CRUISING SPECIAL YOUR NEED-TO-KNOW GUIDE TO THE HIGH SEAS
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Romantic Escapes FROM BALI AND BORACAY TO KAUAI AND THE MALDIVES
FEBRUARY 2013
LONDON CALLING
THE BEST OF TIMES FOR DINING IN THE CAPITAL
TO THE HEART OF HONG KONG AMOROUS APPS
HOW TO PUSH HER BUTTONS—OR HIS!
BURMA’S LAKE BREAK JACKPOT!
LOVING LAS VEGAS
Singapore S$7.90 ● Hong Kong HK$43 THailand THB175 ● indoneSia idr50,000 MalaySia Myr17 ● VieTnaM Vnd85,000 Macau Mop44 ● pHilippineS pHp240 BurMa MMK35 ● caMBodia KHr22,000 Brunei Bnd7.90 ● laoS laK52,000
63 9 771906 082018 Tr a ve l a n d L e i s u re A s i a . c o m
Volume 07 / Issue 02
Contents
February 2013 62
Features Sovereignty of the Heart No longer British, not fully Chinese, Hong Kongers have forged their own identity. jeff chu reveals the dynamism and adaptability—and dash of brass—that make this city and its inhabitants unique.
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Making Waves in Inle Lake michele baran hotel-hops through the best new restaurants, spas and vineyards—yes, vineyards—in Burma’s traditional, tranquil heart.
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Cycling Through the Years The Japanese left a legacy of European architecture in Taipei. ralph jennings hits the streets for a bike tour of the best old buildings with the brightest futures.
photographed by philipp engelhorn . guide
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Fantasy Islands Turquoise water. Craggy limestone cliffs. Whitesand beaches. Getting away from it all on an island is the ultimate escape. From a South Seas atoll to an untamed speck at the farthest reaches of Europe, we spotlight 21 places for every type of traveler.
100 London is the Capital of Food From tapas to upscale Indian to nose-to-tail dining, London has morphed into a foodie paradise. by peter jon lindberg . photographed by jason lowe . map and guide
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photographed by alber to buzzola
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Big Land The Samoan isle of Savai’i is just the spot to swim with sea turtles, climb craters and ponder Polynesian mysteries. stor y and photos by ian lloyd neubauer. map and
phIlIpp engelhorn
guide
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Chef Paul Lau of Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, page 62. t r av e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m
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Thailand's Futuristic Facials In a country famous for its spas, next-generation beauty treatments are bringing a sci-fi edge to skincare. Amorous Apps Looking for love on your travels? You can take cupid off your speed dial—that chubby cherub can’t compete with this new batch of location-based matchmaking technology. A Dram in Japan Some of the world’s finest whiskies are now coming from the Land of the Rising Sun. scot t ha as shows where to sample.
12 …
Spas Ahoy! For a romantic combination of seclusion, spa treatments, sea breezes and the lulling roll of waves, a maritime massage is the way to go. by catharine nicol
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Café Capital Creative types are brewing art and energy into Hanoi’s coffeehouse culture. david lloyd buglar drinks in the scene at three new stand-out venues.
Plus Phnom Penh’s new boutique hotels, top treehouses, high-art meets high-fashion, Korean hanoks and more. Trip Doctor 53
Strategies The best cruise-ship features and how to save big and make the most of your voyage.
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Smart Traveler A do-it-yourself guide to planning the ultimate romantic getaway. Deals Romantic escapes in a plush Singaporean suite and a Thai island retreat, spa savings in Macau and a city stay in Hong Kong.
Departments 14 16 … i n b o x 18
e d i t o r ’s n o t e
contr ibu tors
34
by merrit t gurley
32
dest i nat ions
on the cover The perfect light on a Philippine beach. Photographer: Tao Huang, Getty Images.
Decoder 112 Las Vegas Sin City has reinvented itself once again with splashier hotels, over-the-top restaurants and show-stopping spectacles. What’s not to love? by andrea bennett. photographed by misha gravenor
Last Look 118 Sabeto Valley, Fiji. A traditional Hindu wedding celebration in the South Pacific. photographed by ian lloyd neubauer
courtesy of four se asons
A cabin of the Four Seasons Explorer, page 34.
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Destinations
february 2013 123 100 London
L aS VegaS 112
62 Hong Kong InLe L aKe
84
46
106
94
HanoI
SaVaI’I, Samoa
DeSTInATIon
PAge
WHen To go
WHAT US$5 BUYS
WHo To FoLLoW
Hanoi
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after the summer rains, just on the cusp of winter, october is relatively warm and dry.
a VIp ticket to the famous thang long Water puppet theater show.
@stickyinhanoi
Hong Kong
62
spring and fall are best, but avoid the first week of May and of october, when throngs of vacationing mainland chinese pack the city.
Dim sum meal at Michelinstarred tim ho Wan. order the steamed pork buns.
@hiphongkong
Inle Lake, Burma
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end of september into october, when the phaung Daw oo festival is followed by the thadingyut—two colorful, high-energy events spanning several weeks.
a silk scarf hand-woven on a traditional loom in ywa-ma village.
@Irrawadynews
Savai’i, Samoa
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May, september and october, when it’s dry season but not packed with winter-fleeing tourists from australia and new Zealand.
adult admission to afu aau falls.
@samoaobserver
London
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June. yes, it’s tourist season, but the sunny days and green, green parks make all those people amiable, and bearable.
a single-journey ticket on one of london’s iconic red buses.
@timeoutlondon
Las Vegas
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If you’re planning to play your luck indoors most of the visit, peg your trip to the best hotel deals, which pop up year-round. otherwise, skip steamy July and august.
all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast or lunch at any number of offstrip casinos, including fiesta rancho and sam’s town.
@lvcitylife
Long Weekend
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Beach
Active
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Food+Drink
Shopping
Arts+Culture
Editor’s Note
where to find me chrisk@mediatransasia.com @CKucway on Twitter
Islands of your Dreams
The T+L Code Travel + Leisure editors, writers and photographers are the industry’s most reliable sources. While on assignment, they travel incognito whenever possible and do not take press trips or accept free travel of any kind. 14
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exploring an unpopulated e island due east of Bali.
our next stops
Danang
Stylish Seoul Mekong River Delta Fashionable Philippines
l auryn Ishak (2)
E
verything about islands shouts a break from the norm, whether it’s a popular tropical haven like Boracay or the timeless volcanic setting of Santorini, Greece. Yet it’s more than the simple geographic seclusion that each offers: unless you live on one, islands present a break from routine, not just a physical distance from regular life. In such instances if you’re lucky, yes, man is an island. That’s why this month’s look at romantic locales (“Fantasy Islands,” page 72) should get your mind and heart racing about an island getaway at some point this year. In Southeast Asia we’re blessed with an abundance of tropical islands—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand alone offer some of the world’s most spectacular settings—worth a three-day trip or more. That said, do not miss writer Adam Sachs’s take on Madeira, Portugal; he’ll have you hooked from his opening sentence. Other islands mentioned in the story are not merely window dressing—the San Juans in Washington state are amazing at any time of year; Bali, while popular, continues to surprise all who visit; and the Maldives is the perfect place to wash ashore, shut off your mobile phone and stare idly at the sweep of watery horizon. Of course, unforgettable vistas are not limited to the world’s oceans. A scene of a different sort is found in central Burma (“Making Waves in Inle Lake,” page 84). It’s one of those locales that has travelers flocking to the country in search of unspoilt Asia, something the famed lake delivers even if it now also offers a host of new hotels, restaurants and spas, not to mention vineyards. If “blissful setting” conjures somewhere more urban for you, then look no further than Hong Kong (page 62), where writer Jeff Chu heads off to answer what makes the city, and its inhabitants, so different from anywhere else in the world. I spent many years living there—on an outlying island no less—so have my own answers to that question but at the end of the day, I’m just another gweilo. For a true insider’s take on Hong Kong, and the other destinations we visit this issue, read on. — christopher k ucway
Contributors
Andrea Bennett
David Lloyd Buglar
Jane Wooldridge Writer “strategies: cruising special” (page 53).
Writer “sovereignty of the heart” (page 62).
cruising’s greatest perk The ease of it all. You visit multiple destinations without the hassles of packing and hauling luggage or trying to find the train station. With a group of friends, it’s the only way to go. dream itinerary I’d call it “Authentic Islands of Asia”: taking in the wildlife (orangutans; Komodo dragons) and traditional cultures of the less-visited ports of Brunei; Sarawak, Malaysia; Borneo; Lombok, Flores, and Sumba, in Indonesia; and Timor-Leste. number one rookie mistake Overpacking! Even as a veteran, I still make this one.
you saw hong kong first at eight... One of my favorite memories was meeting my greatgrandfather. We took a long bus ride, it was unbearably hot, and we sat on the upper deck, for the views and the breeze. I remember he had almost no teeth, but I just felt such love from this old man. must-do Every single time I go, I take the Star Ferry. There is no experience more exhilarating and at the same time more peaceful. And it’s the best bargain in Hong Kong; if you go second-class, it’s just HK$2. where do you get your favorite pigeon? My aunt is my faithful roast-squab supplier. She goes to New Keung Kee in Tai Wai, in the New Territories.
Photographer “london Is the capital of food” (page 100).
Writer “t+l Decoder: our Definitive guide to las Vegas” (page 112).
Writer “café capital” (page 46).
best london food photo-op The wine bar and restaurant at 40 Maltby Street, which offered spectacular wines and fabulously crafted dishes, including a game consommé that was cooked to such perfection you could feel it coursing through your veins. how does the city inspire your work today? Gastronomically speaking, it has been an almighty year for London, which has become a world leader in restaurants. Great cooks work hard at their craft, and often the result is good food to photograph and eat. what’s next? I’m traveling the length of the Mekong River to document the differences and similarities between the six nations that live along its banks.
vegas, first impressions Before I moved to the city, I grew up passing through it several times a year in the 1970’s, and Circus Circus was always our first stop. To my childhood brain, it was the apex of Vegas glamour. best-loved icon on the strip I find the Luxor light beam, which I can see from my house at night, to be strangely comforting. It’s a 40-billion-candlepower nightlight. secret sin city escape Mount Charleston is only 40 minutes from the Strip, but it’s at least 7 degrees cooler at the top. It’s very ersatz Alps on summer weekends, when a German polka band plays at Mount Charleston Lodge.
which hanoi artists should we be following? My favorite young artists are Nguyen Phuong Linh and Pham Huy Thong. For performance art, Tuan Mami is one to watch. how do you take your coffee? In the warmer months nothing beats a sŭa d-a [iced, with condensed milk], but right now a d-en nóng [hot, black, filtered] is called for—it’s cold here! hanoi’s best brew? A tough one. For me it’s between three places on Triê. u Viê. t Vu’o’ng, a.k.a. “coffee street”: Café Thai, which serves a strong brew; Café Tho—allegedly the street’s first; and relative newcomer, Cô.ng, which serves the best d-en nóng, hands down.
Jeff Chu
‘I find the Luxor light beam, which I can see from my house at night, to be strangely comforting. It’s a 40-billion-candlepower nightlight.’
—andrea Bennett
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f r o M l e f t: s c o t t M a c s W e e n ; c o u r t e s y o f a n D r e a b e n n e t t; c o u r t e s y o f D aV I D l l o y D b u g l a r ; c o u r t e s y o f J a n e W o o l D r I D g e ; r o x a n n e l o W I t
Jason Lowe
Inbox
It’s no tourist trap My girlfriend has been begging me to go to Koh Samui but I was worried it would be overrun with tourists. Now I guess I’ll have to bring her, since you’ve given us some ideas to get off the beaten track [“Samui’s Six Steps to Serenity,” December 2012]. I hope not too many other readers follow your suggestions before we do! Logan Willems, bangkok
Samui’s Six Steps to Serenity It’s easy to get from the Thai mainland to Koh Samui, less so to escape the crowds who throng here. But Robyn Eckhardt uncovers half a dozen ways the island, whose moniker comes from the Malay for “safe haven,” still lives up to its name. Photographed by David Hagerman
A select audience comes for sunset to Aura, at the Conrad.
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Savoring Sandwiches I came across your December anniversary issue and discovered a great new hang out at Le Bánh Mì in Saigon. Thanks to you I have discovered a cool new place and the food is really amazing. Very exciting to be able to have gourmet traditional sandwiches in Vietnam. Good work. Hoping to discover more unique places like this. Mimi Ledo
A Juicy gem So glad you included El Gaucho in your best in Bangkok. My friend threw me a birthday party catered by them and the steaks were amazing! Nicole Hang bangkok
We love hearing about our readers’ favorite spots. Let us know when we highlight yours.
saigon
new Finds Thank you for your long list of new places all over Asia. I took photos of every single page of The Best of 2012 so that I can refer to your guide on my phone wherever I go. Val Sittenfeld
Correction In our January article “SoulSearching in Singapore,” we referred to Kampong Glam as a historical Malaysian precinct. It is a historical Malay precinct. We regret the error.
hong kong
Sounding off travelandleisureasia.com is brimming with useful travel info, not to mention beautiful pictures, as these readers pointed out recently on twitter:
how cool would it be to tour #bali through cooking schools! @travleisureasia share “bitesize bali” @vayama Mt @travleisureasia: #streetfood guru’s fave singaporean & Malaysian holes-
contact Info
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in-the-wall. (Mouth-watering photos!) @Lautnyc I’ve eaten street food all over the world; some great tips via @ travleisureasia: 5 tricks for eating street food @foodieintl
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Radar on our
news. finds. opinions. obsessions.
Lello Bookshop, in Porto, Portugal, holds some 120,000 titles.
t+l p i c ks
Speaking Volumes
o u t D o o r-a r c h I V/ e n D e r l e I n
as transporting as any museum and nourishing as any local dish, these independent bookstores unlock the soul of a place.
porto, portugal
new york city
london
beijing
sydney
Lello Bookshop The elaborate neo-Gothic façade of this former library barely hints at the opulence inside: carved wood, gilded pillars, ornamented ceilings and a gorgeous red staircase lit by a stained-glass atrium. Its polyglot collection includes English translations of Portuguese lions Fernando Pessoa and José Saramago. lelloprologolivreiro.com. sapo.pt.
Bookbook This cozy Greenwich Village spot is located in New York’s literary heart—everyone from Henry James to Edward Albee has lived nearby. French doors open onto the street, where passersby can browse remainders (discounted overstocks of novels and nonfiction), a solid selection of new fiction and New York–centric reads. bookbooknyc.com.
Heywood Hill Creaky floorboards and stacks of new and old literature, history, gardening and travel tomes lend the 77-year-old Mayfair landmark the air of a well-loved private library. Smartly dressed booksellers eagerly provide recommendations for patrons, who include Her Majesty the Queen. heywoodhill.com.
The Bookworm Expats head to this bookshop-cum-lending library in the multicultural Chaoyang district for thousands of English titles, plus frequent musical performances and readings. Grab one of the 70 whiskeys available at the in-house bar and browse beneath the dangling red lanterns. beijingbookworm.com.
gleebooks Housed in a 19th-century general store, the spacious local favorite in the lively Glebe neighborhood carries a wide array of Australian literature among its 50,000 titles. On the second floor, 100-plus events take place each year, attracting such wordsmiths as Salman Rushdie and Bill Bryson. gleebooks.com.au. — sar ah l . stewart, with additional reporting by paola singer
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Radar quiz
noticed
gLoBe-trotterS
Korean Hanok
In a welcome shake-up, the tsa is once again allowing snow globes in carry-ons. see if you can match these orbs to their origins. by kathryn o’shea-evans
1
2
It’s tied with the pyramids for most stylish tomb.
If wooden shoes tap under water, can you hear it?
These cozy dwellings with rice-paper walls and plush futons on heated stone floors— Kundaemunjip guest Korea’s answer to Japanese ryokan—have house, in Seoul. been frequented by non-Westerners for years. Now more upscale offerings are luring luring foreigners, with many popping up in Seoul’s 600-year-old Bukchon district. Some even host kimchi-making or dado (tea ceremony) classes. Chiwoonjung (chiwoonjung.com)—a house once rented by President Lee Myung-Bak—has been reborn as an inn with four simple, antique-filled rooms. Kundaemunjip (kundaemunjip.com) mixes traditional architecture with modern touches (rain showers; frosted glass). At Rakkojae (rkj.co.kr), one of the most revered hanok, the intricate sliding doors are by master carpenter Chung Young-Jin. —chaney k wak
c u lt u r e 4 It’s sink or swim in the serenest republic.
5
6
you say you want a revolution? start here.
two countries could claim this waterfall, eh?
art on a Scarf Couleurs De L’Ombre on display in Singapore.
Artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. 7
8
breath mints and bowling were invented here.
god save the queen—and the kiwi.
Snow globes courtesy of collector Andy Zito and available at andyzito.com/snowdomes. 1. taj Mahal, agra, India 2. the netherlands 3. hawaii 4. Venice 5. boston 6. niagara falls 7. egypt 8. new Zealand
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hermès, the french luxury accessory manufacturer, has collaborated with artist hiroshi sugimoto on a collection of 20 brightly colored polaroids transposed onto a total of 140 giant scarves, each measuring 140 by 140 centimeters. this exhibition is the result of sugimoto’s Couleurs De L’Ombre (colors of shadow), a project where he positioned a crystal in a well-lit room and photographed the spectrums of colors reflected as sunlight travelese
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passed through the prism every morning over the course of 10 years. the product of this decade’s work is beautifully captured on the silk hermès scarves hanging on display at the singapore tyler print Institute (stpI) now through March 2. admission is free, but if you want to purchase a scarf the going rate is… gulp…€7,000. STPI; 41 Robertson Quay; stpi.com.sj. —merritt gurley
Cell-mate (n) Fellow passenger who recounts the entire story of last night on the phone with his buddy, then calls Bonzer and Steve-O to tell it again.
c l o c k W I s e f r o M l e f t: © J u s t I n fa n t l ; c o u r t e s y o f k u n D a e M u n J I p ; © ta D Z I o
3 the state fish: humuhumunukunukuapuaa.
Radar Cryotherapy
this icy treatment exposes your body to positively polar temperatures—think as low as minus 120 degrees in extreme cases—for very brief periods of time, and promises to give your skin a fresher, younger look by forcing more blood to surface capillaries. Coqoon Spa Indigo Pearl Phuket; Nai Yang Beach and National Park, Phuket; 66-76/327-006; indigo-pearl.com; 60-minute Anne Sémonin Cryotherapie Age-Defying facial for Bt3,300.
Fraxal
b e au t y
Thailand’s Futuristic Facials In a country famous for its spas, next-generation beauty treatments are bringing a sci-fi edge to skincare.
the oxygen facial
Call it molecular cosmetology. The oxygen facial, available at Bangkok’s Grand Hyatt Erawan i.sawan Spa, uses the science lab-devised Intraceuticals system—invented in Oz, beloved by Hollywood—to speed cell-regeneration, aid absorption of cleansing and moisturizing products, and plump and fill fine lines. In November, i.sawan debuted three Recovery Retreats created as cure-alls for the ills of urban living, and my long-suffering skin begged, “Sign me up!” During my Detox retreat (for hangovers, jetlag and fatigue, naturally) I inhaled 94 percent pure oxygen, and then the therapist used a pen-tool to apply a combo of pressurized oxygen and nutrients, including hyaluronic acid, to my face in a smooth, suctioning rhythm. Sounds scary but it was as lulling as the circulation- and lymph system-boosting massage that preceded it. Afterwards, I was pleased with how cool, soft and filled-out my face felt. Who knew there was a body part I’d aim to plump on purpose? i.sawan Residential Spa & Club; Grand Hyatt Erawan, 494 Rajdamri Rd., Bangkok; 66-2/254-1234; bangkok.grand.hyatt.com; 120-minute Recovery Retreats for Bt6,500.—jeninne lee - st . john
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If that last procedure has you shivering, you can warm up with this laser treatment that heats skin cells below the surface, evening out pockets and creases that cause wrinkles and correcting mild skin discoloration. Absolute Beauty Clinic 79th St., LTD. Yannawa Rd., Bangkok; 66-2/6737100; absolutebeautyclinic.com; Bt12,500 per session.
guinot Hydradermie
rollers softly massage your face, conducting gentle electrotherapy, which ionizes your skin and delivers the plant-based ingredients of the rejuvenating serum deeper into the tissue. Cliff Spa 353 Phra Tamnuk Rd., Pattaya; 66-38/250-421; cliffspathailand.com; Bt3,178 for a 75-minute treatment. —diana hubbell High-tech face-smoothing.
c o u r t e s y o f I . s aWa n r e s I D e n t I a l s pa & c l u b , g r a n D h yat t e r aWa n b a n g k o k ( 2 )
A Bangkok Recovery Retreat, at i.sawan.
Radar
Violet oon’s Kitchen serves classic comfort.
r e s tau r a n t
Foodies Swoon for Oon “Squeeze a little bit of the lime on the sambal—just a little bit—then what I like to do is mix that with the black sauce and the rice, but not too much.” Ming Tay watches me dig into a pan-fried baby sea bass fillet drenched in thick, sweet Nyonya-style sauce, anxiously noting that I’m not properly blending all the ingredients together. He would know how it should be done, since this fish tempra is, after all, one of the homecooked Peranakan comfort foods that he and his sister Su-Lyn Tay have enjoyed since they were young. It is now served
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alongside other classics at Violet oon’s Kitchen (881 Bukit Timah Rd., at the corner of Old Holland Rd.; 65/6468-5430; violetoonskitchen.com; dinner for two S$100), the latest venture from their mother and local food personality Violet Oon. It’s her third restaurant, but first business collaboration with her nowadult children. Ming, 31, handles daily operations (“It’s more like I stand around looking good”), while Su-Lyn, 36, a designer and co-founder of LA-based fashion company t-bags, conceptualized the dining room’s
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elegant, monochromatic aesthetic highlighted by marble tables and countertops, black-and-white tiled flooring, and decorative Peranakan tiles salvaged from a century-old Singapore shophouse. “We thought it needed a homey atmosphere that really encapsulated my mom—the kind of cuisine and whole vibe that she has—but updated to the kind of place our friends would enjoy going to,” she says. Mom, of course, manages the kitchen. Oon, 63, began her career as a music critic in the early 70’s, soon after
courtesy of VIol e t oon’s k Itc h en
singaporean food celeb Violet oon makes a family affair of her re-entry into the island’s trendy dining scene. by brian spencer
Clockwise from far left: The chef, one of Singapore’s famous food personalities; inside the restaurant; ngo hiang, or sausage wrapped in bean curd; prawns with sambal.
becoming a leading voice in Singapore’s nascent food scene as a columnist for The New Nation newspaper. She later launched The Food Paper, was named the country’s food ambassador by the Singapore Tourism Board, and opened her first Violet Oon’s Kitchen in 1993 (since closed). Oon’s work as a chef and journalist has led to ample international travel, from covering a Russian dance troupe to conducting cooking demonstrations at New York’s renowned James Beard House, and these travels have inspired the Western-influenced dishes squeezed onto the menu at Violet Oon’s Kitchen. Shepherd’s pie, for example, is a nod to the two years she spent living in London, while the recipe for a decadent bread and butter pudding, drizzled with whiskey and custard sauces, was picked up in New Orleans. She describes her sticky toffee date pudding as a dessert “like any good American mother would make at home,” and hints of her taste for Italian cuisine can be detected in a savory pulled-beef ragu rigatoni and meatless meatball pasta. Still, the restaurant’s main focus is Peranakan cuisine, a uniquely regional style of food that incorporates Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian ingredients and cooking techniques. “We have all of
these favorite things that we’ve eaten for our entire life, so we had so much to work with,” says Su-Lyn. While some of those favorites feature classic Peranakan tastes with a contemporary twist, such as a sublime hae bee hiam panini stuffed with spicy prawn floss, cheese, arugula and sweet onion relish, mama Oon still insists “the flavors are all traditional–we have not ‘fusioned’ them.” I take one last scoop of black tapenade made from shrimp paste and foraged Indonesian buah keluak, a fermented nut
that’s poisonous if not handled correctly (which Oon describes as the Peranakan equivalent of black truffles in French cooking). Rich, creamy and significantly smoky, the tapenade is paired with a gooey chili crab dip and fresh pita bread baked in a brick oven inherited from the previous tenants. Before I can inhale another bite, Ming recommends I try both dips mixed together—and he’s right. Like the restaurant’s combined décor, cuisine and personalities, they’re natural complements. ✚
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mobile
Keep an eye on
Amorous Apps
looking for love on your travels? you can take cupid off your speed dial—that chubby cherub can’t compete with this new batch of location-based matchmaking technology.—Merritt gurley Nothing spices up a fun trip like a hot date. Even if you aren’t on the hunt for romance, you might be hoping to meet interesting new people, which can be tough when you’re far away from your comfort zone. Luckily—say it with me—there’s an app for that. In fact there are tons and the technology is advancing to mind-dizzying heights in this surge of location-aware apps designed to help you link up with like-minded people on your travels. oKCupid This popular online dating site has a mobile app that uses the GPS on smart phones to allow users nearby to connect. So if you are in Hong Kong you could broadcast “Having a beer at Tai Lung Fung—anybody want to join me?” and send it to the users marked as being within a certain radius of the bar. Available on iPhone and Android; okcupid.com/ mobile-apps; free.
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Highlight If someone near you also has Highlight, their profile will show up on your phone using GPS tracking, showing you their hobbies, photos, mutual friends—anything they have chosen to share. While on your travels, Highlight will sift through information about the people around you and if you have things in common with someone, the app will tell you more about them. Available on iPhone and Android; highlig.ht; free.
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SinglesAroundMe The “destination search” function lets you see who is at a bar or resort so you can go where the interesting people are. Targeted to single travelers looking to meet up with locals or fellow tourists, the app plots your location and that of singles around you on a real-time Google Map. Available on Blackberry, Android and iPhone; singlesaroundme.com; free. ✚
SceneTap: caught in a gray area between convenient and creepy, scenetap uses facial recognition technology at participating bars to access online data about the individuals inside. It provides the gender ratio, average age and overall headcount for the bar and the patent application suggests plans to later include weights, heights, hair colors, clothing styles, races and income of the spied-upon tipplers. sounds like something out of a movie—but would it be a romantic comedy or a spinechilling horror?
Draw the curtains
check the privacy settings on each app because these services are designed to show people where you are at all times and while that comes with benefits, it also means you have to be cautious.
Illustration by Wasinee Chantakorn
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drink
A Dram in Japan
By Scott Haas
Hibiki 17 year, poured over ice.
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Photographed by Hisashi Murayama
You do not need to know how to say “a wee dram” in Japanese in order to enjoy this nation’s remarkable whiskies. Better just to choose from the list at a bar in Tokyo, close your eyes and take a sip. What you are tasting is the refinement of a project that started in Japan about 150 years ago. As part of an imperial decision to adopt Western ideas and methods, to stave off colonization and compete instead, the Japanese began to manufacture goods found in Europe and the United States. High-quality whisky is a symbol of that achievement. Remarkably, for a product often considered driven by tradition and terroir, whisky in Japan is made through belief in water’s purity, which has a religious connotation here, as well as through strict adherence to method. One chief difference between whisky distilled in Japan as compared to Scotland is the use of Mizunara, also known as Japanese Oak, barrels. Approximately 10 large distilleries operate at full tilt in Japan, churning out blended whiskies or single malts. Taketsuru 21 years, named after the founder of the prestigious Nikka distillery in Hokkaido, has a long, mellow finish with exceptional balance of fruit and oak cask. But don’t ignore Hibiki, Yoichi, Hakushu or Yamazaki. Your best bet on discovering what you prefer is to try each one over the course of months and years, but with a little
WHISKy guIde strategy and a long weekend, you can get off to a good start. While many Japanese whiskies are available throughout the world, you can’t beat the pleasure of sipping in a lounge in Tokyo, filled with jazz and like-minded connoisseurs. Many top hotels in the Japanese capital have in-depth whisky programs. At New York Grill, in the Park Hyatt, Tokyo, the big seller is Suntory Hibiki 17 years, due to Bill Murray quaffing it in Lost in Translation, which was set in the property. Or duck into The Peninsula where Chef Adam Mathis periodically organizes food and whisky dinners, pairing roasted venison loin with a Hakushu 18 year. A wee dram and you’re in Brigadoon.✚
Whiskies range from about 1,900 to 10,000. Most are 2,900 and less, and you’ll be perfectly satisfied enjoying these reasonably priced Japanese whiskies. no need to be a high-roller! new york grill Park Hyatt Tokyo, 3-7-1-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-Ku; 81-3/5322-1234; tokyo. park.hyatt.com. T+L Pick: hibiki 17 year, 2,100 per glass. mandarin oriental 2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku; 81-3/3270-8800; mandarinoriental.co.jp/tokyo. T+L Pick: taketsuru 21 year, 2,700 per glass.
b o t t o M : c o u r t e s y o f pa r k h yat t t o k yo
the Peninsula 1-8-1 Yurakucho, Chiyodaku; 81-3/6270-2888; peninsula.com/tokyo. T+L Pick: nikka yoichi 15 year, 2,900 per glass.
Inside the new York grill at the Park Hyatt, Tokyo, left. Top: Some of the top-flight Japanese whisky labels. t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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Aboard the Jiva Spa Boat on Lake Pichola, Udaipur.
Spas Ahoy!
for a romantic combination of seclusion, spa treatments, sea breezes and the lulling roll of waves, a maritime massage is the way to go. By Catharine nicol 34
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c o u r t e s y o f ta J h o t e l s
s pa s
c l o c k W I s e f r o M l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f ta J h o t e l s ; c o u r t e s y o f f o u r s e a s o n s ( 2 ) ; c o u r t e s y o f a l I l a h o t e l s
Clockwise from far left: Double spa suite on the Jiva Spa Boat; Four Seasons Explorer at sea; a wall of windows in the explorer suite; the Alila Purnama.
Trying to decide between a romantic cruise or a couples Trying to decide between a romantic cruise or a couples day? This Valentine’s Day do both with these massage day? This Valentine’s Day you can do both with these indulgent spa-onboard luxury ships.
Alila Purnama
raja ampat Islands launched in December, Alila Purnama (meaning “full moon”) is a 46-meter live-aboard phinisi sailing ship. round up your four favorite couples and book out this private, three-decked, traditional Indonesian craft, which reflects alila’s signature sleek design throughout its cabins. your crew includes a spa therapist for treatments—like balinese or head, neck and shoulders massages, and a heal and hydrate body Mask perfect for post-sunbathing—within your suite. If you don’t want to miss a moment of postcard-perfect landscape sailing by, choose the sole revival foot massage, which can be done on deck. alilahotels. com/purnam; seven-day, six-night cruise US$54,000 for 10 passengers; one-hour massage for two from US$100.
Jiva Spa Boat
taj Lake Palace udaipur the lake palace in udaipur, with its white walls reflecting on the still waters of lake pichola, has long held the reputation as a dream destination for couples. enhance the romance by spending two to five hours on the Jiva Spa Boat. Modeled after the ceremonial barges of the house of Mewar, this majestic vessel offers a dramatic lake view of the hotel. a true floating spa, onboard is a double spa suite, relaxation lounge, steam room and shower, while on deck you’ll find a soaking pool, day bed and dining area. spa journeys combine Indiantechnique massages with treatments like scrubs and wraps using local herbs and spices. tajhotels.com; two-hour Relaxing Spa Experience package Rs11,000, double.
Silolona
Komodo archipelago this modern sailing vessel cuts a dramatic silhouette against the jagged hills and vast oceanscape of the komodo archipelago. the 49.7-meter phinisi yacht accommodates up to 10 people in five luxury cabins and the ship’s spa program is tailored specifically to the guests on each voyage. there is a trained masseuse onboard, but a specialist will be added to the crew if you have a particular healing method in mind, be it yoga sessions or hot stone massages. treatments are administered either on the deck of the boat or from the comfort of your cabin. silolona.com; from US$2,470 per day, double. Two complimentary massages per week or an extra US$40 per day, per couple, for a dedicated on-call massage therapist.
Four Seasons Explorer
four Seasons maldives between dives and island hopping, climb to the upper deck for your spa experience on the four seasons Maldives’ super-luxury Explorer on their popular route between kura huraa and landaa giraavaru. the massage area is enclosed by curtains, offering privacy while still allowing guests to enjoy the sea breeze. a limited menu of massages includes the signature aaraam landaa massage, a blend of asian techniques; or try the mix of aromatherapy oils in the relaxing a touch of aroma massage. for an even more intimate experience, try a massage on a deserted sandbank, under the shade of a gazebo. fourseasons.com/maldivesfse; one-hour massage treatments for two from US$300, double. ✚
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Radar q& a
tree HouSe HoteLS
for his new film No, the Mexican star traveled to santiago, chile, to portray the young ad exec who helped oust general augusto pinochet in 1988. t+l caught up with the peripatetic actor. What stood out most about Chile? It’s the only country where a dictator has been toppled democratically. A fantastic place to visit is the general Cemetery (cementeriogeneral.cl); the whole history is buried there and you can see how the classes are divided. And Chile faces the sea, so there’s a strong coastal culture. Meaning good seafood? It’s incredible! Bar Liguria (liguria.cl), in Santiago, is the best cantina for fish cheeks and pisco sours. Any other culinary high points? Central Market (89 Avda. José Miguel Claro), which sells produce from all over Chile. The Clinic, a left-wing magazine, just opened a bar (bartheclinic.cl). It’s called that because when Pinochet was going to be charged, he said he was ill and entered a clinic in London. Did you venture outside of Santiago? Isla negra, where Pablo Neruda’s house is, is beautiful. And Valparaíso, which is full of culture and style. It was one of the most important ports in the Americas before the Panama Canal; everything from Asia came through there. Las Cruces is very tranquil, but the sea is cold—not like in Mexico. What’s your favorite Mexican beach? Oh, there are many. I’m not going to say my top five because then I will be spoiling a secret. How about no. 6? That would be San Agustinillo, in Oaxaca. It’s incredible. If you bring a bottle to the beach, what’s in it? Homemade mezcal. I know people in Oaxaca who make it. I like to take my time enjoying it, while sending fireworks up to the universe. —howie kahn
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extravagant stargaze on your own private island at Amanpulo, with its luxe “casitas” that offer tree top views on this remote stretch of white sand in the philippines. amanresorts.com; Treetop Casitas from US$900 with a minimum stay of three to five nights. Banyan Tree Bintan offers a collection of high-end villas tucked into the lush hillside of the Indonesian island, with sea views and outdoor relaxation pools. banyantree.com/bintan; Seafront Pool villa from US$425.
go ape with the gibbon experience in laos, where you can zip-line through the jungle and directly into a rustic house that accommodates up to 10 people, built into the canopy of a towering tree. gibbonexperience. org; US$250 per person for a two-day, one-night experience.
In the lush jungle of khao sok, thailand, the 15 bungalows at Khao Sok Tree House Resort are staggered among the trees, some as far up as 15 meters. khaosok-treehouse.com; Barbarian Honeymoon Tree House from US$148.
Hang nga guesthouse, in Dalat, Vietnam, known as “the crazy house,” looks like a giant tree, with a whimsical design that conjures Doctor seuss and salvador Dalí. crazyhouse.vn; doubles from US$50.
affordable
© f e at u r e f l a s h / D r e a M s t I M e . c o M ; I l l u s t r at I o n b y Wa s I n e e c h a n ta k o r n
Gael García Bernal
continuum
Radar hotels
Khmer Cachet
A storied view of governor’s House.
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Oodles of atmosphere, nods to history and personalized service—Phnom Penh’s recently opened boutiques cater to discerning independent travelers. In deference to this charming capital’s French colonial past, many of these newer properties are decked out in a style reflecting an earlier era. And while the city’s 1960’s-era buildings—as well as their 1980’s copies—are fast disappearing, developers are taking advantage of the surviving structures. ● The just-opened governor’s House (Villa 3, Mao Tse Tung, Boeung Keng Kong I; 855-23/987-025; governorshouse.net; doubles from US$68) is the result of Belgian interior designer and antiques collector Alain Garnier transforming a modern house into a 12-room mansion in the style of a French colonial building. A Marie Antoinette chandelier dangles from a three-story-high atrium in the lobby, while wood-louvred shutters and archways are nods to the period.
courtesy of goV ernor’s house
cambodia’s capital offers an increasing number of tastefully retro hotel options. By Holly McDonald
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The 12-room, freshly-opened Sangkum (35A St. 75; 855-23/987-775; thesangkum.com; doubles from US$50) is an exquisite 1990’s house, carefully renovated following the unique New Khmer Architecture style that emerged in Cambodia during the 1950’s and 60’s, a heady period when the nation reveled in its independence from France. The design is marked by a liberal use of claustras, as well as lots of white and airy spaces to stay chilled in the tropical heat. ● The year-old Plantation (28 St. 184, 855-23/215-151; theplantation.asia; doubles from US$65) offers 70 rooms in sprawling, low-rise buildings behind a painstakingly restored French colonial building. The cleverly designed rooms make the most of their compact space; the pool is one of the city’s most relaxing and lush; and the hotel’s location near the Royal Palace, popular Street 240 and the river makes it an unbeatable central choice. ● La Maison D’Ambre (123 St. 110; 855-23/222-780; lamaisondambre.com; doubles from US$100) is a bold, playful entrant to the scene. The stunning facade of a 1960’s-era corner building has been restored while 12 suites are each decorated to evoke cities of the world, based on movies such as In the Mood for Love, Casablanca and Mogambo. ● Simple, stylish bedrooms offer a taste of the past at Le Marais (33 St. 222, 855-23/996-266; lemarais.com.kh; doubles from US$45) and the fashion-savvy owner runs a clothing boutique out of the front room of this 1960’s-style house, featuring trendy silhouettes in all-natural fabrics. ● A less polished, more relaxed option— with plenty of original period tiles as well as objets d’art—is two-year-old Circa 51 (155 Corner St. 222 and 51; 855-12/585-714; circa51.com; doubles from US$58), another garden-set 1960’s house on the same residential street. ● Got to have a water view? Just-opened Riverside Suites (Corner St. 144 and Sisowath Quay; 855-23/211-927; riversidesuites.com; doubles from US$80) has nine suites in conjoined residential buildings with unbeatable views of the Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap—the feel is Khmer modern, with local artworks and fabrics adding touches of vibrant color. ✚ ●
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Clockwise from left: Views of the Mekong from Riverside Suites; poolside at Plantation; a night scene at Riverside Suites; inside a room at Sangkum; crisp white La Maison D’Ambre; the Moroc room at La Maison D’Ambre.
c l o c k W I s e f r o M t o p l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f r I V e r s I D e s u I t e s ; c o u r t e s y o f t h e p l a n tat I o n ; c o u r t e s y o f r I V e r s I D e s u I t e s ; c o u r t e s y o f t h e s a n g k u M ; c o u r t e s y o f l a M a I s o n D ’a M b r e ( 2 )
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grace Leo the jet-setting hotel designer is never ruffled on the road.
“I love this soft leather blouson from All Dressed Up, in singapore.”
“big rings, like this one by Verney, make an immediate impression.”
“I am the most compact packer,” says Grace Leo, founder and CEO of GLA Hotels. Leo is ever on the move, overseeing projects in such far-flung destinations as Caracas, Venezuela, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Her travel style is globally sourced (case in point: the monogrammed Lorenza Bellora canvas tote she purchased in a shop at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome). She recently relocated to Manhattan to supervise the US$30 million renovation of Millennium Hotels & Resorts’ One UN New York (1 United Nations Plaza; millenniumhotels.com; doubles from US$179), but Paris is her true home. “I search for antiques at the Marché Paul Bert on Sundays. One good piece can inspire an entire project.” —shane mitchell ✚
Adriano goldschmied jeans have great stretch.
grace Leo in the Skyline Club she designed at one Un new York.
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pure comfort: leopard-print calf-hair flats by Russell & Bromley.
“My silk scarf from Crimson, in paris, keeps me warm on chilly flights.”
Photographed by Christian Witkin
Radar c u lt u r e
Café Capital creative types are brewing art and energy into hanoi’s coffeehouse culture. David lloyd buglar drinks in the scene at three new stand-out venues. Manzi Minimalist Manzi seems to have come out of nowhere to enliven the capital’s indie art scene. A small group of friends, including Vũ Ngo. c Trâm, ex-manager of the capital’s much missed Bui Gallery (which is set to make a comeback early 2013), struck gold finding a beautiful, aging French villa in which to house their joint venture gallery space-café-bar. Standing on a quiet side street north of the old quarter, Manzi has been caringly restored. Works by established and emerging local artists hang on whitewashed walls and a small shop on the upper level sells original pieces of art. Film screenings, artist talks and live music performances are all in the pipeline. Drinks include some knock-out cocktails—try the sublime Caipirinha. 14 Phan Huy ích, Ba Dinh District; 84-4/3716-3397; facebook.com/manzihanoi; coffee for two from VND50,000.
Minature bikes decorate the tables at Manzi.
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Photographed by David Lloyd Buglar
Tadioto Tadioto is Hanoi’s comeback kid. The original closed to much lament more than two years ago and the hole it left in the capital’s drinking scene was never quite filled. However, the formula that made the original such a success is back in force here: great décor, excellent drinks, interesting art and a stylish ~ c. Having aesthetic courtesy of the bar’s owner, Nguyên Quý Đ turned his hand to interior design and furniture making, the former journalist, poet and ex-radio DJ created a sophisticated, yet relaxed space with deep blue walls, low-hanging dimmed lights, handmade furniture and plenty of art. What’s more, he drafted chef James Dogan from one of Hanoi’s top restaurants— La Badiane—and has given him free-reign to get creative, mixing his classic French training with Turkish influences and Vietnamese ingredients. Up on the second floor, a gallery space displays work by local and international artists, while the main bar plays host to live music and poetry readings. Well worth the short trip from the center of town. 12 Tr ng hán Siêu, 84-4/6680-9124; tadioto.com; dinner for two from VND300,000.
enamel cups and old propaganda posters adorn the walls. This is certainly no homage to the regime however; other pictures parody uniformed officials, which, in a city as controlled as Hanoi, and just stone’s throw from the Presidential Palace, feels rather brazen. Linh gets away with it—thus far—by serving what is undoubtedly some of the capital’s best coffee, whether taken nâu d¯á (iced white), d¯en nóng (hot black), sũ’a chua (with yogurt) or cô´t dù’a (with frozen coconut). Highly, highly ¸ recommended. 152D Triê. u Viê. t Vu’o’ng, 32 Điê. n Biên Phu; 84-4/2247-0602; facebook.com/pages/Cong-Caphe; coffee for two from VND50,000. ✚
CÔ.ng Càphê
Hanoi is a city of caffeine fiends and there is barely a street in the capital without a café. The epicenter of the caffeine scene is Triê.u Viê.t V ng, a.k.a. Coffee Street, and it was there that Cô.ng Càphê’s owner, Linh Dung, opened the first of her coffee shops in the tiniest of spaces. With it, she created something unique, breaking the familiar Hanoi mold; its success prompted her to open a new, much bigger and brighter space. Inspired in part by memories of a coffee shop her mother ran years ago, Cô.ng (as in the communist Viê. t Cô.ng) makes several nods to the old days with its khaki palette lending a militaristic edge. Menus are scrawled on hardback works by Lenin, drinks are served in retro
Tongue-in-cheek signage at CÔ.ng Càphê.
Manzi’s heavily decorated interior. Mood lighting inside Tadioto.
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Point of View
project you as people reveal more and more of themselves online, how are hotels responding? peter Jon lindberg looks at the ways (the good, the bad and the downright big brotherly) that hotels are harnessing social media to get to know you better.
S
HHH. They can hear you. They’re listening as we speak—logging every word, tracing every step. Even tonight, while you sleep under your hotel-monogrammed duvet, rest assured that 20 stories below, in some undisclosed location, researchers are hard at work documenting your whims and wishes— Loves biking! Hates bananas!—trying to crack the profound mystery that is You. How much do they know? They want to know everything: your relationship status, your income, your allergies, your preferred brand of toothpaste, how you like your eggs—all those sundry habits, peeves and predilections, even the ones you didn’t know you had. Hotels have always kept logs on their guests, tracking previous stays, comments and complaints, even which pay-per-view movies you ordered. “We write down everything,” admits Karambir Singh Kang, area director, USA, for Taj Hotels and general manager of the Taj Boston. So
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when the bellman casually inquires, “Where are we off to today, folks?” no doubt your reply will be fed into your ever-expanding profile. Sometimes this “research” can take on questionable ethical dimensions. One veteran GM told me his staff aren’t above going through guests’ trash. But fishing around is not a recent development. What has changed, in this brazen new world, is the sheer amount of data that hotels now collect on guests, and the often startlingly personal nature of that data. And with the explosion of social networking—and our increasingly unguarded presence online—profiling guests has become a lot easier, and a hell of a lot more effective. A rep for a prestigious Beverly Hills hotel recalls welcoming a first-time guest to the property. “We knew very little about her before she checked in, so we searched for her online and discovered she had a dog named Bo,” the rep says. “When she arrived, there was a little doggy gift waiting in her room, with a notecard that said bo misses you.” Adorable? Off-putting? You be the judge.
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Prying is the new pampering. The payoff, hospitality executives say, is the ability to tailor service to a guest without the guest’s initiating any requests herself. Under the old model, a guest would have to volunteer that she loves tennis and might enjoy a lesson. Now, ideally, she need no longer say a thing; the staff has already sussed her out and booked a nine o’clock with the pro. As for that quaint “pre-arrival questionnaire” they used to send to incoming guests? Nearly obsolete, except at the most traditional properties. Who has the time to fill one out? Besides, for many of us, our identities, references and proclivities are already posted online, and ripe for the culling. For hotel companies, social media has essentially become a sanctioned form of eavesdropping. “Hotels have trained their staff to be intense listeners and mine information about their guests. This gives them a whole new realm in which to listen,” says Niki Leondakis, CEO of Commune Hotels & Resorts (formerly the president and COO of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants). And listen they do. At One&Only Resorts, reservation teams look
Illustrated by Wasinee Chantakorn
up incoming guests on Twitter, workrelated sites and blogs, then draw up detailed profiles (photos included) to distribute to top-level managers. The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort, meanwhile, Googles every guest two weeks prior to arrival. “We actually create a little story about them—just a paragraph or so—and share that with the heads of each department at our daily NDA [next-day arrivals] meeting,” says general manager Michael Schoonewagen. (You didn’t know they had a little story about you, did you?) It’s not rocket science, Schoonewagen adds, and it doesn’t cost them a thing. “The first page of Google results is usually sufficient. We’re not digging into every last detail of someone’s life—we just want a picture of who they are.” Other hotels invest more money and manpower in tracking guests online. The Surrey, in New York, was an early adopter of the powerful Libra OnDemand software, which aids in “customer relationship management,” or CRM. “Libra acts as a one-stop shop for searching guests on Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other channels,” explains José Lema, the Surrey’s director of guest relations. “It gives us the power to get to know our guests, beyond what they’d think to share with us.” As Lema sees it, guests are looking not only for great amenities but also for “connection”—with a staff that can intuit their tastes and desires, including unspoken ones. “Previously, we did all our profiling via manual online searches, and only VIP’s and guests paying a certain rate were researched,” Lema says. “Now every reservation is processed by Libra.” In today’s social-mediated paradigm, wherein everyone lives in public, all guests can be treated like celebrities. This proves especially useful in orchestrating what hotels call “surpriseand-delight moments.” So if you happen to tweet “Just arrived @FSLosAngeles for anniversary weekend!” don’t be shocked if a bottle of wine appears at turndown. (Be surprised, but don’t be shocked.)
“A guest’s Twitter feed can provide information that they aren’t even telling you—and then you can really surprise them,” notes Leondakis. “For instance, maybe the hotel will find out the guest is an advocate for LGBT rights, in which case the staff can personalize the welcome amenity by including a magazine they would identify with. Something unique and personal that says This is just for you.” Cranks and paranoiacs will surely see all this probing and profiling as a sign of the apocalypse, or at least a serious incursion into their privacy. (It’s worth noting that these practices are more common at U.S.-based and independent hotels. Because of privacy regulations in
For many of us, our identities, references and proclivities are already posted online, and ripe for the culling the EU, for example, companies there are less likely to gather personal information online.) Some may pine for the days when travel could be refreshingly anonymous, when hotels were at least purportedly about discretion. But would we really want to go back? The fact is, profiling works— most of the time. Who wouldn’t want their hotel to know, without even asking, what type of pillow to leave on the bed, which magazines to leave on the coffee table, what brand of juice to put in the mini-bar? Who doesn’t enjoy a good surprise? And just so we’re clear, we’re talking about hotels here. Hotels—where, discreet as one might hope to be, it’s impossible not to leave an identifiable footprint. Long before Twitter this was so. You might hang that flimsy privacy sign on your door, but you can’t hide. You can’t “turn off cookies.”
The staff’s eyes and ears are everywhere (For God’s sake, they’re going through your trash!) Trust me: they know plenty about you already, and they didn’t need a search engine to find it. The key, as one hotel manager puts it, is “to act on that knowledge without calling undue attention to it.” If your profile says you requested the Wall Street Journal on a previous visit, a skilled desk clerk will simply have it delivered again this time, without comment. Nobody wants to hear the words “And we see from our deep background check that Sir enjoys the Journal”! No, we prefer to think this stuff happens by magic, that the staff are just good at their jobs, not following computergenerated directives—which, frankly, seems like cheating. Of course, there’s a delicate line between intuitiveness and intrusiveness, between “personalization” and, well, stalking. Consider this curious tale from New York restaurateur Danny Meyer, who literally wrote the book on hospitality. (It’s called Setting the Table, and it’s required reading for anyone in the industry.) Last June—on Father’s Day—Meyer returned to his room at the Little Nell, in Aspen, Colorado, to find a framed photo of his family by the bed. “On the frame it said ‘Happy Father’s Day from your friends at the Little Nell,’” he recalls. “They’d gone online to find a picture of us.” To me that sounds neither surprising nor delightful, but downright terrifying. I’m trying to picture my own reaction: You hunted down my FAMILY?!? Leave them out of this, you monsters!! But Meyer, to his credit, found it touching. “I almost started crying,” he says. “That photo is now on my dresser at home. I thought it was a genuinely thoughtful gesture. Look, anyone can give you a plate of cookies, and sure, that feels nice. But this wasn’t off-the-rack. It was about customization—one-size-fits-one. That’s true hospitality.” ✚ With additional reporting by Nikki Ekstein
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your travel dilemmas solved ➔
58 …
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Trip Doctor de a ls
Tropical Pool
Peekaboo Shower
Celebrity Reflection glass floors and walls—and heavily tinted windows.
Royal Princess It’s Vegas-style, with live palms, a “dancing” fountain and an island that turns into a club at night.
s m a r t t r av e l e r
cruising Special With new destinations on the horizon, more activities both onboard and in port and value at an all-time high, cruising has never been more exciting. Jane Wooldridge reports on the state of the seas.
See & Be Seen Boardwalk
Norwegian Breakaway stop in at the whiskey bar, steak house, geoffrey Zakarian restaurant— or just grab some gelato.
High Art at Sea
Celebrity Silhouette anish kapoor’s stainless-steel Mirror and a foyer by lang and baumann.
Stylish Spa
Seabourn Quest this serene space has finnish herbal saunas and a kinesis pool.
Thrill Theater
Carnival Breeze hold on for the (simulated) 4-D movie ride—complete with squirting water and “wind.”
Illustrated by Mark Nerys
State-ofthe-Art Cooking School
Oceania Riviera With none other than Jacques pépin occasionally helming a class.
Adultsonly Zone
Disney Fantasy a champagne bar, nightclub and no kids in sight. true Disney magic?
tHe t+L dream SHIP
What happens when you combine the best attributes of the latest cruise ships all in one place? We’ve created the perfect floating retreat (unfortunately, it sets sail on this page only).
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Strategies
since the government relaxed its stance on political opposition, several lines have announced itineraries in the lush, long-hidden country. orient-express is adding a second ship for sailings beyond the Irrawaddy; silversea lets you stop there on its world cruise, having added days in rangoon with excursions to the riverside temples of bagan. → Don’T MISS orient-express’s extension to Inle lake; note the fishermen who ply the waters with one leg as their oar. (see page 84 for more on Inle lake.) orient-express.com.
Polar Regions
looking for something truly exotic? go north. these days you can hike across Iceland’s fjords with cunard or visit russia’s reindeer herdsmen with Msc cruises, ponant and holland america line. → Don’T MISS Wildlife tours (look for walruses and puffins) on ponant’s 12-day anadyr-topetropavlovsk cruise along russia’s kamchatka peninsula. ponant.com.
next great Destinations Where to sail in 2013, from Burma to Australia. northeastern U.S.
lines from crystal to holland america are adding leaf-peeping sailings around new england, and norwegian Breakaway will be the largest ship based year-round in new york city (the rockettes will be on board). → Don’T MISS exploring the gilded age mansions of bar harbor, Maine, on holland america’s seven-day canada and new england cruise. hollandamerica.com.
Australia
Down under continues to be one of the fastest-growing cruise destinations. Its newest port? kangaroo Island, off the southern coast, home to 267 bird species. both regent seven seas cruises and holland america now sail there. → Don’T MISS regent seven seas’s four-hour paddleboat tour of the brisbane river on its 17-day coastal reefs and koalas cruise. rssc.com.
Mekong River
southeast asia’s 4,184kilometer-long Mekong offers views of mysterious ruins, traditional villages and a fast-changing countryside. new on the river are uniworld, Viking and, in 2014, aqua expeditions. Most itineraries focus on sights between saigon, Vietnam and siem reap, cambodia. → Don’T MISS a stop at angkor thom’s intricately carved bayon temple on the 15-day Magnificent Mekong cruise from Viking river cruises. vikingrivercruises.com.
CRUISIng RIgHT ALong Despite a rocky global economy, the worldwide cruise market is estimated at US$36.2 billion—up 4.8 percent from 2012.
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c l o c k W I s e f r o M t o p l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f c o M pa g n I e D u p o n a n t ( 2 ) ; © h e n r y M M / D r e a M s t I M e . c o M ; c o u r t e s y o f o r I e n t- e x p r e s s ; © l D a M b I e s / D r e a M s t I M e . c o M ; cou rt esy of aqua e x p eDItIons; © pIerre Je a n Du rIeu / Dre a MstIM e.coM; cou rt esy of regen t se V en se as c ruIses; © WIl lIa M M a h n k en / Dre a MstIM e.coM
Burma
5 things to do Before y you cruise
1
Buy travel insurance. the right policy will cover costs related to cancellations, emergencies and delays. try such sites as squaremouth.com and insuremytrip. com.
getting the Best Value Saving money on-board is a (sea) breeze...if you try these tricks. Use an experienced cruise agent. Choosing a
cruise is like buying a bespoke suit: to get the right fit, you need an expert. Cabin location can be crucial, especially on a large ship, and even similarlooking itineraries can yield vastly different experiences. Once you’ve narrowed your options to specific lines, look on their websites for the names of “preferred’’ agents. Most won’t charge a fee, though it could be worth it. Book early. Yes, last-minute deals may be tempting, but your choices will be limited. Instead, look for sales eight to 12 months out, especially during “wave season,” from January through March. Many lines offer significant discounts and free cabin upgrades.
go all-inclusive. Large ships charge additional fees for beverages, shore excursions, specialty onboard restaurants and gratuities—meaning the final tab can be double the base fare. Meanwhile, luxury lines such as Silversea, Seabourn, SeaDream and Crystal have become more value-conscious by offering all-inclusive rates. Regent Seven Seas Cruises even bundles in airfare and unlimited shore excursions. The price of a luxury cruise may still be higher, but you’ll have a more intimate ship and a better staff-toguest ratio. Snag a package.
Some large-ship lines are taking a page from the all-inclusive playbook with package deals on wine,
2
dining and excursions that can represent a 10 to 25 percent savings over à la carte purchases. Norwegian Cruise Line, for example, packages three dinners in specialty restaurants for just US$47 per person. get a soda pass.
Most ships sell unlimited soda cards; the current price is about US$4.50 per person per ชday for those under age 18 and US$6 for passengers over 18. Even with the 15 percent mandatory gratuity, this is a deal if you’re traveling with kids. Sail the off-season. Book between the holidays (on many lines, early December prices are among the lowest) and on repositioning cruises to score bargain fares.
Compare excursions. look into outings offered by the cruise line, exploring on your own or setting up a private tour with an outside company.
3
Fill out boarding documents in advance. embarkation will be far speedier.
4
Make advance reservations for dinners in the ship’s alternative restaurants. otherwise, you may not get a table.
5
Review package offerings for beverages, wine and excursions. some are available only before you sail. also, check the policy for bringing alcohol aboard. some lines ban it; others are flexible.
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Strategies
experts at Sea Want to know how to throw a slider or create a winning TV show? Here, some of our favorite onboard seminars by specialists in their fields.
the athlete Stan Bahnsen
the Journalist Michele Norris
THe exPeRIenCe
THe exPeRIenCe
This former Major League Baseball pitcher and 1968’s Rookie of the Year for the New York Yankees (who had a career total of 146 wins) shares his tips on pitching and hitting, plus a history of the game.
The host of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered for more than a decade takes a look at how journalists report the most up-to-date stories and deliver context in a fastmoving world.
THe CRUISe
THe CRUISe
MSC Poesia’s eightday Caribbean sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida; departs April 6. msccruisesusa.com.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 17-day sailing from Beijing to Bangkok, March 16. rssc.com.
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the oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau THe exPeRIenCe
the historian Dr. Joyce Salisbury THe exPeRIenCe
Learn ways to balance needs of humans and nature through dives with Emmy Award– winning producer, author and son of the legendary Jacques Cousteau.
Curious how Napoleon spent his time in exile on Elba? Want a tour of a medieval town in Corsica? Salisbury, who has a Ph.D. in medieval history, will reveal all.
THe CRUISe
THe CRUISe
Four 2013 sailings on Paul Gauguin Cruises in the South Pacific; the first departs February 2. pgcruises. com.
Voyages to Antiquity 14-day sailing leaves Rome for Cannes, France, on May 16. voyagestoantiquity. com.
the hollywood Insider Jeff Greenberg THe exPeRIenCe
The casting director behind the Emmy Award–winning Modern Family and Frasier gives passengers an inside peek at how TV shows are put together. THe CRUISe
Crystal Serenity 10-day sailing from Barcelona to London, May 30 . crystal cruises.com.
Deals
S$580
Part of The Sentosa’s opulent spa grounds.
romance
Spa
SIngaPore
What Valentine’s Day amore room at hotel fort canning (hfcsingapore.com). Details a stay in a Deluxe room. Highlights complimentary buffet breakfast for two at the hotel’s restaurant, the glass house, a complimentary bottle of prosecco and a box of gourmet chocolates. Cost s$368, double, february 8 through 14. Savings More than 50 percent.
tHaILand
What luxury romance at Vana belle (starwoodhotels.com). Details two nights in a classic pool suite. Highlights complimentary champagne for two on arrival, a complimentary floral bouquet and daily breakfast for two. Cost bt41,000 (bt20,500 per night), double, through March 31. Savings 25 percent.
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What bridal spa shower at grand lapa resort, Macau (mandarinoriental.com/ grandlapa). Details a group spa experience. Highlights two scented baths; four body massages and two body buffs, or six back massages and two body buffs. Cost Mop4,120 for up to six persons, through December 31. Savings 40 percent.
SIngaPore
What botanica romance at the sentosa resort & spa (thesentosa.com). Details a couples’ spa experience. Highlights complimentary access to spa gardens, 15-minute Welcome foot bath, 45-minute honey Vanilla scrub, 30-minute tranquility petal bath and 60-minute rose aromatic Massage, all for two. Cost s$580, double, through february 28. Savings 19 percent.
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city Hong Kong
What suite life at peninsula hong kong (peninsula.com). Details two nights in a superior harbour View suite. Highlights complimentary second night, complimentary local phone calls, free Wi-fi and internet, free selection of hD movies on-demand. Cost from hk$16,800 (hk$8,400 per night), double, through March 15. Savings 50 percent.
trIP of tHe montH
caMboDIa
the operator g adventures (gadventures.com), an international tour company that specializes in offering smallgroup experiences and in-theknow local guides. “ULTIMATe CAMBoDIAn ADVenTURe” highlights ➔ explore angkor Wat and the surrounding ancient temples. ➔ learn about khmer cuisine firsthand with a cambodian cooking class. ➔ spot rare Irrawaddy dolphins on a boat trip up the Mekong. ➔ snorkel in the pristine island waters off the coast of sihanoukville. ➔ Visit a floating village. ➔ cycle through bustling phnom penh and visit sites such as Wat phnom, the royal palace, the silver pagoda and the national Museum. cost the 14-day itinerary starts at us$1,249 (us$89 per day) and includes all hotels, guides, most tour experiences, private buses, bicycle rentals, a boat trip, 10 breakfasts and one dinner.
Cambodia
US$89 per day
taIWan
What Winter to remember at regent taipei (regenthotels.com). Details two nights in a superior room. Highlights the chance to win a two-night stay at another regent hotel. also: complimentary daily breakfast, free internet, free local phone calls and complimentary beverages. Cost from nt$8,668 (nt$4,334 per night), double, through february 28. Savings up to 51 percent.
Siem Reap’s Angkor Wat.
cou rt esy of t h e sen tosa ; ©fDl hs / Dre a MstIM e.coM
Singapore spa for
Smart Traveler
Merritt Gurley
can’t buy Me love
a little hands-on creativity may go farther than the almighty dollar when it comes to adventures in romance. If you’re planning a couples’ holiday and see a tour, package or suite advertised as “romantic,” it might seem like a perfect fit. But be wary: it’s a gamble to let someone else guess at your idea of romance, and the bundled packages almost always come with hidden fees. All the little massages and welcome glasses of champagne lose their luster when the costs end up exceeding the sum of the parts. This Valentine’s Day, skip the package deals with these DIY shortcuts that will both save you money and make the experience more intimate. 1. Bring your own champagne. For starters, the “complimentary” glasses included in package deals are typically mediocre at best, and the tiny flutes barely wet your whistle. Instead, buy your own
Illustration by Wasinee Chantakorn
bottle (preferably at duty free) so you know exactly what you are getting, and there’s more of it. 2. Size does matter. Some resorts will slap a saccharine name on a smaller room to help market it, so avoid overpriced “cupid’s villas” that are really just the 30-square-meter versions of the 100-square-meter “executive suite,” decorated entirely in pink. Instead, bring out the magnifying glass and check the fine print on room specs. Bigger is better. 3. Call the concierge. It’s the job of these industry insiders to know the best of everything. That means, yes, reservations for restaurants and entertainment, but also recommendations for great local suppliers so you can order in food, flowers
or maybe even a string quartet to serenade you. Basically, a concierge can help you create a romance package better tailored to your own tastes. And their services are free, not including tip. 4. Hire a boat instead of taking a cruise. In Bangkok, for example, you can get a private longtail boat tour of the Chao Phraya River canals for Bt1,500 an hour (depending on your bargaining skills), while packaged “romantic dinner cruises” run around Bt6,000, double, for two hours, so you end up shelling out more to share a much larger boat with 50 other people and—even worse—you have no control over the music. That’s fine if you are a big fan of Thai love ballads, but otherwise it gets mind numbing. It is a lot more intimate to (refer to Tip #1) bring your
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Smart Traveler
5. go local. Skip big brand hotels in favor of a bed and breakfast using Airbnb (airbnb.com) or, even better, rent your own villa. Thevillaguide.com is a well-stocked resource, and new vacation-planning home-rental sites like Portico (porticoclub. com) and Inspirato (inspirato.com) charge a flat annual rate to access home and villa rentals. What could be more romantic than the privacy of your own place? 6. Bring a soft cooler. Multipurpose and easy to pack, these portable minibars let you tote along cold beers, chilled wine or chocolate-covered strawberries to add a personalized treat on a tour or outing. ✚
PacKIng for PaSSIon here are a few things you can bring on your next trip to add your own romantic touch to your room.
Aromatherapy candles. the scent of jasmine is said to be an aphrodisiac. try the jasmineand white frangipani-scented candle by the body shop. thebodyshop.com; US$16. A sarong. these cotton cover-ups are perfect over lamps for mood lighting, or for hiding any less-than-stylish furnishings. pick one up at your local market, or order one from sassysarongs online. sassysarongs.com; US$23.99. Massage oil. Whether to soften your skin or heat up your holiday, massage oils are a great addition to your Dopp kit. Oriental Blend, Siam Botanicals Artisan Body Oil; siambotanicals.com; 90-gram bottle for Bt550. Portable speakers. be your own DJ by bringing portable speakers on the road and a putting together a great love mix. the soundlink bluetooth Mobile speakers link up wirelessly to most devices. SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speakers; bose.com; US$299.95.
p h o t o c o u r t e s y o f s I a M b o ta n I c a l s . c o M
own bottle of champagne in soft cooler (refer to Tip #6), head out around sunset and enjoy the privacy of a two-person sojourn down the River of Kings.
February 2013
Š YA N TA / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M
In this Issue 62 Hong Kong 72 romantic Islands 84 Inle Lake, Burma 90 taipei bike 96 Samoa 100 London restaurants
Capri island, page 72. t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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Trams have been transporting Hong Kongers since 1904.
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Sovereignty of the
Heart No longer British, not fully Chinese, Hong Kongers have forged their own identity. JeFF CHU reveals the dynamism and adaptability— and dash of brass—that make this city unique. PHoTogRAPHeD BY PHILIPP engeLHoRn
When i was eight, Hong Kong Slapped me Hard in the face. aS i deplaned at Kai tak airport for the first time, i WalKed into a
opposite: The luxe and the laidback on Canton Road.
wall of anti-perfume—must, exhaust, sweat, that afternoon’s rain, olfactory umami from that afternoon’s someone’s roast-meat-and-rice dinner. I someone’s roast-meat-and-rice gasped and looked to my grandmother for gasped and help. She answered with her eyes, saying, She answered unquestionably, something quintessentially unquestionably, Hong Kong: Get on with it. Let’s go. And we did. For six weeks, I rode buses and subways. I visited myriad relatives (“Say hello to Ninth Great Aunt!”) and a legion of unrelated “aunties” and “uncles.” Took the Star Ferry, marveling at the ships in Victoria Harbour. Fed macaques on Ma Lau Shan (literally, Monkey Mountain). Pocketed red envelopes. Refused to eat roast pigeons, then gorged on them. Surrendered my heart, bit by bit, to Hong Kong. Learned to breathe easier. I’ve returned dozens of times since—to work, to play, always to eat. Friends often ask me: Why, beyond roast pigeon, do you love Hong Kong? What makes it different? I always mumble something hackneyed—“It’s the perfect intro to China!” or “It’s just so great!” Then I swear to myself that I’ll have a better answer next time. Better answers matter, because the question of Hong Kong’s uniqueness—and whether it should be treated as unique at all—has become ever more significant. “The sea-wet rock,” as novelist Han Suyin wrote, “lives on borrowed time.” The post-British “one country, two systems” set-up officially runs until 2047. But while many roads and landmarks still go by the names of Elizabeth and Victoria, other signals—from the word “China” tucked after “Hong Kong” on postage stamps to the increasingly prominent squawk of Mandarin on the streets—remind you that Beijing is now boss. “Our compatriots in Hong Kong enjoy a growing sense of identity and closeness with the country,” Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a speech marking the handover’s 15th anniversary. “We are kith and kin, and blood is thicker than water.”
Yes, and no. While 94 percent of Hong Kong’s 7 million residents are ethnically Chinese, sovereignty of the heart is another matter. Most Hong Kong people distinguish between traditional Chinese identity— ethnicity, language, culture—and the modern one—in other words, allegiance to the People’s Republic. Surveys by the University of Hong Kong show affinity for Beijing waning. The proportion of residents who identify primarily as Hong Kong citizens, not Chinese, is at one of its highest post-handover points, especially among those under 30. Hong Kong, born in the 1840’s, is by Chinese standards a relatively young city; Shanghai was an established metropolis by the 13th century, and Beijing perhaps as much as 2,000 years before that. It clings to its newness. Then and now a capital of dynamism, it’s a place where inertia fails to clear customs. Its people are always moving, striving, doing; Paul Theroux, in his novel Kowloon Tong, writes that “hurry up [is] the angle and the statement in all their posture.” As I discovered when I recently returned, the pace of transformation hasn’t slowed. The nature of change, though, has. Skyline and shoreline continue to morph. But especially in these post-handover years, as Beijing has pulled its satellite closer, Hong Kong’s culture has shifted too—along with the willingness of its populace to just embrace whatever comes their way. HAn, A DoCToR as well as a writer, spent several years working at Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital. In her memoir, she describes the post-World War II colony as “dazzling with prosperity. The rich have brought their money, and they build and banquet and buy.” Though that’s as true as ever, the demographics have shifted. More and more of those rich descend from the mainland. Last year, more than 30 million visited, buying t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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designer bags, jewelry, condos. Their cash has boosted the economy—and in Hong Kong, the economy matters most. Not for nothing is the territory’s top official called “chief executive.” But on the ledger of human relations, the influx from China has been less profitable. One day over dim sum, I asked my cousin, an 17-year-old university student, whether she identified primarily as a Hong Kong person or as Chinese. “Definitely as a Hong Kong person,” she replied instantly. Why? I asked.
eaSt meetS WeSt, old pluS neW: tHeSe are tHe baSic equationS tHat explain Hong Kong She looked surprised that I had to ask, then said simply, “They jump the queue.” To ask Hong Kong people to describe mainland Chinese is to invite accusations in a gossipy tone typically reserved for annoying neighbors. You will hear words like “pushy,” “loud” and “rude.” One friend told me Hong Kong people have “a higher level of education and civilization than Chinese people,” who, she said soberly, “bring many troubles.” She warned me to avoid Tsimshatsui’s Canton Road—“It’s full of Chinese.” Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton boutiques line that shopping street—as do, on many days, mainland tourists waiting to enter. It was the Dolce & Gabbana store that last year became a flashpoint after management allegedly banned locals from photographing the window displays—but allowed mainland tourists to do so. Outrage spread via Facebook, and a protest one Sunday drew 1,000 people. The store was forced to close early. Some Hong Kongers were aghast not only that their freedom—to photograph!—was supposedly being infringed but also that they, not mainland Chinese, were singled out. “We know what rules to follow,” says Karen Tang, executive director of the Better Hong Kong Foundation, which works to improve relations among Hong Kong, China and the West. She cites the rule of law as one of the British era’s
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two main legacies (education is the other): “We do have a set of values that’s very different from the mainland.” The incident also uncovered a real vein of anxiety—that, in a rising China, Hong Kong might be left behind, and, even in their own city, Hong Kongers would become secondclass. Once, Hong Kong was its own special, if small, pond. In today’s China, even Shenzhen, just across the border, is bigger, with 15 million people. “Of course there are lots of differences between Hong Kong people and mainland Chinese. It’s obvious. Everybody knows. Why do we have to talk about it so much?” Tang muses. “Maybe there is a little bit of a sense that we are feeling inferior.” THe WeST HAS ALWAYS been key to Hong Kong’s alchemy and sense of self. “Hong Kong really is a place where two cultures mix,” says Philip Ma, CEO of the retailer Sincere. We are visiting in his office on the 24th floor of a Causeway Bay skyscraper, one afternoon at teatime. “This is a place where we celebrate Christmas and Confucius’s birthday.” As well as capitalism and, you might say, inconstancy. Almost nothing—few of its people, little of its wealth, near none of its culture—is truly indigenous. A handful of Hong Kongers can trace their ancestry in this place back 12, 16, 20 generations, but most local families came in waves well after 1841, when British sailors raised their flag on Possession Point (which now, thanks to land reclamation, is roughly where Hollywood Road Park now sits, almost 400 meters inland). Only then did this speck of soil on China’s southeastern hip become Hong Kong, drawing immigrants and ideas from everywhere. The genesis of Sincere, Hong Kong’s first Chinese-owned and operated department store, illustrates this well. In the late 1800’s, the Ma family, whose roots are in Zhongshan, in Guangdong Province, went through Hong Kong to trade bananas in Australia. Each day, en route to and from Sydney Harbour, they’d pass the emporium David Jones and pledge that, when they’d made their fortune, they would start a Hong Kong version. In 1900, they did. For many Hong Kong people, lining up for the big annual Sincere sale remains a cherished childhood memory. The elasticity of the Mas’ business—from bananas to European appliances and fashion—
Clockwise from above: The masses take to Tsimshatsui’s Canton Road; tai chi in Kowloon Park; Volume One in Tai Hang; dim sum at Tin Lung Heen, at the Ritz-Carlton.
Clockwise from left: The Star Ferry; Ma Ka Fai at City University of Hong Kong; some of seamy old Wanchai has remained; women in Tai Hang; Yat Lok’s roast goose with rice noodles.
is typically Hong Kong too. When I ask Ma for a word to capture both the lessons of Sincere’s story and Hong Kong’s rise, he hesitates, but one of his marketing managers, Gloria Chan, has something in mind: “Flexibility.” At first, that seems an odd choice. I might have chosen “efficiency”; when I went for a HK$39 roast-goose-over-rice lunch at Yat Lok in Central, I entered at 2:07 p.m., ordered at 2:08, got my coffee at 2:09, and my rice plate at 2:10. But it’s true that many Hong Kong people I know are paragons of pragmatism, especially in matters of money and business. And “flexibility” kept popping up, in conversations and even in traveloguist Jan Morris’s book Hong Kong: Epilogue to an Empire, a fine portrait of pre-handover Hong Kong: “The chief strength of this economy has always been its flexibility…. [I]t has been able to switch easily from idea to idea, method to method, emphasis to emphasis.” There’s evidence of this dynamism even in the territory’s most peaceful places. Early one morning, I visit Kowloon Park, a patch of green interrupting Tsimshatsui’s glass-and-concrete grid. At the park’s southeastern corner, the white-marble-faced Kowloon Mosque and its four minarets stand guard. Inside, commuters speedwalk along the wet paths. Straw-hatted cleaners swat at the paving stones with brooms. Burdened by raindrops, the fuchsia petals of a blooming bauhinia—the native orchid that has become its preeminent post-handover symbol—drop to the ground, and stands of bamboo chatter in the breeze. Under a banyan, four statuesque figures come slowly to life—tai-chi practitioners vacillating between stillness and slowmo. It’s a perfect Hong Kong tableau, an intersection of fast and slow, past and present. Some people are just passing through. For others, it’s a destination. Mostly it’s Chinese— the topiary maze has a local cut, with rounder, feng-shui-friendly edges. But there’s a bit of the British here too: for more than a century,
‘tHe Sea-Wet rocK liveS on borroWed time.’ —Han Suyin, autHor
this was a British military base called Whitfield Barracks, and a couple of old buildings remain, slightly moldy souvenirs of the Victorian age. Like so much else in Hong Kong, this place has been reincarnated. MA KA FAI, a garrulous sociologist and public intellectual who has been dubbed one of Hong Kong’s “Four Talents,” told me to meet him for drinks one evening at a Wanchai bar called Joe Bananas. You know this kind of garish place: It reeks of disinfectant and spilled beer, wishful pick-up lines and dashed hopes. I push past clusters of expats clutching cigarettes and happy-hour specials on the sidewalk, and find Ma nursing a whiskey inside. I ask Ma why he picked Joe Bananas. “This is Wanchai—Suzie Wong’s world!” he replies. That 1957 Robert Lomax novel—and the film that followed—crystallized the bar-andbrothel-filled neighborhood’s reputation as sultry and seamy, the perfect playground for sailors on R&R. Wanchai is Ma’s home turf. Reared here in the 1960’s, he learned English luring American sailors into his uncle’s tailor shop. (After half a whiskey, he’ll recite his old litany for you: “Take a look! Buy? Don’t buy? Never mind!”) He speaks of Wanchai with a native’s tenderness—and major nostalgia. “We still have bars and we still have the old streets, but it’s nothing close to what we had,” he says. He laments the demise of Lee Tung Street, known as “Wedding Card Lane,” where uncountable couples had their invitations printed over the decades. Its creaky six-story buildings were demolished in 2007, despite furious protests and a hunger strike, and a massive HK$1.2 billion residential complex and mall are rising in their place. “The old buildings are all falling like dominoes for so-called development, and I anticipate the pace will be faster and faster in the future,” he says. He smiles wryly, as if to acknowledge the inevitability of change in Hong Kong—and in Wanchai. It’s standardissue gentrification, yes, but that process has been sped partly by mainland money. “Even the local girls have gone. They’re all Filipino and mainland Chinese now.” Enough of the old Wanchai remains that Ma still brings his writer friends from the mainland when they visit, including, not long ago, Mo Yan, the 2012 Nobel laureate in t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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literature. “They see gweilo [foreigner]. They see ladyboys. They see big fat black women. It opens their eyes! These are things they can’t see in China!” he says. I ask what Mo said in response, and he smiles before quoting his friend: “‘Ka Fai, this is Hong Kong. This is East meets West!’” eAST MeeTS WeST, old plus new: These are the basic equations that explain Hong Kong. One blustery afternoon, I wander through Tai Hang, a neighborhood about a mile east of Ma Ka Fai’s turf. This tidy collection of short streets, on the last bit of flat before the island slopes Peak-ward, is packed with six- and seven-story postwar buildings. Upstairs are middle-class flats. The ground-floor spaces are industrial, mostly vehicle-repair shops. Over the past two years, though, the automotive has been replaced by the culinary, a motley assortment of restaurants seemingly unsuited to Tai Hang’s traditional constituency of taxi and truck drivers. Choi’s Kitchen, a celebrated clay-pot rice place, makes sense. An ice cream “lab” with an ever-changing slate of flavors such as Hong Kong custard?
Tai Hang’s transformation into a foodie destination embodies the territory’s shapeshifting nature. The incense vendor is still there, as is the streetside lean-to where you can buy fresh chives and bok choy—but for how long? Nothing’s permanent. Everything is raw material for something else. Seeking shelter from the rain, I duck into a pre-gentrification shop where an elderly man sits behind an equally ancient sewing machine. More and more of his goods—canvas sacks, plastic tarps—come from China, he says wistfully. “In the old days, we made it all here, but everything is changing.” There’s no fight in his weary voice, and I wonder whether Hong Kong too will someday seem so tired. I hope not. In sympathy, I purchase a jaunty, woven-plastic shopping bag he sewed on that machine. But as the shopkeeper pushes away his aged abacus to write me a receipt by hand, I think of something Ma Ka Fai said at Joe Bananas, shortly before we went our separate ways, something that makes me think change has nothing on this old man: “The spirit of Hong Kong is just leave me alone. Let me do my own thing. Let me think my own way.” ✚
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t L guide Stay genuine Hong Kong experience nic and trig tse’s no-frills, shared-bath guesthouse in an old kowloon tenement is simply decorated to honor different eras in hong kong. 703 Shanghai St., Mong Kok; 852/6333-5352; rooms@ nostalgic.org; from HK$390 per night; reservations required. Hullett House once headquarters to hong kong’s Marine police, this gracious colonial manse is now a plush all-suite boutique hotel in the heart of tsimshatsui. 2A Canton Rd., Kowloon; 852/3988-0000; hulletthouse.com; doubles from HK$4,580 per night. Flying the Chinese flag. opposite page: Skyscrapers loom over peaceful Kowloon Park.
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eat Choi’s Kitchen pioneering via clay-pot rice, chef choi yin-tong was at the vanguard in newly foodie tai hang. Shop A1, 9-11
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Shepherd St., Tai Hang; 852/3485-0501; dinner for two from HK$250. Tin Lung Heen traditional dim sum, elevated and refined with non-traditional ingredients such as Iberico ham and foie gras. Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, 102F, International Commerce Center, 1 Austin Rd. West, Kowloon; 852/2263-2263; dim sum lunch for two from HK$700. Yat Lok Restaurant Michelinpraised roast goose. 28 Stanley St., Central; 852/2524-3882; dinner for two from HK$100. drInK Full Cup Cafe a hipster hangout/coffee bar arrayed over several repurposed levels of an office building. 4-6F 36 Dundas St., Mong Kok; 852/2771-7775; coffee for two HK$100. Wyndham the 4th the imaginative drinks at this elegant east-meets-West cocktail bar
include ingredients such as roast-goose-washed vermouth, english breakfast tea and shanghai White vodka. 4F, 48 Wyndham St., Central; 852/2523-8001; wyndham4th. hk; drinks for two HK$360. SHoP Sincere the flagship of the venerable department store—the first in hong kong to be owned and operated by chinese—has been at the same location since the early 20th century. 173 Des Voeux Rd., Central; 852/25442688; www.sincere.com.hk. Volume one tai hang’s makeover includes this upscale, fashion-centric take on a general store, whose offerings include artisanal bread and teas as well as clothing and accessories from local labels nobeing and protest Design. 30 Sun Chun St., Tai Hang; 852/2808-0962; volume-one.com.
FantaSy
iSlandS
JessIca saMple
Turquoise water. Craggy limestone cliffs. White-sand beaches. Getting away from it all on an island is the ultimate escape. From a South Seas atoll to an untamed speck at the farthest reaches of Europe, we spotlight 21 places for every type of traveler.
A view of the Sea of Crete from the pool terrace at the Perivolas Hotel, in Santorini, greece.
e mi ly m o t t
Madeira’s iconic Reid’s Palace hotel, and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
for the explorer
t
mADeirA, pOrTuGAL here’s no road sign for the waterfall that’s falling on the road up ahead. And, frankly, I’m not sure how you’d actually prepare for this cascading natural car wash other than to simply close your eyes and hope for the best. Which is what we do when the coastal cliffside road we’re on runs into a wall of water like a heavy curtain of crystal beads. The waves below are foamy white. Windows up, we splash through. And—wipers on, eyes blinking open again—we’re on the other side, laughing. Pleased to find ourselves still attached to this verdant volcanic rock that juts up from the sea and never stops surprising us. It’s an oddly bracing thing, driving through waterfalls. And this is an odd and dreamy island, Portuguese but far from the huddled mass of wintry Europe, alone in the Atlantic Ocean 708 kilometers off the coast of Africa. A patchwork of genteel gardens and tidy red-roofed cottages, lush laurel forests and steeply rising sea bashed about by an endless churning ocean. This is what we sought—to be surrounded by water and far from everything else. Need I add that we’re utterly lost? That’s okay. More than okay, really: it’s sort of the point. Having slipped somehow off the main highway, we’d found ourselves on this little-used (for good reason) precipice of a road and survived our morning’s adventure. Somewhere we get back on track and rejoin the traffic toward Ribeira Brava. There we’ll catch the mountain road that bisects the island and follow it up and over its misty, jungly green middle, down again to the sparsely inhabited northern coast. The plan for the day: to look out the window; to watch the waves smashing against another rocky cut of shore; to admire the fine-lined terraces etched into every jagged, cloud-catching slope and marvel at the effort and ingenuity required to eke out life on this vertical, faraway, half-tamed place. We’ll stop for a walk, find a seaside bar and stand with the old, silent men there for cups of coffee and a restorative poncha, the incendiary traditional cocktail made with the local sugarcane rum. It’s an ambitious schedule of freestyle wandering, with time built in for the occasional invigorating wrong turn. Madeira is known for a wine most people don’t drink anymore. When violent storm flooding put the island in the news a few years ago, American viewers could be forgiven for thinking: That’s where the substitute for cooking sherry comes from. But it wasn’t always this way. Our founding fathers drank Madeira by the barrel. It was the wine used to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington downed a pint every evening, so they say. I wanted to go to Madeira because I liked the idea of a place where I could do a bit of hiking, wear a blazer to dinner and drink a noble old wine with a good backstory. Mostly, though, it was geography that drew me to it: a place at once remote and domesticated, a European island defined by its severance from the mainland.
What distinguishes Madeira from other fortified wines is the heat that’s intentionally applied to it. It’s a process meant to mimic the 18th-century discovery that a wine’s flavor could actually improve when it was left to age in barrels while splashing around in the hot hold of a ship on its way to the Indies or back. Getting here, you are again sloshed around by history, reminded by your disorientation of a long-ago time when the island stood as a key port-of-call on the trading route to faraway lands—even if it is only a quick EasyJet hop from Lisbon now. My girlfriend, Evyn, and I arrived in Madeira on New Year’s Day. In the cold, damp, gray, hungover early morning in Lisbon, we sandwiched ourselves into the budget carrier and landed, two hours later, on another planet. The airport sits on high stilts perched over the ocean. The escalator up from baggage claim delivers you to a panorama of lemony, warm sun rays and gently rippled blue sea. We thawing zombies stopped and stared. Funchal is Madeira’s main city. It at first surprises you by seeming bigger than you want it to be, sprawling upward from the harbor. Then it re-surprises you with its intimacy and charm as you leave the cruise-ship amusements by the waterside and pick your way through streets paved in black and white stones. Still shaking off the cold of the Continent and the old year, we proceeded directly to Reid’s Palace, the venerable grand hotel. The only problem with this plan is that once installed within the lush gardens and time-warp jacket-and-tie gentility of Reid’s, you never want to leave. Churchill slept here. A vintage poster advertises a mode of pampered travel unknown to the EasyJet set: “Excursions by hammocks.” By hammocks! This “floating garden” has long been heralded as an all-season refuge for a certain class of modestly adventurous, mostly British visitor. As our room was being readied, Evyn and I had coffee on Reid’s tiled terrace. The sky was nearly cloudless, the water’s surface undisturbed by the white of any waves. Ulisses Marreiros, the general manager, welcomed us and described our luck. The week before, he said, storms had bruised Funchal. Breakers had come up over the seawall where we now looked out at nothing but calm. One of the hotel’s swimming pools had been eaten by the ocean. But sitting there, it was hard to picture nature as anything but a benevolent force. After an acclimating nap, we ventured out into Funchal and did the things you do here. We strolled down Avenida Zarco, named for the cycloptic commander who in 1418 claimed the island on behalf of Prince Henry the Navigator. At the market we stared into the saucer-size eyes of the espada, the famously ugly scabbard fish. They are glossy black, a fangy grimace of needlesharp, translucent teeth. We retreated to the friendlier secondfloor fruit sellers and chewed fresh sugarcane and tried custard apples, tree tomatoes and tangy pitanga, a Brazilian fruit that has adapted to the local soil. Nearly everything grows well here. Marreiros offered to take us to a favorite spot for lunch. Doca do Cavacas is built into the face of a wall perilously close to the whipping waves. We ate caramujos (tiny steamed sea snails) and tried the espada, good and fleshy and much less menacing defanged. Over beers, Marreiros broached the subject of the sandes de carne vinho alhos. A sandwich of piquant marinated t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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pork, it’s traditionally served around this time of year. There is even, Marreiros said, a special night when all the bars around the market serve the sandwiches. I’m a sucker for a pork sandwich with its own festival. We had missed December 23, when 10,000 sandwiches were sold and the blocks surrounding the Mercado dos Lavradores were redolent of pork, garlic and wine. Alas, I vowed to try the sandwich before we left the island. Madeira is really two places, each a kind of microcosmic meditation on the meanings of cultivated and natural, speck of land versus wide-open ocean. Funchal is a port city where for centuries travelers have come and gone, leaving behind traces of what they’ve brought from elsewhere (culture, industry, vegetation, separate hot and cold sink taps) and taking away that which flourishes here (wines, sugar, crafts, the superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo). Then there is the rest of the island: wilder, untidy, starkly beautiful. Driving west from Funchal, you notice the difference immediately. By the time we make the hills above Calheta we pass nobody on the road. The Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas is a Modernist bunker set into a cliff. Walking through the museum is like watching a double feature with both shows played at the same time: the one on the walls (an excellent Man Ray exhibit when we visited) and the one looking out. You enter a room and see the tumbling green hills and blue sea, and it’s as if the architect has curated the natural world for your pleasure. Nearly every corner of Madeira is, in fact, gently shaped by human hands. There are the poios (terraces), carved into even the most remote peak. Then there is the remarkable system of levadas, the irrigation channels that form a vast connective grid over the the island. In addition to their duty of moving water, the levadas now move people: the waterlines have been conscripted to create more than a thousand kilometers of walking and hiking trails. One afternoon we drove up around the northwest bend past Porto Moniz. Stopping at a roadside stand where a couple was grilling bolo de caco (chewy garlic bread), we found the trailhead for a levada walk called Ribeira da Janela. We followed the mossy
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waterway up into the hills. There is something harmonious about this: walking where the water flows. Some levadas are steep and challenging. Janela was gentle to rise but soon we were surrounded by mist. The peaks in every direction were covered in a dense green shag. Around another turn, there was a familiar sight. A waterfall splashed across the path. We ran right through. The far eastern end of Madeira looks nothing like the rest of the island. The cliffs of Ponta de São Lourenço terminate in a series of low red humps of rock that run out like stepping stones into the ocean. It’s a the sort of place that makes you want to run and whistle. We arrived there on our last day. We’d driven along the twisty northern coast and stopped in the village of Santana and enjoyed both our lunch there and the dadaist mistranslations of the restaurant’s menu. (“Wine-like Lamb” was fairly easy to decode. “Cock of de Country” less so). The drive took longer than expected. When we arrived at the end of the road, the sky had pinkened, the cool air felt thin and invigorating. Trying to beat the sunset, guide we stopped the car and ran toward the sea. Someone may have been singing. The Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas cliffs had no vegetation now, just striated 37 Estrada Simão layers of red and orange. The effect felt Gonçalves da Câmara, like a remake of The Sound of Music set Calheta; cultura. on Mars. madeira-edu.pt. We didn’t make it back in time to try Cica Bar the legendary pork sandwich at the Mercado dos market. We had meant to, of course, but Lavradores, Funchal; meaning to also meant accepting the 351/291-241-693; drinks for two €TK. chance of failure, a cautionary tale about having any goals at all. And having Doca do Cavacas missed out, there was reason to return Punta da Cruz, Funchal; 351/291some day. For now, we stood awhile at 762-057; dinner for this empty, enchanted end of the island. two €TK. Sandwiches missed, the EasyJet flight Reid’s Palace coming to collect us in the morning, the 139 Estrada rest of Europe and this thing called Monumental, “winter” currently in effect—it was very Funchal; reidspalace. easy to forget all that. —adam sachs com; doubles €265.
E M I LY M O T T ( 2 ). O P P O S I T E PA G E : © D O N S I M O N / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M
The historic Sé parish of Funchal. Left: A secluded beach trail in Madeira.
for the spa lover
BOrACAy, phiLippineS once a backpacking haven with only the most basic accommodations, this 8-kilometer-long island now rivals better-known asian destinations such as phuket and koh samui. a 45-minute flight from Manila brings you to either kalibo or caticlan, where boats connect directly to White beach, whose powdery sand may just be the softest in the world. Room to Book a short ride from the southern end of White beach, Mandala spa & Villas (mandalaspa.com; doubles from US$270) feels like a true retreat, with yoga classes and massages included in room rates, plus all the mangoes you can eat. the cliffside pool Villa has the best vantage point over the sulu sea. Table for Two feast on Mediterranean mezes at kasbah (Station One, White Beach; kasbahboracay.com; dinner for two P3,000), where pillow-strewn sofas evoke north africa. Don’t Miss Mandala spa & Villas’ hilot trilogy (US$94), which incorporates an ancient filipino form of massage. —ron gluckman
you’ll also love... Kiawah Island, South Carolina the spa at the sanctuary at kiawah Island golf resort (kiawahresort.com; doubles from US$245) features an avocado-coconut wrap—ideal after a day on one of the five courses.
St. Lucia guests of the new sugar beach, a Viceroy resort (viceroyhotelsand resorts.com; doubles from US$3,200) can find pampering at its rainforest spa, where treatment rooms are set in tree houses.
Turks and Caicos located on its own private island, parrot cay by como (como hotels.com; doubles from US$450) is a decadent splurge. holistic spa treatments include the asian-inspired Javanese royal lulur bath.
Boracay’s shore defines “whitesand beach.”
for the history buff
SAnTOrini, GreeCe If there were ever a place that could get by on its looks, it would be santorini. Whitewashed cave houses framed by bougainvillea and backed by blue-domed churches spill down the rim of an ancient volcanic crater; at sunset, the sea of crete is bathed in a rosy glow. yet as compelling as the scenery may be, santorini’s true appeal lies in its wealth of diversions—extraordinary wines, black (or red or white) beaches and archaeological sites from the prehistoric era. Room to Book the perivolas suite at perivolas hotel (perivolas.gr; doubles from €320), whose cliffside terrace seems to hover at the crater's edge. Table for Two order the flaky pastry-wrapped saganaki (traditional fried cheese) with fig jam at assyrtico Wine restaurant (Firá; assyrtico-restaurant.com), a buzzy newcomer. Don’t Miss the richly preserved bronze age settlement of akrotíri, sometimes referred to as the “Minoan pompeii,” which reopened last spring. — el eni n. gage
Huahine, French Polynesia Vanilla and tiare scent the air of this south pacific isle. the village of Maeva features the densest concentration of marae, or centuriesold polynesian sacred sites.
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Malta Moorish, sicilian and Islamic influences are everywhere, from food to architecture. sleep in the Maison la Vallette (maisonla vallette.com; doubles from €115), which dates back to the knights of Malta.
nevis for a look at island culture and the once-flourishing sugar trade, visit the alexander hamilton house Museum (nevis-nhcs.org), located in the georgian residence where he was born.
fMe o bn ru a r2y01 2 01 r aV e LLa th 2 3t rtaV e L+ en I SduLreeI S u r e a S I a . c o m
JessIca saMple
you’ll also love...
The coast of Santorini, with the cliffside village of oia.
The reflecting pool at the Makana Terrace Restaurant at Kauai’s St. Regis Princeville Resort.
for the adventurer
It’s the oldest of hawaii’s eight main islands—and arguably the most dramatic, with scenery that ranges from winderoded mountains and red-walled canyons to primeval rainforest and photo-ready waterfalls. Room to Book no. 808 at the st. regis princeville resort (stregis.com; doubles from US$490) for views of hanalei bay. Table for Two share a succession of small plates (braised short ribs; honeycomb with goat cheese) at the laid-back bar acuda (restaurant baracuda.com; tapas dinner for two US$80), in hanalei. Don’t Miss a hike with chuck blay of kauai nature tours (teok.com; six-hour walks from US$125); you’ll learn the myths of every fruit and flower along the way. —laurel delp
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you’ll also love... Santa Catalina Island, California on the new land/sea adventure from catalina expeditions (visitcatalinaisland. com), you’ll travel by boat along the coast and return via convertible hummer.
great Barrier Reef, Australia the iconic hayman Island (hayman.com. au; doubles from A$531), reopened last year after a renovation, features seaplane tours to hardy lagoon.
San Juan Islands, Washington on this puget sound archipelago, accessible by ferry, paddle the orcafilled waters with san Juan outfitters (sanjuanisland outfitters.com).
p e t e r f r a n k e D Wa r D s . o p p o s I t e pa g e : © a DelIep enguIn / Dre a MstIM e.coM
KAuAi, hAWAii
for the jet-setter
capri, italy Known for its limestone cliffs and waterfront villas, this 11-square-kilometer speck in the Tyrrhenian Sea fully embraces the concept of la dolce vita. (For proof, look to the afternoon crowds stretched out on the rocks and sipping Prosecco at the glamorous La Fontelina beach club.) A funicular railway whisks visitors from the main port to the boutique-lined streets of Capri town; privacy-seekers keep heading upward by foot or bus to the quieter village of Anacapri. There, stroll through the gardens of the 19th-century Villa San Michele (villasanmichele.eu) with only ivy-covered statues for company. Room to Book No. 2 at J.K. Place Capri (jkcapri.com; doubles from €630) for a terrace and dreamlike water views. Table for Two Sign up for a cooking lesson at the agriturismo TerraMMare (terrammare.com; lessons from US$130), where you’ll make, then dine on, traditional island recipes. Don’t Miss The nightly passeggiata, when well-heeled Italians glide through the streets at sunset before settling in at a bar on the piazza to watch the action unfold. —shivani vora
you’ll also love...
La Fontelina beach club, on Capri.
Majorca, Spain Follow in the footsteps of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III, who honeymooned here in the 1950’s. Escape the crowds at Cap Rocat (caprocat.com; doubles from €450).
Harbour Island, Bahamas Stop for a cocktailfueled lunch at Sip Sip (242/333-3316; lunch for two US$70) above Pink Sand beach, and shop at the India Hicks– owned Sugar Mill (indiahicks.com).
St. Bart’s, French West Indies The biggest swimming pool on the island? You’ll find it at charming Hotel Christopher (hotel christopher.com; doubles from €450), a 20-minute drive from Gustavia.
Bora-Bora is fringed by motus and its lagoon.
for the far-flung wanderer
BOrA-BOrA, FrenCh pOLyneSiA
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you’ll also love... Bali, Indonesia Mist-shrouded temples and lush landscapes make this an enticing hideaway. another draw: the new le Méridien bali Jimbaran (lemeridien. com; doubles from US$219).
Fiji the 10 thatchedroof beachfront bures at the award-winning qamea resort & spa (qamea.com; doubles from US$750) sit amid fragrant coconut groves for maximum privacy.
Maldives Where else would you find a coral nursery and an underwater nightclub? only at niyama Maldives, a per aquum resort (peraquum.com; doubles from US$1,100).
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What could be more seductive than an overwater bungalow above a turquoise lagoon? that’s the essence of bora-bora, a geographically blessed sliver of french polynesia. at its heart lies the jagged peak of Mount otemanu; on its fringes, tiny motus (islets) and a coral reef with a swirl of colorful marine life. Room to Book Villas 103 to 110 at the st. regis bora bora resort (stregis.com; doubles from US$1,300) have private decks with whirlpools and outdoor showers. Table for Two order the poisson cru (a local take on ceviche) at the sand-floored bora kaina hut (Vaitape; borakainahut.com; dinner for two XPF10,000). Don’t Miss a private snorkeling trip with Diveasy bora bora (diveasyborabora.com; US$625), whose dive masters get you up close with moray eels and giant manta rays. —frances hibbard
Misty morning fishing on Inle.
Making Waves in i inle l lake
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Michelle Baran hotel-hops through a host of new restaurants, spas and even vineyards—yes, vineyards—around Burma’s traditional, tranquil heart.
Clockwise from top: Aureum Palace Resort’s scenic pool; The Viewpoint restaurant; picking grapes at Red Mountain estate.
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Fishing on Inle Lake. Clockwise from right: A colorful Buddhist procession; attired in the local Shan style.
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ife on Inle Lake begins early, well before the scorching sun crests above the surrounding green mountains, while the air is still cool and fresh. At dawn, Burmese fishermen are gently cutting pathways through the mist still clinging to the lake’s surface, steering their slender wooden boats with long paddles they propel with their legs, leaving their arms free to cast large nets towards the hope of plentiful catch. The 117-square-kilometer lake sits smack in the middle of Burma, but it seems decades removed from the hustle and bustle of Rangoon and Mandalay. Its charm is in the timecapsule quality of a simple life quietly unfolding atop the water. Almost everything on Inle Lake is suspended just above the water’s surface: homes, schools, entire villages built on stilts. Gardens too grow atop the lake, bobbing gently as boaters pass. Here in this restful hamlet, tourists find an escape. Much of their time will be spent traversing the lake on narrow, motored canoes. They come to weave among the floating villages, to watch picturesque boat races among dueling lake communities where dozens of men leg-row in sync, and, if they’re lucky, to witness colorful Buddhist processions that, for instance, mark the end of Buddhist lent. They come to visit the historical Nga Hpe Kyaung monastery (traditionally famed for its jumping cats), to meander through local produce markets both floating and ashore. They come to see the local Shan style, women in bright orange cloth headdresses, and to try Shan cuisine, known for its piquant salads and unusual chickpea or yellow split pea tofu. Until recently, they haven’t come expecting much in the way of full-service luxury. In sleepy Inle, it’s difficult to find dinner after 8 p.m. let alone much entertainment beyond observing daily life. While the tranquility is likely to rejuvenate you on its own, in general, modern-relaxation needs are best met by the deluxe hotels. Float from shore to shore with us to the spots that are subtly filling in the tourism gaps, giving guests diverse, high-quality options to eat, drink and spa, without disrupting the region’s natural rhythms.
DINE
The restaurant at Villa Inle Resort & Spa, on the lake’s eastern shore, is a large and airy space with soaring white walls and large paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Its locally sourced Burmese and Shan cuisine is a highlight of the stay, incorporating produce from the property’s chemical-free garden. Be sure to order the restaurant’s catch-of-the-day lake fish steamed with local herbs. This eco-friendly charmer, opened in late 2011, currently features 16 stand-alone, 100-square-meter, stilted villas, though more are planned by year’s end. The villas are stocked with modern amenities and huge bathrooms. Optimal sunset viewing is from your lake-facing king-size bed in the middle of the cottage, or your private deck. The property’s spa is slated for completion early this year and a pool should follow later in 2013. Its green-cred includes landscaping incorporating fruit and teak trees, an extensive composting program and nature activities such as bird-watching. Maing Thauk Village; Nyaung Shwe; 95-1/242-259; hotelininle.com; garden villas from US$120; dinner for two from US$40. ● A Shan cuisine staple since opening on Inle’s northern canals in 2006, Viewpoint last year added a cool, 20-person French restaurant—Lounge-e—to its property, with an international wine list featuring French and Italian labels, and a menu that takes cues from its über-hip sister restaurant in ●
Rangoon, Le Planteur, known for its extensive cheese and dessert selections and entrees including a Southeast Asianinspired bouillabaisse, lamb fillet and duck breast. Also part of the upgrade: an adjoining eco-friendly 20-room hotel, made up of a series of stilted cottages connected by a winding raised walkway that floats above the water. Near Talk Nan Bridge and Canal, Nyaung Shwe; 95-81/209-062; inleviewpoint.com; doubles from US$95; dinner for two US$50. ● From the owners of the upscale Inle Princess—a collection of 45 high-ceilinged, glass-fronted, chimney-topped chalets that was a luxe pioneer on the eastern shore—comes the new Inthar Heritage House, a beautifully restored colonial-style house set up as a midday retreat in the middle of the lake. The extensive lunch menu features a wealth of produce from the Heritage House’s own organic garden in such dishes as the popular tea-leaf and green-tomato salad. Other menu highlights include gourd tempura with tamarind sauce, Intharstyle snake-fish curry, and pumpkin with pork ribs. For company, visit the somewhat peculiar menagerie of Burmese cats calling the House home—Inthar’s attempt to reintroduce the coveted pedigree felines to their native country. Resort: Magyizin Village; 95-81/209-055; inlepreincessresort.net; doubles from US$180. Restaurant: Inpawkhon Village; 95-9/525-1232; intharheritagehouse.com.
Clockwise from left: Viewpoint’s traditional Shan cuisine; Villa Inle Resort & Spa’s dining room; the stilted Viewpoint.
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Padonma Lotus Spa, the centerpiece of Pristine Lotus Spa Resort Inle, is a sprawling complex complete with natural hot spring baths, a trademark of its home village, Khaung Daingge. In addition to an extensive selection of massages, the spa offers several body treatments including a frangipani and pomelo scrub with jojoba beads, a Bali coffee body scrub, and an anti-cellulite salt scrub that incorporates Burmese sea salt and a combination of pepper, ginger and grapefruit essential oils that the spa claims will break down fatty deposits under the skin. Guests can also receive spa treatments in their villas. After all, there’s plenty of space in these brand-new rooms: 49 are two-story, large and airy 100-square-meter bungalows; one is a sprawling 115-square-meter suite residence. The villas all have second-floor loft space that can be prepared as an extra bedroom, as well as balconies off both levels—the better to admire your eastward-facing view of Inle Lake, Pristine’s lush gardens and the rolling creek that winds through the property. Khuang Ding Village, Nyaung Shwe; 95-81/209-317; pristinelotus. com; villas from US$145; spa treatments from US$24. ● Go rustic-luxe at Aureum Palace Resort Inle’s nature Spa, a series of white, tented buildings that extend out over the water via a wooden walkway. International treatments include a Swedish massage; a thorough, two-therapist “Four Hands” massage; and a Thai massage. Or opt for a traditional Burmese massage, a dry treatment that can incorporate local musclehealing medicines upon request. There are also several foot massages available. The Auruem Palace opened a year ago on the east side of the lake and has 65 standalone villas, either stilted above the water or on shore, all featuring a separate living room, private terrace and a lotus pond. Like its sister hotel in Bagan, you’ll find a dramatic outdoor pool with a view over the vast lake (in Bagan, the Aureum Palace infinity pool overlooks the region’s famous temple-dotted landscape). The hotel also has an indoor/ outdoor 90-person dining room, a bar and an optimistically conceived nightclub. Mine Thauk Village, Nyaung Shwe; 9581/209-866; aureumpalacehotel.com; on-shore villas from US$270; spa treatments from US$20. ●
Clockwise: A welcome to the Aureum Palace; Aureum at dusk; the hot spring baths of Lotus Spa at the Pristine Resort.
WINE
You’re not heading to Inle for the nightlife, but a civilized tipple? That can most definitely be had. Two of the country’s largest and best-known wine producers—Red Mountain estate and Myanmar Vineyard—are found in this region. And driving up from Inle Lake towards these hillside wineries, it’s easy to forget you’re in Burma at all. Red Mountain produces several varietals, including Sauvignon Blanc, Rose D’Inle, Shiraz-Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Syrah and a Muscat. The vintner also offers lunch in its scenic hilltop restaurant with sprawling views of the vines and of the lake region. Myanmar Vineyard’s Aythaya brand keeps it simple with a few reds, including a Syrah-Cabernet Sauvignon, a Dornfelder and a Tempranillo; a rosé made from Moscato grapes; a couple of whites, including a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chenin Blanc; and Grappa. After tasting a few, you might do well to avoid the 40-minute drive back to Inle and instead stay at one of the property’s on-site apartments. The pre-fab bungalows, together called Monte DiVino in the Vineyard, were designed by Rangoon-based Spine Architects and, pending the arrival of their operating permit, are expected to open in October. Red Mountain: No. 39A Pyay Rd., Mayangone, Rangoon; 95-1/664970; redmountain-estate.com. Myanmar Vineyard: 38G Myitzu St., Mayangone, Rangoon; 95/664-386; myanmar-vineyard.com; doubles from US$150. ✚
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Myanmar Vineyard’s vast estate. Above: Strolling in the grapevines.
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the Japanese left a legacy of european architecture in taipei. Ralph Jennings hits the streets for a bike tour of the best old buildings with the brightest futures. Photographed by Alberto Buzzola
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Two views of the landmark Red House. opposite, above and below: Taipei’s bike-share system makes getting around the capital a breeze; a couple in Japanese garb in ximending.
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rchitecture left over from the Japanese period looks prettier,” says Tsai Ting-kuei, a professor, protest-leader and sometime design-aesthete who has little good to say about the creativity Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist Party brought to Taiwan. “After the Kuomintang arrived, there wasn’t that much talent, so the buildings that followed were rough and plain, with no sense of art.” It’s an island better known for a sprinkling of modern architecture amid 70’s-ish cinderblock sprawl, but throughout Taipei, you can still find old compact wooden houses that the Japanese built in their traditional style when Tokyo ran Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. These bitty buildings can be found alongside—and sometimes sharing the same block with—imposing and stately Europeaninfluenced structures erected at the same time. Study, for example, the National University of Taiwan. More than 33,000 students sit for lectures and seminars in its 84-year-old campus, in brick buildings with Corinthian columns and arched windows, enshrouded by tree groves.
Those who have done their homework know that Japanese colonial architects designed these buildings as well. And if university design that feels more neoclassical than zen seems surprising from artistic ambassadors of a country long-characterized by its inward-looking aesthetic, it should be explained that during this same window of time, the Meiji Restoration, Western technology and culture were sweeping the Land of the Rising Sun. It only made sense that Japanese architects would export these new ideas to their colonial territory, in the form of two- to three-story Gothic and Baroque structures. The best way to see this century-old architecture? By the most popular transport of its bygone era: a bicycle. Two wheels will let you move between landmarks fast enough to see several in an hour or two but slowly enough to take a careful look at each. Taipei is flat, making the ride simple— so long as you cycle between rush hours to avoid competing with the city’s unforgiving cars and buses. A short tour should suffice to reveal the ways in which modern people are keeping the old buildings more than alive.
Kick-start from national University of Taiwan Rent a three-speed from the Taipei metro’s Gongguan station, exit 1. Pay at the rental station’s electronic kiosk with a bankcard or a local YoYo stored-value card (youbike.com. tw). You’ll have 90 seconds to remove the bike after payment. From the Roosevelt Road university gate near the rental, pedal along the wide palm-lined campus road. The physics and drama buildings begin a brick, two- and three-story series. Pause at the mansion-size foyer inside the College of Liberal Arts building and the three arches outside its neighbor, housing the Gallery of University History (open 10 a.m.–4 p.m.). “They just left it intact, like an oasis now,” marvels Mark Van Tongeren, a Dutch music therapist who visited the Gallery in December to scope out possible event venues. “It’s different for sure and it’s nice to see something so old.” Wistaria Tea House and northbound Take Xinsheng South Road to Heping East Road, then cross Xinsheng and cycle back for three blocks. A model of the smaller, purely Japanese structures, Wistaria (866-2/2363-7375; wistariateahouse.com; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.) was built in the 1920’s and played host to a number of historical notables, from the Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan, who lived there, to Chow Yu, who turned the space into a debate center that would attract political dissidents before Taiwan lifted martial law in the 1980’s. Despite typhoon damage in 1961 followed by Western-style refurbishing, the largely wooden Wistaria retains its Japanese aura. And now, after a renovation in 2008, it draws caffeinated crowds of Taiwan’s intellectuals. Return to Heping East Road and head west, crossing Roosevelt. Cycle north on Nanchang Road. A government-owned cigarette-, beer- and hard liquormaker is an unlikely tourist attraction. But the Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor building at No. 4, Section 1, has a solid embossed Baroque-style mural and a guard tower watching over this big red, tree-wrapped British Renaissance-style manse built in 1913. Political nerve center of Taipei Continue another five minutes north along Nanchang Road, which becomes Gongyuan Road at a traffic circle. Take Gongyuan to Ketagalan Boulevard and look northeast. Taipei Guest House is truly a place of contrasts. Built in 1901 by a pair of Japanese architects, the baroque-style monolith is reminiscent of French palaces, and rests in a Japanese garden backed by copious tropical landscaping. The foreign ministry and presidential office use the house now for lavish parties. It occasionally opens to the public. The boulevard in front is another story, hosting Taiwan’s biggest political protests. Take a left on Ketagalan, go two blocks to a T-intersection. Here looms the castle-like Presidential Office Building. The red 6,930-square-meter, six-story building with a 60-meter tower combines baroque, neoclassical and Renaissance features, and cost ¥2.8 million to complete in 1919.
Head left on Chongqing South Road. The Judicial Yuan building is a four-story number from 1934 sporting three arches at the main doorway, a hodgepodge of Byzantine and baroque styles, and a tropical garden for a yard. Judges, lawyers and scores of administrative personnel buzz around a maze of court-related offices inside. Red House and ximen Stay on Chongqing South Road to Aiguo West Road, where you take a right. Turn right onto Zhonghua Road, left at Chengdu Road and right at Hanzhong Street. The century-old Ximen Red House (886-2/2311-9380; redhouse.org.tw), a landmark built as Taipei’s first public market, features an octagonal front hall used now for coffee, tea and performances; houses 22 shops for artisans; and its outdoor plaza fills up at night partly with patrons of Taipei Bear Bar, a popular LGBT hangout. “Taipei doesn’t have that many red buildings, and this one has exceeded 100 years, so we keep it up well,” says Red House marketing manager Leah Chou. “Now we try to mix a modern and traditional flavor.” The pedestrian-only streets opposite the Red House make up Taipei’s hippest youth district, Ximending, where disciples of modern Japanese pop culture pace the storefronts looking for the latest fashion from Tokyo. The university students who ply this mixture of low-rise architecture wear glasses without lenses, shop for smart phone cases bearing Sanrio icons, and fill up at trendy spots like Café Tamago-ya. Concerts, coffee, protests and bike return Take Zhonghua Road north, go right on Baoqing Road; a block later go left onto Yanping South Road sidewalk. The landscaped monolith that is Taipei Zhongshan Hall has three arches at its gate and Spanish Islamic-style window frames. Built in 1936 by Japan’s chief engineer in Taiwan as city hall, today it is a concert center. A café on the second floor is open to the public. Navigate the maze of streets—any will do—east of the concert hall to Qingdao Road where it hits Zhongshan South Road. Look for the Control Yuan on the left and parliament on the right. Both are old Japanese treasures. Inside parliament, legislators shout at one another over Taiwan’s controversial mainland China policies and occasionally throw stuff, while a permanent encampment of tents outside bunks antigovernment protesters. Old Japan hereby fades away again into modern Taiwan. Follow Zhongshan South Road to Aiguo East, where you turn left. There’s a YouBike rack at Jinshan South Road. Stick your bike into a curbside auto-lock brace and settle up at the kiosk. ✚ Clockwise from top left: one of the few traditional, wooden Japanese houses left in Taipei; Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor building; Zhongshan Hall; Presidential office Building; Wistaria Tea House; gallery of University History.
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the samoan isle of savai’i is just the spot to swim with sea turtles, climb craters and ponder polynesian mysteries. story and photos by ian lloyd neubauer
Clockwise from top left: overlooking the sea from Pulemelei Mound; the catch at Asua Bay; a motorbike for DIY touring; on Asua Bay; Papalii Faafetai and one of the turtles at his reserve; Saleaula Beach; one of Samoa’s waterfalls; another common sight on Savai’i. t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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Saleaula Beach is dotted with fale, open-air bungalows.
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ake a deep breath. If you can read this with your eyes shut, try doing so now. It’s dusk. You are sitting on a kayak in a tropical lagoon looking towards a small village on the coast. The only structure of note is a whitewashed Victorian church that towers over palm-thatch huts and bungalows like an angel. Coconut trees lean over a sugar-white beach where baby waves break in perfect undulating rhythm. Larger waves smash loudly over a fringing reef as stars come to life in the purple and pink sky. Suddenly you hear a splash and you turn your head expecting to see fish but are thrilled to witness a turtle surfacing for air. You’re neither on an atoll at the ends of the earth nor in a colonial backwater during the age of discovery. You are in Savai’i (Big Land), the largest Polynesian island outside New Zealand and Hawaii, one of 10 specks of land that make up the South Pacific nation of Samoa. And it attracts only a fraction of the 70,000 tourists visiting Samoa every year, meaning you really can have a beach or lagoon all to yourself. “Tourism is still in its infancy here,” says Warren Jopling, an Australian geologist-cum-tour guide living in Savai’i since the 1980’s. “But there’s enormous potential.” If that’s true, it’s bittersweet news for Saliemoa Va’ai, owner of Va-i-Moana Seaside Lodge at Asua Bay in Savai’i’s northwest. “Life in Savai’i is still deeply rooted in family and culture,” says this Australian-educated son of a timber baron. “We have not been commercialized; we don’t have any five-star resorts. In one way it’s a hindrance to tourism, but at the same time that’s an attraction because it still feels genuine.” His property features a dozen overwater and beachfront bungalows without air-conditioning, Internet service or television (although it also offers a few pricier ones with all the modern amenities). “Visitor numbers are increasing in Samoa but not too much,” Va’ai says, gazing at the empty lounge chairs on his private little stretch of beach. “The challenge is to find the right mix of development and conservation so we don’t become another Fiji.” If there is a place in Savai’i that has been affected by tourism it’s at Saleaula, 90-minute’s drive east of Asua Bay. The village houses a row of budget properties where guests sleep in openair fale (the local version of beachfront bungalows) and dine communally. It is also home to the Satoalepai Turtle Reserve, one of the few places in the world where you can feed and even swim with endangered green sea turtles. “Twenty years ago my mother-in-law went to Brisbane to visit a friend who had a big turtle in her pool, and every day many people came to see it,” says the reserve’s manager, Papalii Faafetai. “So she decided to make a place where people can enjoy turtles in Savai’i.” The resulting sanctuary is a holding pond on the edge of a saltwater lagoon. Swimming with turtles is a surreal experience, like visiting a zero-gravity world inhabited by fluidic, amiable aliens. I jumped with a start whenever one brushed against my back, toggling between bliss and awe while hanging onto the
underside of their flippers for a ride. “The photos don’t do it justice,” enthuses John Rouse, a visitor from New Zealand. “You really have to see it yourself.” Faafetai and his family appear to genuinely care for the 20 or so green turtles that they nurture in to adulthood and (sometimes) up to 185 kilograms, and then release into the ocean. When it comes to tourism and animals, concern for latter’s welfare should give responsible travelers pause. But as Rouse’s 11-year-old son, David, suggests, it’s pretty simple to maintain peaceable human-turtle relations: “They’re quite friendly. But don’t put your hand in front of them because they think you’re giving them food and try to bite you. But even if they do, it doesn’t really hurt.” Savai’i has a stellar list of natural attractions that rolls on and on. In the far western peninsula, a 40-meter-high canopy walkway gives visitors a chance to see flying foxes, rare Pacific doves, skinks and gecko lizards at the Falealupo Rainforest Preserve. For 5 Tala (US$2.20), villagers will take you through series of lava cylinders where they seek shelter during severe storms; and to Moso’s Footprint, an unusually shaped lava crack said to be the mark of an ancient giant. More legends abound at Cape Mulinu’u, Savai’i’s most westerly point, where the souls of the dead are said to pass into the underworld. A surf camp has popped up on the sparsely populated south coast, where curved mirrors of water break on long, empty beaches all year. And on the cliff tops of the southernmost point, you’ll find the Alofaaga (or Taga—things in Savai’i tend to have multiple monikers) Blow Holes. Formed by lava that hardened into tubes when it cooled against seawater 5,000 years ago, they squeeze waves into fountains of water 60 meters high. Try dropping a coconut into one and watch it shoot over the tops of palm trees. But time it well lest you take a drupe to the skull. A bit to the east, not far from Afu Aau Falls, is the Pulemelei Mound (or Tia Seu Ancient Mound). The largest archaeological site in Polynesia, this step pyramid probably was built between 1200 and 1400 A.D. during the Tongan occupation of Savai’i. Be warned: it’s a challenging hour-long slog through thick, steamy jungle to reach the mound, and when you get there you may ask what all the bother is about. Covered in vines and looking more like a hill, it’s a far cry from the great pyramids of Egypt. What makes Pulemelei special is the mystery behind it. The facts? Ancient conch shells that Samoans still use today to announce meetings have been found here, and the site has 3,000 platforms where people appear to have lived. According to tour guide Jopling, who’s hosted numerous archeologists over the years, ideas on Pulemelei’s original purpose abound. It could have been a socio-administrative building, a temple to the war gods, or a watchtower that allowed its builders to spot approaching enemy canoes. Legendary Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, whose 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition sailed the Pacific in a balsa-wood raft, visited a few months before his death in 2002 and posited it was built by a white-skinned race who sailed from South America. “But nothing has come down
swimming with turtles is like visiting a zero-gravity world of amiable aliens
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signposts marking the walking track around the rim of the crater. life is short, reads one commissioned by a 2002 visitor from Germany. travel it well. Carpeted with tree ferns and 30-meter-high hardwood giants dwarfed within gargantuan vine-covered black walls, the inside of the crater is awesome to behold. And the surrounds of Mount Matavanu are equally grand. A trip to the top is capped with outrageous views of Savai’i’s northern lagoons where an estimated 200 kinds of coral and 900 species of fish live. “These waters are untouched, so no one really knows too much about what’s down there,” says Pele Emelio, a marine biologist who leads big-game fishing charters on a 13-meter Cabo fishing boat moored at Asua Bay. Although one thing he does know is that they can produce great sport fish: sailfish, barracuda and yellow-fin tuna, as well as ‘Granders’— marlin that weigh more than 450 kilograms. “Nine are caught in the world each year,” says Emelio. “We’ve only ever caught one but, then again, we’re the only ones out there.” ✚
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in the Samoans’ oral history,” Jopling says. “So we really have no idea who built it, or for what purpose.” Another location that calls meaning into question: the Saleaula Lava Fields, born out of destruction between 1905 and 1911, when rolling lava flattened every building in a neighboring village, leaving only three open-to-interpretation exceptions— two churches and the grave of a revered nun. Today, these are holy sites amid an eerie, black 50-square-kilometer moonscape, whose on-going existence stands as a stark reminder of the unstoppable force of the 450-odd supposedly extinct volcanoes in the 1,858-meter-high range at the center of Savai’i. To see where the lava came from, take the 10-kilometer drive up to the Mount Matavanu Crater. The road is four-wheel-drive only and maintained by an erudite hermit known as Craterman, who collects a 20 Tala entry fee—a right afforded to all traditional landowners of Samoan sites. For an additional 50 Tala, Craterman will engrave your name, the date of your visit and a message on one of the wooden
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t L guide getting There air new Zealand (airnewzealand.com) flies from sydney and auckland to fagali’i airport, apia. there, connect to samoa air (samoaair.ws) to fly to Maota airport in savai’i (for around 184 tala).
Stay Va-i-Moana Seaside Lodge Main Rd., Asua Bay; 685/58-140; vaimoana.ws; doubles from 170 Tala with tropical breakfast and seafood barbecue dinner. Beachfront Fales there are dozens of these in savai’i and they open and close with the frequency of rainstorms. for this reason, contact the samoa tourism authority for current, recommended listings. samoa.travel; info@samoa.travel; 50-90 Tala per person per night. do Warren Jopling’s Safua Tours offers informative trips to the pulemelei Mound, saleaula lava fields and other attractions. 685/750-6448; from 130 Tala per person for two people; lower perperson rates for groups. oceanic Sport Fishing Adventures 685/7759606; grandermarlin.com; game-fishing charter boats 4,000 Tala a day for up to eight people. Savai’i Surfaris Aganoa Beach Fale; savaiisurfaris@samoa.ws. Satoalepai Turtle Reserve Saleaula Village; 685/845-3408; 5 Tala per adult, 2 Tala per child.
Clockwise from top left: Swimming with green sea turtles; sunset and high-tide on Saleaula Beach; heading off to church on Sunday. t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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London Is the Capital of Breakfast Biryani Soft-Cooked Eggs Tapas Bars Artisanal Cheese Street Markets Pea Shoots Small-Batch Gin Burgers Duck Hearts
Food.
By Peter Jon Lindberg p h o to g r a p h e D by J a s o n lo W e Clockwise from above: A coddled hen egg with mushrooms and smoked butter at Dabbous, in Fitzrovia; texting over burgers and fries at Meat Liquor, in Marylebone; outside Quo Vadis, in Soho; the Little Bird gin Bar at Maltby Street Market; chef ollie Dabbous.
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honky-tonk roadhouse serving deep-fried pickles and chilicheese fries. A Parsi café straight out of old Bombay. A semi-secret chef’s table, tucked behind a hot dog joint, that’s giving Copenhagen a run for its foraged nettles. If you haven’t eaten in London lately, get back as soon as you can—and expect the unexpected. Over the past six months I’ve made multiple visits to the city, running the gamut of its ever-expanding food scene. My focus was on new or recent openings, along with a few old favorites still going strong. As I crisscrossed the city, three things became apparent. One: you can travel a long way to eat at a great local restaurant here. (On, Bermondsey, Clapham, Hackney and Brixton!) Today’s standouts are often in neighborhoods well beyond the West End. You could liken it to the Brooklyn effect in New York, but a proper comparison would have to throw in the Bronx, Staten Island and New Jersey as well. Still, central London is far from over: Soho is enjoying its umpteenth revival, and Covent Garden is suddenly red-hot for dining. Meanwhile, the buzz has shifted to such once-humdrum enclaves as Marylebone and Fitzrovia—the latter home to two of the city’s best restaurants. (See page 110.) Two: there is no “London dining scene,” in the singular sense. Though certain tropes and trends pop up, there’s little to unify the city’s food offerings, except that the bill is calculated in pounds sterling. As with music and fashion, the culinary realm here has been niched and sub-niched so much that the options are now near-endless. Three: few cities on earth offer food this good across the board. That’s not a judgment; it’s a fact. Pound for pound, nose to tail, there’s never been a better—or, frankly, wackier—time to eat here. So which London are you after?
the city of amazing breakfasts What a drag to live in London and have a job—a dreary morning-interrupter that keeps you from lingering over the day’s best meal. Options are myriad: Tom’s Kitchen for the full English, Daylesford for poached eggs, the Wolseley for every damn thing on the menu. But the new granger & Co. Tramshed, in Shoreditch, is not only the prettiest breakfast spot in with Damien town, it’s arguably the best. Opened by Hirst’s Australian chef Bill Granger, whose installation Sydney café Bills is legendary for eggs and Cock and Bull. pancakes, it occupies a prime block of
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Pound for pound, nose to tail, there’s never been a better or, frankly, wackier time to eat in London
Clockwise from left: Bánh cuón at Cây Tre Soho; a whole roasted chicken from Tramshed; jamón ibérico from Pizarro; open-faced smoked salmon sandwiches from Maltby Street Market, in Bermondsey; Kitchen Table co-owners Sandia Chang (left) and James Knappett.
St. John helped revive those defiantly British, deceptively simple dishes
Notting Hill where geraniums fill every window box. Sunlight pours through double-height windows, casting a glow on the radiant crowd, most of whom look as if they’ve come from a morning swim at Bondi. Order an Aussie-style flat white, grab a paper from the granite-topped bar and indulge in a platter of silky eggs, gently folded with I don’t want to fathom how much cream, and served with chipolata sausages and avocado relish—or go all out for Granger’s famous ricotta hotcakes, topped with sticky, molten chunks of honeycomb butter. For a more old-world vibe, head to Sloane Square and join the air-kissers at Colbert, the latest from Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the gifted duo behind the indefatigable Wolseley. They’ve taken over the corner spot long occupied by Oriel, whose food was so lousy that the building’s landlord, the Earl of Cadogan, purportedly refused to renew the lease. He turned the space over to Corbin and King, who upgraded it in the manner of an all-day Parisian grand café. With stage-set lighting, Buñuel posters and impeccably distressed mirrors, Colbert could coast by on looks alone. Yet as at the Wolseley, the food is way better than it has to be. Order the piquant blackberry-andpear compote atop thick, tangy Greek yogurt with a side of nutty house-made granola, and your day will be the better for it.
the city of a million markets More than Paris, New York or even Tokyo, this is a city devoted to the pleasure of ogling foodstuffs—from the gorgeous fattoush salads at Ottolenghi to the hunks of Stichelton at La Fromagerie, labeled in dainty farmer’s script. Yes, London can be insanely overpriced, and at times comically precious. (When I dropped into the Albion, the new Conran café in Shoreditch, the adjacent grocery was selling seagull eggs “collected by licensed pickers on Hampshire marshes.”) Yet for sheer quality of ingredients, London is hard to top. This is the land of great milk and better honey, where egg yolks bear the color of Thai monks’ robes. Then there are the weekend markets, with their bins of Romanesco and steel-drum-size pans of paella. Borough Market is the big one, of course. But an upstart has laid claim to the throne. Tucked under the smoke-stained Victorian railway arches running through an industrial patch of Bermondsey, the weekend-only Maltby Street Market was founded in 2010 by defectors from Borough. It’s quickly become London’s hottest block party. On a recent visit, the Comptoir Gourmand was selling giant pink-and-white meringues resembling pashas’ turbans; at Tozino, two young Spaniards were carving jamón ibérico to order. St. John Bakery was making open-faced sandwiches with Faeroe Islands salmon from the North London outfit Hansen & Lydersen, which cold-smokes the fish over beechwood and juniper. Down the lane at Christchurch Fish, an Albert Finney ringer was shucking oysters for a queue of 20. Most took their edible prizes over to the Little Bird Gin Bar, Maltby’s de facto hub, run by the small-batch London gin maker of the same name. Owner Tim Moore started last spring with just a folding table and sample- size cocktails—but as the crowds grew, so did the concept. “Suddenly, we were running a proper bar,” he says, still bemused. Intended or not, it works: mismatched chairs cluster around wobbly tables topped with fresh-cut flowers in gin bottles. Birdcages hang from the
archways. And bearded lads in jaunty thrift-store caps serve negronis and Aviations in vintage crystal coupes. Can your market do that?
the city Whose patron saint is John With all respect to Ramsay, White and Blumenthal, if there’s one British chef whose influence currently ranks above all others, it’s the inimitable Fergus Henderson, whose St. John empire has spawned countless imitations. With its throwbackBritish cooking and ascetic shirking of pretense—in the dining room and on the plate—St. John was an outlier in the flashy, fusion-prone 90’s. Today, its disciples are legion. And nearly two decades on, the original St. John still kills it in Clerkenwell. For my money, I’ll take a long boozy lunch at St. John Bread & Wine, in Spitalfields, with the pale English sun streaming into a room like a public-school caff: rows of coat hooks, a blackboard, a grid of scratched wooden tables. The chummy English waiter waxes poetic about the veal chop, then brings currant-filled Eccles cake for dessert, which he calls pudding. It was Henderson, of course, who made London safe again for offal; now every other kitchen in town serves calves’ tongues and duck hearts—and, righteous as nose-to-tail eating may be, it can get a bit same-y after a while. (A man tired of London isn’t necessarily tired of life; he may just be weary of lambs’ brains.) But St. John also helped revive those defiantly British, deceptively simple dishes one’s great-aunt in Leeds might crave, from smoked eel to potted shrimps. Such are the draws at the relaunched Quo Vadis, the clubby Soho landmark that’s stepped up tenfold since chef Jeremy Lee took over last year. Spread across several snug, low-ceilinged dining rooms, it’s a convivial spot, with a nursery’s worth of greenery and a menu that could have been conceived and typeset in 1876. Bring yourself to order “bloater paste” and you’ll be rewarded with a sumptuous herring pâté topped with a tasty layer of congealed butter to be pierced by a shard of crusty bread. And Lee’s smoked-eel sandwich, served on grilled sourdough bread with pickled onions and creamy horseradish, is fantastic (and, it turns out, a favorite of Henderson’s). Trad-British simplicity is also on the menu at Mark Hix’s latest, Tramshed, located on funky Rivington Street in Shoreditch. You have two choices: grilled sirloin, priced by the gram, or a whole roasted free-range chicken. You want the latter; the steak is just fine, but the bird is close to perfect, its skin crisp and its meat delicate and juicy, all the better when dipped in fiery English mustard. And the setting? A gorgeously decayed trolley shed, built in 1905, with hulking steel girders rising three stories to a soaring, skylit ceiling. The coup de grâce: a Damien Hirst installation of a bull, encased in formaldehyde, with a rooster perched on its back.
the city Where We’re all Well-fed french peasants St. John’s influence extends to places where the food isn’t even particularly British. Ed Wilson and Oli Barker work in a similarly robust, offal-y vein, but take their cue from the rustic campagnard cooking of France. They’ve built a small empire of their own with Terroirs (a natural-wine bar near Covent Garden), Brawn (a temple to pork in Bethnal Green), the Green t r aV e L a n d L e I S u r e a S I a . c o m
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Dishoom feels like a walk-in sepia photograph, bathed in dreamy light
Cranberry biryani from Dishoom, an Old Bombay–style café in Shoreditch. Opposite: Inside Dishoom.
Man & French Horn (focused on the wine and food of the Loire Valley), and the excellent new Soif, which their British clientele pronounces “Soyf.” Soif sits on a remote stretch of Battersea Rise that bears all the marks of hipsterfication: women with Feist bangs; guys in stevedore caps. The narrow room is decked out with old wine barrels and French bric-a- brac; the menu makes any season feel like winter. Ribbons of melt-on-the-tongue fromage de tête come dressed with cornichon-spiked vinaigrette and adorned with a soft-cooked egg, the yolk glowing like a sunset. A luxuriantly creamy soup of Jerusalem artichokes is festooned with petals of meaty, umami-rich black trumpet mushrooms. Basile, the sommelier—a Gallic Ethan Hawke—can walk you through the list of more than 200 wines, only a handful of which aren’t natural or biodynamic. Remember when Brits drank mostly claret? They don’t, either.
the city obsessed with tapas Is there any jamon ibérico left in Spain? You’d guess not, based on the number of tapas bars in London, each with a glistening ham racked up on the countertop. Long is the love the British have for the Iberian peninsula—and that love is begetting ever-better rewards. Worthy newcomers include the Basquedevoted Donostia, in plummy Marylebone, whose chef Tomasz Baranski previously cooked at Soho’s estimable Barrafina (which recently expanded to Covent Garden). Meanwhile, in Bermondsey—a slum in Oliver Twist, now a tony arts-and-media enclave—the Spanish chef José Pizarro has opened Pizarro, the larger offshoot to his popular tapas bar José. The new space is even more rustic-chic: plank floors, unfinished beams, industrial desk lamps and reclaimed chandeliers. Settle into a half-moon banquette, order a bottle of Txakoli (which your server will pour, per custom, from a height) and don’t stop till you’ve tried the entire tapas menu. You’ll want the girolle mushrooms with batons of Manchego in truffle oil, flecked with parsley and chives. You’ll definitely need the razor clams, impossibly tender and drizzled with strong, grassy olive oil. And you mustn’t miss the chopped salmon: lightly cured in beet juice and crowned with an egg yolk to mix in à la tartare. (Egg yolks are everywhere these days; they are the ampersands of contemporary London.)
the city that can out-india india Bengali prawns, Hyderabadi biryani, Karnatakan dosai…if it’s cooked somewhere in India, it’s served somewhere in London, where thousands of South Asian restaurants specialize in countless regional cuisines. One thing you couldn’t find much of till now: the Parsi cooking of Bombay’s Irani cafés. In the 1960’s, Bombay had hundreds of such places—elegantly worn rooms with faded tile floors, creaking fans and a devoted clientele that transcended class and caste. Now only a few dozen remain. All of which makes the charming Dishoom, in Shoreditch, such a find. An uncanny homage to Bombay’s Britannia—the king of Irani cafés—the place feels like a walk-in sepia photograph, bathed in dreamy light from Deco sconces and lamps fashioned from antique film projectors. Archival photos and old Hindi adverts capture the funky glamour of midcentury Bombay. Despite its artfully aged interior, Dishoom actually opened last fall—a
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follow-up to the Covent Garden original. (That location, sleeker and less soulful, has the same menu.) But Dishoom isn’t just a movie-set simulacrum; it also serves terrific food. Consider its take on berry pulao, the tart Parsi-style biryani. I’ve long pined for one equal to Britannia’s, and Dishoom’s intricately flavored variation—made with tangy cranberries instead of barberries—comes as close as any. There’s also a deep, rich, black-lentil dal, fragrant with wintery spice, into which I kept swirling spoonfuls of yogurt to create spirals of creamy deliciousness. For those who really miss Mumbai, Dishoom even serves Thums Up, the Indian Coke. Never again should one settle for generic curry on nearby Brick Lane.
the city that ate america London is right now in thrall to at least a dozen different food crazes, among them a rage for old-school steak houses, a burgeoning Peruvian trend, a sudden wave of authentic Mexican and a welcome influx of great Vietnamese (the chic new Cây Tre Soho has fabulous bánh cuón ravioli and a knockout ox-cheek pho). But of all the exotic foods making their way to these shores, the least likely is also the most pervasive: London has gone mad for American junk food. You can’t swing a Welsh corgi around here without hitting some jam-packed burger, hot dog, fried-chicken or barbecue joint. Just off Carnaby Street, Pitt Cue started life as a truck before going brick-and-mortar last year. The pit master does impressive work with smoky, slow-cooked beef ribs, and the addictive mashed potatoes come laced with marrow and a sticky glaze of barbecue drippings. (Chase it with an A&W root beer.) Eight blocks east is the new Soho branch of Brixtonbased Honest Burgers, which sources rare-breed North Yorkshire beef from Ginger Pig, the city’s best butcher. The namesake burger is excellent: a thick patty of savory dry-aged chuck, cooked to a properly pink medium and topped with onion relish, lettuce, pickles, bacon and aged cheddar. Better still are the crisp twice-cooked fries sprinkled with rosemary salt. Meanwhile, in Fitzrovia, the red-hot Bubbledogs pairs grower champagnes with gussied-up hot dogs (including a bánh mì variation with pickled carrots, fennel, cucumber, cauliflower and Sriracha-spiced mayo). Then there’s Meat Liquor, currently the trendiest restaurant in London. Join the epic queue, cross the velvet rope and step inside a faux roadhouse soaked in graffiti and blood-red neon. The sound track is raunchy psychobilly; the food pure, uncut “Amurrican.” The saucy, spicy “dead hippie” burger is justly revered as one of London’s best, with a good bun-to-filling ratio and a satisfying if sloppy integrity. A reckless man might side it with deep-fried pickles. As my eyes adjusted to the dim, I noticed an absurdly gorgeous quartet of male and female models—all with butterscotch English accents—noshing on chili-cheese fries and chugging PBR.
the city of earthy delights By now you’ve surely heard the hype about Dabbous, the 12-table room in Fitzrovia run by 32-year-old chef Ollie Dabbous, who’s earned second-coming-like praise since his debut last January. (Given that London critics are the nastiest on the planet, this is no small feat.) I can report that the food
From left: Burger delivery at Meat Liquor; breakfast at notting Hill’s granger & Co.
The chatter of the room at Kitchen Table drops to a hush as we all realize what we are in for: attention must be paid really is that good, even if the space comes off like an assemblyline floor—all concrete, steel and exposed ductwork. You expect to be issued a welder’s apron. The servers, however, are amiable and informed, and what the room lacks in color is made up for on the plates. A startlingly vivid pea-and-mint starter celebrates the miracle of England’s greatest ingredient: a brightgreen pea purée, drizzled with tart pea oil, topped with minty pea granita and whole peas in the shell, their tangly shoots climbing up the rim. It is the greenest dish you’ve ever seen, a bowlful of emeralds. You want a spatula to scoop up every bite.
Dabbous’s signature dish, a coddled egg with smoked butter and wild mushrooms, arrives in the shell perched on a nest of straw. Imagine a Japanese chawanmushi custard, but tasting definitively of the English soil. It is unspeakably delicious. Even the bread course is unexpected: a house-made seeded sourdough redolent of...smoky bacon. (After baking, the bread is cooled on a rack above a barbecuing ibérico ham.) One can imagine the chef as a boy, playing in some rustling meadow or English garden, conducting experiments on all that grows there. His kitchen does much the same: pickling rose
petals, mixing horseradish with buttermilk, transforming pine needles into a consommé, fashioning nests of hay, garnishing each dazzling creation with edible flowers. It’s an astonishingly assured restaurant, and I urge you to try it yourself, if you can score a table—I hear there are a few left for 2014.
the city You never expected
balance. The pheasant course, for instance: confited leg meat, mixed with thyme and pickled rhubarb, then rolled in delicate brik pastry and deep-fried, like a Moroccan cigar. It rests on a silky purée of Jerusalem artichokes alongside stewed bonbon dates, and is scattered with puffed barley. The result is ingenious: complex yet comforting, novel yet deeply familiar. While Knappett explains each dish, his sous-chefs are already assembling the next course, like stagehands in the wings, offering us tantalizing glimpses of what’s to come: a snow-white turbot fillet here, a tangle of sea purslane there. The cooks are remarkably young—average age 24—but maintain intense focus, working hard to create a sense of play. After three hours the night is winding down, and the kitchen crew begins to relax and joke around. Strangely, no one seems tired, least of all the guests. Despite the late hour—and the forest of empty wine glasses before us—we’re feeling rather energized. So much so that I’m tempted to order another round of the pheasant. ✚
Much as I loved Dabbous, the place I keep dreaming about is two blocks farther north—hidden, as it happens, behind the aforementioned Bubbledogs. It’s called Kitchen Table, and shortly after it opened last fall, it served me one of the finest meals in my memory. Chef James Knappett and his wife, sommelier Sandia Chang, make a nice emblem for the new England: he, a Noma- and Per Se–trained Brit; she, a Saudi-born Asian American schooled in Los Angeles. They met in New York, moved to London and started Bubbledogs last summer. But it’s in the back room, at Kitchen Table, that Knappett does his finest work: creating a regent’S 10- to 14-course, daily-changing tasting HacKney ParK menu for just 19 diners, who sit at a zinc SHoredItcH cLerKenWeLL countertop around the open kitchen. Opera plays softly in the background; coVent fItzroVIa SPItaLfIeLdS garden maryLeBone the nighttime clamor at Bubbledogs is SoHo just a faint buzz beyond the curtain. nottIng HILL mayfaIr St. Chang pours champagne while Knappett Hyde jameS’S ParK LamBetH and three sous-chefs work the stoves. The hand-lettered menu lists just a single KnIgHtSBrIdge word for each course ( burrata / pheasant / BermondSey BeLgraVIa pasta / pig), playing up the surprise. First up: a plump Cornish shrimp, served raw, cHeLSea n with fresh dill and frozen horseradish. It 0 1.6 Km is luscious, elemental, sensational. The cLaPHam BrIxton chatter of the room drops to a hush as we all realize what we’re in for: attention t L guide must be paid. Knappett, meanwhile, is as humble as can be, introducing each Quo Vadis 26-29 Dean St., granger & Co. 175 eat course himself and charming his guests Soho; quovadissoho.co.uk; Westbourne Grove, Notting The Albion 2-4 Boundary set menu 20. Hill; grangerandco.com; with funny stories. He confesses to St., Shoreditch; albioncaff. Soif 27 Battersea Rise, breakfast for two 25. nearly being arrested while foraging for co.uk; lunch for two 22. Clapham; soif.co; dinner for Honest Burgers Soho Bubbledogs 70 Charlotte sorrel and nettles on national parkland two 60. 4A Meard St., Soho; St., Fitzrovia; bubbledogs. (“The cop said, ‘I have no idea why St. John 26 St. John St., honestburgers.co.uk; co.uk; hot dogs for two 12. anyone would ever want to eat this stuff, Clerkenwell; ‘Honest’ burgers for two 16. Cây Tre Soho 42-43 Dean so I’m going to look the other way this stjohnrestaurant.com; dinner Kitchen Table @ St., Soho; caytresoho.co.uk; for two 60. Bubbledogs 70 Charlotte time—but don’t ever come back here dinner for two 40. St. John Bread & Wine St., Fitzrovia; bubbledogs. Colbert 50-52 Sloane Sq., again’ ”). He rhapsodizes about the 32 94-96 Commercial St., co.uk; tasting menu 68. Chelsea; colbertchelsea. varieties of herbs growing “at my mum’s Spitalfields; stjohngroup.uk. Maltby Street Market com; dinner for two 80. place” in Cambridgeshire, including the com; dinner for two 60. Maltby St., Bermondsey; Dabbous 39 Whitfield St., verbena that perfumes the sauce for the Tom’s Kitchen 27 Cale St., maltbystmarket.com. Fitzrovia; dabbous.co.uk; Scottish lobster. He raves about the Meat Liquor 74 Welbeck Chelsea; tomskitchen.co.uk; tasting menu 54. samphire he collected on the coast of St., Marylebone; meatliquor. breakfast for two 30. Daylesford 44B Pimlico, com; dinner for two 30. Tramshed 32 Rivington St., Belgravia; daylesfordorganic. Cornwall and the English—yes, English— com; dinner for two 70. Pitt Cue 1 Newburgh St., Shoreditch; chickenand truffles he sources from “a top-secret Dishoom Shoreditch 7 Soho; pittcue.co.uk; dinner steak.co.uk; dinner for two woodland” in Wiltshire. Boundary St., Shoreditch; dish for two 20. from 45. In an era when restaurant cooking is oom.com; dinner for two 44. The Wolseley 160 Pizarro 194 Bermondsey about too many hands doing too much Donostia 10 Seymour Piccadilly, St. James’s; St., Bermondsey; with your food or too few doing far too Place, Marylebone; donostia. thewolseley.com; breakfast josepizzaro.com; dinner for co.uk; tapas for two 70. little, Kitchen Table finds a laudable for two 30. two 40. rIV
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our definitive guide to
Sin City has reinvented itself once again with splashier hotels, over-the-top restaurants and show-stopping spectacles. What’s not to love? By Andrea Bennett Photographed by Misha gravenor
The sleepless Las Vegas Strip, with the Luxor hotel in the foreground.
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From left: A standard room at nobu Hotel Caesars Palace; inside a Terrace one-bedroom at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
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Lay of the Land The Strip this legendary stretch keeps getting better, with nearly every hotel undergoing a major face-lift. Downtown the city’s business district is also home to Vegas’s best galleries, museums and one-off boutiques. getting Around taxis are ideal; for travel within the strip, consider walking or taking the monorail (lvmonorail.com).
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The Makeovers mgm grand the us$160 million renovation of the MgM includes a major green sweep (leD lighting; solar shades) and the addition of wellnessthemed suites, complete with light therapy. Destination restaurants like Joël robuchon were (wisely) left alone, but look out for new cantonese hot spot hakkasan. mgmgrand.com; $90.
Hard rocK HoteL & caSIno a 650-square-meter entertainment venue. a rollicking gastropub. a massive gaming lounge. they’re all part of the recent update of this popular off-strip hangout. hardrockhotel. com; $48.
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four SeaSonS HoteL LaS VegaS all rooms and suites rang in the new year with an art Deco– inspired transformation, using lacquered surfaces that reflect the glittering strip. View the desert from your floor-to-ceiling window. fourseasons.com; $279.
BeLLagIo a us$110 million nip and tuck added bold colors, murals and high-tech amenities to this Vegas standby. bellagio.com; $179.
noBu HoteL caeSarS PaLace the legendary caesars palace has been reborn as chef nobu Matsuhisa’s nobu hotel. handcrafted grass cloth
and Japanese stone fill rooms, plus there’s the in-room nobu sushi menu. caesarspalace. com; $249.
The new Classics arIa reSort & caSIno It takes a lot to make waves here, but aria did it in 2009, redefining the skyline with its curvilinear glass towers housing 4,004 rooms, 17 restaurants, a spa, casino and the cirque du soleil show Zarkana. arialasvegas.com; $170.
coSmoPoLItan of LaS VegaS the city’s last-built major hotel makes a design statement. past the see-and-be-seen lobby, there are plenty
of diversions: Marquee nightclub, boutiques and restaurants, from brasserie comme Ça to the burger joint holsteins. cosmopolitan lasvegas.com; $190.
PaLazzo LaS VegaS a rarefied version of the Venetian, with some of the strip’s most luxe suites and an opulent 2-hectare romangarden-style pool deck. palazzo.com; $269.
encore Dripping with 130 red Murano-glass chandeliers, the edgier, younger sibling of Wynn las Vegas has 2,034 rooms but feels intimate. wynnlasvegas. com; $239.
hotel prices are in us dollars for double occupancy.
f r o M l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f c a e s a r s e n t e r ta I n M e n t; c o u r t e s y o f t h e c o s M o p o l I ta n o f l a s V e g a s
From the most buzzed-about openings to eye-catching renovations, here’s what’s happening in the Vegas hotel scene.
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eat Don’t miss these five foodie adventures. The Strip tetSu at chef Masa takayama’s new teppanyaki restaurant, guests pick from a table piled high with meats, seafood and vegetables, which are cooked at one of six grills—four of which are blackjack-style tables (Welcome to Vegas!). arialasvegas.com; dinner for two $100.
PuBLIc HouSe plenty of Vegas restaurants have tried the gastropub game, though none as successfully as this one. nevada’s first beer cicerone pairs dozens of brews with plates like roasted bone marrow with bacon marmalade. publichouselv. com; dinner for two $100.
BaccHanaL If you thought you knew the Vegas buffet, you’ll be surprised by the 600-seat bacchanal. serving more than 500 dishes from nine kitchens, the large-scale operation puts to rest the
mass-cooked concept: these foods are prepared to order. caesarspalace.com; dinner for two $90.
Downtown eat chef natalie young’s low-key joint has a cult following. her cooking infuses american classics with new Mexican and french influences, creating standouts like roast beef on ciabatta with tangy blue cheese, wild mushrooms and pickled red onions. eatdowntownlv.com; lunch for two $40.
Clockwise from top left: outside Le Thai, in downtown Las Vegas; shrimp pad Thai at Le Thai; a booth at the Venetian’s Public House.
Le tHaI the tiny dining room attracts power brokers and hipsters, thanks to an eclectic menu with monster thai flavors. three-color curry and pork jerky are big draws, along with the aptly named “awesome noodles,” which are tart, sweet, fishy and spicy. lethaivegas.com; dinner for two $40. prices in us dollars.
Shop
Vegas has it all—big-name brands, funky one-off boutiques and plenty of kitsch.
The Strip cryStaLS at cItycenter the mixed-use development is chockablock with designer boutiques: louis Vuitton, eres, gucci. add in the cinematic draws—fendi’s scale model of rome’s trevi fountain; a full fashion runway at roberto cavalli— and you have a seriously stimulating retail experience. crystalsatcitycenter.com. Browsing the racks at electric Lemonade.
forum SHoPS at caeSarS this over-the-top roman extravaganza contains one of
the three tiffany & co. stores on the strip, as well as Valentino, hublot and the second alfred Dunhill store in the united states. forumshops.com.
SHoPPeS at tHe PaLazzo the airy space is anchored by barneys and holds eye-popping shops, including Van cleef & arpels, charriol and more. theshoppesatthe palazzo.com.
Downtown PatIna décor It’s all about the well-chosen
selection of vintage furnishings here, from hollywood regency tables to Midcentury Modern barware. Just try going home without ordering a wing chair that’s been creatively reupholstered in candy colors. patinadecorlv.com.
eLectrIc Lemonade pieces by emerging designers are displayed like art at electric lemonade. look out for throwback concert t-shirts, 1960’s dresses, and retro jewelry and sunglasses. electriclemonadeshop.com.
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See do Four ways to get your culture fix, Vegas-style. neon muSeum after years of appointment-only showings, this collection of 150 neon signs dating back as far as the 1930’s is finally open to the public. the lobby of the rehabbed la concha Motel now stands as its visitors’ center, through which you’ll enter to see iconic signs from the Moulin rouge, the Desert Inn and the stardust. neonmuseum.org.
moB muSeum the federal courthouse where the 1950 kefauver hearings on organized crime were held is now a museum dedicated to the history of mobsters.
among its showstoppers: the entire bullet-ridden wall from the al capone-linked 1929 st. Valentine’s Day Massacre in chicago; interactive exhibits on wiretapping; and real weapons used by Mafia hit men. themobmuseum.org.
Project dInner taBLe every month, internationally renowned chefs, including Mark lorusso and Michel richard, serve 150 guests at one very long dinner table in a different setting—the middle of an orchard, say, or left field at a baseball stadium—for charity.
caveat: seats fill up quickly, so book at least 30 days in advance. November through April; projectdinnertable.com.
SmItH center for tHe PerformIng artS opened last year, the most hotly anticipated cultural venue in recent las Vegas history is a breathtaking, us$465 million center that hosts groups ranging from the Israel philharmonic and the alvin ailey american Dance theater to the cleveland orchestra and london’s academy of st. Martin in the fields. thesmithcenter.com.
only in Vegas... Where can you race a Ferrari or watch an after-hours cookoff among the world’s top chefs? Vegas, baby, Vegas. Test Drive Race Cars the year-old Dream racing experience at las Vegas Motor speedway offers aspiring drivers classroom training, a simulator session and five high-speed laps around the track (0 to 97 kph in 3½ seconds) in cars—like the ferrari f430 gt—that are not street legal. dreamracing.com. grab Your gun shooting ranges have sprung up across the city; the best is Machine guns Vegas, a “luxury gun lounge” staffed by women. choose your weapons from a lengthy menu, including an M249 and a prohibition-era tommy gun. machinegunsvegas.com.
The Stardust Resort & Casino sign at the neon Museum.
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Watch Famous Chefs Battle once a month starting at 1 a.m., high-profile chefs are pitted against one another at a clutch of food-truck kitchens in the tommy rocker’s parking lot with only a basket of mystery ingredients in what’s been dubbed the back of the house brawl. Dishes are sold to the public until 2 a.m. saturdaynight truckstop.tumblr.com.
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Play Vintage games bring your quarters. at the upstairs gaming room at the D las Vegas (formerly fitzgeralds), you can race mechanized horses on one of the few remaining sigma Derby tables, or plunk your change into retro one-armed bandits. thed.com.
From left: The glammed-out Culinary Dropout restaurant at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino; the bar at the Barrymore; the Fire Wave, a sandstone formation at Valley of Fire State Park.
Local Take Three Las Vegans share their favorite spots in the city. meLISSa aKKaWay
owner of Beckley Boutique at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
tony HSIeH
l e f t: e r I k k a b I k . fa r r I g h t: © n at h a n c 78 / D r e a M s t I M e . c o M . I l l u s t r at I o n s b y l a u r e n n a s s e f
Ceo of Zappos
rIcK moonen
Chef and owner of RM Seafood at Mandalay Place
Where I go for…
Where I go for…
Where I go for…
a PoWer LuncH
a nIgHt out
a PoSt-WorK BIte
The coffeehouse and record store the Beat (thebeatlv.com), in downtown’s Emergency Arts center.
The Barrymore (barrymore.com; set menu for two $94), just off the Strip, has delicious American food and a Rat Pack feel that’s not overdone.
One of my go-to places is Culinary Dropout (hardrockhotel.com; dinner for two $80) with soulful dishes like meatloaf and beef stroganoff.
Late-nIgHt tIPPLeS
With its hip music and low-key vibe, the Downtown Cocktail Room (thedowntownlv.com; drinks for two $18) is a local favorite. HangIng WItH tHe In-croWd
Coterie Downtown (515 E.
Fremont St.; 1-702/685-7741), which is part lounge, part vintage store, is the place to be—whether you’re shopping or not.
nightlife Hit up one of these places for a taste of Vegas after dark.
Bagatelle Supper Club start the day with the champagne brunch at this 24-hour Medstyle restaurant/club. bagatellelasvegas.com.
InSPIratIon
PeoPLe-WatcHIng
I love to visit the Beckley House (clarkcountynv.gov), which was my grandmother’s residence and is now part of a museum. It’s one of the first bungalow-style homes in the area.
There’s so much to see at First Friday (firstfridaylasvegas.com), when galleries and artists’ studios are open to the public until 10 p.m.
a day off
When I get some downtime, I like to run the loop at Red Rock Canyon (blm.gov). xS expect goldembossed-croc VIp booths at xs, rumored to be the priciest nightclub ever built. xslasvegas.com.
1oAK this new york import reinvents itself as an intimate (in Vegas, this means 1,486 square meters) space. 1oaklasvegas.com.
exercISe
Valley of Fire (parks.nv.gov),
Nevada’s oldest state park, and Mount Charleston (gomtcharleston. com) are great places to hike.
Hyde Bellagio sam nazarian’s philippe starck– designed lounge becomes a club on weekends. hydebellagio.com.
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The Ainsworth Done up with barn wood, this rustic yet sophisticated room elevates the sports bar. ainsworth lasvegas.com.
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Last Look
Photographed by Ian Lloyd Neubauer
Sabeto Valley, Fiji
Love, and a few life lessons, are all you need In the course of such a vibrant event as this hindu wedding in the south pacific, the metaphors the priest uses to teach the couple about the duties of marriage still stand out as colorful. here, a peeled apple represents the purity of the bride.
Solemn vows Vivah Sanskar, or hindu marriage sacraments, launch life’s most important stage: the start of a new family unit by a bride and groom considered compatible for lifelong partnership.
Kids’ table
A merging of two families one by one, the bride’s mother, grandmother, sisters, aunts—all her female family members—apply tumeric- or saffron-derived kumkum powder to the groom’s forehead and toss flowers over his head.
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the ceremony lasts eight hours; after two, the children adjourn to the dining area for a vegetarian feast, which includes cinnamon fried rice, curried potato and eggplant, mango chutney and roti baked fresh in a clay oven.