July 2013 by Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia

Volume 07 / Issue 07

Contents

July 2013 Features 76

l auryn Ishak

Sublime South Ceylon jeninne lee - st . john goes searching for herself in Sri Lanka, and finds surfing, seer fish, shirodhara—and maybe even a little of the marrow of life. guide page 85 Secret Shores Take a step beyond the region’s most crowded beaches and

you’ll uncover some hidden strips of sand where solitude rules the day. (Just don’t tell anyone else about these spots) 92

Boracay Without Bounds On this Philippine island dreamland, may the wind under your wings bear you to where the sun sails and the moon walks. by stephanie zubiri .

photographed by philipp engelhorn . map and guide page

101

102 Sea Change Adventure cruises are entering brave new worlds—of luxury. jane wooldridge is wholeheartedly on board. guide page 107 108 The Beach, Italian Style They are, after all,

the inventors of la dolce vita, so is it any wonder Italians have perfected the art of the summer beach vacation? devin friedman goes native on the coast of Liguria. Plus Eight more European beach hideaways, from Denmark to Greece. photographed by emiliano granado . guide page 117

Teatime in the ambalama by the pool at Amangalla, Galle, Sri Lanka, page 76. 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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Contents

dest i nat ions

Trip Doctor

Six Dishes: Saigon Our meal-by-meal guide to where and what to eat now. by monique truong . photographed by morgan

Planning Five trips for the sporty traveler.

Deals From a spa retreat in Bali to a city stay in Seoul, we spotlight this month's exclusive deals.

ommer

Diving the Great Wall A new way to see one of the world’s oldest wonders. by m . rose

Look Sharp mark lean checks out Kuala Lumpur’s rising men’s fashion scene.

Street Scene Find out where the locals go in Singapore. by melanie lee Plus Why we go mad for good masseurs; your summer beach must-haves; top-flight shoes for the active traveler; the best city beaches around Asia; and more.

Q+A How to tell if an airline is safe, plus how to avoid altitude sickness.

Plus Knit dresses for summer; translation apps; and more. Point of View 70

In Praise of Sightskipping erik torkells proposes 10 ways to find the soul of a destination. Decoder

118 Rangoon As Burma opens up to the outside world, the crumbling colonial charm

of Rangoon is primed to be discovered. Amid the booming art scene, increasingly stylish dining options and excitement in the air, sylvia gavin suggests you visit soon. photographed by cedric arnold

Departments 16 18 … i n b o x 2 0

e d i t o r ’s n o t e

contr ibu tors

Radar 28

14 …

on the cover Seagazing at the Twin Palms Phuket. Photographer: Christopher Wise; stylist, hair and make-up: Lisa Allen; dress: Bliss (islandblissphuket.com); model: Um.

Strategies 125 Nine Rules for Using Social Media on the Road amy chen reveals her tips for harnessing the latest tools. Plus The winners of T+L’s 2013 Social Media in Travel and Tourism awards. Last Look 130 Bondi Beach A bird's-eye view of one of Australia’s best stretches of sand. photographed by eugene tan

cedrIc arnold

Passengers on Rangoon’s cross-river ferry, page 118.

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Destinations

July 2013 123

lig u ri a

108 30

118

106 s ri l a n k a

Be ij i n g

r a n goon

Bor acay

Bon di Be ac h

130

DeSTINATIoN

PAGe

WheN To Go

WhAT US$5 BUyS

Who To FoLLoW

Beijing

April through June, or September through Chinese National Week in October.

Entrance to the Temple of Heaven, and the surrounding buildings and areas.

@thebeijinger

sri lanka

rainy season hits the southwestern side of the island from May to september, and the northeastern part from october to january.

a package of spicy yogi Tea from hundungoda Tea estate.

@srilankatourism

Boracay

november to May is dry season on the island.

a glass of imported beer at The hobbit house.

@MyBoracayGuide

liguria

108

june through september has perfect beach weather, but april and May or late september and october have fewer tourists.

a hot slice of farinata, a local chickpea-flour flatbread fragrant with olive oil.

@LiguriaBella

rangoon

118

Between november and February, when the weather is cool and dry.

a trip through time for two on the circle Train.

@myanmarmonitor

Bondi Beach

130

The weather is perfect for surfing november through March, but avoid late december, when australian schools have their holidays.

a flat white at Trio cafĂŠ with panoramic views of the beach.

@BondiBeached

Long Weekend

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Beach

Active

t r av e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a .c o m

Food+Drink

Shopping

Arts+Culture

Editor’s Note

where to find me chrisk@mediatransasia.com @CKucway on Twitter

defining Travels

At the Four Seasons hangzhou.

our next stops

Manila

New Zealand Koh yao yai and yao Noi Papua New Guinea

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. 16

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n I c o l a c h I lT o n

e all know that luxury travel means different things to different people, so when a hotelier mentioned that his Madrid property was close to the Prado, the daydreamers among us were checking in. That is, until the lost-in-Mandarin-translation kicked in and an audible murmur of excitement swept through a room of largely Chinese speakers. They were told of a wonderful new museum in the Spanish capital dedicated to Prada. This cultural confusion between a world-class art museum and a high-end retailer underlines our different expectations when we travel. Those expectations were on the minds of airline, hotel and resort operators at International Luxury Travel Market Asia in Shanghai last month, grappling with what you might expect is a constant—and ever-changing—concern for those in the travel industry. As with many grand questions, there is no specific formula. So the best answer starts with us. Obvious but not always a given is that we should choose destinations to suit our own needs, particularly when paying top dollar. Do you want to visit a locale where you can give something back? Then read about fastchanging Rangoon this month (Decoder: Rangoon, page 118). Or go soul-searching somewhere full of history and mystery? Then Sri Lanka (“Sublime South Ceylon,” page 76) will transport you there. Of course, listening to guests is a priority, so don’t be afraid to mention your concerns and commendations to resort managers. In a perfect world, guests are treated as a member of the family. And social media has become a conduit for expressing opinions, which explains our in-depth look at it this month (Strategies, page 125). Yet it often feels too anonymous. Personal interaction with staff is more rewarding. I discovered that after Shanghai on a side trip to the Four Seasons Hangzhou. The design of the property, its unparalleled Chinese menus and its extensive gardens are spectacular, but what I recall most are the genuinely helpful staff. Nothing was lost in translation.— chr istopher k uc way

Contributors

Mark Lean

Emiliano Granado

Stephanie Zubiri

your style is… Classic but never boring. how’s the kl fashion scene? Pretty much anything goes; luxury labels still awe KL folks. But it’s now also cool to see twentysomethings on weekends at coffee bars like Artisan Roast and Butter & Beans channeling some hipster vibe. do you think men there are dressing better? I used to work with a bunch of guys who are decidedly stylish. With them though, it’s never just about brands or wearing a fedora or a bow tie. It’s more about the right fits, proportions, colors and haircuts—the complete look. your favorite local brands White Pagoda T-shirts are low-key and offer surprise value when paired with Prada shorts. Also, CheeseDenim and Ceremony Fine Wear create jeans that are just right for Asian men.

liguria taste test Pizza diavola is my jam. While in Liguria, I tried to eat it at every restaurant I went to. However, you haven’t finished any meal there until you’ve ordered an espresso. Pizza and espresso: the keys to living a fulfilled life. italian riviera photo collages are full of... Rocks and Speedos. how do you blend in with the locals? Don’t wear hip packs. Ever. portrait photography tip Be positive and assertive. Owning the situation calms people, letting them follow orders and be less selfconscious. favorite souvenir you brought home A tan! don’t leave liguria without... Getting lost.

how many times have you been to boracay? More than 20, since the mid-90’s. Some years we go three or four times. you make boracay sound like a hot mess Yes! I find myself frowning upon these “youngsters.” But my friends say the same thing: “Wow, I started partying in Boracay even before that was built!” The music has changed and the bikinis are smaller but we all still go there to escape hectic Manila. island’s best meal Cyma’s crazy good lamb ribs, tangy chicken souvlaki and metzedes. I like eating with my hands! local secrets With some tips and sweet-talking you can have everything your way. Ask your fave resto to pack you a meal or barbecue, buy wine from Ralph’s, some cold cuts and cheese from Santis, and sail a paraw to a cove for sunset.

Photographer “The Beach, Italian style” (page 108).

Writer “Boracay Without Bounds” (page 92).

‘The music has changed and the bikinis are smaller but we all still go to Boracay to escape hectic Manila.’ —stePhanie ZuBiri

F r o M l e F T: c o u r T e s y o F M a r k l e a n ; s a B r I n a y u ; c o u r T e s y o F s T e p h a n I e z u B I r I

Writer “look sharp” (page 44).

Inbox

Throwback Glamour Your June cover is swanky! So Suzy Wong hits the 21st century. Well done. f

Bonnie Lau

T+L SOUTHEAST ASIA

AN A TO Z GUIDE TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR HOTEL

Slick Singapore

THE HOTELS ISSUE / HANOI+SAIGON / 2013 IT LIST / SINGAPORE / BEST HOTEL SERVICE / GUANGZHOU / KOH PHAYAM

SOUTHEAST ASIA

MAY 2013

SOUTHEAST ASIA

JUNE 2013

The Hotels Issue HANOI+SAIGON

A SIBLING RIVALRY LIKE NO OTHER

IT LIST

THE COOLEST NEW PLACES TO STAY

singapore

SINGAPORE GETS ITS GROOVE BACK

PENANG IN SIX DISHES JUNE 2013

67 9 771906 082018

Tale of Two Cities

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

01548 M8 06COVER_2013V2 (13).indd 1

You guys make Singapore [Decoder, June 2013] look so cool. I love Fat Cow and World Savage. In fact, I’m really pumped about all the changes that have been happening in my hometown over the past couple of years. I’ve been wanting to shout about them from the rooftops. Thanks for doing it for me! Tulip Leo

Flashpacker Alert

5/15/13 1:51 AM

I was so very glad to read about the new generation of hostels [“Hostel Environment,” June 2013] hitting the region. I remember backpacking through Europe so many years ago: flea-infested shared rooms, grimy group showers, oddball proprietors with random but strict curfews. Don’t get me wrong: it was a great time. But it certainly wasn’t chic— or even, often, safe. I might be a little old for “youth” hostels now, but I’m planning to save some money and visit Matchbox next time I’m in Singapore. Carolina Betancourt

Your recent Vietnam story [“Saigon/Hanoi,” June 2013] was simply gorgeous. Lien Hoang paints such a vivid portrait of both cities, and the photographs perfectly capture my memories. I visited Hanoi and Saigon last year and it feels like ages ago. I now long to go back and explore with fresh eyes, gleaned from the context of this story. In addition, I really appreciated Hoang’s sharing her fascinating, deeply personal history with us readers. Gregory Nissan boston

manila

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Radar on our

Auckland’s CBD silhouetted against a setting sun.

news. finds. opinions. obsessions.

t+l p i c ks

city Beaches

©GeorGe clerk / Ge T T yIMaGes.coM

Karryn Miller digs her toes into the sands of some of the best metropolitan coastlines. new zealand

vietnam

hong kong

singapore

malaysia

Mission Bay, Auckland Though neighboring australia gets all the glory with riches in the city seascape department, new zealand has a couple of worthy contenders— such as this strip of sand, just a 10-minute coastal drive from the cBd, that boasts unobstructed views of Mt. rangitoto, auckland’s volcanic island. stroll or skate along the promenade and stop for a Belgian beer at café De Fontein (defontein.co.nz).

Nha Trang Bay This urban center sits snugly between central Vietnam’s rolling mountains and 4 kilometers of clean sandy beach—which you’re likely to have all to yourself most of the day as Vietnamese prefer to do their wave-frolicking at dawn and dusk. Guests of the Sheraton (starwoodhotels.com; doulbes from US$118) can use the comfy lounge chairs on the beach or opt for the pool.

Sai Kung east Country Park This rugged 4,500-hectare reserve in hong kong’s new Territories is a bit of a trek—more than an hour by train or bus to sai kung Town, plus a taxi and hike to the water. Those up for the challenge will find remote bays: sai Wan, ham Tin, Tung Wan and Tai long, carved into the coastline. not a hiker? Book a Chinese teak junk (islandjunks.com.hk) and float to shore.

east Coast & Sentosa The beaches may not be as perfect as neighboring isles’, but the city-state has some pretty fine stretches of sand for a metropolis. at Malaysia east coast park Beach, pop by Mana Mana Beach Club (1212 East Coast Parkway; 65/63398878; manamana.com), to try sailing or windsurfing. or hop in a cable car to sentosa, and check in at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa (shangri-la.com; doubles from S$330).

Kerachut, Penang lace up for a two-hour jungle hike through penang national park to kerachut Beach, or take it easy with a boat ride from the park entrance straight to the secluded bay. The quiet spot is a nesting site for green turtles and visitors can pop by the Turtle sanctuary located there. head back to George Town for the night and stay at the charming six-suite Clove hall (clovehall.com; doubles from RM550). ✚

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Radar goods

gadget game

Star Power

These nutty travel products are all real—except one. Can you spot the impostor?

nothing says “hey, hollywood!” like chunky frames in red-hot hues. By Mimi lombardo acetate sunglasses, kate spade (katespade.com)

handmade frames, Gant (gant.com)

The UpRight Sleeper It may look like a choking device, but it actually keeps your head steady when you doze off.

Glyde Gear Backpack Not content to carry or pull your bag? Lower the foot platform and use it as a scooter.

Biodegradable frames, rebecca Minkoff (rebeccaminkoff.com)

apps

novel graPhics

They say every good picture tells a story, but Canon’s new Pixma Comix app takes that idea to a whole new level. The Facebook app lets you assemble your snapshots into a mock comic book page, complete with kitschy caption bubbles and graphics. Just choose your layout, filter and text, and then publish your pics directly to social media. The pop art edge adds a bit of flair to even your run-of-themill vacation shots. —diana hubbell 26

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USB Air-Conditioned Shirt When plugged in to a laptop, built-in fans whir into action—perfect for stuffy airport gates.

Metal-Detecting Sandals Lose that pesky pole and let your feet do the hunting for treasures buried in the sand. —brook e porter ANSWeR: hydr aulIc heels

cat-eyes, Thierry lasry (thierrylasry.com)

Hydraulic Heels A day of walking followed by a night of dancing? Just push a button to go from 0 to 10 centimeters in 2 seconds flat!

c l o c k W I s e F r o M T o p l e F T: T o M s c h I e r l I T z ; I l l u s T r aT I o n s B y j o e M c k e n d r y; c o u r T e s y o F c a n o n

shades with a keyhole bridge, 3.1 phillip lim (31philliplim.com)

Radar food

Six Dishes: Saigon

our meal-by-meal guide to where and what to eat now. By Monique Truong

breakfast Hu tieu Nam Vang kho at hu Tieu Quynh

snack Sinh to mang cau xiem at Juicy

lunch Thit kho to and thit ba rol xao mam ruoc at Cuc Gach Quan

Why is a bowl of noodles the breakfast of choice in this rambunctious, nightlife-loving metropolis? It’s the best hangover cure, of course. In this Cambodia-influenced staple, rice noodles are graced with shrimp, pork, crispy shallots and pickled lotus stems. A65 Nguyen Trai St., Q1; 84-83/836-9145; VND65,000 per bowl.

Mang cau xiem (soursop) is proof that sometimes Mother Nature can’t make up her mind. Pineapple, green mango, lychee, banana and lime? She said yes to all. Whirled into a sinh to (smoothie), this is a great reminder that ice makes everything better in the tropics. 18A Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St., Q1; 8483/910-0262; VND18,000 per glass.

Conceived by a local architect in homage to his grandmother, this rustic oasis offers authentic countryside dishes. Order a clay pot of slow-braised or caramelized pork, seasoned with mam ruoc (fermented shrimp paste) and lemongrass. 10 Dang Tat St., Q1; 84-83/848-0144; cucgachquan.com.vn/ en; meal for two VND200,000.

dinner Com tam at Com Tam 577

dessert Chuoi nep nuong at Chuoi Nuong Dakao

for the flight home Dac Biet blend coffee beans at Quynh Café

Follow the aroma of pork fat dripping over hot coals to find this Saigon specialty and workingman’s feast: com tam (broken rice) is tucked under a fire-licked pork chop, slices of cha trung (steamed frittata of ground pork), bi (julienned pork skin fragrant with roasted rice powder) and slices of tomato. 577 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St., Q3; VND40,000 per plate.

Dakao Market’s main entrance bustles with people waiting for street-food magic. Wrapped in sticky rice and grilled over coals, the humble banana is transformed into a diva of a dessert, singing honeyed notes with an alluring contrast between its crisp shell and its tender heart. Intersection of Truong Han Sieu and Dinh Tien Hoang Sts., Q1; VND18,000 per piece.

Sourced directly from two small grower-roasters in the Central Highlands, the coffee beans from this light-filled café are an excellent way to keep the buzz of Saigon with you (and to share it with family and friends). The Dac Biet blend will keep you going with its notes of smoke and chocolate. 197 Nguyen Trai St., Q1; VND30,000 for 100 grams.

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Photographed by Morgan Ommer

Radar The Great Wall at hebei, where it meets the sea.

a dv e n t u r e

Diving the Great Wall Mao Zedong once wrote, “He who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a true man,” and each year, millions of tourists heed this somewhat grandiose admonition by ascending the Changcheng on foot or in a chairlift. But thanks to a Chinese government decision in 1975 to flood a corner of Hebei province northeast of Beijing, you can don a wetsuit, strap on an oxygen tank and pay a visit to this Wonder of the World by plunging into the deep instead. 30

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“You can’t dive the Pyramids but can dive the Great Wall,” says Steven Schwankert, an American expat who specializes in “exploration-type diving” and who runs SinoScuba (86-18/61113-3629; sinoscuba.com), a scuba school in Beijing that’s been organizing trips to the underwater Great Wall since 2008. The submerged section is three hours from the capital, inside the Panjiakou reservoir, which is part of a 450-megawatt hydroelectric project that engulfed two strategic

mountain passes dating from the Ming dynasty. Most of the stone ramparts, known in Chinese as the “tenthousand-mile long wall,” were built by the Ming as a defense against northern invaders, and they stretch in an oft-broken chain from China’s western Gansu province to the eastern coast. In Hebei, the Great Wall crawls along the ridgeline of the Yanshan Mountains like a fortified spine—its route determined as much by geomancy as by strategic imperatives.

©pa n o r a M a M edI a / G e T T yIM aG es.c o M

a new way to see one of the world’s oldest wonders. by m. rose

c o u r T e sy o F s I n o s c u B a (3)

The tranquil waters of Panjiakou conceal a long-submerged signal tower—one of a series that communicated via smoke signals—and an archway, a rare “sally port” that allowed troops to ride forth and confront the enemy. It’s perhaps ironic that, today, the reservoir is located in an autonomous county belonging to the Manchu ethnic minority, the group that swept over these battlements to conquer China from the Ming in mid-17th century, and who ruled as the Qing dynasty until 1911. Like military campaigns centuries ago, the diving season at Panjiakou is at the mercy of the weather. It generally spans from May until mid-October, but the water level is sometimes so low that the centerpiece signal tower is exposed to the elements; in 2010, Schwankert recalls, “You couldn’t even snorkel it.” Meanwhile, last year, due to record rainfall that killed 77 in Beijing, the tower ended the season roughly 40 meters below the surface, turning the tour into a night dive, where the bottom temperature was around 10 degrees. Still, this volatility is part of the excitement of diving on the frontier. “There’s no map,” says Schwankert, “no down line until we set one.” Besides the thrill of adventure, the submerged Great Wall’s main attraction is the fact that it has been left untouched by the overzealous officials who refurbished the public sections of the wall without compunction. At Badaling and Mutianyu—two popular spots—ersatz crenellated parapets have been fashioned with fresh brick. But at Panjiakou, the ancient masonry has been preserved, and the worn slabs can be inspected up close. The water is a little murky, but it’s a more intimate, 360-degree experience than hiking, even if it doesn’t offer any of the panoramic vista photo ops. The lack of postcard photographs hasn’t stopped the underwater wall from gaining in popularity, but it’s still teeming with more wildlife than tourists. Badaling can be packed as tightly as a crowded subway, and even some unrestored sections of the “Wild Wall” are increasingly well-trekked.

On the other hand, the only other sightseers you’ll meet on your dive are freshwater shrimp and the occasional carp that has escaped from a nearby aquaculture farm. Schwankert takes only six divers per trip, most of whom are expats. Yet there isn’t much competition; Schwankert estimates that there are only half a dozen active scuba clubs in Beijing. It’s no surprise then that the small but growing number of local divers tend to associate scuba with tropical climes and sandy beaches, rather than ancient stone ruins in north Asia. Landlocked Beijing wouldn’t strike anyone as a diving destination. That has forced people like Schwankert to be creative. His school offers dives at local aquariums with bluenose dolphins and catsharks bred in a program there, as well as an assortment of tropical marine life. Schwankert hopes someday to put together a China safari package that would take adventurous divers to ruins in Yunnan as well as the legendary Lion’s City in Zhejiang. But at least for now they can see something Mao, an avid swimmer himself, never could. ✚

From top: The wall underwater; a diver comes up for air; a dragon fresco on one of the 7.8-meter tall paifangs, or memorial gates.

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Radar Four of Jari Menari’s all-male massage team, in Bali.

him as a reflexology specialist for the comfort of more modest guests. But “I would bet a month’s salary,” Hathaway says, “that one hour with him would change anyone’s mind with his knowledge, connection and ability to heal.” Or, say, three hours of medieval torture on my belly and feet. Digging his thumb into various parts of my soles, Alfa declared, “You have trouble sleeping,” “You’re having digestion problems,” “Your right shoulder is injured.” Yes, yes, yes—and please stop hurting me! Actually keep hurting me because it hurts so good. And let me also introduce you to Phisan (“Nui”) Rangan, who, despite being the only guy on staff at The

obsession

Let’s Hear It For the Boys Male massage therapists will rock your world. jeninne lee-st. john implores you request one for your next spa day. The last several spa treatments I had have been some of the best I’ve ever had. And I think it’s no coincidence that they were administered by men. Having lived in Asia for four and a half years, I’d almost forgotten what a male massage therapist felt like. They’re all over the U.S. but as rare in these parts as a Javan rhino. “It’s sad that male therapists are not the gender of choice,” says Jessica Shea, Director of Spas at the Hyatt properties in Bangkok and Hua Hin, Thailand. In more demure cultures, women generally prefer female therapists; men (unless they’re gay) almost always prefer females. And so, for spa directors in this region, hiring guys usually doesn’t make economic sense, says Brian Hathaway, President of the Asia Pacific Spa and Wellness Coalition, who calls it 32

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“impressive” if a spa’s staff includes just 5 to 10 percent male therapists. Which is really a shame. Nothing against the ladies, but masseurs have magic hands: they’re bigger and more powerful, and that often translates to better manual control “versus having to use elbows,” Shea says. Although it certainly felt like Thanaawhat (“Alfa”) Limpenstein was digging his elbows into my gut during a killer Qi Nei Zang—the Chinese intestinal massage that, though making me yelp in pain for an hour, sent all my tummy troubles packing. While Alfa is skilled at all kinds of treatments, his boss Hathaway, who is also Director of Wellness at Mandarin oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai (mandarinoriental. com/chiangmai; Qi Nei Zang and Chinese Reflexology, each Bt4,000), bills

(huahin.regency.hyatt.com), is one of their most-requested therapists, mainly by Western guests—a group that now includes yours truly. At Shea’s suggestion—“he is excellent at using his palm technique to work over the muscles”—I followed a deep tissue Muscle Relief Massage (Bt3,000) with the exfoliating and hot-stone massage combo Ginger Renewal (Bt4,000). “The heat allows Nui to work in a deeper realm,” she says. The understated 27-year-old grew up in a spa, which his father still runs, and had dreamed all his life of working in a five-star. As it happens, a lot of guys share that aspiration. Indonesian guys, at least, can find vocational training, job placement and employment at Jari Menari (jarimenari.com), an all-maletherapist center with two locations in Bali. On an island famed for its massages, Jari Menari is trying to level the playing field, encouraging every spa to have at least one or two men on staff. “The taller men,” says Susan Stein, the center’s technical advisor, “with their larger hands and strength add positive energy to the delivery.” Stein owns a spa in California, where her 60-40 ratio of male to female therapists is standard, whereas “in Bali, we are unique,” she says—a fact in which she has a personal stake in changing: “As a massage connoisseur, I always choose males. I prefer the large hands and steady pressure.” So do I. C’mon ladies; don’t be shy. Let’s give the boys a hand. ✚

courTesy oF jarI MenarI BalI

Barai, hyatt Regency hua hin

Radar sports

c u lt u r e

Broad Strokes If you like your art with a side of Cantonese cuisine, both appetites can be sated at Duddell’s, Hong Kong’s new creative space that opened to the public last month. All together the Ilse Crawford-designed restaurant, salon and garden terrace span 3,000 square meters, bringing together the talents of co-owners Alan Lo, Paulo Pong and Yen Wong; their team of internationally renowned curators; and the culinary prowess of Chef Siu Hin Chi, of the Michelin-starred T’ang Court. “To me Duddell’s represents an appreciation of the fine things in life,” says Wong, “savvy art, tasty food, good wine and cocktails.” + On the fourth floor Cocktail Salon and Library, Face to Face is currently showing, an

exploration of the genre of portraiture curated by London-based Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes. + Down on three, which is also the dining area, A Taste of the Masters: Paintings from the M. K. Lau Collection, is on display, celebrating the work of China’s most famous ink and brush painters.“This is a unique opportunity to communicate Chinese paintings differently,” says co-curator Catherine Maudsley. “I believe Duddell’s will help people who are unfamiliar with this art form see it in a new light.” Both shows run through August. 3F and 4F, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell St., Central, Hong Kong; 852/2525-9191; duddells.co; free admission; a meal for two HK$600.

sleepy luang prabang is about to kick into gear with a half marathon scheduled for october 5—the first race of its kind in the historic town, dubbed la procession. The 21-kilometer race is made up of three 7-kilometer loops along the river, weaving through historic buildings and temples. The registration fee goes to Friends International (friends-international. org), to design sustainable projects that will improve the welfare of children in the region. charity, exercise, siteseeing— triple threat. luangprabang halfmarathon.com; minimum donation US$200.

ac c e s s o r i e s

carried away

hotel-and-designer dream teams are offering custom canvas totes, just in time for beach season. —mimi lombardo

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kate spade for starwood preferred Guest, us$199.

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Missoni home for seaside luxe at Four seasons resort hualalai, in hawaii, us$350.

jason Wu for st. regis hotels and resorts, us$1,995.

clare Vivier for shutters on the Beach, in santa Monica, calif., us$220.

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 d u d d e l l’ s ; c o u r T e s y o F c l a r e V I V I e r ; c o u r T e s y o F j a s o n W u ; c o u r T e s y o F M I s s o n I h o M e ; c o u r T e s y o F k aT e s p a d e

riverside race

Left: Dining at Duddell’s. Below: A painting by Rodney Graham circa 1870 on display at Duddell’s.

Radar fa s h i o n

Stepping Out

Paul andrew

isa tapia

nicholas kirkwood

The Place patmos, Greece.

The Place Guilin, china.

The Place Miami.

The Shoe The aphrodite, a triple-dyed silk slingback (US$895).

The Shoe The eloise, an embroidered suede lace-up pump (US$495).

The Shoe a suede and patent leather pump (US$895).

The Trip andrew, a onetime protégé of alexander McQueen, visits the island annually as an escape from new york. “you’ll find a mountaintop monastery and locally cured olives, but I focus on the simple things: the sun and the immense expanse of the sea,” he says. andrew had the moiré of the shoe triple-dyed to recall the varying shades of the aegean. paulandrewdesign.com.

The Trip puerto rico–born, Manhattan-based Tapia recently returned from a cruise down china’s li river. “The flat landscape—cut with severe sculptural hills—was straight out of a fairy tale. so was the needlework of the local artisans, which influenced my collection,” she says. her don’t-miss: the Water Moon caves, where hot springs stretch 8 kilometers into the yangshuo Mountains. isatapia.com.

The Trip “I stayed at the raleigh, on south Beach, for a work trip,” says the 2013 winner of the council of Fashion designers of america’s accessory designer of the year award. “I have to watch out for sunburns, but it’s worth it to be around the waterfalls in the pool and the crashing atlantic surf, which I echoed in the pattern of this platform.” nicholaskirkwood.com.

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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 p a u l a n d r e W ; © p I e r d e l u n e / d r e a M s T I M e . c o M ; c o u r T e s y o F I s a Ta p I a ( 2 ) ; c o u r T e s y o F n I c h o l a s k I r k W o o d ; © e l e n a z a r u B I n a / d r e a M s T I M e . c o M ; c o u r T e s y o F n I c h o l a s k I r k W o o d ; c o u r T e s y o F I s a Ta p I a ; c o u r T e s y o F p a u l a n d r e W

Three globe-trotting shoe designers reveal the locations that inspired their teetering creations. By Mimi lombardo

Radar

Designer hella Jongerius with sketches and a mood board for KLM’s new business class.

q& a

at home in the air

how do you reinvent a plane’s interior? I started by asking how to

create a feeling of privacy. We know a jet has a lot of plastic, and that’s not something we have at home. To reduce the synthetic feeling, we relied on high-quality wool, which has a lovely tactility, for the seats, curtains and blankets. Even if you don’t realize it, there’s a human touch in the details that says, “you’re not just a number”—that someone is taking care of you. I heard you recycled old uniforms… KLM had mountains

of used flight attendant uniforms that had been cycled out because of fashion updates. We re-spun their yarns into the wool to make the bright blue stars in the carpet, which was designed to look like the Milky Way. your designs are for business class. Will you be working on the economy cabin? That’s my

next challenge! It’s much harder because there just aren’t a lot of inches. But I’m looking forward to bringing some luxury to economy, too. — chee pearlman

c o u r T e s y o F j o n G e r I u s l a B (4)

less plastic, more natural materials—is this the look of the future of air travel? dutch furniture designer hella jongerius on her new designs for klM, debuting this month.

r e s tau r a n t

Child’s Play

Making mischief and Monster Burgers at a fun chiang Mai restaurant.

Bright lights at Nic’s.

courTesy oF nIc’s

Monkeying around the bamboo playground.

At seven years old, Nick Taenzer has to be one of the youngest restaurant-owners in the world. And with a kid at the helm, it’s no surprise that at Nic’s restaurant in northern Thailand the menu includes festive fare like the “Mr. Wormy” wiggly fish-fingers and the “Monster Burger” with french fries for teeth and olives for eyes. The space also includes a bamboo pirate ship playground, and organized activities like climbing, sandcastle-

building, and arts and crafts. Of course Nic does get some help from his parents Silvia and Harry, who make sure the grown ups are also taken care of with dishes for the more mature palate: tapas, salads, pizzas, pastas, paninis and wraps. All the distractions for kids just might mean a more relaxed meal for mom and dad. Night Safari Rd.3044, Chiang Mai; 66-87/007-3769; nics.asia; kids’ meals from Bt60; adults’ meals from Bt130.

Radar

Chock-a-block with bric-a-brac and irreverent fashion inside The off-Day.

shop

Look Sharp Kuala Lumpur has never bleeped on any fashion radar. But this is set to change. Jalan Telawi 3, a street in the hipster-populated Bangsar neighborhood, sports a growing band of bijou clothing stores that have in the past few years revealed a neat sartorial edge to a location more known for its festive happy hour drinks. The off-Day (17A Jln. Telawi 3, Bangsar; 60-16/306-6774), a two-monthold outfit that styles itself as more lifestyle destination than fashion shop, is set in a space that was formerly one of the city’s most progressive galleries. The store stocks—in an art exhibition setting—utilitarian workwear and basic clothing, which co-owner Irman Hilmi describes as “neither streetwear nor bespoke fashion.” Instead, the advertising executive-turned-fashion44

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retailer makes a push for local brands that are “much more than printed T-shirts” he says. “Basically, we decided to carry the lines of clothes we want to wear.” Case in point: Tomrich Shoes, a KL-brand specializing in wingtips and boots. To vary the retail mix, buyers at The Off-Day also source internationally for niche brands “like organic cotton T-shirts from New York’s Jungmaven,” Hilmi adds. “And coming soon is the retaW range of scents as well as clothing label Norse Projects from Scandinavia.” The Off-Day also features a interconnected furniture-andtchotchkes retail space, Snackfood, with an eclectic assortment of both new and vintage items like arty coffee table tomes, retro-packaged soaps and locally produced Americana-type

desks made from used wooden doors salvaged from torn down buildings— all products, Hilmi explains, “pretty much in line with the overall concept of the store: mainly, basics and classics. They are less trend-driven and rely more on quality and workmanship rather than on what’s in for that particular season.” The men’s fashion scene in the capital is improving slowly but surely, Hilmi says he believes: “I think we’re getting there—although the tropical weather is a bit of a hindrance as it severely limits what one can wear. But I can definitely see an improvement in terms of how the average KL guy dresses now compared to a few years ago.” In the name of upping Malaysian men’s style, Hilmi and company are taking no days off. ✚

c o u r T e s y o F T h e o F F - d ay

From wingtips to designer T-shirts, men’s fashion in kuala lumpur slicks up. By Mark lean

Radar noticed

Cliff Hangers

hold on to your hat: the most dramatic bluff-side hotels in the world are as breezy as they are beautiful. koh chang, thailand Take in the jaw-dropping view while sitting beside the infinity pool atop a precipice at Koh Chang Cliff Beach Resort (kohchangcliffbeach.com; doubles from Bt2,500). Guests can indulge in a host of activities, including massages, boat trips and scuba diving, or simply lounge with a cocktail in hand.

bali, indonesia The best place to catch a brilliant sunset over Jimbaran Bay? Without a doubt it’s the Yasuhiro Koichi–designed Rock Bar at the 77-hectare Ayana (ayanaresort. com; doubles from US$310), an open-air lounge cantilevered over the ocean. —nate storey and diana hubbell

A cliff-side dip at Ayana.

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c o u r T e s y o F aya n a

barbados Built in 1887, the Crane Residential Resort (thecrane. com; doubles from US$167) sits above a pink-sand beach accessible by a glass-front elevator or 99 stone steps. Opt for a room in the original building with stone-coral walls and a hand-carved mahogany bed.

Radar trending

courTesy oF FerrocarrIles del ecuador

Back On Track High-speed rail may be the wave of the future, but romantics seduced by the old-school glamour of train travel have new options, too. In Ecuador, Tren Crucero (ecuadorbytrain.com) deploys a restored 1900’s steam locomotive along a route from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean, with stretches past the 5,900-meter Cotopaxi Volcano and the Devil’s Nose, a daunting series of switchbacks. + The 158-year-old Panama Canal Railway Company (panarail.com)— created to haul cargo across the isthmus in pre-canal days—ferries passengers in vintage coaches from the capital to Colón, gateway to the

Tren Crucero, in ecuador.

Caribbean coast. + In the Balkans, you can ride between Serbia and Montenegro on the Blue Train (montenegroholidays.com), the luxury carriage in which former Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito once entertained Queen Elizabeth and other heads of

state. + The Venice Simplon-orientexpress (orient-express.com) has

launched its first Scandinavian itineraries; the Art Deco–era icon travels between Venice, Copenhagen and Stockholm, with guests staying in classic hotels. —david k aufman

Radar street scene

Singapore

Where does one go in the little streets of singapore? locals share their favorite spots. By Melanie lee

1 Priscilla Shunmugam Designer for the label Ong Shunmugam “at the National Museum of Singapore [93 Stamford Rd.; nationalmuseum.sg; free admissions], you get to learn about singapore as you explore the many interactive exhibits.”

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2 Alex Loh Special Projects Manager, Raimon Land Singapore “at the top of klapsons boutique hotel is Fabrika [15 Hoe Chiang Rd.; klapsons.com; drinks for two S$80], my chill-out rooftop spot with live music. Try a shot of the 12year-old Balvenie.”

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3 olivia Choong Publicist at Green PR “I love nature, so I appreciate Bollywood Veggies [100 Neo Tiew Rd.; bollywood veggies.com; dinner for two S$25], in the kranji countryside, with its spacious farm full of fruit trees, vegetables and flowers.”

4 Willin Low Chef Owner, Wild Rocket Group “When I need to clear my head, I’ll go to the bamboo section at Singapore Botanical Gardens [1 Cluny Rd.; sbg.org. sg; free admission]. It’s really serene and peaceful there— it’s my true oasis.”

5 Pat Law Founder of GOODSTUPH “FRy Bistro [96B Club St.; frybistro. wordpress.com; dinner for two S$80] is a rooftop bistro just a stone’s throw away from my agency. I love the chicken wings and the panoramic view of singapore.”

6 Kerong Chok Jazz Musician “I’ve been hanging out at Poh ho Restaurant [7 Crane Rd.; roti for two S$8], an old-school coffee shop that isn’t too noisy and has awesome roti prata [fried pancake] that is crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside.”

Photographed by Kong Chong Yew

Radar

Pumped Up Kicks put some spring into summer with these flashy high-tech running shoes, perfect for the active traveler. By Merritt Gurley

1 nike

The Flyknit design reduces seams by knitting support directly into the material, which minimizes friction and weight. The Flyknit One+ pairs this technology with the Lunarlon sole, inspired by the near-weightlessness of astronauts. Talk about, er, a giant leap for shoe technology. Flyknit One+; nike. com; from US$190.

1 2 skechers

Every part of this shoe is built to mimic the biology of the human foot, from the 18 cushioning zones that mirror the pedal flex points to the breathable interior that reacts and moves like a second skin. These are also extremely light (from 116 to 173 grams), making them easy to pack. GObionic Ride; skechers.com.sg; womens US$130.

3l la sportiva

Injection molded minimal morphodynamic midsolesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the tech specs on Sportiva Helios read like a car manual. Cutting through the jargon, these shoes draw moisture away from your feet and keep out dirt and sand, great for off-road exploration. And as a bonus, they slip on without lacing. Helios; sportiva.com; US$120.

F r o M l e F T: c o u r T e s y o F n I k e ; c o u r T e s y o F s k e c h e r s ; c o u r T e s y o F l a s p o r T I V a

wellness

F r o M l e F T: c o u r T e s y o F a d I d a s ; c o u r T e s y o F n e W T o n ; c o u r T e s y o F s k o r a

5 4

4 adidas

The trademarked Boost cushioning technology is made up of thousands of small capsules that store and unleash energy with each stride. Built to withstand a climate range from +40 to -20 degrees, these both save you energy and can be toted along to destinations with extreme weather. Energy Boost; adidas.com/boost; US$150.

5 newton

These kicks literally put pep in your step. The Action/Reaction technology absorbs the power of your step, and as you lift your foot, releases that energy, thrusting you forward. And the biomechanical sensor plate allows you to better sense the ground underfoot. Distance Lightweight Performance Trainers; newtonrunning.com; US$155.

6 skora

The asymmetrical laces and no-tongue design are dead giveaways that these runners sprint off-script. But the innovations go deeper than that—we’re talking molecular—while the zero drop in height between the toe and the heel allows the foot to maintain a position more akin to the natural stance. Phase; skorarunning.com; US$110. ✚

Radar st yle

If You Like Piña Coladas… Forgo the flip-flops—from bold accessories to beachfriendly electronics, here are a dozen easy-to-pack items sure to make a splash on your next seaside vacation. by merritt gurley

1 10

7 6

1 crochet bikini, h&M (hm.com) 2 Bubble pouch-l, Inflat decor (inflatdcor.com) 3 Frogskins polished white with ruby iridium sunglasses, oakley (oakley.com) 4 striped beach bag, Mango (mango.com) 5 White straw hat, h&M (see above) 6 Trunks, speedo (speedo.com) 7 sarong, kanjana handmade (kanjanahandmade.com) 8 Melissa jean + jason Wu II jelly sandals, Melissa (shopmelissa.com) 9 eight hour cream Targeted sun defense stick spF 50 pa, elizabeth arden (elizabetharden.com) 10 powershot G15 camera and waterproof case (canonasia.com) 11 kindle paperwhite (amazon.com/kindle) 12 jambox wireless speaker, jawbone (jawbone.com)

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Photographed by Chanok Thammarakkit

s T y l e d B y W a n n a p h a n a W ay o n

your travel dilemmas solved ➔

60 …

62 …

64 …

Trip Doctor pl a nning

tech

pa c k i n g

de a ls

Q: how can I tell if an

airline is safe?

—sarah jones, charlotte, n.c.

A: Even if we don’t like to admit it, the act of getting on a plane involves a great deal of trust: trust in the pilots and the flight crew, in the aircraft makers, in the airline and— ultimately—in the authorities who approved the plane to fly. In the United States, this responsibility lies with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is known for its exacting Illustrated by Jasper Rietman

standards. But since there’s no single organization with the authority to enforce safety internationally, it is more complicated in this region. The easiest rule of thumb: book on airlines that operate code-share flights with U.S. partners. (Global alliances— Star Alliance, Oneworld, SkyTeam—usually involve some form of code-sharing.) Before a U.S. airline can place

by the numbers

700 The percent increase in routes of low-cost asian carriers— from 100 to nearly 800— over the past decade.

By Amy Farley

its passengers on a foreign carrier, it must conduct a safety review of its partner and submit the results to the FAA for approval. As an added incentive, the U.S. airline may also be liable should anything happen to its passengers on a code-share flight. But what about the slew of new, low-cost carriers that are springing up across the globe? In Asia, their presence has expanded sevenfold in the past decade alone. They’re tempting, but how safe are they? “Take a look at where the airline is based. That’s key,” says Mary Schiavo, a former Department of Transportation inspector general who is now an aviation lawyer and safety advocate. The International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has developed a set of guidelines to evaluate the quality of local aviation systems—the idea being that if a country has a robust civil aviation authority, its carriers will uphold high safety standards. Looking at everything from legislation to operations to airworthiness, the ICAO continuously audits 185 different countries and publishes the results online (icao.int). The United States comes in well above average, earning scores of between eight and 10 (out of 10) across all categories. South Korea and Singapore both pull off straight 10’s—a strong mark in favor of carriers based in those countries. Things are less clear when a country scores in the midrange, according to Harro ➔

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Trip Doctor Ranter, president of the Aviation Safety Network, an online database: “It’s hard to tell if the local authorities are really equipped to judge the airlines in those countries.” The FAA, meanwhile, conducts assessments of civil aviation authorities whose airlines have applied to fly into the United States. It publishes the results, delivering a verdict of either Category 1 (adheres to international standards) or Category 2 (does not adhere) for each country (faa.gov). Notably, both Indonesia and the Philippines (where a number of start-ups are based) have Category 2 ratings, a serious red flag for their carriers. But since the FAA only assesses certain countries, the list is still far from comprehensive. The European Commission takes an even more consumer-friendly approach, publishing a blacklist of airlines that are banned from entering member states (ec.europa. eu), based on aircraft

inspections, among other things. Nearly all Filipino and Indonesian carriers are on the list, along with airlines from 16 African countries. (“Don’t fly an African carrier unless it’s a well-known airline from a developed nation,” Schiavo advises.) But again, the list is selective: an airline’s exclusion is not a sign of approval. Travelers can also cross-check a carrier with the International Air Transport Association; the trade group maintains a database of those that meet its safety standards (iata.org)—though many budget airlines don’t go through the audit. The age of an airline’s fleet can also be revealing. Schiavo notes that budget carriers in India are still hit or miss. The ones that often rise to the top: those with new aircraft. “When you buy a plane from a major manufacturer, you usually get pilot training,” Schiavo says. (Good pilots make for safer flights.) But when in doubt, stick with a carrier you already know and trust.

Q: What’s the best way to prevent altitude sickness? a: Most travelers can adjust to elevations below 2,400 meters with only minor headaches, treatable with over-the-counter medications. even individuals in the best of shape, however, can suffer from worse symptoms, including fatigue, dizziness and sleep disruption. overexertion increases the odds of experiencing altitude sickness, so take things slowly, stay hydrated and limit alcohol consumption. When ascending above 2,400 meters, where the air becomes markedly thinner, limit your climb to 300 meters per day. prescription medications such as diamox and dexamethasone can lessen the effects of altitude sickness.

what ’s your problem? how do I photograph local people without offending them?

do...

Ask for permission. If words fail, show your camera and wait for a reaction before shooting.

Strike up a conversation. compliment the subject’s family, ask a question or share a laugh.

don’t...

Push too hard. If the subject says no, find someone else to photograph.

Try to be sneaky. you risk affronting someone who’d rather not be photographed.

Trip Doctor

Pl anning

Q: I’m no athlete, but I do want to take a sporting trip. Any ideas for something out of the ordinary? kayaking New Zealand Multisport, Backroads This action-packed trek through the heart of the country keeps your heart rate up as it takes you from the towering stone formations of Cathedral Cove to the vineyards around Hawke’s Bay. A quick paddle across Lake Rotoiti carries you to a remote hot spring only accessible by boat. backroads.com; eight days from US$5,498 per person.

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Bungee jumPing Nepal Trek and Trail, Smiling Albino There’s a little bit of everything on this journey from the Kathmandu valley to the Tibetan border. Trekking, mountain biking and rafting are all on the agenda, but for the daring, the highlight will be a bungee jump from one of the highest platforms in the world. smilingalbino. com; 13 days from US$2,900 per person.

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mountain Biking Mountain Biking The Philippines, SpiceRoads Though the beaches of the Philippines are an aquatic sports paradise, a trip through the country’s interior reveals a whole new side to this archipelago. Rugged mountain bikes take you from an active volcano in Taal Lake to coconut plantations and natural waterfalls. spiceroads. com; 11 days from US$2,200 per person.

fishing Golden Himalayan Mahseer, epicQuest Go fly-fishing with a personal guide for the Golden Himalayan Mahseer—a prize catch that can weigh more than 20 kilograms—in the pristine waters of India’s Western Ramganga River. After a morning in the stream, consider checking out the nearby tiger preserve. epicquest.com; seven days from US$5,725 per person for four people.

horseBack riding Mongolia: Mountains, Lakes & Shamans Horse Trek, Wild Frontiers How better to explore this land of nomads—not to mention sweeping plains and one of the brightest night skies anywhere— than astride your own steed? Your four-footed companion will carry you from Ulaanbaatar to the north. wildfrontierstravel. com; 14 days from £2,839 per person.

Illustrated by Wasinee Chantakorn

©a l e x a n d r e c a p p I / G e T T y I M aG es.c o M

There are all sorts of options out there for the active traveler, whether you’re into heli-skiing or kite-surfing. here are five ways to get moving. By diana hubbell

Trip Doctor

by Tom Samiljan

tech

Top translation apps looking for the nearest aTM in phnom penh and rusty on your khmer? In paris and hopeless at French? These tools—all road-tested by T+l’s tech correspondent, Tom samiljan—ensure you’ll never be misunderstood again. most comPrehensive Google Translate (free; Android, iOS) In addition to having 64 languages for typed and spoken translations, Google Translate is particularly savvy when it comes to brand names, knowing not to suggest the literal “équipe du ciel” when you’re asking about the nearest SkyTeam lounge in French, for example. The datadependent app offers the best results, but Android users can get exclusive language packs that cover the basics and can be used offline.

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Best for international travel Jibbigo Translator (language packs from US$4.99; Android, iOS) Data connections aren’t required for Jibbigo’s thorough, vetted language packs (with more than 40,000 words each), which have set the standard for the past five years. Currently, it offers easyto-use typed translations for 20-plus languages and spoken translations for 13; more are being rolled out soon. Especially useful are its customizable glossaries, which let you add terms you know you’ll need ahead of time.

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Best for signs and menus S Translator (free; only on Samsung’s Galaxy S4) and Word Lens (US$4.99 per language; Android, iOS) Point your smartphone’s camera at any word or phrase, and these apps give you its meaning. We love S Translator’s handy pronunciation tips and its ability to read simplified Chinese characters. Other Android and iPhone users can try the similar but more limited Word Lens. It offers help in French, Spanish, Italian and German—no data connection needed.

Best for longer conversations Verbalizeit (US$10 for five minutes of translator talk time; Android, iOS) Wish you had a native speaker in your pocket? With Verbalizeit, you can locate and call a live translator with the push of a button—ideal for technical conversations, such as seeing a doctor abroad. The app may require a little patience: depending on demand, it can take a few (unbilled) minutes for a translator to become available, but each one is tested for proficiency and ability to meet travelers’ needs.

coming soon If you need to make restaurant reservations by phone in Mandarin, a pocket app may not cut it. But new technologies are addressing these 2.0 needs. The innovative, though still-being-refined Lexifone app (free; Android) lets you call through its interface and will translate as you speak. Microsoft, meanwhile, is working on perhaps the coolest translator yet: it promises to convert your speech into a translated audio file that sounds just like your voice.

Illustrated by Wasinee Chantakorn

how to (Properly) Roll a Dress

Double over again.

Wind tightly, as you would a yoga mat.

(d k

ny .c o

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Fold in half, neckline over bottom hem.

Packing is rarely easy—we’re here to help. Send your question to tleditor@ mediatransasia.com.

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Photographed by Tom Schierlitz

I l l u s T r aT I o n B y B r o W n B I r d d e s I G n . s T y l I n G B y o l I V I a s a M M o n s F o r j e d r o o T I n c .

A: Knits are versatile and nearly wrinkle free—especially if rolled before going into your suitcase. Wear them with flat sandals by day or with heels and statement jewelry to spice up a night out.

2. halter, united colors of Benetton (benetton.com)

— patricia betker, via e-mail

3. stretch tank, Bailey44 (bailey44.com)

Q: I need a packable summer dress for an upcoming beach trip. Any ideas?

4. spandex tank, Michael Michael kors (michaelkors.com)

Packing

by Mimi Lombardo

5. Flared ponte dress, Guess (guess.com)

Trip Doctor

Deals

Japan

¥60,000 per night

T+L Reader Exclusives jaPan

family

What Experience Japan with Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo (hotelchinzanso-tokyo.com). Details A stay in a Garden View Superior room. highlights One six-course dinner at either Miyuki restaurant or Mokushun-do restaurant, choice of Japanese or Westernstyle complimentary breakfast, and a guided tour of the garden’s botanical species and historical monuments on request. Cost ¥60,000, double, ongoing. Savings 44 percent.

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thailand

What Emerald Forest Encounter at Ramada Resort Khao Lak (ramadakhaolak.com). Details Seven nights in a Deluxe Oasis room. highlights A full-day nature excursion and wildlife tour through the jungle for two, including roundtrip transportation and lunch, in addition to complimentary daily buffet breakfast at the resort. Cost From Bt26,772 (Bt3,825 per night), double, through October 31. Savings 76 percent.

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indonesia

What Suite Winter Deal at Semara Uluwatu Cliff Edge Villas (semarauluwatu.com). Details A stay in a Garden Terrace suite. highlights One-time complimentary 20-minute spa treatment for two, complimentary breakfast at Selatan Clifftop Restaurant for two, access to Finns Beach Club, tennis courts and putting green, and free Wi-Fi throughout the resort. Cost From US$592, double, through July 31. Savings 50 percent.

malaysia

What Family Insider Play-cation Luxury & Learning Long Weekend at InterContinental Kuala Lumpur (intercontinental.com). Details Two nights in a Deluxe room. highlights Daily breakfast, 15 percent discount on dinner at Serena Brasserie, one glass of house beer or root beer per person. Cost From RM776 (RM388 per night), two adults and two children under six, through August 31. Savings Up to 40 percent. ➔

c ou r T esy o F h oT el c h In z a n so To k yo

culture

A Garden View room at hotel Chinzanso Tokyo.

Deals

city singaPore

What opening special at ramada singapore at zhongshan park (ramadasingapore.com). Details a stay in a king Bed room. highlights access to hotel facilities. Cost From s$210, double, through august 31. Savings 30 percent.

thailand

What savvy soft opening at Mode sathorn (modesathorn.com). Details a stay in a deluxe Mode room. highlights complimentary Wi-Fi and access to hotel facilities. Cost From Bt3,000, double, through october 31. Savings 60 percent.

PhiliPPines

What dusit executive room package at dusit Thani Manila (dusit.com). Details a stay in a

club deluxe room. highlights complimentary laundry service and club lounge access with full benefits. Cost From p8,000, double, through december 31. Savings 45 percent.

summer malaysia

What summer stopovers at Tanjong jara resort (tanjongjararesort.com). Details Three nights in a Bumbung room. highlights a 50-minute spa experience for two; a choice of a chef-guided market visit, cooking class or cycling tour; a private dining experience; a choice of a snorkeling excursion, scuba dive, jungle trek or eco-cruise for two; return airport transfers; and daily breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cost From rM4,875 (rM1,625 per night), double, through october 28. Savings up to 25 percent.

An urban oasis at Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul.

china

What Summer à la Carte at Kempinski Hotel Haitang Bay Sanya (kempinski.com). Details Two nights in a Deluxe Garden View room. highlights Food and beverage credit of RMB100, one-time free Dragon Boat ride, access to the Wood Art Museum, roundtrip airport transportation and daily breakfast for two at Café K restaurant. Cost From RMB2,588 (RMB1,294 per night), double, through August 30. Savings 50 percent.

singaPore

What summer specials at The Fullerton Bay hotel singapore (fullertonbayhotel.com). Details Two nights in a deluxe room. highlights dining credit of s$38 per stay, daily breakfast and complimentary internet. Cost From s$976 (s$488 per night), double, july 1 through september 30. Savings up to 20 percent.

spa indonesia

What Glow with shine spa at sheraton Bali kuta (starwoodhotels.com). Details Three nights in a deluxe room. highlights one 60-minute massage for two, 40 percent discount on all additional spa treatments, complimentary daily breakfast buffet for two at FeasT restaurant and late check-out until 2 p.m. Cost From us$645 (us$215 per night), double, through december 20. Savings 25 percent.

korea

thailand

What 20th anniversary oriental spa package at Mandarin oriental, Bangkok (mandarinoriental.com). Details Two nights in a superior room. highlights Three hours of spa treatments for two, including The oriental signature Treatment, Thai organic rice scrub, Breathing Techniques and Meditation; guests also receive daily buffet breakfast for two and roundtrip airport transfers. Cost From Bt43,100 (Bt21,550 per night), double, through october 31. Savings 20 percent.

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c o u r T e s y o F B a n ya n T r e e c l u B & s p a s e o u l

What The credit Goes to you at Banyan Tree club & spa seoul (banyantree.com). Details Two nights in a club room. highlights us$200 in hotel credits valid for the hotel’s spa, restaurants and gallery during your stay. Cost From W380,000, double, through december 31. Savings 25 percent.

Point of View

In Praise of Sightskipping

hen I went to São Paulo, Brazil, last year, I loved it—in good part because I didn’t have to do anything. (Quick: name a tourist attraction in São Paulo.) The trip made me realize that I’m increasingly uninterested in traditional sightseeing. In Rio de Janeiro, I didn’t bother to visit Sugarloaf Mountain or Christ the Redeemer. In Rome, I took one look at the throngs of people outside the Colosseum and went for gelato instead. 70

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I didn’t make it to the Louvre until my fourth trip to Paris, and I went then only because my sister was with me (for her first time in the city). Lucky for me, my sister turned out to be a sightskipper, too—we left after 45 minutes. I’m not saying I’ll never visit another major attraction again, but more and more, I don’t feel compelled the way I used to. Too often, depending on where you are, you end up surrounded by other travelers, and who wants that? I accept that I’m a visitor, but I don’t want to be reminded of it.

Instead, I like to go where the locals are—their neighborhoods, their restaurants, their shops. I may miss some good stuff, but I just want to have a travel experience that’s mine and mine alone, something that’s near impossible if I go to the same places as everyone else. The best way to the heart of a destination is to explore the everyday side of life there. By pretending you live somewhere, you can discover the minutiae that make one place different from every other. Start by following my 10 new rules for traveling. ➔

lIna alduk aITe / Ge T T yIMaGes.coM

avoid the lines and go for total immersion: erik Torkells proposes 10 ways to find the soul of a destination.

Point of View

1. STAy LoCAL

4. WoRK oUT

7. FIND yoUR CRoWD

Hotels, for all their charms, can’t help serving as buffers. In a rented apartment (or house, or villa), you’re likely to be in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by locals, and you get to explore a place from the inside out. The rhythms of life are totally different than in a hotel—in Venice, for example, you’ll be taking out the garbage every morning, hanging a plastic bag from your building’s doorknob.

You’re not likely to meet locals at your hotel gym. And how other cultures stay in shape—whether at a neighborhood fitness club, swimming pool or yoga studio—is a window on their world. (I knew I wasn’t in America when I discovered female attendants inside the men’s locker room in Stockholm.)

If you spend too much time following a guidebook—with its emphasis on museums and history—you’ll give short shrift to topics you might also care about. Love knitting? Collect knives? Follow jazz? Search the Web or ask at a local specialty shop for a meet-up or get in touch with a related local enthusiasts’ group for an in-depth look at how people in another country view a mutual interest through a different lens.

2. GeT A MASSAGe oR A hAIRCUT

After days of walking around Tokyo, my feet were throbbing. I had read that foot massages were plentiful and cheap, so when I saw a sign offering them in Roppongi, I indulged. While the massage itself wasn’t so unique, the whole experience—walking up three flights in a random building, waiting in the reception area, trying to comprehend the staff’s instructions— made me feel alert and alive. Isn’t that feeling, as awkward as it can be, among the chief reasons to seek out new destinations? You can get the same sort of immersion (and a guaranteed dinner party anecdote) by going for a shave at an old-school barbershop in Austria, an ear candling in India or a scrub in South Korea.

I may miss some stuff, but I want a travel experience that’s mine and mine alone 5. ReNT A BIKe

Besides being good exercise (see No. 4), cycling is an opportunity to experience areas you otherwise might not visit. Take Amsterdam: by renting a bike, you’ll instantly look more like an Amsterdammer and be able to zip right over to districts like the Eastern Docklands—where you’ll see a developing area of the city—and some noteworthy contemporary architecture, too. Plus biking provides the perfect pace to take in your surroundings.

3. SKIP The SoUVeNIRS

6. RUN AN eRRAND

So many objects sold as souvenirs were made somewhere else, and besides, who wants to buy the same thing as every other visitor? Instead, shop at the stores you would frequent if you became an expat: supermarkets, hardware stores, art-supply shops…. Many foreign brand names, in particular, are catnip for word lovers. Who wouldn’t make extra room in his suitcase for Kook salt and Stiksy pretzels from São Paulo? Your friends back home will find them hilarious.

I could have waited till I got home from Paris to have someone fix a zipper, but where’s the fun in that? The tailor in the Marais district and I could barely communicate, but we laughed a lot while trying. One can only wonder what a bystander would’ve made of our gesturing when he insisted that I button my pants before I zip, making me demonstrate that I understood. The interaction was all so much more French than, say, a dinner cruise on the Seine.

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8. Go To A NeIGhBoRhooD ChURCh

Watching people worship is one of the more intimate and revealing cultural experiences a traveler can have—which is why you should confirm in advance that you’ll be welcome at a religious service, either by dropping by, calling or asking at your hotel (if you ignored No. 1). You’ll also do well to ask what’s appropriate in terms of dress and behavior (for example, can you participate in rituals, or should you stay on the sidelines?). 9. WATCh SPoRTS

Speaking of sidelines (and worship of a different sort).... Sports, and how we watch them, say more about us than we think. The more culturally attuned to the place the sport is—polo in Argentina, cricket in the Caribbean, sumo in Japan, baseball in the U.S.— the more you’ll probably gain from the price of the ticket. 10. LINGeR

Free time is a major luxury for most of us, but if you can afford an extra day or two, spend it! The best trips I’ve ever taken were ones where I stayed for a week in a place—Uluru, Australia; Ojai, California; Panarea, Italy; Trancoso, Brazil—that many people spend only a few days in. It’s like driving: the slower you go, the more you’ll see. ✚

July 2013 in this issue sri lanka secret shores Boracay adventure cruises 108 liguria

phIlIpp enGelhorn

76 86 92 102

Discovery Shores Resort in Boracay, page 92.

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School kids stroll the beachfront in Galle. Opposite: Sunset from the Galle ramparts.

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sublime south ceylon

l au ry n Is h a k . o p p osIT e paG e: © T h r eeB l In dM en

Jeninne Lee-St. John goes searching for herself in Sri Lanka, and finds surfing, seer fish, shirodhara— and maybe even a little of the marrow of life.

because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. There are points in life when you’re feeling stagnant and restless and anxious. That was me this spring. Bangkok is a world-class city full of lots of distractions, but I needed to get out, to get away from them all and back to myself. As it happens, the southern coast of Sri Lanka is an ideal place for a girl to reconnect with herself. Not only are these cinnamon-scented shores overflowing with natural beauty, boundless blue seas and a health-oriented culture including subtle cuisine like lamprais (steamed rice and curries wrapped in a banana leaf ) and the holistic healing of ayurveda. But the Teardrop of India also pulses with layers of history replete with girl-power icons from Queen Anula—Asia’s first female ruler, who held the throne 47 to 42 BC—to M.I.A, the contemporary dancehall star who sings about refugees, immigration and guerrilla war, all issues with which she had experience growing up the daughter of a Tamil activism leader. With that 26-year conflict now peacefully in the rearview, explosive GDP is bringing resorts and tourism infrastructure to small towns, in which you’ll quickly become accustomed to the constant gentle calls of the honorific nona (as in, “Jeninne nona, do you like elephants?”). And getting there is increasingly convenient: the launch of the Southern Expressway connecting Colombo to Matara combined with the christening this March of a new international airport at Matalla mean easier access to paradise.

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c l o c k W I s e F r o M T o p l e F T: l a u r y n I s h a k ( 3 ) ; j e n I n n e l e e - s T. j o h n ; l a u r y n I s h a k

I went to Sri Lanka, to borrow from Thoreau,

Clockwise from top left: Hoppers, a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast; textile sellers on the Fort ramparts; graffitti on the Galle Fort wall; Unawatuna Beach. opposite: Lazing away the day at Wijaya Beach Restaurant, Unawatuna.

The Amangalla library is filled with historic mementos.

Maybe it was my state of mind, but I can’t imagine there’s ever been a better yoga experience than just after dawn under a palm canopy on a beach outside Tangalle. (Thank you, investment banking, for burning out Michael Lear in Chicago and turning him into a soothing but exacting Trager practitioner in Sri Lanka.) I’m nowhere close to a morning person. But the pervasive tranquility and individual senses of place, unique to each sandy nook or rocky promontory of the private cove that makes up the Amanwella resort, rousted me out of bed early everyday ready to walk and write and swim and smile. Another thing that jogged me from my dreams each daybreak was the intense crashing of the waves, which, ironically, also ensured that I slept the sleep of the dead every single night. Literally right outside the window of my villa, the ocean hit so strongly and steadily I could practically feel the spray. Poseidon’s power shouldn’t have surprised me: from my spot at the exact center of the bottom of Sri Lanka, the next land due south was Antarctica. Confronting that geographic solitude was a bit daunting, especially considering the fact that the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit here while the resort was under construction, and I found myself in a feedback loop of life and love and death and meaning. So, to get out of my own head, I tried conquering my fears. There’s no time to think when you’re terrified for your life—or dignity. I’d always wanted to learn to surf, but had been afraid I wasn’t a strong enough swimmer. Or just strong enough. Or that the board would smack me in the head and I’d drown. Or that I’d look like a total idiot. Luckily, our amiable expert, Bandula, had found the perfect cove, Nilwella, with soft rolling waves that were most gentle in the morning. The first day was a group lesson. Three nervous beginners and one overly optimistic instructor didn’t bode well. Boards on the sand, we ladies learned to turn, pop and stand. That part alone felt like a tough workout; we were thus a little anxious about hitting the actual water. But, under Bandula’s direction, out we paddled. We sat up and straddled our boards until the next cycle of six waves came along. And, on Bandula’s signal, we lay down and turned around and paddled like crazy. And on the very first wave, one of us (not me) not only caught it but stood up! Well, if that wasn’t inspiration enough for me to be able to stand up too, I don’t know what could have done it. Back and forth I went, from shore to the break line, bruising my ribs and wearying my arms. Paddle too slowly and you miss the wave. Pull your knee up too soon and you flip over. Stand up with your weight on your back leg and you wipe out. And these are just the obvious mistakes.

l auryn Ishak

I wanted to cut a broad swath and shave close. I wanted to surf. Finally, a couple of hours in—after that damn surfing prodigy had enough of her success and our third classmate had given up due to lack of it, with them and our driver and some random passersby watching from the shore—I stood. I rode a wave upright all the way in. It was glorious and fulfilling and... revealing. My top had come down. Even in triumph, so much for dignity. This was actually a double faux-pas. For, private citizens lived just behind the tree line on that beach. In a very modest culture, one woman had already politely requested that we cover up our bathing suits when walking from the car to the shore. I can only hope that she wasn’t witness to my, ahem, glory. Two days later, I took another lesson, privately this time and with my top better secured, and after getting reacquainted with the water and my sense of balance, successfully rode wave after wave after wave. It was one of the most electrifying days of my life (and I’ve jumped out of an airplane). Besides learning how far I could test the limits of my strength, I also got schooled in Sri Lankan surf culture. It’s a relatively new phenomenon, Bandula told me, that really picked up speed in the past decade or so when international surfing competitions started going there. For his part, Bandula taught himself to surf back in the eighties, and, in a male-dominated wave-riding community, is determined to make his preschooler daughter into the country’s first Bethany Hamilton. 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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His drive, good humor and warmth seemed to me perfectly emblematic of everyone I met on the south coast—as was his addiction to the ocean. Whether from the boats whose lone lights sparkled out on the night horizon or the fishermen who balance with their legs wound around the tops of bamboo poles plunged into the seabed, the fresh seafood is beloved, abundant and astounding.

Grilled lobsters and San Pellegrino, seer fish and tomato curry and a chilled Sauvignon Blanc go a long way, but, alas, they cannot relieve all stress. To get some perspective, I had to truly consider my context. The strata of history and tradition coursing through Sri Lanka are plentiful enough to make a mille feuille, and I spent a lot of time there contemplating all the life that had come before.

Mulgirigala, a 210-meter-high rock containing cave temples with Buddhist murals and a monastery dating back to the 2nd century BC, remains a sacred site today. After ascending three-quarters of the way up via somewhat level carved steps, you have a choice: take the winding, relatively new set of stairs up to the left, or, to the right, the rotting old iron ladder less (recently) traveled (and more fun) leading to a horizontal path of foot holds across which you must shimmy to the path to the peak. The jungle view from the top soundtracked by the 6 p.m. daily chanting provided a sense of peace that, the next day, was matched by the safe haven of Uda Wallawe National Park. A sprawling nature preserve, it’s ideal for a 4WD elephant safari, sprinkled sightings of a billion kinds of birds, langur monkeys, monitor lizards and the odd jackal. Ceylon may be synonymous with tea today. But the crop only became important to the country in the 1870’s, after a fungus ruined the previously thriving coffee industry. Grand scheme of things, that doesn’t seem like so long ago. And then you visit the Hundungoda Tea Estate, outside Galle, which provides a botanical, industrial and literal snapshot of times past. Check out sepia photos of the halcyon days: the small family of white owners flanked by their enormous Sri Lankan staff. If a tour of the estate’s rolling hills and sipping tea on the main house’s porch don’t transport you, you’re sure to do a double-take at the original monstrous machines manufactured in the U.K. before the turn of last century that are still chugging away, processing tea in the factory. Of course, if you want a real layer cake of history, Galle is the shockingly well-preserved wedding tower. The Portuguese first landed there in 1505, building the Black Fort. Onehundred-thirty-five years later, they yielded it to the Dutch after a battle so bloody it spawned the saying, “Gold at Malacca, lead at Galle.” Despite having built and reinforced the fort ramparts over the course of a century-plus, the Dutch peacefully handed Galle, in 1796, to the English, who subsequently erected the lighthouse and military barracks, and introduced carrier pigeons, the telegraph and tea. To this day, a Franciscan chapel, Dutch Reform church, Anglican church, Buddhist temple and a mosque—the oldest, 470 years; the youngest 104—safeguard this tiny town of just 16.5 square kilometers. It’s the legacy of the British that’s most obvious today, and best exemplified by the Amangalla, formerly the New Oriental Hotel (formerly a British garrison, formerly the Dutch officers’ HQ). High-tea on the ceiling-fanned front veranda facing a cobblestone street and the fort’s grassy ramparts... Immaculate butler service that included, for me, an informative but relaxed amble around the fort at dusk with the endearing Indika... A library stocked with books, old maps, ancient Life magazines and the hotel’s beloved long-term proprietor Nesta Brohier’s mementos and expansive notes—including one that lists, among “People not likely to be interested” in staying there, “Loudly spoken noisy people.” (She never met me.) Amangalla is in no sense pure Anglophile, though, and its ayurvedic-focused spa well-demonstrates this. Though the piece de resistance is the large private baths that each feature steam and sauna rooms, hot tubs and cold plunge pools, the main spa is made up of a row of former shop houses now connected by an Escher-esque tiered series of archways. 82

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l auryn Ishak

I wanted to drive life into a corner and reduce it to its lowest terms.

Tooling around Galle in a rented tuk-tuk.

Clockwise from left: Galle Fort promontory is just 16.5 square kilometers; Wella Beach Club at Amanwella; a pair of Galle youngsters. opposite: View of the Galle lighthouse and mosque.

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. Ayurveda is meant to be holistically soul-affirming. So you can book the treatments à la carte, but the proper program involves an extensive evaluation with an ayurvedic doctor, who then prescribes the treatments and meal plans best suited to your constitution. Rather, I should say, your doshas, three bio-energies that represent the balance of air, space, water, earth and fire in your system. I am mostly pitta—meaning I have strong metabolism, leadership skills and pulse, among other things—with a little bit of vata, hopefully because I’m creative (but also maybe because I can be unreliable?). The classic shirodhara treatment, in which oil is slowly dripped onto the third eye, did what it was supposed to: left me calm and clear-headed. But, oddly, I found the full-body oil rub-andbath of The Anointment more soothing—despite effectively being ground into and sloshed around a hard wooden table for more than an hour.

If life were sublime, I wanted to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. White-frocked schoolgirls in braided pigtails hold hands, Technicolor tuk-tuks roam the streets, and the near-grid of low-rise old buildings has been filling up with shops plying hipster paraphernalia; locally inspired loud homewares; high-end resortwear; and reams upon reams of the Crayola-colored textiles for which Sri Lanka is famous. This is Galle—and it’s best served with rice- or wheat-flour, crispy-edged pancake hoppers cradling a runny egg and chili-coconut sambol. Yes, I’d call that sublime. ✚

t+l guide

Getting there sri lankan airlines (srilankan.com) runs direct flights to Colombo from Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

stay Amanwella Paradisiacal beach hideaway four hours’ drive from Colombo. Luxuriously long villas feature plunge pools and porches; privacy abounds. Bodhi Mawatha, Wella Mawatha, Godellawela, Tangalle; 94-47/2241333; amanresorts. com; doubles from US$575. Amangalla Historic hotel immaculately restored to a whitewashed, four-poster-bedded, ceiling-fanned, garden-filled colonial throwback in the heart of Galle fort. Simply perfect service. 10 Church St., Fort Galle; 94-91/223-3388; amanresorts.com; doubles from US$525. eat+drink Fortaleza The cool coral main wall alone is worth a visit to this courtyard café, but the salads are good too. 9 Church Cross St., Galle Fort; 94-91/223-3415; lunch for two Rs1,900.

Mama’s Galle Fort Roof Café Hit the westward-facing terrace for the best view of the Fort, ramparts and the mosque, especially at sunset. 76 Leyn Baan St., Galle Fort; 94/91-222-6415; mamas-galle-fort.com; dinner for two from Rs1,500. Pedlar’s Inn Coffees, smoothies and hearty meals. 92 Pedlar St., Galle Fort; 94-91/2225333; dinner for two from Rs1,900. The Coat of Arms Bar Sundowners on the terrace of Jetwing Lighthouse, one of Geoffrey Bawa’s last hotels, on a jetty 10 minutes north of Galle. Dadella, Galle; 94-91/222-3744; jetwinghotels.com; drinks for two Rs1,500. shoP Barefoot Reams of rainbow-colored fabrics; crazypatterned clothes, shoes and accessories; local teas, oils, paintings and gifts; and lots of books. 41 Pedlar St., Galle Fort; 94-91/222-6299; barefootceylon.com. Church Street Gallery Fun old-school airline and Bollywood posters good for souvenirs. 35 Church St., Galle Fort. Koccoriko Gorgeous women’s clothing. 66 Pedlar St., Galle Fort.

Laksana Beautiful Sri Lankan bling beloved by residents in the know. 30 Hospital Street, Galle; 9477/790-0170. Sithuvili Eccentric hand-painted puppets, masks, boxes, reclaimed wood, etc. 56 Leyn Baan St., Galle Fort; 94-77/791-4277. Souk 58 You’re going to want to deck out your whole house in these Sri Lankaninspired candy-colored patterns. Great gifts. 58 Church St., Galle Fort; 94-91/222-2358; souk58.com. see+do Surfing Lessons Patient Bandala will having you ruling the waves, and your willing driver will snap pics from the beach. Amanwella; Bodhi Mawatha, Wella Mawatha, Godellawela, Tangalle; 94-47/2241333; amanresorts. com; private lessons from US$120 for one person, US$145 for two, and a discounted rate for multiple lessons. The Baths at Amangalla Full-board programs including consultation with ayurvedic doctor following by personalized diet, teas, tonics, treatments and baths. Or opt for just a consultation and/or à la carte treatments. 10 Church St., Fort Galle;

94-91/223-3388; amanresorts.com; full-board ayurvedic programs from US$2,475 for two people for three days. Mulkirigala Rock Temple Cover up and wear solid shoes. 20 kilometers north of Tangalle; admission Rs200. Uda Wallawe National Park More than 400 elephants. 12 kilometers from the Ratnapura– Hambantota road; US$12 per person, plus Rs600 for a tracker in each vehicle, not including tip. hundungoda Tea Plantation Tour the fields and factory, see rubber plants, sample all the teas. Tittagalla, Ahangama; 9477/329-0999; virginwhitetea.com; plantation tour free, museum admission US$5 per person. hiyare Rainforest Run by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle, the 243-hectare wetlands are filled with obscure animals. 18 kilometers northeast of Galle off the Udugama Rd. Sea Turtle Farm and hatchery Incubates turtle eggs until they can survive in the wild and cares for injured adult turtles. Silver Green, Habaraduwa; 94-77/783-6115; seaturtlefarm.org; admission by donation.

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n an island that’s home to an array of far better known shorelines, Nyang Nyang rarely gets a mention outside surfing circles. If you eschew crowds, that’s a good thing, because it’s one of the most breathtaking beaches on Bali. Totally exposed and facing due south, next stop western Australia, the offshore reef at Nyang Nyang bears the full force of the ocean, delivering reliable waves for experienced surfers year-round. The waves are so reliable, in fact, that they say if conditions are flat here, there will be no surfing on Bali… anywhere. Take the southern road that leads to Pura Uluwatu, one of Bali’s cardinal temples, and a few kilometers before you reach it you’ll spy, off to your left, a rocky, unmarked path—which isn’t quite 4WD-only, but let’s just say it’s best traversed in a rental rather than your own vehicle. Follow the trail for 500 meters and you’ll reach a small clearing where you can leave your car; the last stretch is no longer drivable. So cut the engine and listen—you should be able to hear the ocean. Walk another 100 meters and you’ll reach a T-junction with a “Nyang Nyang” sign pointing uphill. Follow this trail to your left and you’ll come to an open grassy field, with an abandoned burned-out house, a couple of ambling cows and, in the distance, the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean. To your left, perched on the cliff’s lip, sits the small warung, a shanty-slash-drinks-and-sarong shop, run by Ketut, an amicable, older Balinese lady. From here, it’s 585 steps down the sheer cliff to the sandy beach of Nyang Nyang.

Yes, 585 steps and worth every one. After the descent, you’ll emerge at the cliff’s base onto a grassy expanse, which is undeveloped save a couple of farmer shacks. Cross these fields and you can jump down onto the fine sand that runs for a little more than a kilometer in total, in both directions. The sand is a little steeper than most Balinese beaches. Depending on the tide, waves will either lash against the shore or gather at rock pools, creating calm waters ideal for picking seashells and catching hermit crabs. The surfing here is definitely best suited for the more experienced wave rider. There are both left- and righthanders, but it’s most beloved for an early morning bowly right before the wind picks up. Conditions close out at around 1.5 meters, so this isn’t anything like Bali’s biggest wave— don’t bother heading here on a big day—but it is certainly one of the island’s least crowded (except perhaps for Green Bowl further east). “Nyang Nyang breaks over a sharp reef, delivering a steep take off and a very exhilarating ride,” says regular Nyang Nyang surfer Iain Colquhoun. “It’s not the longest ride on the island, but the small swell is great when nowhere else is breaking.” Unlike Green Bowl though, Nyang Nyang isn’t just a surfer beach. There is plenty of sand here for everyone and shade in spades. Cows graze along the beach shelter under pandan trees that stretch out and over the cusp of the shoreline. Because the crowds are, well, non-existent, the beach hasn’t been picked dry so it is littered with beautiful shells—fossickers will head home happy with a very full bag. A downside of the seclusion is the flotsam that marks high-tide, though compared to Bali’s more popular Kuta beach, Nyang Nyang is pretty sparkling in the trash department.

This may be partly attributed to the fact that, aside from Ketut’s warung up on the cliff side, there are no shops of any kind on Nyang Nyang. You’ll need to either bring your own water and food, or buy supplies from Ketut. She can be quite insistent regarding her sarongs, but it is worth braving her overtures for a large cold Bintang after climbing the steps back. If your family’s fine with the climb down (and up), this is an ideal place to set up camp for the day. There’s plenty of space for the kids to go mad on, and at low tide the rock pools are home to fascinating sea-life with which they can get up-close-and-personal, oceanographer-style. But be warned, that when the tide is high on a goodsized swell, Nyang Nyang’s waters can be quite dangerous for swimming, with a fast and strong current. We should also warn you that the difficulty in reaching Nyang Nyang makes it popular for those seeking privacy to work on that all-over tan. More than once I’ve stumbled upon nudists towards the eastern end of the beach (past the stone platform)—so if spying others in their birthday suit will offend, perhaps turn back when you reach the rock shelf! Is Nyang Nyang Bali’s best beach? Well, the water is a deep, bright turquoise between rows of frothing white, and as it runs up the rich, golden sand with its pandan trees spiky overhead, it makes for a richly colored strip that will have you reaching for your camera. It’s also full of drama: when the swell is big, the crashing waves are as loud as those receding waters that are sucking the shells and broken coral back off the sand and into the rock pools below. Usually, the surf is thunderous with a thick, salty spray that leaves you licking your lips—one of the most satisfying tastes in the world. —stuart mcdonald .

sTuarT Mcdonald

Bali, indonesia nyang nyang

Secret Shores TAKe A STeP BeyoND The ReGIoN’S MoST CRoWDeD BeACheS AND yoU’LL UNCoVeR SoMe hIDDeN STRIPS oF SAND WheRe SoLITUDe RULeS The DAy. (JUST DoN’T TeLL ANyoNe eLSe ABoUT TheSe SPoTS)

Nyang Nyang sits 585 steps down a sheer cliff in southern Bali.

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North Sand Bar’s elevated wooden watch house.

ebu’s got great beach resorts five minutes from the international airport and 20 minutes from the city center, not to mention amazing shopping and happening nightlife. But all this activity can make the beaches feel more Miami and less Robinson Crusoe. For the latter, head an hourand-a-half from the runway on 88

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Mactan Island to North Sand Bar, an uninhabited stretch of white sand surrounded by crystalline waters, with one lone picturesque, elevated wooden watch house. It’s a secret spot treasured by locals in the know but, for a day, you could call this island your own. Sleep in and depart in the late morning; the sandbar doesn’t emerge until, let’s say, noonish. The clams come out around 4 p.m., so bring some pails to go digging. Savor your treasures immediately as a rustic sunset snack: wrap the clams in foil and cook them simply over hot coals,

allowing them to steam in their own juices. Wash it down with the Rosé you brought along in your giant cooler of ice, and enjoy as the sky turns as pink as your wine… and cheeks. “Poor old Robinson Crusoe” never had it this good. Several operators can take you there but the most locally recommended is Islands Banca Cruises: islandsbanca. com; custom cruises start at P12,000 for the whole day for 10 people, including towels, bean bags, parasols, Wi-Fi and iPod docks; lunch packs from P150 per person; masseuse charges P1,000 to treat three people.—stephanie zubiri

GuTsy Tuason

ceBu, PhiliPines north sand Bar

kraBi, thailand koh jum

ooking for a secluded seashore adventure with a dash of mystery? Abandon ship between the popular spots Krabi and Koh Lanta to check out the little island hidden in between: Koh Jum. The SuperConcorde (kohjumonline.com/ferryboats) will stop in the middle of the ocean and wait for a longtail boat to putter up and fetch you, while the ferry passengers continuing on to Koh Lanta gawk in confusion. Bid those conventional tourists adieu for the quiet beaches of this dual islet—the southern half is called Koh Jum while the hilly north is Koh Pu. The sand may not be bleach white but it’s soft, and the privacy and leafy landscape more than compensate.

Magic Beach is possibly the island’s quietest, but you can’t beat the ThaiFrench fusion cuisine and sweet rooms (think seashell-studded walls) at Oon Lee Bungalows (kohjum oonleebungalows.com; doubles from Bt950). At the highest point, the café is backed by wilderness, facing a horizon of ocean, with a view of sunsets worth waiting all day for. Chat with managers Valerie, a lovely française, and Oon, her Thai husband who knows all the nearby snorkeling spots. If you ask nicely, he’ll take you on one of his famous half-day boat tours, which might include sailing to Phi Phi or a fresh-picked-dragonfruit face emollient—equally good for skin-softening and subtropical silliness. The ferries run in high season from October through April; during the off months you’ll need to grab a private speedboat. amazinglanta.com; Bt14,500 for up to five people.—merritt gurley

A longtail boat will fetch you from the Krabi ferry and putter you to Koh Jum.

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Pantai Pasir Tengkorak, also known as Skull Sand.

langkawi, malaysia skull sand way of undigested sailors, but you will be able to enjoy tremendous northerly views to the Thai island (and national park) of Koh Tarutao. These vistas make Skull Sand Beach a popular picnic destination for local Langkawifolk, but on weekdays you’ll have the beach entirely to yourself. Pack a book and relax in the shade. On Langkawi’s northwest coast, Skull Sand is part of Pasir Tengkorak Recreational Forest. Take Jalan Datai until you see the sign for “Hutan Lipur Pasir Tengkorak.” Park within the gate and walk through the forest to the shore. —sm

rIck y soW

he name may sound ominous but Langkawi’s Pantai Pasir Tengkorak is a little-known getaway on the north coast that will enchant rather than scare. A number of legends lie behind the name, but our favorite refers to a whirlpool that once lay offshore, home to a feared monster of the deep. Boats sailing by would be dragged into the swirling waters and, once dragged under, the scaly beast would feast on the seamen. Apparently the beast had dietary issues and needed to regurgitate the skeletons… the skulls then floated ashore. Today, thankfully, you won’t see much in the

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A view of Discovery Shores Resort. Opposite: A wall of silence surrounds you at the secluded Shangri-La Boracay.

Boracay without Bounds oN ThIS PhILIPPINe ISLAND DReAMLAND, MAy The WIND UNDeR yoUR WINGS BeAR yoU WheRe The SUN SAILS AND The MooN WALKS. By stePhanie ZuBiri.

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A sunset cruise off White Beach. Clockwise from top: The spa at Discovery Shores Resort; a lychee mojito; at Nothing but Water.

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s the sun sets on the horizon, silhouettes of sails dance against a backdrop of Rothkoreminiscent designs. In the shallow waters, the happy flap of mermaid fins catches your attention as they swirl around the bathing men. Ashore, on the long stretch of blindingly white sand, a jester juggles amid the strolling crowd. It is the witching hour. For on this island, it’s at dusk when magic happens. Where not far, in the village, the Hobbits start making their rounds peddling beer and the pirates begin singing their rum-soaked songs. No, this is not some Pirates of the Caribbean-meets-Lord of the Rings dream sequence. This is Boracay. A smallish island of roughly 10 square kilometers, some 315 kilometers south of Manila, it has an unparalleled paradisiacal beach, crystalline waters and a lifestyle of pure abandon. And in 2012, it had 1.2 million tourist arrivals—a record. People have been coming to the island for years with hopes of getting lost, disappearing into themselves, just letting go. For some, it is the ultimate Robinson Crusoe fantasy but with all the comforts of modern living. For others, it’s the allure of sheer relaxation: massages on the shore while sipping a rum, Malibu and pineapple concoction called White Beach through an angled straw. And for many, Boracay is the gateway to decadence: a parallel universe where alcohol is cheap, where time is indifferent, where the days and nights meld into each other like a kaleidoscopic party scene from a Baz Lurhman movie. Where friends find themselves at the airport departure area pinkyswearing, “What happens in Boracay stays in Boracay.” There’s wholesome fun to be had, too, I swear. Minimal waves and shallow waters cascading along the best sand for building castles and a plethora of water sports from parasailing to mermaid swimming lessons make the island very kid-friendly. I, for one, practically grew up with Boracay, having regularly visited for the past 15 years. My parents loved taking family vacations there because days would be spent lounging about the beach with kids and grandkids; come cocktail hour, we’d venture off with our friends and be back in time for family dinner. At night, as I got older, we’d party with our pals until the sun came up and no one would worry where we were or how we’d get home, because everything was—and still is—a walk on the beach away. Then there are the sketchier memories: Fresh out of high school, passed out in the bathroom of the iconic Cocomangas only to reemerge after a 20-minute disco nap refreshed and ready for another round of Jam Jars and Illusion Shakers. A few years later, swaying to deep house music on the beach at sunrise surrounded by elegant poi dancers after a night that included a limbo battle with Hobbit House staff and a pole-dancing lesson from a drag queen. Or the strange evening we spent parading around dolled up like Greek gods the day

after Halloween—when no one else was costumed—creating a traffic jam at D’Mall as we posed for admiring Korean tourists. Our flight had been canceled due to inclement weather so we didn’t make it in time for the other ghouls and costumed gentry, but we wore our outfits anyway. It didn’t matter. We were in Boracay. So on November 1, Zeus, Hercules, Dionysius, Hades, Aphrodite and Athena drank some cold beer and danced the night away barefoot in the sand. I must admit that the appeal of crazy crowds and constant techno-pop mash-ups has worn off with age. Luckily, my most recent trip kicked off with chill house music playing softly on Discovery Shores’ air-conditioned boat, an auspicious start to a modern, glamorous and impeccable stay. Discovery Shores has the fluffiest pillows around and amazing food. For example, the steamy tropical weather always makes me crave kilawin–a local version of ceviche–large chunks of fresh tanigue, or Spanish mackerel, curing in lime juice, vinegar and coconut milk, mingling with some fiery hot chili and ginger. Here they served it up nicely chilled in an open coconut husk—it’s a dish that screams beach vacation. The one place that combines ultimate luxury and centrality, the resort is smack in the center of all the action with the famous White Beach at your doorstep. The service was spectacular—especially Jigs, our waiter, who served us their gorgeous and deceivingly potent cocktails on the shore (tip: cut the alcohol’s impact with Crispy Bang Bang Shrimp dipped in sweet chili sauce) and made sure our slippers were always in line and our sunglasses spotless. The beach I’d always remembered was still perfect: the sand still as fine as flour, the water still turquoise… and there was that breathtaking sunset. Which is why I was a bit surprised to find that the wall of silence that surrounded us when we moved to Shangri-La Boracay came as welcome relief. Entirely secluded from all the action, the resort doesn’t quite provide “the Boracay experience.” However, with its gorgeous infinity pools, peaceful private beach coves, world-class restaurants and breathtaking villas, I found the resort a complete destination in and of itself. CHI, The Spa is an oasis of modern Asian design 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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PeoPLe hAVe BeeN CoMING To The GeTTING LoST, DISAPPeARING INTo IT IS The ULTIMATe RoBINSoN CRUSoe ReLAxATIoN. AND FoR MANy, BoRACAy IS

ISLAND FoR yeARS WITh hoPeS oF TheMSeLVeS, LeTTING Go. FoR SoMe, FANTASy. FoR oTheRS IT’S The SheeR The GATeWAy To DeCADeNCe

Most people sail by local paraws to Puka Shell Beach.

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Puka Shell Beach. From right: Pineapple Mint Shake at Lemoni Café; ChI, The Spa, ShangriLa Resort; a Lemoni Café panini Lunch Box.

I’D GIVe ANyThING RIGhT NoW To Be BACK oN SKIN, INToxICATeD FRoM The ATMoSPheRe stand-alone villas, complete with feng shui gardens. I arrived in the evening, into a welcoming cocoon of darkness, punctured by intricate stone carvings and large sculptural palms standing like opera singers in the limelight casting enchanting shadows. As I lay face down on the massage bed, I let the chanting of monks take over and drifted slowly away to a floating state. “Mmm… beach? What beach?” I was in a universe of my own… Buy one, take all: Boracay’s ultimate appeal seems to be as a one-stop-shop. “As far as I know,” says Bacchus Zulueta—a local construction magnate who found his “excuse to live in Boracay” 10 years ago, building Mandala Spa, Asya Premier Suites and Fridays Boracay, among others—“there is no other Asian island destination with the unique combination of a beautiful long stretch of white beach, with a beach path all the way through giving people a wide array of dining, drinking and accommodation choices.”

“There is something for everybody,” Zulueta says, “whether you want to party or just relax on the beach. And the island is just the right size to easily explore. Not too big, not too small.” You can buy pearls, designer swimwear and live lobsters all in the same center. You could get inked (or henna tattooed if you’re noncommittal), Rasta braids, a manicure and a massage practically simultaneously while wiggling your toes in the sand. Start the evening with sunset cocktails over house music. Most resorts offer happy hour, and at sunset White Beach turns into one big party. Walk around, mingle and rock up to any establishment that looks like fun. You could also buy a few beers or a bottle of wine and settle down on a sarong. For dinner, eat Greek food and shoot some ouzo, have beers while listening to Bob Marley, dance on the tables to Rihanna while guzzling champagne, then camp out on the windy Bulabog beach to watch the sunrise all in a span of 24 hours. Cramped away in a scraggly side street of D’Mall, Cyma looks every bit the Greek taverna it hopes to be: the clanking of pots from the open kitchen, the strains of Mediterranean guitar and the occasional Gypsy Kings, the smoky smells punctuated by bright citrus and heady olive, and the scandalously surprising shouts of “Opa!” as they bring out their signature flamed cheese—it’s all one crazy feast. Just around the corner sits Hobbit House, where the staff is tiny (as in midgets) and service is big (as in -hearted). Continue down the surreal path by hopping on a tricycle to Area 51 on

ThAT BeACh WITh The WARM SUN KISSING My AND oNe Too MANy LyChee MoJIToS Bulabog Beach. Make sure it’s a full moon and watch the crowd transcend all barriers: beneath the stars and black-lit unearthly trees, all walks of life—tourists, locals, businessmen, models, hoteliers, bartenders, socialites, vagabonds—come to sway rhythmically and ritually to the pulsating deep house music. Forget fancy cocktails, it’s beer and rum-and-Coke in plastic cups, and plenty of it to keep your joints well-oiled for the intense dance session til daylight. Oh, and don’t forget to grab a street-side chori burger before stumbling home. The next day, if your hangover doesn’t kill you (thank goodness for the chori burger!), go kite-surfing, banana boating or—in a new addition—live out your Iron Man fantasies by strapping on a water powered jet pack. Basically, a high-powered vacuum sucks up water, which in turn is spewed out of your feet and hands at such intense pressure as to propel you up to 6 meters out of the water and thrust you nearly 50 kilometers per hour. Ingenious or insane? That’s your call. For those wanting a less daring water experience, wiggle into a mermaid fin and learn how to glide up and down the water gracefully while getting a serious ab work out at the same time. If you’re still a little worn out from the night before you could just pose for a few nice pictures fin up against the sunset. No one’s judging. If you’re feeling a little adventurous, head out to Ariel’s Point some 30 to 40 minutes away by boat where, near a quaint fishing village, where rocky cliffs and small white sand beaches meet some of the

bluest waters on earth. Makeshift wooden platforms jut out from the formations inviting visitors to take the plunge and embrace the sea. Above all, one cannot visit this island without doing the classic Boracay activity: sailing by sunset. With hardly any real room on the slim boat, you find yourself sprawled out on nets strung out on the outriggers skimming the ocean’s surfaced, refreshed with every splash. Un-motorized, the wind takes you at its will. Nix the iPod and speakers and enjoy the serene whoosh as you cut through orange waves gliding into the sunset. Captain Joey, a.k.a. Red Pirate, is a local icon. Skin the color of a dark coconut husk, ripped and lithe, with long hair and a wide toothy grin, he puts Johnny Depp to shame. A true native of Boracay, which is something becoming as rare as an ortolan, he’s passionate about its nature and is probably the best person to show you around. If you’re looking for that hidden piece of paradise, untouched by development, he’s the living treasure map. He and his crew will grill some fresh fish on the beach, serve you some 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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cold beer, and he’ll personally climb up the tree with his bare hands and feet to fetch you a fresh coconut. Like a true pirate, lacking any form of contact, he simply is found happy, rum glass clinking, jamming to music at his pub. for those seriously seeking peace and quiet, come slightly off-season or just settle in the secluded Shangri-La, where, in fulfilling all your needs, they give you no real reason to leave the resort except for two things: the nightlife and, of course, the white sand. Right. Back to that sand. “Ultimately, Boracay is about the beach,” says Marc Nelson, something of a local celebrity who has been an adopted islander for the last 13 years and recently opened his own kite-surfing resort called Bahari on an island close by. “The sand is still some of the best in the world, especially if you see it way up past Station 1. The crystal clear turquoise water is gorgeous.”

The true beauty of Boracay is that its key asset is also democratic. Despite the rising number of luxury resorts and their simultaneously rising prices, anyone can enjoy the powdery sand and warm waters regardless of budget. Sure, you could fight to reserve that 2-squaremeter space of prime real estate in that first row of sunbeds in a chic resort, by tipping the waiters and ordering lots of cocktails; but the fact is, for absolutely nothing at all, armed with a sarong you could plop yourself down anywhere and momentarily own a piece of paradise. Yet that very “come one, come all” appeal is taking its toll. “I remember a time when everything was homegrown and fast-food chains were not allowed in order to protect the local businesses, when the main road only had pedestrians, bicycles and tricycles,” Mark Santiago, a businessman and Boracay resident since 2007, says. “Traffic came very suddenly. Food chains started opening left and right. Then came the large hotel chains, direct international flights and hordes of tourists. It has definitely changed too much, too fast.” Locals cite waste management, illegal constructions, poverty and displacement of the indigenous population as some of the major issues that come with the Boracay’s rapid growth. Last April, the local government issued a one-year moratorium on building construction. However, there are exceptions for outsider investments worth

resorts and activities are here. Divided into three distinct stations: Station 1, quieter, more relaxed with upscale resorts; Station 2 is centered around D’Mall where most of the bustle is; and Station 3, where most of the locals and backpackers hang out.

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Places of Interest Puka Shell Beach Most people sail over by the local paraws. Bring a picnic, some cold beer and sarongs to lay out on the pinkish coral sand and watch the sun set. Bulabog Beach Perennially windy, this is kite-surfers’ paradise. It also has a more relaxed, bohemian vibe

to it. Although the sand isn’t as white, the beach has its charm. Be careful of the seasons and the tides; during high tide, you may not be able to cross from one end to the other without swimming. White Beach The island’s main beach, famous for its pure white sand, clear-blue waters and breathtaking sunset. Most of the

stay Discovery Shores Boracay Beautiful rooms with a sleek design coupled with top-notch service that is always friendly and efficient yet never intrusive. The attention to detail is astounding, from the small bites and chilled towels passed around during the day to the servers who clean your sunglasses without you asking. The food is equally excellent and their cocktails are deceivingly deadly. Station 1, Balabag, Boracay Highway Central; 63-36/288-4500; discoveryshoresboracay.com; doubles from P19,962. Shangri-La Boracay Don’t miss out on CHI, The Spa, a true haven on a bustling island. Indulge in a two-person massage in their Asian inspired spa villas. A plus is that they have their own pier and their private speedboat service takes you directly to the resort without having to pass the back roads of the island. Barangay Yapak, 63-36/288-4988; shangri-la.com/ boracay; doubles from P21,800. Punta Rosa A “secret favorite” among long-term expats, there are comfortable rooms, some with

large terraces and open showers. Located on White Beach close to the very end of Station 1, it’s a great compromise between prime location and fair pricing. With no real beachfront, however, most guests camp out on the sunbeds of other resorts earning their rights by ordering food and drinks. Sinagpa Balabag; 63-36/2886740; puntarosaboracay.com; doubles from P3,950. Villa Kaloo Feel at home in a four-bedroom villa with both maid and cook services right on White Beach at Station 1. Sitio Pinaungon; 63-36/288-5798; boracayvillas.biz; P35,000 per night for the villa. 7Stones Boracay Suites For the more relaxed vibe of Bulabog beach without having to rough it, this is a well-run resort with seaview rooms and a pool. Bulabog Beach, Balabag; 63-36/288-1601; 7stonesboracay.com; doubles from P6,900. hey! Jude Resort Perfect for those on a budget who still want to be in the heart of the action. There’s no beachfront, but the rooms are nice and the service friendly. D’mall D’boracay, Balabag; 63-36/288-5401; heyjude-boracay. com; doubles from P3,177.

eat Baling hai A local favorite, nestled in a cove where you can set a budget and they can grill up a storm of fresh caught seafood. Sail

P20 million (US$500,000) and up. Which means: anything is possible as long as you have the money. Still, we’re all staying optimistic. “Even though I miss how it used to be, I notice that there is still a magic that is essentially Boracay,” Nelson says. “Sometimes you just need to look for it a bit more carefully.” That’s especially true for nostalgic regulars like me, who love to complain about the “new,” “overrun” Boracay—perhaps we think it makes us sound cool?—yet, whatever we may say, just keep on coming back. Stuck in my small office in the scorching heat of Manila summer, I’d give anything right now to be back on that noisy beach with the warm sun kissing my skin, slightly intoxicated from the invigorating atmosphere, not to mention one too many lychee mojitos. “It’s just a matter of remembering and seeking out what you love,” says Santiago. “Residents have to make an effort to play tourist once in a while to appreciate where we are and not take it for granted.” I already have my next plane ticket booked. ✚

At TiBraz crêperie.

IT IS The WITChING hoUR. oN ThIS ISLAND, IT’S AT DUSK WheN The MAGIC hAPPeNS there with a paraw and arrive directly on the beach in time for sunset cocktails. You must book ahead and it’s best to have your resort contact them and organize this for you. Yapak, Malay; 63-36/288-3646; balinghai.com; dinner for two P1,000. Cyma’s chicken souvlakis, lamb ribs, metzedes platters and fried saganaki cheese easily make for one of the best meals on the island. D’Mall; 63-36/288-4283; cymarestaurants.com; dinner for two P1,500. Aria Cucina Italiana Go for the wood-fire oven pizzas and a nice glass of wine. At the beachfront of D’Mall; 63-36/288-6223; aria.com. ph; dinner for two P1,500. Lemoni Café A light, refreshing lunch after shopping. Order their hearty sandwiches and don’t miss out on their Pineapple Mint Shake. D’Mall; 63-36/288-6781; lemonicafeboracay.com; lunch for two P750. Real Coffee and Tea Local institution that has been made famous by their delicious freshly baked calamansi muffins. It’s a nice place for breakfast and brunch as well. Located in Station 1 near Willy’s Beach Resort. 63-36/2885340; breakfast for two P500. Dos Mestizos One of the pioneer restaurants on the island serving rich slow-cooked classic Spanish cuisine. Their paellas are fantastic but for large groups order in advance their cuchinillo or roast

suckling pig, or the roast leg of lamb. Remedios St.; 63-36/2885786; dosmestizos.com; dinner for two P1,500. The Lazy Dog Bed and Breakfast Filipino breakfast in a laid-back atmosphere. Try their Adobo and Tinapa Flakes. Bulabog Beach, Balabag; 63-36/288-4128; lazydogboracay.com; breakfast for two P400. Ti Braz Crêpes and really good French Malongo espresso. North end of Station 2; 63-36/288-1667; www.tibrazboracay.com; lunch for two P600.

drink ePIC The heart of Boracay’s nightlife. With different events and parties, the glamorous crowd is always rocking it to mainstream club hits. You could also choose to ease in to the evening by grabbing a few bites and cocktails on their nice beachfront set-up. epicboracay.com; drinks for two P350. Juice Bar Local favorite, the dress code is laid back but the vibe certainly isn’t. Beware of the Waterfall, a towering concoction of spirits that is sure have you dancing on the bar. Get dropped off at D’Mall, walk to the beach front and turn left, walk further down past Shakey’s Pizza and you’ll hit Juice Bar. Drinks for two P260. Area 51 on Bulabog beach is probably the closest you can get to what people mean by the “true

Boracay.” Best during their full moon parties when locals and tourists come together for a night of deep house music under the starry sky with a really barefoot beach bum vibe. Ask any tricycle driver to take you there; they might also know it by its former name, Jungle Bar. With no real website to check, it’s best to ask locals or your resort if there are any fun parties or events happening there during your stay. Drinks for two P150. hobbit house Boracay is a nice pub with a good selection of international beers and average but tasty bar chow, but the real highlight is the staff: all friendly midgets, including those running the kitchen. Take some photos; they love to ham it up. D’Mall; 63/90989-44834; sam_hobbit20@ yahoo.com; hobbithousemanila.com; drinks for two P250.

shoP / do D’Mall is the central nerve of activity on the island. Several pathways of little shops, bakeries, restaurants, bars, cafés, arcades, pharmacies, optical shops, ATM cash dispensers… whatever you need, you’ll find it here. Nothing But Water is a great store for locally designed and made, high quality swimwear with prices for bikini tops starting at a reasonable P1,500. They also sell nice cover-ups, the famous comfy Toms Shoes and cute beachwear

for kids. Station 2, D’Mall; 63-36/ 288-5942. One of the latest additions to the watersports scene is the Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy. Wriggle into a mermaid tail and learn to swim in the warm waters by the shore. 63-917/3243947; philippinemermaidswimming academy.com; P1,500 per person per two-hour class inclusive of tail rental, minimum two per class. Ariel’s Point is a 30-minute boat ride from Boracay with a famous cliff that drops to pristine waters. It’s a wonderful escape from the hustle and bustle of the main island and a chance to experience a quaint, unspoiled fishing town. arielspoint.com; P1,600 per person. Rent a paraw or local sailboat and go for a sunset cruise. You don’t need to look far and wide to find one to rent, as the local captains wander the shores offering their boats to the tourists. The most famous one is Captain Joey of Red Pirate Tours. They organize beach barbecues and if you’re lucky some live music on deserted beaches. He’s almost impossible to reach by mobile phone or email; it’s best to go visit him at the Red Pirate Pub (63-36/2885767) on Angol Beach Station 3. You could also ask your resort to organize this for you. Around P1,000 for one to two persons for 30 minutes, prices vary depending on the captain; you can usually negotiate directly with him.

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r I c h a r d s I d e y/ c o u r T e s y o F s I lV e r s e a

Approaching Greenlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Skjoldungen Fjord on Silverseaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Silver Explorer.

Sea Change Forget roughing it. Adventure cruises are entering brave new worldsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of luxury. Fresh-air addict Jane Wooldridge is wholeheartedly on board.

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ast summer, Clara Davies, a 37-year-old lawyer from Melbourne, Australia, visited the North Pole with Quark Expeditions. As the ship sailed toward the pole, the ice thickened so much that the ship had to crunch through 3 meters of frozen sea before arriving at true north. “Knowing I was one of the few people who’d ever been there made it an almost spiritual experience,” Davies says. Not as spiritual, but just as memorable? The polar plunge she then took—followed by a warming vodka shot. All across the globe, exploration ships— outfitted with a high capacity for fuel and food, and made with shallower hulls to ply new, previously uncharted waters from Borneo to Burma’s Irrawaddy River—are more in demand than ever. “People want to visit places that are rarely seen,” says travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Hudson Crossing, “but with the security that a ship can provide.” And it’s not just sporty types: according to Sven Lindblad, founder and president of Lindblad Expeditions, whose father pioneered expedition cruising in the 1960’s, passengers now include multigenerational families and sybarites who expect five-star style. “The growing fascination with ecology is part of the draw,” Lindblad says. “But there’s also an emerging interest in heroes and explorers...the idea of getting out of your comfort zone and into the wild.” Before high-end cruise lines entered the scene, many of my own global adventures included a stash of freeze-dried soups, back-stiffening hours in a dugout canoe and—once I’d smartened up—a self-inflating air mattress. At an indigenous ceremony in New Guinea, my husband and I watched the women of the Sepik River tribe strap live crocodiles across their chests, the snouts wrapped shut for safety—after we’d spent a sleepless night in a thatched-roof hut, complete with a few pitch-black slogs to the latrine. But on our voyage to Greenland aboard Hurtigruten’s 256-passenger Fram? After a day spent hiking on glaciers located just off the mainland or scanning the waters for bowhead whales with a group of naturalists, we curled into the body-contoured leather chairs by the ship’s

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floor-to-ceiling windows—and toasted the day with martinis. We aren’t the only ones happy that “adventure” and “roughing it” are no longer synonymous. When French luxury line Compagnie du Ponant announced it would follow in the course of legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen with a 20-night Northwest Passage sailing this August aboard its new 132-stateroom Le Soléal, the US$16,091 trip sold out in four days. Silversea and National Geographic Expeditions have introduced similar tours, and Ponant will offer the trip again in 2014. While some travelers are marking their bucket lists, “others are seeking true life-changing moments,” says Terri Haas, chief commercial

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 a Q u a e x p e d I T I o n s ; M a r s e l Va n o o s T e n /c o u r T e s y o F h u r T I G r u T e n ; c o u r T e s y o F celeBrIT y cruIses; courTesy oF a z aMara cluB cruIses

Clockwise from top left: Aqua expeditions’ Aria Amazon; a penguin at Neko harbour, a stop on hurtigruten’s Antarctica cruise; the deck of the Celebrity Xpedition in the Galápagos; the Azamara Journey’s pool deck.

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officer of Ponant. To help passengers understand both climate and local culture, top ships provide unprecedented access to experts. Aboard Zegrahm Expeditions ships, explorer and company cofounder Shirley Metz shares knowledge gained during 40 Antarctic visits (including an 1,300-kilometer journey on skis from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole). Former Colombian president César Gaviria Trujillo joins Lindblad/National Geographic in Latin America to reveal insights on the region’s political climate. On Orion Expeditions’ Borneo cruise, Kalimantan Tengah–based Camp Leakey founder Dr. Birute Galdikas teaches guests about the habitat loss that is endangering the island’s dwindling orangutan population. Adventure cruises are best for the agile (Zodiacs are used for many excursions) and spontaneous (weather dictates the schedule each day). But despite rugged shore excursions, “people still want plush pillows and attentive service,” says Ellen Bettridge, Silversea Cruises President for the Americas. The popularity of Silversea’s Silver Explorer, a 132-passenger expedition ship that sails to six continents, has led the luxury line to add year-round itineraries in the Galápagos aboard its newly acquired, 100-passenger Silver Galapagos. Similarly, Seabourn is heeding guests’ requests and adding Antarctic itineraries this fall. On a voyage through the Northwest Passage 106

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Quark expeditions passengers surrounding the North Pole. opposite: The Celebrity Xpedition in the Galápagos.

to the Bering Strait with Ponant’s Le Soléal, you can search for endangered polar bears before a visit to the hammam in the ship’s spa. With Celebrity Xpedition in the Galápagos, spend your morning swimming with sea lion pups before a lunch of grilled wahoo, caught by local fishermen, at Darwin’s Restaurant. You can even camp overnight on the Antarctic ice before returning to your fluffy duvet aboard Hurtigruten’s Fram. Our Greenland trip took us to Disko Bay, where we visited a remote Arctic village, one with a population of 130. Here, the effects of climate change are no inconvenient truth; it’s the difference between a successful winter hunt and hunger when the ice is too thin to support a hunter and his dog team. Beneath the endless summer sun, we sailed among glowing icebergs calved from the same blue glacier that birthed the Titanic’s nemesis, and began to grasp the perilous impact of the current polar melt. If our lives weren’t entirely changed, surely our perspective had sharpened. ✚

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Adventure Cruise Picks

T+L’s short list of seaworthy itineraries. Galápagos

Bali and the Spice Islands

Peru

New Guinea

a trip aboard the 96-passenger Celebrity Xpedition is manageable enough for a multigenerational crowd—but that doesn’t diminish the thrill of watching 400-kilo tortoises lumber near you. at night, head to the bar for a pre-dinner cocktail and a talk by a naturalist about the next day’s activities. celebrity.com; seven-night cruises run year-round; from US$3,200 per person.

as rain forests worldwide diminish, there’s no better time to explore the world’s largest remaining tropical rain forest, along the amazon river. daybeds on the observation deck of aqua expeditions’ 16-suite Aria Amazon let you observe the landscape as towering rubber trees, palms and fig trees slip past. aquaexpeditions.com; seven-night voyages run year-round; from US$6,615 per person.

Antarctica

passengers on the 256-passenger Fram can brave the drake passage, cruise among icebergs, land on the White continent and pitch a tent on the ice (weather permitting). a lottery determines which guests get to spend the night in a two-person pop-up tent—not nearly as comfortable as the ship’s contemporary cabins, but undeniably memorable. hurtigruten.us; trips range from 10 to 19 days and are offered from November to February; from US$6,300 per person.

Borneo

rarely seen orangutan preserves are part of the agenda with orion expeditions’ Faces in the Forest journey. joining the passengers at camp leakey, in kalimantan Tengah, is its founder, dr. Birute Galdikas, who introduces guests to orangutan orphans and shares insights from decades of studying primate behavior. other things to watch for? hornbills and proboscis monkeys. orionexpeditions.com; sails Oct. 25 and Nov. 18, 2013; from US$13,670 per person.

azamara club cruises brings indulgence to the bush. Its 17-night explorer’s asia itinerary on the 694-passenger azamara Journey mixes a caviar-and-champagne bar and a chef’s table in the steak house with visits to Bali’s elephant safari park, where guests can feed and bathe sumatran elephants. azamaraclubcruises.com; sails March 17, 2014; from US$5,300 per person.

aboard zegrahm expeditions’ newly refurbished, all-suite Caledonian Sky, you’ll explore the network of reefs and watch for plumed birds of paradise—not to mention island rituals such as the annual yam festival, fertility dances and kula shell trading. zegrahm.com; trips depart in March; from US$10,970 per person for the first leg and US$12,470 for the second.

Iceland and Greenland

The only small-ship line to cruise between the hawaiian islands? The cheekily named un-cruise adventures. From november through april, its 36-passenger safari explorer itineraries include the cowboy isle of Molokai and night snorkeling with giant manta rays off the Big Island. un-cruise.com; from US$3,595 per person.

Burma

The country is becoming more accessible, opening up its Buddhist temples and 1,000-year-old pagodas to more from the world beyond its borders—and beginning in january 2014, to passengers aboard Viking river cruises’ Mandalay. In 15 nights on the Irrawaddy river, you’ll shop in rural markets and villages devoted to pottery. vikingcruises. com; from US$5,000 per person.

Australia and the South Pacific

on this 17-day voyage with lindblad/national Geographic, the 102-passenger National Geographic Orion (soon to join the lindblad fleet) will be equipped with a state-of the-art, remotely operated submersible capable of roving to depths of 300 meters. expeditions. com; from US$14,730 per person.

This 12-day voyage aboard silversea’s Silver Explorer ferries guests from Iceland—home to fiery volcanoes—to the remote, frosted towns of Greenland. you’ll pass fantastical twists of ice, follow whales and hear first-person accounts on the rigors of daily life in a frozen land. silversea.com; sails July 28, 2014; from US$9,750 per person.

Greenland

Hawaii

From Bangkok to Rome

as the climate has warmed, polar bears’ habitat and accessibility to food have waned, leaving the species endangered. Their stark beauty has made sightings a highlight of far-north cruises. Wanderbird, a trawler converted for comfort, heads to Greenland along the labrador coast (where last summer owner-sailors rick and karen Miles spotted 18 of the majestic beasts). wanderbirdcruises. com; 21-day sailings leave Labrador in July and August; from US$8,000 per person.

on oceania cruises’ 35-day voyage, passengers can visit tombs near ancient luxor on a day excursion—without the need to stay ashore in unstable egypt. another stop? The holy city of jerusalem. oceaniacruises.com; sails March 31, 2014; from US$8,999 per person.

From Greenland to Russia

In 1906, norwegian explorer roald amundsen became the first to successfully complete the northwest passage linking europe to asia. compagnie du ponant is one of a handful of companies inaugurating sailings between west and east through this northern route. ponant.com; 2014 dates forthcoming; from US$16,091 per person.

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The Beach, ITalIan STyle They are, after all, the inventors of la dolce vita, so is it any wonder Italians have perfected the art of the summer beach vacation? dev in fr iedm a n goes native on the coast of Liguria. plus Eight more European beach hideaways, from Denmark to Greece. photogr a phed by emili a no gr a na do

The Ligurian coast is divided by its beach clubs, each one marked by its own color of umbrella.

We Were Feeling good.

We arrived at our apartment in the town of Lerici as the sun was going down. Above: tiny wisps of cloud lit from beneath like pink fish bones. Below: the village, with its ocher- and sienna-washed buildings and beachside promenade teeming with tiny people eating invisible gelato cones. The air smelled like the sea and Italian flora. No one got sick in the car on the highway and no one had had an ear infection in nearly two days. We got out of the Fiat Panda and stretched. Except Finn, our baby. He just sat strapped in to his car seat, screaming, “Outta here! Outta here!” But man, the air did smell great. Like the summer, only with finer cologne. Lerici is stacked vertically upward from the Mediterranean—the Gulf of Poets, as this inlet is called— like a dense, upper-middle-class favela. The villa we had booked over the Internet was here, notched into the hillside maybe 275 meters above the town. Bathed in the sounds of cicadas. Shrouded in flowering bush. No matter how many pictures you look at, you never know what you’re going to get when you rent a place through a site like VRBO.com. But so far, so good. We unloaded the kids from the car, the portable crib, the 293 kilograms of luggage, and then set off to find the front door. We had been very deliberate in our selection of Lerici. It’s a midsize beach town on the southern coast of Liguria, a region best known as the home of Portofino and pesto. It is a place that hits a delicate balance: easy to get to but not too easy; technically part of the Italian Riviera, but not the part of the Italian Riviera where one can only find Russian oligarchs or living, breathing ads for men’s perfume; beaches neither too close to a cement/sardine-processing factory nor to a luxury resort that features a pool sommelier/place where Justin Timberlake might get married. Excellent views, brilliant summer weather, great native summer wine (Vermentino) and seafood (they will blow your mind with some crudo) and a population dedicated to the very pursuit we meant to learn in one week: the modestly fancy Italian family beach vacation. There are many things the Italian people have not figured out. A balanced budget, for instance. Overnight delivery. Politics, diversity, gay rights, the global economy, procreating fast enough to keep their population from shrinking. But anyone who knows anything about Italy knows they have figured out lifestyle. Lunch. Naps. Working hours. And, though it doesn’t get nearly as much play as wine or pasta: going to the beach. Having lived in Rome for a 110

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year not long ago (but longer ago than I’d like), I translated the national psychology as: Hey guys, no one is ever going to get their act together on a societal level, so let’s go small bore and construct our daily lives as perfectly as possible, let’s make sure we have good coffee and never eat a tasteless tomato and throw ourselves with extreme prejudice into the pursuit of the vacation. I had brought my wife and my two children—ages 1.5 and 3.5—here with a tacit entreaty: teach us, pesto eaters, teach us how to love life and the beach more purely! That was the hopeful energy we inhabited as we humped our gear toward our VRBO villa. We had a week, and it was going to be perfect; we were going to put the plane ride behind us, not to mention the cost of the tickets. And how long did that hope last? I’d say about 40 meters. The villa was up what seemed like 6,000 steps from the road—metal fire-escape-style steps screwed into the hillside. We jettisoned luggage on the way up, like spent booster rockets. The Pack ’n Play first, then the rolling suitcase. When we got to the villa things just seemed…different. I mean, it wasn’t like they used fraudulent pictures on VRBO. But the cold-water hot tub (what is a cold-water hot tub, anyway?) sure looked like a pool in that slideshow. That was the outdoor deck all right, but I hadn’t noticed the sheer drop down the cliff behind it in the photograph, maybe not perfect for a human who is just learning to walk. It was fetid in the (smaller than we imagined!) condo. We opened the windows. “No,” screamed the owner of the property, who was showing us around. “There are many mosquitoes.” What about screens? we asked. A look like: what is the meaning of...screens? We sat down in the backyard. So where do we park to use the beach in town? we asked. Oh, you can’t drive your car into town unless you have a resident permit. Okay, how long is the walk? Thirty minutes, up and down a hill via another 8,000 steps. At least there was a beautiful tree with pink blooms right here at the edge of the deck—my daughter being obsessed with both flowers and the color pink. “Nooooo!” screamed the villa matroness as my daughter picked one. “Pink oleander! It’s poisonous! She will die! She will die!” Neither of us said anything, my wife nor I. You can complain about little things when you’ve blown your yearly vacation allowance on a trip to Italy—shades that let in too much light in the morning. Or: the coffee at the breakfast buffet is French press, and I hate French press! But when you sense that you will spend the waking hours of your vacation hoping that you could just go home,

A stretch of beach in Camogli.

you want to bury that information very, very deep. I can live with this! my wife said. It’s not too bad, I said. It wasn’t until later—after I’d come back from shopping with these biodegradable grocery bags that seemed to have a half-life of about three minutes, after all seven of these bags began to disintegrate one by one on the hillside staircases, after I’d ferried the food up and down the steps in armfuls of single, orphaned yogurts and crushed cartons of milk—that I said to my wife: This sucks. I know it makes me a spoiled brat that, while we’re here in this beautiful Italian beach town where the sun is setting with the gentlest brilliance while a breeze blows off the gentle Mediterranean, I’m saying: I can’t stay here. Oh my God, she said, in love with me again after all these years, I have been waiting for so long for you to turn into a spoiled brat. We got on the spotty Internet posthaste. And so it was that we decided to go into debt so we could have the lifestyle we wanted—and thereby became truly Italian for the first time.

Beaches 1 & 2

The Fiascherino beach club and Lido di Lerici It was our second day. It was morning. And it was nigh ten o’clock by the time we were driving along a cliff above the blue Mediterranean, the Fiat clinging to the sea-facing edge of the road. This particular road was just due south of Lerici and led us on this sun-dappled morning toward a new beach experience. In front of us was the hamlet of Fiascherino, where we’d been told there was a beach club. The whole of the Gulf of Poets is lined with coastal towns, Portovenere at

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the western tip, just a few kilometers from the Cinque Terre, then La Spezia (which is a legit city, complete with a naval base and heavy industry), then around a rocky bend are Lerici and Fiascherino, and finally at the end the tiny town of Tellaro. The beach club we were going to was recommended as a place for Italians. More specifically: Italian families from, say, Milan or Parma (which is just a couple hours away in Emilia-Romagna) who come here year after year to avail themselves of their nationally allotted beach time. A sign for Fiascherino appeared suddenly on the right. A steep driveway cut downward at a precipitous angle, and so we plunged the Fiat seaward. This was our second beach experience. The first had been yesterday, in Lerici. We’d had to spend one night in the Villa of Death and Malaria before we found a new place. In the morning we’d climbed down the walking path into town. We strolled along the boardwalk that stretches two and a half kilometers from one end of Lerici to another until we selected a beach club we liked. We rented four chairs at the Lido di Lerici, a hotel with its own stretch of beach. Lerici is divided up by its beach clubs. Each one is marked by its own color of umbrella— canary yellow or Baltic blue or Italian-flag green.

on the beach in, from far left, Portovenere, Lerici, Camogli and Isola Palmaria.

i am happy to report that the ligurian male bathing suit is still exceptional in its ability to both evoke and diminish the male member From the boardwalk you could see them staking out sections of coast, phalanxes of umbrellas cordoned off like the encampments of competing armies (of people in bathing suits). The Lido’s umbrellas were blue. A maître d’beach brought us to our chairs, wedged between a family from L’Aquila and a couple from Rimini. Some of the people seemed to know each other from years past. There were zero Americanized beach activities—Frisbees; volleyball; giant castles built by show-off dads. People were content to smoke cigarettes, read the newspaper, stand in the surf.

One lady just lay where the sea met the rocks and let herself be tumbled gently like driftwood. The population density took some getting used to. My daughter walked to the water to collect stones, then wandered back to the wrong chair. She looked up to discover hundreds of identical chairs manned by hundreds of slightly hairy 40-year-olds who looked almost like but were not her dad. Today at Fiascherino—hotel and beach club—it would be a different sort of experience. It was more out-of-the-way, quieter, tucked into a cove inaccessible except to whomever could fit into their small parking lot. Terraced up the hillside facing a quiet lagoon were 14 guest rooms arranged

‘look around. this is hoW you do nothing in a civilized Way’ at various elevations, as well as a huge seawater pool with lounge chairs, restaurants and a stretch of beach. Since we weren’t staying at the hotel, it cost US$90 for the four of us to spend the day—pool, beach, wherever we liked. We were given locker keys and shown to the changing area. The changing area: here we find our first cultural artifact of the Italian beach. In Italy, you do not dress to go swimming when you leave your house in the morning. You change when you get there, and then walk down to the beach with only a towel, sandals and maybe the Corriere della Sera tucked under your arm—as if you were strolling out of your own beach house. Next to me as I put my son into his swim diaper was an Italian grandfather who looked as if he had spent the last decade of his 70-year life dedicated to transforming himself into a walrus with horn-rimmed sunglasses. He insisted on carrying my son down to the beach, and my son instinctively knew this was a good arrangement. When we got down to the water, he was given an almond cookie. Just after noon, the pool suddenly cleared out— lunchtime. We found most of the people from the pool at a buffet set in the open-air dining area just above the beach’s retaining wall. For the next hour we went back and forth between our table and heaping plates of farro salad, bruschette, salade niçoise. We ate squid-ink pasta with shrimp, mussels and tomatoes. We ate fish tartare, drank white wine and espresso, and then, like the rest of the Fiascherino-ites, went back to fall asleep beneath umbrellas. I got to talking to a Milanese man, Giuseppe, as we sat after lunch with our feet in the pool. We bonded. I’m pretty sure his job was fascinating—he was either in real estate or furniture, the Italian words are similar, but either way I was riveted. He had lived briefly in Boston and had spent time on Cape Cod. “What is funny to me about Americans is how ambitious you are,” he said. “Even at the beach. You must do your activities, apply your sunblock. Even when you are doing nothing you’re always doing something, digging in your beach umbrella or body surfing. Look around. This is how you do nothing in a civilized way.”

Beaches 3, 4 and 5

Plus: a word about Italian beach theory While we’re getting theoretical about Italians and the beach, let me bring you into a kind of cultural photo-negative situation I found myself in several days later. I’d left the family to head north to bushwhack around other parts of Liguria. Camogli (beautiful pastel houses; amazingly 114

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crowded beach), which is a working-class-ish alternative to the more tony spots nearby. Portofino—speaking of tony places, it’s fun just to look at the Ferraris on the street here. San Fruttuoso—a tiny townlet accessible only by ferry built around a stunning seaside abbey, which is worth a trip for lunch. In Camogli, I ate at a famous old place right off the boardwalk called Porto Prego—I had plates of two kinds of native anchovies, some raw with lemon and some salate (salt cured). They were delicious. “You’re American,” a voice said to me as I was finishing. I looked up and there was a woman. Her eyes were a little too energetic. At home, I avoid getting pinned down by crazy conversationalists at all costs. But this time I figured, why not. “I am.” It turned out she was a linguistics scholar who had left her professorship to follow a cardiovascular surgeon who lived not far away from Camogli—they were recently married. “How did you know?” I asked. “You’re reading a book at lunch,” she said. “An Italian wouldn’t do that. An Italian wouldn’t be so self-conscious about eating alone. He would tuck his napkin into his shirt and eat and be happy that all he had to do was eat.” I told her the purpose of my trip, and she said, listen, the Italians are different about the beach. “Up and down the coast, there are beach clubs,” she said. “Dozens of them. Hundreds of them. And you know what’s insane?” And she explained the dark side of the Italian dedication to tradition: “They’re all reserved. All of them! For next year, too. Probably for years and years!”

a Mountain sojourn

That night, that first night. That night when we sat up in the Villa of Death and Malaria, looking for another place to stay. My wife and I huddling over laptops, searching villa-rental sites and TripAdvisor and e-mailing friends of friends. In the back of my mind there was a voice, quiet but insistent, that said: Here you are in Liguria, a place that, not long ago, you did not know existed. And you are complaining because your hot tub isn’t hot enough? I admit: thinking about this still fills

Seaside in Tellaro.

me with shame. What lessons will my children draw from this kind of behavior? What kind of hysterical, highmaintenance freaks am I turning them into? But let me counter it with this. How do you feel when you check in to a truly great hotel? Or find out the rustic farmhouse you rented isn’t pretend rustic but really, transportingly rustic? When you walk into your house swap and it appears to have been extracted from unnamed fantasies buried deep in your subconscious that have to do with simple picnics had in a backyard garden? After being turned on to a woman named Merrion Charles, a British expat and purveyor/agent for extremely tasteful houses the world over but especially in Italy, we found a place nearby. It was, in fact, her house, just inland from Lerici in an area called Lunigiana. We e-mailed Charles and miraculously she e-mailed us back immediately. The house was empty, by chance, for the rest of the week. We could have it for a few hundred euros. On the one hand: it was a few hundred euros we didn’t actually have. On the other hand: we’d already spent all our money to get here. How do we not spend a few hundred euros to right the wrong? To paraphrase John Kerry at the end of the Vietnam War: how can you not ask a few hundred euros to be the last few hundred euros spent to correct a mistake? We drove out there in the morning and let me tell you: it was legit. The pool was saltwater and surrounded by shaggy lavender bushes. It was in the town of Cotto, which is not a town as much as a few structures on a hillside with a handful of cobblestoned streets and many farm animals— chickens and cows, mostly—wandering through town untended like old ladies on their way to buy lottery tickets. This part of the country is a corner where three regioni meet: Liguria, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna—the land where prosciutto was born, not to mention Parmigiano-Reggiano and lasagna and balsamic vinegar, all just a day trip away. From our kitchen you could see the Apuan Alps, hilly in the foreground and jagged in the distance.

Beaches 6 & 7

Perfection There are many perfect beach days on the Italian Riviera. There is the Italian-cruise-ship perfect of the Lido; the quiet-Italian-family perfect of Fiascherino. There is another astonishing zone of perfection in Portovenere—beneath the beautiful church built into the rocky escarpment, on the giant stones that line the marina, is the most colorful assortment of Italian teenagers wearing tiny Day-Glo bikinis and smoking cigarettes and playing soccer. I am telling you, you’ve never seen haircuts like this. It’s a beauty school encyclopedia. Not to mention the tans. If I were either (1) 17 years old and loved club music or (2) Bruce Weber, I would never leave that place. There’s also the perfection of Tellaro. Tellaro is the last town on the eastern side of the Gulf of Poets. It’s tiny, hardly a town at all, and it’s nestled right against the sea, as if the rock of the coast had been chiseled into palazzi. You park your car at the top of the town, in a 116

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More european Beach hideaways Just a little off the beaten path, these beaches embody the quieter side of European summer glamour. CALA VARQUeS, MANACoR, MALLoRCA, SPAIN White-sand beach accessible only by boat or a rocky footpath, with clear water ringed by pine forests, about 20 minutes south of Manacor, where la reserva rotana (reservarotana.com), a 17th-century stone house, has been transformed into a resort. eLAFoNISI BeACh, CReTe, GReeCe Wade through translucent shallows to reach the tiny islet facing this nature reserve at the southwestern tip of crete. There’s pink sand, bright blue water and the pretty nearby village of chania, with a 14thcentury Venetian harbor. GReNeN heADLAND, SKAGeN, DeNMARK In this colorful fishing village on a remote peninsula in jutland, denmark’s far north, summer days are long. The chic hotel plesner (hotelplesner.dk) is set in a 1907 house; north of town, dunes have been so displaced by wind they’ve overtaken the medieval st. laurentius church. heRDADe DA CoMPoRTA, ALeNTeJo, PoRTUGAL This unspoiled, 13-kilometer stretch of atlantic shoreline is an hour south of lisbon. The whitewashed village of comporta is the site of the herdade eco-resort

complex (herdadeda comporta.pt), where an aman hotel is currently being built. LUSKeNTyRe, ISLe oF hARRIS, SCoTLAND on the windswept west coast outer hebrides, the vast white-sand beaches and crystal-clear waters— yes, in scotland—see more deer, otters and dolphins than people. oRToLo VALLey, CoRSICA, FRANCe corsica remains relatively undeveloped, despite perfect waves and deep eucalyptus forests. explore beach coves from domaine de Murtoli (murtoli.com), a compound of 16 renovated shepherd’s houses. PoRAT BeACh, BISeVo ISLAND, CRoATIA This tiny Mediterranean island off the dalmatian coast is best reached by rented boat from Vis. The limestone Blue cave—where refracted sunlight glows an eerie blue—is a local draw, as is the small beach restaurant, konoba Tomić Biševo. RANSVIK, SKANe, SWeDeN a secluded stony beach in southern sweden surrounded by rocky cliffs and gnarled oak trees. access is on foot only; 15 minutes to the south, in the village of arild, is a sunny design property, strand hotel (strand-arild.se). —alexandra marshall

municipal space, and then stroll down. There’s a piazza at the town’s entrance with a quiet bar for espresso and sandwiches and cold beer in the late afternoon. You wend your way down, through streets too narrow for cars, right to the piazza that empties into the sea. Some of the fishermen launch their boats from here, but not many. Mostly it’s kids in little Italian swimsuits playing soccer. A few folks perched on the rocks overlooking the water. Some teenagers floating out on their backs in the crisp, mineral-blue sea, this Renaissance town as backdrop. There’s no train service here, but people say that if a train served Tellaro it would be the sixth town of the Cinque Terre. It wouldn’t be bad to spend a month here, walking to the grocery, walking to the beach, sitting out in the piazza at night having a beer or two. But there has to be a winner of the Ligurian beach competition. There has to be a most perfect place. Picture this. There’s a hidden cove. Not visible from the road. Not visible even from the cliff overhanging it really, unless you’re really bending over to look down. It’s accessible only by a 300-meter staircase or a tiny elevator that tunnels through rock and from which you may never be rescued should it halt unaccountably. There is only space for 20 or 30 chairs on the beach. Which is, you know, sorry to say, perfect. An apron of peastone surrounded by cliffs; little caves to explore where the water meets rock. There is a small restaurant, six hotel rooms, a shop where one can buy US$300 scarves. The entire place is sandblasted flooring, sun-bleached wood, billowing with tastefully placed diaphanous white fabrics. It is a place where you need look no further than the bathing suits to know you are in Italy. I am happy to report that even given the Europeanification of the American swimsuit over the past few years, the male bathing suit on the Ligurian coast is still exceptional in its clinginess and ability to both evoke and diminish the male member. This beach, called Eco del Mare, is owned by a beautiful woman with salt-crunched chestnut hair. Whom you will find more often than not sitting at her desk, windswept, smoking a cigarette. Who is married to a famous Italian pop star. Named—I’m translating—Sugar. And they live on a farm in the Lunigiana. And the food here—the olive oil, the jams, the vegetables, the fruit—comes from the farm. Everything that doesn’t come from the sea, anyway. Even the Vermentino that you can drink barefoot as you eat lunch overlooking the beach. Being here does something to people. For instance there was one Russian man with a

worrisome tattoo of a Kalashnikov on his back on one of the mornings we were there. We grew nervous as he stalked up the beach in quick, menacing steps toward us. But whether or not he lived a life of crime and violence at home, today he was just incredibly worried that my children might encounter a jellyfish. “You be careful, beautifuls!” he said to us. “They are floating sometimes close by.” We spent the day there. We came back the next day. We wanted to go discover another beach on our last day but we couldn’t do it. We came back here again, ate branzino and drank wine and swam. As we gathered our belongings to leave for the last time, Francesca Mozer, the owner, came over with her datebook. “So,” she said. “Let us book for you a spot for the same week, next year. We are already almost full in the hotel that week. It’s a tradition, what do you say?” ✚

Liguria

italy

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Portofino sestri levante aPuan alPs lig u ri a n s e a monterosso al mare

cinque terre

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8 km

lunigiana

la sPeZia

fiascherino Portovenere

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t l guide Getting There Genoa, about a 1½-hour drive north of lerici, and pisa, 45 minutes south, are the closest international airports.

Renting a Villa For a trustworthy rental, we recommend booking through an established agency. Visit travelandleisure.com/ articles/best-villa-rentalagencies for our top picks, or contact a travel consultant like Merrion charles, whose house the author rented (merrioncharles.com). T+l a-list agent joyce Falcone (italianconcierge.com) specializes in the region.

stay

eco del Mare 4 Località Maramozza, Lerici; ecodelmare.it; doubles €300. Fiascherino 13 Via Byron, Lerici; hotelfiascherino.it; doubles from €99 during high season. hotel Splendido classic riviera property. 16 Salita Baratta, Portofino; hotelsplendido.com; doubles from €770. Lido di Lerici 24 Via Biaggini, Lerici; lidodilerici.com; doubles from €224. eat

Locanda Lorena 4 Via Cavour, Isola Palmaria; locandalorena. com; €75. Locanda Miranda 92 Via Fiascherino, Tellaro; miranda1959. com; degustation for two €80. Porto Prego 32 Piazza Colombo, Camogli; portoprego.it; €53. Ristorante Ciccio 71 Via Fabbricotti, Bocca di Magra; ristoranteciccio.it; €60.

our definitive guide to

As Burma opens up to the outside world, the crumbling colonial charm of Rangoon is primed to be discovered. Amid the booming art scene, increasingly stylish dining options and excitement in the air, Sylvia Gavin suggests you visit soon. Photographed by Cedric Arnold

At the center of Burma, Shwedagon Pagoda.

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Below: A bedroom in the Governor’s Residence. Right: Rangoon’s grande dame, The Strand.

inya lake

Stay

golden valley

With the influx of tourists in the past year, demand for the few top-end hotel rooms is sky high. We cannot stress this enough: book ahead. governor’s residence Built in the 1920’s, this converted colonial teak house deserves its rave reviews. This romantic property, part of the orient-express group, offers excellent service, a peaceful pool and the perfect terrace for G&Ts. 35 Taw Win Rd.; 95-1/ 229-860; governors residence.com; US$410.

the strand

The grande dame of Rangoon’s hotels, built in 1901, embraces guests in a lap of colonial luxury. Among those who have

checked in are Sir Noël Coward, George Orwell, Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling, and the old-world ambience is such that one almost expects them to stroll in the door for afternoon tea. 92 Strand Rd.; 951/243-377; ihw.com; US$390.

the savoy hotel

This boutique offers classic charm with all the mod cons. The 30 deluxe rooms are filled with traditional Burmese antiques and the pool area provides a peaceful

haven away from the chaos of Rangoon. The bar is a favorite haunt of long-term expats. 129 Dhamazedi Rd.; 95-1/ 526-289; savoymyanmar.com; US$150.

classique inn

In the leafy upmarket neighborhood of Golden Valley, this family-run boutique guesthouse offers a warm welcome, clean cozy rooms, free Wi-Fi and a great breakfast on a charming terrace. The matriarch describes her style as “Eastern hospitality and Western comfort.” 53 B,

1.6 km

strand road dallah

Shwe Taung Kyar St. (Golden Valley Rd.); 951/525-557; classiqueinn.com; US$75.

Lay of the Land

kandawgyi Palace hotel

Downtown Chock-a-block with everything from teashops to temples, this section of the city has some of the best examples of British-era architecture. Weave in and out of the backstreets to discover the true charm of downtown Rangoon.

Opened in 1934 as the Rangoon Rowing Club, the hotel sits in a prime spot on the shores of Kandawgyi Lake. The view of the Shwedagon Pagoda glowing in the night is nothing short of spectacular. Rooms look out on either the lake or the pagoda. Kan Yeik Tha Rd.; 95-1/382-919; kandawgyipalace-hotel. com; US$230.

only in Rangoon… Aqua Inya Golf Driving Range come here to drink beers and hit golf balls into Inya lake, from which they’re collected every half hour by two brave young men in a rowboat. Kabar Aye Pagoda Rd. (beside Mya Khun Thar Amusement Park); open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Indie rock scene despite the country’s years of isolation, there is a rocking indie music and punk scene in rangoon. Try to catch local bands such as side effect, no u Turn or Blood sugar politik. you won’t be disappointed.

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downtown

high tea with a twist The strand hotel offers “Myanmar afternoon Tea,” featuring an array of local delicacies in miniature, such as tea leaf salad, steamed plantain in caramel with citron leaf, and sticky rice-flour dumpling with sweet toddy tree jaggery.

Golden Valley Leafy, lush and luxurious, this is Rangoon’s most exclusive neighborhood. Tucked among the opulent private residences, you’ll find some of the city’s best art galleries and antique shops. Inya Lake The city’s playground—and the perfect place to wind down the day. Join young courting couples on a sunset stroll, sip on a sundowner at the sailing club or take a spin on the ferris wheel.

shopping Cutting-edge galleries, bustling markets and not-youraverage craft shops make Rangoon a shopper’s paradise. Bogyoke aung san market

Disappear into this colonial-era bazaar (also known as Scott’s Market) of more than 2,000 shops and stalls, and weave your way through its inner cobblestone streets lined with treasures and trinkets. An ideal place to search for gems and precious stones, lacquerware, traditional Burmese puppets as well as authentic and reproduction antiques. Even if firmly on the tourist trail, Bogyoke (pronounced “Bojo”) is very much a local market. Bogyoke Aung San Rd.

river gallery

Perhaps the leading art space in the country, River Gallery was set up in 2005 by long-term resident Gill Pattison, a Kiwi. Today the gallery represents more than 30 leading contemporary Burmese artists, many on the cusp of international recognition. The Strand; 92 Strand Rd.; rivergallerymyanmar.com.

Crossing the Irrawaddy River on the Dallah Ferry.

Pomelo

To shop with a clear conscience and find the perfect gifts, visit this upmarket handicraft store above Monsoon Restaurant that supports community initiatives in Burma. They stock a wide variety of quirky artisanal items—from finger puppets decked out in traditional Burmese dress to sophisticated silk scarves. All profits are channeled back into the artisans’ communities. 2F, 85-87 Thinbyu Rd.; pomeloyangon.com.

Pansodan gallery

The artist/owner, Aung Soe Min, is passionate about promoting Burmese art and you will inevitably find clusters of young creatives hanging out in the gallery engaged in vibrant debates over endless cups of tea. Such is the volume of his collection of contemporary Burmese works—as well as old Burmese photographs and cinema posters—that you better be ready to rummage. 1F 286 Pansodan St.

see do shwedagon Pagoda

The one absolute must in Rangoon. The glittering golden hilltop dome of Shwedagon Pagoda is visible from anywhere in the city. Kipling described it as “a beautiful winking wonder that blazed in the sun.” A lively atmosphere reigns at this place, the most sacred Buddhist shrine in the country, with devout families of barefoot worshippers making offerings amid children playing hopscotch.

circle train

This slow-traveling circular rail trip gives an insight into the ways and days of the city’s commuters. The full three-hour loop may not be the most comfortable ride you’ll ever take, but it will certainly be one of the most interesting. Rangoon

Clockwise from top: Aung Soe Min of Pansodan Gallery; Bogyoke Aung San Market; bags at Pomelo; Gill Pattison of River Gallery.

From big-name sights to lazy people-watching, six ways to immerse yourself in Rangoon life. Train Station, Bogyoke Aung San Rd.; US$2; bring your passport.

food market tour and culinary demonstration

At Than Zay market, you’ll learn about Burma’s wide variety of produce and flavors, and then cook them into dishes such as tea leaf salad and ginger salad. Culinary School, Governor’s Residence Hotel, 35 Taw Win St.; 95-1/229-860; governorsresidence.com; US$60 per person; book at least a day ahead.

musmeah yeshua synagogue

Tucked behind white walls is the last synagogue in Burma—a remnant of the “golden age” of the country’s Jewish community.

Under British rule in the 1930’s, the Jewish population exceeded 2,400. Today, 18 remain. St. 26 Downtown.

the dallah ferry

Take the short ferry ride across the Irrawaddy to the village of Dallah for a different view on the city. From Dallah, drive to the town of Twante, famous for its pottery. Pansodan Rd. Jetty across from The Strand Hotel; tickets for foreigners from the Port Authority are US$1.

Bogyoke aung san museum

The former home of Burma’s independence leader offers a preindependence era sepia snapshot —including some of Aung San Suu Kyi as a little girl. 15 Bogyoke Museum Ln.; admission 300 kyat.

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Monsoon Restaurant. Sharky’s beef tenderloin, with microgreens and fleur de sel, paired with a thin slice of three-year-old ParmigianoReggiano, left.

Time for a Tipple 19th Street In the heart of Rangoon’s Chinatown, 19th Street is a venue for both great street eats (of the meat-on-sticks variety) and big jugs of Myanmar or Dagon beer. It’s also the perfect spot for people watching. Kick back and soak up the atmosphere at one of the many canteen style restaurants that spill out into the street. Strand Bar This classic colonial bar is the perfect place for a refreshing G&T. Friday evening’s happy hour is the stuff of legend and well worth planning a trip around. 92 Strand Rd.; 95-1/ 243-377; ghmhotels.com. British Club Bar On the first Friday of ever y month, the British Club throws open its doors. This is a much loved event on the expat social calendar and due to the huge recent influx of foreign businessmen, diplomats, teachers and NGO workers, these evenings now attract a large crowd. Show your passport at the gate. 44 Alan Pya Pagoda St.

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Eat Rangoon’s culinary scene is evolving rapidly, with an array of surprisingly sophisticated dining options on offer. sharky’s

Having introduced Burma to the concept of slow food, this restaurant and gourmet deli is famed for its local, organically grown and crafted products. Purity and simplicity of ingredients are key, with no menu item including more than five. The upstairs restaurant and art gallery space buzzes with locals and expats catching up over excellent thin-crust pizzas and beef burgers with microgreens and Ngapali fleur de sel. It just so happens that Sharky’s is the only certified gelato maker in Burma. 117 Dhamazedi Rd.; 95-1/524-677; dinner for two US$60.

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le Planteur

For fine dining, look no further than Le Planteur. Set in a captivating colonial mansion, the restaurant is run by the Swiss Michelin-star chef Felix Eppisser and his wife, Lucia. The atmospheric garden provides a perfect setting for a romantic evening and the cocktails are quite simply perfect. 22 Kaba Aye Pagoda; 95-1/541-997; leplanteur.net; dinner for two US$80.

monsoon

In a high-style colonial building, complete with whirring fans and longhiclad waiters, Monsoon offers a fantastic

introduction to Burmese cuisine for those who wish to dip their toes in gently. Do try house specials such as ngar kyaw hnut (Burmese pork curry) and grilled eggplant salad. 85-87 Thinbyu Rd., Downtown; 95-1/295-224; monsoonmyanmar.com; dinner for two US$30.

l’oPera

A lakeside garden setting with flickering lanterns makes for romance. Owned by the Italian Fedeli family, this restaurant is well-known for serving the city’s best authentic homemade pasta dishes, wood-fired oven pizzas and fine wines. Also, not to be

overlooked: their perfect espresso. 62D U Tun Nyein St., Inya Lake; 951/665-516; operayangon.com; dinner for two US$60.

alamanda inn

In the heart of lush Golden Valley, the French/North Africaninfluenced menu at this restaurant is extremely popular with resident expats, who are often found lingering over meals on the elegant outdoor patio. Tagines are the house specialty. They also have a reliable brunch menu. 60/B Shwe Taung Gyar Rd., Golden Valley; 95-1/534-513; hotel-alamanda.com; dinner for two US$50.

From left: New Vision Book Store owner U hla Min Aung; Shan fish tomato rice at Feel Myanmar Food; whiling away the afternoon at Kandawgyi Lake.

Local Take Get the scoop on the city from three insiders.

ivan Pun

I l l u s T r aT I o n s B y W a s I n e e c h a n Ta k o r n

Senior Associate, yoma Strategic holdings

For a late brunch or early cocktail, the best place is my friend Nico Elliot’s new Union Bar & Grill (unionyangon. com). Order the “Nicrony” cocktail. onyx (135 Dhamazadi Rd.; 95-1/524-271) serves a great steak and glass of Malbec, and it feels like South America. French designer Patrick Robert creates interesting art (Mangosteen Mansion, 24 Inyamyaing Rd., Golden Valley). Carpenter Jamie Humphries at Chindits Company (burmachindits.com) does amazing things with reclaimed timber. The most interesting store in Bogyoke is yoyamay Textile Gallery (yoyamay. com), which sells stuff from Nagaland.

one to Watch

darko c

Lead singer, Local indie band, Side effect

ye htut win

Chef and owner, Sharky’s

When in the mood to linger over a meal, I head to house of Memories (290 U Wisara Rd., Kamaryut Tsp), which offers a pleasing piano bar in a historic family home. For a street food experience, Feel Myanmar Food (124 Pyihtaungsu Ave., Dagon Tsp) brings together all the local specialties under one roof. There is no menu here; you order by simply pointing at the dishes that you wish to try. For those seeking out souvenirs, lacquerware has been used in Burma since the Bagan period. Myanmar Lacquerware (7, 13 St., Lanmadaw Tsp) is a great place to find contemporary collectibles.

I love to while away an afternoon in Kandawgyi Park, and escape the hustle and bustle of the city. I always drop by the Kachin restaurant Maliku for traditional rice wine, khong yay (Kandawgyi Park, Karaweik Oo Yin Kabar section; lunch for two US$8). The coolest bar and one of a few live music venues is 50th Street Cafe, Restaurant & Bar (50thstreetyangon. com). Also, take a stroll down Street 37 in downtown Rangoon, home to some the city’s best bookshops, including Bagan Book House and New Vision—some true treasures.

Water Library The newest outpost of Bangkok’s beloved fine-dining-and-wining outlet is scheduled to raise the Rangoon restaurant bar with its opening this month. With chef de cuisine Gabriel Hedlund hailing from NOMA Copenhagen, Water Library is expected to blaze a very bright trail. 83/95 Corner Manawharri and Pyay Road, Dagon Township, Rangoon, (next to the Royal Thai Embassy); yangon@waterlibrary.com.

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STRATeGIeS Best Practices 126… Social Media Glossary 127…SMITTy Award Winners 128

Pl u s travel + leisure’s

2013 social media in travel+tourism a awards

rules for sing using edia social media r on the road Illustrated by Wasinee Chantakorn

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social media rules how is the new digital landscape changing the way we travel? To find out, we dispatched writer and social-media expert amy chen on a getaway to one of America’s most tech-savvy cities, Portland, Oregon, armed with a smartphone and her digital street smarts. Three days and dozens of tweets, posts and pics later, she returned with her tips for harnessing the latest tools to maximize social networks.

quick and nimble is the name of the (airfare) game. These days, fare sales can arrive—and depart—in a flash. The best way to jump on them is to follow the Twitter handles of fare-tracking sites, such as @airfarewatchdog, and individual carriers. I saw several great offers for midweek flights, but since I was planning a weekend trip and my dates weren’t flexible, I couldn’t take advantage of the sales. In this case, good old Kayak came through for me with a well-priced flight that fit my tight schedule. Cheat sheet our five favorite Twitter handles for fare sales: @airfarewatchdog @Farecompare @jetBluecheeps @smarterTravel @Travelzoo

get with the program.

2 when it comes to hotels, take your mom’s advice: don’t settle.

Social media is rife with deals. I knew I could do better than the US$200-per-night rooms I found on traditional online booking sites and apps. For my trip, I searched “Portland hotel deal” on Twitter and scored, via Travelzoo, a US$119 room at Hotel Modera for a Friday night (a savings of US$40). In the meantime, I dropped notes to several hotels via Facebook to see if any discounts were available for my night in the city. Hotel Lucia quickly responded with a special US$161 rate (15 percent off) and an offer of free Wi-Fi (worth US$10). Cheat sheet looking for a discounted room? on Twitter, try searching combinations of your destination name and the words hotel, deal, promo, promo code, discount and sale.

Many hotel groups offer special rewards to Facebook and Twitter followers. But if you follow their loyalty-club accounts, you can receive even more freebies. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants has a Facebook page for its free-to-join InTouch program where it announces “social password” specials. “Whisper” the right word at check-in and you can get room upgrades, free breakfast and more. Unfortunately, Kimpton didn’t have any secret deals for my weekend getaway, so I stuck with my original reservations. Cheat sheet Two more hotel loyalty clubs that treat members like royalty on social media: hilton hhonors (Facebook fans get deals offering extra points) and starwood preferred Guest (the starwood hotels Travel exclusives Facebook page often lists special deals for spG members).

Best practices how to be savvy (and safe) on social media → Most social-media apps are location-enabled, so be smart about what personal details you divulge. If you’re traveling alone or are uncomfortable revealing your physical location, consider updating your social media channels only after you’ve left a restaurant or checked out of your hotel. → Being “social” is fun, but you should always feel safe. pay attention to your surroundings—walking while texting is never a good idea. → If you plan to stay connected when you travel, make sure your smartphone battery can handle all your tweeting, check-ins, photography and videos—and leave enough juice to call a cab or map your way back to the hotel.

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5 Be a chairman of the board.

4 Turn down the volume.

The din on social media can reach a roar if you don’t take control of it. Creating lists on Twitter will help you sort through the noise and keep up-to-date on a destination. After following someone on Twitter, click the “person” icon and choose “add or remove from list.” By following the tweets on my Portland list, I spotted the news (via @eaterpdx) that Pine State Biscuits, which a Facebook friend had recommended, had closed one of its locations. Given that the closure hadn’t yet been updated on Yelp, I was grateful I hadn’t wasted precious time with an unnecessary detour. Cheat sheet create a list for your trip by following local restaurants, hotels, tourism boards and chambers of commerce, newspapers and magazines, and travel and food bloggers.

As my crowdsourced recommendations piled up, I needed a way to organize everything, so I logged in to Pinterest and created a Portland board. I’d asked around for the best cafés that serve mochas, but in a city that takes its coffee seriously, there was no way I could keep them straight: Stumptown Coffee, Barista, Ristretto Roasters, Extracto, Heart and Public Domain. What was the difference? With my mouse, I hovered over each latte-art photo that I found on Pinterest, hitting “repin” to save them to my Portland board. I also filled my board with photos of recommended restaurants, hotels and sights. The result: a photo-based black book with everything I wanted to do and see in Portland.

6 channel your inner Boy scout: Be prepared. Facebook and Twitter are often the first places to break news of flight delays and disruptions. I arrived at the airport with a list of the relevant handles for my airline (@United) and airports (@flySFO and @flypdx). If my flights were disrupted by weather or any other factor, I knew exactly whom to follow— and tweet—for help. Luckily, everything went off without a hitch. Cheat sheet keep these Twitter handles in your back pocket, in case of emergency: @cnnbrk (breaking news), @flightstats (airport delays and flight tracking) and @weatherchannel. also look for mass-transportation Twitter feeds and those of local governments—both city and country—which often tweet updates on road conditions, flood warnings, safety and airport delays.

socia l m e dia glossa ry How to use the top sites and services.

Cinemagram This iphone and android app distills your videos into supershort, GIF-like clips, allowing you to import movies from your smartphone for post-trip sharing.

#portlandfoodtruck or #portlandfashion) so your photos will show up in the explore tab for others to see. you can share Instagram photos via Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Twitter and Tumblr.

Facebook use branded hotel pages to track deals, look for promo codes and make special requests (late arrival; late checkout). use Facebook Graph search, a new tool that pulls highly personalized results from your network, to easily find out which friends have visited a place recently.

Pinterest create a board for your trip, and pin inspiring travel photos. update your board after you return with comments and new pins.

Foodspotting recently acquired by openTable, this app lets you find and share dishes through its robust collection of user photos. It has fun icons such as “want it” and “tried it” to help track the dishes you’ve sampled. Questions about a menu? just browse the photos to see what’s popular. Foursquare If yelp’s restaurant reviews become unwieldy, see if your friends have left any more personal tips by looking over their recent check-ins. The service will also alert you to popular venues nearby. Gogobot lets you create your own pinterest-style guides to the places you’ve visited, along with hotel and destination reviews. you can also post questions on the helpful travel forum. Instagram enable “add to your photo map” to capture your trip for posterity. use hashtags (e.g.,

TripAdvisor log in with Facebook, so your friends’ reviews show up first. note any recent complaints. compare usersubmitted photos with professional— and potentially misleading—hotel photos. Trippy even if your friends aren’t active on this pinterest-like site, you can follow travel personalities, such as chef and Travel channel host andrew zimmern for ideas on what to see and eat. Twitter Grab the attention of airlines, hotels, restaurants or local travel experts by mentioning their handles and using appropriate hashtags. send any personal details via direct message. Vine lets you capture and share six-second video clips via its app and services such as Twitter. one drawback: videos can currently be recorded only within the app. yelp look for a restaurant’s most popular dishes (in bold type within the reviews); view prices on the menu; use the location-enabled app to check hours.

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social media rules 7

the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Pay it forward.

Crowdsourcing relies on good travel karma. Rack it up by leaving travel tips or reviews after you’ve stayed at a hotel, experienced a much-hyped venue or stumbled on something new. Tell others what you thought, and if you would recommend it. Whether it’s the view from your hotel room or that amazing meal you still dream about, your smartphone photos can also do much of the talking. And as I review my Pinterest board, Instagram photos and other digital mementos, the details of my Portland trip are always at my fingertips, ready to share with anyone.

The more you engage businesses—politely—on Twitter and Facebook, the more return you’ll get on your investment. The day before flying out, I posted a message on Hotel Modera’s Facebook page saying that I’d be arriving late. “What are my odds of getting late checkout?” I asked. Within the hour, I received a response saying my request had been noted in my reservation. When I arrived at the hotel the next evening, the front desk had already confirmed a late checkout: I could keep my top-floor room until 2 p.m. Cheat sheet cathay pacific (@cathaypacific) and singapore airlines (@singapore air) are particularly quick to respond to customer-service issues on Twitter; other airlines, such as delta, have designated handles (@deltaassist) for such questions. For hotels, try contacting both the chain and the specific property.

8 there are no perks of being a wallflower. You’d be surprised by how generous locals—even strangers— can be with insider tips and information. If you want to get to know a destination, crowdsourcing your friends and networks is key. But if you take your conversation public, you’ll get even more insight. While navigating the city, I found myself chatting over Twitter with Portland-based travel blogger Jessica Spiegel (@andiamo) and, later, with the hip new sandwich joint Lardo, which made a

personal appeal to get me to stop by. The result was one of my favorite meals: a delicious pork meatball bánh mì sandwich and “dirty fries”—topped with fried pork scraps, marinated peppers, rosemary, sage and Parmesan. Cheat sheet To chat directly with a person or business, follow them and then start a tweet with their Twitter handle (for example: “@andiamo, what’s your favorite food cart?”). To start a conversation or solicit advice on a particular topic, search for relevant hashtags, such as #foodies or #portlandmusic, and include them in your message to maximize your chances of getting a response. If you’ve taken a piece of advice, follow up with a thank-you tweet.

t+l 2013 social media in travel + tourism awards This year’s social-media trailblazers were chosen by a jury of esteemed industry insiders (see next page) who sifted through hundreds of applications from airlines, hotels, tourism boards and more. here are the winners.

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Cheat sheet Find interesting Twitter feeds by browsing the options under “Who to Follow.” When viewing profiles, scan their lists, which classify their feeds into topics. you can subscribe to a list to see updates from all its members without having to follow each. on pinterest, log in with your Facebook or Twitter account and import your contacts to start following their boards. like Twitter, Instagram also uses a hashtag system to categorize its photos, making it easy to find users with similar interests.

Best Twitter Feed

Best Instagram Photos

greater philadelphia tourism marketing corporation “Tweet-aways” offer prizes in return for posts about the city, while “love letters” from philly engage prominent celebs. @visitphilly

tourism australia The country turned its Instagram feed over to travelers, yielding 1,000 photos each day of life down under. instagram. com/SeeAustralia

Best Pinterest Photos visitsweden photographs by the avant-garde hilton Brothers inspired nearly 1,000 “pinners” to create stockholm itineraries. pinterest.com/PinsofSweden

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Best Facebook Timeline fairmont hotels & resorts staffers from each property offer their insider tips, while fun, personality-based quizzes add tailored itinerary suggestions. facebook. com/fairmonthotels

runner-up ritz-carlton, half moon bay facebook. com/ritzcarltonhalfmoonbay Best Blog visit minneapolis The Meet Minneapolis blog recruits stars—Guy Fieri; nFl punter chris kluwe— to talk about the city. minneapolis.org/blog Best Facebook Chat/ Twitter Chat/ Tweet-up/hangout four seasons hotels & resorts The company’s #luxBride Twitter chat shared inspiration from

tweet for more Tweet the hashtag #TLSMITTysVid to watch WestJet’s hilarious flash mob in a SMITTY Award–winning video.

recent weddings at its 90 hotels. @fourseasons runner-up noble house hotels & resorts @NHHotelsResorts Best Contest/ Giveaway W new York times square More than 6,000 entrants fought for a spot in Manhattan’s first-ever Instagram exhibit. instagram.com/ whotelsnyc runner-up delta air lines @Delta

F r o M T o p : c o u r T e s y o F j a s o n c a l a c a n I s ; c o u r T e s y o F B r I a n c o o l e y; k I r s T e n a l a n a ; c o u r T e s y o F F a c e B o o k ; c o u r T e s y o F c h r I s M o h n e y; c o u r T e s y o F M a r I s M I T h ; k y l e j o h n s o n ; M a r k u s z I e G l e r

Best LocationBased Campaign golden gate national parks conservancy For the Golden Gate’s 75th birthday, 2,000 Facebook, Twitter and Google+ users stitched together images of their favorite bridges, creating the “longest bridge in the world.” @GGBridge runner-up national car rental foursquare. com/nationalpro Most Innovative Social-Media App or Technology contiki Before a trip, the shout app lets group members meet and

connect; later, they can share footage from their adventures. @Contiki_US Most Creative hashtag Qatar airways pairs of wishful travelers faced off in #Tweetameet “races,” and winners came away with free airfare. @qatarairways runner-up travaasa experiential resorts @Travaasa Best Use of Social Media by an Independent Travel Journalist/Blogger passports with purpose some 200 travel bloggers digitally solicited us$110,000 for water.org in two weeks. @PassportPurpose runner-up everything everywhere @EverywhereTrip Best Social-Media Use for Public Service (tie) intercontinental new York barclay during superstorm sandy, the hotel tweeted news updates and about onsite relief efforts, reaching 500,000 impressions. @InterConHotels

Best overall Use of Social Media Airline, Global turkish airlines @TurkishAirlines Airline, U.S. delta air lines @Delta Airport, U.S. san francisco international airport @flySFO Cruise Line aurora expeditions @Polar_Experts

CVB, Global cape town tourism @CapeTownTourism runner-up tourism australia @TourismAus CVB, U.S. visit myrtle beach @MyMyrtleBeach runner-up visit denver @iknowdenver

kimpton hotels & restaurants Its Facebook contest gave three military families a free stay over christmas, gifts included. facebook.com/Kimpton runner-up visit bucks county @VisitBucksPA Best Video WestJet This canadian airline turned an airport gate into the north pole, to the surprise of 166 christmas travelers—and the 423,000-plus people who saw the viral video. youtube.com/user/ WestJet Best Mobile-Friendly Campaign turkish airlines during the london olympics, a scavenger hunt contained Qr codes representing each of the airline’s destinations. facebook. com/turkishairlines Best Viral Campaign kayak In The Real Frank Reardon, a youTube video series, the ceo’s high school nemesis, who was banned from using kayak, pleaded for forgiveness. It generated 9 million hits. youtube.com/user/KAYAK

hotel Chain four seasons hotels and resorts @FourSeasons Individual hotel, Global four seasons hotel toronto @FSToronto runner-up the Westin bund center, shanghai @westinshanghai Individual hotel, U.S.

pfister hotel @PfisterHotel Marketing/Trade Association ski vermont @ski_vermont Tour operator big five tours & expeditions @bigfivetours Travel Agency/ oTA expedia @Expedia

SMITTy Awards Jury Jason Calacanis Founder of Inside.com, serial entrepreneur and angel investor. @jason Brian Cooley editor-at-large at cneT and frequent tech contributor to cnn, aBc news and cnBc. @briancooley Kim Mance Founder of TBex (Travel Blog exchange), TV host and writer. @kimMance Lee McCabe head of Travel at Facebook and former senior director of market management at expedia. @leemccabe Chris Mohney Former editor-in-chief of Tumblr. @chrismohney

Mari Smith social media strategist, speaker and author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. @Marismith

Jake Stangel Travel + Leisure photographer, selected by the British Journal of Photography as “one to Watch” in 2013. @jakestangel Ivanka Trump executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump organization. @IvankaTrump

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Last Look

Photographed by Eugene Tan

Bondi Beach

human quilt Inner calm sydneysider Tan has been taking photos of Bondi since 1999 nearly every morning—including this one on which the wind howled at 30 knots, scaring everyone off, save a lone parked kombi…shades drawn, backpackers inside fast asleep.

australia’s most famous beach is democratic and, often, packed. This was the busiest day Tan recalled seeing all year. “you’ve never seen so many hungover people in your life,” he says.

The magic hour

Big crowd, small scale on this super-hot day, Tan snapped this image from a helicopter, going low with a tilt shift lens to make the people look miniature.

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Filled with spectacularly pink sunrises, May is one of the best times of year on Bondi—an aboriginal word meaning “water breaking over rocks.” heading into the cooler month, crowds thin leaving mainly locals to enjoy the crisper air.