DECember 2009 | January 2010
FREQUENT
Complete resource for the corporate Traveller
December 2009 | January 2010 MICA(P) 231/06/2009 KDN NO. PP(S) 1221/10/2010 (028276)
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TRENDS
FOR 2010 Our Fearless Forecast for the Year
CHENGDU v CHONGQING vHALONG BAY vHANGZHOU vPARIS
Special Feature
Choice Perks For The Head Honcho
The Executive Floors That Matter
! PLUS THE ESSENTIAL MALDIVES:
You Name It, We Tried It—From The Best Spa To The Best Fishing Spot! A Christmas Special:
A Christmas Special: Gift and Shopping Guide, Holiday Dinners and Hampers, and Christmas Markets KDN NO. PP(S) 1221/10/2010 (028276) MICA(P) 231/06/2009
LIFE’S A BEACH!
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Got Lost In …
7
Heavenly Resorts to Jumpstart Your Year
CHENGDU v CHONGQING v HALONG BAY v HANGZHOU v PARIS
open. inviting. colourful. intimate. connected... Now Open – The Mira Hong Kong. Overlooking lush Kowloon Park, The Mira Hong Kong is perfectly situated in the heart of Tsimshatsui – Hong Kong’s pulsating entertainment and shopping hub. It is an easy stroll to the Star Ferry and MTR, giving you quick access to the rest of Hong Kong. Urban luxe meets cutting-edge design and technology, all 492 boldly accented guestrooms and suites feature an in-room PC, entertainment centre, Sony LCD TV, Bose sound system, “My Mobile” phone, “My Mira” personalised concierge service and complimentary WiFi. Six unique, award-winning outlets offer a complete portfolio of gourmet dining and lifestyle options. At MiraSpa, 18,000 square-feet of spa facilities include an indoor, infinity-edged swimming pool and state-of-the-art fitness centre.
Feel lifted at Hong Kong’s hottest new address.
118 Nathan Road Tsimshatsui Kowloon Hong Kong Tel +852 2368 1111 Fax +852 2369 1788 www.themirahotel.com
contents
DECEMBER 2009 – JANUARY 2010
FEATURE 26 Floored By Success
The best executive floors will tempt you to drop serious coin to join the club By Michele Koh
CORP HUB
GUIDELINES 6 7 Heavens on Earth
The newest and most heavenly beachfront resorts in the region By Michele Koh
10 Crystal-Ball Gazing
Top 10 fearless forecasts for travel for 2010 By Amita Sarwal
14 Travelling Forward
A conversation with Dr. Ian Yeoman, futurologist, on how technology will inform the way we travel in the future By Weiwen Lin
16 Corporate Bootcamp
20 Good Vibrations
By Eric R.A. Balinghasay
By Gemma Price
The idea is not new: Leaders need to be toughened up to lead. We take a look at one of the pioneers
18 Economy Class
Perhaps it was inevitable: The popularity of budget airlines has given rise to its counterpart: budget hotels. What drives their expansion and what do they offer? By Weiwen Lin
Vietnam is one of the most optimistic countries in the world—and with good reason!
23 Looking Toward a Sunny Horizon
Back-to-back natural disasters and a fast-approaching presidential elections make the Philippines an exciting country to watch out for this year By Jason Phillip V. Gutierrez
Frequent Traveller is published six times a year by Eastern Publishing Pte Ltd; Web: www.frequenttraveller.com.sg; To subscribe, see page 71
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06
The beach resorts for 2010
DESTINATION 32 A Poetic Enchantment
The China of movies and your imagination exists in poetic Hangzhou By Roger Allnutt
36 We Love Paris in Winter
What’s more romantic than the City of Lights twinkling in snow? By Amy Van
58 Market Daze
We give you a bonus article on the colourful Christmas markets of Sweden By Amy Van
60 Ferragamo on the High Seas Scion to the famous fashion house, Leonardo Ferragamo talks sailing and business By Louay Habib
40 The Essential Maldives
Our eight recommendations for the best beach, best restaurant, best dive spot, and other musts in this island paradise By Justine Moss
44 Hello, Halong Bay!
40
Maldives’ must-do
52
Chongqing’s fabulous scenery
Vietnam’s picturesque bay is one of the major reasons travellers flock to this country By Gemma Price
62 Travel Talk
Insider info on travelling to Japan By William Soo and Jenny Yiu
64 The Good Stuff 68 Gourmand’s Corner 72 Posh Space 74 Travel Deals
SOJOURN
76 New Rooms
48 Chengdu Chance Encounters
78 Flight Plans
77 Bulletin
Pandas, giant Buddhas, and quaint teahouses are just some of what this city has to offer By Michael Taylor
52 Grey Fog and Ghost Towns
Do you like your food and your adventure heavily spiced? Then Chongqing is where you should be at.
LIFESTYLE Photo courtesy of Four Seasons mauritiuus
ON THE COVER Experience the luxe life at Four Seasons Anahita in Mauritius
By Michael Taylor
REGULARS
04 My Say
64
Gift ideas for Christmas
56 Pure Romance
Start the year right with an indulgent hiatus in Central Java By Mike Smith
79 Diary of Events 80 New Sight & Experience
FREQUENT
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The Yearend
Report
In the Philippines (my country, more of which you’ll read about in this issue, pp23-25), it’s become something of a tradition to start Christmas early, way ahead of the rest of the world, it seems. Come September 1, it never fails that some DJ would play a Christmas carol over the radio or a store would put a Christmas playlist on rotation. It drives everyone nuts, of course. After all, it’s a reminder that the year is almost over, which is guaranteed to stress out most people. We all have deadlines to meet, projects to finish, deliverables as yet unfulfilled. And yet…And yet…The locals may complain about the early decorations and Christmas carols, but people find themselves smiling more often, talking to virtual strangers (even if it’s just about the shared misery of listening to “Jingle Bells” for the nth time), and generally feeling lighter somehow. For the business community worldwide, and indeed for the media, this time of the year is all about looking back at the year that was—and 2009 was a doozy. This was the year the financial crisis went on overdrive. Businesses closed, people lost jobs, and economies floundered in the wake of massive losses. And the crisis isn’t over yet. While many have breathed a sigh of relief that the situation seems to be taking a turn for the better, I think we will only really see the full effects of the crisis next year. Aside from the economy, health care—or the lack of it—has been in the spotlight, as the H1N1 virus swept all over the world. In its wake, affected countries grappled with the state of their healthcare systems, with the services they offer their citizens and even the way they dealt with the danger. Some, like here in Singapore were very vigilant, while others were caught flat-footed. This year, the environment was at the forefront, with more companies implementing “green policies” and as governments end the year with a big meeting in Copenhagen on climate change, among other issues. On a grimmer note, we’ve been beset by big natural disasters. Flooding in Manila, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in 40 years, has left the Philippines in the grip of another crisis it could ill afford to have; a tsunami in Samoa and earthquakes in Indonesia also left many dead and others without homes. Because of all this, travel has been severely affected. Hotels languished even as airlines slashed fares to remain, uhm, airborne. It’s been a tough year, what can I say? And yet…And yet…Not to be a Pollyana about it, but I choose to look at the positive side. In this issue, we have several yearender stories to help everyone look forward to 2010: We look at the key trends in travel (pp10-13) and talk to two leading futurologists on what to expect (pp10-15). To help companies plan, we revisit one of the oldest and most effective manpower training programmes ever—Outward Bound (p16)—and give a lowdown on the best executive floors around Southeast Asia (pp26-31). We also focussed on two countries in Asia, which I feel will spearhead growth in the region: Vietnam—whose people’s optimism should be a lesson to all of us (pp20-22, pp46-49)—and of course, China. Its cities, like Hangzhou (pp32-35), Chengdu (pp50-53), and Chongqing (54-57) among others, will surely be growth drivers for 2010. As we celebrate the holidays, we also have suggestions on where to go(pp36-39, 58-59, 62-63), what to buy for whom (62-67), and of course, where to have that special dinner (pp68-70). For me, personally? There’s a tagline for an Emirates ad that goes, When was the last time you did something for the first time? I think that’s a good question to answer for 2010. It’s always great to have new experiences to look forward to, people to meet, and things to try. It’s a question that I will attempt to answer—or answer in many different ways come the new year. A friend once remarked that travelling was like a good conversation—it’s always different, and always unexpected. Here’s looking forward to many conversations with you next year. Happy holidays!
Managing Director (Operations) Kenneth Tan Assistant Editor Terrie Gutierrez terriegutierrez@epl.com.sg Senior Editorial Assistant Sharina Shariff Editorial Assistant Amy Ho amyho@epl.com.sg Senior Art Director/Studio Manager Lawrence Lee Graphic Designers Soh Kee Seng Katherine Ching Contributing Graphic Designer Libby Goh Photographer Eric Chun Managing Director (Sales) Dan Tan Senior Regional Sales Director Connie Tung connietung@epl.com.sg Regional Manager Josephine Teo josephineteo@epl.com.sg Circulation Manager Foo Boon How Circulation Executives Emily Wang Elizabeth Heng Contributors Roger Allnutt, Jakub Alun, Dennis Balangue, Eric R.A. Balinghasay, David Barrie, Angelique Clement, Don-kun, Herve Guignolet, Jason Phillip V. Gutierrez, Louay Habib, Michele Koh, Weiwen Lin, George Lu, Justine Moss, MyWood, Gemma Price, Bernt Rostad, Prince Roy, Amita Sarwal, McKay Savage, Shizhao, Mike Smith, William Soo, Peter Stuckings, Michael Taylor, Dario Tibay, Amy Van, Menaga Vincent, Jenny Yiu Published By EASTERN PUBLISHING PTE LTD (Co. Reg. No.: 200413351W) A fully-owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd
EASTERN HOLDINGS LTD Executive Board Chairman Stephen Tay Group Executive Director Kenneth Tan Financial Controller Robbin Lim Head Office Eastern Holdings Ltd (Co. Reg. No.: 198105390C) EPL Building 1100 Lower Delta Road #04-01 Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 Fax: (65) 6379 2803 E-mail: eastern@singnet.com.sg or FrequentTraveller@epl.com.sg Hong Kong Office: 28/F Soundwill Plaza 38 Russell Street Causeway Bay Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2575 8488 Fax: (852) 2836 5829 MICA (P) No. 231/06/2009 • ISSN: 0219-2071 • PPS 1221/10/2010 (028276)
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guidelines hoteltrend
by Michele Koh | photographs BY Four Seasons Mauritius, KHayangan Estate, Maia Luxury Resort and Spa, Qualia, raintree misibis bay, The Beach House, Soneva Kiri by Six Senses
7
Heavens on Earth
Top seven beachfront resorts to look out for in 2010
When it comes to planning for a short getaway, nothing beats a seaside vacation. Escaping to a tropical beachfront resort is the quickest way to clear your mind, lift your spirits and restore inner balance. Plenty of sunshine, cool sea breezes, sandy beaches and clear blue waters are exactly what the doctor ordered for busy urbanites needing a good break. However, tourist-packed beaches and overcrowded hotels do not paradise make, so we scoped around to find you the latest, most exclusive and luxurious gems located in some of the world’s most beautiful and remote locales.
The Beach House, Maldives
Qualia, Hamilton Island
Loc ation: The Beach House at Manafaru sits at the northernmost tip of the Maldives, in the lagoon-ringed Haa Alifu Atoll. While Manafuru is fringed with pristine powder-white beaches, its interior is dense jungle ripe for exploration. The atoll does not see many tourists and is as yet serene and unpolluted. Upon arrival at Male International Airport, a Beach House representative will meet you and escort you to your domestic transfer, a 45-minute plane-hop, followed by a 45-minute speedboat ride.
Location: In the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, on the northern-most tip of Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, is where you’ll find Qualia. Just off the Queensland coast, the resort can be reached in a few hours by plane from international gateway cities on Australia’s east coast. Its sun-drenched northern aspect presents an ideal location to appreciate the beauty of nature each day, and with the Great Barrier Reef right at its doorstep, Qualia is a destination that offers some of the most stunning and spectacular waters and marine life to be found anywhere in the world.
Accommodation: Maldivian-style thatched roof villas and suites are situated in lush natural surroundings with soft silhouettes and understated elegance. Most rooms come with outdoor bath area with oversized bathtubs and rain showers, private cabanas, sun decks and loungers. There are also water villas that stretch out into the lagoon and are perched over water. These come with infinity-edged pools and glass-panelled floors that allow you to observe the marine life below throughout the day or under the moonlight. Manafaru Island, Haa Alifu Atoll, Republic of Maldives. Tel: 960 650 400; email: pr.maldives@beachhousecollection.com; beachhousecollection.com
Accommodation: Emphasizing harmony and stylish interiors, Qualia’s design is the work of Australian architect Chris Beckingham. Beckingham’s aim was to create a place that stimulates the senses, integrates outdoor and indoor living and combines a unique sense of space, openness, and harmony. Three types of accommodation are available: one-bedroom freestanding Leeward and Windward pavilions that provide an indulgent space to relax in and unwind, with either a sundeck or private infinity edge plunge pool, or the Beach House, a secluded retreat with its own guest pavilion, private full-size pool and breathtaking views. Set amongst native eucalyptus, each pavilion is handcrafted from the finest timber and stone. To complement the natural surroundings are artworks by Dennis Nona and nature-inspired fabric and patterns by Freedman Rembel. Tel: 1300 780 959, 61 2 9433 3349 (international tel); email: reservations@qualia.com.au; qualia.com.au
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Khayangan Estate, Bali Location: Meaning “Seventh Heaven� in Javanese, Khayangan Estate is built high up amidst beautiful gardens on a private cliff on the southwest tip of Bali at the top of the Bukit, an area dubbed the Beverly Hills of Bali, just 30 minutes from the Bali Ngurah Rai International airport. Nestled in the middle of lovely gardens on a 170-metre high cliff, above a white sand beach, Khayangan offers 180-degree panoramic views of the Indian Ocean, access to a three kilometre-long private white sand beach below, and total privacy. Accommodation: The estate consists of two clusters of hundred-year-old traditional, antique, wooden houses from Java that were formerly the homes of noblemen. These six teakwood villas with hand-carved panels and beams are grouped to echo the mood of an ancient Javanese village. Set in a huge garden, and surrounded by beds of yellow flowers, gently swaying palms, shrubs and trees, with the roar of the ocean close by, these villas offer a truly exclusive and unique Balinese beach experience. Bathrooms come with a private water garden, which creates the illusion of a dreamy bathtub floating in a clear pond. Tel: 62 361 847 0808; email: info@khayanganestate.com; khayanganestate.com
Raintree Misibis Bay, Philippines
Maia Luxury Resort & Spa, Seychelles
Location: Just a 30-minute fast-craft ride or an hour’s bus ride along the countryside from Legazpi city will bring you to Misibis Bay, located in Cagraray Island in Albay, Philippines. The lush rural scenery, crystal-clear waters and golden sand beaches makes Misibi Bay a tranquil, delightful haven, where you can get some respite from the hustle and bustle of city living.
Location: This luxurious hideaway is tucked away in Anse Louis—a magnificent, secluded beach in the southwest coast of Mahé. With aquamarine waters, opalescent sands, swaying palms, and lush tropical boundaries, Maia, set within a 30-acre private peninsula and adjacent to the mainland of Mahé, is a convenient paradise.
Accommodation: The 38 guestrooms are designed with large glass windows, high airy ceilings, spacious terraces, sun decks and direct access to the beach or pool. Guests wake up to unobstructed views of the Pacific Ocean amidst lush green forests, hibiscus flowers and other exotic foliage. Each villa is positioned in a five-hectare plot of land so guests have plenty of space and privacy. Misibis Bay Cagraray Island, Albay, Bicol, Philippines. Tel: 683 8222 3306; email: reservations@raintree.misibisbay.com; misibisbay.com
Accommodation: Each of the spacious 250-sqm villas is identical and differentiated only by their location. All villas offer optimum privacy and breathtaking vistas of the private peninsula and Indian Ocean. Villas include an air-conditioned bedroom, an outdoor gazebo with fully equipped pantry, a bar and voluminous day bed, a private infinity pool, concealed glass garden shower, an en-suite bathroom with dual vanities and an enormous outdoor, double sunken bathtub. There’s also a beauty fridge, iPod docking station and flatscreen TV, La Prairie amenities, your personal butler 24/7. Anse Louis Mahé Seychelles, PO Box 722 Mahé Seychelles. Tel: 248 390 000; email: reservations@southernsun.sc; maia.com.sc
Soneva Kiri by Six Senses
Four Seasons Resort, Mauritius at Anahita
Location: Remote but accessible, Soneva Kiri by Six Senses is situated on the island of Koh Kood in the east of Thailand, an area renowned for its crystal clear waters and pure waterfalls. The resort overlooks the Gulf of Thailand and is embraced by lush tropical rainforest and fringed by immaculate beaches. International guests are met on arrival at Bangkok airport and transferred to the resort’s own airplane for the one-hour flight to the Soneva Kiri airfield.
Location: The resort is situated on the island’s unspoiled east coast, along the Anahita Wilderness Sanctuary, which stretches along six kilometres of uninterrupted shoreline. Just a 45-minute drive from the airport, the hideaway of Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita occupies a vast lagoon sheltered by coral-reef barriers—one of the sanctuary’s most brilliant settings.
Accommodation: All of the resort’s 42 pool villas are of environmentally friendly sustainable designs. Villas have infinityedged pools, outdoor showers, espresso machine and Bose Hi-fi systems with docking station for iPods. There is also the option of beach, hill and cliff suites, suites with your own spa and gym, and an eco-villa, built and maintained solely through eco-friendly materials and processes. 110 Moo 4, Koh Kood Sub-District, Koh Kood District, Trat 23000, Thailand. Tel: 66 (0) 3961 9800; email: reservations-kiri@sixsenses.com; sixsenses.com/Soneva-Kiri
Accommodation: The resort offers 123 spacious villas and residence villas. Large windows and doors allow seamless views in all directions—from the serene lagoon to the backdrop of the Bambou Mountains—are overlaid with a sense of peaceful seclusion. All villas are secluded and feature a private landscaped terrace with plunge pool, an open-air bathroom with deep soaking tub and a private exotic outdoor garden shower. Amenities inside include plasma TVs, DVD players, iPod docking stations, wireless Internet connectivity and tea and coffee-making facilities. Beau Champ, Mauritius. Tel: 230 402 3100; room reservations: 230 402 3131; website: fourseasons.com/mauritius
Special Advertising Section
Great food
& simple pleasures Experience the quiet elegance of Keikoku Japanese Restaurant in Hotel Kunlun, where the perfect meal means more than just the food A meal is more than just the sum of its parts. It’s also about the setting and the ambience, the warmth of the service, and the flavour in every bite. It’s a combination that you will find every time at Hotel Kunlun. Boasting 13 restaurants and lounges, Beijing’s Hotel Kunlun features an extensive array of worldwide cuisines prepared by a team of talented chefs not only from around China, but from around the world. Each dining facility is unique in ambience, and second to none in flavour. Enter the world of Keikoku Restaurant. Built with the skill and patience of over 10 carpenters, the meticulous architecture of the restaurant is modelled after an early fishing village in northern Hokkaido. Stepping into Keikoku Restaurant feels like stepping back in time. The restaurant has private tatami rooms, robatayaki and teppanyaki grills that take diners into the world of Japanese cuisine. Adding to the elegant atmosphere is an intricate etching depicting typical village life: villagers transporting fish, children playing in the open. A closer look at the detailed artwork reveals that the village scene is actually an illustration of the restaurant. Each of Keikoku’s dining spaces, enclosed in separate wooden huts, is portrayed in the scene. The unique circular robatayaki grill can be seen off to the side, while pure white stones representing streaming water flow throughout the piece. Elegance and simple sophistication define true Japanese cuisine. Understated yet graceful presentation, uncomplicated yet flavourful dishes, coupled with the restaurant’s incredible architecture, Keikoku Japanese Restaurant offers a unique dining experience that combines aesthetic and gastronomic excellence. This is dining at its best.
HOTEL KUNLUN
2 Xin Yuan Nan Lu Chaoyang District Beijing 100004 People’s Republic of China tel 86 10 6590 3388; fax 86 10 6590 3228/6590 3214; email info@hotelkunlun.com; hotelkunlun.com
guidelines trendsfor2010
by Amita SarwaL | Additional reporting Terrie V. Gutierrez photographs BY AIR ASIA, EASTERN&ORIENT EXPRESS, GENTING HIGHLANDS, NOKIA, SAMSONITE, VERTU, WWF
CRYSTAL-BALL
GAZING We take a look at some of the trends in travel that will shape this year and the next
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Predicting the future never did anyone any favours. Cassandra was reviled by the Greeks because even though her prophesies always came true, her prophesies always came true—often with dire consequences; a case of blaming the messenger, if ever there was one. These days, the practice of prognostication has gotten more respect, especially since with the tools available to us, even a fairly well-informed ordinary joe who gets his information from the news can pretty much predict broad trends in business, economics, politics, and pop culture. It’s all really just a matter of observing and putting a lot of clues together. But for a more knowledgeable analysis, one must consult a futurologist, whose job it is to crunch a large amount of data and come up with cogent analyses of a particular sector. Let’s take the travel industry, for instance. While 2009 has been a trying one for everyone, especially for the financial sector, one of the hardest hit has been the travel industry, as people pinched pennies and opted to postpone vacations or make fewer business trips abroad. On hindsight, it seems that the underlying question should have been not, “Why didn’t anybody see it coming?” but rather, “Why weren’t there louder warnings?” But as 2009 drew to a close, it seems that the situation has taken a turn for the better. While many analysts are still holding their collective breath that the turnaround will hold, many have OPPOSITE PAGE: Travel tends for 2010 predicts a resilience in luxury travel, a resurgence in train travel, more high-tech, high-speed speed gadgets and travel accessories, and a growing concern for the environment, as well as more connection to families
also breathed a sigh of relief that things are looking up. It is this scenario that we’d like to examine. In view of the year’s ghastly turn of economic events and a late-year pickup, which will hopefully continue into the new year, what broad trends can we see for the coming year? We consult one of the leading experts in the field.
Five Factors to Watch Rohit Talwar is a UK-based global futurist, strategist, innovator, and change agent. The CEO of think tank FastFuture is particularly interested in the evolution of fast growth economies such as China and India. His portfolio includes a wide range of multinational corporations and government bodies. We asked Talwar, the travel industry’s leading futurist, on his thoughts on the top global drivers of change and industry trends and concepts that will be hot in the next two years. “Globally, five key factors will have a major impact on the travel industry,” he says. “First, [even with a lightening up of the economic situation], the economic uncertainty will continue, with a double dip recession a real possibility. Major new losses will arise from the banking system and the G6 economies will see their total debt approach 100% of GDP.” But what’s interesting is that Talwar sees two movements that are going to be even more evident this year. “A decoupling will become more evident between the emerging economies of Asia in particular—and the more developed economies of the west,” he says. The second issue Talwar thinks will have a big impact this year, has to do with environmental concerns as even stronger data emerges to highlight the scale
One prediction for 2010 is that the luxury market will prove to be resilient in weathering economic fluctuations
wasn’t as affected as the rest, possibly because the higher the income strata, the more “recession-proof” one becomes. Since there’s also a plethora of options to choose from, those who can afford it, can opt to pick and choose the luxury deal they want to make. “It’s not that our market is not affected,” says an insider who didn’t want to be named. “I think it has more to do with choosing what they want more carefully. So instead of, say, staying two weeks, at a luxe resort, they’ll stay for a week. They won’t lower standards, but they’ll compromise in other ways.”
Ten Key Trends to Anticipate of climate change, biodiversity losses and the resulting risks to health, infrastructure and economies. As of this writing, this issue is becoming even more highlighted given the high-level discussions to finalise the replacement of the Kyoto Protocol still to take place in Copenhagen in December. To be sure, gover nment organisations worldwide, not to mention respective national tourism boards as well as private individual efforts by companies have all been in agreement that there’s a need to prioritise environmental concerns. What seems to be lacking is a more concerted effort to do so, which governments are taking steps to address. “Climate change is a driver of sustainable development, and national tourism organisations need to pay attention to global and European-level policies and programmes that will help them maintain and improve their market share,” says Rob Franklin, Executive Director of the European Travel Commission
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in a joint statement from the WTO, ETC, and Visit Sweden on sustainable tourism. The thi rd key factor according to Talwar will be the increase of political tensions as more countries turn inward and adopt more protectionist measures to help prop up struggling economies. A fourth issue though is something that most advanced economies are grappling with right now. “Another major concern is the ageing of populations. Longevity is a result of medical advances, improved diets and better lifestyles. These together continue to drive up life expectancy while birth rates continue to fall. It is a global phenomenon,” says Talwar. Related to this is the fifth factor: Impacting the travel industry is the luxury markets. This sector will prove resilient and be among the first to recover as economies pull out of the downturn. Indeed, industry insiders report that while everyone was affected by the downturn, the luxury segment
The founder- CEO of Fast Future enumerated the 10 key industry trends and developments that will be the outcome of a combination of these five dynamics.
1. Air Today, Gone Tomorrow. “The airlines globally will lose US$8 billion (B) to US$10B during 2009. Within the next two years, by the end of 2011, we expect to see a further 30 to 40 airline closures and mergers. This will lead to further reductions in schedules a nd f light f requencies — particularly for routes in Europe and the US resulting in the mandatory closure of some airports. Obviously, this in turn would lead to these destinations facing major challenges in attracting sufficient travellers,” avers Talwar.
2. Staycationing. Here he sees nervous consumers, in western economies in particular, continuing to exercise caution in their spending decisions. The middle classes will stay at home in larger numbers
and vacation domestically in their own countries. This may have contributed to the rise of many hotel weekend stay promotions, which are primarily catered to local guests who may want to spend their weekend luxuriating at a nearby hotel instead of planning for a getaway.
3. Asia Known for his penchant for Asia, Talwar is gung-ho about the region benefitting, and points out, “The speed with which Asian economies are recovering from the downturn is highlighting their increasing power and importance. This will see a significant rise in business tourism as foreign firms tour the region in search of partners and opportunities.” Latest findings by the Pacific Asia Travel Association bear this out. Figures show that visitor arrivals for August 2009 slightly went up by 0.5% as against August 2008. However, John Koldowski, Director of PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC), says, “Care needs to be taken in interpreting the latest results as we are entering a period now where the comparative base of last year began its decline. Even mediocre performances now may look good against the backdrop of 2008.”
4. Rail Reborn. There will be a significant rise in people taking vacations by rail. More high-speed trains in Europe and environmental considerat ions w ill see a significant rise in people taking the train to their destinations or choosing rail vacations. It has also helped that many rail companies have improved their services and facilities and in fact can rival cruises in the opulence of their surroundings. There is something to be said about the idea of taking things slowly.
5. Cruise It or Lose It. There will be more variety in cruises and more options and price points to choose from—good news for passengers interested in taking a cruise. This is a result of a recent massive increase in capacity coupled by sluggish demand, particularly in the United States.
6. Mind the Gap He cautions as people of every age group will choose to take more time off—in some cases even as long as a year, half-year or quarter off to do extended travel—possibly combining working opportunities and volunteer work on their journeys. Once a vacation option reserved only for the altruistic college student, “voluntourism” is rapidly spreading beyond college campuses. Increasingly, individuals are yearning for an
experience that appeases both their desire for adventure as well as their social conscience, trading vacations filled with poolside piña coladas for those spent building orphanages in third world countries. Sites like hostelworld.com can re com mend opt ion s for volu ntou r i sm v ac at ion destinations for travellers w it h a pencha nt for t he philanthropic.
7. Free of Fees. “As commissions continue the inevitable slide to zero, agents will find themselves squeezed as they struggle to compete with Internet travel booking services for straightforward t r a ns act ions l i ke a i rl i ne ticketing. Only those who can provide a truly fantastic service will be able to charge their customers a fee for the value-
added. Otherwise they will have to choose between turning the customer away or doing the airline booking for free in the hope of building customer loyalty and then charging the customer fees for other more complex bookings in the future,” the futurist cautions.
8. We Love Grandma. Talwar, too is pleased with the next welcoming inclination which is towards the coming together of the family unit. “This will be the upshot of stresses in the workplace and concerns over job security. Many more parents will choose to stay at home and work while their children take vacations with their grandparents.”
9. Ethnocations. These vacations will emerge from the burgeoning quest for
authenticity—and ethnicity. People will increasingly seek out the opportunity to visit and live with tribal people in their indigenous habitats.
10. The World in Your Hand. “The year 2010 will be when we see an explosion of take-up in the travel applications that are emerging for smartphones such as the Apple iPhone. You will be able to get background information on every cultural site you visit, see videos of how people used to live in ruined cities such as Pompeii, check out what every seat looks like on a particular plane before choosing your favourite seat, swap your home for a vacation, and receive instant personalised offers as you walk past particular shops on the high street.”
guidelines technology
by Lin Weiwen | photographs courtesy of LIN WEIWEN (DR. IAN YEOMAN), LONELY PLANET, SPACE ADVENTURES
Travelling FORWARD
Tourism futurologist, Dr. Ian Yeoman, lets us in on how technology will shape our travel experiences in the future
Stopping in his tracks, a flimsy map in hand, and bewilderment written on his face—the very image of a lost tourist. Yet, in the future, such a sight may become a rarity. “With your PDA or iPhone, maps would be sent to your phone, and you’d have GPS, too, which will tell you which streets to walk to,” says Dr. Ian Yeoman. “There would be no such thing as a lost tourist.” Dr. Yeoman, 44, is an Associate Professor in Tourism Futurology at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is a tourism futurologist. You can say he is something of a clairvoyant, with trends and data serving as his crystal ball. The roots of future studies, or futurology, says Dr. Yeoman, lie in the military, where leaders make pre-emptive decisions for the battlefield. The concept was then applied to academic and business areas. Dr. Yeoman uses studies within the field of tourism, and he’s the only person in the world to specialise in tourism futurology. And speaking of future? It’s now in the present–– with technology leading
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the way. For instance, in the Apple Apps Store, users can download free software for their travels, or for a minimum amount, download apps—like Lonely Planet guidebooks—specific to what they need. Similarly, Nokia’s application, Ovi Maps, has-high resolution satellite and terrain maps—both in 2D and 3D views—3D landmarks for over 200 cities, rotation, tilting, night view, and flyovers and flythroughs. Nokia has also partnered with Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities, as well as a weather service that provides 24-hour and five-day forecasts. Walk from one place to another using WALK, the pedestrian navigation with routing optimised for those on foot, providing better orientation in a city or outdoors. Or use DRIVE, its car navigation with enhanced safety and real-time traffic information such as safety cameras and speed limits, lane assistance and localised road information like signposts, providing the largest service coverage in the world. W i t h t h e I nt e r n e t b e c o m i n g indispensable, interactivity and efficiency have become keywords for today’s Net
savvy traveller. With the sheer amount of travel resources available on cyberspace, consumers are becoming their own travel agents—picking where they want to go, which hotels and airlines they want to patronise, based on the budgets that they have. It seems like the demise of travel agencies may only be a matter of time. But, Dr. Yeoman doesn’t believe so. “Yes, there’s plenty of information on the Internet, but they aren’t really a key decider on where to go,” he says. “The information is there for info-search, to reinforce decisions. “This is why more national tourism organisations are moving their content online, to allow for interactivity and more informed decisions for the traveller.” On the other hand, travel agencies usi ng technolog y to d ict ate t hei r telecommunication style may find themselves short-changed on customer satisfaction. “Some travel agencies have moved to a phone system, where you press ‘1’ for Asia and press ‘2’ for Europe, and so on. But people don’t like that system; you’d want
In the future, our phones will be smarter than us, as more and more data and applications are adapted for our mobile devices
to speak to a real person,” he explains. “There may be fewer travel agencies in the future, but there’ll still be a demand for it, especially for those providing niche services. As purchasing travel services on the Internet go up, travel agencies may start turning into a kind of advisory service.” Dr. Yeoman thinks value or economy hotels, which provide good comfort at reasonable prices, are expected to grow as “today’s traveller is willing to ‘trade down’ on luxury, as long as the accommodation is functional,” with modern features such as “HDTV and other modern gadgets.” “In Europe, we are seeing more affordable travel lodges moving up into the cities,” he adds. Advanced mobile pods or tents—built in a factory and which can be transported to their intended destination—may also surface as a unique accommodation of the future.
“These advanced pods or tents will be located at festivals or events. So if I go to an event for a few days and need good, affordable accommodation, I’d stay at a pod,” he says. In-room features and services would become more personalised. A bed in a hotel room, equipped with nanotechnology, may even make a decision on the firmness of its mattress by calculating the “guest’s body weight and density.” Room service will have “bespoke” as its middle name: upon check-in, all your dietary requirements or requests are stored in your guest’s profile. Dial room service and the person who answers is your “nutritional adviser,” who helps to shape your meals according to your needs. “It’s all about having innovation in a modern type of environment,” stresses Dr. Yeoman, on the attractive hotels of the future.
BLAST OFF
FANCY A TRIP INTO SPACE? IF YOU CAN AFFORD US$102,000, A SEAT ONBOARD A SUBORBITAL SPACE FLIGHT BY SPACE ADVENTURES IS YOURS. THE FLIGHT TAKES YOU TO AN ALTITUDE OF 100KM ABOVE EARTH, WHERE SPACE BEGINS “The suborbital flight market is still niche. It targets those with an interest in space or astronomy, like those who’d prefer a space flight instead of doing a round-the-world cruise,” says Dr. Yeoman. “In 2011, the suborbital space market will still be for the elite of society. But after a few years, the price will start to fall, and the flights would become more accessible. It’d mirror what happened in the aviation industry when it first began. “The market will grow but it will still be the most expensive product in the world. One day, suborbital flights will become a day-tripper activity.”
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guidelines management
by Eric R.A. Balinghasay | photographs courtesy of Outward Bound Singapore
Executive training programmes in recent years have gone beyond learning the ins and outs of the boardroom. You’ll need to know how to survive in the wilds as well
MAIN PHOTO: The OBS campus with The Indiana on the left; INSET: Participants attempt the Inverse Tower
Do you know that there is an actual life-sized galleon ship built and located in Singapore? One that would be more commonplace on the set of Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie or on the reality TV show Survivor? The Indiana as this galleon ship is called, is one of the specially-made challenges for people who sign up at Singapore’s Outward Bound, the worldwide learning organisation that aims to inspire character development and self-awareness through carefully planned and facilitated activities in the great outdoors. Outward Bound Singapore or OBS has two
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Corporate BOOTCAMP facility centres in the country: one in East Coast Park, the other one on Palau Ubin.
In Good Company OBS was first established in 1967 by Dr Goh Keng Swee, who was then Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association, a government body tasked to foster social harmony and cohesion for nation-building. OB S w a s to supp or t t he government’s call to “create a rugged society—one that would be able to withstand the rigours of this sudden nationhood” of Singapore, recently separated from Malaysia. Today, OBS offers leadership
and team-building programmes to corporate professionals, learning experiences beyond textbooks and classrooms to the youth, and outdoor skills development and review for outdoor enthusiasts. OBS’ key difference with other training providers is their use of the outdoors in their learning sessions as they believe “nature in itself is highly dynamic and challenging for many, providing excellent opportunities for individual and team development.” So most of their programmes happen in the waters, forests, fields and outdoor areas of their campuses.
Some of the top companies in the country, have been sending all or selected members of their organisation to experience Outward Bound for many years. Examples are all the pilots-in-training for one of the top airlines in the world, the high potential managers of a multi awarded advertising agency, and 75% of secondary level students of Singapore’s national schools.
Teamwork C u r iou s a s t o w h a t t he programme entailed, I wrangled an invitation to its Pulau Ubin campus. Inside the OBS gym, a batch of students from an
international MBA programme were on a “getting to know each other” one-day session to start off their rigorous and stressful first year of graduate studies. They probably didn’t expect that rigour and stress to begin on this “ice breaker” day: One of them was climbing a 12-metre high wall that’s angled close to 90 degrees—while blindfolded. On the other side of the gym, a pair was doing the “DoubleDangle - Duo,” attempt ing to climb a very large rope ladder attached to the gym’s ceiling—the space between rungs about 3.5 metres apart. One of them was only a little taller than five feet so I couldn’t imagine how they would do it. When they successfully did (hurrah!), they described the experience as realisation of “the possibility of achieving what seems un-achievable when we do it together!”
Outside the gym, is the 18-meter high Inverse Tower, which looks like a very tall upside down lifeguard chair. Each side of the tower is made up of wooden beams, pillars, ropes, and hanging ladders from top to bottom. Pairs of participants are tasked to scale this structure and aim to reach the top. And although climbing solo may be possible for extremely strong and tall participants, it is easier to reach the top if the team members work together by physically complementing each other’s strengths, communicating clearly, and inspiring each other when they get scared or feel ready to give up. Another amazing creation is the Peak Ascent, which was designed with Alpine climbing in mind. The tallest structure in OBS, its parts are movable, which participants find out as
they struggle to climb, doubling the difficulty of the challenge. In fact, some sections actually need to be moved for participants to ascend to the next level. The team of four must balance their strengths, weaknesses and body weight constantly.
Hanging On The Indiana, the first thing you see as you approach the OBS Ubin campus by sea, was modelled after the ship of Sir Stamford Raff les when he landed in Singapore. Fascinated, I took a closer look at the ship and found many types of rope challenges all around the ship—all of t hem requ i r i ng ext reme balancing skills and what some may describe as foolhardy courage! The toughest part of this challenge? “Setting up the sail of the ship,” says my OBS guide. Teams
can only do so if members hang on or balance themselves on the highest horizontal beams of the ship (at least six metres high) located at different ship sections—and then all individuals releasing the sail at the same time. I spent the rest of the a fter noon v iew i ng a nd marvelling at the rest of OBS specially created challenges. As I imagined the participants hu f f ing and pu f f ing and struggling while going through them, I’m wondering whether I can actually do this if given the chance. As I passed by the gym again, a prominently displayed OBS statement caught my eye: “You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Words to live by next time I visit the OBS campus—and maybe then, I’ll go hang on one of the ropes of The Indiana myself.
guidelines hoteltrend
by LIN WEIWEN | photographs courtesy of ibis hotels, Golden Tulip Hotel Group
ECONOMY CLASS Two international economy hotel chains are making their presence felt in Asia. We look at the other end of the spectrum and examine what drives their expansion and what do they offer
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The face of travel in asia has changed in recent years. The Internet empowered travellers to choose their hotels, pick the best deals and read what other guests have to say about their experience, prompting travel agents to ponder about the fate of their jobs. Then, lowcost carriers flew into the region, making budget-conscious travellers smile. The thriving travel scene has given rise to a plethora of accommodations that range from the ultra-luxe to the budget-friendly, which, unlike the budget hotels of yore, are actually pretty good. Asia’s travel scene never looked so good. Cleanliness, safety, shopping and great food—Singapore is on the checklist of most travellers when they visit Southeast Asia. But the affluent city-state isn’t known to be lenient on wallets, especially on accommodation. However, a recent development in the city’s hotel scene may soon ease things. Accor Asia Pacific, which manages Ibis hotels in Asia, opened its first Ibis Singapore in February this year. Located on Bencoolen Street, the S$145 million, 538-room hotel is the economy hotel chain’s largest branch outside Europe. “Singapore has built a reputation for being the low-cost carrier hub of the Asia Pacific, yet it doesn’t have a similarly welldeveloped economy hotel sector,” notes Michael Issenberg, CEO and chairman of Accor Asia Pacific. “Ibis is the first internationally-branded economy hotel to open in Singapore, and despite the economic crisis, the hotel opened to immediate occupancies of around 80%, highlighting the need for this type of accommodation.” Economy hotels are hotels that provide most of the fundamentals their higher-end competitors have — at a more wallet-friendly price. Ibis hotels, for example, don’t offer the space and the butler and spa services that five-star hotels offer, but concentrate on providing what Issenberg succinctly puts as “what guests really need,” such as great beds, functional bathrooms, cable TV, coffee- and tea-making facilities, a good working desk, and a safe. “Our location close to so many tourist
attractions has made it very popular with tourists. Eventually, we’ll see the percentage of corporate travellers growing,” says Issenberg, on Ibis Singapore. The blueprint for a second Ibis in Singapore is already drawn up: a 241-room branch will open in Novena in 2011. China, India, Indonesia, and Thailand also figure in Accor Asia Pacific’s expansion plans. “Asia is a key area of expansion for the Ibis brand,” says Issenberg, adding, “The majority of Ibis’ global expansion over the next five years will happen in Asia.”
Checking Into the Asian Market Accor Asia-Pacific isn’t the only international player rolling out its carpets into the Asian economy hotel scene: Golden Tulip Southeast Asia, a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, will plant 40 new hotels across Asia in the next four years. Dominating its expansion initiative are its economy business hotels, known as Tulip Inn, which will open in Thailand and Singapore, as well as Vietnam, Phnom Penh, and Laos. Its first Tulip Inn will open in Bangkok in mid 2010, and will be a 250-room hotel. Notwithstanding the current lacklustre economy, Asia’s northward economic journey over the years has encouraged these international hotel brands to explore the region’s potential. “The ability for people to travel domestically, regionally and internationally for historically low rates [from low-cost carriers] has led to a rise in demand for hotel products that reflect this trend,” says Issenberg. “The growth of Ibis and other economy hotel brands is really addressing a major void in the Asian market.” Mark van Ogtrop, manager director of Golden Tulip Southeast Asia, is optimistic for the health of economy hotels in Asia: “With expected GDP growth, the number of Asian travellers will rise significantly in Asia—and much stronger than in any other continent. There are not that many economy hotel brands entering the market yet. There will surely be competition, but there is room for more economy hotel brands.” What kind of profile do customers of economy hotels fall into? Ibis targets those who do not want to pay for the extra services provided in “upscale hotels that they don’t use.” Tulip Inn’s targeted customers are leisure travellers and executives from lower
or middle management, who use the Internet to make hotel reservations.
Economic Deals To turn more heads their way, Ibis Singapore offers free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. “That’s what business travellers really want,” says Issenberg, “whereas many upscale hotels still charge for it.” Golden Tulip Southeast Asia will offer their own unique product in their hotel rooms, known as “Me and My Room”, an integrated IT-driven offer of music, Internet, TV, video and games—a feature that van Ogtrop says, “no other brand has at present.” As with most international hotel chains, consistency is an effective way to place your brand on a higher pedestal during the competition. “What has changed in the past decade is that the three-star sector was notoriously variable. You could get a good hotel, but for the same price just down the road, you could get a terrible one, too,” says Issenberg. “What Ibis has done is to take the unpredictability out of the sector—you know almost exactly what you are going to get, irrespective of whether it is in London, Singapore, Bangkok or Sydney.” Van Ogtrop believes that once more economy hotels gain more traction in the Asian market, more travellers will go for such accommodation, as the “products will improve and the price to quality ratio will be very attractive.” The economies of costlier Asian
OPPOSITE PAGE MAIN, INSET: Facade of Ibis Bencoolen, the economy hotel that’s standardising—and, dare we say, improving—the status of economy hotels in Asia. THIS PAGE: Tulip Inn is also making inroads in this part of the world. The pool at Golden Tulip Panda Hotel Kowloon
destinations such as Singapore would also stand to gain from the presence of economy hotels. “For many years, Singapore has been gaining a reputation as being a costly destination. And with so many other cities ramping up their marketing, Singapore could have lost its market share in the business and leisure markets,” explains Issenberg. “With Ibis Singapore, travellers can now stay at a quality, consistent, economy hotel.” Raihan Abdullah, vice-principal of Institute of Lodging at Shatec Institutes, a Singapore-based tourism and hospitality education provider, feels that economy hoteliers should also “think of creative ways of marketing their rooms during low and shoulder seasons” and “continue exploring business travellers who are more price-conscious.” “Customer needs and wants change over time,” she adds. “Hoteliers must remember that as with any tourism experience, it is personal; a marriage between expectations, actual encounters and memories. Tailoring services to customer needs and local market conditions will remain essential.”
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corphub hochiminhcity
text by Gemma Price | Photography by Dario Bunyi Tibay
Around the world, weekly news reports list more bankrupt companies begging for government bailouts, and international tabloids continue to run gloomy headlines detailing the latest rise in unemployment figures. Those that still have jobs are cutting back, and businesses around the world are tightening their belts to survive the lean times ahead. But in Vietnam, life goes on as usual, and many businesses here agree they’re faring much better during the economic downturn than their counterparts in other countries. On the street, there is no discernable fear for jobs or the economy—rather, Vietnam remains upbeat about the future, and recent surveys have indicated that Vietnam is one of the most optimistic countries in Asia.
GOOD
Vibrations Vietnam—one of Asia’s fastest developing nations is also the most optimistic, and they have good reasons to be
The Benefits of Positive Thinking In its Pink Pages a guide to Vietnam’s changing business dynamics, released in January 2009, Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) reports that 97% of Vietnamese are upbeat about their prospects for the future, with 70% believing that their standards of living would improve over the next 10 months. HSBC’s semiannual Asia-Pacific Small Business Confidence Monitor, conducted in the final quarter of 2008 to gauge the confidence of key decision makers in Vietnam’s small businesses, revealed a similar trend. Of the three hundred participating Vietnam SMEs—defined as companies with an annual turnover of less than US$10million—the majority expected the economy to remain stable or expand in the first half of 2009, with many companies planning to maintain or increase capital expenditure and recruitment for the forthcoming year. Most SMEs in Vietnam 20 |
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: View of Ho Chi Minh City from New World Hotel; Binh Tay Market; colourful handicrafts display at a factory; a typical sight –– motorcycle madness on the city streets
also said they would retain their staff: 55% said that they would maintain their current recruitment level, while 40% said their recruitment would increase. Forty-four percent expected local economic growth to increase, with 30% believing the economy would strengthen by over 4%. Six months earlier, only 21% of SMEs said the same. Almost one half expected trade with mainland China to increase. But why is Vietnam’s mood so buoyant? And is this optimism misplaced? “Although 2008 was a very disconcerting year, Vietnam SMEs’ confidence score is still amongst the highest in 10 countries/territories surveyed in the region,” said Huynh Buu Quang, head of
Commercial Banking for HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. “These businesses believe, as does HSBC, that Vietnam’s long-term prospects are fundamentally strong—its young dynamic workforce, stable pro-business government, excellent regional position and the growing force of Vietnamese consumers give it a keen advantage.”
Modern Times Looking at Vietnam’s substantial growth over the last few years, it’s clear to see that the Vietnamese are riding high on a development wave. For several years, Vietnam achieved gross domestic product (GDP) growth of over 7% annually, reaching a high of 8.5% in 2007. That figure dipped in 2008, but the economy still recorded growth of 6.23%. Such
economic growth is spectacular, even by Asian standards, and Vietnam’s GDP growth has only been exceeded by that of Cambodia and China during the past six years. The United Nations listed Vietnam among top 10 nations with the highest foreign direct investments (FDI) nations for 2008. From 192 transnational corporations surveyed, 11% said Vietnam was their most attractive investment opportunity in the coming years. In the last six years, investment in Vietnam has increased more than fivefold, from US$2.5 billion (B) in 2002 to US$20.3B in 2007, and newspaper Saigon Times reported that FDI tripled again to reach US$64B in 2008. The UN World Investment Report 2009, announced on September 17 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNTAC), included Vietnam among a number of Southeast Asian countries able to maintain growth in FDI in 2009 despite the global economic slump. Vietnam’s registered FDI funds for 2009 was estimated at around US$20B—a 70% slump from 2008—but early signs indicate that Vietnam could see a 10% rise in next year’s registered FDI and disbursed funds (VOV News). Most of the investment has been within the industrial and construction industries, and Ho Chi Minh City residents can see the tangible effects of this funding in their constantly changing cityscape—slick new sky scrapers are being erected almost overnight, shopping malls are expanding, and taking motorbike pleasure drives over newly completed bridges spanning the Saigon River has become a popular past time.
Positive Forces… A number of forces are driving the economic transformation of this emerging Asian Tiger.
In 1986, 11 years after the traumatic 1975 reunification of North and South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War, GDP growth was at best 3%, matched by inflation at 400%. Then the new doi moi economic reforms in the late 1980s and early 1990s opened up domestic trade, gave greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises, passed a new foreign investment law, and granted land-use rights to local people, as well as to foreign investors. Market reforms eased controls on prices, currency exchange, banking, private enterprise, and land tenure. The US embargo was lifted in 1994, and since then Vietnam has embraced globalisation through its membership in AFTA (1995), APEC (1998), the US Bilateral Trade Agreement (2001), and WTO in 2007. The country will remain classified as a non-market economy for 12 years, but quotafree access to world markets is now guaranteed by its WTO status. New investment and enterprise laws also represent a massive leap forward—foreigners and locals are treated equally, with simpler investment procedures, no more stipulations about export or production and a level playing field in terms of resource pricing. Socialist by name but capitalist by nature, Vietnam is well positioned to continue to grow in the future, with an estimated GDP of US$91.8B—barely 2.5% that of China and only 30% of Thailand (TNS). Vietnam’s demographic profile is also strong. It is Asia’s second-fastest growing country, has its second youngest population. Of its 87.2 million people, Vietnam’s labour force accounts for over 45 million, and this figure grows by 2.5% annually. The under 25s now represents 50% of the total, with 30% under 15 years of age. As China’s new entrant workforce availability is set to www.frequenttraveller.com.sg |
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Is Vietnam Asia’s new economic dragon? Economic figures–– and its citizens’ can-do attitude––seem to indicate so
decline, Vietnam’s will continue to increase. Vietnam’s youngsters are particularly positive about their prospects—having never experienced war, their focus is not on past history, but on the future and how they can succeed and create a better life. Passionate and patriotic, they celebrate every triumph. When Vietnam’s football team beat Thailand in the ASEAN Football Championship in 2008, Ho Chi Minh City’s streets were jammed with motorbikes all night as youngsters cruised up and down the boulevards, singing victorious songs and waving the national flag. (According to world value survey data for 2006, TNS noted that Vietnam has the second highest average score amongst 10 Asian nations when it comes to national pride.) Vietnam’s vivacious youth is characterised by a respect for their elders, humility, and resourcefulness, and appreciate that education and hard work is the route to success. However, the shortfall between supply and demand of skilled labour is Vietnam’s Achilles heel, and the current lack of white-collar workers is forcing companies to look overseas for expatriate staff. Currently only 4% of the work force has a university qualification, with technically skilled workers accounting for 21%, although things are changing. Literacy generally is 22 |
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high at 90.3%, well above the Asian average of 82.5%, and 2006 saw an enormous increase in high school students taking entrance exams, with one million students competing for one of 250,000 available places. Eighty-three percent of higher education graduates are gaining science-based qualifications, including more than 80,000 IT graduates annually, growing at 10%(TNS). Rural agricultural sector represented 90% of employment in 1990 and still accounted for 57% of total workforce in 2005, but migration from rural Vietnam to urban areas is high at 73%. Half of urban society is categorised as middle class, with 40% classed as entrepreneurs or business managers. Many consumers are eager to upgrade their lives, whether it be buying better products and services, or fulfilling previously unattainable aspirations. This means housing, transportation, communications and other infrastructure and consumerism is going to experience record growth, and Vietnam’s FMCG growth already leads Asia at 20% year-on-year (compared with China’s 11%). Most-wanted items include flatscreen televisions, DVDs, PCs, mobile phones, and holidays abroad; as happiness and wellbeing are key concerns of urban Vietnamese, spending money for entertainment has become a habit. Four million indulged
in spa treatments, travel and other forms of leisure and entertainment in 2005, and the number of pleasure seekers is growing at 15% a year. Luxury shops have also moved into Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi’s retail scene, and although most of the population cannot afford the latest Vuitton briefcase or Roberto Cavalli cocktail dress, TNS predicts the number of elite affluent will double or triple in the next decade. With such a fast and dramatic increase in their quality of life and ability to achieve their goals, it’s easy to understand why Vietnamese people feel optimistic that this trend will continue in the future.
…vs. Negative Factors But there are still many constraints to growth. Inflation is a key concern for the Vietnamese government, and in 2007 the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shot up a worrying 12.6%—the highest CPI rate across all Asia Pacific countries—with inflation remaining in double digits until August 2008. Several structural factors, externals (sharp increase of worldwide food and raw material costs) as well as internals (monetary issues and worldwide trade deficit), are the root cause of the fast price upsurge and the slight economic growth slowdown. The prevalence of state enterprises is another limiting factor. Although the number of state-owned enterprises has fallen from 12,000 to around 2,200, they represent 31% of Vietnam’s GDP. Of these, a quarter will be retained with no intention to invite tender from private investors. State sector priority for financing is also a problem, as the state owns 70% of all lending. Development of Vietnam’s transport network is critical— only a third of Vietnam’s 130,000 kilometres of roads are paved.
The country’s key north-south highway is under reconstruction, but a massive secondary road system is required to reach all parts of the country. Vietnam’s rail system also needs extensive renovation and expansion. The government has committed 10% of annual GDP to infrastructure, but some argue this is not enough to sustain requirements. Telecommunications is one of the fastest developing industries and market penetration is expected to reach high levels, even saturation point, by 2010. Internet growth is pegged at 35% every year, and, once again, Vietnamese people are optimistic about future improvements, with 78% polled in 2007 expecting telecommunications to improve on the previous year (TNS).
Their Moment Like any developing nation, Vietnam has a number of obstacles to overcome on the path to progress, but its prodevelopment government and a population eager for change means that Vietnam is definitely on the way up. As its newly emerging economy has not had time to become dependent on its Western counterparts, it has been buffered somewhat from the effects of the economic crisis, allowing companies to focus on growth rather than stagnation. Despite low ratings of transparency or “ease of doing business,” investors seem to be happy of their returns, and high economic growth averaging 7.4%, political stability, developing capital markets, deregulation, rapid urbanisation, low labour costs and a young population offer attractive opportunities to foreign and domestic investors. After many years of hardship and in the face of the global slowdown, most Vietnamese people believe this is their time to shine.
corphub philippines
text by Jason Phillip V. Gutierrez | Photography by Dennis Balangue and Jason Gutierrez
Sunny horizon LOOKING TOWARD A
As the Philippines recovers from devastating floods and the effects of back-to-back typhoons, it gears up for the coming 2010 national elections. What to expect from this never-a-dullmoment country next year As many big economies faltered during the global financial crisis the past two years, the Philippines was lauded as a beacon of hope for many multinational companies looking for alternative safe havens to park their funds. Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in particular have been flocking to this Southeast Asian nation to take advantage of its large American English-speaking workforce and generous perks offered by the government, including tax holidays. Indeed, while its neighbours struggled during the crisis, the Philippines ambled along, protected by prudent fiscal policy put in place after lessons learned in the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and helped in no small way by millions in annual dollar remittances by its more than eight million expatriate workforce that has helped induce local spending and seen the growth of a large middle-class. But back-to-back devastating typhoons that battered the archipelago since late September, ravaging large swathes of agricultural land and causing
The Philippines has nowhere to go but up
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massive infrastructure damage, may set back gains and cut growth forecasts for the year. The country too is politically polarised as it prepares for crucial presidential elections in May 2010 while battling decades-old Communist and Muslim insurgencies that have taken their toll on the national budget, and the collective psyche of this mostly Roman Catholic country.
Back-to-Back Disasters Tr o p i c a l s t o r m K e t s a n a
helicopters to pluck those trapped on rooftops to safety. The world watched as rescuers struggled, and government’s disaster response mechanism was pushed to its limit. Exactly a week later, and still reeling from Ketsana, “super typhoon” Parma blew in from the Pacific Ocean. It lashed northern Luzon island, bringing heavy rains that flooded the country’s rice bowl. The typhoon was later downgraded into a tropical storm, exited, but came back to hover for a week. Heavily
supply shortage next year. A third typhoon, Lupit, spared the country in late October, providing respite for a stormbattered country, but a fourth one, typhoon Mirinae brought more misery on October 31. Altogether, the typhoons have left nearly 1,200 dead and impacted over eight million people. While many have returned to their partly submerged homes, tens of thousands remain crammed in evacuation camps where water and sanitation have become
international community had fallen significantly short. With tens of millions of dollars to be spent on repairing roads, bridges, schools and other vital infrastructure, government says its budget deficit this year could widen to $6.4 billion (B), significantly up than previously expected before the storms hit and further setting back Manila’s hope of balancing its books by 2010. Economic growth could also fall between 0.4% and 1.4% this year, from an earlier forecast of only between 0.8%
Scenes of hope and despair: A mother gives birth at one of the evacuation centres; a father and daughter make their way through a flooded Manila suburb
slammed into the Philippines on September 26, bringing a month’s worth of rain in just several hours and triggering heavy flooding in Manila and surrounding suburban areas not seen in over 40 years. The apocalyptic scenes of destruction saw luxury cars being washed away along roads transformed into rampaging rapids in Manila’s wealthy gated enclaves and entire shantytowns along river banks erased from the map. About 80% of Manila was covered in water, some as high as 20 metres, forcing government to deploy rubber boats and 24 |
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soaked slopes triggered deadly landslides in the picturesque northern mountain provinces, while authorities were forced to release millions of cubic feet of water from near-bursting dams, causing flash-floods in heavily urbanised towns and cities. In one town in Pangasinan province, water submerged a mall owned by one of Asia’s billionaire tycoons, Henry Sy. Entire farmlands pregnant with rice primed for harvest were covered in deep brown waters, causing heavy damage that may force the Philippines to import more to address a potential
major problems. An outbreak of leptospirosis has also claimed nearly 200 lives, and weeks after the first storm left, large parts of Manila’s eastern and southern areas, particularly those along major reservoirs, remain flooded and likely will remain so into next year, authorities said. “This crisis is no means over. In some ways, the hard work is just starting,” the United Nations’ (UN) humanitarian chief, Sir John Holmes, said in a recent assessment visit to Manila, as he acknowledged that a UN “flash appeal” intended to raise $74 million (M) in aid from the
and 1.8%. Damage to agriculture has been placed at over $480M, an initial assessment that only includes the current crop season and not projecting the long-term damage to the country’s farm sector. The typhoons too exposed Manila’s poor urban planning that had allowed the mushrooming of shantytowns along river banks, floodways around Laguna de Bay— which includes communities in southern and eastern Manila—a decision that could have longterm political repercussions as
the election nears. “This goal (of balancing the budget) proved unattainable when the country had to pump prime the economy in the face of the global economic meltdown that drove its major trading partners such as the United States and Japan into recession last year,” presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde recently told reporters, noting that the reconstruction costs were expected to “aggravate the situation.”
Political Drama Ahead As the Philippines slowly recovers, the political intramurals to the crucial May 10, 2010 vote is distracting the public from work still needed to be done. Amid the early campaigning, crime has been on the rise and peace talks with Communist and Muslim insurgents remain hanging—no group wants to talk to an administration only months away from ending and whose mandate has in the first place been marred by allegations of massive cheating and corruption in the previous polls six years earlier. President Gloria Arroyo won the 2004 elections in a highly questionable manner. She had already served the remaining three years of her ousted predecessor Joseph Estrada, who was removed in a military-backed public uprising in 2001. Arroyo promised change, but ended up being mired in allegations of corruption herself, including an anomalous multimillion dollar contract for a major Chinese telecoms firm for a national broadband network that involved her husband. And just shortly after she won by less than a million votes, she was forced to publicly apologise and admitted she called an elections commissioner while the votes were being counted, even as she denied she influenced the official to rig the votes.
Before stepping down next year, Arroyo would have already served 10 years, the longest since dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose brutal regime was ousted by a revolt in 1986 similar to the one Arroyo helped lead against Estrada 15 years later. The comparison does not end there, various polls show Arroyo has become the most unpopular president since Marcos, who died in exile in Hawaii three years after he was ousted. Perhaps Arroyo’s biggest mistake is to pardon and release the highly popular Estrada shortly after he was convicted of massive corruption in 2007 after a marathon trial that stretched for six years. The former movie-action star Estrada, once dismissed as a caricature by Arroyo, is now back and enjoying strong public support. In movieinspired fashion, Estrada has announced he will contest the presidency next year to reclaim what he says is rightfully his after he was “usurped” by Arroyo in a conspiracy with the elite and the politically influential Roman Catholic Church. “I was also a flood victim,” he told supporters when he announced his candidacy on a muggy October night in Tondo, an impoverished Manila district and the setting of many of his movies. “I was convicted based on a flood of lies unleashed by the elite and those who are hungry for power.” At 72 and a known heavy drinker, Estrada still finds time to make personal appearances on television and has been making the rounds of early political debates where he delivers scripted sound bites. At a recent forum with foreign correspondents, Estrada played the populist card, saying he will do away with the peace talks and launch an all-out war against insurgent groups to bring peace, legalise small-time illegal lotteries and gambling,
and curb the high population growth rate by backing artificial birth control because many street children could become “future prostitutes and criminals.” An Estrada run, while it may excite his loyal supporters and add colour to drab elections, could however dilute opposition efforts to oust Arroyo’s ruling coalition to be headlined by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who is banking on his massive media exposure as government’s disaster pointman. It may also take away votes from Benigno Aquino, the son of democracy icon Corazon Aquino whose death in August saw a massive outpouring of support for the son who now seeks to follow in his mother’s footsteps. “Estrada will diminish the votes for the others (opposition candidates) in a field of several candidates,” said political analyst Ben Lim. “But what is certain is that it will make politics exciting and entertaining.” The likely four-way fight also includes billionaire property developer, senator Manuel Villar, whose massive political machinery has seen him quietly build up support over the past two years.
Light at the End of the Tunnel? Amid the distracting political circus and the massive reconstruction work ahead, the Philippines can bank on its highly resilient population to rise above the muddy flood waters and survive to bring back the tropical fiesta atmosphere. A collective sense of perseverance cloaked by its tremendous faith in God as a Catholic nation are traits that help the Filipinos surmount any challenge. Indeed, as the UN struggled to raise funds for flood victims, Filipino expatriates abroad rallied help, sending in millions of dollars, tons of food and clothes through various fund drives.
“The Lord works in mysterious ways, but we are still here. We are alive, still. There is plenty of hope,” said Merly Azarcon, 58, a manicurist and mother of eight as she hammered into place a metal sheet salvaged from the nearby garbage dump to reinforce the family’s tiny shack at a Manila slum. International groups such as the World Bank too say that economically, despite the storms, Manila remains on track for future growth. And if the next administration sticks to the fiscal policies that Arroyo ironically put in place, the country is well on its way to recovering its spot as a major economy in Southeast Asia, a distinction it once enjoyed in the 1960s. Another reason for optimism is that the storms largely spared the countr y’s vital exports industry. Factories churning out electronic products, which account for half of the country’s exports, were not badly affected. Meanwhile, economic planners say now is also a good time to entice investors to other growth zones in the central Visayas and southern Mindanao regions as alternative areas for business. While a Muslim rebellion still rages in some parts of Mindanao, many businesses have been sprouting there over the past years, taking advantage of its rich natural resources and a large pool of manpower. “If there is one fact that the president’s detractors could not probably argue with, it is her determination to bring fiscal stability to the country to enliven the economy, even at the expense of her popularity. It has also been her intention to leave a legacy of fiscal prudence and order,” said Arroyo’s spokesman, Remonde. “As you can see, the future is not as bleak as some of our detractors paint it. Together, we can definitely make it brighter,” Remonde said. www.frequenttraveller.com.sg |
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EXECUTIVE FLOORS
Sheraton Taipei’s Club Lounge (left) and exemplary butler service
Floored by
SUCCESS
For matchless convenience, painless presentations, and intense power huddles, executive floors give value-formoney for the businessman who wants to stay on top of his game, says MICHELE KOH
I Elegant meeting area at The Garden Hotel Guangzhou
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t’s a very select group: Those who are frequently on the road for business. Despite the modern conveniences of fancy cars, and even better airline seating, travelling for business is not the same as any other kind of trip. It’s more gruelling for one. Time is usually the enemy, as businessmen hop from one meeting to the next, and go from on city to the next. Executives on the road often need to maximise their time and turn over results in a jiffy. Being away from the office means that they will need to re-orientate themselves quickly in a new environment and put on their work hat right away. Therefore, convenience is a much-valued commodity
for business travellers, who are always looking for ways to make closing a deal easier—from shaving even a sliver of time commuting from one venue to the next to having the mod-cons of a temporary office at their beck and call. Often, businessmen will look for hotels that can give them all these—great accommodation to make sleeping on a strange bed easier, an area where they can hold meetings, have a bite to eat, grab some coffee, peruse newspapers, dash off a quick email or make phone calls… Because the nature of business travel is often hectic, with schedules packed full with meetings, relaxation time, good meals, physical fitness, friendly service and quality sleep are crucial. To be an effective business traveller—
Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees
Executive Suite, Alila Jakarta
meaning one who can come into a city, clinch the deal, and leave—one has to bring his A Game all the time. Inconveniences such as not getting enough sleep or having to forgo a meal because he needs to rush off to a meeting can affect performance—which is why the choice of hotel is important; and not only the choice of hotel, but which floor in a hotel. The last thing a busy executive needs from a hotel is children running down the corridors, or a party next door, a lumpy bed, a phone that won’t connect to the party he’s calling, slow Internet connection, and crappy room service. This is why executive and club floors exist. These exclusive floors cater specially to working travellers who are in the city on a mission. For travellers who view time as money, the added cost of staying at an executive or a room is money well spent as it gives them more leeway to do business. Rooms on executive floors are often bigger and designed with unique features and amenities to help business travellers get into the “pro” zone, and perhaps even inspire and motivate them to work better than they would back in the office. Being on the same floor as other working travellers helps too, as fellow guests who are also in work mode tend to be less rowdy and noisy than a group of vacationers. Hotels also understand that business travel can be a lonely and alienating experience. A lot of executives travel solo for extended periods and the lack of conversation and face-to-face human interaction can cause some to go a little batty. This is where the lounge on the executive floor comes in handy. Often equipped with a television with live news broadcasts, newspapers, the latest business, current affair and lifestyle magazines, a buffet table and a bar, the lounge is the nucleus of the executive floor, a pseudo living room space within the executive floor where business travellers can hold small meetings, socialise with guests like themselves, or unwind with a drink that affords a little peace and privacy than the hotel lobby lounge. Given all these considerations, which hotels have the best executive floors? That’s a question that doesn’t have an easy answer, as different people have different needs. However, take note: The following hotels have been recommended by in-theknow businessmen. As one of them put it, “[They] know what we need, at a price
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EXECUTIVE FLOORS
we’re willing to pay.” There’s no better recommendation.
Sheraton, Taipei Rooms: All rooms offer city views, are furnished in a modern Chinese style, come with Sweet Sleeper beds and L’Occitane bathroom amenities. The work area is spacious and comfortable with quality lighting and a special stationery box. Lounge: Located on the 17th floor, the large and roomy Sheraton Club Lounge is reserved exclusively for executive floor guests. It is equipped with broadband Internet service, a computer room and two private meeting rooms. All major international news channels are offered as well as a variety of movie and local channels. The lounge serves breakfast, afternoon tea and cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in thein the evenings, while softdrinks, coffee, tea, refreshments and snacks are served all day. Privileges: The executive butler service—which offers the services of 20 bilingual butlers who have been trained by the prestigious Guild of Professional English Butlers. These multitalented butlers can serve as personal assistants and travel secretaries to international business and government VIPs. Complimentary local telephone calls, NT$500 complimentary laundry or dry cleaning credit daily. Personalised check-in and out at the lounge.
Garden Hotel, Guagzhou Rooms: Embellished with “Garden” details, the interior feels authentically South Chinese with a lacquered minibar, old-fashioned square tea-table in the sitting room, bamboo pattern carpet, abstract and contemporary paintings of the city flower kapok on the walls. Amenities include free high-speed broadband Internet and Wi-fi access, mini Hi-Fi and DVD player and safe deposit box. The work area comes with stylishly designed desk and swivel chair, desk light, telephone and multifunctional socket, and stationary inside the drawers. Suites come with a special charger device. Lounge: Located on the 30th floor, this lounge offers a panoramic view of the city. Complimentary coffee, tea, soft drinks and snacks are served throughout the day and Happy Hour is from 5-7pm. Dim sum, cookies, peanuts and cakes are some items that make up the regular fair.
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Privileges: Exclusive privileges include a welcome basket with fruit and flowers and complimentar y welcome drink, complimentary laundry service with no extra charge for express service; use of the executive floor meeting room for two hours daily; one way transfer to or from the airport or train station; local telephone call, free access to the DVD library, express check-in, checkout and flight confirmation service, early check-in and late check-out until 4pm and 24-hour butler, concierge, business centre services and complimentary shoeshine upon request.
Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees, Hong Kong Rooms: Located on the top three floors of the hotel, Executive Floor guests enjoy spectacular views of either Victoria Harbour, or the old part of the city. Rooms are decorated in earth tones with well-equipped modern furnishings and amenities. Lounge: The lounge is designed to project an exclusive business image with a serene atmosphere for relaxation during the day. Continental breakfast, afternoon tea and evening refreshments are served. Complimentary chilled juices, tea and soft drinks are served all day. The lounge has a fax machine and photocopier. Privileges: Flight confirmation and hotel reservation services. Help with arranging priority limousine or taxi service. Extended late checkout. Packing service upon request. Pressing of two items per room per day, express pressing service before or after the laundry department’s operating hours can be arranged. A 20% discount for laundry, dry cleaning and pressing services. Daily replenishment of fruit, choice of daily newspaper. Complimentary local calls, shoeshine service, use of Business Centre meeting room for a maximum two hours per room per visit. Also, 15 minutes of free Internet usage at Business Centre daily; complimentary use of fax machine in room and 10% discount in all outlets and 10% discount for secretarial services in the Business Centre.
Alila Hotel, Jakarta Rooms: Rooms come with parquet floors, Internet access and spectacular views of the city. All rooms are designed in a modern abstract style. Amenities include hair dryer, mini bar, toiletries, and coffee and
tea-making facilities. The work area come with chair and work desk in an uncluttered, minimalist style. Suites come complete with stationery. Lounge: Overlooking the swimming pool and the city, the lounge is open daily from 6am-11pm and serves buffet finger food and beverages. The layout is simple with comfortable sofas and coffee tables. National and international television channels, and magazines in Bahasa and English are available. Privileges: All rooms have free Internet connection. All suites and the executive lounge have Wi-Fi access. Guests can use the private meeting rooms at the executive lounge.
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur Rooms: The Club floor rooms are decorated with rich Malaccan furniture, engaging artwork, plush fabrics with an emphasis on natural light to create a truly luxuriously experience. Guests have the option of city, pool, or park views. Rooms come with two-line IDD telephone, music and radio, voicemail and data ports, in-room coffee and tea making facilities, music and radio, mini bar and a personal safe. “The service and friendliness of the staff is second to none. The bedrooms and bathrooms are spotless, tastefully decorated and of a good size,” reports researcher Jack Barlow from the UK. Lounge: With floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the Petronas Twin Towers, and elegantly decorated in warm brown, cream and beige tones, this lounge is divided into cozy intimate zones and includes a billiard room and a library. It is exclusive to Club floor guests who enjoy complimentary breakfast, evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as well as complimentary coffee or tea, soft drinks and light snacks throughout the day. Privileges: Guests enjoy free welcome beverage, two hours complimentary use of private conference rooms, and access to the billiard room in the Club Lounge. Other amenities include: daily complimentary laundry of up to five pieces per room; free use of the Executive Business Centre; personalised check-in and checkout. Personalised butler services upon request. Complimentary highspeed Internet access in rooms and at the Club Lounge. Complimentary late checkout until 3pm (subject to availability).
One of the advantages of booking a room at the Executive Floor is immediate access to meeting room facilities Cafe at Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees
The Garden Hotel’s Executive Floor staff can help you with your business needs
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New World Hotel, Saigon Rooms: The hotel offers 538 spacious rooms and suites designed in a contemporary style emphasising muted sable and white tones for total relaxation. The rooms and suites all offer floor-to-ceiling windows with fine views over the city and adjoining park. Each room has broadband Internet access and plush bedding with luxurious duvets, cotton rich linens and clouds of pillows. Amenities include broadband Internet access, coffeemaker and tea service, electronic safe, IDD telephone with message box, hair dryer, ironing board, mini-bar and TV with satellite and movie channels, and a large well-lit executive desk with broadband Internet access. Ali Diaz from Doha says, “My company booked me here for three nights and I
pressing of one suit or one dress per stay. Complimentary 4pm late checkout with one day’s advance notice, subject to availability, complimentary one hour per day use of the 10th floor boardroom, subject to availability, complimentary 30 minutes per day use of computer at the Business Center 7am-9pm, subject to availability. Dedicated staff on hand to offer facsimile and photocopy services (with free incoming fax and photocopying up to 20 pages). Express check-in and checkout service.
The Peninsula Manila Rooms: The rooms are decorated in timeless Filipino style using local materials for the furniture and artworks. Room categories include Deluxe Rooms and Premier Suite with city views. Lounge: Also decorated with Filipino
Conrad Bangkok’s Executive Corner Suite
enjoyed it thoroughly. The service was great, and I had had everything I needed to get my job done.” Lounge: The lounge, which has an indoor seating capacity of 76 and 30 on an outdoor terrace is open from 6am to midnight daily. Newspapers in English, Vietnamese, Japanese and French are available, and international buffet breakfast and evening cocktails are served. Complimentary tea, coffee and non-alcoholic beverages are served throughout the day. Privileges: Executive staff can help guest confirm their flights and make restaurant reservations. Wi-Fi is available at the lounge. Guests enjoy free high-speed Internet connectivity in the room and wireless in the lounge. Free local city calls, complimentary
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themes, the lounge offers LCD flat-screen cable television, major international dailies, journals and magazines, complimentary juices and sodas served all day. The lounge has its own satellite business centre, and serves complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails. Privileges: Guests have exclusive use of the lounge, access to computer workstations and business centre. Complimentary use of two boardrooms, butler service, and complimentary pressing of one suit upon arrival, and complimentary wired and wireless high-speed Internet access.
Conrad, Bangkok Rooms: A unique design with a glass wall separating the bedroom and the bathroom
gives the rooms a sexy, relaxed vibe. All rooms come in a contemporary Thai design with most of the furniture made from exotic Thai silk and artefacts. Guests can take home four variations of Conrad Silk elephant souvenirs. In-room amenities include a fully stocked mini bar, welcome fruit replaced daily, slippers, bathrobe, stationery set, and toiletries. The work area includes a wooden desk with a glass top complemented by an adjustable Herman Miller Aeon chair; broadband connection, stationery set, and in-room fax machine (upon request) and lighting conducive for reading and writing. Says Francis Cutter, a writer from the United States, “It was a pleasure dealing with the staff on the executive levels. Absolutely impeccable. From checking in, to a guided tour of the room to checkout—nothing
The comfortable lounge of Sheraton Taipei
could have been better.” Lounge: Located on the 29th Floor, the lounge has a seating of 116 in both smoking and the nonsmoking sections. A DVD library, newspapers, magazines, and Apple Mac computers are available for guests. Refreshments are available all day in the lounge between 6am-11pm. Complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea, and evening cocktails are served. Also on the 29th floor is a private smoking lounge where guests can buy cigarettes and cigars. Privileges: Guests enjoy a welcome drink, personalised and private check-in and checkout, concierge and other business centre-related services. In-room, they enjoy 30 mbps broadband Internet connectivity, local calls, fax, and calling card numbers
(except mobile phone numbers), private in-room facsimile (with designated line upon request and subject to availability), an extensive room service menu which is as thick as a magazine, in-room spa treatments, Conrad music and DVD movies which can be borrowed from the Executive Lounge. Late checkout until 4pm, complimentary pressing service, and express laundry service at no additional charge.
Shangri-La Pudong, Shanghai Rooms: Each room has a chandelier and 42” LCD TV in Horizon rooms and suites. Rooms have international direct-dial telephones, complimentary broadband Internet access, satellite TV, DVD entertainment systems and a comfortable executive writing desk. Unique to the River Wing Horizon Club rooms are a Queen Anne chair and an ottoman, as
Internet access, private facsimile machine and international direct dial telephones with personal voice mail.
Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Dubai Rooms: Options include rooms overlooking Sheikh Zayed Road and rooms overlooking the Arabian Gulf. Each room has a separate sleeping, living and work area. Bathrooms come with Aigner amenities. The spacious work area includes table and swivel chair, complimentary wireless Internet access and complimentary stationery kit that include highlighters, pens, pencils, post-it note pads, paper clips, stapler, rubber bands and eraser. “The Executive Club lounge is a fantastic space with panoramic windows looking over Sheikh Zayed Road, with comfortable arm
pressing of two pieces of clothing per stay, personalised check-in and checkout, complimentary use of the meeting room in the lounge for a maximum of four hours per day. Limousine transfers to and from Dubai International Airport, including welcome service, in-room espresso machine and tea-making facilities.
Westin, Sydney Rooms: The contemporary-style executive rooms are located on the top four floors of the tower building with exclusive access to the Executive Club lounge on the 28th Floor. Rooms come with floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping panoramic views of the city, and one king or two double beds, Bose sounds system with mp3 connectivity, 37’ flat screen television with DVD player and a bathroom with a deep plunge bath
Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees’ City Deluxe Room looks out at Hong Kong’s exciting cityscape
well as a bathroom with a rain shower and a full set of L’Occitane amenities. Lounge: Spanning an entire length of two facades are windows offering breathtaking views of the Bund, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and magnificent skyscrapers. The 432-sqm lounge has one meeting room and a smoking area that can be converted into a larger meeting room, two workstations and sofa seating area. Beverages are served all day. An American breakfast and happy hour is included daily. Privileges: Guests enjoy free newspaper and fresh fruit replenished daily, free pressing of one suit upon arrival, purser and concierge service. Wi-Fi and butler service are also available. Private Club floor check-in and checkout, complimentary broadband
chairs, and two large flat screen TVs, one showing the news and the other showing sport.” reports sales executive Selina Poh from Singapore. Lounge: From the Club Executive Lounge on the 42nd floor, guests can enjoy a gorgeous Arabian sunrise and sunset, as well as breathtaking views of Sheikh Zayed Road and the Arabian Gulf. The lounge is open 24 hours and serves breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. They have a good selection of reading material and Bloomberg and BBC News are broadcasted round the clock. Privileges: Complimentary wireless Internet access in both the Club Executive rooms and lounge and personalised concierge service at the lounge. Free
and rainforest shower. The workstation includes an oversized desk, desk lamp, basic stationery, and broadband hub. Lounge: A cosy retreat done in contemporary style setting where guests may relax with magazines, a broad range of newspapers and wireless connectivity. There is one central 48’ flat screen television with channels including Sky News and Fox Sports. They serve breakfast, pre-dinner drinks and canapés and light refreshments with snacks throughout the day. Privileges: Exclusive check-in and check-out. Complimentary pressing of two light garments and shoeshine. Onehour complimentary usage per day of an eight-seater meeting room with audio-visual equipment provided.
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destinationhangzhou
additional reporting Terrie V. Gutierrez Photography by Jakub Alun, Aman Resorts, Banyan Tree Resorts, China National Tourist Office, Don-kun. Shizhao
The view of Hangzhou’s famous West Lake from Amanfuyun
The ancient city of Hangzhou still retains its power to captivate. Even as it keeps up with the bustling modern world, it still retains much of what makes it one of China’s most picturesque cities. ROGER ALLNUTT takes us on a tour Age is a relative concept in China. The city of Hangzhou, only 180 kilometres south of Shanghai, has a history of more than 2,200 years. One of China’s seven ancient capital cities (it was the capital of southern China from 1127 until the Mongol conquest in 1276) it is now capital of Zhejiang Province. The southeast coastal province is known for its serene and elegant landscape and its rich cultural heritage; apart from the Qiantang River that divides the province in two it has many mountains and other rivers. The major tourist cities are Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Zhoushan. With four graceful seasons, Hangzhou offers a different experience for year-round visitors. As the capital of Zhejiang Province, it is also an important transportation hub
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and centre for economic development. Its prime location ensures its popularity as a choice for weekend retreats or short getaways, being less than two hours’ drive from Shanghai and easily accessible by rail and air as well.
PICTURESQUE Place Names Situated on the Qiantang River, on the southern end of the famous BeijingHangzhou Grand Canal, Hangzhou is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in China. The explorer Marco Polo visited in the early 13th century and even then he described it as one of the finest and most splendid cities in the world. It is sometimes referred to by the glamorous moniker “Paradise under Heaven.” A bustling, industrialised city of over
six million inhabitants, it is the so-called West Lake Scenic Area (from its location on the western edge of the city) that draws huge crowds to the city and makes it one of the popular resort cities in the country. Bounded on three sides by forestcovered hills and the city to the east, West Lake Scenic Area has beautiful gardens and parks, temples and pagodas. The lake itself measures about 3km by 2km and is “bisected” by two causeways and also contains three small man-made islands; the islands have evocative names—Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Mid-Lake Pavilion and Mr Yuan’s Mound. There are numerous temples and pagodas and other pavilions scattered around the edge of the lake and viewing points with names like Lotus in the Breeze
at Crooked Courtyard, Listening to Orioles Singing in the Willows, and Autumn Moon on Calm Lake. Cruises are available on the lake and for the energetic there are walking paths and jogging trails around the edge and especially across the causeways. Hiring a bike is another excellent way to explore the lake. In the southern corner of the lake, Flower Harbour contains trees, a peony garden and an ornamental pool full of huge carp and goldfish. Rest awhile at one of the many teahouses. It is best to visit during the week as the area gets very crowded at weekends.
Silk, Temples, and Tea Hangzhou is noted for two particular temples. The Lingyin (Soul’s Retreat) Temple is an ancient Buddhist sanctuary (construction began in AD 326) containing many cultural treasures including over 400 stone Buddhas, many with “laughing” faces. The temple at one stage housed 3,000 monks who worshipped in more than 70 halls. Although now reduced in size, it remains one of the 10 most important temples in the country. Other notable temples in the area include the picturesque Yongfu Si (Temple of Goodness) and the three Temples of Tianzhu (the ancient Chinese name for India). The Six Harmony Pagoda is a 60m high brick and wood construction on Moon Mountain on the banks of the Qiantang River, a masterpiece of classical Chinese architecture dating from AD 970. From the outside the pagoda appears to have 13 levels but inside there are only seven. From the top it offers views of the Qiantang River, which is famous for its tidal bore. On the first to fifth and 15th-19th days of every lunar month there is a major tidal flow and in the eighth lunar month (around midSeptember), the river creates a spectacle at it “reverses,” creating a huge wave (like a huge surf wave), the crest rising over two metres and dropping over six metres. Huge crowds come to witness the tidal bore of the Qiantang River. The hills around Hangzhou are famous for the production of tea and a tour of the plantations is a great way to see the countryside. Longjinghua Township is the centre of production and at the China Tea Museum there are details on the history of tea production in China. Join the local tea farmers in picking some leaves and
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: A tea farmer harvests tea leaves; the laughing Buddhas at Feilah Feng; suite at Amanfuyun
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Another view of West Lake
sample a selection of the different varieties; green tea is a specialty but is not one of my favourites although it is noted for its health-giving properties. Aside from tea, Hangzhou is noted for its silk, porcelain and herbal medicines. Allow time for a visit to the China Silk Museum, the Southern Song Dynasty Place Porcelain Museum, and especially the Huqingyu Medicine Museum, the only one of its kind in China. Visitors to the Huqingyu Museum get a ringside view of how patent Chinese medicines are made and traditional Chinese doctors are on hand to provide advice. The China Silk Museum, located beside West Lake, captures the 5,000-year-old history of silk-cocoon raising and silk production in China. Zhejiang offers a dazzling array of other native products and arts and crafts including brocade, rice wine, writing brushes, hams, white chrysanthemums, fans, stone carvings and wood sculptures. Among the best-known local fruits are melons, peaches, oranges, pomelos, loquats, watermelons and jujubes. Food is an important element of any visit to China and Hangzhou is known for its cuisine, a mix of Shanghai and Cantonese. Try the Beggar’s Chicken, West Lake Vinegar Fish, Dong Po Pork and Longjing Shrimp. Three restaurants in Hangzhou famous for their local cuisine are Louwailou Restaurant, Tianxianglou, and Zhiweiguan while inside the Lingyin Temple is an excellent vegetarian restaurant. After indulging in the excellent food you can end the evening with a stroll through the hectic Night Market to pick up a few souvenirs of Hangzhou—ties, scarves and other silk goods are good value.
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Hangzhou is a treasure trove for shoppers and those interested in history alike. Qinghefang Street is a bustling, pedestrian- only boulevard offering traditional and contemporary Chinese wares—some sold from century-old stores. Wulin Road and Si Ji Qing Market are other popular destinations for those in search of local bargains, while Wulin Square in the city centre is a hub of luxury brand stores showing the city’s contemporary side.
Wetland Tranquility As a popular resort city, Hangzhou has all sorts of accommodations, from little inns to big hotels like Sofitel Westlake Hotel, Radisson Plaza Hotel, Hyatt Regency, and the Shangri-La Hotel. Local hotels worth noting include the Dragon Hotel and the Xianheng Hotel. Present- day Hangzhou has been attracting more and more business and leisure travellers who are lured by the city’s wonderful sights. Two entrants into the hotel scene reflect the city’s popularity as a business and leisure destination. Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts recently soft-launched Banyan Tree Hangzhou. This is the group’s fourth resort in China since 2005, after Banyan Tree Ringha, Banyan Tree Lijiang, and Banyan Tree Sanya. Banyan Tree Hangzhou, which comprises 72 water terraces and villas, is located in the historic Xixi National Wetland Park in west of Hangzhou. This area is one of the most beautiful in the city and was mentioned in the writings of eminent poets during the Tang Dynasty. Xixi National Wetland Park is a “living water park,” wherein wetland areas and ecological systems along with fishponds and reed beds are carefully protected. As
Calligraphy is one of the arts that is preserved in Hangzhou
part of its presence in the area, Banyan Tree Hangzhou has programmes to reintroduce 270 biological species such as persimmon, mulberry, bamboo, willow and camphor trees. Guests may visit various attractions, including the Plum Villa, Autumn Snow Temple, Yanshui Fishing Villa, and Xixi Family House, which are located within the reserve, which provide the historical and cultural stories of the Hangzhou region. The resort is designed in Jiang Nan style, giving an authentic sense of place. Starting from 120 square metres, each water terrace or villa reflects both the hallmarks of oriental design as well as contemporary amenities within a chic living space. Dark wood floors, delicately carved furnishings accented by splashes of vivid silk brocades, embroidered fabrics, and detailed tapestries make up the interiors. For those who would like even more space, there’s the Spa Jetpool Villa and the two-bedroom Jetpool Villa, which have an outdoor heated jet pool, in a landscaped courtyard. With a total area of 386 square metres, the Presidential Villa is the single most luxurious abode, with exclusive amenities such as separate kitchen, walk-in wardrobe, dedicated spa treatment room and sunken jet-pool. The justly famous Banyan Tree Spa is also in the resort and has 10 indoor treatment pavilions, complemented by wellness facilities such as beauty salon, gymnasium, swimming pool and yoga studio. In addition to its signature treatments, the spa has Japanese-inspired Onsen treatments, which aim to replenish body, mind and soul. Hangzhou is not just a vacation city. It’s also known as a business centre, being close to Shanghai and the gateway to many
Monks after morning chanting at Amanfuyun
cities in China. At Banyan Tree, divisible meeting rooms allow for multiple meetings to take place, and are specially suited for brainstorm sessions and corporate meetings. The resort also features three signature food and beverage venues: international favourites at the all day dining restaurant, authentic Cantonese cuisine at Bai Yun, and a bar lounge.
Hidden Sanctuary Another high-end brand, Aman Resorts, is set to open its 24th property, Amanfuyun, in January 2010. Named for a Tang Dynasty village that once inhabited the site, Amanfayun lies hidden in a valley to the west of West Lake. The property consists of the remaining 47 stone courtyard dwellings that once housed villagers who tended the surrounding tea plantations. Amanfayun lies within a pilgrimage circuit of five significant Buddhist temples, currently under review by UNESCO as both a cultural and religious heritage site. Access to Amanfayun is by a narrow road that winds through the countryside. Roofs are clay tile, whilst walls are constructed of brick, earth and lighter timber structures. Interior floors are stone tiles whilst aged stone pathways connect the lodgings. Running the full extent of the property is the Fayun Pathway. This is the village’s main thoroughfare—a stone pedestrian path that extends 600 metres. Most village accommodation, eateries, shops and public houses making up Amanfayun front the Fayun Pathway, which is open to the public and will be the atmospheric setting for vibrant seasonal festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and the West Lake Pilgrimage Fair.
A streetside scene in modern-day Hangzhou
Amanfayun offers 42 rooms, suites and villas, of which sixteen are Village Rooms, nine are Village Suites, 12 are Deluxe Village Suites, four are Village Villas, which are duplexes with double massage treatment rooms, and one is the Amanfayun Villa (comprising two king-size bedrooms, a courtyard and a private massage treatment room). No two rooms are identical. Whilst respecting the integrity of the original village dwellings, all accommodations enjoy under-floor heating, air conditioning, and Wi-Fi Internet connections and feature natural finishes, open-grain elm wood furniture including daybeds and dining suites, and dark wood Chinese lattice screens which separate the various living spaces. Fine calligraphy art pieces decorate the walls and a sound system with iPod option is available in all rooms (televisions are available on request). Most accommodation units open onto private or semi-private courtyards with informal outdoor dining and lounge areas. Aside from its private restaurant and spaces, the resort two more eateries fronting the Fayun Pathway. That are open to the public and offer traditional fare in simple, picturesque surroundings. The Village Eatery focusses on local Hangzhou specialties, and features an open kitchen and a terrace for al fresco dining. Further along the Fayun Pathway lies a homely Tea House, providing traditional tea service along with a variety of handmade sweet and savoury snacks. Located in the centre of the village is the most commanding of all the original structures—Fayun Place, which incorporates two stately courtyard houses. The lower level with its soaring ceilings and refined
latticework houses the resort’s guest assistants. Also on the lower floor is a lounge area where light traditional snacks and tea are served. The upper level contains a Cigar Room and informal sitting and reading rooms. The library extends over both levels and features an interesting array of books and documentary DVDs (both in Chinese and English) on the history and culture of China. Amanfayun won’t be complete without an Aman Spa. Positioned at the northern end of the Fayun Pathway, the Aman Spa consists of five buildings set around tranquil courtyards and surrounded by bamboo groves, tea bushes and magnolia trees. The Reception is the first building accessed from the Fayun Pathway via a shaded courtyard, and contains the spa library, lounge and consultation area. A wooden stairway leads to the second floor Reflexology Room for traditional foot massages. The second building is the Bath House, which has three treatment rooms. Each treatment room features a circular wooden soaking tub, a steam room and double-seated showers. The building adjacent to the Bath House is the Movement Studio—where tai chi and yoga classes are held. It also has a meditation room, a gym, a Pilates studio, and the Finishing Salon where hair spa treatments, manicures, pedicures and waxing are offered. The last two-storey structure houses the treatment rooms—three doubles and two singles. Each room features a changing area, steam shower and soaking tub. Massage and body treatments draw from traditional Chinese massage and ref lexology, as well as from ancient A sian healing therapies.
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destinationparis
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY VAN, ANGELIQUE CLEMENT/PARIS TOURIST OFFICE (Champs Elysee), HERVE GUIGNOLET/PARIS TOURIST OFFICE (Hotel de Ville de Paris)
WE LOVE
PARIS IN WINTER Paris in warm weather is the most popular time of the year for travellers. But those who want to face fewer crowds and enjoy lower hotel rates should make their way to the City of Lights in winter. Although the weather is cold, it hardly snows in Paris so you know you won’t be stuck in a blizzard during your holiday.
The City of Lights comes into its own, especially in winter, says AMY VAN, who prefers visiting the French capital in the cold weather for a different kind of mood
Famous Attractions As there are fewer tourists and snaking queues at major museums, this is the best time to museum-hop. Get acquainted with the Mona Lisa and other masterpieces at the Louvre. After all, some say that you’ll need at least a day to wander around this museum, which houses TK masterpieces, the one of the largest collections in the world. Wander through the treasures from the Egyptian, Greek and Roman eras as well as European art from the Middle Ages. From the Louvre, fans of Impressionism should make their way to the Musee d’Orsay to view its large collections of artwork between 1848 and 1914. Gorgeous paintings by Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, and many other greats are exhibited here. A lt hough t iny, t he Musee de l’Orangerie at the Tuileries is the place to be inspired by Monet’s
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Iconic Eiffel Tower against a winter day; Ice skating in front of Hotel de Ville de Paris
Champs Elysee during the holidays is a burst of colour
renowned Nympheas or Water Lilies. There, eight of the artist’s murals line the walls of two oval shaped rooms. Sit in the centre of the room and soak in the beauty before exploring the other modern artwork by Picasso, Rousseau, Cezzane and others. Winter is also a great time to experience the city’s heartbeat. Paris in summer and spring has a different vibe than winter—and not just because of the cold weather. Spend time discovering Paris’ different quartiers. Paris is divided into 20 administrative arrondissements or districts, each of which is divided into four quartiers. So Paris has 80 quartiers in all. It would take more than a few days to visit each one, but some have developed or retained a character of their own that makes them interesting places to check out. Most take their character from the prominent landmark in it. At Paris’s centre are the Central Islands—Ile de la Cite, which is famous for the predecessor of Notre-Dame Cathedral and Ile Saint-Louis, which is purely residential, one of the earliest examples of urban planning in Paris. At The Right Bank are some of the most familiar districts of Paris. Check out Les Halles marketplace, now a major shopping centre where you can find trendy stuff for the younger, “hip-hop” generation. Hip boutiques and familiar fast-food chains are found in this area. Also in this area
Christmas lights at Galeries Lafayette
is the stately Centre Georges Pompidou, a must-visit if only to view the rotating modern art exhibitions. Head to this area to visit the city library—BPI—and to watch street performers in the plaza outside. From there, stroll the area around the Louvre, which encompasses the museum, the Tuileries, the Palais Royal. Aside from the historic landmarks, this is where Paris’ most tourist-oriented shops, boutiques and
nightclubs are located. And how can anyone tour Paris without going to the Eiffel Tower? But time your visit so that you are there in the evening. To mark the tower’s 120th anniversary, state-of-the-art LED spotlights are being used for the first time to illuminate the tower’s Trocadero façade, presenting a magical light show like no other. Catch the light show each evening at 8pm, 9pm,
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10pm and 11pm. The 12-minute special illumination follows the usual five-minute lighting sequence of the tower. What’s special during Christmas time is the ice-skating rink on the first floor where you can skate with the locals and enjoy the crisp air. Shoppers can head to Galleries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann at the Opera quarter to check out the whimsical and festive window displays. Enjoy the Christmas lights in the evening and buy some Parisian gifts and gourmet products. Just next door, is major department store, Printemps, where you can also continue with your Christmas shopping spree. For something more traditional, head to the Place Saint Sulpice Christmas Market on the Left Bank to browse the many stalls selling roasted chestnuts, crafts and other Chrismassy items. Other areas to visit on the Right Bank include Paris’ major thoroughfare, Les Champs-Élysées where you can also see the Arc de Triomphe. This is a pretty touristy area, but should not be missed if only for the colourful lights and interesting things to buy or gawk at. For a view of Paris, head to Montmarte, the city’s highest hill. The area still has a “quaint” feel reminiscent of its days when it had windmills and vineyards, but many of the buildings here have been gentrified. Still and all, a good place to roam around. For a better feel of the city, head to Le Marais. Stroll along the narrow lanes lined with boutiques, art galleries and teahouses. This district also boasts grand houses belonging to nobles in the 16th and 17th centuries. Housed in two mansions is Musée Carnavalet (23 rue de Sevigne), which showcases the history of Paris from its origins during pre-Roman Lutetia to medieval periods, French Revolution and the 19th century. Nearby at 5 Rue de Thorigny is the Musee National Picasso. Located in an impressive Renaissance building, the museum features an excellent collection of the artist’s masterpieces. Meanwhile, on The Left Bank, some famous districts include: Saint-Germaindes-Prés/Faubourg Saint-Germain, which is home to École des Beaux-Arts and many galleries, imbuing the area with artistry. And then there is the area around the Sorbonne, which true to its area has many student-oriented establishments like cafes, bookstores, and the like. Further
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Classic facade of Musee Carnavalet
A whimsical melted snowman sculpture in the Tuilieries
on is the famous Eiffel Tower and the artistic Montparnasse district, which got its reputation as an artistic enclave in the mid-19th century, ironically enough from the Montparnasse cemetery. The newly built cemetery attracted sculptors and engravers, who in turn brought in painters and other artists.
Food for the Soul
A delectable dessert at Angelina
To warm up, have a hot chocolate at the famous Les Deux Magots. Located on the swish Left Bank, it was a favourite haunt of legendary literary figures like Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway. The charming eatery, established in the 19th century still serves some of the best hot chocolate drinks today. Typical French-style dishes like Croque Monsieur, beef carpaccio and foie gras on toast are also available.
For afternoon tea, a popular salon de thé is Angelina. Located not far from the Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries, there is usually a long queue of fans outside the venue. Since 1903, this place has been appealing to Parisians who adore its floral teas, rich hot chocolate, cakes, eclairs and macarons. The Mont Blanc dessert (made of chestnuts) is the must-try house specialty. If you find yourself at the back of the queue, be patient as the food is worth the wait. Another Parisian institution is Café de la Paix at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel. This historic cafe overlooks the stunning Garnier Opera House just across the street. It is an ideal spot for boulevard gazing and serves great coffee, sandwiches and croissants. The breakfast spread is especially decadent.
The facade of Musee d’Orsay Decadent hot thick chocolate at Les Magots
PARIS ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE Singapore Airlines and AirFrance fly daily to Paris. Most international flights arrive at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport about 30km northeast of Paris. The RER B train service is the quickest way to central Paris. Air France buses leave every 15 minutes from 5.45am to 11pm from both terminals and stop at Porte Maillot and place Charles-deGaulle.Taxi fare from the airport to downtown is about 50 to 70 €. ADDRESSES AND WEBSITES Louvre Museum www.louvre.fr Musee d’Orsay www.musee-orsay.fr Musee d’Orangerie www.musee-orangerie.fr Les Deux Magots, 6 place Saint Germain des Prés Angelina, 226 Rue de Rivoli Café de la Paix, 12 Boulevard des Capucine, 2 rue Scribe, Tel: 33 (0) 1 4007 3232
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destinationďƒ maldives
Photography by Soneva Fushi, Sex Senses; Rihiveli Resort, Huvafen Fushi, Conrad Hilton Maldives, Kanuhura, The Tags Sportsfishing
The Essential
MALDIVES It’s a compilation of the best, says peripatetic writer JUSTINE MOSS, who gathers the top spots in this island paradise
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The Maldives, consisting of 1,190 coral reef islands stretching 823km north to south and 130km east to west, form an archipelago of 26 natural atolls (groups of neighbouring coral islands) and are situated on the equator in the South West of Sri Lanka. Male, on its own island, and 200 others are inhabited. However, only around 88 of the islands have been adapted as exclusive resort islands. Usually when planning a trip to The Maldives, one chooses an island resort that fit in with one’s budget and style of holiday. It’s a little difficult to island hop and experience the best of everything at once—not that there’s a bad spot to choose from, of course. However, a best-of list needs the best, so in a highly informal
survey lubricated with lots of wine, we asked all sorts of travellers—from those who wouldn’t set foot in a hotel unless it’s five-star to those who can live in a yurt for a week—for their recommendations. What we got was a list worth keeping.
Best Most Natural Hotel: Soneva Fushi If you’re after something more natural and unpretentious than the ubiquitous white-washed villa complete with the latest iPod docking station and a pot of Illy coffee, then book a few nights at this wonderful resort. Before you think it’s totally rustic, however, it does have its modern creature comforts and easily combines those with an original Robinson Crusoesque-environment. Soneva Fushi has 65 rooms, suites and villas available and is situated on the privately owned, tropical island of Kunfunadhoo in Baa Atoll and requires a 30-minute seaplane ride from Male. The island is 1,400 metres long and 400 metres wide and the villas are scattered along the beach and tucked into the lush greenery. Part of its charm is its barefoot sophistication (and so it should be in The
Maldives with its pristine white beaches and laid back appeal), casual dress code, and naturally designed architecture. Each villa opens to its very own stretch of white sand beach just a few steps away, whilst many also include private seawater swimming pools, and each bathroom extends to a private garden. True, there are the mod cons like CD players, air-conditioning and mini-bar, however, televisions, DVD players and Wi-Fi connection is upon request. This resort has really captured the very essence of a luxurious castaway fantasy. sixsenses. com/soneva-fushi
Best Spa: Huvafen Fushi Huvafen Fushi (which translates as Dream Island) is situated in its own private lagoon and features 43 chic island bungalows each with their own private plunge pool. It also boasts the world’s first underwater spa which features underwater treatment and private therapy rooms, a relaxation lounge, sauna, steam room, onsen shower, ice room and open-air flotation pool. Their philosophy is to engage all aspects of the holistic lifestyle by offering a personalised system that incorporates healing spa therapies, relaxation, yoga, and meditation
THIS SPREAD: Relax at the pristine beach of Kanuhura; exterior of villa at Soneva Fushi
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FORM LEFT TO RIGHT: Spectacular views of Ithaa Restaurant; The Maldives has great dive spots; sports fishing (top); LIME Spa at Huvafen Fushi; dining room at Rihiveli (top); exterior dining room at Soneva Fushi (bottom)
into their own unique approach. Each guest is offered a personal lifestyle consultation and a custom-designed package or retreat can be arranged. The spa menus, which incorporate the usual Eastern and Western massage styles, aromatherapy and body scrubs, are created with natural tonics and elixirs made from fresh seawater, sea plants and minerals. If you really want to splurge, book for the LIME Time which includes a Unite Me-Crystal Ritual (Huvafen Fushi’s two-and-a-half hour signature treatment performed in the world’s first underwater spa), lunch at RAW, an innovative spa cuisine restaurant, and a LIME Virgin Coconut Oil gift to take home. LIME Time also includes complimentary use of SUBLIME—steam, sauna, and ice room facilities. All this for US$11,746. huvafenfushi.com
Best Restaurant: Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Conrad Maldives Rangali The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort is set out on two private islands surrounded by a coral reef and lagoon, and features 50 water villas, 79 beach villas, and 21 spa water villas with Philippe Starck fittings, private sun decks, espresso machines and Bulgari bathroom goodies. There are seven restaurants on the
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island, which is a 30-minute seaplane ride from Male, and including the world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant, which is quite magnificent. As you munch on Maldivian-Western fusion cuisine you have uninterrupted 180-degree views of local reef and marine life in the Ithaa Undersea restaurant, which is open for both lunch and dinner. As it’s a popular venue for guests, the resort recommends that you book at least 14 days in advance, but it’s oh so worth it. Dishes include King Fish with camargue fine sea salt, Kataifi langoustines and curry condiments with coconut milk, Black Angus Beef fillet, Escalope of Foie-gras, pandan leaf and truffle jus, and Fricassee of Lobster with espelette chilli and zaalouk of aubergines. Make sure you wash them down with a bottle of wine from the resort’s extensive 10,000-bottle menu. conrad.hilton.com/ maldives
from either of the two 31’ Bertram sports fishing boats—Tags and Keyolha—which can accommodate up to four fishermen and comes complete with fighting chair, outrigger, Penn rods and reels, and the latest in lures and game fishing equipment. Mario has been living and fishing in the tropical Maldivian waters since 1992 and is an expert in big game and fly-fishing, so he knows the fishing hot spots to take you to. The bluewater sport fishing off the Maldives is generally excellent year round, and you can expect to catch sailfish, wahoo, mahi mahi, yellowfin tuna, dogfish, rainbow runner, and barracuda. The Tags crew use Pakula lures, and dead bait, including mullet, bonito, and garfish, which are extremely effective with most fish. The Tags is a member of the Billfish Foundation and fully support “Tag & Release”, “Tag & Brag.” thetags-sportfishing.com
Best Big Game Fishing: The Tags-Sports Fishing
The jury may still be out on where the best diving spots are—after all they are plentiful—but many diving enthusiasts recommend Banana Reef as being the premier dive site in The Maldives. Shaped like a banana, this reef stretches from Northeast to South over a length of around three hundred metres and is located on the southeastern side of North
If you’re up for a spot of big game fishing, try The Tags-Sports Fishing, one of The Maldives’ leading game fishing charters. Located at the OneandOnly Kanuhura Resort in Lhaviyani Atoll, it’s owned by husband and wife team Mario and Louise Tagliante and you can take your pick
Best Diving: Banana Reef
Male Atoll. There are caves, overhangs and crevices full of soft corals and a wide range of tropical fish. Marine life includes the Napoleon and humphead wrasse, moray eels, bannerfish, grey reef sharks, Oriental sweetlips, and soldier fish. The top of the reef is roughly three metres and the west side of the reef, which is considered a perfect place to dive, has a depth of 30 metres. Nearby resort islands include Full Moon Island, Club Med Maldives, and Kurumba Maldives, The Maldives’ first private island resort.
Best Beach: Kanuhura A member of the Leading Small Hotels of the World, Kanuhura is hidden away in a remote atoll in the Maldives and requires a 40-minute seaplane ride from Male. It’s worth every penny and every minute spent on the plane, as this tiny, coral hideaway is stunning. There are a number of beach and water villas on the island as well as the usual amenities and facilities such as spa, restaurants and bars, and dive centre, but what’s even more special here is the beach. The resort is planned and built in such a way that the buildings occupy only one third of the island so there’s plenty of room to sink your toes into the large expanse of pristine soft white sand. I would also recommend
packing a beach towel from your villa and finding a secluded spot on the beach either to sunbathe or from which to launch yourself into the aqua water. You’ll find it very hard to leave. kanuhura.com
Best Lagoon: Rihiveli Again, there are plenty to choose from but one of the key features about Rihiveli is its huge expanse of crystal-clear lagoon, where you can spend hours lolling, snorkelling, swimming, sailing, kayaking in, or walking around. While there’s no coral reef directly in the lagoon, it’s possible to swim amongst some of the local marine life and it’s quite superb. Rihiveli is located on the South Atoll of The Maldives and is around one hour by speedboat from the airport, and due to the number of shallow reefs around the lagoon, no transfers are done at night, so your flight needs to touch down at Male airport before 5pm. The nearest inhabited island is eight kilometres away so you do feel quite secluded. Make sure you sign up for the daily seafood barbecue lunch at Sunrise Island—a real highlight—located around 400 metres away from the main island in the lagoon. It’s hugely popular and places are limited to only 20 people, so signing up at breakfast is a must. The island can be reached by
walking (waist-deep), swimming, kayaking, or by dinghy. Rihiveli is an enchanting and quite magical island, with only 48 lagoon-facing beach bungalows, and has a charming, slightly rustic feel about it. But it’s a perfect place to chill out and get away from it all and lives up to its “No News, No Shoes” tagline. rihiveli-maldives.com
Best Live Aboard: PrEmier Liveaboard Diving A live aboard holiday is perfect for those diving enthusiasts who want to experience uninterrupted diving from their own private yacht charter, rather than having to go out each day from an island resort. Premier Liveaboard Diving has a number of fully equipped luxury state-of-the-art cruising boats, such as The Sachika, MV Orion, and MV Ark Royal. The boats sail from Male for liveaboard safaris around the North and South Male Atolls, Ari Atoll, and Vaavu Atoll and cater for both small and large numbers of guests. The boats are an exercise in luxury with everything from a sauna, Jacuzzi, Wi-Fi, and television to a library, restaurant and fully stocked bar. If, however, you’re not a keen diver, the boats can also customise cruising itineraries to include island visits, snorkelling, fishing and treks. maldives.liveaboarddiving.net
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destinationhalongbay
Photography by Peter Stuckings, Emeraude Classic Cruises, NOVOTEL HALONG BAY
HELLO, HALONG BAY The bay’s timelessness beguiles even the most jaded traveller. The best way to revel in the experience? Do what GEMMA PRICE did and go on a cruise on the luxe paddle steamer, Emeraude, whose history is every bit as intriguing as Vietnam’s
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Halong Bay OPPOSITE page: Chinese junks with orange sails, boatmen in costume give tourists a feel for a bygone era. THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE TOP: One of the most popular junks on the bay; a view of Halong Bay from the top of Tiptop Island; Hon Gai City, the jumpoff point for cruises on the bay
Three hours east of H anoi, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Halong Bay is the emerald jewel in Vietnam’s crown, a spectacular seascape of precipitous limestone karsts, which enthral everyone that sails its waters, from emperors to poets, former French colon to local fishermen. One myth tells of a dragon that plunged into the sea many centuries ago—“Ha Long” means “dragon descending”—sculpting the bay’s thousands of islands, islets, and pillars with its thrashing tail; another that the islands were formed from pearls and jade spewn from the dragon’s mouth as a defense against invaders. Whatever you believe, the bay’s unique aesthetic and blend of mystery and magic keep international visitors coming in droves. Despite the economic downturn, for the first five months of 2009, Halong Bay received almost three million visitors—a 25% increase from last year. The bay is also in the running as one of the World’s New 7 Wonders for 2011.
Relic of a Bygone Era But even though accessibility, tour options, and visitor numbers have increased steadily, Halong Bay remains fairly uninhabited and undeveloped, and its timeless sense of seclusion from the outside world is very much
part of the appeal. Many of the sightseeing tours also have a retrospective, historic feel: orange sails of replica Chinese junks cast against rugged limestone cliffs evoke the nostalgia of former trading frontiers, and the design and ambience of upscale French paddle steamer Emeraude, from its fin de siècle architecture to its brass nautical fittings, wooden decking and high-backed wicker chairs, transport passengers back to the colonial elegance of yesteryear. The Emeraude was my personal vessel of choice, and the boat’s history, which is entwined with Halong Bay’s French colonial past, is as intriguing as its ambience. The original paddle steamer sank around seven miles from nearby Cam Pha port after running aground on 17 March 1937, and it was a chance discovery in a Parisian flea market in 2000 that inspired French entrepreneur Eric Merlin to recreate the ship from scratch. Collecting historical photographs and postcards depicting Indochina had always been something of a hobby for Eric, and flicking through a box of dry, furling sepia papers at Saint Ouen flea market one memorable afternoon, he came across a frozen snippet of history that stopped him in his tracks. “The picture showed a paddle steamer in Halong Bay,” recalls Eric. “The inscription
read: ‘Baie d’Along—baie de la surprise’ and it was dated 1914. That was the starting point.” Eric pocketed the postcard along with two others that appeared to show the same ship, and on closer inspection later managed to discern a name—Emeraude. “The first time I saw this postcard, I had a feeling… I kept asking myself ‘Where is this boat?’ I was dreaming about old brass bells rusting in a shipyard in Hai Phong, and I started to think about creating a tourism business by building a new ship.” Further investigation revealed that the boat had been operated by the barge and towing company SACRIC, a company owned by Paul Roque. Eric took his next line of investigation to the French telephone directory. “I needed to find the Roque family, so I wrote a letter to everyone I could find with the name ‘Roque’ telling them that I was looking for the Emeraude, including a short description of what I knew, based on the photo of the boat. There were over 1,100!” Replies soon started to filter through, and while many were just interested in his story, one day he finally received the call he’d been waiting for. “The phone rang, and when I picked up a voice said: ‘Look no further—it’s me. I am the
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Emeraude Even though it’s a replica, the ship’s architecture—from its wooden decks, brass fittings, and even the elegance of the rooms—hark back to the French colonial era
Roque that you are searching for. Come home and I’ll introduce you to my father…’” The Paris apartment was filled with memorabilia from Indochina. Eric found photographs of the ship, the logo of the company, and boxes of original china and silverware from the boat itself. “They even had the uniform that people used to wear in the 1920s, an old 1.5-metrelong model of the boat, and a photo of Paul Roque himself—a typical French colonial gentleman with bushy eyebrows and a bristling, well-clipped moustache that turned staunchly upwards.” Three years later, construction of the replica Emeraude was finished, with a few modifications to the original design. The original boat was a cargo transport moonlighting as a pleasure cruiser, so had only eight cabins with space for 14 passengers as well as six berths at the back. Today the boat has 37 luxury cabins, richly furnished in polished wood with freshly painted wainscoting and reed mats on the walls, replete with replica colonial-style features, from brass reading lamps, cast-iron effect fans, and mounted period postcards of Halong Bay. Since its maiden voyage in 2003, the reincarnation of the Emeraude has been one of the most popular high-end cruise options
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on the bay. Eric’s vision was to provide a top-end luxury experience, offering the best in accommodation and cuisine, even going so far as to escape the floating melee of junks and drivers jostling for customers by creating a private pier in Bai Chay.
Timeless Appeal As the boat chugged away from the shoreline, I settled into my cane chair on the decking outside my cabin to admire the view, champagne flute in hand. Craggy green outcrops protruding from dark emerald waters floated serenely past the boat’s white railings—the same image that captivated passengers aboard the original Emeraude over 100 years ago. The historic French theme was also reflected in the excellent food and beverage on board. The first item on the itinerary was a lavish buffet lunch served in an elegant colonial-style restaurant, featuring a wealth of Vietnamese and French dishes and an abundance of freshly caught seafood. The boat chugged on until we anchored off the island of Dao Bo, and once everyone had eaten their fill of French cheeses, fresh tropical salads, gratin oysters, delicate pastas and fruits, we were ferried by tender to the Sung Sot Caves (Cave of Surprises), one of Halong Bay’s most popular sites.
After climbing up a robust sequence of steps—an addition since the colonial era expeditions—visitors stepped into a vast series of chambers filled with spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations, many with images discernable in the stone. Our guide gleefully pointed out a Buddha, a dolphin, and even the private parts of “an excited dragon,” all cast in the blue and red hues of artificial lighting. That afternoon we had the opportunity to swim or kayak at the boat’s anchorage spot, explore rocky tunnels to deserted hidden beaches completely enclosed by sheer cliff walls, or just to relax onboard with a cocktail before aperitifs and canapés were served at the sun deck bar. Later on, as the sun dipped beyond the island crowns and the burnished golds and oranges of the sky were mirrored by the endless aquatic panorama, I watched as well-heeled passengers swathed in soft shawls finished their drinks and drifted down to the restaurant in small groups for another sumptuous dinner. Snippets of French chatter carried on the breeze, and it was easy to imagine that the boat had transported all of us back in time to a yester year that revelled in French colonial decadence.
HALONG BAY STAYS Snippets of information to get you started How to get there Most operators provide a shuttle bus to and from the capital city of Hanoi (around three hours journey time) as part of a cruise package. Recommended cruises Halong Bay is full of small operators and junks that will be able to take you out into the water for a minimal fee. But to get the most of the experience, here are our recommendations: Bhaya Cruises Day trips, two-day/one-night, threeday/two-night, and charter cruises. Day-trip from $286 per person, cabins from $336 single occupancy, $364 double
occupancy. Tel: +84 (0)4 3 944 6777; bhayacruises.com Cruise Halong Cabins priced from $263 single occupancy, $287 double occupancy. Tel: +84 (0)4 3933 5561; cruisehalong.com Emeraude Classic Cruises Cabins from US$ 271 single occupancy, US$330 double. Tel: +84 (0)4 3934 0888; emeraude-cruises.com Sinh Café One of Vietnam’s longest-running tour operators with a wide range of budget to mid-range cruise options, priced from $102 per person. Tel: +84 (0)4 3836 4212; sinhcafe.com
That feeling was only compounded later in the evening as I snuggled under the sun deck’s soft woollen blankets to catch the evening movie, Indochine, a film that tells the story of a female French colonial plantation owner in the 1930s, a time when the Vietnamese nationalist movement was gaining momentum. Catherine Deneuve’s austere beauty was completely upstaged by the majestic backdrop of Halong Bay, an epic setting that seeped beyond the edges of the silver screen to surround us in shadow like a reverse celluloid negative. Outlines of craggy karsts rose up from the inky black water against the velvety purple of the night sky, the silent velvet darkness punctuated only by the floating white orbs of far-off squid fishing boats and the galaxies of stars overhead.
Exclusive Getaways This delicious sense of cloistered privacy is one of the Emeraude’s key selling points. As well as more comfortable cabins, impeccable service and delectable food, you also avoid becoming part of the 40-strong budget flotilla chugging from place to place. Nighttime anchorages are limited, and as the Vietnamese navy controls who goes where, the better boats get the pick of secluded spots, allowing you to fully
Where to Stay The first four-star property in the area, Novotel Ha Long Bay, which opened last year, offers a glimpse of contemporary Vietnam, while keeping its rich heritage in its elegant interior décor of polished stone, glass and marble against delicate Asian textures of silk, wickerwork and carved wood. Best of all, it offers sweeping windows and oversized mirrors, so you catch the panoramic views of Halong Bay.
The elegant Novotel Ha Long Bay
appreciate the bay’s serene beauty and after-dark ambience. I opted to sleep in rather than take advantage of the dawn tai chi class, rising for breakfast and another swim in cool waters before the boat docked once again at the private pier and Emeraude Café in Bai Chay. My two-day, one-night cruise had offered a taster of Halong Bay, but if you have more time, there are also longer cruises that go farther afield. Some three-day tours overnight on Cat Ba, the archipelago’s largest island and home to the many chambered Trung Trang Cave and 60 or so endangered goldenheaded langurs, and many operators now offer special themed cruises or options for party bookings. Cruise Halong’s fashion shows, beach parties and jazz themes have proved extremely popular, and cabins aboard the Emeraude’s gala wine cruises always sell out quickly. “We also offer groups the option of a fivestar dinner within a cave—some are completely dark, and some grottos open onto magnificent views,” says Maeve Nolan, product manager for travel company Exotissimo. She says that operators are continually looking for new elements to incorporate into their tours to remain competitive, from
late-night movie screenings on deck to rock climbing adventures on Cat Ba Island. “We’re also working on the development of a new sustainable tour, where guests can stay with a local fishing family in a traditional floating house,” continues Maeve. “This benefits local fishermen and the funds go back into local community. It’s also a learning curve for fishermen to learn how to work with foreigners.” Bespoke trips are arguably the best way to enjoy the bay’s peaceful serenity, and with 1,500 square kilometres of beaches, caves and grottos to explore, the options are endless. You could choose to visit some of the bay’s more far-flung and untouched spots, such as Quan Lan island, whose gorgeous two kilometre beach is only reachable by three-day charter. It’s best to plan a trip with advice from an experienced skipper, and the recent trend in high-end operators offering small-scale, fully crewed boats means that intimate trips are more convenient and affordable than ever. Bhaya Cruises launched its mini fleet of one and two-cabin Bhaya Legend vessels in March, and Cruise Halong launched the six-cabin Halong Violet in mid-November this year. Great news for honeymooners, families, or groups who want to have the magic of the bay all to themselves.
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sojournchengdu photography by CHINA NATIONAL TOURIST OFFICE, George Lu (downtown Chengdu, Lake Stone Elephant), Brent Rostad (tea-master, Leshan Buddha), Prince Roy (Wuhou Shrine), Mackay Savage (Jinli Street)
CHENGDU CHANCE ENCOUNTERS China’s fifth most populous city still has reminders of its gentle past, but you just have to explore closely, says MICHAEL TAYLOR who tells us all about the city in between visiting its famous denizens—the pandas!
Even if it’s one of China’s “supercities,” Chengdu still possesses the laid-back attitude, lots of green space, and tea-houses that characterise the old Chengdu. To be sure, traditional wooden architecture and tree-lined streets have been vanishing at a faster rate, giving way to neon-lit malls and glassy high-rises, and traffic can be a nightmare in this city, but there are still areas of the city and municipality that evokes something of the old days. Bicycles still equal cars and buses in numbers, there are countless nameless restaurants in cul-de-sacs selling Sichuan snacks, and the parks where old people still hunch over a game of chess, or while the afternoon away with tea and mahjong still exist. Old-time artisans—cobblers, weavers, even itinerant dentists—still ply their trade amidst the high-rises of the city for those who are willing to look.
Panda-monium The Woolong Nature Reserve was established in 1963 to protect the 150 wild pandas that were then living in the region. Measuring nearly 2,000 square kilometres, it is one of six mountainous areas stretching across three provinces and bordering the Tibetan plateau. About 3,000 people, mostly Han, Qiang and Tibetan, live in the main valley,
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where they eke out a living farming cabbages and potatoes. Located high in the mountains of China’s Sichuan Province, the Woolong Nature Reserve is home to more than 6,000 species of animal and plant life. Included are giant pandas, red pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, and yaks. There are alpine slopes where wildflowers bloom, bamboo groves, coniferous and deciduous forests, and 20 ice-covered peaks. The zone contains fully 17% of China’s biodiversity. The Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda was set up in 1979 to save the panda from
extinction. Not much was accomplished for the first decade as funding was limited. Making things worse, pandas have a very difficult time producing offspring in captivity. In 1990 there were only 15 animals at the centre. Now there are several dozen. It has become the world’s most successful facility for breeding pandas. Most of the giant pandas found at zoos around the world come from Woolong, which means “sleeping dragon” in Chinese. The reserve is situated 136 kilometres from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. Known as the Land of Fish and Rice, Chengdu sits at the edge of the Red Basin, China’s richest agricultural zone; it is bisected by the Funan River. While dotted with temples and other historic sites, the city serves best as a base for exploring the many
OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE: Pottery from the area; a tea-master is one of they key attractions in Chengdu; detail of pottery featuring an ancient warrior. THIS PAGE: The giant Buddha at Leshan (main photo); Lake Stone Elephant in one of the many parks in Chengdu; pandas at the breeding centre are Chengdu's most popular citizens; bamboo pathway at Wuhou Temple; downtown Chengdu has many high-end enclaves (below)
cultural, historic and scenic attractions that Sichuan Province has to offer.
Old and New Visits to the city usually begin with a trip to the zoo. The key attractions are the 10 or so pandas that call the place home. Check with your hotel to determine feeding time. It is usually first thing in the morning, and watching the cuddly creatures downing bamboo is an endearing sight. If you can’t make it to Woolong to observe pandas in their natural habitat, this is the next best thing. But there is more to the zoo than pandas, although they are clearly the top draw. There are a total of 3,000 animals, including 250 different species, in the 18-hectare facility, making it one of the largest zoos in the country.
Another must on any visit to the city is Tianfu Square. Located at the centre of town, it features two daily water shows with synchronised music—one held at noon, the other at dusk. Directly behind a massive statue of Chairman Mao lies the Sichuan Science and Technology Museum. The four-storey edifice holds a fascinating array of interactive exhibits on aerodynamics, physics, robotics, science, and outer space. The robotic orchestra is of particular interest. For a look at the China of yesteryear, head for Jinli Ancient Street, which is located in the city’s Old Quarter. There are boutique hotels and antique shops as well as a host of food and beverage outlets—all housed in historic structures. Bring your camera, as this is one of the most picturesque parts of town.
Located at 15 Wenshuyuan Street, the Wenshu Temple dates back to the Tang Dynasty. It is also the largest—and more frequented—Buddhist temple in town. There are more than 450 statues and other precious relics. What sets it apart from many of the other temples on China’s well-beaten tourism track is its old-fashioned teahouse,
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Beyond Chengdu
Jinli Ancient Street is a popular attraction in Chengdu. Around the area you'll find old houses, picturesque tea houses, quiet temples, and quaint shops selling all manner of goods
where you can observe the locals chatting, knitting, playing chess, and reading over snacks and a cup of tea. There is also a restaurant set amidst the lovely gardens. Chinese opera is generally an acquired taste. If you didn’t grow up with it, it is very hard to develop an appreciation for it later in life. Sichuanese Opera, however, is an exception, and no visit to Chengdu would be complete without an evening enjoying a performance over tea. A mixture of song and dance, magic tricks, comedy, fire breathing and quick face changing, Sichuanese Opera is more cabaret than opera and thus far more accessible to the uninitiated. Performances are held at teahouses so you can nibble on snacks and sip tea while you try to keep up with the plot. As with other types of Chinese opera, it is perfectly acceptable to talk during the performance. So if you find your mind wandering, just strike up a conversation with your companions. No one will mind (except, perhaps, other tourists). Hotels
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can usually help arrange visits. Li Bai and Du Fu are two of China’s greatest poets. Both of these Tang Dynasty bards spent a period living in Chengdu, and they both wrote poems paying homage to the town’s charms. During his four-year stay, Du Fu built himself a thatched hut, where he reputedly wrote many of his poems. A rather sumptuous house was built at the site in his memory 300 years later. Situated on the outskirts of Chengdu at the edge of Nanjiao Park, the Wuhouci Temple features a restored temple dedicated to Zhu Geliang, a prime minister and military strategist from the Shu Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period. A fictionalised version of him played a prominent role in the classic Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There is a large statue of him in the temple as well as a Three Wonders Tablet, which contains examples of calligraphy, carving, and poetry. The tomb of Liu Bei, founder of the Shu Dynasty, is also located at the site.
Located 150 kilometres south of Chengdu, Mount Emei is one of Buddhism’s most revered sites, one of China’s so-called Four Sacred Mountains. It has been attracting pilgrims for more than 1,800 years. With gurgling springs, trickling streams, thunderous waterfalls, steep cliffs, towering trees and soaring peaks, it has more than 100 temples and monasteries. The Wan Nian Monastery, or Monastery of 10,000 Years, has an impressive statue of the Puxian Bodhisattva riding a white elephant with six tusks. Located 1,043 metres above sea level, the monastery was originally built in the fourth century. Having burned down several times over the years, it was replaced by a brick structure during the Ming Dynasty. The Baoguo Temple has a massive bronze bell, which can be heard from a distance of 10 miles. Located near the summit, the Jin Ding Temple has a terrace, affording a magnificent view. Trails crisscross the mountain, making it the perfect spot to go hiking. You can also ascend the mount by sedan chair or cable car. While there are a number of tourist hotels in the vicinity, many visitors prefer to stay at one of the monasteries taking overnight guests for a more authentic experience. The 3,099-metre high mountain was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. A word to the wise: The wild monkeys that populate the mountain can be both aggressive and dangerous so whatever you do, do not bring food. It is also advised not to stare at them or take their picture. If they are provoked, they can bite. The Giant Buddha at Leshan is situated nearby in the Lingyun Mountains at the confluence of the Min, Qingyi and Dadu rivers. Soaring 71 metres, and carved out of the side of the mountain in the eighth century, it is the world’s largest carved stone statue of a sitting Buddha. Closer to Chengdu, Mount Qingcheng also holds religious significance as it was the birthplace of Taoism. With a series of ancient temples, it is one of the most revered Taoist sites in the country. According to Taoist tradition, the Yellow Emperor pursued his studies there. Surrounded by numerous peaks and covered with emerald green trees, it is a breathtaking sight. Dating back 2,250 years, the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project is located northeast of the mountain, near the Minjiang River. It
has been irrigating the Chengdu Basin and effectively preventing floods ever since. The two sites were listed by UNESCO in 2000. The region abounds in natural wonders. An example is the Huanglong Valley, which stretches along the eastern rim of the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau in northwestern Sichuan Province. With a diverse forest ecosystem, it also has beaches, hot springs, ponds, waterfalls and remarkable lime formations. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. Jiuzhaigou National Park is considered one of the top scenic spots in the country. A World Bio-Sphere Reserve, it has 108 lakes, 47 waterfalls, five shoals and three Tibetan villages. There are three scenic Y-shaped gullies and mountains up to 4,800 metres high, covered in snow all year round. But there are archaeological treasures as well. Located in Guanghan, the Sanzingdui Museum has a remarkable collection of bronze, jade and gold objects as well as pottery and bone ware from the Shang Dynasty (16th to 11th centuries BC) that were discovered in the vicinity. Founded in 1992, the museum occupies an area of 7,000 square metres. Chengdu’s history dates back 2,200 years, when the king of the Shu Dynasty moved his capital from nearby Pixian to where Chengdu now stands. It took four years to build the new capital, whose name, in Chinese means, “becoming a capital.” It is one of the few major cities in China whose name hasn’t changed over the years. Perhaps the city’s greatest claim to fame derives from the fact that this was the first place in the world where paper money first became widely circulated. Currency was introduced here during the Northern Song Dynasty. Other key events in the city’s history include the role it played during World War II. In 1944, the United States based B-29 Super Fortresses in the city, requiring a massive airlift of fuel and supplies over the Himalaya Mountains. Thus, the first serious attack on the Japanese homeland was launched from the city. Chengdu was also the last major city on the mainland held by the Chinese Nationalists. The People’s Liberation Army didn’t take the city until 10 December, nearly two-and-a-half months after the People’s Republic of China was declared in Beijing.
Green Ram Temple
CHENGDU PRIMER
A shortlist of must-sees HOW TO GET THERE Chengdu is a major city so you can connect to it from almost any of the major Chinese cities. Shop around for the best rates. Here’s a good idea of the rates and distances: Beijing (Y1,440, 2.5 hours), Chongqing (Y440, 45 mins), Dalian (Y1,810, 3.5 hours), Shanghai (Y1,660, 2.20 hours), Guangzhou (Y1,300, one hour 50 mins), Lijiang (Y880, one hour), Kunming (Y700, one hour) and Xian (Y630, one hour 20 mins). Internationally, you can get to it via Hong Kong (Y2,200, 2.5 hours), Tokyo (Y3,000, 6.5 hours), Singapore (Y1,900, four hours 20 mins), Seoul and Bangkok (both Y1,700, two hours 55 minutes. There are also flights to and from Amsterdam, Vienna, and Macau. Air China, Sichuan Airlines, and Dragon Air all operate in Chengdu. GETTING AROUND Taxis have a flagdown rate of Y5 during the daytime (Y6 at night) and costs Y1.4/km. There are also rickshaws that go around the city. You may also want to go around via bicycle. Most guesthouses rent out bikes for about Y10/day. However, check it before you take it, and park in the designated parking area. What to See Du Fu Park (38 Qinghua Lu, W of Chengdu) The park was built around the cottage of the poet Du Fu (AD 712-70), who wrote
some of the Tang dynasty’s most enduring poems. Du Fu’s Cottage is in the centre of the park, which is arguably the most beautiful green space in the city. Wander about the bamboo paths, streams, and pavillions. During the high season, shuttle buses sometimes run from the park’s north gate to Wuhou temple, free of charge. Audio guides (around Y20 , plus around Y300 deposit) are also available in several languages including English, but they are very popular and run out quickly.
Traffic Hotel.
Giant Panda Breeding Research Base (about 10 km outside the city centre) Nearly 50 giant and red pandas live here, one of the most popular sights in the city. Breeding (obviously) is its focus and March to May is the best time to see the pandas breed. In autumn and winter, you can also peer through the glass into the panda “nursery,” to view the adorable babies. Feeding time is around 9:30am. Aside from the viewing, there are exhibits on panda evolution and habits. To get there on your own: Take Bus 10, which goes to Qinglong, where you change to Bus 1 to go to the terminus. From the terminal, get on a motorised rickshaw to the breeding centre. Or you can have your hotel arrange the transportation for you. Or take one of the special tourist buses that stop at the
People’s Park for people watching. Locals come here to practice singing, dancing, or do tai chi. There’s a teahouse here that always gets a crowd.
Green Ram Temple The oldest and most extensive Taoist temple in this area contains a bronze goat that should be stroked as it is believed to be able to ease life’s troubles and pains. Also check the eight-sided pagoda built without bolts or pegs. The pagoda’s 16 pillars are covered in elaborate carvings, including 81 dragons. The temple also has nightly performances of Sichuan opera and theatre.
Wenshu Temple is Chengdu’s largest and best-preserved temple. And despite the crowds that usually come to worship or just to get a whiff of the air full of incense, or listen to the chantings or examine the relief carvings, this temple has an air of serenity and solitude. Huaxingzheng Jie (Cultural Palace Area) For more Sichuan opera, check out this place. A teahouse, opera theatre, and cinema rolled in one, there are opera performances here every weekend afternoon at the theatre area. The teahouse also holds performances.
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sojournchongqing photography by China National Tourist Office, addictive_picasso/David Barrie
Chongqing first captured mY imagination when my Chinese history professor at university told us that the sun shone so infrequently there that when it did emerge, the dogs all started to bark. Apparently the city—generally overcast or shrouded in fog—has the fewest days of sunshine of any major city in China. With a 3,000-year history, Chongqing— one of China’s four provincial level municipalities—did, in fact, have its brief moment in the sun. After the Japanese invaded Nanjing, which was the Chinese capital under the Nationalists, in 1938, Chiang Kai-shek moved the government to Chungking, as it was then known in English. A massive exodus made the trek from the coast to the interior, and for eight brief years Chongqing basked in the glory of serving as the nation’s capital.
But why Chongqing? To start with, it was located in southeastern Sichuan Province, a somewhat backward place, beset by warlords, secret societies, and powerful family clans. Opium-smoking was rife. The drug, in fact, accounted for fully one-sixth of the province’s output, accounting for seven times as much as industrial production. Was this the right spot for Chiang’s wartime capital? There were, in fact, obvious advantages. Set amid rugged terrain, precipitous gorges and the rapid currents of the Yangtze River, Chongqing—built atop cliffs overlooking the river—was nigh impregnable. A rabbit warren of filthy back alleys and crowded tenements, it was reached from the river by climbing up hundreds of slippery steps. There were other advantages. Thanks to its subtropical climate and fertile soil, everything but cotton could be grown in the nearby countryside. There were vast mineral resources, huge forests, and the
Grey Fog AND
hydroelectric potential of the Yangtze River. Chiang thought it the perfect spot in which to rebuild the countr y and carry out a protracted war of resistance against Japan.
War Memorials… Not s u r pr i si ngly, C hongqi ng a nd neighbouring districts are dotted with historic sites from the World War II and the Chinese Civil War eras. The People’s Liberation Monument, which has become a symbol of the city, was originally intended to serve as a Monument for the Victory Over the Axis Armies. It is the only such monument in China. During the second world war, which in China is known as the War Against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek set up his military headquarters in the mountains above Chongqing. The spot was so remote, it was never discovered by the Japanese and was therefore never bombed. The many beautiful
Fog-shrouded monuments, eerie ghost towns, and spicy hotpot—the only place in China where you can get all three is in Chongqing, says MICHAEL TAYLOR, who likes his history liberally spiced
GHOST TOWNS
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CLOCKWISE, FROM OPPOSITE PAGE: The mighty Yangtze River, where one can take a cruise of the river cities of China, including Chongqing; Dazu sculptures; striking red lanterns on the streets of Chongqing
buildings comprising the compound have been turned into a museum. Located at the foot of Gele Mountain are Zha Zi Dong and Bai Gong Guan, which were Nationalist prison camps during the war. Elite Nationalist troops were trained at both sites. Three hundred Communist political prisoners were allegedly massacred at the site at the close of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Important negotiations between Chiang and Communist head honcho Mao Zedong took place at Red Rock Village, which is located near Shapingba. The Martyrs’ Mausoleum is located nearby at Gele Mountain. It was the site of the former headquarters, radio station and prison of Bureau of Investigation and Statistics of the Military Council of the Chinese Nationalists. Residences of several prominent historical figures have been turned into house museums. They offer more than a quick lesson in an engaging chapter of modern Chinese history. They also provide a glimpse of what life was like for the privileged few during that heady era. General John Stilwell, affectionately known as “Vinegar” Joe Stilwell, headed US operations in Western China during World War II. Not only was he a brilliant military leader, he also had a deep understanding of Chinese culture and could speak, read, and write Chinese. His former residence here has been turned into a museum. Affording breathtaking views of the Yangtze River, its
main level is pretty much as it was when Stilwell lived there. The lower level has an exhibit of photos of the Chinese Front during the War Against Japan. Song Ching-ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen, known as the Father of Modern China, also lived in Chongqing during the war years. Her former residence, which is a short walk from the Hilton Hotel, has also been turned into a museum. The same goes for Zhou Enlai, who became post-liberation China’s first prime minister. His former residence has been turned into a museum, as well.
…and Cultural Artefacts A historic city, Chongqing has undergone several name changes over the years. It was first known as Jiangzhou; the current name dates back 800 years. Chongqing lies at the heart of the ancient Ba civilization. As a result, a number of important archaeological sites dot the region. Within the city proper, the Three Gorges Museum has exhibits on Ba culture as well as life in Chongqing during the Qing Dynasty, the early Republican era, and the war years. There are six themed areas. Exhibits include paintings and calligraphy, coins, cultural relics, folk customs, porcelains, and sculptures. It is located across from People’s Square. Other noteworthy sites in the neighbourhood include The Great Hall of the People. Built in 1951, it is sort of a larger version of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.
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Ci Qi Kou, or Porcelain Village, lies 14 kilometres west of Chongqing, along the banks of the Jialing River. With a history dating back at least 1,700 years, it became famous during the Ming and Qing dynasties for its porcelain. At least 20 kiln sites have been discovered in the village, which has 12 lanes paved with flagstones and lined with shops selling porcelains and various other crafts. More than 100 teahouses also dot the settlement. More than 80 kilometres west of Chongqing lie the Dazu Grottoes. A series of 50,000 Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist sculptures and carvings scattered across 75 sites, they date back to as early as the Tang Dynasty. More were added during the Five Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms period. The most significant were created during the Song Dynasty, when Zhao Zhifeng, a Buddhist month, spent 70 years working
on the elaborate sculptures and carvings that grace Mount Boading. The most recent were created during the Qing Dynasty. They were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Dafo Temple is in Tongnan, a two hours’ drive north of town. Built along the meandering banks of the Fuijiang River, it features a giant Buddha carved into the rock. Fengdu Ghost Town is about three hours to the northeast of the city. Located on the banks of the Yangtze River, it has a Buddhist temple on the slopes of Mount Ling. With deserted streets, watchtowers, banks and shops, the town has an eerie quality. According to legend, the devil lives there. Good spirits go to heaven. Bad spirits go to Fengdu. The only people living there cater to the tourists that make a brief stopover on their voyage down the Yangtze River. Fifteen kilometres from the center of town
in scenic Jiulongpo district, the Chongqing Hua Yan Tourist Spot is a temple complex with a long history. Included are a lovely spring, Buddhist monastery, and a large golden Buddha.
Some Like It Hot Situated at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, Chongqing serves as the starting point for visitors embarking on cruises down the Yangtze River, China’s longest and the world’s third longest waterway. Daytrips by hydrofoil to such nearby destinations as the Three Gorges are popular, but two- or three-night voyages to such exotic locales as Guilin and Tibet, making stops at archaeological and heritage sites along the way, are far more rewarding. Located on the tip of the Huaying Mountains, Chongqing is a city of superlatives.
CHONGQING EXPRESS
All trips are in the details. Here’s how to make yours worthwhile Unlike other cities in China, there aren’t that many reliable English guides in print for Chongqing, which may be due to the fact that the city is still undiscovered by foreign tourists. A few years back, navigating the city could be a challenge as there were few streets and establishments with English names and even fewer have English resources or translations. Things have improved in the last few years, however. Maybe because the city is a pit stop to most river cruises down the Yangtze. And from here on in, the situation may be different. For now, though, take advantage of the fact that there aren’t that many tourists, which means entrance fees to museums and attractions are still reasonable (compared to say, Beijing)
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and souvenir hawkers won’t be dogging your every step. And unless otherwise stated, tourist sites open at 9am and close around 5-6pm. Where To Go Ci Qi Kou Ancient Town (literally, Porcelain Port) No admission charge and opens till late. Located in the northwest part of town, near Ge Le Mountain, this is one of the better-known tourist destinations in Chongqing. Traditional architecture has been preserved or recreated and local artisans and craftspeople have opened shops here, adding to the overall “artistic” ambience. This is a good place to get traditional papercuts and stamp engraving. Note: Souvenirs here are sold at artisan prices, so may be more expensive.
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This is also a good place to walk around the back alleys and little paths by the river. Sample fresh ma hua, fried ropes of dough that are sweet and crunchy, or just plain people-watch as locals like to come here for afternoon tea and cards. Dazu Rock Carvings (admission RMB120). The stone carvings in Dazu date to the Tang and Song dynasties, and continued until the Ming and Qing dynasties. Plan a whole day for this tour as it’s quite a distance from the city. In Chongqing, take the shuttle bus from the long distance bus-station to Dazu County (fare is about RMB 40/person). The trip lasts about 1.5 hours and then take a special bus to Dazu Rock Carvings (about RMB3/person).
Ge Le Mountain Park (admission RMB10) Located above and far from busy Shapingba district, the park is good for a quiet stroll in the afternoon under the pines and cedars. There’s a cable car that can take you to the park and back down. The station is located just north of Sichuan Foreign Language Institute. Ge Le Mountain Revolutionary War Sites For the war buffs, these are the places to go. The Ge Le area has several historical sites on the Revolutionary War between the KMT and the Communist Party. These sites are mostly uphill, but walkable. There are minibuses that can take you to each site. If you want to visit all the sites, purchase the all-inclusive ticket worth around
RMB40. Sites in this area include: 1. Red Cliff Martyrs Memorial Museum (admission RMB10) 2. Chiang Kai-Shek’s Hideout (admission RMB5) 3. Song Lin Execution Grounds (admission RMB10) For around RMB30/ person, you can watch a reenactment of the historical events that took place here. The re-enactment is in Chinese, though. There are also tours available— but again, in Chinese. Jiefangbei Plaza The city’s upscale shopping district, where you find all the genuine brand name goods, with their corresponding prices, of course. A brand-new underground shopping area connects to the Light Rail Stations.
Geographically speaking, it claims to be the world’s largest municipality, covering an area of 82,000 square kilometres. In terms of population, it is the most populous city in China, with a population of more than 30 million. Forty districts, cities and counties are under its jurisdiction. It borders five provinces: Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan. But perhaps the most interesting superlative of all is the city’s reputation as having China’s spiciest cuisine. Sichuan is home to one of China’s legendary Eight Great Cuisines. Before it became a provincial level municipality, Chongqing was a part of Sichuan Province. Chongqing cuisine, therefore, is considered a subcategory of Sichuanese cuisine. If Sichuanese cuisine is spicy and strongly flavoured, Chongching dishes are even spicier and the flavours are even stronger, thanks to the liberal use of numbing peppers known
John Stilwell Museum Located at 63 Jialingxin Road, Liziba, Yuzhong District, Chongqing Paradise Walk This is where the locals go, because you can find a range of goods here, from dirt-cheap to superexpensive. Paradise Walk is the upscale portion while Hong Kong City, across Haagen Dasz is where you can find the knockoffs. Ping Ding Mountain Park (free admission) Tired of shopping at the Three Gorges Plaza? Head here for a bird’s eye view of the west side of the city. Also a popular place for locals, who while away the afternoon drinking tea, playing mahjong, Go, Chinese chess, and “Overthrow the Landlord.”
in Putonghua as ma la. There are nearly 40 different cooking methods, and ingredients include chilli peppers, fermented black beans, garlic, ginger, scallions, sesame, soy sauce, and wine. Because of the city’s heat and humidity, lots of innovative preservation methods were developed in the days before refrigeration and air conditioning. Included are drying, pickling, salting, and smoking. It is not surprising that Chongqing has some of China’s finest restaurants, including large numbers featuring the city’s signature dish, hotpot. With hotpot, diners sit around a table, which has a pot in the middle. The pot, which sits atop a burner, is filled with broth. There are three basic types: red soup, which is spicy; bone soup, not spicy; and Mandarin duck soup, which is also known as double-cooked soup. Needless to say, the amount of spiciness can be adjusted to suit the preferences of diners. Servers
generally ask if you want “big, medium or small hot.” While diners wait for the soup come to a boil, they order platters of uncooked fish, meat, bean curd, and vegetables. They then walk over to a buffet-like table, where they create a personalised dipping sauce from the assembled ingredients. When the soup comes to a boil, they start tossing things into the pot, extracting them when they are cooked and dipping them into their sauce. Hotpot was originally a seasonal dish, served in winter to protect people against low temperatures and strong winds. Now it is served year round. In addition to hotpot, other popular local specialties include twice-cooked pork, Aunt Ma’s tofu and gung pao chicken. These dishes can now be found at Chinese restaurants around the globe. But for the real deal, there’s no place like Chongqing.
Shaping Park (free admission) Located a few blocks from Three Gorges Plaza, this is an interesting rest stop, in its way. Walk around the edge of the lake and along the winding paths and discover replicas of famous buildings around the world: the Sydney Opera House sits upon the lakeshore and the Parthenon is crumbling away near the azaleas. Shi Ba Ti Old Street For a glimpse of Chongqing 40 years ago, head to this street, a 10-minute walk from the Jiefangbei area The KMT Prisons (Bai Gong Guan and Zha Zi Dong; admission about RMB10/each prison) Used by the KMT as political prisons during the civil war in the 1940s. After the Communists won,
Yangtze River
KMT spies set fire to the prisons and massacred most of the detainees. The cells have been converted to memorialise the victims of the massacre. Three Gorges Museum, Chongqing Center. Free admission
Three Gorges Plaza This massive shopping enclave at the heart of Shapingba district has a man-made river running through its square and accompanying sculptures meant to represent the Yangtze and all the stops along the way to the Three Gorges. With Chongqing
University, Chongqing Normal University, Sichuan International Studies University, and Southwest Politics and Law University all located nearby, this shopping plaza primarily caters to college students. There are hundreds of shops that sell trendy clothes and shoes.
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lifestyle romanticretreats Text by Mike Smith | PHOTOGRAPHY BY Mike Smith, losari coffee plantation resort & spa, susan spa & resort
PURE
Romance Central Java has a mystical landscape of active volcanoes, rice fields, and sugarcane plantations as well as the enchanting ancient temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. It boasts a rich culture with a long history of arts, music, and theatre. Now, it’s also fast gaining a reputation for upscale spas set in romantic surroundings. Two of the best are located in mountain areas easily accessible from Semarang, the bustling capital of the region.
Losari Coffee Plantation Resort & Spa When the Dutch left Indonesia, the 22-hectare Losari Coffee Plantation was abandoned. Today it has been transformed into a wonderful spa and resort. There are 32 luxury villas—including The Bella Vista, which once belonged to a Javanese prince,
Best way to rediscover each other? Alone time in a luxe secluded resort that knows everything there is to know about indulgence. We discover two in Central Java
boasts five bedrooms, a private pool and 24-hour butler service. All the villas have modern amenities private gardens and spectacular views over the plantation. With stunning mountain scenery and ecowalks throughout the plantation, this quiet resort is a wonderful getaway from the city. The grandeur is captured by the blending of colonial, Javanese and contemporary architecture. For example, the reception area at Losari is a restored 1878 wooden train station from Mayong village while the villas are restored Javanese houses. An 1828 original Dutch mansion is now The Club House, while the old Pendopo Gamelan building is where cultural shows are performed and the bar is the former plantation warehouse. Most visitors come not only for the romantic setting but also for the awardTHIS page, from top: Opulent suite at Losari evokes a past era; local pampering products; the romantic Spa in the Sky at Susan Spa & Resort OPPOSITE PAGE: Large pool at Susan Spa
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winning spa. The spa and pool are tucked away down a stepped pathway on the side of a hill and occupies three levels comprising 800 sqm surrounded by a lush scented garden. After discussing your treatment options with the knowledgeable staff at the reception, change into a sarong and get ready to be spoilt. The pride of the spa is the hamam, an authentic Turkish steam bath with four sections and separate quarters for men and women. You start off in the dome roofed steam room with walls and niches of yellow stone where the temperature is set to 40 degrees. Relax on the large central stone table or sit in one of the niches. To cleanse and cool yourself, there are cold water containers aplenty. The steam room is a communal area, rather like a moist sauna, for up to nine people so it is great for a quiet chat with family & friends or for personal reflection. Once you are relaxed and the pores of your skin, opened move to the gommage, a cold room, for the hamam treatment, which involves body brushing, washing, scrubbing with a textured mitten. Take a deep breath for a cold dip in the plunge pool to revitalise yourself before heading to the relaxation room where a pot of lemongrass tea awaits you on the long curved sofas of the private “living room” where you can stay for as long as you desire. For those who want a traditional massage, there are five treatment rooms including four double rooms at lower ground level, which are stunningly set out—perfect for couples. The rooms are spacious and of course decorated in traditional Javanese style. Private showers and bathrooms plus a large sunken bathtub and bamboo floors create a regal setting. The treatment starts with a chime
bell being passed over the body, providing a sense of spirituality, communication and mystery. Continuous long strokes on the whole body make the massages special. There are separate treatment rituals for relaxing, revitalizing, and rejuvenating depending upon your mood. Highly recommended is The Royal Javanese ritual, which was traditionally given to the princes and princesses of Central Java Palace. It starts with a deep traditional massage followed by a Mangir scrub in slow and light strokes which leaves the skin smelling of sandalwood. This is followed by a floral bath. For something completely different try a Losari coffee scrub—which uses a blend of freshly ground plantation coffee, coconut milk, yoghurt and cinnamon. The beauty shop at Losari provides all the expected services including facials, manicure, pedicure and a hair salon. For the men there is even an opportunity for old-style shaving with a sharp cutthroat blade! One note of caution: some villas are quite far from the clubhouse and restaurants; paths and steps can be a little slippery when wet.
Susan Spa & Resort Bandungan Susan Spa & Resort in Bandungan may take some by surprise; it is a large ultramodern mansion in rural Java. With its distinctive tall Roman pillars, it has clean lines, is classy, fashionable and has been gaining a reputation for wedding receptions and as a Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition (MICE) location. The spa is 36km from Semarang, on the side of Ungaran Mountain, 1,100 metres above sea level, which means the air is fresh
and cool in the evenings. Traditional markets, villages and historic temples are nearby to provide additional diversion. The accommodation comprises 20 elegant guest rooms for up to nine guests in each. They are exquisitely decorated in European minimalist style. However, the spa facilities are core to the business here. The 12 treatment rooms are simple but very stylishly decorated and include two rooms for Thai massage plus separate Jacuzzi and sauna facilities. The spas décor of neutral browns, with rooms off an attractive corridor give a sophisticated, modern, professional yet distinctly Asian feel. Gentle gamelan music helps to relax the mind as the skilled therapists do their work using exotic natural products. For the perfect honeymoon escape, book The Spa in the Sky, the resort’s piece de resistance. It is bright and cheerful with tiled floors and huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows on three sides, offering a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside, paddy fields and volcanoes. Be ready for head-totoe pampering with your loved one in this twin room. Soak in the large tub before your massage and enjoy the scenery, which is wonderful, whether it’s bright and sunny or atmospheric when enshrouded in mist. After soaking in the tub, and a foot soak, give yourself up to four hours of sheer indulgence—hot stone massage, aromatherapy with exotic essential oils or the signature tropical nut body scrub. The tranquil grounds are beautiful so enjoy drinks and traditional snacks such as ginger tea with gado-gado or rojak in the fresh air at the outdoor Cinnamon Café or simply relax in the gazebos surrounded by tropical flowers. For an alternate experience visit the nearby Gedong Songo (Nine Buildings) Temples on horseback. This group of small 8th century Hindu Javanese temples gives a real feel of remoteness, history and views of seven volcanoes. Losari Coffee Plantation Resort & Spa, Desa Losari, Grabag, Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia; losaricoffeeplantation.com. Susan Spa & Resort, Dusun Plyoto, Bandungan, Kab. Semarang, Central Java; susanspa-resort.com. Garuda International flies daily to Semarang from Singapore. Chan Brothers Travel Pte Ltd offers package tours to Susan Spa & Resort.
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lifestylechristmasmarkets
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Marie Andersson/Skansen; Stig Kälvelid/ imagebank.sweden.se; Johan Palmborg/imagebank.sweden.se; Henry Trygg/imagebank. sweden.se
of Djurgarden just east of the city’s central harbour, it’s easily accessible by bus, tram or ferry. Founded in 1891, the museum’s special exhibits include a replica of a 19th century town. In early December, Skansen’s Bollnäs Square has a traditional Christmas market that has been a crowd-drawer since 1903. This year it will be held on the weekends of 28-29 November, 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 December, 10am-4pm. Browse around the many stalls that sell delicious festive treats such as smoked turkey, sugared almonds, marzipan, jams, cheeses, traditional sausages, honey, saffron buns and many others. Along the way, you can pick up beautiful Christmas gifts and ornaments from the
Christmas is a big deal in Scandinavia. Cold, dark winter months brighten up with the onset of Advent. In Sweden, candles are lit; hot, spiced glöggs (mulled wines) are drunk; and parties are in full swing. Come December 13, the Festival of Light to honour St. Lucia is a must-notmiss event as young girls dress up in white and have crowns of light to celebrate the life of the saint. Come December, Christmas markets are the best places to immerse in the joyous festivities. Here are some of the most popular ones in the major cities of Stockholm and Goteborg.
Market
Sweden’s traditional, fun, colourful Christmas markets attract more and more visitors every year, says AMY VAN who went on a buying spree
DAZE
Gamla Stan Christmas Market In Stockholm, the old town of Gamla Stan (where the city was founded in 1252) features a bustling Christmas market during the festive season. Stroll along the well-preserved cobblestone streets of this medieval district and soak in the lively scene. Since 1915, the annual market has been held in Stortorget or The Big Square. This public square, the oldest in town, is also home to the Stock Exchange Building, which houses the Nobel Museum and Library. This year, the market kicks off from 21 November to 23 December, 11am-6pm. Take your time to check out the many small stalls selling crafts, cakes, candy, gingerbread, decorations and gifts. After shopping, head over to one of the charming cafes, restaurants or bars for a hearty meal.
Skansen Open Air Market Stockholm has another annual Christmas market over at Skansen, the first open-air museum in Sweden. Located at the island
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TOP: Admiring straw Christmas ornaments at the Skansen Market; strolling down the main street of Liseberg’s Christmas market
handicraft stalls. While shopping, enjoy live Christmas carols or even participate in dancing games around the Christmas tree. There are craft demonstrations where you can make your own decorations. The Skansen seasons store at the Bollnäs Square also offers all manner of Christmas goods from 2 December to 7 January.
Liseberg Christmas Market In Goteborg, Sweden’s second largest city, visitors can make their way to another highly popular Christmas market at Liseberg, a huge amusement park. Liseberg’s Christmas market is opened on 13-15, 20-22 and 27-29 November and 2-6 and 8-23 December. In
winter, the entire park is transformed into a winter wonderland, beautifully illuminated with millions of sparkling lights. The atmospheric market is Sweden’s largest with over 80 stalls selling traditional arts and crafts, homemade delicacies and other goodies. This is like an expanded neighbourhood Christmas market, where the whole village shows up and visitors flock to town to see the stalls. If you’ve had enough of mulled wine, warm yourself up with some hot chocolate paired with waffles, marzipan, or toffee. Skaters will love the frozen pond transformed into an ice skating rink, a popular attraction at the market. Otherwise, take part in live Christmas carol sing-alongs and mingle
with the locals. Nearby restaurants ser ve classic Christmas smorgasbords with a huge variety of traditional Swedish dishes such as meatballs, pickled herring, ham, cured salmon, sausages and others. When your feasting is over make your way to the Liseberg Ice Gallery & Bar, which is made entirely out of ice. Order some Swedish vodka and enjoy the unique ambience. The interiors, furnishings, including the drinking glasses, are sculpted from ice from the pristine Torne River. If you’ve always been dreaming of a white Christmas, now is your chance to pack your scarves, knit hats and warm coats and make a trip up north.
CLOCKWISE: Checking out ceramic ornaments in Gamla Stan; reindeers in whatever form will always be a hit with kids; Liseberg Christmas market
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lifestyle conversation Text BY Louay Habib | Photography courtesy of Nautor’s Swan, www.regattanews.com
FERRAGAMO ON THE
HIGH SEAS Scion of the high-end fashion house, Leonardo Ferragamo talks about why running a fashion empire is like competition sailing Unless you’ve been living in a cave, everyone knows who Salvatore Ferragamo is—or at least, the surname that is the eponymous label of high-end shoes and apparel. Salvatore Ferragamo first shot to fame as a shoe designer in the 1960s–60s. So fashion-forward were his wares that the house
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became the go-to brand for A Listers—both of the Hollywood variety and the ultra-rich who eschewed the limelight. He was a fashion genius and his talents created a luxury goods empire that spanned the world. Today the name Ferragamo is synonymous, not only with high-end shoes and apparel,
but also to a way of life that was the epitome of the brand name in the first place. Salvatore passed away in 1960, but the legacy lives on; the Ferragamo fashion house is still in family ownership. Today, a new generation of Ferragamos aims to take off where their father left off, and expand their
empire in ways that not even the visionary Salvatore could have thought of. Leonardo Ferragamo is one of Salvatore’s six children and owner of one of the most well-known and respected luxury yacht builders in the world—Nautor’s Swan. “I have always said that sailing is the best training ground for your business life,” he says when we caught up with him. “Sailing builds up a lot of skills that you need to become a leader in any profession. You need vision and strategy but sometimes you have to make quick tactical decisions that can adjust your overall strategy. One of the most important aspects of sailing is that you are in a team and that you must function as a unit but the leader must have the final word and be prepared to take decisions. Sailing is a challenge, every time you go to sea, you know that you will be taking some risks, just like in business.” For the uninitiated, it would seem as if Leonardo wanted to carve out a name for himself outside the family business—and maybe he does. However, he says that the world of sailing and fashion are not that far off. Having been the owner of a Swan yacht for 10 years before buying the company, Leonardo sees both businesses as extensions of himself. “I have always been passionate about Swan yachts and I have a lot of respect for the people that worked there and how they approached their work; there is passion and pride in what they were doing and they have a huge amount of knowledge and ability,” he explains of the decision. “In business, I had only been involved in the fashion world before I bought Swan in 1998 but unusual as it may sound, the fashion industry and boatbuilding are very similar, in many
respects. Both are very much affected by an international market, branding, and reliability of the products.”
Unbeatable Combination Perhaps it’s also what the yachts represent that drew the young Ferragamo to the brand. Swan yachts, after all, possess elegance and efficiency, two words that Ferragamo understands, having been bred into his DNA. “People who buy Swan yachts appreciate and love life at sea. People buy Swan because of their passion and appreciation of the product not because they want the yacht to be an exhibit, something to show off. Swan owners have a lot of pride in the yacht that they own. One of the main reasons that attracted me to Swan is that they have always provided an equilibrium between performance and elegance through quality and reliability.” Well-established for over 40 years, Swan yachts have an identity of their own, says Leonardo. People who own these yachts know their value, perhaps in the same way that folks who buy his family’s brand know and love the value that they’re getting. “The yacht’s conceptual design is one of understatement but a sign of class,” he says. “The way we use these qualities, distinctly mark our boats as Swan. The design gives our boats an identity, a personality. When you see a Swan enter a harbour, people know what it is without needing a logo. This is a great value and few products in the world can achieve this.” For decades, this balance between performance and elegance has been in the DNA of a Swan.
What He Brought to the Table His passion for the boats led Leonardo to buy the company,
OPPOSITE PAGE, INSET AND THIS PAGE: Swam Maxi Class boats ae built for speed and toughness
but he knew that he was going into territory that is considered hallowed ground by yachting aficionados. “When I first came to control the company, I was very keen to enter the business with humility and a great respect for the past but I could see that the product had to evolve because it was a little dormant at the time,” he says. “I came up with a coherent strategy to develop the brand but without forgetting the strength and values that have made the brand a legend.” To achieve this, Leonardo put together a mixed team of established technicians and methods with new people who had ideas about new materials and the latest forms of construction.” His background in fashion helped in this regard. As fashion watchers are well aware, the house of Ferragamo, while maintaining that sense of elegance and distinct look that has identified it for decades, has also been able to roll with the times. “We employ this same philosophy in the fashion business. We wanted to maintain a balance between modernity, technology and values of tradition. This is the philosophy of Swan.” Because he is dealing in luxury products, Ferragamo and Nautor’s Swan would be in a unqiue position to comment on
the recent worldwide recession. Leonardo Ferragamo has clear views on the state of the world economy and why he’s confident that his companies have what it takes to ride out the storm. “The global financial crisis has affected every part of the world and every industry— including boat building. I think that as a result of the crisis, we can see that consumers are much more attentive to what they buy. The quality-to-price ratio is very important and so is longevity. Swan yachts are timeless, you see a Swan from 40 years ago and it is still a special boat, it still looks elegant and a thing of beauty, even alongside new boats. A Swan has always maintained its value over time, which means that it is a good investment. All of these factors are important for today’s consumer. It is important to be wary of what the future may bring but to never be afraid when the challenges come. The more you know, the more you are prepared and you can confront these challenges and succeed.” The unofficial world championship of the design is the Rolex Swan Cup, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. The competition is staged every two years and over a hundred Swans, compete producing one of the most spectacular regattas in the world of yacht racing.
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traveltalk
Text By William Soo and Jenny Yiu | photographS courtesy of Japan National Tourism Organization
8 Have something to say? Send your vignettes, experiences or expert advice to terriegutierrez@epl.com.sg
HE SAID, SHE SAID An ingenious married couple on the ins and outs of travelling together in Japan. Read and learn “Till death do us part,”— that’s what we vowed at the altar. But somehow, this is one of the first things we temporarily disregard when we go on a holiday, especially when we hit the streets of Tokyo during our annual trip there. Upon touchdown at Narita, the two of us are ready to part ways. He said: I love the way we plan our holidays; our duties seldom overlap. She does the entire planning and preparation (the classic Type A), while I take care of our communication needs at our destination, packing anything electronics related, my own clothes, and turning up at the airport on time. She said: Our arrangement works out perfectly for us. He knows our communication needs—to stay fully in-touch without paying extortionate roaming fees. I am more relaxed knowing that everything has been pre-booked and arranged, especially since we usually go during the New Year, when many restaurants are closed for up to a week while the chefs go home for the holidays. He said: Pleased that I have the seal of approval from the commander, I’ve actually gotten quite good at my task. Some of my secrets: To avoid paying roaming fees, I always purchase an overseas prepaid SIM card of our destination, which is available
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in Singapore. Secondly, I always forward my Singapore number to my overseas mobile number using a service like Ready-2-Go Link Service. If my friends call me on my Singapore number, then my Japanese number will ring. Important note for Japan: Non-Japan residents cannot purchase a prepaid SIM card, therefore you may rent a Japan SIM card for about Y100/day and you’ll get a local Japanese phone number (which you’ll receive via email even prior to arriving in Japan). Incoming calls are free and you pay local rates, instead of high roaming charges. She said: As soon as we land, he heads to the phone rental counter to pick up the SIM cards he pre-ordered, while I head to the car rental counter. He said: We’ve been going to Tokyo ever y year for 10 years and we have learnt that driving lets us see much more than being underground all the time. Though you might find driving in Japan intimidating due to the language, most rental cars have a built-in GPS; request for one with an English language GPS. I just input the phone number of our service apartment in Roppongi and voila, off we go. To be safe, get yourself a copy of the Tokyo City Atlas, probably one of the best English street maps
Crowd of shoppers in Shinjuku
available and is good enough for driving. She said: Japan for me equals…shopping! Which means we try to bring as little as possible, to save up space in our suitcases. We rent a serviced apartment, normally at Roppongi, so we can do our own laundry. He said: And if you also take gadgets, such as a phone charger or a laptop, don’t forget that power sockets in Japan are different from the three-pin plug found in Singapore and the electrical output is 110V, so bring a travel adaptor and a transformer. The same applies for the electrical appliances that you buy—you would need an adaptor and a transformer for use back in Singapore. She said: Once we’ve checkedin, dumped our luggage in our room, and locked one of our passports in the room safe (we carry one of our passports for tax-refund, which normally needs to be done on the same day of purchase), it’s on to our first stop: Ginza, to a restaurant that we go back to every year. He said: My parents-in-law
have dined in this restaurant for the past 37 years! The restaurant has the most mouthwatering yakitori and kamameshi (rice cooked in a hotpot with meat, vegetables and broth), and is very reasonably priced. At the entrance, we are greeted by the owner Yamada-san, who my parents-in-law fondly refer to as the “young chap with glasses,” almost forgetting that they first met this old friend nearly 40 years ago and that Yamadasan’s son, who is groomed to take over the establishment, is actually our age. I do know that my grandchildren will be visiting Yamada-san Junior, much like we’re doing and savouring the last specks of rice from the kamameshi pot. She said: We treat restaurants like old friends. The wonderful thing about traditional restaurants in Japan is that things hardly change: décor, menu and staff remain the same, which gives us a certain level of comfort to walk back into an establishment every year and never be disappointed. After all, how can you be disappointed at
an old friend’s home? Therefore, we’d like to introduce you to another of our old friends: Ukai Toriyama in Hachioji. I remember the first time we went there 10 years ago, it was as if time had stopped. We had turned into the valley, after a long winding driveway, and there it was. The torch-lined driveway led us toward the main house, where we were welcomed by our kimono-dressed hostess who guided us through the Japanese garden toward our private cottage. A reservation is a must. He said: One of our traditions is spending New Year’s Eve at the Meiji Shrine at Omotesando/ Harajuku (January 1 is the Japanese New Year). Omotesando is where the most luxurious brand names of the world are, but come New Year’s Eve, the area is transported back to what it was originally built for: as the procession road to the Meiji Shrine and lined with white lanterns. We usually have a late dinner in the Omotesando area in one of the few restaurants that remain open. Then we start walking up to the shrine at around 10pm and queue up until the gates open at midnight. Since it’s chilly this time of year, bring a few essentials: Hot packs (which you can buy at local drug stores), warm drinks (from the all-encompassing convenience store), and enough batteries on the phone so that you can play a game or two while waiting in line. Just follow the crowd and stops when the mass of bodies stop moving. Get comfortable; you’ll be there for a while, until you hear the chiming of the bells. No one shouts, sings Auld Lang Syne, or starts a countdown—just a quiet excitement among the crowd. Get some coins ready to throw into the trough in front of the altar before clapping your hands together to make a wish, after which you will be
politely and swiftly ushered away. On your way out, there are stalls selling hot pancakes, toffee apple, and some sickly sweet hot rice wine, which you will appreciate because of the cold year. She said: The real reason I enjoy spending New Year’s in Tokyo is so that I can be there for the sale that starts on January 2, especially the Fukubukuro— “Lucky Bag.” Fukubukuro are sold for a fixed price (starting ¥10,000), are sealed and filled with items from a particular brand. Only a limited number of them are available, and are usually sold out within the first hour. In a ¥10,000 Fukubukuro, for instance, you’re likely to find items worth up to ¥100,000. As if we haven’t had enough of queuing for hours on New Year’s Eve, we start the New Year in yet another queue. Outside all major department stores on January 2 (and a selected few on January 1), you will find queues that snake around for blocks waiting for the doors to open at 10am. Here is my real pilgrimage and where all Japanese courtesy goes out the window as soon as the doors open. Once again, my husband and I part ways. He goes to the Isetan queue heading for brands like Paul Smith, Joseph, DKNY, and Calvin Klein. I am faithfully at Takashimaya every year making
a beeline for Just Cavalli, Georg Jensen, Anteprima, and Paul Smith. To save time, I always pay cash and exact change. And when I can’t carry another bag, I head to the nearest self-service lockers (which are available in every department store) and leave all my bags there so that I can continue on my quest. By the time I meet up with my husband in the early afternoon, we’d both be exhausted but thrilled, as that was only half the fun. We have yet to open all our bags and see what is in them. The evening is normally spent back at the apartment parading around in our new clothes. He said: While my wife is showing me her third new handbag, I am actually calculating how we’re going to fit all our shopping into our luggage. Maybe we can wear everything so we don’t have to pack? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have to pay for excess luggage. But this thought, I will keep to myself.
TOKYO ESSENTIALS www.trusling.com for the Ready-2Go range of foreign prepaid SIM cards and international call forwarding service www.rent. toyota.co.jp Toyota car rental Tokyo City Atlas (published by Kodansha) Available at major bookstores and some convenience stores at the Narita airport. www.somerset.com for a serviced apartment. We usually rent one at Roppongi 1 Torigin New @ 5-5-11 Ginza for the best kamameshi and yakitori. Tel: +813 3571 3334. To get there, look for the Cartier boutique, then turn into the alley on its left. When you see Torigin and Torigin New, head into Torigin New. www.ukai.co.jp/toriyama / For a great dinner www.meijijingu.or.jp /english Info on the Meiji Shrine New Year’s Eve Celebration
The colourful shopping district of Ginza
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At a loss of finding the perfect gifts for your nearest and dearest this holiday season? Some recommendations to make your last-minute panic-buying as painless as possible
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LIFESTYLE
good stuff gourmand’s corner posh space
A rundown of hotels and restaurants’ delectable gourmet spreads and delectable goodie baskets that will most likely tempt you to keep to yourself instead of giving as gifts. All we can say is, ‘tis the season for sharing—delicious goodies, especially
CHRISTMAS FEASTS It’s that time of the year to reconnect with loved ones and what better way to do this than over a fancy dinner? Here’s a roundup of holiday offerings in the city:
Scarlet Night The Christmas Eve Set Dinner menu (at $78++ per person) at The Scarlet dishes up Amuse Bouche—fresh oyster on watermelon pressé, sturgeon caviar and white balsamic served with tomato essence shooter, Chèvre Chaud & Saint Paulin en Salade—roasted cheese with arugula salad and pear, Sous Vide Ocean Trout paired with seasonal vegetables and butter monté with yuzu miso jus, Roasted Turkey Roulade laden
with poached pear, chestnut and five spice jus or Sous Vide Grain-fed Beef matched with asparagus, pumpkin butternut gratin and winter truffle infused veal jus and White Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding. Dining under the starlit sky is just about perfect, especially with the Christmas Eve Platter Menu ($68++ per person): Seafood Salad tossed with tomatoes, avocado and mesclun salad in citrus soyu dressing, Butternut
Pumpkin Soup topped with fresh cream and chives, Grill Platter featuring peppercorn beef short ribs, baked lobster in brown butter and carving of roasted turkey roulade stuffed with peach and spinach, and Belgium Chocolate Fondue with assorted fruits and marshmallows to finish. The Scarlet, 33 Erskine Road, Singapore 069333; for restaurant reservations, +65 6511 3333; valet parking is available from 6.30–11pm.
Grill Platter at The Scarlet
Roasted Stuffed Lam Leg
For the Meat Lovers An extensive gourmet selection of goodies await diners at Meritus Mandarin. The newly refurbished hotel has stepped up to the plate with its festive offerings, sure to delight those who love traditional holiday meats with a twist of surprise. Try: Roasted Korubota Black Pork rack ($150, 1.5 kg), composed of four to five ribs of mouthwatering tender, juicy Korubota pork, sure to be a fabulous centrepiece at home. Or if beef’s your thing,
Roast Beef
Local Flair From 1 December 2009 to 1 January 2010, guests at Goodwood Park Hotel are in for lots of treats, starting with its alternative to the traditional turkey: The Roasted Boneless Challandais Duck with red currant-apple stuffing (S$268 for six to eight persons) is new and sure to be a star at any celebration. Other new creations such as Roasted Chestnut Soup with Swiss Bacon and Amaretto (S$39/four to six persons); Ragout of Kurobuta Pork Shoulder with chanterelles (S$168 for
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get the Premium Australian Roasted M9+ Marbling Score Wagyu Beef ($550, 2kg), graded to be the most marbled cut in the market and roasted to luscious perfection. Traditional favourites include Honey Glazed Gammon Ham and Roasted US Turkey. For the health conscious, try Roasted Stuffed Lamb Leg ($158, 2.5kg), which is stuffed with wild grain and an assortment of dried fruits. www. meritus-hotels.com
six to eight persons) as well as Coffee and Brownie Log Cake (S$65 for 1 kg) will make this Christmas one to remember. Back by popular demand, the Turkey Satay (S$42 for a dozen sticks) and all-time favourite Hainanese Turkey (S$178 for 12 to 16 portions) are bound to leave guests asking for seconds! Also, not to be missed are the festive set menus and lavish buffet spreads at the hotel’s dining establishments. Not to be missed: Draw Your Own Gingerbread Man, which is sold
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with a DIY decorative kit, these scrumptious goodies will add a touch of fun to any celebration! S$30 for four pieces; Durian profiteroles X’mas tree, which is a nod to Goodwood Park Hotel’s tradition of offering only the finest durian pastries and cakes. This very special tree will add a lovely local flavour to any gathering. Pure D24 durian pulp is filled into each fluffy profite role and lined on a sponge cake base to form a delicious showpiece. S$68 for six to eight persons. www.goodwoodparkhotel.com
Clown d’Or
LIFESTYLE
good stuff gourmand’s corner posh space
Rack of Lamb with Pistachio Ginger Crust and Roasted Foie Gras
Adagio
A Royal Circus Over at Royal Plaza on Scotts, it’s a tent full of treats with the hotel’s Santa’s Big Circus holiday celebration at Carousel. In the tempting dessert selection, surprise that special someone with an exquisite Clown d’Or (S300), a limited edition fruitcake shaped like a crystal-studded handbag. The cake, encased in
Cova’s Christmas Cake
marzipan, is filled with candied fruits, and bits of chocolate. It’s so exquisitely made that it’s almost a pity to have to eat it! Other dessert offerings include: mousse cakes like Litchi de Sampaguita ($48), a lychee ivory chocolate mousse sandwiched between jasmine cremaux and vanilla dacquoise; Caprice de Banana, banana
chocolate mousse layered with salted caramel and chocolate feuilletine; and Apple Riveira, a Granny Smith apple mousse with mil chocolate cremeaux and apple compote on chocolate Victoria sponge. For enquiries, call Carousel at +65 6589 7799 or email carousel@royalplaza. com.sg
Roast Turkey
Logcakes make for exciting gifts
Christmas Countdown
Italian Masterpieces The perfect go-to place for premium gourmet gifts? COVA Pasticceria-Confetteria and its handmade delights, including the signature Panettone; new decorated Christmas cakes and Logcakes, luxurious Christmas
hampers featuring new items and chocolates that will add a touch of Italian style to any celebration. If you’re finished shopping for goodies, get some yourself with the restaurant’s Festive High Tea, Festive Italian
Brunch as well as a range of set meals that showcase the best of authentic Italian fare. Call the café at (65) 6733 0777 for orders and reservations from 1 December 2009 to 1 January 2010.
A joyful Christmas awaits you at Harbour Plaza Metropolis with a festival buffet of delights. At Promenade Restaurant, the festive buffet features traditional Roasted Christmas Turkey, Sirloin of Beef and Glazed Ginger Plum Gammon Ham, together with Chef’s monthly recommendation such as Grilled Crab Cake with Celery Carrot Ginger Relish, Baked Scallops with Vodka Garlic Lemongrass Sauce Petrus, Rack of Lamb with Pistachio Ginger Crust and Grilled Foie Gras on Black Pepper Walnut Brioche, make for an extensive buffet table for you enjoyment. For desserts, don’t miss out the famous Christmas Log Cake and specialities by our
pastry chef—Angel Cake, Candle Cake and Santa on Sledge Cake, just for this Christmas! What’s more? On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve, during the second round dinner buffet, a Special Lindt Swiss Chocolate Fondue and a Baked Lobster Thermidor per table will be served for free!! Bring the kids for the Santa Claus Tour, countdowns and live entertainment Promenade Restaurant, Harbour Plaza Metropolis, L7, Harbour Plaza Metropolis, 7 Metropolis Drive, Hung Hom, Hong Kong; tel (852) 3160 6880; book online restaurants.hpme.harbour-plaza .com; harbour-plaza.com
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LIFESTYLE
good stuff gourmand’s corner posh space
A rundown of hotels and restaurants’ delectable gourmet spreads and delectable goodie baskets that will most likely tempt you to keep to yourself instead of giving as gifts. All we can say is, ‘tis the season for sharing—delicious goodies, especially
HIGH TEA HIGHLIGHTS
Burberry pastries on Paul Smith china
For the fashionistas—or those who want to experience a different kind of high tea—head to The Berkeley’s Prêt-à-Portea afternoon tea, where cakes, mousses and biscuits take their inspiration from the catwalk. Fashion fans are invited to eat their designer heart out on Matthew Williamson cakes and Dior macaroons after a day of shopping at style temples Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Prêt-à-Portea at The Berkeley, located in Knightsbridge, the heart of London’s fashion scene, includes fashionista delectables such as a fruity Dior blueberry macaroon boasting deep purple autumn colours and rich textures as well as a gold Christian Lacroix Valrhona chocolate bonbon. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of London Fashion Week and the return of Burberry to the London catwalk, Prêt-a-Portea features one of the label’s latest trench coat designs in the form of a cinnamon biscuit with caramel icing. The hotel has also forged links with Thomas Goode of Mayfair who produced a bespoke collection of Paul Smith fine bone china to be used for the tea and for the icing on the cake, chilled champagne is served in Baccarat crystal flutes. To make
a reservation for Prêt-à-Portea, call +44 (0) 20 7235 6000. Meanwhile, until December 6 at The Regent Singapore’s Best of Britain campaign is a Weekday Afternoon Tea Set, with such savoury highlights as an assortment of traditional English
pies like Cornish pasties as well as sweet desserts like rhubarb and apple pie crumble, Victoria sponge cake with strawberries and cream. One weekends, indulge in the High Tea Buffet, which includes a spread of premium cheeses, crackers, and sweets; savoury tarts, quiches, and pâtés, and other heartier traditional English fare. For those who want to take home some of the goodies or give them as gifts, head to the hotel’s delicatessen, SomethingToGo, for gourmet British products. The Regent Singapore, 1 Cuscaden Road, Singapore 249715; tel +65 733 8888; www.fourseasons.com
Delectable chocolate high-healed shoes at The Regent
Over at The Kowloon Hotel in Hong Kong, Chef Wong at Loong Yat Heen restaurant has tailormade a series of delicacies to match with a range of premium Chinese teas! He used the floral fragrance of White Peony tea to compliment the crispy roasted suckling pig, sampled the strong charcoal roast aroma of Monkey Pick Oolong to intensify pan-fried juicy beef fillet and creamy goose liver. Chef Wong has also come up with tea-dishes like Stir-fried
Oyster with Assorted Onions and Oolong Tea, combining the richness of oysters with the fragrance of Oolong tea. The Kowloon Hotel has also invited the President of Wah Fong Tea Company to conduct “Tea Training” to all service staff in Loong Yat Heen. For reservations or enquiries, please call Loong Yat Heen at 2734 3722 or book online http://restaurants.klnh. harbour-plaza.com.
Stir-fried Oyster with Assorted Onions and Oolong Tea
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L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Hong Kong)
THE BEST OF ASIA Next time you’re on a trip around Asia, grab a copy of The Miele Guide 2009/2010, which lists Asia’s top restaurants. Each year, the guide has been gaining even more traction as one of the most reliable listings of the continent’s food scene, and this year’s edition is no different. The Miele Guide is Asia’s first truly independent and authoritative guide to the region’s finest restaurants. It is written by expert food lovers who know and love Asia, and is the first restaurant guide to measure the best restaurants in the region by Asian standards. Few of the restaurants on this year’s Top 20 list are truly formal, fine-dining affairs. Some are busy, boisterous places, full of yelling waiters and laughing families. In fact, the casual far outrank the formalon the Top 20 list, which means that while Asian diners do appreciate high-end dining, they appreciate other aspects of the restaurant experience more. Here’s Asia’s Top 20: • L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong, China • Iggy’s, Singapore • Robuchon a Galera, Macau, China • Jaan par Andre, Singapore • Les Amis, Singapore • Mozaic, Bali, Indonesia • Gunther’s Modern French Cuisine, Singapore • Laris, Shanghai, China • Ku De Ta, Bali, Indonesia • Yung Kee, Hong Kong, China • Bukhara, New Delhi, India • Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant, Beijing, China • Zanotti II Ristorante Italiano, Bangkok, Thailand • M on the Bund, Shanghai, China • Nobu, Hong Kong, China • Caprice, Hong Kong, China • Antonio’s, Cavite, Philippines • Aubergine, Manila, Philippines • Fook Lam Moon, Hong Kong, China • L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Tokyo, Japan
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LIFESTYLE
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THE PENINSULA SHANGHAI
No. 32 The Bund, 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road, Shanghai 200002, People’s Republic of China www.peninsula.com
Text By teÀ villaMor | Photography Courtesy Of THE PENINSULA SHANGHAI
Recently opened, The Peninsula Shanghai, the ninth in The Peninsula Hotels’ portfolio has spectacular views of the Bund, Huangpu River, Pudong and the gardens of the former British Consulate. The opening of the hotel heralds the return of parent company The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited to its roots, as it owned and operated four of Shanghai’s most celebrated hotels—The Kalee, Majestic, Palace, and Astor House Hotels—in the first half of the last century. The hotel recreates the look and feel of the 1920s and 30s when the city was known as “The Paris of the East,” yet also offers the latest in state-ofthe-art technology, services and amenities. Peninsula Shanghai’s design brief heavily references Art Deco to blend in with its neighbours on the Bund.
Opulence Personified The 235 guestrooms (including 44 suites) are amongst the largest in Shanghai, with a typical Deluxe Guestroom being 55 sq m (600 sq ft), and most featuring stunning views of the area. The rooms are elegantly designed, with Art Deco-inspired interiors seamlessly blending traditional Peninsula standards of comfort and state-of-the-art technology with exotic woods, imported stones, black lacquer, carved glass and accents of polished chrome. In tones of celadon or cerulean blue and ivory, the interior design incorporates a number of traditional materials used in Shanghai in the 1920s—the rich figures of mahogany and
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ebony for the loose furniture and millwork, and the dramatic contrasts of black Noir St Laurent and off-white St Talino stones. Carpets are 100% wool and hand-tufted. Polished chrome Art Deco details throughout the room, such as the chandeliers and decorative lamp stands, contrast with Chinese accents, including hand-painted panels on the black lacquer TV cabinet, providing a unique and distinctive sense of place—a signature Peninsula feature in each property around the world. Typical guestroom features also include complimentary wireless high-speed Internet access, a bedside panel with remote controls to adjust the room environment with a touch of a button,interfaced Entertainment Centre with a 46” LCD television and enhanced international television programming, CD/DVD player with 5.1 sound bar and Internet radio, three-in-one fax/ printer/photocopier machine, a fully stocked mini-bar, Nespresso coffee machine and tea-making facilities. There’s also a spa button beside the bathtub that dims the lights, activates the “Do Not Disturb” function on the phone and doorbell and switches on soothing music while you relax in the tub. The premier suites are named after The Peninsula Shanghai’s forebears, The Palace, Majestic and Astor House Hotels. The Palace Suite features a magnificent 1,000 sq m (11,000 sq ft) wraparound terrace, the largest private terrace on the Bund with a marquee for all-weather events, while the Astor Suite’s private terrace features its own whirlpool bath, with both suites offering
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stunning views over the Huangpu River and Pudong skyline. The hotel’s top suite, The Peninsula Suite, offers a glamorous doubleheight living space and balcony, with views over the historic Bund, Huangpu River and Pudong.
Dine and Drink The Peninsula Shanghai has five restaurants and bars offering a variety of cuisines and ambiences: A signature feature of each Peninsula hotel, The Lobby serves light meals, drinks and the celebrated Peninsula Afternoon Tea, with live music every afternoon and evening. The Lobby sets the tone of drama and elegance for the rest of the hotel –– a double-height space, in cream with celadon accents and featuring a black marble floor, limestone walls, an Art Deco-inspired backlit carved glass ceiling, along with spectacular chandeliers, a minstrels’ gallery and two double-storey high murals. A model of the Shenking 2 boat that plied the Huangpu
River and coastline during the 1920s is the unique Compass Bar. Themed on the residence of a Shanghainese nobleman in the 1930s, Yi Long Court offers authentic Cantonese cuisine, with seven private dining rooms and a Chefs’ Table. Resembling an elegant drawing room in the 1930s, the Salon de Ning bar and lounge offers a range of signature cocktails, light meals and dancing in the evenings. Sir Elly’s Rooftop Restaurant, Bar & Terrace offers international fine dining with a double height dining room, an extensive terrace for al fresco dining and cocktails, a circular bar and a selection of six private rooms on two levels. Continuing the unique tradition of The Peninsula Hotels’ aviation-themed rooftop venues, The Rosamonde China Aviation Lounge offers the perfect location for private functions with aviation-inspired décor and stunning views over Shanghai. The Rose Ballroom (seating up to 390 classroom-style) and a selection of five meeting rooms,
which are named as: Huangpu, Luwan, Xuhui, Changning and Jing-An) will provide the ideal venue for any event, large or small.
Bonus Occupying 1,250 sq m (13,455 sq ft), The Peninsula Spa by ESPA has seven treatment rooms and two VIP suites, highly trained therapists and ESPA products. With décor inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, a 25 m (80 ft) indoor swimming pool and Fitness Centre complement The Peninsula Shanghai’s innovative approach to health and rejuvenation. The Peninsula Shanghai will continue the tradition of Rolls-Royce cars transporting Peninsula guests, with pride of place going to a magnificent and immaculately restored 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II. Only three models of this particular car were made that year, and The Peninsula hotels in Hong Kong and Tokyo own the other two.
IL SALVIATINO VILLA Via del Salviatino,21 Firenze 50137, Italy www.salviatino.com
LIFESTYLE
good stuff gourmand’s corner posh space
Text By terrie v.gutierrez | Photography Courtesy Of IL SAVIATINO VILLA
Italy’s hottest new five-star all-suite hotel, Il Salviatino finally opened to the public in September, following a breathtaking renovation of one of the country’s finest Renaissance villas. Il Salviatino has been restored to its former glory and transformed into a magnificent luxury villa retreat with a €40 million renovation over two years. The development of the 15th century palazzo was by Italian hotel development and management company MPg, working with renowned Italian architect Luciano Maria Colombo. Loca ted just a few minutes drive from Florence, the villa is tucked in the beautiful Tuscan hills with spectacular views over one of the world’s most famous city skylines.
History Redux Il Salviatino dates back to 1320 and was a palace for Florentine aristocracy.
No expense has been spared to recreate this historic masterpiece, now featuring a daring combination of contemporary design and luxury, while paying homage to the history and culture of 18th and 19th century Italy. The villa features 61 luxury rooms and suites, all with breathtaking views, the finest Italian linens, rich buttery Florentine leathers and luxurious furnishings, complemented by an admired collection of Renaissance art in both the villa and gardens. Treasures from the villa’s past were unearthed by local artisans and incorporated into intricate networks of ancient garden pathways, while elaborate frescoes were unveiled from behind false ceilings. Centuries-old mosaics were revived, and elegant glass houses have emerged from the overgrown gardens. Nicknamed “The Sfacciata” because it overlooked the area,
by locals back in the day, the villa was transformed into a palace by the Bardi family that bought it in 1427 and subsequently sold it to Nicola Tegliacci in 1447. Restoration on a grand scale, carried out by the Salviati family, changed the 14th century mood of the villa, and the villa was renamed Salviatino. The Salviati family remained the proprietor of the villa throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.
Rooms With A Magnifico View Each individually decorated, suites and rooms are an elegant blend of local artisanship and the latest technologies. Handmade authentic Tuscan linen, lovingly selected artwork and the finest leathers all add to make each one of these suites and rooms a truly unique experience. There are nine types of suites, from the smallest, the Junior Suites, which measure 775 sq ft to the opulent Salviati Suite, a two-bedroom affair of 3,659 sq ft, with two
living rooms, two private terraces, and distributed across four floors. In between these two classes of suites are the Dome View Junior Suites, located in the main villa, which as its name suggests, look out to Florence’s most famous landmark, the Doumo. The Green House Suites are located in greenhouses tucked below the Italian Gardens for those who want to be right smack in the middle of nature yet still be ensconced in luxury. Each suite has a glass-covered private porch area and has direct access to the villa’s impressive park. The Melodia Suite, has original woodwork harking back to the early days of the villa. Notable feature of this suite is the spacious bathroom with original ancient marble sink and fireplace. Located in the main villa, this has a size of 936sq ft. The Tegliacci Suite has an amazing view of the hills of Fiesole and is 1,065 sq. ft. The Affresco Suite used to be the kitchen of the old villa and features a breathtaking 1886 Affresco by Bruschi, hence the name. The Ojetti Suite is in the main tower, has a private living room, skylight ceiling terrace, and a marvelous private balcony overlooking the Duomo and a rooftop Jacuzzi with views on Florence and the Tuscan hills. For those who love 360-degree views, check into the Marcello Suite, located at the top of the tower. There are five classes of rooms, and all except for the Devarana De Luxe, are located within the main villa. Ranging from Deluxe, Garden De Luxe, Salviati De Luxe, Devarana De Luxe, Dome View De Luxe, these charming rooms either
have breathtaking views of the Florentine countryside, the marvelous gardens, or the Duomo.
Spa and More To complete the experience, Salviatini has partnered with world-renowned Devarana Spa, making your stay in this magnificent villa, a time you won’t forget. Tucked within sloping Italian Gardens, Devarana Spa offers guests a holistic taste of the east. With a menu that incorporates ancient eastern practices by skilled Thai therapists, Devarana Spa (the term means “garden in heaven” in Thai-Sanskrit), is located amid lush greenery, evoking the meaning of the word. What’s a good hotel stay without great food? At Salviatini, there’s the concept of Grappolo, which means grape bunch in Italian, so named because dining here is a series of fresh and tasty experiences that stem from the same root. Developed by acclaimed Florentine chef Saverio Sbaragli, Grappolo features food based on the roots of Tuscan cuisine and the authenticity of ingredients, with which you will be able to enjoy multiple interpretations of the same menu as well as the possibility to dine virtually anywhere on property at any time. Tuscan classics, as taught by and researched with local grandmothers can be tasted on La Terrazza, with magnificent views of the Dome, whilst in the secluded greenhouse area, Le Serre Chef Saverio re-interprets these same dishes in a modern key, enriched by a series of international experiences in some of Europe’s finest restaurants.
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traveldeals
∗ Terms and conditions apply.
BANGKOK: SUPER SAVER From September 9 until 31 December 2009, Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square offers the amazing Holiday Saver package. When staying in a Single or Twin Superior Room with breakfast for a minimum of two consecutive nights, get a voucher valued at 999 baht that can be used at The Square, Lok Wah Hin Restaurant or Tammachart Day Spa, valid for the period of stay only. For direct reservations, please call 02 209 8888; email hotel@novotelbkk.com
LUXEMBOURG: FOR THE CULTURE VULTURES Those exploring Europe should check out WorldHotels’ Culture Packages, valid until 31 December 2009. In Luxembourg: Guests booking a Culture Package at either Hôtel Parc Belair or Hôtel Parc Plaza will receive a complimentary Luxembourg Card offering a free guided tour of the city, a boat trip on the River Mosel, and complimentary visits to Luxembourg’s castles and butterfly garden, as well as free entry to all of Luxembourg’s museums; also includes one night’s accommodation with a champagne breakfast and free access on Luxembourg’s public transport. The Culture Package at Hôtel Parc Belair is available from €193 (approx: US$289) for two people in a junior suite. The Culture Package at Hôtel Parc Plaza starts at €157 (approx: US$235) for two people in a superior room. In both hotels, children under the age of 12 stay for free when sharing their parent’s room. WorldHotels’ Culture Packages can be booked at www.worldhotels.com/special-offers-culture
BANGKOK: FOR THE FOODIES Enjoy a rejuvenating break in Bangkok with a Bangkok Dining Package at The Westin Grande Sukhumvit and receive Baht 2,500 net credit per stay to spend on food and beverage in its highly regarded restaurant, Taste, Kisso Japanese Restaurant, Zest Bar & Terrace, Horizons Sky Lounge & Karaoke, and in-room dining. Stay for a minimum of two consecutive nights between 1 October 2009 and 31 January 2010 and you’ll benefit from special room rates starting from 5,600++ baht per room per night with single or double occupancy, plus 2,500 baht net to spend on dining. For reservations and further information, please call 66 2 207 8000 or email rsvn-bangkok@westin.com (quote rate plan APPRO2)
MACAU: FALL/WINTER INDULGENCE Sofitel Macau At Ponte 16 treats guests to a fall/winter indulgence with French Magnifique Package. The package includes one night accommodation for two persons, complimentary upgrade to Luxury Room with inner harbour view, dinner buffet with French and Mediterranean flavours at Mistral restaurant for two persons, a credit of HK$200 per room upon presentation of a pair of roundtrip ferry or air tickets, drinks at lobby lounge with buy-1-get-1 free treat, plus late check out at 1pm. Package special rate starts from HK$1,618 +15% (Sunday to Thursday), an extra of HK$300 applies to Friday and Saturday, and a surcharge of HK$500 for public holidays, sales conditions apply. The promotion is valid until January 31, 2010. For room reservations, please contact hotel reservation department at +853 8861 7312/13, or email to rsvn@sofitelmacau.com. More details available at www.sofitel.com/6480.
HONG KONG: A CHRISTMAS TREAT On offer from 1 December 2009 to 3 January 2010 at chic Hotel Jen is a top-value Christmas and New Year package that includes daily continental breakfast, “Happy Hour” drinks and snacks, and buffet dinner for two at just HK$1,288 per night. For bookings of at least two nights in a Jen Mountainview room, the package also includes a welcome bottle of wine, a 20% discount on all food and beverages including minibar, and a leisurely late checkout of 3pm. For a sweeping view of Victoria Harbour and the city’s neon-lit sky, guests can upgrade to Jen Harbourview room for an additional HK$100 per night plus a 10% supplement. For reservations during the busy festive season, please call (852) 2213 6663, email info@hoteljen.com or visit www.hoteljen.com.
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∗ Terms and conditions apply.
HONG KONG: FOR THE WEEKEND WARRIORS Until end of the year, spoil yourself and enjoy a relaxing weekend break at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. For only HK$828 per person, your escape includes: a one-night stay in a Grand Harbour View Room (applicable Fridays and Saturdays only); early check-in from 8am; late check-out until 8pm the next day; breakfast in the Grand Café or in your room on either arrival or departure morning; a 15% discount on Plateau Residential Spa treatments and in the hotel’s restaurants and bars; complimentary parking for one car; your choice of one of the following inclusions: two reserved poolside sun-loungers with three hours of free flowing soft drinks, house wines, and house beers; Tiffin’s Dessert Buffet or Afternoon Tea Buffet for two; a bottle of Wine and Cheese Platter delivered to your room. For more information or reservations, please call 2584 7038 or email reservations.hkggh@hyatt.com
SHANGHAI: EXPO EXCITEMENT BEGINS Guests who stay at Swissôtel Grand Shanghai during the World Expo 2010 on 28 April-31 October will enjoy a very special deal. Book a Classic Room at the prevailing best available rate for a minimum of two consecutive nights during the World Expo 2010 Shanghai period and instantly enjoy a free upgrade to an Executive Club Room. Located on levels 23-29, accommodation in the Executive Club Room comes with access to the Executive Club Lounge that provides privileges like: daily buffet breakfast; afternoon tea; evening cocktails; all-day refreshments for up to two persons only; Wi-Fi access; use of the gym and swimming pool; express check-in and check-out. The World Expo 2010 Shanghai Package is valid only from 28 April-31 October 2010. Bookings start from now till 31 March 2010 via www.swissotel.com/shanghai. A minimum of two consecutive nights is required. Choice of king or twin beds is available. Rates may vary.
BEIJING: EXECUTIVE ELEGANCE Indulge in exquisite taste and hospitality at New World Beijing’s Executive Floor. Each room offers views of the ever-changing Beijing skyline whilst featuring a contemporary style with soft, indulgent bedding for a deeply satisfying sleep every night.. Starting from RMB 880+15% per night, inclusive of limousine airport pickup or drop-off, you get: personal check-in/checkout service; welcome fruit and daily newspaper; daily buffet breakfast; all-day coffee, tea, and evening cocktails; Wi-Fi access; free use executive meeting room for one hour/room/day; free pressing of one men’s suit or dress; 15% off laundry, dry cleaning and pressing service; 10% off at all F&B outlets; 10% off all secretarial services (excluding IDD/DDD and mailings). For reservations, tel (86 10) 6597 8888 ext: 2619; email reservations@beijing.newworldhotels.com
HONG KONG: IN THE CLUB Indulge in supreme comfort on the Club Level at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong. For just HK$1,980, guests enjoy one-night accommodation in well-appointed Club Level Garden View Room, including: personalised check-in and checkout service; welcome refreshment; continental breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails at the Club Lounge; local calls (voice call only); Internet work station on 41st floor; daily use of Club Level conference room for two hours; daily newspaper; pressing of one suit or dress per stay; flight reservation and confirmation services. And a 20% discount for equipment rental from Business Centre. Valid until 31 December 2009. For reservations, call (852) 2802 2228, or e-mail reservations.hkghv@renaissancehotels.com
HONG KONG: ALL IN THE FAMILY Have a memorable holiday with Harbour Plaza Metropolis’ Festive Room Package. Book a room for 19 December 2009 to 3 January 2010, from HK$1,188 per room per night, and you get an exclusive offer from Senzuru Japanese Restaurant of Live Lobster, Abalone & Goose Liver Set Menu at a special price of HK$498 (original price at HK$680) and an after-meal cocktail at The Point’s “All U Can Drink” Package at a special price of HK$148. Other benefits of this room package include: Welcome fruit plate upon arrival; free local telephone calls; complimentary in-room filter coffee- and tea-making facilities; free use of gym, sauna, Jacuzzi, outdoor heated swimming pool (heated in winter); free hotel’s shuttle bus service to/from hotel and Tsim Sha Tsui every 20 minutes daily from 7am-11pm. Rates are subject to 10% charge. Table reservations required for a minimum of two persons. Senzuru Japanese Restaurant, L8, Harbour Plaza Metropolis, 7 Metropolis Drive, Hung Hom, Hong Kong; tel (852) 3160 6898; email fb.hpme@harbour-plaza.com; online booking restaurants. hpme.harbour-plaza.com; for room reservations: (852) 3160 6822; email: rsvn.hpme@harbour-plaza.com; rsvn.hpme.harbour-plaza.com
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TRAVELNOTES
new rooms bulletin flight plan diary of events
New hotels are opening their doors to guests. Here are some that are ready –– or almost ready –– to provide second homes to them
PRESIDENT PALACE HOTEL Located in the trendy Sukhumvit Soi 11 of downtown Sukhumvit Road, the property is just a short stroll away from Nana BTS Skytrain Station and Asoke-Sukhumvit Interchange MRT Station. Number of Rooms: Features 236 spacious rooms, ranging in size from 34
to 48 square meters (sqm). Standard amenities include double-glazed windows, comfortable beddings, a livingcum-working area, 32-inch LCD TV with local and international channels, broadband and wireless Internet access, bedside control panel, personal
THE SHERATON SHUNDE HOTEL
As the first international upscale hotel in Shunde, Guangdong Province, China, Sheraton Shunde Hotel is strategically located in the flourishing new development centre of Daliang and within sight of beautiful scenic views of the parks and the Pearl River Delta. Number of Rooms: Has 385 spacious guest rooms and suites, many with balconies overlooking lush gardens or tranquil river views.
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Meeting Space: For meetings and events, the 1,338 sqm ballroom and the nine function rooms can cater to a smallscale meeting or a banquet of up to 1,200 persons. Other Amenities: The Sheraton Shunde Hotel features four world-class restaurants and bars, a signature virtual and physical lobby lounge space—Link@Sheraton—stateof-the-art meeting spaces, as well as spa and fitness facilities.
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electronic safe, minibar, and coffee- and tea-making facility. Other Amenities: Has 60 well-appointed Superior and Deluxe Club rooms equipped with special amenities such as exclusive access to the facilities and services of the Club Lounge. Meeting Space: Banquet facilities with seating capacity up to 80 persons, dining and catering arrangements, and the latest audio-visual equipment. Extras: Two exceptional dining establishments: the very first Manchester United Restaurant & Bar in Thailand, which offers guests the ultimate full-service dining experience as well as premier sports bar entertainment, and Splash Bar, located by the pool.
OAKWOOD RESIDENCE HANGZHOU Sprawled over nine floors of the Europe America Center (EAC), Oakwood Residence Hangzhou, which soft opened late last year, has seen increased demand for its apartments every month since. Number of Rooms: Composed of 166 elegantly designed and fully furnished apartments, ranging from 44 square meters for a studio to 138 square meters
for a three-bedroom apartment. Other Amenities: A fitness centre, indoor swimming pool, daily housekeeping and room service, 24-hour reception and concierge service, 24-hour security, as well as an inhouse restaurant, a residents’ lounge and bar, a business centre with meeting room facilities and Wi-Fi broadband access in all public areas.
RITZ-CARLTON SHANGHAI PUDONG Positioned in Pudong’s new social and commercial hub at the top of IFC Shanghai with views over the Bund, the hotel will open in the summer of 2010 is situated on the upper floors of an ultra-modern 58-storey tower in the heart of the city’s Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone. Number of Rooms: 285 guest rooms, including 52 suites; 49 Ritz-Carlton Club rooms. Meeting Space: More than 1,700sqm/18,300sqft of meeting and conference space, 1,134sqm/12,200sqft ballroom divisible into three salons. Three multipurpose meeting rooms and two boardrooms. Other Amenities: The RitzCarlton Club Level features a separate Club lounge, which offers five complimentary food and beverage presentations throughout the day and night, and a dedicated concierge staff; an array of luxurious
amenities including twice-daily housekeeping with evening turndown service and 24-hour in-room dining. Fitness centre, pool, Jacuzzi, steam room and dry sauna on the 53rd floor, featuring uninterrupted views of The Bund. The Ritz-Carlton Spa offers a variety of beauty treatments and rejuvenating therapies in 10 treatment rooms with
sweeping views over Shanghai. Dining Options: Three-meal Italian restaurant with interactive open kitchen; Chinese restaurant featuring six private rooms for special occasions. Rooftop Bar, serving stylish Eastern and Western dishes and overlooking The Bund. The Lobby Lounge offers tea, coffee, light meals, and a signature Afternoon Tea. Extras: The hotel is in the heart of Shanghai’s happening spots: People’s Square, with its many museums is nearby; Suzhou Creek features modern and classic Chinese art and galleries; The Bund, the world’s great collection of Art Deco architecture; the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Yu Yuan Gardens; International Finance Centre mall featuring designer brands and high-end retail; and Nanjing Road, the number one commercial street in China with a wide variety of shops.
NEW BLOG AND LOOK AT SILVERSEA CRUISES WEBSITE
Silversea Cruises recently launched its Silver Spirit blog along with a refreshed website at www.silversea.com. The blog serves as a resource for latest news and photographs detailing the ship’s progress until its launch on December 23, when Silver Spirit welcomes her first guests. In addition to the Silver Spirit Blog, the company soft
launched a Facebook fan page and Twitter microblog, both of which can be easily accessed from the website’s blog page. “There’s a lot of excitement and interest building around Silver Spirit,” said Steve Odell, Silversea’s Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific. “Social media technologies offer an excellent opportunity for us to engage
more closely with our guests and travel agent partners. The Silver Spirit Blog will offer our guests a broader perspective on what they have to look forward to.” Other website enhancements: new content pages, and a home page that displays a flash header allowing vibrant images to fade in and out with messages that highlight key brand attributes and special programs. The Silversea Expeditions section has also been revamped with improved navigation features and dynamic flash imagery. Visitors to this section can now readily experience the excitement of an expedition cruise by viewing the Prince Albert II video prominently displayed on the header.
TIME FOR A COOL CHANGE AT HOLIDAY INN GOLDEN MILE
Holiday Inn Golden Mile has undergone the Holiday Inn brand global relaunch. For a more refreshed and contemporary look, significant changes have been made to the iconic script logo along with a more energised signature colour green and the elimination of the current shield shape. Each guest room has new bedding––fresh, white duvets and pillows that come in two comfort levels: soft and firm. Bathrooms now feature an improved showerhead that offers superior pressure while conserving water as well as enhanced amenities.
Guests can expect a more interactive and efficient checkin process, while customised music and scent selections will also engage them in a complete sensory experience. There’s also new façade lighting, landscaping and design features. Holiday Inn is committed to providing the best-in-class service culture: “Stay Real,” which ensures hotel staff develop the behaviour and skills to best serve guests, treating them as real people and consistently delivering the real, genuine service for which Holiday Inn is known. In addition to the overall
brand revamp of the hotel chain, Holiday Inn Golden Mile has implemented a number of other enhancements to enrich the guest experience. “It is our vision and commitment to ensure Holiday Inn Golden Mile is the first choice of hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui for guests to meet, relax and dream,” said Brad Kirk, General Manager of the hotel. The renovations so far have included a total makeover of 85% of the guest rooms, the fitness centre, Executive Club Lounge, the Crystal Ballroom (now equipped with ultra-modern Gobo lights, an intelligent lighting system, surround sound audio and Wi-Fi networking) as well as the opening of two new restaurants—Bistro on the Mile, an all-day dining venue, and Osteria Ristorante Italiano, an authentic Italian eatery. Other upcoming changes involve the redesign of Hari’s Bar and Loong Yuen Restaurant.
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MASTERCARD GIVES OUT MORE REWARDS AT OVER 150 STARWOOD HOTELS AND RESORTS
MasterCard Worldwide and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Asia Pacific are once again rewarding travellers with a free weekend night at over 150 Starwood hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific. MasterCard credit and debit cardholders who are members of Starwood Preferred Guest programme and stay on two separate occasions at any of the participating Starwood hotels in Asia Pacific between 1 October and 31 December 2009 can earn one free weekend night’s stay (Friday, Saturday or Sunday). Those MasterCard cardholders who are not a member of SPG can simply join online for free. According to findings from a recent MasterCard survey, 24% of the region’s consumers will be spending on international personal air travel in the next four months. In particular, consumers from Kuwait (71%), UAE (51%), New Zealand (44%) and Hong Kong (42%) are looking forward to holidays abroad. China Thailand and Australia rank as favourite destinations among
consumers in Asia Pacific. “Travel continues to be an important part of the lives of consumers in the region, with our research revealing that close to a quarter of respondents in the region are looking to spend on international travel. MasterCard seeks to provide our cardholders with privileges in the areas that matter to them and we are glad to be bringing back the Starwood free weekend night promotion.” said Nagesh Devata, Vice President, Commerce Development, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide. The free weekend night’s stay promotion, is now in its third year and has been expanded to include additional redemption locations with participating resorts being included for the first time. A comprehensive listing of the hotels and resorts participating in the free weekend night’s s t a y p r o m o t i o n can be located on www.SPG.com/ mastercardfreeweekend.
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Check out the latest flight routes and services of the various airlines of the world.
EMIRATES CONTINUES PARTNERSHIP WITH FIFA
FINNAIR PASSENGERS CAN NOW UPGRADE VIA SMS The range of services available to Finnair Plus customers is expanding. The latest addition is the text message upgrade, which allows Finnair Plus customers to upgrade to business class via a text message. When a customer’s mobile phone beeps 24 hours before the departure of a Finnair scheduled flight, the message might contain an offer to upgrade. Frequent flyers will be offered this option when business class seats are available. The new service will
initially apply to scheduled flights departing from Helsinki, but in future, seats will also be offered on flights departing from other locations. The upgrade flights will accumulate Finnair Plus points according to the original booking class and the points deducted for the travel class upgrade will be slightly less than normal. Customers may get the SMS depending on their ticket and Finnair Plus points. The service is personal and flight-specific.
As an Official Tour Operator for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Emirates, will be offering a number of tailormade travel packages that will include flights, accommodation, ground transportation and match tickets. The airline also unveiled its unique “follow-your-team” component of the tour package. Supporters no longer need to wait until their chosen team qualifies, as this unique package is not only refundable if their country fails to make it, but guarantees fans gold-dust tickets for each of their team’s matches, right up to the
final on July 11. Emirates is offering the opportunity to follow one of 20 teams: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and USA. No matter in which city teams are based for the group stage, or where they end up playing in the knock-out rounds, the Emirates package—which includes flights, match tickets, accommodation and ground transport—covers ever y
eventuality. Emirates will be offering football fans the choice of five daily flights into South Africa from its network on six continents, with the options of travelling to Johannesburg, which hosts 15 matches including the opening match and final; Cape Town, host city of eight matches and Durban, which is home to seven FIFA World Cup matches. Emirates’ partnership with FIFA began at the 2006 FIFA World Cup when it became the first airline to be a sponsor of the prestigious sporting event.
GARUDA INDONESIA EXPANDS SERVICES ACROSS SOUTHEAST ASIA Indonesia’s national airline, Garuda Indonesia, recently expanded its services across Southeast Asia by increasing its frequency and capacity to Jakarta and Bali from key regional markets. In Thailand, the airline increased its flights from thrice weekly to a daily service starting on October. Garuda Indonesia also doubled frequencies from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta, upgrading to twice-daily flights from its current once a day service. The Singapore-Jakarta route will see an increase in frequency to nine flights a day from the
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current seven. In February next year, the airline will commence a daily service from Hong Kong to Bali from its current four weekly flights and daily from Hong Kong to Surabaya from its current three weekly flights. “This expansion is in line with Garuda Indonesia’s fiveyear ‘Quantum Leap’ strategy to increase the number of international departures by more than 300% to 1,222 a week by 2014,” said Iswandi Said, Senior General ManagerArea Asia, Europe & Middle East, Garuda Indonesia.
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SILKAIR NOW FLIES DAILY BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND HYDERABAD SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, has increased its flight frequency between Singapore and the Indian city of Hyderabad from five times weekly to daily. SilkAir began flying between Singapore and Hyderabad on 15 June 2009,taking over operations from Singapore Airlines. The Singapore-Hyderabad flights have received strong support from customers and experienced
good load factors over the past four months of operation. Hyderabad, located in Andhra Pradesh, is the airline’s fourth Indian destination after Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Coimbatore. With the increased flight frequencies between Singapore and Hyderabad, SilkAir now operates a total of 40 flights weekly between Singapore and India. Besides the Singapore-Hyderabad
services, the airline has increased the frequency of its flights between Singapore and Kathmandu, Nepal; Phuket, Thailand; and Kunming, China. For Kathmandu, the flight frequency was stepped up to six times weekly instead of five. Flights to Phuket were increased to 28 times weekly from 25, while those to Kunming increased from twice to three times weekly.
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(Aug 09 Until Jan 3, 2010) SINGAPORE: LOST IN THE CITY National Museum of Singapore The city is an inescapable part of Singapore life. Skyscrappers and monuments loom over many parts of the country, jostling for space with historical monuments, intimate neighbourhoods and greens spaces. By night, the mood of the streets shift as fluorescent and tungsten lighting bring not only excitement and buzz, but also a sense of doubt and dislocation. Five rising Singapore talents—Justin Lee, Genevieve Chua, Michael Lee, and Joo Choo Lin and Chun Kai Qun—will play out their responses to the city as part of this year’s Singapore Art Show, at the vast spaces of the National Museum’s Rotunda, Glass Passage, Glass Atrium and The Atelier.
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(Nov Until Dec 30) SINGAPORE: URBAN LEGENDS Collectors Contemporary With the evolution of our urban environment, the boundaries of Urban Art are constantly being redefined. Gaining acceptance and recognition as a contemporary art form has led to an explosion in this exciting new genre. Collectors Contemporary is proud to present works by artists who have actively shaped and propelled this to become one of the fastest rising genres. Featuring works by such legendary urban artists like FAILE, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy, Hush, Zeus, Russell Young, Joey Piziali, Chris Levine, The Little Artists, among others. Collectors Contemporary, 5 Jalan Kilang Barat (off Jalan Bukit Merah), #01-03 Petro Centre, Singapore 159349; opening hours: Tues-Sat, 11am-7pm
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December SINGAPORE: SPIDERIDER Get a chance to showcase your talent and be discovered by the movers and shakers of the entertainment industry with SpideRider, Singapore’s first global talent competition online. Participants with a knack for singing, dancing, juggling, performing magic, playing a musical instrument, yodelling, catwalking, whistling, doing acrobatics, or showcasing any skill that’ll make jaws drop are highly encouraged to take part in the competition. Simply submit a two-minute video displaying your talent to www.yellob.us/spiderider for a chance to be signed by a major label and a management contract with Yellobus artist management worth US$150,000 over three years, US$100,00 in cash, and other major prizes! The contest is spearheaded by Yellobus, an online platform dedica ted to finding fresh new talent. For details, www.yellob.us/spiderider
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December AYUTTHAYA: TRAIN AND BIKING AMONG THE RUINS SpiceRoads Cycling Adventures is calling all train buffs aboard for a special train excursion on December 5, in honour of the King’s birthday. The 1950s Japanese-built Pacific steam locomotives are only pulled from their home at the Thonburi depot four times a year. The nostalgic ride begins at 8am from Hua Lampong train station, arriving in Ayutthaya at 10:10am, where riders switch iron horses to start their leisurely bicycle ride through the towering chedis amidst crumbling ruins of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991. From there, the cycle tour continues to the grandiose Bang Pa-In summer palace of the kings on country roads along the Chao Phraya River. This is a special day trip that combines a sentimental steam train journey with the cultural heritage of Ayutthaya with an easy going 25km bicycle ride that is suitable for any riding level. Fee: 2,900 baht/ person (includes pickup and dropoff at Bangkok hotel by minivan, refreshments, lunch, a mountain bike, helmet, and a guided tour by bicycle). Due to space considerations, this tour is limited to 16 people. For more information, www.spiceroads.com
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December SINGAPORE: STANDARD CHARTERED SINGAPORE MARATHON The Singapore Marathon attracts some of the world’s most seasoned athletes. Spectators come along to soak up the carnival atmosphere and fun runners join in the half-marathon, 10K run, and Kids’ Dash for under 13s. The route starts at the Esplanade Bridge, crossing the Singapore River and snaking round the city, through the Marina and the central business district, before meeting a raucous crowd at the Padang and the finish line on St Andrew’s Road.
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(Until Dec 20) SINGAPORE: SWAN LAKE 8pm; The Esplanade Theatre Be mesmerised as Singapore Dance Theatre presents holiday favourite, Swan Lake. Considered as one of the greatest classical ballets of all time, Swan Lake is a spellbinding tale filled with princes and princesses, a sinister sorcerer, and magic spells that can only be broken by the purest love. Revered for its technically challenging movements and emotionally moving story, Swan Lake is an enduring ballet piece that captures the spirit of the holidays. For this production, SDT has brought together over 80 handcrafted costumes, 50 headpieces along with numerous wigs and detailed jewellery to bring to life the beloved fairytale. Ticket prices: S$110 (VIP Box), S$90, S$70, S$50. Tickets available at all SISTIC outlets and SDT office
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(Until Jan 9) PARIS: WINTER SALES Citywide For the fourth successive year the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau—with the support of the City of Paris and the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Atout France and MasterCard, the event’s official partner—is inviting shoppers to visit Paris, the world’s largest outdoor “commercial space.” With themed shopping itineraries, a shopping guide, a website and a host of special events, Soldes by Paris offers an action-packed programme for shoppers from all over the world. What’s more, shopping districts will be in a festive mood and tourism professionals will be proposing special offers throughout January. Alongside the sales, good deals will be found practically everywhere in town during Soldes by Paris!
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(Until Jan 30, Feb 1-3 Feb) SINGAPORE: PUCCINI’S LA BOHEME Esplanade Theatre, 8pm The Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) starts off its year with a brand new production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme, one of the most popular operas of all time, owing to its gorgeous melodies and the love story. Originally set circa 1830 in the Latin quarter of Paris, the SLO’s brand new production will be set in 1930s. La Boheme features some of the most loved arias in the operatic repertoire such as “Che gelida manina,” “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” and “Quando me’n vo soletta per la via.” Ticket Prices : $15, $25, $38, $48, $58,$68, $88, $110, $130; tickets available at all SISTIC outlets; www.singaporeopera.com.sg
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newsight+experience Text & Photography by DENNIS BALANGUE
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roll in Rome.
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Romans e modern-day
Are you a camera bug?
Do you have a vignette that you’d want to share? Send in your photo that speaks “wow”, “amazing” and it might just be the New Sight + Experience for our Dec 09/Jan 10 issue. Send the hi-res image (300dpi, A4 size, TIFF/JPEG) to sohkeeseng@epl.com.sg by Nov 13, 2009.
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For regional sales, please contact Joanne Lin +65 6622 4282 or email, joanne_lin@spe.sony.com For local sales, please contact Lawrence Ng +65 6622 4287 or email, lawrence_ng@spe.sony.com
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