “Little Red Corvette”. Red is princes, kings and queens. Raindrops on roses. Red is epic, a saga, Kurosawa and Kieślowski.

Red is finally, in “Shape of My Heart”, the Sting in the tail.

“I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier/I know that the clubs are weapons of war/ I know that diamonds mean money for this art/But that’s not the shape of my heart.”

Illustration Igor Morski

Wars of the Rose

The classic, art deco façade of Pasadena’s famed Rose Bowl is oh-so LA – all curved, cream walls and columns, cursive ruby-red neon signage and lazy, swaying palms. Now the 17th-largest stadium in the world, this grand sports enormodome is perhaps most famous as the venue for Instantly identifiable to America’s annual New Year’s anyone from California, Day college football bowl game – commonly dubbed Pasadena’s Rose Bowl the Rose Bowl – although it’s has been the picturesque also hosted various Olympic events, the 1994 World backdrop to scores of highCup final and Super Bowl stakes sporting clashes over showdowns. Beyond sporting contests, Beyoncé has belted the decades. Nowadays, it’s out bootylicious power ballads just as commonly associated here; Rihanna and Eminem with the annual New Year’s have performed here, too.

Designated a National Day spectacular known as Historic Landmark, the the Rose Parade Rose Bowl has a long, storied history. Designed by architect Words Claire Knox Myron Hunt in 1921 in a horseshoe shape, its southern stands were built in 1928, turning it into a complete circle. Nestled in the Arroyo – a thick ravine of scrubby parkland – on game days the stadium’s backdrop is a sun-drenched, striking one, Pasadena’s leafy neighbourhoods stretching out like a patchwork quilt to the San Gabriel mountain range. It was from here in 1962 that the first college football game was broadcast in colour on television; at the beginning of 1980, almost 104,000 seats were filled as the Rose Bowl recorded the highest Super Bowl attendance in history.

Since 1890, come dawn on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, traffic begins to slow to a crawl. By 8am Pasadena’s main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard, is crammed with hundreds of thousands of revellers, gathered to see the city’s famous floats – festooned with multi-hued roses, tropical flowers, fruit seeds, bark and grasses – as well as spectacular marching bands and equestrian troupes.

The parade began as a promotional event put on by Los Angeles’

prestigious Valley Hunt Club, whose blue-blooded East Coasters would head here for polo, jousting matches and chariot races, and dress their carriages in colourful blooms. Now, though, it has outgrown its elitist origins to become one of the country’s biggest New Year celebrations, watched by millions around the globe.

“In New York, people are buried in snow,” bellowed one of the festival’s founders, Professor Charles F Holder, at a club meeting.

“Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear.

Let’s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.” They were heady, extravagant parties: in 1913 ostrich races were the most noteworthy element, while elephant and camel races were also held.

The festival evolved over the years, with marching bands added, and floats became more elaborate, featuring high-tech computer animation, exotic decorations (everything has to be biodegradable), and a foundation started in its name giving grants and donations to various non-profit causes in the community – more than US$2.5 million has been donated to more than 170 organisations to date.

The parade is known as enjoying typically sunny, balmy climes – between 1955 and 2006, it only rained once on a Rose Parade. Once the event winds up, the Rose Bowl game begins.

The procession reverberates around a different theme each year. This year it focuses on “inspiring stories”, a mix of moving narratives that take their cue from the late local hero Louis Zamperini, a distance runner who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. During World War II, Zamperini – a bombardier – was on board an aircraft that was shot down in the South Pacific. He and a crewmate spent 47 days adrift on an inflatable raft before being captured by Japanese soldiers when they reached the Marshall Islands. He made Opened in it back to a hero’s welcome in California, 2014, dusitD2 but had endured two years of torture as a Constance Pasadena prisoner of war. Zamperini suffered periods is a new luxury hotel of post-traumatic stress, but channelled his with easy access energy into motivational speaking. to Los Angeles This survivor had been selected to serve and Hollywood. as a grand marshal at 2015’s parade, but sadly www.dusit.com died on 2 July, 2014 at the age of 97. Now Angelina Jolie has directed a film about him, scheduled for release on Christmas Day. “Louis was an exemplary man whose life story illustrated the strength of the human spirit in many ways, and we hope this campaign brings to light many other wonderful stories,” said Tournament of Roses president Rich Chinen.

Corbis

Travel by red

1. India Always good for a photo opp, the spring festival of Holi is also celebrated among Indian communities in UAE and Kenya. During the festival fistfuls of brightly coloured powder are thrown and loaded into water pistols, turning the streets into a riot of colour. In 2015, Holi will be taking place on 6 & 7 March.

Stay Dusit Devarana New Delhi 2. Bangkok Flashy neon illumination ensures instant recognition of the city’s notorious red-light districts.

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3. India Over 50cm tall and dressed in elaborate clothing, Rajasthani puppets are a popular form of entertainment in rural India.

Stay dusitD2 Aerocity New Delhi 4. Chiang Mai Strawberry season in northern Thailand runs mid-November to March. A regional highlight is Samnoeng Strawberry Festival, which coincides with Valentine’s Day. Stay dusitD2 Chiang Mai 5. Thailand Infra-red light adds otherworldly ambience to this shot of Haew Suwat waterfall in Khao Yai National Park.

Stay Princess Hotel by Dusit Korat 6. China In feng shui a red door symbolises the mouth of the home, supposedly attracting positive energy.

Stay dusitD2 Fudu Binhu, Changzhou 7. China A popular symbol for all things Chinese, red lanterns run the gamut from tacky to classy – the latter represented by silk “tomato lights”.

8. Thailand Beautiful and dramatic, Siamese fighting fish have been bred in Thailand for over 125 years. The males will flare their gills to appear more impressive to females, and aggressive to other males – in captivity, they are often found in separate fish bowls.

Stay dusitD2 Phuket Resort

Pure and untainted, the “noncolour� white has long been associated with innocence, perfection, honesty and purity

Working with white Dr Sunil Phol, dentist

Dr Sunil Phol is quick to identify the reason Thailand remains the world’s numberone destination for cosmetic dentistry. “Patients used to fly to Thailand because of the price only – but now it’s the quality of the work that attracts them,” he says. “It’s world-class. And the nature of the Thais is that we are very good at art, craftsmanship – when we do ceramic work, we still use the technician to do it, while many dentists in other countries will use a machine.

“Bugatti, Rolls Royce, Ferrari – they are supercars because they are still handmade. In dentistry, there is now a machine that can make a crown in 45 minutes.

That reduces the labour costs because, in Western countries, that labour is very expensive.

“But, in Thailand, labour is not so expensive so we can design everything manually.

We still have that craftsmanship. We still have someone sit there and paint the patient’s teeth by hand, exactly the way a patient wants. It’s an art.”

It’s not only his craftsmanship that differentiates Dr

Sunil as a dentist. His luxurious clinic in the Bangkok suburb of Phra Khanong reflects an artistic flair not usually associated with the medical profession. Initially, the clinic was confined to one room of what was once his house but, as demand for his services increased, more treatment rooms were added, until the clinic took over completely.

His unmistakeable personal touch remains in the golden Buddha heads that adorn the walls and the whiff of bling that, in Dr Sunil’s words, makes the clinic “more like a lounge” to relax nervous patients.

“I am a Versace fan,” he says. “I have a baroque or even Roman style with the décor. It’s fully scented, with a green tea smell. It’s a relaxing, calming smell – I used to work in a hospital and I always thought it looked scary.”

These days, 98% of Dr Sunil’s clients fly in from overseas, particularly from Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. While being treated by Dr Sunil they are put up at serviced apartments nearby and, if the glowing

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testimonies from his online fan club are any indication, treated like visiting royalty.

Some of his patients require full mouth reconstructions, having damaged or lost teeth altogether.

“We specialise in smile makeovers,” Dr Sunil says. “I love my profession – I feel good about helping people. We have many patients and their teeth are rotten. Or patients who have gone through a divorce and are getting married again, and want to look good.

“It makes me feel good to give them nice white teeth.

Everyone wants a Hollywood or Bollywood smile. The basic procedure makes your teeth four to six shades whiter than they are already. If you want a super pearl-white, you need to go for ceramics or crowns, which I have done for movie stars all over the world.

“When you meet someone, you first look eye to eye, but then you notice their smile. A nice smile is welcoming. The thing that makes me happy is when I hear from a patient: ‘Wow, you changed my life.’”

The White Lady of Guam As Dusit Thani Guam gets ready to open its doors in 2015, we explore the intriguing tropical island – and United States outpost – through its indigenous Chamorro tradition and legends Words Paul Chai ~ Photography Myong Hong

Billowing, charcoal-coloured clouds have erased the cheery tropical day, a squall is whistling through the bamboo and we’re lost – perfect conditions for ghost hunting in Guam.

Guam’s White Lady is a legend told by the Chamorro people, the indigenous population who first inhabited the islands around the Marianas Trench about 3,500 years ago. The tale goes that a Spanish officer took a young Chamorro bride in the 1600s and was cruel to her, making her fetch water for him from the nearby fresh mountain stream. One night, during a new moon, she was sent to get water late at night and the small sliver of moon was inadequate to light her path. She lost her footing and drowned in the stream.

Now locals say you can see her ghostly figure clad in her flowing white wedding gown near the White Lady Bridge during a new moon or a storm.

By the time we locate the White Lady Bridge – a nondescript creek overpass in a thicket of bamboo near the town of Maina – the storm is churning up the bamboo stalks which creak and strain eerily, and I start to believe the folklore.

I didn’t order up the inclement weather, but it does increase my chances of seeing the spectral bride – my first time chasing a tourist attraction that I really don’t want to see. According to myth, if you do spy the White Lady of Guam, she is there to warn you of impending danger.

Still, in the name of journalistic research I walk down to the stream across the large white stones that form part of the bridge, and a ripple of dark shapes moves ahead of my feet. Bugs, I think, ready to run back to the car culture in Guam, the tropical island “where America starts its day”. My search began (intrepid ghost hunter that I with the most famous of Guam’s landmarks, the latte, a pillar consisting of two pale am), but when I bend down stones placed one on top of the other that looks like a white chalice (you can buy I find there are hundreds of latte-shaped beer glasses at the airport). These pillars are thought to have been the tiny black frogs, each one the base of ancient Chamorro homes, and the best example is in Latte Park where six of size of a thumbnail, covering them sit in formation like a head-high Stonehenge. the rocks. The frogs and I wait For lunch, I managed to track down a more accessible Chamorro legend: the a little longer for the White tinaktak burger at Pika’s café, arguably the best local joint on the island. Tinaktak, Lady until the rain starts a traditional dish of ground beef cooked in coconut milk, has been turned into a getting too heavy and I leave burger – where coconut milk is ladled over a beef patty during grilling – in what may them to their haunted home. be the most inspired cuisine mash-up since cronuts.

The White Lady may have Another Chamorro staple, the shrimp patty popular at local markets, has been eluded me, but I have spent put between bread at Meskla Dos, a new gourmet burger joint that has patrons the past few days looking queuing out the door of its modest shack. The Uhang Shrimp Burger is a 6oz housebeyond the ramen stalls, made shrimp burger coated in panko crumbs and topped with spicy tartar sauce. shooting ranges and high-end The night markets that roll out around Guam during the week are a perfect duty-free shops of Tumon Bay showcase for the Polynesian-inspired street food of the island. On Wednesday to get a feel for the Chamorro and Friday nights, the Chamorro Village in Hagatna, the island’s capital, throws a touristy fiesta of food and traditional dance, but for better and cheaper street treats, try the Mangilao Thursday Night Market in the interior. What started as a yard sale is now dozens of stalls selling plump shrimp patties, barbecued meats on

The inclement weather increases my chances of seeing the spectral bride – my first time chasing a tourist attraction that I don’t really want to see

sticks and kelaguen, a Chamorro dish where shrimp, chicken or beef is pickled in fresh lemon juice, white coconut flesh and donne dinanche, a spicy pepper sauce. Dessert is a banana lumpia, pastrywrapped bananas that are dusted with cinnamon and deep-fried.

Scheduled to open early Travelling through the south of the island you find other 2015, Dusit Thani Guam layers of history, beyond the original inhabitants. At Talafofo is a luxury resort with Falls Resort Park I climb into the claustrophobic hole that was six restaurants and a home to Japanese soldier Yokoi Shoichi for 28 years. Completely Devarana Spa on the unaware that the war in the Pacific had ended, Yokoi emerged island’s Tumon Bay. from his hand-dug cave in 1972 and returned to Japan, presumably www.dusit.com to a more comfortable abode. that is the most fascinating, surviving as it has through Spanish and American rule, Further south, Fort as well as the Second World War. Umatac Bay is also where legendary Chamorro Nuestra Señora de la Soledad warrior Gadao killed a shark with his bare hands in an act of bravery that saw is a Spanish war relic from him promoted to the rank of High Chief of Guam; you can see an oddly Socialistthe occupation of Guam in looking statue of him rowing his canoe, or proa, in Chief Gadao Park in Inarajan. the 17th century, and the best There is a legend surrounding Gadao as well, who had to pass three trials of point to admire the beautiful strength – swimming around Guam 25 times, cracking a coconut with his bare hands scoop of bay at Umatac with and levelling the island’s highest mountain – to become chief. its ornate bridge and bright Walking the streets of Tumon Bay, Guam often seems like a tiny dot in the white church, an area that is Pacific where East and West collide, a town where large numbers of Japanese and celebrated as the landing point Korean tourists come to sample the guns and glamour of the good ol’ US of A. Take of Portuguese conquistador a closer look, and you will see the Chamorro culture – and the stories of Gadao, the Ferdinand Magellan.

Chamorro Hercules and the White Lady – sandwiched in between.

But it is Chamorro culture

Travel by white

1. Abu Dhabi Built between 1996 and 2007 by former president HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the snow-white Sheikh Zayed Mosque is the largest in the UAE, and considered one of the most important. With a stated intention to “unite the cultural diversity of Islamic world”, it was constructed with materials and by artisans from across the globe.

Stay Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi 2. Thailand Close-up of a beautiful apsara (female dancer), who adorns the outer walls of Bangkok’s Wat Arun.

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3. China Porcelain vases are lined up before being glazed with cobalt blue and transformed into China’s distinctive ceramics.

Stay Dusit Thani Dongtai, Jiangsu 4. New Delhi India’s iconic Ambassador car hasn’t changed since it first appeared in 1957. Initially driven by the wealthy elite, it became widely used as a taxi vehicle before production was suspended in 2014.

Stay dusitD2 Aerocity New Delhi 5. China It was a visit to the jagged landscape of Zhangjiajie National Park by a Hollywood photographer that inspired the floating mountains of James Cameron’s Avatar.

6. New Delhi As a Baha’i temple, Delhi’s Lotus Temple is open to everyone, regardless of religion. Built in 1986, it is one of the most visited buildings in the world.

Stay Dusit Devarana New Delhi 7. China Dolls dressed in traditional outfits are a common sight at Beijing’s souvenir shops.

Upcoming Dusit Devarana Hot Springs & Spa Conghua, Guangzhou 8. Thailand Around 5 million tonnes of salt are produced in Thailand each year, most of it from coastal brine farms. The famous salt farms of Samut Songkhram are seen en route from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Stay Dusit Thani Hua Hin

Dr Piriya Krairiksh celebrates his 72nd birthday with family and friends at The Mayflower, Dusit Thani Bangkok

HRH Princess Soamsawali arrives at the OESA 8th anniversary, Dusit Thani Bangkok

Claude de Crissey, France’s Honorary Consul in Phuket, and his family celebrating La Fête Nationale at Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket

The annual conference of Thai consular officials at Dusit Thani Bangkok

Dr Arthit Ourairat, President of Rangsit University, is welcomed at Dusit Thani Hua Hin

Nuttavudh Photisaro, Damrong Puttan and Thongchai Charwah at the Annual Conference of Thai consular officials, Dusit Thani Bangkok

Former Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva arrives at Dusit Thani Pattaya

The wedding of Ben Stevens, Newcastle United FC’s Head of Performance Analysis and Elizabeth Alice Mayes at Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket Khunying Songsuda and Dr Suvit Yodmanee are welcomed at Dusit Thani Pattaya

Malaysia’s Air Force Chief, General Tan Sri Rodzali is welcomed at Dusit Thani Pattaya

TV celebrities Dom Lau, Jamie Ong, Keagan Kang, Kelly Vaughan and Paul Foster are welcomed at Dusit Thani Phuket

Police General Adul Saengsingkaew, Minister of Social Development and Human Security, arrives at Dusit Thani Hua Hin

Dusit and the Lady There aren’t many hotels that can lay claim to partnering with one of the world’s most respected political reformers. Recently Dusit International further demonstrated why it’s a trailblazer in socially conscious hospitality by joining Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the founding of a new training academy, named in honour of the Lady’s mother

A first of its kind in Myanmar, the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation’s Kaw Hmu Hospitality and Catering Training Academy is located in the village of Ma Gyee Kan, Kaw Hmu, 61km from Yangon. The mission of its founders is to empower young people through education and vocational training in the tourism and hotel sectors.

Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi set up the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation in 2012 with the aim of promoting health, education and living standards in Myanmar’s least developed areas. The foundation is a nonprofit organisation that seeks to achieve these goals irrespective of ethnicity, race, religion or political affiliation.

The Lady’s vision for the academy struck a chord with Chanin Donavanik, whose mother – the founder of the Dusit Group – is a pioneer in hospitality education. Thanyunping Chanut Piyaoui set up the first hospitality school in Thailand, Dusit Thani College, which is now the region’s leading hospitality centre. This was followed by other partnerships such as Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School, Bangkok and a programme in conjunction with Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila. To date there are over 15,000 students enrolled in Dusit’s programmes or joint programmes internationally.

Dusit’s involvement in the academy ranges from providing examples of course plans, lesson schedules and supplying materials to creating an intensive programme entitled “Train the Trainers”. In May 2014, Dusit invited eight of the academy’s teachers to spend two months at Dusit Thani College’s campus in Bangkok for a rigorous course of training.

As Chanin said at the Academy’s official opening: “This a place where the youth of Kaw Hmu and neighbouring towns will be able to specialise in the hospitality field, and be empowered to find work in the country’s growing tourism and hospitality trade. They will be able to support themselves and their families, and will gain confidence and expertise. The local hospitality industry will improve through the efforts of more qualified staff, and the country will be better off with more skilled staff in the workforce.”

Chanin also emphasised the more lasting benefits of the academy’s work. “Future graduates of this programme will forge their way, step by step, to reaching their full personal and professional potential,” he said. And it was this promise of selfactualisation that convinces Dusit to commit to this worthwhile project for the long term. dawkhinkyifoundation.org

Dusit International Hotels & Resorts Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi UAE

Dusit Thani Dubai UAE

Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket Thailand

Dusit Thani Panzhihua, Sichuan (2016) China

Dusit Thani Bangkok Thailand

Dusit Thani Fudu Qingfeng, Changzhou China

Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore (2016) Singapore

Dusit Thani Pattaya Thailand

Dusit Thani Cam Ranh (2016) Vietnam

Dusit Thani Guam (2015) USA

Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo Egypt

Dusit Thani Shaoxing (2015) China

Dusit Thani Castle Resort Fushun, Liaoning (2017) China

Dusit Thani Hot Springs & Spa Qingyuan, Guangdong (2015) China

Dusit Thani Maldives Maldives

Dusit Thani Suining, Sichuan (2017) China

Dusit Thani Dongtai China

Dusit Thani Hua Hin Thailand

Dusit Thani Manila Philippines

Dusit Island Resort Chiang Rai Thailand

Dusit Devarana Baoting Hainan (2015) China

dusitD2 Constance Pasadena USA

dusitD2 New Delhi (2015) India

Dusit Princess Korat Thailand

Dusit Devarana Dianchi Lake, Kunming (2016) China

dusitD2 Fudu Binhu, Changzhou China

dusitD2 Phuket Resort Thailand

Dusit Princess Srinakarin Bangkok Thailand

Hotels under planning & development Dusit Thani Brookwater Golf & Spa Resort Australia ● Dusit Thani Fuxian Lake, Yunnan China ● Dusit Thani Huangdao, Qingdao China ● Dusit Thani Sousse Tunisia ● Dusit Thani Suites Cairo Egypt ● Dusit Thani Tianmushan, Hangzhou China ● Dusit Devarana Fuxian Lake, Yunnan China ● Dusit Devarana Maldives Maldives ● dusitD2 Davao Philippines ● dusitD2 Urbana Gurgaon India ● dusitD2 Lubi Island Philippines ● dusitD2 YarkaY Thimphu Bhutan ● dusitD2 Residence Yangon Myanmar ● Dusit Princess NAIA Gardens Manila Philippines www.dusit.com ●

Dusit Devarana Hot Springs & Spa Conghua, Guangzhou China

dusitD2 Fudu Hongemei, Changzhou China

dusitD2 Society Hill Tianjin (2015) China

Dusit Devarana New Delhi India

dusitD2 Kao Yai (2015) Thailand

dusitD2 Suining, Sichuan (2017) China

dusitD2 Chiang Mai Thailand

dusitD2 Nairobi Kenya

Dusit Princess Chiang Mai Thailand

With over 65 years of experience, Dusit International is a leader in hotels and hospitality.

The group was founded in 1948 when Honorary Chairperson Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui opened her first hotel, the Princess, on Bangkok’s New Road. The successful venture represented a major breakthrough for Thailand’s hospitality industry and eventually led to the creation of one of today’s leading Asian hospitality brands.

Continuing in this pioneering spirit, Thanpuying Chanut embarked upon developing a luxurious city-centre property, Dusit Thani Bangkok. Opening in February 1970, the Dusit Thani Bangkok immediately set new standards of hospitality and became the city’s pre-eminent social hub, even holding the distinction of being Thailand’s tallest building for nearly a decade.

The essence of the Dusit Thani brand is best symbolised by the statue of King Rama VI, which stands across the street from the hotel.

Reigning from 1910 to 1925, King Rama VI’s philosophy on the ideal modern state blended Western and Thai influences. He also conceived the utopian ideal of Dusit Thani, which means “town in heaven” – an important belief for all Thai people.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dusit responded to Thailand’s growing popularity as a tourist destination by opening lavish, resortstyle properties under the Dusit Thani brand in Pattaya, Phuket, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The company also acquired the Hotel Nikko Manila in 1995, later renaming it Dusit Thani Manila. In early 2001, Dusit Thani Dubai also opened, adding the Middle Eastern market to the group’s portfolio.

In 2006, dusitD2 hotels and resorts was created as an expansion of the main Dusit Thani brand. The dusitD2 concept is the company’s contemporary, second-generation offshoot, which balances tradition and trendiness with chic comfort and convenience. The first dusitD2 opened in 2006 in the historical city of Chiang Mai, followed by a second location in Pattaya. In 2013, the brand became the first of the Dusit family to launch in China with the dusitD2 Fudu Binhu Changzhou Hotel, by way of the company’s jointventure initiative established earlier that year. New dusitD2 properties in Phuket, Nairobi and Pasadena, California followed in 2014.

Expanding farther afield, Dusit International has entered into two joint-venture hotel management agreements in India and China. The first of these is with hospitality technology company Bird Hospitality Services. This pairing’s first hotel, Dusit Devarana New Delhi, opened in late 2013 to international acclaim, including being named a “High Design Haven” by Travel + Leisure magazine and appearing on Conde Nast Traveler’s “50 Coolest New Hotels” hot list. Additional hotel and resort projects in Gurgaon, New Delhi and Aerocity will open in 2015.

The second joint-venture agreement established Dusit Fudu Hotels & Resorts, the operational name of Dusit Fudu Hotel Management (Shanghai) Company Limited, which expands the hotel chain to China.

Hotel management agreements confirmed include three hotels in Changzhou, one each in Conghua, Dianchi, Dongtai, Fushun, Panzhihua, Qingdao, Qingyuan and Shaoxing, and two hotels and a residence in Yunnan Province’s Fuxian Lake, all anticipated to open by 2017. Dusit Fudu Hotels & Resorts is targeting a portfolio of 100 hotels within the next 15 years, all offering high-quality facilities and services inspired by the unique artistry and culture of Thailand.

In 1993, pioneering Thanyunping Chanut founded the first hospitality college in Thailand, Dusit Thani College – now the region’s leading centre for hospitality training Dusit’s accomplishments are not limited to developing and managing hotels. In August 2007, Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School opened, a culinary education partnership that was another first-of-its kind initiative in SouthEast Asia. Additionally, in 2009, Dusit Thani College launched an innovative hospitality programme in conjunction with Lyceum of the Philippines University in Manila.

Dusit International has built upon its Thai heritage to create a one-of-a-kind, first-class experience for all. It is an experience unique to Dusit: one that endeavours to enliven the individual spirit, no matter what the journey.

VIVOCITY

TAKASHIMAYA SC

SANUR - BALI

Authentic Spanish Flavours NGEE ANN CITY

VIVOCITY HARBOURFRONT - SINGAPORE

SANUR - INDONESIA

TAKASHIMAYA S.C. SINGAPORE SERENITY SPANISH RESTAURANT 391 Orchard Road, #05-32 Ngee Ann City Takashimaya S.C., Singapore 238872 Reservation Tel: 6235 9989 Open Daily 11.30am to 10pm

SERENITY SPANISH BAR & RESTAURANT No 1 Harbourfront Walk, #01-98/99 VivoCity Singapore 098585 Reservation Tel: 6376 8185 Open: Sunday to Tuesday 11.00 am to 11.00 pm Wednesday to Saturday & Eve of Public Holiday 11 am to 12 midnight.

SERENITY SPANISH BAR & RESTAURANT Jln By Pass Ngurah Rai 27A Sanur 80228, Bali, Indonesia Reservation Tel: +62 361 284 381 Open Daily 11.00am to 11pm