UltraT

ultratravel KERALA SRI LANKA CHONGQING LUANG PRABANG BANGKOK

速

YOUR GUIDE TO HEAVEN ON EARTH

A SEA OF GREEN TEA PLANTATIONS IN MUNNAR, KERALA IN INDIA.

SEE OUR STORY ON KERALA, NATURAL SPLENDOR,

PHOTOGRAPHED BYDOUGLAS FRIEDMAN, ON PAGE 46.

The ASIA Issue

U.S. EDITION/$10 EDITION

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Look forward to the sort of relaxed, deep sleep in the air you’d usually only expect on the ground. We guarantee fully-flat beds with direct aisle access in Pearl Business Class on all long-haul flights. When you fly Diamond First Class, retire behind the doors of a private suite, in a luxurious leather 6’8” bed with personal turndown service. Why do we go to such lengths? Because you are our guest.

Daily to Abu Dhabi from New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

46

Vivanta by Taj's Kovalam property in Kerala.

CONTENTS 18

34 28

SUMMER 2013

Amsterdam’s famous concert hall, the Concertgebouw

Anantara's Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort

DEPARTMENTS

14 The Season Summer’s most travel-worthy festivals, events and hotel openings 16 Ultratravel Accessories Things are looking rosy.

18 City Spotlight There's a new Golden Age for Amsterdam, Holland’s cultural capital.

22 Ultra Intelligence What’s new and now this summer 26 City Insider Meet The Peninsula Hong Kong's secret weapon: Rainy Chan 28 Rising Suns Thanks to a growing architectural elite, the Asian building boom is getting a quality boost.

30 Sole Society China’s shoe queen, Alison Yeung 31 Hot Property In the heart of Venice, the Aman Canal Grande blends old and new.

32 Have Agent, Will Travel There's a steady rise in the use of travel agents again. We ask an industry

ultratravel ®

veteran to weigh in on the trend.

34 Travel Diary Thailand’s Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort 64 Q&A Travel notes from Prosper Assouline, the prince of publishing

FEATURES

37 A Taste of the Far East Sri Lanka, Luang Prabang, Bangkok, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong

The ASIA Issue

U.S. EDITION/$10

46 Natural Splendor With its poetic scenery, winding waterways and pristine coastline, Kerala is quickly The earth-potting shed at Hidden Pond.

Gallery Yeh, by Seoul-based UnSangDong Architects

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becoming India’s most sought-after destination.

54 Exotic Indulgence Hotels, spa resorts and private islands usher in a new era of luxury in Southeast Asia.

58 Making the World Your Oyster Author Brian Antoni explores Asia aboard Seabourn’s Odyssey.

A sea of green tea plantations in Munnar, Kerala, India. See our story on Kerala, “Natural Splendor,” photographed by Douglas Friedman, on page 46.

EDITOR’S LETTER

The Asia Issue Here at Ultratravel, our guiding mission is to bring you the inside track on travel ideas that are as exciting as they are luxurious. With that in mind, we felt our summer issue was the perfect time to turn our focus to Asia and we have dedicated almost our entire issue to the continent’s most buzzed-about destinations.

We must admit, as we all sat around for our first editorial meeting months ago, we were a bit daunted. So much happening. So much to cover. But as we began to speak to talented and in-the-know contributors, a clear focus began to emerge. For our culturally-minded travelers, we visit Luang Prabang, Shanghai, Bangkok and Sri Lanka. David Sokol rounds out all the architects (“Rising Suns”) who are defining these areas with their cuttingedge creations. Artist Daniel Arsham takes us through the futuristic streets (and skies) of Singapore, fashion designer Peter Som, who is just back from months in Hong Kong, shares his unique insights on the growing fashion scene (plus must-eats in the restaurant scene) in this international city.

For those of you more interested in the endless sea of green rice paddy fields or elephant adventures, new contributor Emma Sloley checks in to a new elephant reserve in the Golden Triangle (this is on the top of my list!). One of the it-destinations for the last few years for the international set is Vietnam. We take a special look at the growth in luxury resorts and the country’s unique take on eco-pampering.

If your preferred method of travel is cruising, author Brian Antoni takes us along on his 16-day journey with Seabourn, from Singapore to Dubai. Last but certainly not least, famed lensman Douglas Friedman, desperate to uncover the most talked-about new destination among the fashion flock (as they are always the true trendsetters), headed to Kerala, India, alone with his cameras and an open mind. His photographic essay is this issue’s cover story.

Figuring out exactly where you want to go next is sometimes challenging, and definitely in putting together this issue, we tried to keep you, our reader, in mind as we made these selections. Use this issue to inspire your next trip, and then turn to your travel agent who can book that inspiration for you.

{ } MY TRAVEL TO-DO LIST

Along with its balmy weather, sandals and swimwear, summertime conjures up visions of the perfect vacation house. In our last issue, we brought you a handful of fantasy-worthy European summer homes (I haven't stopped thinking of Corfu) and we've been inundated with requests for more. Check out these great private villa outfitters for your summer escape: Five Star Greece, Unique Properties & Events, Deliciously Sorted (Ibiza), Dream Escape and The Thinking Traveller. Or, if you prefer to become one with nature, as I tend to, head to Anantara's Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort, pictured at far right.

Read more about it in Emma Sloley's firsthand account in "Living Large.”

A villa in Provence from Unique Properties & Events

MANUEL ZUBLENA

Sarah Harrelson Editor in Chief

Sarah Harrelson at the Kasbah Tamadot at the base of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco

A villa in Corfu from Five Star Greece

ultratravel Editor in Chief Sarah G. Harrelson

Graphic Designer Adriana Sandoval

Creative Director Carlos A. Suarez

Publishers Mike Batt, Nick Perry

®

Executive Editor Tali Jaffe

National Luxury Account Manager Valerie Graves (U.S.) valerie@ultratravelus.com

Fashion Editor Stella Lee

Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand Representative Kim Kenchington

Editorial Assistant Noelle Lacombe

(kim@mediaworksasia.com) at Mediaworks Asia

Contributing Editors Brian Antoni, Marcella Echavarria,

Watches and Luxury Goods Account Manager Nick Edgley (nedgley@nemediaworld.com)

Victoria Pesce Elliott, Paul Rubio

at NE MediaWorld

Contributing Photographers Douglas Friedman, Ken Kochey

Account Services Joe Brennan

Contributing Writers Emily Benson, Julia Chaplin, Ondine Cohane,

Interns Jennifer Hernandez, Bianca Morrison

Mark Ellwood, Jonathan Griffin, Darrell Hartman, Brandon Presser,

Ultratravel is a registered trademark licensed to Ultratravel America LLC by PGP Media Limited.

Sandra Ramani, Alexandra Seno, Zoe Settle, Alyssa Shelasky,

Ultratravel U.S. is published by Ultratravel America LLC in partnership with Whitehaus Media

Rima Suqi, Henley Vazquez

Group. 1680 Michigan Avenue, Suite 1013, Miami Beach, Florida 33139. 786-342-7656,

Copy Editors Gregg Lasky, Omar Sommereyns

whitehausmediagroup.com.

Digital Imaging Specialist Matt Stevens

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whitehaus a creative press

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CONTRIBUTORS Raul Barreneche A New York-based journalist, Raul Barreneche is the author of 10 books on architecture and design, most recently “The Tropical Modern House,” published by Rizzoli in 2011. He is a contributing editor to Travel + Leisure and Interior Design and has written extensively for major publications including Architectural Digest, ELLE Décor, Departures, Town & Country, Martha Stewart Living and The New York Times. He holds a professional architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Brian Antoni

Darrell Hartman

Brian Antoni lives in South Beach, Greenwich Village and Key West. He is a New York Times best-selling author of “South Beach: The Novel” and “Paradise Overdose” and a contributor to the collaborative novel “Naked Came the Manatee.” He has also written for The Miami Herald, Paper Magazine, InStyle and Ocean Drive magazine. He is obsessed with design, and his homes have been featured in W Magazine and the books “South Beach Style,” “Miami Style,” “Miami Interiors,” “The Outdoor Living Room,” “100 Interiors Around The World” and “Garden Ornaments,” among other publications.

Darrell Hartman is a freelance writer based in New York City. He is co-founder of Jungles in Paris (junglesinparis.com), a website devoted to travel photography and filmmaking, and a contributing editor at style.com. He is also a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Town & Country. Born and raised in Maine, he splits his travel time between big cities and their total opposite. Among his hobbies are hiking, biking, tennis, movies and finding the perfect environment for drinking single malt. His favorite recent trip was an eight-day safari in the Serengeti.

PHOTO BY JACK DYSON (DARRELL HARTMAN)

Ondine Cohane Ondine Cohane divides her time between Tuscany and New York, with lots of trips in between. Among her favorites are Cambodia, Mexico and Kenya. She has been a contributing editor for Condé Nast Traveler since 2002, and she also writes for The New York Times, Vogue Brazil and Details, among other publications.

Emma Sloley

Douglas Friedman Douglas Friedman was born and raised in New York City and now divides his time between his hometown and Los Angeles. He shoots portraits, interiors and fashion for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, InStyle and The New York Times. This issue marks Friedman’s first assignment for Ultratravel.

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Emma Sloley is a New York-based travel and style writer whose background includes a six-year stint as an editor at Harper’s Bazaar Australia. She is a contributing editor for Flare and Gourmet Traveller and regularly contributes to such publications as Travel + Leisure, New York, Coastal Living and Gotham. When she’s not on assignment, she divides her time between New York and Merida, Mexico, where she and her husband have a home.

She is currently at work on her first novel.

? e M s s i M u o Y Did

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THE SUMMER SUMMER SHOWERS Through July 28

ARTFUL INTERPRETATION

PARRISH ART MUSEUM July 21–October 27

The Parrish Art Museum opens its summer season in its new Herzog & de Meuron-designed building in Water Mill, New York. The new structure allows for the museum to showcase its collection of American art on a permanent basis, as well as provide a space for special exhibitions. Currently on view is "Angels, Demons, and Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet” and “Michelle Stuart: Drawn from Nature."

Louis Vuitton knows a thing or two about travel. This summer, the house has introduced “Travel Books,” a new series studying different cultures through the eyes of established and emerging artists. For the series’ first installment, Congolese artist Chéri Samba takes on Paris; the American Daniel Arsham goes to Easter Island; Japanese illustrator Natsko Seki explores London and French fashion illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme turns his brush on New York. Available in select Louis Vuitton stores this summer.

POLO AT LARGE August 28-September 1

Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas’ King’s Cup Elephant Polo tournament celebrates its 12th anniversary in the seaside town of Hua Hin. The four-day festival kicks off with a highly anticipated opening day parade and includes celebrity matches and a children’s day celebration with a baby elephant camp. The Moulin Rouge-themed gala dinner and auction top off fundraising efforts to benefit the care of Thailand’s elephants.

End Around: Ganzfeld, 2006, by James Turrell

LET THERE BE LIGHT

This June, artist James Turrell unveils a spectacular new light installation, created specially for the monorail station at the luxury Shops at Crystals mall in Las Vegas’ CityCenter development. It’s not enough for the septuagenarian to open near-simultaneous exhibitions in May and June at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (through next April 6), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (through September 22) and the Guggenheim, New York (through September 25). Nor that in April he revealed his largest Ganzfeld installation to date, titled Akhob, in Crystals’ Louis Vuitton store. Daniel Libeskind’s dynamic, angular building provides a striking contrast with the ethereality of Turrell’s work. In both Akhob and the new monorail installation, Turrell has created uniquely designed environments in which visitors can transport themselves from the energy of Vegas to a profoundly calming experience of pure color.—Jonathan Griffin 14 ultratravel

DESTINATION ASPEN Through July 14 Before the ArtCrush party weekend descends on Aspen in August, make your way to the Aspen Art Museum to see “Rob Pruitt: An American Folk Artist.” The exhibition marks the artist’s first solo museum survey in the United States and features 30 works that chart a path through his diverse oeuvre, from performance pieces to his glittering panda portraits.

PORTRAIT COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE, ANDREA BLANCH; © LOUIS VUITTON; PHOTO BY MATTHU PLACEK; PHOTO COURTESY OF MOMA

Summer downpours may put a damper on most activities, but at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, rainy days are something to celebrate. Rain Room, by British designers rAndom International, is a whimsical and technologically advanced art installation on view at the museum this summer. Stop-motion technology allows for visitors to walk through a rain shower—no umbrella necessary.

SEASON 2013

ROOM WITH A VIEW July 27

From “Travel Book,” an illustration

by Jean-Philippe Delhomme

PHOTOGRAPHED BY URSULA SPRECHER © VITRA (WWW.VITRA.COM); ROBERT WEDEMEYER © JAMES TURRELL

AMERICAN MASTER Through August 11 The Vitra Design Museum in Germany presents “Louis Kahn—The Power of Architecture,” the first major retrospective of Kahn’s work in two decades. The exhibition on one of the greatest American architects encompasses an unprecedented and diverse range of architectural models, original drawings, photographs and films. All of Kahn’s important projects are extensively documented—from his early urban planning concepts and single-family houses to monumental late works, such as the Roosevelt Memorial in New York City.

KEEPING UP CADENCE June 29-July 21

JAZZ STANDARD June 28-July 7 This year marks the 34th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. 10 stages, 300 concerts and more than 3,000 artists will descend upon Montreal for a 10-day festival featuring an international lineup of artists and musicians. The best part? The entire event is free and open to the public.

In a city that makes Manhattan feel like a ghost town, the Park Hyatt Tokyo is a soothing oasis of spaciousness and calm, floating high above the fascinating “Blade Runner”-ish streets. Occupying the top 14 floors of a 52-story skyscraper designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kenzo Tange, the hotel, immortalized in the 2003 Sofia Coppola film “Lost in Translation,” is a modern take on traditional Japanese elegance. Looking down at the teeming, twinkling city from the New York Bar on the 52nd floor, where Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray sympathized over Suntory whiskey, is oddly appeasing. It’s also a great perch from which to watch the massive Sumida River fireworks display (July 27), a highlight of Tokyo’s steamy summer season. —Raul Barreneche

Louis Kahn’s National Assembly in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Arguably the world’s most grueling bicycle race, the Tour de France marks its 100th anniversary this year. The prestigious event will cover a total distance of 2,115 miles across 21 stages. ultratravel 15

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BRAND-NEW AMSTERDAM

Gloriously renovated museums, stunning new hotels, a lively restaurant scene and cutting-edge design mixed with centuries-old charm mark a new Golden Age for Holland’s cultural capital.

BY RAUL BARRENECHE

The Rijksmuseum recently reopened following a 10-year renovation.

I

magine visiting New York City with MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim all closed at the same time—and for years. It sounds unthinkable, yet that’s exactly the black hole encountered by Amsterdam’s museumgoers in recent years, as three of the city’s renowned institutions—the Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum crown jewel of Amsterdam’s artistic landscape and one of the world’s great museums, were shuttered for renovations and expansions of varying magnitude. The Rijksmuseum’s absence was especially hard felt: Its massive, $500 million overhaul lasted a full 10 years. But one by one, these cultural landmarks have reopened over the past few months—and they’re better than ever.

All around, it’s a momentous year for The decade-long, half-billion-dollar renovation Amsterdam. On April 30th, Queen’s Day, the of the Rijksmuseum was so extensive that only Netherlands’ beloved monarch, Queen Beatrix, one artwork—Rembrandt’s iconic The Night Watch, practically synonymous with the stepped down in front of adoring orange-clad Rijks—remains in the same location as before. crowds to make way for her son, Prince WillemSpanish architecture firm Cruz y Ortiz won an Alexander, and his popular Argentine-born wife, international competition to renovate the grand, Máxima, to become king and queen. Amsterdam’s eclectic brick Flemish Renaissance/Gothic iconic, UNESCO-listed grachtengordel, or canal structure back in 2001. Its elegantly minimalist, straightforward revamp has been worth the ring, is marking 400 years as the city’s defining wait. In the vein of IM Pei’s crystalline Louvre urban element. And the Concertgebouw, the pyramid, a pair of monumental, marble-clad concert hall that is still the acoustic standard by courtyards welcomes visitors into a beautifully which all the world’s music venues are judged, daylit, sunken lobby. In the reinstalled galleries, turns 125 with an expansive jubilee program exquisitely designed by Parisian Jean-Michel drawing international music stars.

Wilmotte, paintings, sculptures and decorative arts intermingle in thematically focused rooms.

True to the restlessly innovative Dutch

Ten Years in the Making

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An interior view of the Rijksmuseum.

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Must request offer at time of booking and pay in full by current expiration date; call for details. Valid on new bookings only as of 6/1/13, subject to availability and may not be combinable with any other offers except Past Guest Travel Credit and Referral Rewards Credit. Viking reserves the right to correct errors and to change any and all fares, fees and surcharges at any time. Additional terms and conditions apply; see Passenger Ticket Contract. CST#2052644-40

The Stedelijk, one of the world’s top modern and contemporary art and design museums, reopened in September after a major overhaul and expansion.

Above, the city's famous concert hall, Concertgebouw; top, a renovated wing of the Stedelijk Museum.

character, Amsterdam isn’t content with just celebrating its glorious past. The city is forging ahead with daring new architecture, including the EYE Film Institute and the Stedelijk Museum’s head-turning addition (see below), and its influential design scene, led by stars such as Marcel Wanders, Hella Jongerius and the Droog collective, is as strong as ever. Meanwhile, a culinary revival is firmly in progress, as even the increasingly less seedy Red Light District draws trendy new restaurants. In Amsterdam, everything old truly is new again—and the new keeps on coming.

THE CULTURE The Stedelijk, one of the world’s top modern and contemporary art and design museums, reopened in September after a major overhaul and expansion into a controversial new wing designed by local architects Benthem Crouwel, that’s strangely, wonderfully enveloping inside and out. Next door to the Stedelijk, the Van Gogh Museum reopened on May 1 after a thorough revamp. Some of the artist’s most iconic works, including Sunflowers, are back from loan and on view in “Van Gogh at Work,” through January 12. Russia’s legendary Hermitage opened its first satellite here in 2009. Located in a massive 17th-century building, formerly a home for the elderly, the Hermitage Amsterdam has a fitting show devoted to Peter the Great, the visionary tsar who drew inspiration from Amsterdam in planning canal-filled St. Petersburg, through September 13. Rembrandt is everywhere in this town, but the Museum Het Rembrandthuis, in the artist’s one-time home and studio, is a charming look into his creative process, from mixing pigments to making prints.

THE HOTELS At the buzzy new Andaz Prinsengracht, a former public library on an elegant tree-lined canal, rock-star Dutch designer Wanders makes a theatrical, Philippe Starck-worthy ode to Holland with tulip-shaped chairs and Delft ceramics-inspired drapes and rugs,

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especially in the aptly named Bluespoon Restaurant. The understatedly glamorous Conservatorium, a stone’s throw from the Museumplein and Amsterdam’s most glamorous shopping quarter, is the hotel of the moment. Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni meticulously restored the Neo-Gothic former music school, inserting a glass-and-steel atrium into the courtyard where fashionable Amsterdammers mingle in the Brasserie and an adjoining lounge. Formerly an Anouska Hempel-designed outpost of London’s Blakes Hotel, the Asian-inflected minimalist Dylan is located in what was originally an 18th-century theater. Well-heeled locals flock to Brasserie OCCO and the lounge in a lovely landscaped courtyard.

THE FOOD Two much-touted restaurants are among the reputable businesses leading a gentrification of the city’s famous Red Light District. Restaurant Anna, with its open kitchen overlooking a spare but cozy dining room, offers a modern take on local and European dishes. The more formal Restaurant Lastage earned a Michelin star for chef Rogier van Dam’s French-inflected cuisine. Michelin stars are also plentiful in the city’s top hotels, including Vinkeles in the Dylan and chef Schilo van Coevorden’s Tunes restaurant at the new Conservatorium.

THE SHOPS The must-see flagship of Droog, the pioneering collaborative synonymous with cutting-edge Dutch design, includes a shop, gallery, café, whimsical courtyard garden and conceptual hotel—with a single room. Located on a quiet, tree-lined canal near the Anne Frank House, The Otherist is filled with a carefully curated mix of natural curiosities, tabletop, jewelry and accessories. Another globally recognized name on the contemporary design scene, Moooi has its biggest retail spot, full of whimsical furniture and lighting, in the artsy Jordaan neighborhood.

THREE STARTERS THREE MAIN COURSES (and one wee course) With three of the finest championship golf courses in Scotland, we generate a lot of arguments.

Which is the best course? Which is the most beautiful? Which one should we play now?

You could ask our Starters for their professional opinion. With over sixty years experience between them, they know Gleneagles inside out, and will happily pick the right course for you.

Just don’t expect them all to pick the same one.

“BEST GOLF RESORT IN THE WORLD” DAILY TELEGRAPH ULTRATRAVEL AWARDS 2013 To plan your visit please call 080 0 169 2984 and quote Ultratravel.

The Gleneagles Hotel Email: resort.sales@gleneagles.com Internet: www.gleneagles.com ®The GLENEAGLES word and the EAGLE Device are trade marks.

intelligence ULTRA

SAIL AWAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF TALIKA OAZIA

Have you ever wanted a cruise ship all to yourself? Now you can cruise the islands of the Indonesian archipelago on a 100-foot sailing vessel true to the ancient traditions of phinisi boats. Made to accommodate one couple in absolute luxury, the Alexa, a floating spa by Talika Oazia, has a crew of seven to cater to your every whim, including a dive instructor, Michelin-starred chef, spa therapist and yoga instructor. The traditional aged-teak design of this former cargo boat has been modernized to include stainless steel and glass. Inside, silk rugs, antique art and primitive Indonesian sculpture adorn the commodious living spaces. After a day of exploring the islands—tribal cultures, Komodo dragons, waterfalls and turtle beaches—reward yourself with beauty treatments by Talika or a deep-tissue massage at the spa. Catch your own fish for dinner and enjoy a seafood barbecue on an uninhabited white sand beach.—Emily Benson

A view of Alexa by Talika Oazia sailing through the Indonesian archipelago.

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Quasar Expeditions take you on an adventure through the breathtaking Patagonia landscape.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MAHALI MZURI; CIPRIANI; PATAGONIA CAMP

OFF-ROADING

Cipriani’s nautical decor fits in with the Miami River setting.

THE ITALIAN JOB

The sun never sets on Cipriani. Featuring a nautical theme, the 20th restaurant, Cipriani Downtown Miami has been added to the list of high-end locations, which includes Hong Kong, Monte Carlo, Abu Dhabi and Ibiza. Enjoy the renowned Cipriani Bellini while taking in views of beautiful Biscayne Bay.—EB

If a visit to the ends of the Earth seems like a walk in the park, perhaps it’s time to drive it. For adrenaline-seekers looking for a new way to experience one of the world's most unique (and uninhabited) destinations, Quasar Expeditions’ Wild Patagonia Jeep Adventures offer the freedom to explore on their own time—and at their own speed. Well-known for their luxury Galapagos cruises (operating since 1986), Quasar has launched three private 4x4 options: the guest can control the wheel with or without a guide, or the guide does the driving. All cars come equipped with Garmin navigational systems, GPS Ranger multimedia tour guide devices, maps, snacks and—for the self-drivers—walkie contact with an expert.

Set along the southern tips of Chile and Argentina, Patagonia is all about natural splendor: fjords, glaciers, lakes, valleys and the Pampas—not to mention wildlife like condors, flamingos and pumas—dot the region's immense national parks. With Quasar's seven-night/eight-day overland itinerary, you'll bypass the tour bus routes to go from Puerto Natales, Chile, across the border to Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina—where you can horseback-ride to the Blue Lagoon with a gaucho, trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier and visit the lively town of El Calafate—then back to Chile's Torres del Paine National Park for hiking in the French Valley to electric-blue glaciers, or up the base of the iconic natural towers. At night, enjoy spa treatments and gourmet meals at deluxe hotels like the buzzed-about Singular Patagonia, Relais & Châteaux-member Eolo, and lakeside Patagonia Camp. Though the general itinerary is set, trips can be customized based on specific interests, be it wine, botany, or vintage cars, and pre- and post-Patagonia add-ons to spots like the Atacama Desert or Valparaíso can be arranged—ensuring you experience all of Chile your own way.—Sandra Ramani

ELEMENTAL LUXURY Who said roughing it has to be rough? Experience the adventure of an African safari in Sir Richard Branson’s luxury Kenyan safari camp.

Mahali Mzuri, or “beautiful place” in Swahili, is situated within the Olare Motorogi Conservancy in the Maasai Mara national reserve of Kenya, about 150 miles west of Nairobi. This minimal-footprint retreat opens August 1 and includes 12 canvas tented suites catering to a maximum of 24 guests at one time. Raised up on platforms, each luxury tent includes a bedroom, lounge and a terrace, affording ringside seats for viewing giraffes, elephants or lions likely to wander by. Witness the thundering herds of the Great Migration, go for exciting game drives with experienced guides or simply relax by the infinity pool. Meals, drinks, game drives and airstrip transfers included with rate. Tip: book a minimum of five nights between September 1 and October 19 and the final night is free.—EB

The Olare Motorogi Conservancy in Kenya's Maasai Mara national reserve

ultratravel 23

Flywheel's new Dubai outpost faces the Burj Khalifa in downtown Dubai.

ULTRA

intelligence A room with a Pacific Ocean view

FEELING THE HEAT

Flywheel—the indoor stadium cycling studio with a cultish following—opened its first location in New York in 2010. Since then, it has expanded to locations across the U.S. and, most recently, to Dubai. “Aside from bringing something completely new and innovative to this Middle Eastern region, we knew we would attract locals and tourists alike, being nestled in the heart of downtown at Burj Views,” says Ruth Zukerman, co-founder of Flywheel. “Temperatures in Dubai often hit 120 degrees so the need for indoor exercise is a must.” And in light of the region’s conservative leanings, Flywheel Dubai (dubai.flywheelsports.com) also offers ladies-only classes.

—Tali Jaffe

HAWAII OF THE EAST

If you’ve had your fill of forbidden cities, book a stay at Raffles’ latest luxury resort in Hainan, China, an island known as the “Hawaii of the East,” due to its blue skies, white sand, palm trees and tropical climate. Raffles Hainan, located on the crystalline Clearwater Bay, boasts expansive views as well as a championship golf course, guestrooms inspired by Balinese motifs and a spectacular spa.—EB

HIGH SEAS LUXURY

Alila Hotels and Resorts is taking sustainable luxury to Indonesia’s high seas with the Alila Purnama, their first luxury cruise ship. Specializing in tours of the country’s most underexplored waters, the 150-foot teak sailboat boasts three decks, a library, dining room and spa—not to mention an on-board PADI dive center. Late summer expeditions include tours of world heritage site/ dragon lair Komodo National Park, while fall is the ideal time for swimming with the wobbegong sharks and schools of barracuda that populate the coral reefs off of Raja Ampat. Available for full-vessel private charters, Purnama’s five en-suite cabins can also be rented individually.—Bill Keith The Ambon Island expedition through the Banda Sea

Lost your luggage? If you’re staying at The Mark Hotel in New York City, a change of clothing is a phone call away.

The concierge now has a private line to the director of personal shopping at Bergdorf Goodman. Shopping for a cocktail dress is now easy as ordering up a cocktail.

—EB

A bird’s-eye view of the Banyan Tree Chongqing Beibei

24 ultratravel

HOT SPOT

There are many hot spots for luxury hotels, but how many are located on a thermal hotspot? The curative waters of the ancient North Hot Springs flow throughout Banyan Tree Chongqing Beibei, an exclusive hot spring resort opening this summer. All 48 suites and 59 villas come with their own naturally fed healing pool at this tranquil getaway nestled in the Jinyun Mountain range in Chongqing, China.—EB

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BANYAN TREE CHONGQING BEIBEI; ALILA PURNAMA; RAFFLES HAINAN; FLYWHEEL; ILLUSTRATION BY JEAN-PHILIPPE DELHOMME

A PERFECT MATCH

HIDDEN PARADISE

PHOTOS BY FABRICE RAMBERT; COURTESY OF LITTLE PALM ISLAND RESORT & SPA

Guests of the Florida Keys' Little Palm Island Resort & Spa are often torn between gushing about their experience to everyone they know and keeping this hideaway a secret. Little Palm (as it's often called) celebrates 25 years of award-winning, discreet, barefoot luxury this year. Seems like the right occasion to get in on the secret. —TJ

The sparkling pool at the Beau-Rivage and the hotel’s Salle Rotonde (inset)

SWISS SANCTUARY

French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon—whose other projects include The Savoy in London and the Four Seasons Hotel Georges V in Paris—has just completed the first stage of renovations at Lausanne's storied BeauRivage Palace. Rochon brought a contemporary air to the Belle Epoque-era building, beginning with the newly appointed rooms and suites, including one two-bedroom, two-bathroom duplex with a winding staircase and views of Lake Geneva.

The renovation will continue through the year on an additional 61 rooms, including the Spa Suite, which has two massage rooms, a jacuzzi and a private

hammam. Guests of the Spa Suite will be able to enjoy the hotel's Cinq Mondes Spa services in-suite as well. However, a trip to the spa—or at least to its indoor/outdoor pool—is strongly recommended.

The hotel is also home to five restaurants, including the two-Michelin starred Anne-Sophie Pic Beau-Rivage Palace and La Terrasse, which is housed within a rotunda linking the hotel's two wings. Open for breakfast and brunch, it is an ideal spot to start the day overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps beyond.

In the evening, the hotel's BAR is popular among guests and locals. Hotel bar manager Alexandre Peyraud produces his own seasonal vermouths and will happily espouse the merits of each of the four types of ice he uses in his hand-crafted cocktails. Be sure to try the Negroni, a house specialty. —TJ ultratravel 25

City Insiders

STYLE TO SPARE Meet The Peninsula Hong Kong's secret weapon: Rainy Chan

BY TALI JAFFE

Hong Kong-born Rainy Chan, general manager of The Peninsula Hong Kong, plays many roles to ensure guests have the most enjoyable experience possible—not the least of which is sartorial advisor. When it comes to espousing style tips or sharing her vast knowledge of the local fashion scene, there’s nothing Chan enjoys helping her guests with more. We caught up with Chan to discuss Hong Kong style, local talent and the hottest new neighborhoods.

What exemplifies Hong Kong style?

Well groomed and not afraid to experiment with a mix of luxury brands and select high street pieces.

What are some of the current trends for women?

Hong Kong is a very free place in terms of style. There are no set rules on what you should or shouldn’t wear, and so it’s liberating to express your individual style. However, Hong Kong is also a place where fashion trends are quickly adapted and embraced, as people are very much in tune with world trendsetting brands and events.

Can you tell us about a few popular local designers?

Hong Kong couturier Barney Cheng is so creative and knows about glamour and cutting edge. Ranee K is also a wonderful local designer whom I have been going to for years for her custom-made cheongsams. Her designs follow the traditional shape and concept of the original design but add wonderful elements of modernity which are on-trend.

What will you never see a Hong Kong resident wearing?

Hong Kong is a small but dynamic place, so you really can never say ‘never,’ but usually we don’t do grunge. People enjoy dressing up and feeling good about themselves.

Rainy Chan stands before a view of Hong Kong's famous Victoria Harbour.

Where is the first stop on a big day of shopping?

A dim sum breakfast to give you the energy to shop, and then end with a wonderful foot massage.

Anywhere there are shops, there are places for a foot massage.

What was the most outlandish request from a guest of the hotel? Did you make it happen?

Making outlandish requests happen is a daily task for us, and we try to make as many of our guests happy as possible. I have the most wonderful team of superheroes who make this their mission!

What is the best time of year to visit Hong Kong?

October is the end of typhoon season and the end of sweating when you walk on the street. You can do twice as much in the fall. The Mid-Autumn Festival is my favorite time.

Is there a neighborhood or area that’s becoming popular now?

I love the Southside for its tranquillity. Hollywood Road, Soho and PoHo (Po Hing Fong) for a walk and to see the banyan trees. TST for shopping and eating as it is such an iconic symbol of HK’s iconic life and energy, the fact that it never goes to sleep—it’s such a unique element of our district that represents our city so well. TST is such a bustling neighborhood; to me it’s about discovering the beauty of it.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Jake Dyson shares his insights on Hong Kong's unique retail environment.

Jake Dyson knows a thing or two about innovation. His father, James Dyson, is one of the greatest inventors of our time. So, who better than Jake—whose own namesake design studio has produced award-winning products—to weigh in on Asia's most product hungry regions: Hong Kong.

“My first trip to Hong Kong was about four years ago. It was a business trip to meet with Felix Wong, the owner of Gurus, which is the most fantastic design shop in Hong Kong, if not all of China. I visit there now two or three times a year to check on our production there and to be inspired.

The most incredible buildings are going up there—everywhere. The economy is booming. You're surrounded by manufacturing. People are spending money. There are other places like this, of course—Singapore comes to mind, but Hong Kong feels more structured and that the growth is continuous and not flash.

Hong Kongers have their own shopping habits. For them it’s all about exclusivity. You won’t find five Prada stores in one neighborhood as you do in other places. They want what no one else has, and the retail environment reflects that. Hong Kongers are the earliest adopters. They need to have what’s new and next and will go to great lengths to find it.

At Gurus, for example, they have products that you wouldn’t be able to find in London or even New York. Specialty items developed just for the Guru client, like super-rare watches made from Ferrari parts or iPhones of a particular color.

Our Motorlights sell quite well there.

Hong Kong now feels like what Japan was in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s almost obsessive, and there’s such strong brand awareness. There’s a serious hunger for the latest technology, and novelty is paramount.”—TJ

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At right, Jake Dyson with his Motorlight; above, the entrance to his London studio.

FUNJET. BASK. LUXURIATE. REPEAT.

Minutes away, yet worlds apart, Sandals Emerald Bay, Great Exuma, Bahamas is the new standard of exotic luxury and unmatched beauty. Offering a stunning mile-long, white-sand beach, luxurious accommodations, including butler service for top-tier suites, seven dining experiences and world-class amenities, including unlimited land and water sports and a Greg Norman-designed golf course, this resort is the ultimate beach paradise within easy reach.

Greens fees additional. Sandals速 is a registered trademark. CST 2009218-20

Clockwise from top left: the Louvre-Lens museum designed by SANAA; an aerial view of the West Kowloon Cultural District, the site of the M+ Museum; Gallery Yeh, designed by UnSangDong Architects; the Binh Duong School designed by Vo Trong Nghia; Sendai Mediatheque, designed by Toyo Ito, this year's Pritzker Prize winner

RISING SUNS

Thanks to a growing architectural elite, the Asian building boom is getting a quality boost.

With Art Basel’s landing in Hong Kong and the rise of the M+ museum there—not to mention the launch of Beijing Design Week and the migration of the World Architecture Festival to Singapore— Asian cities are rivaling the Londons and San Franciscos of the world for cultural attention. The continent has long intrigued observers as a home of untapped powerhouse consumers; the focus has now switched to anointing architectural royalty, among other local talent. For all the talk of plagiarizing Western schemes, this nascent and increasingly vocal group is seeding a better reputation for Asian development. Ultratravel has chosen six studios that are raising the bar and achieving legend status.

TOYO ITO If a nation’s professional maturity can be measured in awards, then Japanese architecture embodies the standard for Asia to emulate. The revered Pritzker Prize has gone to five Japanese practices in total since Kenzo Tange was tapped for the award in 1987. The first of these winners also could have been its most recent: Toyo Ito. Indeed, by 1976, Ito had already completed a house in Tokyo for his widowed sister, called White U, whose inward focus captured the grieving process. A decade later, lighting operated by wind and noise sensors on his Tower of Winds in Yokohama presaged the Smart Cities movement. The work since then has been equally insightful, ranging from the see-through, glass-walled Sendai Mediatheque public library and the Calder-esque Tama Art University library in Japan to the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in Taiwan, a spongelike giant that is nearing completion.

SANAA Toyo Ito’s protégé Kazuyo Sejima and her partner Ryue Nishizawa earned a Pritzker Prize three years before Ito himself. Arguably, the pair—who formed the studio SANAA in 1995—have pursued a more singular vision of architecture. A student of SANAA’s transparent buildings can draw a fairly straight line from its proposal for the Grace Farms Foundation headquarters, scheduled to open in New Canaan, Connecticut, in 2015, to any number of recent and not-so-recent projects, such as the Louvre-Lens museum in France, the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio and the Koga Park Café in Japan. The Tokyo-based studio handles opaque volumes with just as much deftness and technical rigor, transforming an expanse of concrete into an undulating artificial landscape for the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, and veiling a new factory building on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, in accordion-like folds of acrylic.

MADA s.p.a.m. China’s development boom has mostly produced the real-estate equivalent of spam. Qingyun Ma founded MADA s.p.a.m. in Shanghai in 1999 to counter that. The studio’s acronym partly stands for strategy, planning, architecture and media, and Ma has worked all of those angles to foster dialogue in China and internationally about rampant mediocrity. He has partnered with Rem Koolhaas on several projects, curated the Shanghai and Shenzhen & Hong Kong architecture biennales, consulted for the International Olympic Committee in Beijing, and serves currently as dean of the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture. As designer and owner of the Jade Valley winery-hotel near Xi’an, Ma seems to simply enjoy upending expectations. The vineyard resort also 28 ultratravel

highlights an interest in local forms that fuse the past and modernity. The walls of Jade Valley’s Stone House are made entirely of tumbled stone recovered from the Bahe River, and its catenary-like Well Hall was constructed with painstaking precision by Lantian craftsmen.

NERI & HU When Wang Shu was tapped as the first China-based Pritzker Prize winner in 2012, he was commended for shepherding traditional architecture into a context obsessed with the future.

Shu’s is not the only studio whose work proposes a more thoughtful alternative to explosive and occasionally copycat growth. From their base in Shanghai, Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu have continually channeled the wisdom of Chinese architecture to make places that feel undeniably new.

Their Westin hotel in Xi’an echoes that city’s ancient buildings in its massive, slanted walls, which are configured around multiple courtyards. In Singapore, their Overlapping Land/House treats the courtyard as a more permeable boundary. Neri & Hu also have an impressive track record in adaptive reuse, inserting the Design Republic Commune flagship into the brick mass of a former colonial police station and converting an abandoned Japanese army headquarters into the hotel Waterhouse at South Bund, both in Shanghai.

VO TRONG NGHIA Another sign of the maturity of the Japanese architecture profession: talent export. A graduate of the University of Tokyo and the Nagoya Institute of Technology, Vo Trong Nghia opened an eponymous studio in Ho Chi Minh City in 2006. Nghia’s return to his native Vietnam also unleashed a creative license that is uniquely adapted to climate and infrastructure. This goes beyond employing inexpensive local materials, though Nghia has shaped thatched bamboo and stacked stone beautifully in myriad projects. For another example, the house Stacking Green and the Binh Duong School both incorporate vegetated and screened facades, in order to light and ventilate the interiors naturally while mitigating local heat and humidity. These strategies also keep the buildings operational during power outages, and helped garner two awards at the World Architecture Festival last October.

Expect the phenom’s next works to integrate landscape so deeply into the built environment that the disciplines may seem indiscernible.

UNSANGDONG ARCHITECTS While Jang Yoon Gyoo and Shin Chang Hoon studied and practiced in Korea prior to founding UnSangDong in 2001, they possess an outlook that is keenly global. To be sure, projects in Seoul like Kring Kumho Culture Complex or Gallery Yeh could very well replace Metronome in New York’s Union Square or a former garage near the High Line. Yet just as important, both buildings tackle subjects—brand identity and museum iconography, respectively—that architects anywhere would relish. Unsangdong are pursuing a sustainability mission in addition to high-concept dialogue. The new showhouse E+ Green Home employs 95 namesake technologies and meets Passive House standards, while the forthcoming Culture Forest high-rise packages various art venues in vegetated and energy-producing surfaces. These latest accomplishments provide compelling evidence of their forward-thinking sensibilities.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SANAA; THE WEST KOWLOON CULTURAL DISTRICT AUTHORITY; UNSANGDONG ARCHITECTS; VO TRONG NGHIA ARCHITECTS; TOYO ITO & ASSOCIATES, ARCHITECTS

BY DAVID SOKOL

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ultratravel Style Setter

SOLE SOCIETY Mark Ellwood meets China’s shoe queen, Alison Yeung

On any long flight…I catch up with all the sleep I’ve been missing. I’m a grumpy person when I don’t sleep.

What’s really important for me is to pack a pair of slippers, a cashmere eye mask and sleep. The phone is off, email is off, nobody knows me and I can just disappear.

The most luxurious spot I’ve ever been to is...I’m a city girl. I want culture, theater, food and music. I’ll happily check into Claridge’s anytime for its discreet luxury.

My next vacation is to…Guam. I’m curious because I’ve been living in Asia now for eight years, and it’s time to venture out from the core to somewhere less expected.

My earliest travel memory is…My father was a diplomat, so I traveled since the age of two or three— Jeddah, Paris, Rome, London, New York. I remember losing my pink panda teddy bear when I was living in Jeddah, and it was as tall as I was at the time.

If there is one thing that I try to do on every travel excursion...I’m not a fan of reading up on a place. I prefer talking to local people. I think that’s really important. I’m a very spontaneous traveler: I’ve been to Miami for four days from Shanghai.

I find myself gravitating toward destinations where I can...go to new places. God, I hate habit.

That’s my worst fear: all these people that go to St. Moritz every Christmas. Plus, I’m a very active, energetic person, so sitting on a beach doesn’t tickle my fancy for too long.

The best food I’ve ever tried abroad is…naan bread in India. The first time I went I stayed in this wonderful place in Jaipur where Prince Charles went

On my bucket list of places to visit, I still have yet to see...I am desperate to go to Bhutan—so mystic and very romantic with all those temples. I said I was going to save it until I had a husband, but I don’t know if that will happen in my lifetime.

Everyone should visit…Shanghai. There’s a reason it was called the Pearl of the Orient—it’s majestic and exotic. I think it’s quite outstanding that in 2013 people still think it’s undeveloped. People come here and are always shocked at how diverse, how sophisticated it is.

Shoe designer Alison Yeung is the founder of China’s homegrown answer to Jimmy Choo, Mary Ching. She trained at Central Saint Martins in the UK before detouring into a career in finance. Shoemaking was her first love, though, and she started her own label soon after moving to Shanghai in 2006.

Yeung describes her vampy designs as oozing forbidden opulence, whether featherfestooned stilettos channeling the mythical phoenix or satin silk ballet flats embroidered with erotica. Buying a pair means following in the footsteps of Beyoncé, Carla Bruni, Eva Mendes and Cameron Diaz. Yeung recently expanded her line to include a capsule collection of handbags and pashminas.

No one better embodies the Middle Kingdom’s newfound vogue for homegrown luxury than this label, with each pair it makes proudly touted as “Made in China, Created in Shanghai.” No wonder a pair is already in the permanent collection of the V&A Museum in London an exemplar of contemporary Chinese design.

My favorite purchase made on vacation...I love accessories, old shoes and slippers, woven hats from Thailand or old Chinese lotus shoes for bound feet.

I’m a bit of a hoarder, and I like to surround myself with objects: By my desk in my studio I have a windowsill-full of all my goodies, like those Chinese slippers and some glass from a bazaar in Beijing.

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A place that I can never tire of returning to is...Paris. I love the sexuality of the city...and the beautiful architecture. With the revolution in China, culture was lost here for many years so we don’t have so much theater; it’s refreshing to go back to Paris, where you can go to the opera and museums.

And I love the galleries in the Marais, the ones hidden behind secret doors in courtyards, treasures like Yvon Lambert. He’s wicked.

with Diana [Raj Mahal Palace]. It served one of the best naan breads I’ve ever eaten. It’s such a simple dish, what the farmers eat, yet can still be so tasty and exotic.

Every time I pack a bag, I...travel very light. I really love silk because you can roll it up, and it takes up a very small amount of space. I’m a big fan of dresses because they can go from day to night, two outfits in one. I take more shoes than anything else—flats for the day, heels for night.

I love traveling in…kimonos. They’re loose, they’re colorful, they’re textural. I can wear simple leggings and a T-shirt underneath but still look presentable. I recently bought a wonderful kimono from Portobello Road market in London: It’s bright pink and purple with a gold splash through it and little tassels with pom-poms.

My travel beauty kit includes…I am the anti-beauty person. I never wear special creams or hand lotions. I am the anti-cosmetics junkie. Spray for your face for the plane? That’s the last thing on my mind. My indulgence is a cashmere eye mask.

The first thing I do once I book a trip to any destination…I don’t like to plan too much, and I don’t like routines or habits. I book my hotels when I land.

Then the first thing I do when I get to the hotel is have a cocktail. Gin and tonic, please.

MODERN MASTERPIECE In the heart of Venice, the Aman Canal Grande blends old and new.

BY TALI JAFFE

COURTESY OF AMANRESORTS

Clockwise from top left: A view of the Grand Canal toward the Rialto Bridge; Palazzo Papadopoli, a 16th-century palazzo, is now home to the Aman Canal Grande. The hotel has a private pier so that guests can arrive by boat (airport transfers can be arranged by the hotel); the hotel's secret garden is shaded by hundreds-year-old trees; the Piano Nobile Lounge features contemporary furniture from Maxalto.

The newly renovated Palazzo Papadopoli—a 16th-century palazzo situated on the Grand Canal—is the picture of old-world Venice. But once you traverse its garden gates, a breath of new Venice invites you into its fold at the new Aman Canal Grande.

With a quiet opening in June to coincide with the Venice Biennale, the Aman Canal Grande is a perfect blend of classic Venetian style and contemporary Italian design.

Throughout the palazzo’s four floors is furniture from B&B Italia and Maxalto and lighting

by Flos. Its floors are the original poured terrazzo laid down by the Coccina family in the 16th century, and original Murano chandeliers hang from the frescoed ceilings.

The 24-suite palazzo went through an 18-month renovation, including the addition of a rare rooftop terrace offering sweeping views of the San Polo district down to the Rialto Bridge and across to the Campanile and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute. The gardens were designed by landscape architect Nathan Browning, who is responsible for many of the Amanresorts’ landscapes and whose recent projects include the Chedi Andermatt in Switzerland and Las Clementinas hotel in Panama. The more formal garden faces the Grand Canal and provides the hotel’s restaurant with al fresco dining with views of the gondolas and vaporettos coasting down the city’s main thoroughfare. The hotel’s

secret garden in back provides access to the street and is enclosed within the palazzo walls, shaded by tall, mature Grande oak and elder trees and dotted with tables and chairs from B&B Italia and Kettal.

The hotel’s signature spa is housed on the third floor, and the scent of its private blend greets guests as they approach the intimate three-room haven. Venice can be trying for even the most able-bodied walkers, so the spa’s signature treatment is a 60-minute foot massage—a necessary indulgement. So is the Aperol Spritz, Venice’s signature aperitif, which guests are treated to upon arrival.

While all of the spacious suites are lavishly and uniquely appointed, the hotel has several rooms unlike any other within the Palazzo. The Sansovino Suite, named for the famous Venetian architect Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino, features one of his original fireplaces, and its double-height windows look out onto the garden and out toward the Canal.

Be sure to visit the fourth-floor library, with its original Cuir de Cordoue leather wallpaper (the same one found inside the Doge’s Palace on St. Mark’s Square) and wraparound bookshelves heaving with ancient books and contemporary titles. You may find yourself so charmed by the Palazzo Papadopoli that you’ll forget about the city that pulses outside its walls. ultratravel 31

HAVE AGENT, WILL TRAVEL There's a steady rise in the use of travel agents again.

We ask an industry veteran to weigh in on the trend.

BY TANYA DUKES

Safari has become a very popular travel excursion—especially for families and large groups.

Theres an app for everything, including booking travel, plus countless websites, blogs and digital DIY assistance. All those electronic helpers have made travel more accessible to millions who have learned to plan their getaways independently. But, for the last two years, there has been a shift in the industry, as bookings with agents have increased steadily as many are rediscovering the virtues of what these professionals offer. For two years running, the amount of travel booked by agents has climbed steadily. Priscilla Alexander, President of Protravel International, has 30 years of experience crafting itineraries for everyone from solo adventurers to touring rock bands. She sounds off about the place for travel agents in the Internet age.

Getting to Know You In an era when anyone with a computer or smartphone can make a hotel reservation, what’s the current role for a travel agent? “It’s not about selling a plane ticket. It’s a relationship,” says Alexander. “We keep a dossier on what activities a client enjoys, how they prefer to travel, how many members are in the family. The relationship is ongoing, like having a broker or financial planner. We’re more than transaction sellers.”

Extras! Extras! Think that Internet flash sale is the best deal ever? Think twice. There’s often added value that comes with working with an experienced agent, like complimentary hotel upgrades or secret ways to save. For example, “At certain hotels

32 ultratravel

you may spend a little extra to stay on the club level, but in exchange receive free breakfast, lunch and drinks in the afternoon. Clients pay a bit more initially, but the final tally is less than the cost of staying in an entry-level room. Great travel agents (like the one who sent you this magazine) know these things and will weigh your options,” says Alexander.

Constant Contact Even the best-laid travel plans can go awry, whether due to unruly weather, illness or political unrest. A travel agent is a virtual assistant managing any problems along the way.

“Travel agents prove their mettle when their clients return home happy, ” Alexander says. And if there’s a sudden change of plans, they anticipate problems and are in constant communication to correct them. “Things happen, and they don’t have to be cataclysmic to ruin a trip. We respond to mishaps so that our clients don’t have to.”

Good Counsel “Travel agents today are much more knowledgeable and have so much access to the latest news about travel suppliers, like tour operators, hotels, guides…all the components of a trip.”

They monitor the fine points of every itinerary, whether it’s the news that your preferred hotel has just started noisy renovations, or how to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of different cruise cabins.

Travel agents sort through information and curate the top options.

“On their own, travelers don’t have enough knowledge and experience to make the best choice.”

PRISCILLA’S PICKS

We asked this veteran travel agent about the destinations she thinks are trending.

Southern Africa Safari travel is only becoming more popular—especially for family groups—and high-end lodges are emerging to meet the needs of a consumer that wants a wildlife experience but doesn’t necessarily want to rough it.

Southeast Asia We’re going to see lots of fantastic new hotels coming to Myanmar, which is truly undiscovered for most travelers. And Vietnam is another destination that has a lot to offer and is destined for growth.

Central and South America With the Olympics and World Cup coming soon to Brazil, even more travelers will take notice of Latin America. There are going be wonderful new hotels and resorts in the region to accommodate them.

Italy It always leads the list of top destinations—all the time, no matter what’s happening in the economy. Everyone loves Italy, at any price!

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Travel Diary

Amenities at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort include huge terracotta soaking tubs, Thai silk bedding and panoramic views over not one but three countries.

LIVING LARGE

Thailand’s Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp encourages guests to get up close and personal with its VIP residents.

BY EMMA SLOLEY

I

f modern globetrotting has a downside, it’s that the travel experience can sometimes feel generic and boxed in. Small. But there are still some corners of the world where encounters verge on the gargantuan. So it is with the Golden Triangle, the confluence of three of Asia’s most bewitching countries—Thailand, Laos and Burma—and the gentle giants that make their home in the dense jungle near Chiang Rai. Recently I found myself at Thailand’s Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort, trying on a new profession: elephant trainer. Naturally, it takes more than a few days of vacation to become a professional mahout, but this hilltop resort offers guests the chance to spend time getting to know the camp’s 25 three-ton pachyderms, and the encounters—not to mention simply being surrounded by the elephants in their fast-shrinking natural habitat—are utterly out of the ordinary.

Established in 2003 as a traditional mahout village, the camp—working alongside the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation—not only rescues these awe-inspiring creatures from miserable conditions as working animals in the logging industry or on the streets of Thailand’s cities, but offers sanctuary for the trainers as well, with whom they usually share a lifelong bond. (Nearby camps are following Anantara’s example by ensuring elephants aren’t captured from the wild.) On our training day, we meet the herd of Asian Elephants and their blue-uniformed trainers. The mahouts have over 70 commands and light touches they use to communicate with the elephants. They teach us a handful (“pai” for go, “baen” for turn and “how” for stop), along with demonstrating the suave way to get on and off the giant creatures, which none of us master with anything approaching their grace.

We meet a cheeky newborn, who attempts to wind his trunk around every outstretched arm, then mount our elephants for a single-file trek through the jungle. While it’s no surprise to find that elephants exhibit distinct personalities, it really hits home when you’re perched ten feet high on the swaying back of a mischievous female, who takes every opportunity to arch her trunk up and pluck bananas and tear sugar cane from the trailside plants, or watching as the herd lumbers into the river and a particularly feisty giant tries to roll its rider into the water.

Anantara offers several ways to get close to the camp’s elephants: the Elephant Learning Experience, in which guests help perform hands-on tasks like feeding, observing a basic health check and giving an elephant a shower (word to the wise: stand back); elephant trekking across the retreat’s lush 160 acres, and the newly introduced Golden Triangle Elephant Researcher Experience, an intensive four-day immersion that includes private presentations on elephant cognition and conservation, elephant intelligence research sessions, a veterinary examination and a meal with the research staff.

John Roberts, Anantara’s Worldwide Conservation Director, touts the experience as a chance to “really get inside the brain of an elephant. Guests doing the Researcher Experience will be among the first people on the planet to have an inkling of answers to questions long asked about elephants.”

Naturally, it’s not just the elephants that are spoiled at Anantara: the resort’s suites coddle their guest mahouts with luxuries like huge terracotta soaking tubs, Thai silk bedding and panoramic views over not one but three countries. Waking up to a scene of jungles wreathed in mist, echoing with the trumpeting of happy elephants, is surely the definition of living large.

The camp—working alongside the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation—rescues these awe-inspiring creatures and offers sanctuary for the trainers as well, with whom they usually share a lifelong bond.

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ULTRATRAVEL PROMOTION Burj Al Arab, the inspiration for your Jumeirah experience everywhere

Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa on the coast of Mallorca Jumeirah Frankfurt’s rooftop beehives

Afternoon tea at Jumeirah Carlton Tower

Magnolia, Jumeirah Grand Hotel Via Veneto’s gourmet restaurant

The Doorman at Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel

JUMEIRAH

TM

THE EVERYDAY DIFFERENCE JUMEIRAH™ is far from just another luxury hotel group. Through the Burj Al Arab, its pioneering luxury hotel on the Dubai coast, Jumeirah has defined the concept of exceptional Arabian hospitality. Since then, Jumeirah has replicated that success the world over. Guests can expect that service will be flawless, suites beautifully appointed and their utmost comfort guaranteed. But its Jumeirah's thoughtful and generous service, that celebrates the unique character of every guest in every destination it operates in, that makes a Jumeirah experience different. Having created the world¹s most luxurious hotel experience through the Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah simply thinks about things that others don't.

At Jumeirah Frankfurt guests delight at the taste of thoroughly local flavors at breakfast each morning. The hotel’s rooftop hive hums with the activity of 40,000 bees that produce honey found on the daily breakfast buffet and in the restaurants’ recipes. The eco-friendly sweet is a popular souvenir, a singular reminder of an extraordinary stay.

Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa in Mallorca serves an unforgettable taste of Mediterranean Spain. Situated near the renowned Valley of the Oranges, guests savor freshly squeezed orange juice and marmalade made from fruit grown mere minutes away; the citrus scent perfumes the air and soothes the mind.

Standing high above the Golden Horn, Istanbul’s Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah is a bastion of Belle Époque elegance with a supreme cultural legacy. It is both a hotel and museum, and with the Literature package guests sleep in the same atmospheric rooms

that hosted luminaries Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway.

Set along Via Veneto in the heart of historic Rome, Jumeirah Grand Hotel Via Veneto is housed in two renovated and restored 19th century villas, masterfully combined to create a modern masterpiece. The suites have touches of Art Deco décor and 1920s inspired handmade furniture. With a legendary art collection including works by Picasso, Dali and Guttuso, and the grand marble bathrooms in every suite, this five-star hotel exemplifies luxury. Yet it’s the warmth of Jumeirah’s welcome that will make you want to return.

Three London locations add up to infinite options to experience England’s capital.

There’s no tradition that’s more thoroughly British than afternoon tea. Master pâtissier Eric Lanlard at Jumeirah Carlton Tower has elevated the ritual to an art. In London for an insider’s shopping experience, the Doorman at Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel offers expert guidance on the best retail therapy the city has to offer. And for an extended stay, Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living offers the At Home program where each month residents are introduced to the luxury London lifestyle, from private evenings with esteemed personalities, master-classes with leaders in their field, previews in the world of fashion, music and the arts, and exclusive readings by of-the-moment authors.

With mastery of grand gestures and minute details, Jumeirah crafts unforgettable luxury experiences that engage the imagination and reveal the true allure of travel.

Experience Jumeirah hotels, resorts and residences around the world. STAY DIFFERENT™

JUMEIRAH INVITES YOU TO EUROPE TO EXPERIENCE ITS SIGNATURE STYLE OF LUXURY.

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ASIA

SRI LANKA LUANG PRABANG BANGKOK SHANGHAI SINGAPORE HONG KONG Planning a trip to Asia can be daunting for even the most worldly traveler.

There seems to constantly be a new it-destination, a city exploding with art and culture and one that appears lost in time. We turned to a few of our trusted contributors to share the city—and country, in some cases—that have made the most lasting impression, with the hopes that you may be inspired to find your own way there.

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SRI LANKA

An exotic escape of struggle and serenity

BY ALYSSA SHELASKY

Stilt fishermen await their catch

It’s a long, long journey to Colombo, Sri Lanka—usually with a substantial layover in Dubai—but when you land, you appreciate feeling so far-off.

Sri Lanka is a true, where-am-I-and-how-did-I-get-here escape in the way its “Eat Pray Love” neighbors, India and Thailand, no longer are. It’s a Buddhist land, where you eat with your hands and dance in your sandals. There is a quiet elegance to the country, rooted in the Sri Lankan’s refined demeanor, and there is also extreme glamour to be found.

Five years after the savage, 26-year civil war, Sri Lanka feels safe. The streets are beleaguered and bumpy, and the average person is quite poor, but Sri Lanka has a big, beating heart and endless places to find inner-peace.

Colombo is the nucleus of tourism. Stay at the Taj Samudra—a nice, lavish choice. Another memorable option is Mount Lavinia Hotel, where the famous chef Publis Silva cooks masterfully on the beachfront. The happening Dutch Hospital hub is where bon vivants go for good beer and great shopping, but for a more authentic afternoon, stroll Main Street to model saris. The Galle Face waterfront, a popular nighttime hang, is perfect for legit street food and junkyfun souvenirs.

Hoppers are the thing to eat in Sri Lanka. Imagine a crispy thin crêpe, shaped like a bowl, usually with a fried egg inside. They’re served with a variety of spicy chutneys and condiments, and like with most food in Sri Lanka, your fingertips 38 ultratravel

are the new forks.

Outside of Colombo, one of the most desirable waterfront destinations is the paradisiacal Passikudah—a dreamlike fishing village, and one of the most glorious stretches of coastline on the eastern coast. For snorkeling and slipping away into oblivion, stay at the extraordinary Amethyst Resort.

Prefer extreme wildlife? Drive to the center of Sri Lanka for the splendid eco-luxe Heritage Kandalama, built between two mammoth rocks. Monkeys, antelopes and anteaters might join you for an arrack cocktail or guava-tini; elephant-rides are the de rigueur mode of transportation. Also, Kandalama’s breakfast buffet is a game-changer: baked yogurt with vanilla bean and cardamom, hoppers with caramelized onions, passionfruit, watermelon juice and killer coffee.

Head to Kandy to visit the majestic Temple of the Tooth (Buddha’s tooth, that is). Check in to the family-owned Mahaweli Reach hotel, where the rooms are regal, and the faint sound of chanting fills the air. Before leaving Kandy, visit one of the many lush spice gardens and, of course, the adorable elephant orphanage.

Getting there: Sri Lanka’s main airport is the Bandaranaike International Airport, about an-hour-and-a-half away from Colombo.

When to go: December to March is the most popular season, and July/August has the Kandy Esala Perahera, a 10-day festival celebrating Buddha’s sacred tooth relic.

The annual Esala Perahera celebrates Buddha’s sacred tooth relic.

When planning your trip to Heritage Kandalama, make sure you leave time to explore the Elephant Corridor with the Kandalama Hills providing a dramatic backdrop to your visit.

The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy

A woman outfitted in traditional garments

Elephants at a watering pool

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LUANG PRABANG The ancient royal city steps back into the spotlight.

Every few years, Southeast Asia aficionados anoint some under-the-radar, word-of-mouth destination the region’s new Shangri-La. The latest is Luang Prabang, the ancient royal city located north of Laos, at the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. What was once a closelyguarded insider secret is rapidly becoming a must-see stop on the enlightened traveler’s trail. And while the hippie-ish charms that drew early adopters here in the first place—the languid pace of life, the saffron-robed monks strolling streets lined with artfully dilapidated French Colonial buildings—are an enduring draw, the town is now firmly in the sights of glamorous globetrotters.

There are few signifiers of a destination’s arrival more potent than the arrival of an Aman resort, and Amantaka—a 24-suite stunner opened in 2009 on the grounds of a former French hospital—proved definitively that this low-key little town had arrived. Other luxe players like the new Burasari Heritage, housed in a 19th century French Colonial mansion, have joined the swanky Indochine-inspired La Résidence Phou Vao in bolstering the boutique hotel scene. There’s a new golf club and even a Luang Prabang Film Festival, an annual showcase of Southeast Asian cinema aimed at urbane culture vultures.

Apart from the influx of Aman junkies and other luxury devotees though, Luang Prabang’s quotidian life flows on as it has for centuries. Each morning,

Stairs leading up to Mount Phou Si are worth the trek; the summit affords panoramic views over the old town and surrounding rice paddies.

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BY EMMA SLOLEY

the 2000 or so Theravada Buddhism-practicing monks and novices gather alms (gifts of food in return for prayers) as they make their way to the temples. The procession, with the burnt orange robes of the monks glowing like flames in the misty dawn, provides an indelible snapshot of Laotian life.

Other timeless diversions include exploring the town’s historic temples, the most spectacular being the 500-year-old showstopper Wat Xieng Thong, and climbing Mount Phou Si up steps lined with locals selling tiny caged birds (releasing them supposedly grants blessings). The summit affords panoramic views over the old town, rivers and surrounding rice paddies. Further out, take a pirogue up the Mekong past limestone cliffs to the caves at Pak Ou, with their hundreds of Buddhas. Don’t miss Luang Prabang’s fabled night market, where the mountain-dwelling Hmong people come to sell their traditional embroidery, and vendors hawk exotic oddities like snake wine and smoked fox.

While Laos’ cuisine hasn’t yet achieved the heights of global adulation like its neighbor Thailand (although the ubiquitous soup noodles are a highlight), the Southeast Asian flavors and French influences prove a pleasing mélange. At cult restaurant L’Eléphant, patrons dine beneath lazy ceiling fans on Gallic classics such as roasted duck breast and Lao staples like fish steamed in kaffir and banana leaves. Distinctive flavors converge to create a superlative sense of harmony—a recipe Luang Prabang has perfected.

A view of the Bangkok skyline; below, Pak Khlong Ghag market.

BANGKOK New sophistication in Thailand’s capital BY ONDINE COHANE

Recently crowned the world’s new number one tourist city by

Atlantic magazine, over 15 million visitors arrived last year to enjoy Bangkok’s standout attractions including centuries old landmarks alongside sparkling new builds. No tour would be complete without a glimpse of the blinged out Emerald Buddha or Pak Khlong That flower and vegetable market, an Instagram paradise with its lotus flowers, bunches of chilies and kaleidoscope of colors. For a more updated view of the city head to the glass-and-steel behemoth of Siam Paragon mall where well-heeled Thais pick between Louis Vuitton and Hermès, or canoodle at the cinema where “blue ribbon” seats come with snacks, drinks and seats resembling first class recliners, a fitting image of the city’s new status.

Bangkok already laid claim to luxury palaces that stood out for their service and amenities (think Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental among others) but in the last year, a new generation of intimate and photogenic properties have opened their doors. The most striking is the gorgeous Siam, a 39-room, three-acre waterfront oasis overlooking the Chao Phraya river, and designed by heavyweight interiors guru Bill Bensley. Highlights include a spa with its very own Muay Thai boxing ring, a lap pool overlooking the river, a screening room in the library and a priceless antiques collection dotted throughout property. The Cabochon is even more intimate with only eight rooms in the faux-Colonial structure tucked away in Sukhumvit, a charming getaway with high ceilings, an excellent restaurant and

pretty rooftop pool. Meanwhile the Sofitel So—the brand’s answer to Hyatt’s Andaz or Starwood’s W—offers eye-popping views of the city from the rooms (and the spectacular infinity pool and gym), while the rooftop bar with its private cabanas is one of Bangkok’s hottest nightlife arrivals (we also love the Christian Lacroix uniforms). And the Hansar Bangkok located downtown, offers chic allsuite rooms to the business crowd, with free wifi and minibus service among the amenities.

One of the capital’s main culinary treats is the ability to offer incredible homegrown dishes alongside fusion and international cuisine. Of the former, must stops include the Nahm, in the Metropolitan hotel, where Australian David Thompson turns out spectacular Thai classics (the spot was just on the coveted World’s 50 best restaurants list) and Bo.Lan, which also concentrates on native cuisine using organic and sustainable ingredients. At Smith, the latest from celeb chef, Ian Kittichai, nose-to-tail eating includes a verjus glaze pork belly with pickled stone fruit, spicy lentils with mint and coriander. But for some of the city’s best imports look no further than Gaggan, an unforgettable Indian spot, which mixes molecular gastronomy with classic takes on curries and the like (the white washed mansion happens to be also one of the city’s most romantic settings). And the just-opened Appia has brought Roman fare to Bangkok (one of the owners is Italian and he brought his mama to oversee the kitchen) with porchetta and duck cooked on the huge open rotisserie as well as pastas like cacio e pepe from the Eternal City.

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The Huangpu River divides Shanghai into two regions: Pudong to its east and Puxito the west.

SHANGHAI A city thriving on culture and commerce

BY DARRELL HARTMAN

The original commercial heart of go-go Shanghai is the

Bund, a riverside boulevard where foreign interests set up impressive consulates and trade offices more than 100 years ago. Constructed in striking Art Deco style and embellished with Chinese accents, many of these ornamented landmarks had fallen into disrepair since the city’s ‘20s and ‘30s heyday. In recent years, though, the district has been making a government-assisted comeback. Consisting of both renovations and bold additions, the project represents a rebranding so ambitious that it comes (for better or worse) with a trendy name for the neighborhood: Rockbund.

Underway since 2006, the three-stage Rockbund project is now close to completion. Highlights to date have included the 2010 opening of both The Peninsula Shanghai—the first new construction on the Bund in more than a halfcentury—and the Rockbund Art Museum, which launched with a splashy exhibition of work by the acclaimed Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang.

That redesign included a glass extension and bold strokes of black calligraphy scrawled across the restored façade, but also considerable fidelity to the original layout, and preservationist observers might read it as an encouraging sign of continuity that the RAM once housed China’s first public museum.

The RAM is the work of London-based David Chipperfield, whose firm is perhaps best-known for its reconstruction of Berlin’s 19th century Neues Museum. (More recently, Chipperfield has earned the spotlight for a massive office project near London’s Waterloo station.) It’s also the outfit responsible for the crowning piece of the Rockbund Project—Rockbund 6—which brings the entire initiative to a close when it is unveiled later this year.

Rockbund 6 is a new high-rise, one of a half-dozen that complement the project’s 11 historic renovations. (Other firms undertook the other new builds, Rockbund 1-5.) A studied augmentation of the 1897 Andrews & George Building, a brick-fronted Victorian-style relic, Rockbund 6 adds a stack of 11 new floors 42 ultratravel

The Rockbund Art Museum, designed by David Chipperfield.

with façades of matching brickwork, and transforms the existing building from a modest three floors to a 200-foot retail and office tower. It’s too early to know for sure what labels will set up shop—already in the area are Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Ralph Lauren. In any case, Chipperfield’s addition will be an attention-getting attraction. And while it hardly contends, size-wise, with the soaring, futuristic monoliths in Pudong, it adds significantly to the skyline element of this storied area, which references a previous age of grandiosity in Shanghai—and, now, builds noticeably on it.

SINGAPORE An artist explores the city of the future.

BY DANIEL ARSHAM

The Supertree Grove is one of the many attractions of Gardens by the Bay.

“Singapore feels like the future.

Some version of the future anyway. I was there preparing an exhibition that will occur during the Singapore Biennial in October. The first thing you notice when you fly in is you’re over a pristine golf course, which is maybe a kind of premonition for the rest of the island, especially this manipulation of the landscape. It’s a very small city and almost everything there feels as if it’s been constructed in the last 10 years. All the landscaping is perfect and the streets look brand new. There is construction everywhere, and even the construction is somewhat contained, at least in relation to New York. You know that it’s there, but it’s quite invisible.

This was a British colony, so everyone speaks English and you have people of Asian origin, from China to India and Banglades—all sorts mixing into this culture to become Singaporean. They even have an invented dialect called “Singlish,” which is a collapsed version of English, combining some foreign language into it: an abbreviated English.

There’s also a lot of reclaimed land, and everything there seems like you’re looking at a rendering of something to come. One of the spaces that I’m exhibiting at is a giant new development called Marina Bay Sands and it’s all on reclaimed land. The massive hotel sits on what appears almost like three giant towers. Floating on top of these is what looks like a huge curved, steel-hulled glistening boat, like Noah’s Ark, hovering above the city, and this has become an icon of Singapore. They also have a big Ferris wheel, and this amazing new outdoor garden which has these colossal super trees that are constructed out of steel with plants growing all over them, and they double as viewing platforms and water collection receptacles.

Everything there feels bathed in a greenish, luminescent light.”

Daniel Arsham takes a stroll through the Supertree Grove.

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HONG KONG An American designer spends a month in Hong Kong. BY PETER SOM

Peter Som

very easy place to spend time. There are so many people, but the actual footprint of the city is quite small—everything is vertical. Every neighborhood has its own distinct vibe. To me, the Admiralty section has a very downtown New York sensibility, with smaller shops and cute restaurants and bars. It’s more low-key and calm than Central, the main business area, which is people-galore.

People in Hong Kong love to shop. And they love to dress up, which makes for great people-watching. The way they express themselves is quite dazzling— there’s color, there’s pattern—while retaining an overall level of sophistication.

Men are dressed to a T, with perfectly cut suits and ties and pocket squares.

Lane Crawford (lanecrawford.com) is a fashion Mecca. It has a serious mix of elegance and edge, with both established designers and newcomers. Its Home and Lifestyle store has some of the most beautifully curated stuff I’ve ever seen.

Super-edgy Joyce (joyce.com) is legendary. It has the boldest mix of women’s and men’s fashion straight off the runway. The Admiralty neighborhood, especially the area around Star Street, feels very “downtown,” with cool clothing and home furnishings stores such as Kapok (ka-pok.com), featuring emerging fashion brands, accessories, home décor and a small café. WDSG Art & Craft Department (wdsg.com) is an all-black, basement-level boutique that looks like a cross between a Western general store and a Williamsburg loft, with great denim and vintageinspired men’s shirts. Grab a beer from the galvanized-steel sink and shop!

For me, the food is one of the best things about Hong Kong. The dining scene has really evolved, and there are now a huge variety of cuisines. Most restaurants are located upstairs, in the higher floors of buildings, which makes it harder just to walk down the street and find a place to eat. But there are so many amazing places. Megan’s Kitchen (meganskitchen.com) in Wan Chai offers a true familystyle hot pot. The meatballs are a must! My favorites are the shrimp and rainbow cuttlefish balls. The food at the Japanese restaurant Sushi Kuu on Wellington Street in Central has the freshest, brightest flavors. Sit at the bar and order a tasting menu (omakase). Please do not get a California Roll here! China Club (chinaclub.com.sg), in the old Bank of China building in Central, is a step back to 1930s Shanghai, with traditional food served in a soaring, art-filled room. (It’s technically members only, but a well-connected concierge may be able to help secure a reservation.)

A standout for me all over Hong Kong is the dim sum. I grew up in San Francisco and considered myself something of a dim sum snob. But I was schooled! Just the sheer variety and combinations I’d never tried before were amazing—like little glutinous rice-flour balls filled with black sesame paste and rolled in crushed peanuts. The Michelin-starred Sun Tung Lok (suntunglok.com.hk), in Tsim Sha Tsui, has some of the best dim sum in town.

People in Hong Kong definitely love to socialize. Many of the city’s bars and lounges are also located above street level, including Wyndham the 4th (wyndham4th.hk), an escape from the bustle of Central on the fourth floor of an office building. It’s got a cool, laid-back vibe, super-friendly staff and a great outdoor terrace. The Pawn (thepawn.com.hk), a multi-level restaurant, bar and lounge housed in a historic 1888 building, makes an interesting Old-Fashioned with aged, cigar-infused spiced rum. And the expert mixologists at Ted's Lookout in Wan Hong Kong’s skyline along Victoria Bay Chai put together a great Dark and Stormy.

Hong Kong is so modern, but on certain streets you feel like you’ve stepped back in time to the 1930s. During summer, people rent junks and spend the afternoon cruising around Victoria Harbor having cocktail parties.

Alternatively, the views from The Peak are amazing. In 10 minutes, you can exchange the craziness of Central to a forest with hiking trails. It feels so far away—until you turn around and see the lineup of skyscrapers. It’s such a dramatic city, with amazing views everywhere. One more highlight: Ozone, an ultramodern bar and lounge at the Ritz-Carlton atop the ICC tower in Kowloon, offers breathtaking views of the city from the 118th floor.

Vertigo!”—As told to Raul Barreneche

To book your Asian adventure, contact your travel agent today.

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PORTRAIT BY RONALD JAMES

“Hong Kong is an incredibly vibrant, intense city, yet it’s a

NATURAL SPLENDOR

With its poetic scenery, winding waterways and pristine coastline, Kerala is quickly becoming India’s most soughtafter destination.

Mark Ellwood goes exploring through its past and present.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN

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Kerala's beaches have been luring in tourists since the 1960s.

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A view of the dense landscape en route to Thekkady

Outside of Serenity at Kanam Estate, a Malabar Escapes property

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A village bazaar with a seaside view.

Kerala has natural, photo-ready charms; the Indian Ocean laps gently on the palm tree-rimmed beaches of the stunning coastline.

Kerala has long been one of India’s most cultured enclaves: literacy

rates are the highest in the country, and the local language, Malayalam, is renowned for superb poetry and prose that dates back to Medieval times. Doubtless, such heritage was the spur last year for choosing the state to be the site of India’s first-ever contemporary art showcase. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale—romantically named after the current capital and a lost city that was its ancient counterpart—did more than just honor Kerala’s past, though. This homegrown riff on the storied Biennale in Venice underscored the region’s rising profile. “Kerala gained a lot of momentum through the Biennale. It brought it back into the spotlight,” says Mumbai-based fashion executive Srimoyi Bhattacharya, who took a trip expressly to see the show. “It was on the cover of almost every magazine in India.”

It’s easy to understand why: man-made beauty aside, Kerala has natural, photoready charms. The stunning coastline, for instance, where waves from the bathwaterwarm Indian Ocean lap gently on the palm tree-rimmed beaches. Or the passel of lush, green foothills in the interior, still quilted with old rubber and tea plantations or spice farms. Crisscrossing the lowlands in between, of course, there’s a network of shallow waterways, arguably India’s most swoon-worthy scenery (and another link with Venice).

Local food is bright and simple—fresh-caught fish, coconut-tinged vegetable stir fries.

Indeed, the air everywhere has a heady spiciness, as ginger, cardamom and cinnamon swirl together in the warmth (never too clammy or too cold, it’s a steady 90 degrees or so year-round). Smelling the wafting scent is like eavesdropping with your nose on a gourmet chef. No wonder this is the only place in the world where spices are still traded like stocks.

Compared to buzzy, urban Mumbai just two hours away, the pace is sultry and

unhurried. Locals’ laidback attitude is best embodied by the centuries-long religious tolerance, which has seen large populations of almost every faith peacefully co-exist: Muslims, Jews, Christians and Hindus were drawn here to work the spice-trading route, which centered on Kerala’s Malabar coast. The Catholic Portuguese traders who once lived here are the reason stores still often shut on Sundays and why spiced beef is a menu staple. The 400-year old synagogue in Kochi, on the other hand, is a legacy of pioneering Jews, festooned with chandeliers, the original ceramic floor tiles now uneven underfoot.

Kochi is the essential first stop—though try to call it Cochin, its imperial-era name, which most locals prefer. Spread across several interconnected peninsulas, the promontory of Fort Cochin, or the old town, is appealingly untouched, a warren of centuries-old backstreets lined with ramshackle houses. Shopping in so-called Jew Town is less frenzied than a standard Indian bazaar—charmingly, many stallholders shout “Hassle-free shop!” and smile (make sure to pick up a few gossamer-light pashminas from Kashmir that have long been a local specialty). Fittingly for so literate a region, tiny bookstores lurk on almost every street, dusty paperbacks piled high and haphazardly.

On the waterfront sit the cantilevered fishing nets that have become local landmarks: they were brought here centuries ago by the Chinese. Hoisted using teak and bamboo levers, locals of every ethnicity still use this traditional and time-heavy method to land a day’s catch.

Kochi has carefully preserved its appeal by focusing on upscale travelers (compare nearby Goa, whose sleepy charms have faced a rude awakening under an onslaught of budget, backpacker-aimed hostels). Indeed, there is a surprisingly small number of hotels in the city proper: notable among them is the Vivanta on the harbor (Malabar), an outpost

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Discovery, the house boat owned by Malabar Escapes, on one of Kerala's many canals

A picturesque Kerala sunset

“It really forces you to disconnect and be one with nature.”

—Srimoyi Bhattacharya 50 ultratravel

A spice field worker on the road to Periyar

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A quiet street scene in Kochi

Compared to buzzy, urban Mumbai just two hours away, the pace in Kerala is sultry and unhurried. of Taj hotels’ luxury brand. Taj also maintains four other Vivanta properties throughout Kerala: Vivanta by Taj-Kovalam, Vivanta by Taj-Kumarakom, Vivanta by TajTrivandrum and Vivanta by Taj-Bekal. Recently renovated, it has two wings—one modern, the other historic—set amid flourishing gardens; opt for a room in the 1945 heritage building to best channel the Raj. The other standout is Malabar House, created from a pair of 300-year old colonial-era bungalows by German expat art dealer Joerg Drechsel and his Spanish wife Txuku Iriarte two decades ago. The brightly colored rooms, decorated with antiques and hand-carved beds, have an airy freshness, while the Frangipani- and jasmine-filled gardens are ranged around a loungy pool. Don’t miss a tapas-like thali lunch on the terrace, where sharp-shirted local businessmen pow-wow among the visitors.

Drechsel runs this hotel as part of a small group of properties, dubbed Malabar Escapes, that are ranged around Kerala’s various landscapes (his were the first-ever hotels in India to secure Relais & Châteaux endorsement, a nod to their impressive credentials). Serenity is a 1920s hilltop bungalow set amid the centuries-old plantations.

“It’s always an amazing experience to leave the coastlands and get into the tropical foothills of the Western Ghats,” Drechsel swoons, “You end up at 6,000 feet in a tea garden, with a fire in the chimney to keep you warm—all for a journey of just 70 miles.”

Expect to be surrounded by Indian honeymooners, for whom Kerala is, unsurprisingly, a traditional destination: a soothing retreat from the urban frenzy so common elsewhere in the country. And since the economy here still centers on traditional crops like coffee, nutmeg, bananas, pineapples and rubber, biking around the various farms is a

timewarpish treat. Book some ayurvedic therapy at Serenity’s spa, too, for a contemporary indulgence.

More than anything though, it’s the canals, or backwaters, that define Kerala. The rivers that ribbon through the countryside are populated by punt-wielding longboatmen, fishing in the clear waters using hand-spears; their small houses nestle discreetly in the jungle thickets at the edge. Use Alappuzha (colonial name: Alleppey) as the gateway to a getaway on the canals—a smaller colonial town, it’s filled with tree-lined backstreets, Jain temples and more waterways, which make it more bucolic than a typical Indian city (just ignore the choleric motorbikes).

Consider a few nights aboard one of the luxury houseboats that glide around these backwaters as the ultimate end to a Kerala jaunt. The best cruising options are either Drechsel’s own boat, Discovery, or the sumptuous M.V. Vrinda, owned and operated by Indian luxury hotel group Oberoi. For the last decade, this small teak and bamboo craft— just eight deluxe, air-conditioned cabins—has been cruising the canals. Days can be spent lolling on the deck, soaking up sun and scenery, or taking a kettuvallam (or rice boat) to reach deeper into the countryside via narrow waterways edged by duck farms, paddy fields and tiny colonial towns, untouched for decades. “It really forces you to disconnect and be one with nature,” says Srimoyi Bhattacharya. “I have this flash when I was on a rice boat in the canals and, one evening, we saw the sun setting in between two coconut trees. The most stunning, striking sight; absolutely gorgeous—it was like a Venice moment.”

Contact your travel agent to connect with Kerala today.

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Clockwise from top left: the study at Serenity at Kanam Estate on the road to Periyar; a bedroom at the Malabar House in Cochin; fishing boats and nets on the beach at Mararikulam; a typical Keralan thali; a view of Vivanta by Taj's Kovalam property in Kerala.

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EXOTIC INDULGENCE

Hotels, spa resorts and private islands usher in a new era of luxury in Southeast Asia.

BY ZOE SETTLE

An oceanfront villa on the Song Saa Private Island in Cambodia

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Experience a variety of leisure activities with Banyan ˘ Tree’s Laguna Lang Cô property in Vietnam.

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Lose yourself getting pampered at the lavish Fusion Maia Resort in Da Nang.

Vietnam is keen on sharing its prime coastal location, dotted with a new flock of private oases that offer plenty of pampering.

The countries of Southeast Asia are offering luxury travel with their own blend of exotic locations, local flavors and special amenities. Over the past few decades, Vietnam has been embracing tourism, revealing its occupied colonial past and its crowded streets and villages to Westerners. Lately, the country has been keen on sharing its prime coastal location, dotted with a new flock of oases that offer plenty of pampering.

In the middle of the coast of Vietnam is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hoi An. Long adored by visitors for its tailors and skilled craftsmen, the riverside city is now home to the Anantara Hoi An Resort (formerly the Life Resort), which debuted in June from the same group behind the year-old Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa property 500 miles to the south. Its central location in town makes it ideal for exploring the historic sites, although it offers plenty of activities for those who prefer to remain on property, such as cooking lessons, golf nearby at Ocean Dunes and exploring surrounding villages by bike. For the sartorially-minded traveler eager to build a bespoke wardrobe, try Hoi An’s skilled tailors and make sure you spend at least 48 hours in the city to allow for enough time for fittings. Regulars recommend AoBaBa on Tran Phu street.

Spa-focused resorts are booming in the area, prized for their beachfront setting, with new resorts eager to satisfy weary travelers or those simply coming for a relaxing holiday. In Da Nang, a short drive up the coast from Hoi An, the three-year-old Fusion Maia Resort prides itself on being the first all-inclusive spa resort in all of Asia. Two spa treatments daily are included in the room rate, and each “room” is actually a villa

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with a private swimming pool and courtyard. Fusion Maia’s developer, Serenity Holding, is also opening a resort next year on the southern island of Phu Quoc, where 10 bungalows will be optimally sited on the ocean.

Singapore-based Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, known for its award-winning spa services, opened its first Vietnam property, Laguna Lang ˘ Cô, last winter. Located in the Chan May region on a mile-and-a-half of beachfront property about 90 minutes from both Hue and Hoi An, the 700-acre property is idyllically situated between tropical jungles and mountains. The province has historically been a favorite holiday retreat ˘ Cô attracts another category of guests with an for Vietnamese royalty, and now Lang 18-hole championship golf course designed by Sir Nick Faldo.

A visit to Vietnam usually includes arrival in or departure from Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Include a day there and stay at the Park Hyatt Saigon, which has debuted a Masters of Food and Wine program. This September, you can visit the GrandPlace Cacao Garm on the Mekong Delta and discover the life cycle of chocolate, as well as indulge in a pastry-making class using Phan Thiet vanilla, estate coffee and the local chocolate. Or, for another foodie sensation, try Lucca Trattoria, the new restaurant from U.S.-transplant Brian McNally, part of the brother team behind New York’s adored Indochine, Balthazar and Odeon. Cap off the night with the “AO Show,” a fiveperson orchestra performing folk songs depicting the daily lifestyles of farming communities in Southern Vietnam.

To explore Vietnam, contact your travel agent today.

ILLUSTRATION BY QUINN HARRELSON

Ruins near Banyan Tree’s Laguna La˘ ng Cô resort in the Chan May district

Cambodia Three Ways

Al fresco dining at the Park Hyatt Saigon

Aqua Expeditions’ M/V Aqua Mekong will launch its first cruise next year in Cambodia.

Guests of Banyan Tree's Laguna La˘ ng Cô resort can customize tours to suit their interests and experience some of Chan May's traditions.

Three very different tours will satisfy travelers eager to explore Cambodia, too. The country nestled in between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam has been experiencing double-digit growth in tourism since 2010. Nearly $400 million is being invested in airport improvements in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with an anticipated capacity of five million annual passengers.

Vermont-based Country Walkers, a 34year-old luxury tour operator, has expanded one of its best-selling itineraries, “Trails of Indochina,” to include three days in Cambodia. The next 11-day trip leaves November 4 from Laos, with visits along the southward journey to Hanoi, the iconic Ha Long Bay (and its lushly forested limestone islands) and Hoi An. It concludes in Cambodia, where guests stay at the Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa and enjoy an evening at the Apsara Theatre at Angkor Village, as well as dinner in Siem Reap with a traditional dance and cultural performance.

Aqua Expeditions will launch its M/V Aqua Mekong, a 20-suite luxury vessel setting off into Indochina in early 2014.

Designed by Saigon-based Noor Architects with interiors by David Hodkinson and Luc Lejeune, the boat will offer itineraries in two directions, from Siem Reap down to My Tho near Ho Chi Minh City, with a stop in Phnom Penh. The floating “resort” will offer three-, four- and seven-night journeys, complete with a spa, screening room and fitness center.

Red Savannah, a two-year-old bespoke travel outfitter founded by George Morgan-Grenville, formerly of Abercrombie & Kent, offers a 12-day Cambodian holiday, which this year will include a stay at the new Park Hyatt Siem Reap, opening its doors in August. The 108-room property was formerly the Hôtel de la Paix, ideally situated near the 12th-century ruins of Angkor Wat (and an easy transfer to the airport). It’s now being redesigned

by Bill Bensley. Each room and suite will offer either a private pool or garden. Also, for travelers interested in Cambodia’s relatively undiscovered Koh Rong archipelago, Red Savannah suggests Song Saa, which opened its 27 villas last winter on a private island.

Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa on Mui Ne beach, near Phan Thiet

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Making The Wor AUTHOR BRIAN ANTONI TAKES AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY ABOARD SEABOURN’S ODYSSEY.

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ld Your Oyster

The Taj Mahal, perhaps the world's most famous mausoleum

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H

ow did I end up sitting on this deck chair aboard Seabourn’s Odyssey, the wind blowing through my hair, on my own private balcony, listening to the sounds of the waves breaking on this impossibly indigo sea? Well, I needed a present for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. One of my earliest memories is my mother giving me a globe. She pointed at some tiny islands, and said, “This is where we live, the Bahamas. I want you to see the whole world. I want the world to be your oyster.”

Every summer after that, my family would go on a month-long trip to some corner of the world. My present to my parents was to give them the greatest gift that they ever gave to me: the gift of travel.

After some research, I decided to take Seabourn’s 16-day voyage from Singapore to Dubai, aboard the beautiful, intimate 225-suite Odyssey. The suites are spacious, with sweeping ocean views. The service equals the best I have ever had in my life—intuitive and gracious. Whether it’s wading out into the surf to offer caviar and Champagne or drawing a rose-filled bath, the staff is relentless in its pursuit to please. The gourmet food rivals the finest restaurants, with choices from casual to elegant, served indoors, al fresco or 24 hours a day in our suites. There are open bars throughout the ship along with the complimentary in-suite bar stocked with our preferences. I quickly realized why so many guests return time and time again. (I have only experienced such pampering once in my life before, when a Malaysian princess invited me to St. Barths on her 150-foot yacht.)

We flew to Singapore to board the Odyssey, and for three days stayed at the Scarlet Hotel, a baroque, sensuous, fantasyland of light and dark—filled with flowers, crystal, semi-naughty figurines, Chinese red and quirky little touches that put a smile on my jaded face. In the groovy guest room, there was a lacquered backscratcher with a note that said, “Let me caress your back tonight?” The Scarlet, a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, is located in Chinatown, right next door to the Maxwell Road Hawker Centre, a Singapore-style food court, made famous by Anthony Bourdain. So, when I woke up at four in the morning, in a jet-lagged stupor, I was able to munch away on the specialty from Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, while watching the creatures of the night: hip club kids, drunk European ex-pats, a table of drag queens and Indian construction workers drinking tea from plastic baggies.

Singapore’s culturally rich Chinatown is a buzzing treasure trove of souvenirs, antiques, electronics, ink stamps and massage parlors, all housed in colorful heritage buildings. I discovered a medicine shop with a museum dedicated to bird nests and how they are turned into soup. Then, I strolled around Little India, through the hustle and bustle: messy and beautiful, saris and bangles, backpackers and running children, brass oil lamps and jasmine garlands. I got happily lost in the little lanes, in markets selling exotic fruit and vegetables and weird seafood and fantastical flowers. From there I was transported to the Middle East, to the Arab Street neighborhood which is dominated by the serene Sultan Mosque, a thing of beauty.

I

explored shops selling Arabian wares. I met some kids who looked like they escaped from anime cartoons and pointed me to a lane that runs parallel to Arab Street, called Haji Lane. This retail stretch of brightly painted stores—the epicenter of cool—kind of reminded me of New York’s East Village in its heyday or sections of the Mission in San Francisco or Williamsburg today. Shops, with names like Pluck, Know It Nothing and Going Om sold quirky, eclectic home grown goods. My favorite, Wicked Laundry, had a sign with “Life without fashion would be a mistake!” written on the stairs leading to the store. I agree!

My next stop was Orchard Road, a wide boulevard like the Champs-Élysées with 22 shopping malls, six department stores and 5,000 brands. Overpowering! It makes Fifth Avenue look like a Main Street in small-town America. I thought I was seeing a mirage of repeated luxury brand emporiums, a conveyer belt of big-name labels: Prada, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier, Rolex, Gucci, Hermès. Calling all shopaholics: pack your plastic and make a pilgrimage to Orchard Road.

One of the Odyssey’s first ports of call in India was Mangalore, a major port in the

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One of the marbled paths of the Taj Mahal

The Seabourn Odyssey, an intimate, 225-room luxury cruise ship

The Temple of the Tooth in Singapore's Chinatown neighborhood

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state of Karnataka. It was hot! Really hot. Even though I was given water and handy wipes at every stop by the tour guide, it still felt like a thousand degrees. I was driving on winding roads through rolling hills, grudgingly shared by cars, jay-walkers, motorcycles, tuck-tucks, bicycles and cows. I felt like I was in the Indian Grand Prix.

There were no lanes. The bus driver pounded the horn on every turn, as does everyone.

A cacophony of horns. I flew past little stalls where you can get “chicken lally pops, chilled bear, tea and snacics. Full legs and boneful thighs.” Have no fear, you can also get “vag and non-vag food.”

After about an hour, as my life passed before my eyes, I arrive at Moodabidri, a favorite place of pilgrimage for the Jains. I visited their largest temple, the 15th century Chandranatha Basti containing 1,000 pillars, all different, carved in astonishing fine detail from sculpted granite. At the entrance, there is a gigantic pillar that guards the temple, meant to remind all who enter that they must leave there egos at the door, in order to be received by God. I left my ego on the bus.

T

he next stop on the cruise was Goa, where East seemed to blissfully blend with West, a result of 451 years of Portuguese rule, which ended with the Indian takeover in 1961. As I toured the impressive churches, I felt a distinctly Latin flavor. My first visit was to Se Cathedral, named after the patron saint of Goa, a massive example of Jesuit architecture that appeared to have been transported from Tuscany. One of the two towers has collapsed, but the other still tolls a golden bell, as it did to announce the public torture of heretics during the Inquisition. Thank God this has stopped because I know that bell would be tolling for me!

Across the square from the cathedral rises the church that brings thousands of pilgrims to Goa, the beautiful Basilica of Bom Jesus (“Good Jesus”), which houses the tomb of Saint Francis Xavier, the renowned 16th century missionary. St Francis died near China where he was buried, and when his body was dug up to be returned to Goa, it was found to be miraculously intact. The coffin used to be open to pilgrims to kiss the body until a lady in an excess of religious zeal or hunger reportedly bit off his toe in 1554.

Next, the Odyssey stopped in Mumbai and trying to describe this city, visions rush into my head: traffic jams, graceful women in jewel-colored saris, cows, perfect mangoes, sweet jasmine smells, putrid rotten smells, beggars missing limbs, snake charmers, naked children, Ferraris, temples, Art Deco gems, British Raj buildings, biryani, tandoori, McDonald’s, colonial relics, power-moguls, ancient bazaars, hip bars, Bollywood stars, backpackers, Indian girls in mini skirts, Muslims covered in black from head to toe with only slits for their eyes, Hinduism, Catholicism, Gandhi, Jesus, energetic, fanatic, frenzied, then calm, carved ivories, cast bronzes, silk, intricate rugs, marble from Agra, embroidered silks from Benares, silverware from Hyderabad, pashminas from Kashmir, enamels from Jaipur, tea from Darjeeling, magnetic-mayhem-madness!

Mumbai is all of India rolled up into one.

M

y first stop in Mumbai was Churchgate station where I hopped on a commuter train. Trains are literally Mumbai’s and India’s lifeline. They run overcrowded, three-times capacity, resulting in 3,000 casualties a year. Memories of the months I spent traveling through India with a rail pass when I was 18-years-old flooded my head as I took the short ride to Malhalakshmi station to visit the Dhobi Ghats—a gigantic, open-air laundromat. This is a laundry service unique to Mumbai, where clothing from all over the city is brought to be washed, boiled in starch, hung out to dry, ironed with charcoal irons and returned to its owners. It is said that they never lose a sock.

I stopped for tea at the grand, iconic Taj Mahal Palace. This colonial hotel is an oasis of calm in the center of the organized chaos that surrounds it and has hosted many notable guests whose pictures are displayed: the Beatles, President Obama, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bill Clinton, The Prince of Wales, Joan Collins, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt. Story has it that Jamsetji Tata built the hotel after he was refused entry to the city’s grandest venue at the time, Watson’s Hotel, which was restricted to whites only. Some hotels at the time had signs that said, “No Indians or Dogs.” After this, he decided to build a hotel that would put all others to shame. And he did.

I continued to Mani Bhvan, Gandhi’s base in Mumbai. It is now a museum and memorial to the Mahatma. The walls are covered with photos and artifacts including a letter to Hitler asking him not to go to war and correspondence with Roosevelt, Tolstoy and Einstein.

The reason I chose this cruise as a present for my parents was because it included India. Some 25 years ago, on my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary, my father surprised my mother and took her to India. And on the night of their anniversary, he arranged for a horse-drawn carriage to take them to the Taj Mahal, where they toasted each other in the moonlight. I know it is one of their happiest memories.

When we returned to the Odyssey after our day in Mumbai, the crew had set up a red carpet and were all lined up to welcome us back with iced fruit punch and cool towels.

Boston’s “Let Me Take You Home Tonight” played in the background. I smiled to myself because I was so happy that I was able to give my parents back a tiny bit of what they had given me—so grateful that Seabourn allowed me to take them to such exotic places in absolute luxury. I was able to continue to make the world our oyster.

To book your next cruise, contact your travel agent today.

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The spiraled staircases of the Seabourn Odyssey’s radiant atrium

Victoria Terminus railway station in Mumbai is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways there.

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi was built by the Portuguese in Goa in 1661.

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& QA

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASSOULINE

When it comes to travel, PROSPER ASSOULINE, the French-Moroccan founder of literary-luxury publishing house, Assouline—which has published more than 1,000 works of books-as-art since 1994—requires excellent service, a nice siesta and the company of his lovely businesspartner wife.

Prosper Assouline at his company's New York headquarters

ALL BOOKED UP Travel notes from the prince of publishing

BY ALYSSA SHELASKY

What's on your list for upcoming beach reads?

I don't know yet…it always depends on my mood.

How do you prefer to fly?

Luxury all the way. I like Air France.

How do you eat when in the air?

On a short trip, nothing. On a long one, everything.

What's the first thing you do when you check into a hotel room?

I clean the desk completely.

What has been your best hotel experience ever?

The Tawaraya hotel in Kyoto. They only have about 15 rooms.

Are you a travel-snob?

I am not a travel-snob, but I am very particular.

Personal driver or wander aimlessly?

I don't drive myself to make sure I don't miss anything!

What’s the most dangerous place you've visited?

Sierra Leone in the '80s.

What was the last sight you saw (while traveling) that made you cry?

That is a secret.

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Favorite hotels for business trips?

Claridge’s in London; the Plaza Athénée in Paris.

Do you get jet-lagged?

The worse jet-lag is when I fly from Seoul to New York. It feels as if a boxer gave me a massage.

Best room service?

I hate room service.

Favorite person to travel with?

My wife.

Most daring meal you've ever had abroad?

I am not adventurous with eating at all!

What is your daily uniform?

Best style is what I would call the “Capri style”—colorful pants and a T-shirt. It has to be chic without effort.

Which languages do you speak?

I speak four languages: English, French, Hebrew, Arabic. I would like to learn Finnish.

What's your daily "wake-up" routine like?

I always start my day with a short macchiato.

Describe the perfect day at home?

It would be a day without a watch or BlackBerry.

What was the last major present you bought yourself?

My last acquisition at an auction house.

Where was the nicest meal you've ever had?

It was at Le Louis XV—the restaurant of Alain Ducasse—in Monte Carlo.

Who are your personal role models?

My assistant.

What are the words you live by?

“Better to be alone than in bad company.”

What do you do to unwind after a very long day?

Siesta. I’m from the South ...

What is the secret to your success?

My wife.

If you were to make a Champagne toast right now, what would you say?

L'chaim!

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