no place I’d
rather be
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Volume 08 / Issue 06
Contents
June 2014 Features 78 End of the Line The Calamian Archipelago: the final Philippine frontier. Like a newborn sea turtle, m er r it t gu r le y conquers her fear of the inky unknown to explore Palawan. pho t ogr a phed by fr a ncisco gu er r ero . m a p a n d gu ide page 85
FRANCISCO GUERRERO
86 Long-Weekend Wellington Even if you’re heading to New Zealand to taste wine or bungee jump, make a pit stop in the harbor-hugging capital. Your appetites for food
and excitement will thank you. by j en in n e lee - st. joh n . pho t ogr a phed by r ich a r d mcleish
92 Beijing 24/7 The headlong rush of China’s capital city, as seen by ga ry sht e y nga rt —oldschool restaurants, futuristic architecture, Internet entrepreneurs and over-the-top nightclubs. pho t ogr a phed by m at t he w n ieder h auser . m a p a n d gu ide page
99
100 Appetite for Andalusia In search of age-old
culinary traditions, oli v er str a n d travels to the
valleys and coastlines of southern Spain for whitewashed towns and plate after plate of jamón ibérico. pho t ogr a phed by j essica sa m ple . m a p a n d gu ide page 104 106 True Bollywood Story Not everyone wants to be a star. Some are content to don funny costumes and down fake cocktails in the background. suza n cr a n e trips through Mumbai’s movie sets. illustr ated by wasin ee ch a n ta kor n . gu ide page 111
In search of paradise around Coron Island, Philippines, page 78. 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
34 Score the Décor Fancy that knick-knack in your room? This Hong Kong hotel hawks its locally designed amenities. 38 Southern Charmer Long before he agreed to take over as host of the Late Show, Stephen Colbert was just another Charleston boy. He shares his down-home haunts in the South Carolina city. 42 Shaking up Sake In Tokyo, sake makes its way
Plus Some of the region’s best beach hotels; a new service that lets you leave your luggage in Singapore and pick it up laundered on your next visit; and more.
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Plus Tools that keep your trip organized; packing for the beach; and more.
Decoder
Point of View
52 Picture This peter jon lindberg shot 10,438 photographs in the past year. Now he wonders where our obsession with travel images is taking us.
Trip Doctor
60 Strategies: Adventure Travel 2014 The most exciting new itineraries for trekking, wildlife-spotting and cultural immersion. 68 The Fix When is travel insurance worth it?
Cherry blossoms bloom over Nara Park, in Nara, Japan, page 26.
10
74 Deals A combination flight, hotel and day-tour in Thailand; a novel facial/ pedicure spa retreat in Hong Kong; a luxury river cruise in Burma; and more.
T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M
On the Cover Exploring the coast around Coron by kayak, in the Philippines. Photographed by Francisco Guerrero.
112 Stockholm Sweden’s capital is a juxtaposition of modern and medieval, where boutique hotels and avant-garde restaurants share the cityscape with cobblestoned alleys and church spires. by ingrid k. williams. photographed by simon bajada
Last Look
118
darren soh takes a breather
in some of Singapore’s green spaces.
M O N SIC H A H OO N SU WA N
32 KL Live The Malaysian capital emerges as one of the region’s best cities for music. by marco ferrarese
out of the tokkuri and into a tumbler. by scott haas
Departments 14 16 … i n b o x 18
e d i t o r ’s n o t e
contr ibu tors
Radar 26 Fawning Over Nara madeline gressel peers into the past in one of Japan’s most charming towns.
12 …
Destinations
June 2014 112
STOC K HOL M
123
92 A N DA LUSI A
C H A RLESTON , SOUTH CA ROLI N A
BE IJ I N G
100
38
M U M BA I
106
106
CA L A M I A N A RC H I PE L AGO, PH I LI PPI N ES
78
DESTINATION
PAGE
WHEN TO GO
WHAT US$5 BUYS
WHO TO FOLLOW
Andalusia
100
April features bright, blooming blossoms while May, with an average of 16 degrees Celsius, has fewer crowds.
Two portions of tapas, such as salchicha al vino blanco (sausage cooked in white wine), at Casa Morales in Seville.
@viveandalucia
Beijing
92
September and October have warm, sunny days and cool evenings. Beware swarms of National Day tourists at the start of October.
The admission fee to the Summer Palace from April through October.
@theDebbyRachel
Calamian Archipelago, Philippines
78
Diving season in these wreck-filled waters spans October to mid-June, during which January and February boast typhoon-free, mild, sunny days and fewer crowds.
The entrance fee to Kayangan Lake.
@adventuristaako
Charleston, South Carolina
38
The weather is lovely October through May. The rest of the year, expect agonizing heat, stifling humidity and afternoon rainstorms.
A piece of carrot cake at City Lights coffee shop.
@chasscene
Mumbai
106
Winter—also known as the milder, less humid summer—is November to February. Avoid the monsoon floods of June through September.
A classic Bollywood film poster at A-1 Corner, Chor Bazaar.
@MumbaiBoss
Stockholm
112
The weather is best from June to August, when you can also observe the summer’s midnight sun.
A cup of crafted, fair-trade drip coffee at Johan & Nyström Concept Store.
@VisitStockholm
Long Weekend
12
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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
ge fique Voya My Magni
SA LI NU EL BA SOFIT
DUA
RT
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Editor’s Note
June 2014
O
Where We’re Going
Bali Tokyo Mergui, Burma Kuala Lumpur
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.
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N A P AT R A V E E W AT
WHERE TO FIND ME
chrisk@mediatransasia.com @CKucway on Twitter
ur trips are what we make of them. That’s precisely the thought that crosses my mind as we put the finishing touches on this issue, one that includes an adrenaline-filled dose of adventure travel. Some might balk at the idea that such a category even exists in this part of the world—how many billions of people, leaving so few stones unturned, are there in Asia? But exposure to this region’s tried and true destinations is continually undergoing a revamp. I’m reminded of this over a breakfast with the chief executive officer of a new luxury cruise company, one that will start sailing to Siem Reap later this year. I’ve visited the Angkor-era ruins outside of that town a half dozen times now, but this new cruise ship will add a touch of polish to the destination, while encouraging guests to explore at stops along the route from My Tho in the Mekong Delta to Tonle Sap near the Khmer temples. More immediate options are there for the trekking this month (“Adventure Travel 2014,” page 60), whether it’s the humid grind of a short climb up to Sigiriya in Sri Lanka or the otherworldly calm of Bhutan’s inviting landscape. Adventure comes in many forms, one of them being cultural. Papua New Guinea is a land with 700 languages, after all, and need I say anything about the culinary landscape of China? That nation’s menu is endless. Both countries are part of the same story package and you will be heartened to know that the journeys listed aren’t limiting by either time or cost but only by your imagination. Elsewhere in this month’s issue, get your heart racing in New Zealand (“Long Weekend Wellington,” page 86) or, if you really want to take your next trip to extremes, head to Mumbai and become an extra in a movie there (“True Bollywood Story,” page 106). As a foreigner, set well beyond camera angles, please note that dancing skills are not a must. A healthy sense of adventure, though, is preferred.—christopher kucway
Contributors
With Our Compliments from
SilverNeedle® Collection
Peter Jon Lindberg
Suzan Crane
Gary Shteyngart
we’ve become a culture obsessed with taking photos. is an unphotographed trip any less memorable? It’s often the unphotographed scenes that you remember best, those out-of-the-blue encounters and fleeting moments you didn’t have the time or wherewithal to capture. Keep that in mind, don’t panic, and you’ll have a far better trip. any tips for weaning yourself off the camera? Imagine that each click of the shutter costs you US$1.29 to develop plus another dollar for film. your most photographed trip this year A six-day solo road trip through Nevada, Utah and Arizona, in February, when I was consistently the only car on the road or hiker on the trail—off-season bliss.
breaking into bollywood The film extras circuit is one of those “secret society” factoids that infiltrate the traveler grapevine. I found scouting requires perseverance; the inactivity one endures as an extra on set demands a more Zen-like patience. you made 5,000 rupees for five days’ work? I don’t even want to consider the hourly conversion! My travel mantra is to keep my eyes, ears, heart, mind and options open. mumbai vs. l.a. It’s hard to imagine a Hollywood casting agent trolling tourist areas to people a scene being shot within hours. Bollywood is far more prolific, so I guess there is a more consistent (desperate?) need for human wallpaper. The fact that Hindi filmmakers often favor foreign faces is a whole other—not fully comprehensible—issue.
beijing, in three words Toxic, tasty, unforgettable. trip’s greatest surprise A brilliant artist at Panjiayuan Antiques Market will paint you as a Chinese baby riding a dachshund for US$130. meal to order The sautéed lily buds with gingko at Xinjiang Islam Restaurant. It was so crisp and earthy. where did you go for peace and quiet? The Chinese Ethnic Culture Park (formerly known as “Racist Park”). It was completely empty when I visited. any debunked stereotypes? The pollution wasn’t as bad as expected, but then I was there while the Communist Party was having some powwows and they cleaned up the air for that. where to next? Sydney and Melbourne.
Writer “Picture This” (page 52).
137 pillars house, chiang mai
riva surya, bangkok
kiridara, luang prabang Discover Authentic Experiences in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang. Book now at snhcollection.com/3for2 From now to 31 October 2014 *
Terms and conditions apply
Writer “True Bollywood Story” (page 106).
Writer “Beijing 24/7” (page 92).
‘A brilliant artist at Panjiayuan Antiques Market in Beijing will paint you as a Chinese baby riding a dachshund for US$130’ —GARY SHTEYNGART
F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F P E T E R J O N L I N D B E R G ; C O U R T E S Y O F S U Z A N C R A N E ; C O U R T E S Y O F R A N D O M H O U S E
Stay 3 Consecutive Nights and enjoy a Complimentary 3rd Night* at any 3 SilverNeedle® Collection Hotels.
Inbox
Street Life Just got back from Penang a month ago. A few of them have faded, which is quite sad, but the wall art [“Last Look,” January] in George Town is really pretty. f
Julia Chia singapore
Around the World in 276 Days
New Inspiration from the Past
We are a Singaporean newlywed couple about to embark this June on a nine-month around-the-world trip for our honeymoon. As Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia subscribers, we have been seeking travel inspirations from the magazine for this trip. The concept of taking time off for worldly travel pursuits is still pretty radical in Asia, and we want to use this opportunity to encourage readers to cut the paper chase and “live life, just a little fuller.” Shuyi and Justin Liok
I was browsing an old issue of your magazine when I got to an article featuring Boracay [“Shifting Sands,” May 2008]. The way the author described the island inspired me to land myself a decent job to be able to see the place myself. Ads promoting the beautiful place were everywhere at that time, but it was the article in Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia that convinced me the place is must-see. Finally, I was able to save enough money and got the chance to capture the beauty of Boracay in person. f Angelo Ebuena lapu-lapu city, philippines
singapore
CONTACT INFO
tleditor@mediatransasia.com, travelandleisureasia.com, f facebook.com/ TravelLeisureAsia or @TravLeisureAsia.
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“The Legend Returns
Be a witness to world-renowned conductor Zubin Mehta’s flamboyant and passionate style.”
1st Part
ANTONIO VIVALDI: Concerto for Four Violins & Orchestra in B Flat minor WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Symphony No. 36 (LINZ)
INTERVAL 2nd Part
GUSTAV MAHLER: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor
ZUBIN MEHTA ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Monday 20 October 7.30pm Baht 10,000 / 7,000 / 5,000 / 4,000 / 2,500
Hotline 02 262 3191 www.thaiticketmajor.com (24 hrs)
www.bangkokfestivals.com
VENUE: Thailand Cultural Centre. Free shuttle from MRT station “Thailand Cultural Centre”, Exit 1, during 5.30-7.00pm
Radar On Our
News. Finds. Opinions. Obsessions.
Frangipani pool, Aleenta Hua Hin.
t+l p i c ks
EASY BREEZY
C O U R T E S Y O F A L E E N TA H U A H I N
Four pretty resorts priced to put the beach within reach. PRANBURI, THAILAND This sleepy beach town on a quiet stretch of coast, 225 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, feels worlds away from Thailand’s flashier seaside resorts. Here, private estate turned hotel and spa Aleenta Hua Hin emphasizes inner peace with detox menus, tai chi classes and private plunge pools. aleenta.com; doubles from Bt4,700.
BUNAKEN, INDONESIA In the heart of the Bunaken National Marine Park, this 8-square-kilometer island in northern Sulawesi lures intrepid divers with rich biodiversity and 35-meter ocean visibility. Stay in a Minahasa-style bungalow at Bunaken Island Resort and enjoy world-class snorkeling and diving. bunaken.nl; four-person bungalows from Rp5,068.
BENTOTA, SRI LANKA Broad golden shores, surfable waves and peaceful nooks abound in this popular coastal town. Unwind with massages and yoga at Nisala Arana, a former Ayurvedic doctor’s 1.8-hectare homestead, shaded by fruit, palm, orchid and medicinal trees, which also doubles as a sanctuary for tropical birds. nisalaarana.com; doubles from US$120.
LAPU LAPU, PHILIPPINES Lounge and laze on this picturesque Mactan shore, 30 minutes from Cebu. The stylish rooms at Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu are drenched in natural light and offer sweeping views of the ocean. Craving sunset sips? Head to Ibiza Beach Club. moevenpick-hotels. com; doubles from PHP6,800. —monsicha hoonsuwan
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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Radar A multi-sensory art experience at The Popsy Room.
c u lt u r e
Immersive Art Why simply look when you can also taste, touch, smell and hear? A new gallery concept in Hong Kong is taking art to new dimensions. By Diana Hubbell
noticed
LOSE YOUR LUGGAGE
Struggling to meet your airline’s draconian luggage limit? A new service promises to let travelers to Singapore skip hauling their wardrobe altogether.—DH 24
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T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M
painter Manuel Rubio, and sculptor Sjors van Buyten. The curators promise similarly ambitious projects in the future, as well as pop-ups, workshops, cultural exchanges and
discussion panels, so if you don’t have an eye for art, you can still develop a taste for it. GF 30 Upper Lascar Row, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong; 852/9305-2272; thepopsyroom.com.
“We weigh ourselves down until we can’t even move,” George Clooney’s character in the film Up in the Air rails against luggage both literal and metaphysical. “And make no mistake—moving is living.” Frequent fliers may have identified with this airport expert who refused to ever check a bag, but now there’s an even more minimalist approach. Forego even the carry-on with a new service appropriately called Packnada, launched in April for travelers who visit Singapore a lot. You simply pick out 20 items of clothing and a few necessities, then leave them in the Lion City hotel of your choice. On each subsequent trip, arrive to find your whole wardrobe freshly laundered and waiting. And if you’re not a fan of those little complimentary shampoo bottles, you can throw in a few personalized toiletries to make your hotel feel a bit more like home. It isn’t exactly cheap, but for business travelers on the go, the thought of heading to the airport with nothing more than a passport in the pocket is pretty appealing. packnada.com; first two trips free, subsequent trips US$99 each.
C O U R T E SY O F T H E P O P SY R O O M (3)
If classical paintings and sculpture feel a bit stagnant to you, pop by The Popsy Room, a brand-new gallery in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan district, which claims to offer a multi-sensory art experience. In the gallery, which launched in May under Rhode Island School of Design-grad Jennifer Chung, visitors are invited to enjoy visual works of art while noshing on culinary ones, sniffing carefully chosen olfactory blends and listening to the perfect palate-teasing musical numbers. It’s not the first time someone in Asia has attempted to work in multiple sense mediums—see: Paul Piaret’s perpetually booked UltraViolet restaurant—but it is something of a novelty for Hong Kong. It’s also further proof that the city’s art scene, which has been building momentum for some time, is truly blossoming. The inaugural exhibition, titled Meditation and Megrim, features four locally based artists: collage expert Jun Cambel, illustrator Yan Yung, enamel
trending
Flash Dance
Travelers can’t get enough of time-limited discounts offering luxury hotel rooms for much, much less. Here, a few favorites.
Win
5 nights of luxury
Get discounts at Sireeampan, in Chiang Mai, from ImpulseFlyer.
vacationist.com Luxury hotels handpicked by experts at Luxury Link and our team at Travel + Leisure. Savings: Up to 60 percent. Booking Window: Three to seven days. Favorite Feature: The hotel report and why-go-now sidebar will help you decide in a snap.
C OU R T ESY O F SIR EE A M PA N BOU TIQ U E R ESO R T & S PA
impulseflyer.com A curated collection of luxury and boutique hotels in Asia Pacific—plus Barcelona and Istanbul. Savings: Up to 70 percent. Booking Window: Up to 14 days. Favorite Feature: Minimalistic interface makes hotel selection and booking exceptionally simple. jetsetter.com Invitation-only travel community featuring properties that meet the site’s comprehensive criteria. Savings: Up to 40 percent. Booking Window: Five to 10 days. Favorite Feature: Offlinecapable iOS apps that allow same-night hotel booking for up to 60 percent off, plus
multi-lingual directions and exclusive city guides. theluxenomad.com Wide variety of sales on resorts and spas across 44 different countries. Savings: Up to 70 percent. Booking Window: Seven to 10 days. Favorite Feature: Referral credit rewards, so you can indulge with friends. secretescapes.com A stunning assortment of boutique hotels and all-inclusive travel packages. Savings: Up to 70 percent. Booking Window: Up to 10 days. Favorite Feature: Exclusive last-minute “Impulse” deals for a trip this weekend. voyage-prive.com A selected list of luxury hotels, private multi-city tour packages, cruise trips and train getaways. Savings: Up to 70 percent. Booking Window: Five days. Favorite Feature: Deals searchable by collections, including single holidays and family trips.
T+L Tip: Head to Everylodge.com for an aggregated list of flash sales from 14 sites including Groupon, LivingSocial and Voyage Privé. —monsicha hoonsu wan
at any one of over 520 hotels in more than 70 countries with Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ (SLH), simply by joining The Club. http://contest.TravelandLeisureAsia.com/slh
CLUB THE
Radar
Todai-ji, Nara’s crowning glory. Below: Deer roam freely.
d e to u r
Fawning Over Nara
Madeline Gressel spends the day feeding deer, visiting pagodas and strolling gardens in one of Japan’s most charming towns.
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There live the deer, Nara’s claim to fame. According to legend, the god Takemikazuchi arrived on a white deer and commissioned the sacred animals to guard the newly built capital. Today, the deer roam freely, munching on grass and happily accepting biscuits (¥150) from delighted tourists. They’re friendly but insistent—one nipped my bottom twice for more biscuits. At the park’s entrance, pass the storied Three-Storey Pagoda of Kohfuku-ji, once a prosperous tutelary Buddhist temple, before heading under massive orange torii (wooden arches) to Nara National Museum. Pop into the impressive building to view some of Japan’s most beloved treasures, then head to Todaiji (admission ¥500), Nara’s crowning glory. The Buddhist temple complex houses the world’s largest bronze Buddha Daibutsu, fingers poised in benediction, eyes peacefully closed.
Todai-ji’s south gate leads to Isui-en Garden (admission ¥650), which draws
the nearby temples and mountains into an unforgettable landscape. Inside, you’ll find Sanshu-tei (¥5,000 for two), a traditional restaurant serving delicious set meals and burnt rice tea alongside contemplative views of the garden. Climb the stairs to Nigatsu-do Hall for views of the city below. The tall pagodas and twinkling temple lights paint a picture of what life in Japan must have looked like 200 years ago. Come nightfall, the city’s historic Naramachi district is the place to be. The stone-cobbled lanes are filled with old wooden houses, stores and restaurants. Have a fancy kaiseki meal at the picturesque Awa restaurant (81-742/245-699; ¥10,000 for two), quaff homemade rice wine at Spring Deer Sake Brewery (81-742/232-555; tastings from ¥400), or simply wander, soaking up Nara’s charm beneath the stars. ✚
M O N SIC H A H OO N SU WA N (2)
Nara is a day-tripper’s dream. Nestled inland, the 1,300-year-old Japanese capital is equidistant from its illustrious sisters, Osaka and Kyoto. Nara doesn’t bustle with urban energy like Osaka, nor shimmer with elaborate temples like Kyoto. Instead you’ll find a quiet, staid Japanese town, but beneath its ordinary façade there lies legend and history, like the mystical setting of a Murakami novel. I journeyed to Nara one warm April morning, but there’s really no bad time to go. In spring, the lawns and lanes are lined with pink cherry (sakura) and plum (ume) trees; in summer, lotus pads dot the city’s many ponds; in autumn, the trees explode in a fiery canopy of orange and yellow; and in the winter, powdery white snow frosts the eaves of wooden temples. Nara’s eight World Heritage Sites are dotted across the small city, easily visited by foot, and mostly clustered around Nara Park.
Radar
↓ Practical Glamour “My favorite materials are metallic or iridescent sequins, heavy weight crepe and bold prints in 100 percent printed cotton or silk. For highlight pieces, I prefer shimmery stuff.”
spotlight
Material Girl
Fashion designer Ezzati Amira is one of Malaysia’s brightest new talents. Here, the 25-year-old shares with Mark Lean her inspirations ranging from socio-political Iranian documentaries to Tilda Swinton. Cinematic Subtext → “I love intense story lines. I like to challenge myself by turning negative vibes into positive energies.” A current inspiration: the documentary Women Without Men by Shirin Neshat, an Iranian photographer, filmmaker and visual artist.
↑ Alabaster Poise “My muse has always been Tilda Swinton because of her graceful posture, her androgynous aesthetic, her gamine look and her formidable character.”
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← Runway Ready “I’m developing the brand and will be mass-producing the second collection this month for KL Fashion Week 2014.”
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 E Z Z AT I A M I R A ( 3 ) ; © I A N G A V A N /G E T T Y I M A G E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F E Z Z AT I A M I R A
Early Bloomer ↓ “When I was 10, I had a sketchbook for designing clothes. I’d help my grandmother by hand stitching and cutting fabrics. I wanted to enter fashion college at 16 and I promised myself I’d make it work.”
Radar mobile
Tap-Happy Travel
Spottly
This hot newcomer from Hong Kong is a crowdsourced series of lively travel guides. With a few swift taps, you can access hundreds of picturebased guides created by users all over the globe, oriented around different cities and themes. The guides, which are reminiscent of a Pinterest account with extensive notes, are easy to maneuver, create and share. Free; iOS. Smith Hotels
The much-loved team behind Mr. & Mrs. Smith brings their bespoke expertise to an Apple device near you. Thanks to its slick presentation, this hotel-booking app stands out from its competition. The smart interface, loaded with gorgeous graphics, is a snap to use and the reviews of selected properties from Singapore to
Sri Lanka are detailed, helpful and well-written. Smith Hotels lets you store hotel wishlists or browse boutiques by category. There’s also 24/7 booking support available in Asia as well as a currency converter to keep pricing simple. Free; iOS. NorthKoreaTravel
Planning a trip to Seoul’s not-sofriendly neighbor? Unbelievable as it might seem, there actually is an app for you. Claiming to be “the most comprehensive guide to North Korea ever written”—not that there’s a whole lot of competition—this just-launched app offers more than 350 photographed, geotagged attractions with descriptions, pricing and advice for traversing one of the world’s least-known lands from the rare guides who have actually been there. US$0.99; iOS; Android.
F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F S P O T T LY; C O U R T E S Y O F S M I T H H O T E L S ; C O U R T E S Y O F N O R T H K O R E AT R A V E L
From crowdsourcing holes-in-the-wall to guiding travelers to a truly unexpected destination, these apps ensure your next trip will be anything but the same old thing. By Diana Hubbell
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KL Live
The Malaysian capital swings to new beats and emerges as one of the region’s best cities for live music. By Marco Ferrarese the bee Are you a music-loving meat-eater? This casual stop offers weekly delights such as Lot 36, their live music Saturdays, and the popular BBQ Sundays, both great occasions to enjoy performances while downing kingsize burgers and Mexican entrees fresh off the grill. The calendar is regularly filled with local pop, electronica, indie and rock bands, while several Western acts make it their Malaysian tour stop. 36B, Level G2, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Jln. Dutamas 1; thebee.com. my; drinks for two RM50.
From top: Black Box is a subcultural mainstay; music with Mexican food and burgers at The Bee.
findars cafe Ease into an evening of musical mayhem at the latest addition to KL’s scene. It’s the place to sate your appetite for stunning pieces of art, rocking live tunes and piping hot coffee. Run by an artist collective producing artwork in-residence, it started as an independent music venue but evolved into a cozy café, gallery and performance space in Chinatown. While away an afternoon at this magnet for the city’s artists and dreamers with vinyl records crackling in the background and a cup of handdripped homebrew. Cult movie screenings and live bands rotate throughout the week. No. 8 4F Jln. Panggong; facebook.com/findars; drinks for two RM20. no black tie KL’s jazz club cornerstone doubles as a snazzy Japanese gastro bar. Here, local and international acts sling an eclectic choice of jazz, folk, rock and blues—the perfect soundtrack for the social upper crust’s favorite watering hole. 17, Jln. Mesui Off Jln. Nagasari; noblacktie. com.my; drinks for two from RM50.
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Photographed by Darshen Chelliah
merdekarya Run by Malaysian musician and novelist Brian Gomez, this no-frills open-mic blues bar has lovingly nurtured the budding local acoustic music scene for the past year. Head here for some blues, drinks with KL’s creative elite, lively chats about music and art, and the guitar-slinging abilities of talented local slow rock artists. Jln. 5/57 Petaling Garden, Petaling Jaya; merdekarya.com; drinks for two from RM20. laundry bar If you prefer your rock electric, Thursday at Laundry Bar is your jam, with live bands, cocktails and a sleek purplish interior that makes for a filmnoir ambience. Rock purists beware: the place turns into a full scale dance club with retro DJ sets on Fridays, and club hits on Saturdays. The Curve, 6 Jln. PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya; laundrybar.net; drinks for two from RM40.
Clockwise from top left: Film noir Laundry Bar; Findars: magnet for artists and dreamers; jazz club cornerstone No Black Tie; Merdekarya is local and acoustic; DJs play Laundry Bar on weekends.
black box Tucked into a corner of sparkling shopping gallery Publika, this blacktinged room rocks one of the best PA systems and stages in the city, and performances run the musical gamut from alternative indie rock to heavy metal. A main address for subcultural types in the Malaysian capital, it’s where to catch passing international touring bands as you rub elbows with KL’s underground fringe. Level G2-01, Block A5 Kencana Tower 1, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Jln. Dutamas; drinks for two RM25. ✚ 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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SCORE THE DECOR Fancy that knick-knack in your room? This hotel offers its locally designed amenities for a price. Leave space in your luggage when you visit the Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island. A mosaic of culture, color and design, each room is individually appointed with artwork and furnishings that capture the history of the surrounding Wan Chai neighborhood. Many of the well-curated pieces are for sale, so you can take home a piece of the experience—the ultimate souvenir. 246 Queen’s Rd., East Wanchai, Hong Kong; ihg.com/ hotelindigo; doubles from HK$1,600. ✚ Handmade statue of a kung fu master, large, HK$3,500.
Fish pattern bath mat, HK$300.
Goldfish cushion, HK$300.
Ornate tissue box, HK$550.
Shopping bag, HK$90.
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C H R I S T O P H E R K U C W AY
Chinese tea pot set, HK$1,300.
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EASTERN & ORIENTAL EXPRESS
Dinner and a show at Pyongyang Friendship Restaurant.
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Away from Angkor Wat you’ll find a very different attraction is drawing tourists by the busload: The Pyongyang Friendship Restaurant is one of a handful of North Korean restaurants located in Kim-friendly nations across the region. Here, dinner begins early, and by 6 p.m. the South Korean tour groups are seated and ready. The food isn’t cheap but the show, a whirlwind of food-serving interspersed with romantic ballad-singing, costume changes and accordion performances, is worth the extra riel. The hanbokclad young women run, microphones in hand, to serve kalbi and kimchi, before tripping back to the stage for their next song. All is overseen by Mr. Kim, vice manager of the restaurant, sent to Siem Reap six months ago from his job in international relations in Pyongyang. The restaurant appears to be a government-backed venture, but when I ask Mr.Kim about it he says simply, “No, it’s a business.” Like all North Koreans who are authorized to interact with foreigners, he has a
no-nonsense way of making it clear when the conversation—and the evening—is over. The show is surreal and kitsch. As the last song ends, there’s a rush for the stage to take the ultimate souvenir—a selfie with a real-life North Korean girl. It’s a poignant reminder that North and South never, ever, meet. This is one of the only places where such encounters are possible. Although rumor has it more branches may be surfacing in Bangladesh, Dubai, Laos and Nepal—a surprisingly expansion for the famously reclusive country. As the final selfie was taken and the crowd left, I tried to take a photo of a candid clean-up moment but was firmly stopped by Mr. Kim. Even away from home, the DPRK façade remains firmly in place: the only images permitted are those of perfection. “We’re ready for our next group,” Mr. Kim said abruptly. “I think you are finished now.” And finished we were. National Route 6, Siem Reap, Cambodia; 855-63/6503822; dinner for two US$90.
G EO RGIN A YO R K (2)
The Pyongyang Friendship Restaurant in Siem Reap brings North and South Koreans together over a plate of kimchi and some dynamite dancing. By Georgina York
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On King Street, in Charleston, S.C.
my to w n
Southern Charmer
Long before he agreed to take over as host of the Late Show, Stephen Colbert was just another Charleston boy—swimming, fishing and skateboarding down the quiet streets of what he recalls as a “sleepy Southern town.” Today, the South Carolina city is still one of his favorite vacation spots. Turn the page for Colbert’s down-home haunts.
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Photographed by Squire Fox
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Radar Return of the Native: Stephen Colbert’s Charleston STAY Growing up, Colbert helped his mother run a now-defunct B&B in their house in the South of Broad neighborhood. “Back then, if I booked a guest, I got 10 percent. A kid could have a whole weekend of fun on fifteen bucks.” Hotels he remembers from boyhood: the
Francis Marion Hotel
(francismarionhotel.com; doubles from US$169) and 1853’s Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel
(millshouse.com; doubles from US$179). Clockwise from top left: Stephen Colbert; Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse; outside Husk; shrimp and not-grits at Hominy Grill.
SHOP King Street is the de facto
center of retail and antiques stores. “In the past, it had no chains,” Colbert says. George C. Birlant & Co. (birlant.com), has carried 18th-century furniture and silver since 1922. DO Colbert spent most of his salad
days outside. “We’d go swimming off Sullivan’s Island (charlestoncvb.com). Afterward, we’d walk in to local bars with any kind of fake ID—a piece of paper that announced you were 18—and they’d serve you a beer.” — tom austin 40
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Three More Hot Spots Charleston Distilling Co. The place for only-inSouth Carolina tastings (local corn and rye vodka) and barrel-aged gin. 1-843/718-1446; charlestondistilling.com. Chez Nous Francophile dishes— saffron-and-fennel mussel salad; pan-roasted chicken—in a revamped 1835 house on Payne Court. 1-843/579-3060; dinner for two US$70. Edmund’s Oast The brewery is focused on its farm-to-fork menu, with tobacco-and-peach-treesmoked charcuterie and pickled shrimp on rye bread. edmundsoast.com; dinner for two US$80.
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T O P L E F T: T Y L E R K A U F M A N /G E T T Y I M A G E S
“I want shrimp and hominy when I’m in Charleston, at whatever place doesn’t call hominy grits,” Colbert declares with the emphatic authority of his Colbert Report persona. He gets that or the catch of the day at Hominy Grill (hominy grill.com; dinner for two US$60). Another pick? “Husk (husk restaurant.com; dinner for two US$90) has fantastic fried chicken skin, and a watermelon salad that’s really delicious. I like that everything there is focused on being from south of the MasonDixon Line.” EAT
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Gen Yamamoto uses local ingredients, like tomatoes from Shizuoka, to liven up cocktails.
drink
Shaking up Sake
In Japan’s capital, sake is making its way out of the tokkuri and into a tumbler. By Scott Haas Gen Yamamoto, the talk of Tokyo’s bartending scene, opened his self-named eight-seater last year after leaving superstar chef David Bouley’s Brushstroke in New York City. There’s nothing classical or predictable about what this young, creative guy is doing with sake in his cocktails. You won’t find sake bombs, nor saketinis. “I use sake two ways,” Yamamoto says. “Either I start with a local ingredient, like mango from Okinawa, and choose sake that has enough acidity to balance the sweetness. Or I start with a sparkling sake and pair it with a product like edamame to add texture.” Yamamoto’s current favorite sakes include Dassai, from Yamaguchi prefecture; Shinomine, from Nara; and Fukucho, from Hiroshima. “I want sake that has body as well as delicacy,” he 42
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says, “and enough space between the sake and the ingredient being paired with it to expand the flavor profile.” Yamamoto’s experiments include adding, for example, purees of kiwifruit, corn, golden ginger, quince, strawberry and wasabi to sake, constantly trying to find the right alchemy and combinations to create new possibilities. As to whether it’s a waste to take a pricey, top-shelf sake such as a daiginjoshu—an ultra-refined varietal brewed from rice grains polished down by at least 50 percent—and combine it with a fruit or vegetable, Yamamoto says: “If you’re enjoying sake with food rather than drinking it on its own, that’s like a cocktail, too.” 1F Anniversary Bldg., 1-6-4 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku, Tokyo; genyamamoto.jp; four-cocktail tasting menu ¥4,200 per person. ✚
Beyond Japan +Singapore Try Made in Japan at Catalunya (The Fullerton Pavillion, 82 Collyer Quay; 65/6534-0886; catalunya.sg): it’s a mix of sencha tea, matcha powder, sake and Johnnie Walker Black Label. +Cambodia In Phnom Penh, sake is paired with Spanish tapas at Tepui (Chinese House, 45 Sisowath Quay; 855/2399-1514; chinesehouse.asia). Their Sake Rojito and Hokkaido martini wake up the palate. +Hong Kong Opened this year, Ozu Bar (OZU Bar, 1 Hollywood Rd., Hong Kong; 852/6064-7428) concocts Shogun Assassin, a blend of midori, sake and green chartreuse. Kampai!
Photographed by Tomoko Kurokawa
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Radar
Francesca Bonato and Nicolas Malleville.
st yle
Resort Casual
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The next-best thing to a trip to Tulum: Coqui Coqui for Club Monaco, a capsule collection
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Selections from the Coqui Coqui for Club Monaco collection: 1. Cotton pareo, US$130. 2. Woven cross-body bag (with strap), US$99. 3. Nylon-andleather tote, US$50. 4. Silk-and-cotton dress, US$329. 5. Gold filigree necklace, US$199.
tip sheet
Chef’s Tour: Rome
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Chris Boswell, former executive chef of the American Academy in Rome—who teamed up with photographer Annie Schlecter on Verdure (Little Bookroom), a vegetable lover’s guide to Italian cooking—shares his favorite places with T+L.
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“In the quiet Ostiense quarter, Cesare al Casaletto (39-06/ 536-015) prepares classic Roman dishes; I love the pan- fried lamb chops.” + “At the centro storico café Chiostro del Bramante (chiostrodel bramante.it), coffee is served in
a Renaissance-era cloister with stone walls.” + “Few people know about L’Angolo Divino (angolodivino.it), an enoteca near the Campo de’ Fiori, which focuses on organic Italian wines. I like a crisp white Verdicchio di Matelica.” — k atie parl a
F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F C L U B M O N A C O (6) ; D A V I D A L E X A N D E R A R N O L D
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overseen by Francesca Bonato, an Italian designer and co-owner of the eponymous hotel (coquicoqui.com), a fashionista magnet on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Incorporating materials such as burlap and peso coins—even the scent of musky tobacco leaves—each piece is as stylishly low-key as Tulum itself and reflects Bonato’s carefree aesthetic, the result of years of living and working in the sun-soaked region. Tulum was just a sleepy coastal town when Bonato and her husband, sometime model Nicolas Malleville opened their minimalistchic seven-room property in 2003. “Back then,” Bonato says, “there were such limited products available that we began making our own everything”—fragrances, oils and scrubs to use for spa treatments on the beach. Bonato also commissioned local artisans to create a line of clothing and accessories, including silk dresses, handwoven scarves, and rebozo-and-leather sandals. In fact, the new collaboration was born when Malleville wore those very sandals at a Club Monaco fashion shoot and a designer fell in love with them—further proof of the inescapable and enduring appeal of Tulum style. clubmonaco.com.—mimi lombardo
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t+l c l a s s i c
Garden View
Alexandre de Vogüé and his brothers didn’t think much about growing up at Vaux le Vicomte, the 17th-century estate about an hour southeast of Paris. “All our friends had small gardens, and we had a bigger garden,” he says of the magnificent grounds, designed by landscape architect André Le Nôtre. At night, the siblings would play cat-and-mouse in the château and listen to ghost stories about its first owner, Nicolas Fouquet. That visionary patron united the talents of Le Nôtre, painter Charles
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Le Brun, and architect Louis Le Vau, to create one of the glories of the Grand Siècle. Two years ago, Alexandre and his twin brother, Jean-Charles, took stewardship of the estate. This spring, visitors can enjoy their first major renovation: the installation of six giant, arched glass doors that restore the château’s transparency and vistas. Vogüé says, “Today, when you are in the grand salon, looking out, you almost dive into the garden.” vaux-le-vicomte. com. —leslie camhi
©A . C H IC U R E L – L . LO U R D E L
Less familiar and less crowded than Versailles—but designed by the same architects—Vaux le Vicomte can now be seen as never before.
Radar food
Six Dishes: Siem Reap
Our abridged meal-by-meal guide to where to eat now. By Lara Dunston
breakfast Bai sach chrouk (pork and rice) at Psar Chaa stalls
lunch Amok trei (fish soufflé) at Sugar Palm
snack Sach ko ang (grilled beef skewers) along Wat Damnak Street
Siem Reap’s top chefs can be found at the market’s busiest food stalls tucking into Cambodia’s quintessential breakfast—sweet, sticky grilled pork, slowly barbecued over charcoal, sliced up and spread across a generous mound of white rice. Psar Chaa (Old Market), Pithnou St.; US$1.25 per dish.
Cambodian-New Zealander Kethana Dunnett makes a superlative version of the national dish at her atmospheric eatery. Snakehead fish from the Tonlé Sap is steamed in coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, kaffir lime leaves and chili, and served in a coconut shell. Taphul Rd.; 855/63964838; thesugarpalm.com; US$6 per dish.
Late afternoon, fragrant smoke fills the air at the simple spots lining Wat Damnak Street, where the skewers are drawn from their palm sugar, soy and kreung marinade and spread out onto clay grills. Try them with pickled radish and cucumber, and chili sauce on a buttered baguette. Wat Damnak St.; four for US$1.
dinner Mekong langoustine in crab curry at Cuisine Wat Damnak
dessert Num plai ai (rice dumplings) at Psar Wat Po Lanka
for the flight home Palm sugar at Psar Chaa stalls
One of Cambodia’s best chefs, Joannès Rivière is renowned for his refined authenticity. His traditional rice paddy crab brain soup is served with the welcome addition of fresh coconut milk and sweet, meaty Mekong langoustines.Wat Damnak Market St.; 855/6396-5491; cuisinewatdamnak.com; five-course prix fixe US$22 per person.
Sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh grated coconut, rice balls stuffed with palm sugar syrup burst delightfully in the mouth. Khmer women call these pre-packaged desserts “killing husbands” because of the chance they could lodge in their drunken spouses’ throats. Psar Wat Po Lanka, Upper West River Rd.; 50 cents per dish.
Juice collected from local palm tree flowers is boiled to produce the buttery palm sugar ubiquitous in Cambodian cuisine. Formed into round tablets and wrapped in eco-friendly palm leaves, these travel well and make pretty presents. But be sure to store them in a cool dry place. Psar Chaa (Old Market), Pithnou St.; three for US$1.
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Photographed by Terence Carter
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by Dusit
Whether you crave a relaxing seaside holiday with your family, an exciting city break with friends or an enriching cultural getaway, you can have it all with Getaways by Dusit. With accommodation starting as low as USD 80 and a host of value added privileges including spa treatments, dining oers and more, make your getaway one to remember.
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Salgado’s po rtrait Man Praying in the Sand Dunes Maor, Tadrar t.
art
Documentary photographer Sebastião Salgado says he works from inside the circle. In today’s fast-paced world, that deliberate quality is evident in each of his photographs currently on display at Sundaram Tagore Gallery (01-05 Gillman Barracks, 5 Lock Rd., Singapore; 65/6894-3378) until July 6. The show presents a cross section of the Brazilian photographer’s work, from his Genesis series but also including Workers—with looks at firefighters in Kuwait’s oil fields and gold miners in Brazil, among many other locales—and Migrations, which documents the mass displacement of people across 35 countries. The iconic black-and-white images capture the fragility and fortitude of the human spirit, reflecting Salgado’s personal investment in each work. He spent eight years photographing Genesis, a project looking at unspoiled nature that involved 32 trips to many remote corners of the globe. The Singapore show includes more than 25 images from that project alone. Overall, Salgado says his photography is meant to document the impact of globalization on humankind. That’s why he immerses himself so deeply in the environments where he’s shooting, but that’s not to say the results are all bleak. There is also a vivid sense of hope in his work, encouraging gallery viewers to stop and reflect both on the photographs and how their own lives might relate to them. For his part, Salgado and his wife, Lelia Wanick Salgado, founded the Instituto Terra in 1998 to restore a 676-hectare section of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
C O U R T E S Y O F S U N D A R A M TA G O R E G A L L E R Y
Fragility and Fortitude
Point of View
Picture This
Peter Jon Lindberg shot 10,438 photographs in the past 12 months alone. Now he wonders where our obsession with travel images is taking us.
amazing that feels. That’s why we overcompensate with digital effects: retouching, recropping and autoenhancing our humble snapshots into oversaturated cartoons, to make our pictures look as incredible to others as reality looks to us. Yet no amount of filtering or Photoshop fakery could ever adequately capture the scene—or the mind-blowing sensation of being there, face-to-face with the real thing.
T
he summer I turned 11, my parents and I spent three months traveling around Europe, driving a tiny Peugeot from Rome to Amsterdam. It was one of the seminal trips of my life, though I don’t really “remember” it in the visual sense. We took not a single photograph. My parents didn’t even pack a camera. They owned a camera; they just decided not to bring it. Recently I asked my mother why. “We were proud hippies,” she said, proudly. “Carrying a camera seemed like a bourgeois trapping.” (Hey, Ma: You know what else is a bourgeois trapping? Going to Europe for three months. The camera wouldn’t have put it over the top.) Flash forward to this past February when I spent six days driving around the Desert Southwest. It was a good trip. I took 1,764 photographs.
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n 1970, mankind as a whole took 10 billion photographs. Today that number is close to 400 billion. (As Will Ferrell framed it on Twitter, “Neil Armstrong lands on moon: 5 pictures. Girl goes to Starbucks: 46 pictures.”) Like people who innocently save sugar packets until all their drawers and closets are filled with sugar packets, we’ve become compulsive image-consumers, virtual hoarders. Can you blame us? For the first time in history, photographs are essentially free, like sugar packets, and provide much the same endorphin rush. So we point, shoot, then shoot and shoot again, until we’ve amassed 1,764 photos from a single week’s vacation. Climbers climb mountains because they’re there. Travelers take photographs because we’re there—and we want to convey how
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I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y D A V I D D R U M M O N D
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hen, as a teenager, I finally got a camera of my own, I didn’t know my aperture from my ass, so my photos were blurred-out and indecipherable—like Turner paintings, or early R.E.M. songs. With their flares, halos and squiggles, they had atmosphere, but little documentary value. Nor could I readily learn from mistakes, since film was costly to buy and to develop, and took too long besides. (This, kids, is how it was: You’d point your camera at a sunset, click the shutter, and then… nothing else would happen. For, like, weeks. Back at home, you’d drop the film off at a “lab.” A lab! Then you’d wait again. Finally, the proof would come back: test results negative. Your pictures are terrible. That sunset was ho-hum. You did not have a fabulous vacation after all.) These days you don’t even choose to carry a camera, because everything is a camera; you’re carrying one right now. And it’s practically idiotproof. Technology has pretty much removed trial and error from the equation, along with most of the skill prerequisite. Now, just as Guitar Hero can convince a tone-deaf arhythmic he’s musician material, 2014 cameras can fool anyone into thinking they’re Richard Avedon. I recently got myself a Sony DSCRX100, a magical device that seems as giant a leap forward from my high ➔
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Surprises await on any visit to Switzerland, but one thing is certain, you had best look up. At every turn, this mountainous nation insists that you enjoy it contours, whether biking, trekking or skiing. From Interlaken, the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau all beckon. The Bernese Oberland is home to the highest rail station in Europe, located at 3,454 meters above sea level and the perfect Alpine playground, whether it’s summer or winter. Central Switzerland is home to the valley of Engelberg. The Titlis Glacier Park and the “Ice Flyer” chairlift are a paradise for visitors.
Legends abound at Mt. Pilatus, though on a clear day, visitors can simply enjoy a panorama of 73 Alpine peaks. The mountain can be reached by gondola from Lucerne, though the mysticism of the place—think Roman governors and rocks falling from the sky—is a bit more difficult to pinpoint. It’s a place that has to be experienced to be believed. To ease your travels, take advantage of the Swiss Peak Pass. For a small surcharge on the 4- or 8-day Swiss Pass, it covers travel to eight of Switzerland’s most scenic summits. Why not take the world’s highestaltitude underground funicular to to
Chessjen Glacier at Saas-Fee. At 3,500 meters, visitors glimpse the Allalinhorn, Alphubel and Dom, and get an insight into the wonderland of glaciers. Or venture up to the Cardada summit for a view of Switzerland’s highest peak, the 4,634-meter Dufour and also Ascona, which is the nation’s lowest point at a mere 193 meters. For adventure, there’s an extensive network of hiking and mountain biking trails in the area. The best way to discover Switzerland is by train, bus and boat. To prepare for your trip, check out MySwitzerland.com/rail.
A PASS FOR THE SWISS PEAKS
Point of View school Kodak as that was from a pinhole. Not only does it perform the miracle of turning light into image; it transforms my stabs-in-the-dark into something resembling art—or at least a half-decent screen saver. Nothing like positive reinforcement: now I snap upwards of 10,000 pictures a year. (I’ve adopted that old adage “Leave only footprints, take insane amounts of photographs.”) Granted, only a few hundred are any good. Of these, three or four might wind up in an actual frame. A few dozen I’ll deem worthy of sharing online. The really bad ones will be deleted, if I’m diligent. But the overwhelming majority will languish in digital shoeboxes, buried in the cloud or a spare hard drive, seldom if ever to be seen again. So why, then, are we taking so damn many photos? And whom are we taking them for? Are we just outsourcing our overtaxed memories, excusing ourselves from recalling every fleeting moment and detail? Or are we just lazily honing our photography skills, now that it costs next to nothing to do so? (We’ve certainly raised our collective game in the digital age—or learned to fake it well enough.) For travelers, “the very activity of taking pictures is soothing,” Susan Sontag once wrote, “and assuages general feelings of disorientation.” (She said that in 1977. Imagine what she’d think today.) Perhaps, then as now, we simply use photographs to ground and orient ourselves—to put a familiar frame around an inscrutable scene. Then again, maybe this Onion headline sums it up best: 6-day visit to rural
drawn from them. Would I remember the Painted Desert less positively had my photos gotten fewer likes on Instagram? If dappled sunlight falls in the forest and nobody retweets it, was it really so beautiful after all?
I
african village completely changes woman ’s facebook profile picture .
Social media, of course, has introduced us to a whole new form of travel anxiety. Perhaps the real issue isn’t that we take too many travel photos; it’s that we rely too much on what those photos—and their reception—say about our travels. (Did people like it? How many favorites?) I’ve certainly questioned my own motivations for charting a trip in pictures, as well as the conclusions I’ve
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’d like to think I shoot photos not just to impress followers, but to help my future self remember where I was and what I saw there. However, a recent study suggests that photo-taking may inhibit recollection. Fairfield University’s Linda A. Henkel led her subjects through an art museum, asking them to photograph 15 specific artworks and to merely “look at” 15 others. When tested, they recalled fewer details from artworks they’d photographed than from those they’d
If dappled sunlight falls in the forest and nobody retweets it, was it really so beautiful after all? simply observed. (Some didn’t even remember which works they’d shot.) So, has relentless picture-taking corroded our memory? Not necessarily. Henkel cites a phenomenon called “the enactment effect,” wherein “people better remember actions they have performed than actions they have only thought about or observed.” Thoughtfully composing a shot forces one to focus more intently on the object in question. Indeed, when the Fairfield subjects were told to zoom in and shoot certain details from the artworks, they remembered the works more clearly. There’s another twist, though. It’s not enough just to take the picture; you also have to revisit it later. Photos help us to remember “only if we actually access and interact with them, rather than just amass them,” Henkel writes. But how often do we do that anymore?
Have you spent any time reviewing old Flickr sets, or browsing through last year’s Instagram feed? Me neither. The sheer amount of images our eyes ingest in a given day makes us far less inclined to flip through pictures from the past. A photograph used to be a physical souvenir, like a ticket stub or a snow globe (or, yeah, a postcard). It translated sensation into substance, the temporal into the tangible. A digital image is as ephemeral as the moment it captures: snap it, post it, and for all intents and purposes it’s gone from your life. For most of us, photography is about immediate gratification more than about posterity—a document of the present for the present, not the future.
I
actually do have one picture from that trip to Europe 33 summers ago. It’s a glossy 4x6, snapped by a photo vendor as we boarded a canal boat in Amsterdam, then grudgingly purchased by my dad when I insisted we needed proof we were there. The scene is like a paparazzi ambush: my dad fumbling for our tickets, mom digging in her purse for a Kleenex, and gawky little me, hand over face, startled by this stranger with a flashbulb. Decades later I can summon up the sensations of Europe in 1981 as if they were last Tuesday—my lumpy twin bed in Amsterdam, the curious bubblegum flavors of Belgium, the pffit-pffitpffit rattle of our rented Peugeot, the weird taste of French o.j., the distinctly Roman smell of sewers and pastry. But actually picturing the trip—what Europe looked like, what Europeans looked like, what I looked like behind that upraised palm—is another thing altogether. Perhaps my nonvisual recollections are more intense for the lack of pictorial evidence, so often a substitute for memory. But would a few more photos have helped? Would a thousand? As it is, I have just the one, along with a shoebox full of boat-ticket stubs and bubble-gum wrappers to show for that mind-altering summer. The postcards we bought were all mailed elsewhere. ✚
S P ON SOR E D S E RIES GUIDE
Clockwise from left: The vertiginous Langkawi cable car; a dusky langur; bay views from the Executive Sea View suite.
Lazing in Langkawi A family of monkeys shuffles through the trees to get a better look at me as I stroll to my room. Here at the Andaman, Langkawi, the wild is all around, from the otters that frequent the flawless private beach of Datai Bay to the flying lemurs that glide effortlessly through the ancient jungle. The surrounds may be age-old but the rooms are modern and spacious with extravagant touches like floor-to-ceiling windows facing the bay, outdoor Jacuzzis and daily confectionary surprises. This last treat is, of course, what lures the monkey. “They are so naughty,” Daia, a resident naturalist, tells me of the brown-furred, pink-faced macaques. “They eat everything—chocolate
bars, chips, they can even open beer cans!” There are dozens of signs warning guests to lock their balconies to thwart these simian burglars, but for now they seem content basking in the rising sun. I decide to follow their lead and claim a lounge chair by the pool. Langkawi is made up of 99 islands, some formed more than 400 million years ago, jetting out of the Andaman Sea. The jagged seascape has set the scene for many local legends, ranging from fairies, curses, battles of the gods, and vampires—but the flora is even more fascinating than the fables. This enigmatic archipelago, home to mangroves, tidal flats, coral beaches and fossil-rich limestone, has been declared
a UNESCO Geopark. Led by Jungle Walla naturalist Ishad Mobarak, I kayak through a mangrove forest for an up-close look at the floristic groups and animal species unique to Langkawi. On our journey, I see brahminy kites, fiddler crabs and kingfishers, and get a lesson on the 60 local species of mangrove. The landscape is so lush, it seems to belong to another time. In the softening heat of the late afternoon I set sail on Gone Surfin’, a 14-meter luxury catamaran. At the helm, Captain Todd, a convivial Aussie, steers us to the ideal spot in the ocean to take in the Technicolor twilight. On my last night on this island so steeped in lore, it is only fitting that the sunset is legendary.
Getting There There are daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi on AirAsia (airasia.com), Malaysian Airlines (malaysiaairlines. com) and Malindo Air (malindoair.com). Stay The Andaman Jalan Teluk Datai; theandaman.com; doubles from RM763. Eat The Cliff Restaurant This stylish overwater restaurant serves up a mix of international and local favorites. theclifflangkawi.com. Jala Restaurant Shoes are optional at this sandy-floored seafront fine dining option. theandaman.com/ cuisine-jala; dinner for two RM500. Do Golf in the Jungle The new Els Club Teluk Datai course offers 18-holes of sea views and jungle vistas. elsclubmalaysia.com. Cruise the Sunset For the Captain Todd catamaran experience, contact the concierge at the Andaman. 60-4/9591088; RM450 per person. Hail a SkyCab Take an exhilarating cable car ride to the top of Mat Cincang Mountain. panoramalangkawi.com; RM30 per person. Tour the Mangroves Explore the primal secrets of the mangrove forest. junglewalla.com; RM199 per person.
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
STEP OUT IN MACAU
Lose yourself in the beauty of Macau, where Chinese and Portuguese heritage impart an inimitable character to the city
Rich in heritage and character – the city’s historic center has found its way onto unesco’s World Heritage list as a fine example of east-meets-west cultural pluralism – Macau is one of Asia’s most charismatic destinations. Located just one hour away from Hong Kong by boat, the former Portuguese colony plays host to breathtaking European architecture including churches and museums, which line up against ancient Chinese temples and traditional houses for a genuine east-meets-west vibe. There’s more to Macau than heritage, however, as demonstrated by its extraordinary development over the past decade or so, as glittering casinos and luxury hotels have moved into the territory to deliver a Las Vegas meets Monaco feel.
FASCINATING HISTORICAL TRAILS Start in Macau’s renowned historical hub, Senado Square, which is paved with Portuguese stone in the pattern of waves and lined with green antique streetlights, where the 1920s General Post Office building, the neo-classical Holy House of Mercy and the baroque-style St. Dominic’s Church are among the architectural attractions. Next to the church, the Municipal Market Complex of S. Domingos is located, which houses hawker stalls where you can sample local delicacies such as pork chop buns and Portuguese egg tarts. Find Rua Caldeira then turn left onto Rua das Lorchas, which is lined with traditional seafood shops selling items such as salted fish and dried oysters.
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
A TOUR OF NATURE AND CREATIVITY Begin this naturalistic sojourn at Pou Chai Sim Lu temple, whose origins can be traced back to the Ming dynasty; highlights include the Buddha of longevity and expansive gardens. Pick up the trail leading to Macau reservoir for a bracing stroll, then head over to the Guia cable car, which leads you to the Guia fortress and lighthouse, the latter of which is still in use today and was the first lighthouse on the Chinese coast. From here, go down Guia Hill, through Tap Seac Square – the larges of its kind in Macau – and make for Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s memorial house, which showcases books, letters and photos of China’s first president. Other cultural highlights closely include the Macau Tea Culture House, a yellow edifice featuring Southern European elements and a Chinese tiled roof, and the Lou Lim Ieoc Garden, which houses beautiful bonsai.
ENCOUNTER EAST MEETS WEST This journey showcases Macau’s alluring fusion of east-meetswest and begins in iconic Senado Square, before taking in St Augustine’s Square. Look left for the 16th-century St. Augustine’s Church and then walk towards the neo-classical Dom Pedro V Theatre, one of the first European theatres in China. Walk along Rua de S. Lourenço, across Rua do Padre António, you’ll get to the Mandarin’s House, a traditional Guangdong residence with more than 60 rooms. Nearby lies
the Ming dynasty, incense-cloaked A-Ma Temple, dedicated to Tin Hau, the patron saint of fishermen. Stroll across Barra Square, where the Portuguese and Fujianese first landed, to Macau Maritime Museum, which uncovers the traditions and techniques of local fishermen; highlights include a dragon boat crafted from whalebone.
GET UP CLOSE TO ARTS AND CULTURE Fisherman’s Wharf is Macau’s first themed large-scale entertainment complex. Situated to the left of ferry terminal on the Macau Peninsula, it boasts an underground amusement centre plus extensive dining and shopping facilities. Nearby you’ll find the Macau Cultural Centre, where you can catch music, theatre and dance performances, and the Macau Museum of Art, which showcases traditional and contemporary painting, photography and ceramics.Head out of the museum and locate the footbridge over the Avenida Dr. Sun Yat Sen, where you’ll see the Macau Science Centre. Designed by world-renowned Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, it is instantly recognizable by its silvery, cone-shaped exterior and represents a new landmark for the city since opening in 2009.
“One of the World’s
most renowned dance companies presents their masterpiece, set to the stirring music of Tchaikovsky.”
ONEGIN ONEGIN
STUTTGART BALLET, GERMANY Saturday 25 October 7.30pm & Sunday 26 October (2.30pm)
Baht 5,500 / 4,500 / 3,500 / 2,500 / 1,500 Supported by the Embassy of Germany, Bosch and Thai-Deutsche Kulturstiftung
Hotline 02 262 3191
www.thaiticketmajor.com (24 hrs)
www.bangkokfestivals.com
VENUE: Thailand Cultural Centre. Free shuttle from MRT station “Thailand Cultural Centre”, Exit 1, during 5.30-7.00pm
your travel dilemmas solved ➔ a d v e n t u r e t r av e l 2 0 1 4 : t h e l a t e s t t r i p s f r o m t + l ’ s fav o r i t e o u t f i t t e r s 60 … h e a l t h i n s u r a n c e a b r o a d 68 … pa c k i n g f o r a b e a c h w e e k e n d 70 … t o p t r i p - m a n a g e m e n t a p p s 72
Trip Doctor
by Amy Farley
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CHOOSE YOUR NEXT
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ADVENTURE
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INTO HIGHER GEAR
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S T Y L I S T: P E T E R T R A N /A R T D E P A R T M E N T
The best adventure equipment takes the marriage of form and function to another level. Here, nine objects of desire for the outdoorsy traveler. 1 Weatherproof backpack with padded shoulder straps, Granite Gear, US$90. 2 Collapsible hiking poles by Leki, US$200. 3 Shockproof and water-resistant wireless mini-speaker by Buckshot, US$50. 4 Lightweight fleece jacket by Mammut, US$250. 5 Waterresistant suede trekking boot by Asolo, US$190. 6 SmartWool socks with mesh ventilation zones, US$24. 7 Pebble Steel smart watch with integrated GPS and fitness tracking, US$229. 8 Victorinox Swiss Army Rescue Tool, US$108. 9 Splashproof action cam by Sony, US$300.
Photographed by Nigel Cox
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Strategies
Adventure Travel 2014
Are you craving a new frontier—or a fresh perspective on an old one? To help you choose your next adventure, we canvassed the latest offerings from top operators and outfitters to identify the most exciting destinations and itineraries for trekking, wildlife-spotting and cultural immersion. PLUS A look at stylish tented camps, cultural-immersion trips, and where adventure insiders are going.
The ancient city of Sigiriya, in the central highlands of Sri Lanka.
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IAN ALLEN
By Peter Koch, with additional reporting by Amy Farley and Brooke Porter Katz
Strategies 2014 ADVENTURE TRAVEL
from the expert
Tom Marchant Cofounder of bespoke travel company Black Tomato and adventure outfitter Epic Tomato. blacktomato.com; epictomato.com.
Rising Stars
Our picks for this year’s best adventure destinations. SRI LANKA
PATAGONIA
On the rebound from a quarter-century of civil war and the 2004 tsunami, Sri Lanka is coming into its own as an adventure destination. People have long been drawn here for the rich culture: Sri Lanka has eight unesco World Heritage sites, including the fifth-century city of Sigiriya. Now they’re discovering the incredible wildlife, including some of the world’s best whale-watching. Operators ranging from Abercrombie & Kent to Natural World Safaris showcase tea plantations, religious festivals, leopard tracking and the annual elephant migration in Minneriya National Park. Nights are spent in stylish hotels.
Though its attractions for serious trekkers and climbers remain undiminished, this region east of the Andes is now enticing a new set of travelers: those who prefer 500-thread-count sheets to drafty tents. Several luxury lodges have opened—most recently Awasi Patagonia (awasipatagonia. com)—and tour operators are adding itineraries for comfort seekers. GeoEx explores Chile’s Chacabuco Valley, the towering O’Higgins Glacier, and Argentina’s Lago del Desierto. Santiago Adventures also takes in both sides of the border, with backcountry 4 x 4 rides and stays at Chile’s Singular Patagonia (thesingular.com) and Eolo Patagonia’s Spirit (eolo.com.ar), in Argentina.
book it • Abercrombie & Kent: abercrombiekent.com; 13 days from $6,195. • Natural World Safaris: naturalworldsafaris.com; 14 days from $4,358.
book it • GeoEx: geoex.com; 12 days from $8,875. • Santiago Adventures: santiagoadventures.com; seven days from $4,126.
Prices throughout are listed in US dollars and are per person rates based on double occupancy.
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I never leave home without An old-school notebook. I love gadgets, but nothing beats scribbling down your thoughts and findings at the end of the day. And a novel by an author from the place I am visiting, because literature evokes a strong sense of connection. Favorite souvenir My Russian shapka (fur hat), from when I lived in Moscow. It brings back so many memories of a formative year of my life. Where I’m going next Bayan-Ölgiy—Mongolia’s westernmost province, on the borders of Russia and China. Traditions such as hunting for food and fur with golden eagles are still very much alive.
C O U R T E S Y O F A W A S I P ATA G O N I A . I L L U S T R A R I O N B Y L A U R E N TA M A K I
One of the 12 villas at Awasi Patagonia, overlooking Torres del Paine.
On my radar The Mergui Archipelago, in Burma’s far southern Tenasserim region. It’s made up of more than 200 islands with dense jungle, pure white sand and crystalclear waters. You can snorkel coral reefs and explore the rare wildlife of mangrove swamps.
Unexplored paradise The best beach resorts are the ones that are undiscovered by many. Let The Bellevue Resort take you to a new piece of paradise in Panglao, Bohol. Over five hectares of pure natural beauty, 160 rooms and suites, 250 meters of pristine beachfront, five dining outlets and more await you. Let us show you our unexplored paradise.
Barangay Doljo, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines 6340
t t f w
#TheBellevueResort facebook.com/TheBellevueResortBohol
: : : :
(632) 771 8181 Manila (6338) 422 2222 Bohol (6338) 422 2202 www.thebellevue.com twitter.com/BellevueResort instagram.com/BellevueResort
M A NAG E D B Y T H E B E L L E V U E H O T E L S & R E S O RT S
Strategies 2014 ADVENTURE
GEORGIA
Set in the South Caucasus at the juncture of Europe and Asia, Georgia is rich in both history and contemporary culture. “The capital, Tbilisi, has transparent glass bridges, but if you head to Svaneti, high in the mountains, the houses still have medieval watch-towers,” says Wild Frontiers marketing manager Michael Pullman. Ker & Downey recently introduced a trip that includes visits to ancient mountaintop monasteries and one of the world’s oldest wine-growing regions. Depending on the season, you can also go downhill skiing or take day hikes through alpine meadows filled with wildflowers. book it • Ker & Downey: kerdowney.com; eight days from $11,525. • Wild Frontiers: wildfrontiers.co.uk; 15 days from $4,157.
ICELAND
This otherworldly island has long been known for its geysers, glaciers and dramatic coastline. But until recently, countryside hotels were few and far between. Travelers can now stay in stylish properties beyond Reykjavík, including the chic, geothermally powered Ion Hotel (ioniceland.is), set on a lava field. And the Stracta Hótel (stractahotels.is) opened in Hella, the first
TRAVEL in a chain of 10 well-appointed lodges that will dot the island’s Ring Road. Meanwhile, tour operators such as REI Adventures and Kensington Tours are adding winter itineraries that include caving in ancient lava tubes, walking on glaciers and viewing the northern lights.
book it
from the expert
• REI Adventures: rei.com; seven days from $3,525. • Kensington Tours: kensingtontours.com; eight days from $6,595.
Peter Walker
Founder of Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures, a trekking/hiking tour operator. ryderwalker.com.
BHUTAN
Though it opened to outsiders in 1974, Bhutan didn’t start receiving luxury travelers until about a decade ago, when high-end hotels began popping up. Strict tourism regulations are still in place, but properties such as Uma by Como, Punakha (comohotels.com) are now luring people to central Bhutan. Six Senses is building five intimate spa lodges set to open in 2016, much like the circuit from Amanresorts (amanresorts.com). Big Five Tours & Expeditions just launched a trip to central Bhutan, where travelers may spot the endangered black-necked crane.
On my radar The Balkan states of Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro, for their incredible landscapes, cuisines and history. They’re the full package. Go-to gear Our company is outfitted in Mammut clothing. The products are the perfect mix of quality, function and simplicity. Most memorable adventure A downhillskiing traverse of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco: great terrain, people and food. We are offering it as a trekking tour in October.
book it • Asia Transpacific Journeys: asiatranspacific.com; 12 days from $5,400. • Big Five Tours & Expeditions: bigfive.com; 11 days from $10,450.
Walking and Hiking
One of the best ways to discover a destination is on your own two feet. easy
JAPAN easy
Track down the most elusive cat in the world with WWF scientists and nomadic conservationists Natural Habitat Expeditions takes you to key snow leopard habitats in remote peaks of the Altai Mountains. Keep watch for native argali, ibex and wild Takhi horses, too. nathab.com; 14 days from $10,995.
Retrace ancient trails from Kyoto to Tokyo, through forested mountains, past hamlets and small villages with Mountain Travel Sobek. For a truly authentic experience, stay in a traditional inn or temple lodge, and request a decadent multi-course Japanese dinner. mtsobek.com; 11 days from $5,295.
distance Four to eight hours per day over mountainous land.
distance Three to 13 kilometers per day; train rides.
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MULTI-COUNTRY medium
NEW ZEALAND easy
Check out Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on CW Adventures’ signature itinerary following the many bodies of water from Luang Prabang to Siem Reap. From architecture to cuisine, you’ll be afloat in a diverse landscape of local flavor. cwadventures.com; 11 days from $5,898.
The latest tour by VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations is a highlight reel of South Island landscapes, from the soaring mountains of Nelson Lakes National Park to the pristine beaches along the Abel Tasman Coast Track. vbt.com; nine days from $3,595.
distance Five to eight kilometers per day, with a cruise through Halong Bay.
distance Three to 10 kilometers, or one to five hours, per day, with van shuttles.
I L L U S T R A R I O N B Y L A U R E N TA M A K I
MONGOLIA
A 24/7 ESCAPE. TRANQUIL BY DAY. ELECTRIC BY NIGHT. SITUATED BETWEEN MAENAM AND BO PHUT, IT HAS THE FINEST AND MOST PRISTINE BEACH LOCATION IN THAILAND, OVERLOOKING STUNNING BEACHES AND LUSH FORESTS, W RETREAT KOH SAMUI AWAKENS AS THE SUN GOES DOWN, IGNITING THE UNEXPECTED. ILLUMINATING.. ENVIRONS. TAKE IT EASY. SURROUNDED BY VERDANT FOLIAGE, EACH OF OUR 74 PRIVATE-POOL RETREATS BOASTS A PRIVATE OUTDOOR POOL AND INFINITE ISLAND VIEWS. INSIDE, PREMIER TECHNOLOGY MEETS W SIGNATURE BED, BLISS® SPA AMENITIES AND WHATEVER/WHENEVER® SERVICE. W RETREAT KOH SAMUI T 66 77 915 999 / F 66 77 915 998 EXPLORE WHAT’S NEW / NEXT WRETREATKOHSAMUI.COM WHOTELS.COM/KOHSAMUI
Strategies 2014 ADVENTURE TRAVEL
from the expert
Michael Lorentz Partner and CEO of Passage to Africa and veteran safari guide. passagetoafrica.com.
Cultural Immersion
New ways to encounter the people and traditions that define a destination.
WHERE
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Visit coastal fjords, the Western Highlands and active volcanoes in this island nation where more than 700 languages are spoken.
THE PEOPLE
Much of the journey is dedicated to witnessing the everyday life of villagers, including Baining fire-dancers.
THE EXPERIENCE
Participate in a moo-moo feast (pig roast); learn about local customs such as mat-making and tribal tattooing.
Oceania Expeditions; oceaniaexpeditions.com.au; 11 days from $9,875.
CHINA
Eat your way through the culinary landscape of the Middle Kingdom—Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shanghai.
Well-known Chinese chefs open up their restaurant kitchens to lead private cooking classes.
Pick up ingredients in bustling markets before cooking Peking duck, dumplings, dim sum and other classic regional dishes.
Gourmet on Tour; gourmetontour.com; 12 days from $1,980.
AUSTRALIA
Cicada Lodge offers all-inclusive stays in the Northern Territory, home to Nitmiluk National Park and its sandstone canyons.
Showcasing Aboriginal traditions, the lodge is entirely owned and operated by the indigenous Jawoyn people.
You can take art classes, four-wheeldrive bush tours, and helicopter rides to 20,000-year-old rock-art sites.
On my radar Uganda. People go for the excellent gorilla safaris, but there’s so much more to see and do in the country’s other parks, from Big Five game viewing to meeting the indigenous Batwa communities. It’s engaging and authentic— you don’t feel like you’re in a well-oiled tourist machine. I never leave home without My Canon EOS-1D X camera; Swarovski binoculars; a bar of good dark chocolate; and a kikoi, which doubles as a sarong and a scarf. Destination on the rise We’re seeing a surge of interest in Namibia, which will definitely be helped by the opening in August of the new Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp from Wilderness Safaris, set in the country’s remote northwest.
Cicada Lodge; cicadalodge.com.au; from $653 per night.
INDIA
Set between mountains and the sea, Kerala is famed for its extensive backwater labrynth of interconnected rivers, lakes and channels.
Life on the Kerala canals is much the same today as it was decades past, offering a window into days gone by.
Kayak inn-to-inn from a 2,000-year-old settlement, learning Kuttanadan and Ayurvedic culinary secrets along the way.
Hidden Places Travel; hiddenplaces.net; 12 days from $3,750 per person.
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Favorite souvenir Three simple stainlesssteel bracelets that I wear every day. Each one comes from a different tribe— the Kara, the Hamar, and the Dasenech—in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley.
K I R K L A N D P H O T O S . C O M / C O U R T E S Y O F O C E A N I A E X P E D I T I O N S . I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L A U R E N TA M A K I
Dancers in traditional costumes from Papua New Guinea’s Central Province.
The Fix
WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?
I THINK MY CAB DRIVER IS RIPPING ME OFF! Do...
Know the estimated cost of your trip—
and confirm it with the driver before you get in.
Call your hotel or restaurant and ask
INSURANCE WHEN TRAVELING?
A: Almost every traveler has a horror story about a friend of a friend who failed to purchase medical insurance while abroad and took home a gigantic hospital bill as a souvenir. When deciding whether or not to insure your next trip, here are a few things to keep in mind. Check out the local scene.
One of the most important factors in your decision should be the healthcare system of the countries you plan to visit. In our region, New Zealand’s hospitals win “most hospitable,” with emergency rooms providing free outpatient assistance to foreign nationals. But Asia overall, with its medical tourism 68
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industry estimated to be worth more than US$8.5 billion annually, boasts some of the best hospitals in the world. If you’re planning a trip to Singapore, Bangkok or Seoul, the local facilities should be able to handle any emergencies, saving you an exorbitant airlift. Even countries not traditionally reputed for having the best healthcare are
T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M
offering better hospitals: Vinmec International Hospital, opened in 2012 in Hanoi, has raised the bar in Vietnam; and the Bali International Medical Centre (BIMC) Nusa Dua is one of Indonesia’s several new Western-standard hospitals. If you suffer relatively minor injuries in these places, then, you can rely on just getting to the emergency room and paying out of pocket. For example, four stitches administered by a surgeon plus a regimen of antibiotics will cost just US$213 at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok. Note, though, that this is a sliding savings scale— repairing a rotator cuff at Bumrungrad, while cheaper than in the West, will set you back a cool US$11,909—so it may well be worth buying at least a basic plan just in case.
Don’t...
Forget to note the medallion or license number and report
the driver to the authorities if you suspect fraud.
Pay with large bills,
which invites the “I don’t have change” scam. Better to use small bills and coins in local currency.
I L L U S T R AT I O N S : C H O T I K A S O P I TA R C H A S A K ; B E N W I S E M A N (4)
Q: DO I NEED TO BUY HEALTH
someone to speak to your driver in his or her native language if it seems like you’re being taken for a ride.
By Diana Hubbell
Prepare for lift off.
Know what you need.
If, however, you intend to venture into Laos or Burma, the closest hospital up to international standards might be a country away and require a costly medical evacuation. “While some health insurance providers cover international travel, many do not cover transportation costs in a medical emergency abroad,” says Megan Singh of SquareMouth, an online company that compares travel insurance products. “This cost alone can be upwards of US$50,000, and will be the traveler’s responsibility if they do not have coverage.”
Want to go kite-surfing off of Koh Phangan? Motorcycling across Borneo? Scuba diving in Palawan? Your usual cookie-cutter travel insurance doesn’t cover that, so act accordingly. World Nomads (worldnomads.com), for instance, offers advanced plans that cover all sorts of extreme sports, including heli-skiing, shark-cage diving, tandem skydiving, cave diving and white-water rafting. As a bonus, the price difference for these extras isn’t as great as you might think; plans start as low as US$10 a day, including up to US$500,000 in medical evacuation services. An extra dollar a day gives you high-risk activity protection. Even the best of insurance plans won’t reimburse a lack of common sense. For any injuries incurred while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or involving illegal sexual activities, you’re on your own. So remember to exercise the same judgment you would at home.
Comparison shop.
Buying insurance can be a headache, which is half the reason many people don’t do it. Websites such as InsureMyTrip (insuremytrip.com) and SquareMouth (squaremouth.com) make it easy to figure out which insurance plans are available to citizens of your particular country, and to compare prices.
the final say.
Q: HOW CLEAN IS MY AIRPLANE SEAT?
A: It’s up to domestic airlines to develop their own
cleaning protocols. All the carriers we spoke with require either flight attendants or certified maintenance crews to do some form of cleaning between flights—even if it’s just a cursory removal of garbage and refreshing of the lavatories. The more thorough scrub, when crews wipe down seats and tray tables with disinfectants, happens when a plane overnights at an airport. Carriers schedule “deep cleans” every month or so to launder seat covers and shampoo the carpets. Still feel squeamish about your seat? That’s what disinfectant wipes are for.
Packing
by Mimi Lombardo
Q: I SPEND SUMMER WEEKENDS IN BALI AND I ALWAYS BRING MORE THAN I NEED. ANY TIPS?
A: Nailing down a foolproof packing strategy is key. For quick trips, stick to a few
pieces that are interchangeable. These staples prove less is more.
The perfect swimsuit does double duty. This versatile maillot can be worn with or without the straps. Guess; US$93.
Stash makeup or jewelry in a multifunction zippered bag, then use it as a clutch. Rebecca Minkoff; US$95.
A tailored buttondown is a weekend musthave—especially when made of ultra-soft cotton. Marine Layer; US$68.
No sense in packing two bags; pick one that doubles as a beach tote. Chanel; price upon request.
Add a bold necklace to dress up a casual look. Pono by Joan Goodman; US$240.
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White shorts work with a T-shirt for a bike ride or over your suit for a stroll in town. White House Black Market; US$64.
BE ACH: L AURYN ISHAK
A cover-up goes from beach to beachside dining: just add capris and a tank top. Louis Vuitton; US$1,260.
Photographed by Tom Schierlitz
Tech
Want to share a travel app or ask a tech question? Tell us at tripdoctor@travelandleisureasia.
TOP TRAVEL ORGANIZERS
Keeping track of your itinerary details, loyalty programs and reservations can be a headache without the right tools. T+L tech correspondent Tom Samiljan takes a look at the best apps.
KAYAK
TRIPCASE
TRIPIT PRO
(Free; Android, iOS, Kindle, Windows Phone)
(Free; Android, iOS)
(US$49 per year; Android, iOS, Windows Phone)
Wish all of your travel details would show up on your phone’s calendar? WorldMate’s premium app will make it happen—whether you use Google, iCal or Outlook. It can sync flight schedules, restaurant reservations, apartment rentals and more— and if you add a hotel booking, the app will automatically try to find you a better price. Also handy: built-in weather forecasts that appear alongside your appointments.
Not surprisingly, the site that does it all has an app to match. In addition to the usual perks, such as automatic itinerary updates and flight-delay notifications, you’ll get access to dozens of features that allow you to book an entire vacation in just a few quick taps. You can search for airfares, find hotels and even book rental cars. The only thing missing? A loyalty-points tracker.
This business-minded trip manager stores your entire itinerary (down to your meals) and makes updates in real time, whether you’re inputting changes on the go or someone back at the office is doing it for you (travel agents included). Family and friends can receive updates when your flight lands or gets delayed; what’s more, a new partnership with discount provider Deem Offers delivers deals for nearby restaurants and hot spots.
TripIt used to be best when used on the Web, but these days, its app is truly impressive. The most time-sensitive details show up front and center on the app’s home screen, whether it’s flight updates as you’re heading to the airport or directions to your hotel once you’ve landed. Splurge on the Pro version—it’s worth the money. It includes the most comprehensive loyalty-points tracker around, as well as Seat Tracker, which allows you to request a block of up to four seats on any flight.
GADGET OF THE MONTH
Meet the new Mophie Space Pack: it doubles your battery life and adds 32 gigabytes of memory. Permission to take an extra 16,000 snaps (or 14 hours of video), granted. From US$150; mophie.com.
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OBSESSION
Google Now
Google’s new take on Siri is more than a voice-activated search tool—it’s a full-fledged digital assistant. Here are four things we love about Google Now.
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1. It’s easy to use on mobile with the surprisingly accurate voice search (prompted by “OK Google”). 2. It can scan your location, search history or confirmation e-mails—all to offer personalized updates (when to leave for the airport, for example) on virtual cards. 3. It anticipates your needs, telling you the local weather or how to get to your Airbnb rental before you think to ask. 4. It’s opt-in, customizable and not just for Android phones. (On iOS? The free Google app contains all Now features.)
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y K A M R U Z Z A M A N R ATA N / G E T T Y I M A G E S . C O U R T E S Y O F M O P H I E
WORLDMATE GOLD
(US$9.99 per year; Android, iOS, Windows Phone)
Deals
Regent Phuket Cape Panwa Pool villa.
T+L READER SPECIALS
Beach
THAILAND What Weekend Getaway at Regent Phuket Cape Panwa (regenthotels.com). Details Two nights in a Pool villa. Highlights Daily breakfast for two; coffee and tea throughout the day plus cocktails in the evening at Regent Club; 24-hour butler service; eight pieces of laundry or pressing per day; complimentary use of an iPad with Wi-Fi Internet; roundtrip airport transfer; scheduled shuttle service to downtown Phuket; and early check-in as well as late check-out. Cost From Bt24,300 (Bt12,150 per night), double, through June 30. Savings 35 percent.
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MALAYSIA What Getaway Package at Casa del Mar, Langkawi (casadelmar-langkawi. com). Details Five nights in a Casa Seaview Deluxe suite. Highlights Daily breakfast for two; two three-course beachside dinners for two; a 60-minute Malaysian massage for two; welcome drinks and cold towels upon arrival; and Wi-Fi. Cost From MYR7,091 (MYR1,418 per night), double, through November 30. Savings 12 percent.
Spa
TAIWAN What Wellspring Spa Indulgent Vacation at Regent Taipei (regenttaipei.com). Details A stay in a Deluxe room.
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Hot Package THAILAND What Bangkok Airways (bangkokair.com) Bin Dee Yu Dee. Details Roundtrip flights from Bangkok for a stay in a four- to five-star hotel. Highlights Choice of destination: Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Chang, Samui, Krabi or Udonthani (two-night stay); or Lampang or Sukhothai (one night). Plus a domestic air ticket and a complimentary one-day tour. Cost From Bt6,150 per person for a minimum of two people, through October 31. Savings Up to 30 percent.
Highlights A 90-minute Traveler’s Perk treatment for two, featuring the world’s latest techniques developed by Bali’s spa specialists; a FrenchJapanese afternoon tea set menu for two at pâtisserie Sadaharu AOKI paris in Regent Galleria mall; international all-you-can-eat breakfast for two at Brasserie; and an optional upgrade to a teakwood-walled, Franklin Po-designed Wellspring Suite. Cost From NT$12,900, double, through December 30. Savings 55 percent. HONG KONG What Bastien Gonzalez-Sodashi Room Package at The Landmark
C O U R T ESY O F R EG EN T P H U K E T C A P E PA N WA
FROM A PHOTOGRAPHY MISSION IN MALAYSIA TO A FLIGHTS/HOTEL/TOUR PACKAGE IN THAILAND.
Mandarin Oriental (mandarinoriental.com). Details A stay in an L450 Superior room. Highlights A Bastien Gonzalez-Sodashi Pedi:Facial:Synergy—a novel spa treatment created by two of the world’s most influential beauty pioneers that combines a chemicalfree facial with an exclusive French pedicure, for one person; daily modern French breakfast at the Michelin two-star Amber restaurant or fresh, organic buffet at MO Bar for two; and complimentary Internet access. Cost From HK$4,500, double, through December 31. Savings Up to 45 percent. THAILAND What Secret of Spa Indulgence at Villa Maroc Resort, Pranburi (villamarocresort.com). Details A stay in a Pool Court. Highlights Thailand’s first Arabinspired “Energizing Hammam” spa treatment involving steam therapy, rejuvenating black-soap scrub and a purifying cleanse; an afternoon Moroccan tea service for two; and choices of Thai, American or Moroccan breakfast sets for two at Casablanca Restaurant. Cost From Bt5,800, double, through June 30. Savings 65 percent.
Cruising
BURMA What Extend Your Journey on Belmond Road to Mandalay, Irrawaddy River (voyagesinmyanmar. com). Details A stay in a Superior cabin. Highlights A two-night stay at Belmond Governor’s Residence, Rangoon, plus a one-night stay at the Mandalay Hill Resort, when you reserve any seven- or 11-night journey using code R1GR; a two-night stay at
Belmond Governor’s Residence, Rangoon, when you reserve any three- or four-night journey using code R2GR. Cost From US$2,520 per person, book before July 21. Savings Up to 23 percent. SINGAPORE What China Sea Spectacular by Crystal Cruises (crystalcruises.com). Details Fourteen nights in a Deluxe Stateroom. Highlights A roundtrip sail from Victoria Harbour, Singapore, with stops in Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, undocking December 21; a New Year celebration in Hong Kong; complimentary wines, champagne and premium spirits on board; evenings of specialty restaurant dining at the Silk Road or the Sushi Bar and Prego. Cost From US$7,425 per person, through June 30. Savings 39 percent.
Culture
MALAYSIA What Cultural Photography Journey at Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur (mandarinoriental. com). Details A stay in a Premium City View room. Highlights Personal photography excursion with Leica Store Malaysia for two from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; a chauffeured MVP sightseeing service to places like the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur Railway Station and National Mosque; and a batik demonstration. Cost From MYR938, double, through June 1, 2015. Savings 30 percent. CHINA What Elevate Your Stay with Inspiring Discoveries at The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing (ritzcarlton.com). Details Two nights in a Club Deluxe room. Highlights US$100
credit per stay towards additional hotel services; personalized stationery; and traditional afternoon tea served at the Club Lounge. Cost From RMB5,300 (RMB2,650 per night), double, through June 30. Savings 20 percent.
Family
THAILAND What First Class Family Getaway at JW Marriott Phuket (marriott. com). Details Two nights in a Deluxe Sala Garden View room. Highlights Complimentary access to the fun-packed Kids’ Pavilion equipped with a mini movie theatre and Internet-accessible computers; a choice between two activities— batik bandana-painting and sea shell wind chimemaking—for two children; nightly milk-and-cookies turn down; free dining for children when ordering from the kids’ menu. Cost From Bt15,800 (Bt7,900 per night), double with two children under 12 years old, through December 24. Savings 25 percent. VIETNAM What Family Retreat at Sunrise Nha Trang Beach Hotel & Spa (sunrisenhatrang.com.vn). Details Two nights in a Superior Seaview room. Highlights Ten percent discount on food and beverage services, spa treatments and hotelorganized tours; a 30-minute foot massage for parents; complimentary beach toys for children; a special dinner set for the whole family; four cans of soft drinks and local beer in the mini-bar; and roundtrip airport transfer. Cost From US$264 (US$132 per night), double, through October 31. Savings 30 percent. ✚
! w e N Our exclusive Digital Destination Guide
covering the latest and the best of Singapore
FREE download available at www.travelandleisuresea.com/singaporeguide and www.zinio.com/singaporeguide
June 2014
RICHARD MCLEISH
In This Issue
78 Calamian Archipelago, Philippines 86 Wellington 92 Beijing 100 Andalusia, Spain 106 Bollywood
Lunch in the revamped 1920’s bank vault now called Logan Brown, in Wellington, page 86.
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P H OTO G R A P H E D BY F R A N C I S C O G U E R R E RO
end of th e
LINE The Calamian Archipelago: the final Philippine frontier. Like a newborn sea turtle, M E RRIT T G U RLE Y
conquers her fear of the inky unknown to explore Palawan’s untouched corners.
Banol beach, Coron Island. Opposite: World War II sunken shipwrecks lure divers to Coron.
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From left: Watch the sunset with the mermaids of La Sirenetta; a Mona Lisa smile; bancas around Club Paradise Resort; fun on three wheels; seafood BBQ.
was 200 years late for the Wild West, but I found the Wild East,” says my dive instructor Gunter Bernert. “Look at the dimensions, so much to travel,” he says making a sweeping gesture across the vista. We’re the only boat on the water, our banca chugging its way towards this isolated sprawl of sand on the Calamian archipelago, in the heart of the Philippines. It is vast and empty, and out here you still feel like an explorer. The coasts look like they’re cast of alabaster, but this is wilderness—rough around the edges. Strong. Enduring. Last November, the region was ravaged by Typhoon Yolanda, one of the most powerful tropical storms ever. Now the only evidence I see is a severe coconut shortage. “It came in so fast,” Gunter tells me. “Yolanda destroyed so much, but a month later everyone outside the Philippines had forgotten about it.” I give a knowing nod, as if I’m not a guilty party, but Gunter’s not easily offended—he’s as thick-skinned as the hard land he’s called home for more than 20 years. “When I first got here there were only flights every five days in a 16-seater plane that landed in grasslands, scaring away the cows. Totally wild,” he says. “I fell in love with it instantly.” Over the course of this affair, some of the wilderness seems to have rubbed off on him: in the thick of the typhoon,
this modern-day German daredevil went out into the bay to save one of his boats. “Wasn’t that dangerous?” I ask him. He laughs. “Yes, but life is dangerous.”
LIFE IN THE CALAMIAN ISLANDS, JUST ONE SECTION
of Palawan province, scattered between the South China Sea and the Mindoro Strait, does hold a touch of danger, along with a healthy helping of bizarre history. Take Culion Island—for most of the 20th century, it was a leper colony run by the department of health. Nearby Calauit Island was declared a wildlife sanctuary and game reserve in 1977 to protect the zebras, giraffes and antelopes brought from Kenya. Yes, it’s an African safari with a seafront setting. I spend most of my time in the Calamian in Coron and Busuanga, two neighboring multi-island municipalities with such nebulous boundaries that they are often lumped together in guidebooks. This swath of territory is famous for its freshwater lakes and lagoons—Kayangan Lake is known as the cleanest in Asia, and Barracuda Lake thrills divers with its dramatic underwater cliffs. There’s a 210-meter climb to the summit of Mt. Tapyas; a wealth of marine life, including bizarre creatures like the dugong, or sea cow; and, of course, sublime beaches. We set sail from the newly opened Huma Island Resort & Spa and we’re in Busuanga waters. “We call this area Pearl Bay,” Gunter says, “because it is something rare, something special.” On this cloudless morning, it’s also something creepy. One island, alone and far off on the horizon, appears cast in shadow. Black Island. “It’s the limestone that reflects the darkness,” Gunter tells me, but that’s science and I’m sensing spirits, for the place has the eerie prehistoric vibe of Skull Island from King Kong. I start to get the heebie-jeebies as it looms larger on our approach. “This is the end of the world,” he says. Behind me the sea is turbulent topography of
islands layered into the distance, but ahead Black Island is solitary, foreboding. I gulp. “Or at least it’s the end of the Philippines,” he hedges. “After this is Vietnam.” As I try to tell myself this is tropical bliss instead of the premise of a horror flick, Gunter goes another way, regaling me with tales of all the brave men who have died in these waters. “This area is all about the wrecks,” he tells me. Of course, as an instructor at D’Divers, he loves all the sunken skeletons of Japanese ships left over from World War II. While I’m ringing up a mental tally of the ghosts below us in watery graves, a shark fin knifes out of the brine. “Stop the boat! Stop the boat!” Gunter yells. He is hopping around in excitement, eyes blazing. “It is a whale shark—the biggest fish in the ocean.” To me, “whale shark” sounds like a made-up creature invented by combining two terrifying words, so when Gunter follows up with, “Grab your snorkel, let’s go,” I wince. We jump into the sea and I learn that it is possible to break out in a cold sweat while under in water. I’m trembling as I paddle closer and catch site of its powerful spotted tail whipping past. I only see him for a moment before he slips into the darkness below, but it is a spectacular scene, and my fear adds to the gratifying sense of adventure. I pop my head above water to powwow with Gunter, who is distraught. “It is a young one and he has a rope
around his tail, probably from swimming through a pearl farm,” he says. “Poor guy. Poor, poor guy. I want to relieve him if I can get close enough.” He dives down after the gentle giant, but the whale shark is already gone, dragging the tattered rope into the abyss.
THE ADRENALINE RUSH FROM SWIMMING WITH A
shark has quelled some my fears. By the time we arrive at Black Island, I am clearheaded enough to recognize that the beach is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever sullied with my stubby footprints. Past its bank, there’s a cave to explore, complete with a pool, dripstone and Swiflets birds’ nests. Only the local Tagbanua tribe can collect this prized delicacy, which they then sell for export throughout Asia as a curative elixir with a price tag of up to US$2,000 per kilo, making it one of the most expensive animal products on the market. But, I’m here to dive not climb. So, bellies full after a picnic, we wade from the sandy shores into the drink, and swim down to the remains of the Nanshin-Maru tanker. This is actually most likely an American vessel that went down in bad weather, but was long ago mistaken for a Japanese casualty and the name stuck. The ship is lodged on a sandy slope at an angle, so the stern is visible at around 20 meters and the bow rests at 34 meters. It is 45 meters top to tip, covered in variegated coral, and populated by a colorful community of scorpion fish, lionfish, trumpetfish, groupers and batfish. We’re the only divers here, so we take our time slowly surveying the pageantry. One poisonously barbed lionfish floats square in the center of the stern, eyeing me suspiciously. I should be scared. But the site is awesome. I feel like a treasure hunter, rogue pirate and daring archaeologist. I realize it has taken at least 70 years, but the ocean seems to be turning this old hump of metal into an underwater arcadia before my eyes in real time. 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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AERIAL SHOT AND POOL: COURTESY OF HUMA ISL AND R ESO R T & S PA . O N BOA R D, W H A L E S H A R K A N D S H I P : COURTESY OF D’DIVERS
Clockwise from top left: Bird’s-eye view of Huma Island; a day with D’Divers; chilling on a banca; kinilaw fish salad; a scenic walkway cuts through limestone at Club Paradise; order a drink poolside at Huma Island; a fire show accentuates the sunset; expect a musical welcome at Club Paradise; dive the Morozan Maru, which now sits on the ocean floor. Center: A whale shark—the biggest fish in the sea.
o t e l b i s It IS pos a COLD o t n i k a r e e r d b n u e hil w T A E SW water
HUMA ENCIRCLES DICILIGAN ISLAND,
with restaurants, pools and sporting facilities peppered along the beaches and overwater villas strung out to sea. Inside, it is still all jungle. It has the flash you’d expect from a brand new
Tiny FLIP of the sa PERS flail out nd follow LE ATH E RY BODIed by ES
resort, with clever touches like a terraced herb garden. Between diving, flying and many a candlelit-dinner by the pool, I’ve had a blast here, but it’s time to move on, so I hop a speedboat to Coron Town, a sleepy fishing village on a harbor. As dusk nears, I take an overwater seat among the topless mermaids of La Sirenetta, order the kinilaw, a sour raw fish salad, and a calamansi lime shake and watch as the sun does its thing. Next stop: Dimakya Island. There I brave a pathway through the 17-hectare cay, leading up to Eagle’s Point for a 360-degree view of ocean etched in a silhouette of jagged islands. Then I head down to a secluded cove called Hidden Beach for a quick splash. After an afternoon spent sea frolicking and sun lazing, I sit down to dinner at Club Paradise, the hotel that lays claim to this private island, with the resort’s manager, Joegil Magtanggol M. Escobar. He’s seen interest in this area boom over the past five years. “Coron is a growing tourism destination. It is the next Boracay,” he exclaims. He notices my raised eyebrow. “No, but the development is spread over many islands, not just one,” he adds. “It is good for tourists because they can experience different things—not just one trip, one island.” We’re just about to tuck into our main course when a ruckus breaks out down the beach. “Baby turtles!” one of the staff alerts us. I’m on my feet in an instant, rushing to the patch of shore that’s erupting in new life. Tiny jasper flippers flail out of the sand followed by little leathery bodies. Empty eggshells begin piling up and a pit starts to form as dozens march to the sea. Innumerable terrors await these hatchlings in the inky indigo. Still, they head into the depths of their own uncharted frontiers. “Won’t they be eaten if you let them loose when they are this little?” one onlooker asks. “Isn’t it dangerous?” Yes, but life’s dangerous. ✚
ROO M A N D S PA : C OU R T ESY O F H U M A IS L A N D R ESO R T & S PA
That’s the thing about this particularly pretty stretch of the South China Sea: it’s sea life in surround sound, even from the sky. “This part is just like a speed boat,” says the captain of a four-seater seaplane I take sightseeing one day. His name is Bob, “kind of like we’re doing now… bobbing,” he says. As we speed up and prepare to take off, Bob lays down the rules. “No dancing in the aisles and if I don’t like you, I’ll just undo your seatbelt.” A death threat before lift-off? Nice cockpit manner, Bob. But once we’re at cruising altitude, about 200 meters above sea level, looking down on Diciligan Island, home to Huma Island Resort, and all the atolls that surround it, I feel downright calm. Pearl farm nets bead the water and smoke rises from an unseen distance. The ocean is a tapestry of peaks and dips, dotted in lonely sweeps of beach, mottled in blue and green coral. The water is so clear I can see the dots on a grouper swimming below—call it aerial snorkeling. Back on land, I’m lost in yet another version of sea-gazing. A small cattleya fish meanders through a pale cluster of coral. It’s sunset so the tide is changing and the light is playing on the crystalline water, laying down patterns in diamonds and gold. Maybe the fish finds it as mesmerizing as I do. “Is this pressure good?” my masseuse asks me. “Mmmm,” I murmur in reply. Glass-bottom spas are the best.
Clockwise from above: Glass-bottom spa, Huma Island; Shack Bar, Club Paradise. Opposite from left: Water villa, Huma Island; kayaking to Langaw Island; dive boat.
Coron CORON
N DIMAKYA
PHILIPPINES
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M A P B Y W A S I N E E C H A N TA K O R N
T L Guide Getting There There are daily flights from Manila to Francisco B. Reyes Airport, servicing Busuanga and Coron, on Philippine Airlines (philippineairlines.com) and Cebu Pacific (cebupacificair.com). Skyjet Airlines (skyjetair.com) flies three times a week. It is about a 30-minute van ride from the airport to Coron Town, where you can arrange speedboat transfer from the Harbor Center. Check with your resort to see if airport pick-up is included in your rate.
STAY Huma Island Resort & Spa Still in its softlaunch phase, this private island retreat is bold and modern. There are activities galore, but the laidback atmosphere is also ideal for just kicking back and catching rays. Diciligan Island, Busuanga, Palawan; 63-2/553-0119; humaisland.com; doubles from US$930. Club Paradise Recently acquired by Discovery World, this property is set on a picture-perfect private island that oozes potential. Dimakya Island, Coron, Northern Palawan; 63-2/719-6971; clubparadisepalawan.com; doubles from P8,800. Gateway Hotel The exterior could do with a revamp but the rooms are well-lit and spacious with great harbor views—one of the higher end options in Coron Town. Poblacion 3, Coron; 63-2/404-4784; corongatewayresort.com; doubles from P3,960. Two Seasons Sandbars, mangroves, turtles, giant clams, and world-class snorkeling entice travelers to visit this eco-edged luxury resort. Malaroyroy, Bulalacao Island, Coron; 63-
917/566-5820; twoseasonsresorts.com; doubles from P25,000. El Rio Y Mar Resort Cute cabanas on a private bay with sunset facing views. Brgy. San Jose, Coron, Northern Palawan; 63-928/500-6015; elrioymar.com; doubles from US$410. EAT AND DRINK La Sirenetta Restaurant and Bar Let the colorful mermaid columns lure you to this simple overwater restaurant for some kinilaw, cocktails and a game of pool. Great Reef Pier, Near Central Market, Coron Town; dinner and drinks for two P1,800. SeaDive Seafront Restaurant The Sea Dive Resort is budget, but the in-house restaurant on the water is quite charming. Stick to fruit shakes and local favorites, as the international menu is hit or miss. Brgy. 3 Don Pedro St., Coron; 63-920/9458714; lunch and drinks for two P1,800. Waves All-day dining at Huma Island Resort. The food is a nice collection of international favorites
served poolside, which is also oceanfront. Dinner for two P60. Coffee Kong Enjoy a hot coffee in the cool air-con of this quiet café. Bonus: Free Wi-Fi and homebaked pastries. Brgy. 5, National Highway Coron; coffee for two P240. DO D’Divers Dive the 12 shipwrecks of Coron or get PADI certified under the expert guidance of Gunter Bernert. 63920/901-2414; ddivers. com; single dive, including tank, weights, boat and guide, from P1,500. Maquinit Hot Springs Take a salubrious soak in these natural saltwater hot springs. Roundtrip tuk-tuk from Coron Town P300; entrance fee P150. T+L TIP While your resort will accept your credit card, most restaurants in Coron Town will not, so be sure to withdraw enough cash from the ATM at Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
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LONG-WEEKEND ...Wellington Even if you’re heading to New Zealand primarily to taste wine or jump off bridges, make an extended pit stop in the harbor-hugging capital. Your appetite, and your appetite for excitement, will thank you. BY J EN IN N E LEE-ST. JOHN. PHOTOGR A PHED BY R ICH A R D MCLEISH 86
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Welcome to Wellington, where everyone’s a foodie, but no one’s so pretentious as to say so. Though the Kiwi capital, this south-facing harbor town plays Melbourne to Auckland’s Sydney, trading a glam spot on the international stage for more introspective cultures of cool. Sure, hipsters are everywhere, but there are also ranchers and the landed gentry to meet—often in the same bar. Eating out, expect big cuts of meat
and lengthy local wine lists, of course, as well as fresh seafood and shared plates everywhere, not to mention microbrews out the wazoo. Victorian heritage houses, Art Deco office blocks... this compact capital is eminently livable, but if you’ve only got a few days, our best-of itinerary should give you good grounding in the victuals and the views. Plus, to be fair to Auckland, we list our favorite spots in the northern stunner.
Clockwise from top left: Take flight with Helipro; a flat white at Mojo; out of the mist on a Seal Coast Safari (2); chatting at the Bus Stop; street art; the Malthouse; dinner at Duke Carvell’s.
Prices throughout are in New Zealand dollars.
Oriental Parade, the pretty coast road linking inner Wellington with Miramar. Clockwise from below right: Lorenzo Bresolin (left) oversees Duke Carvell’s; live jazz at Havana Bar; the Roxy. Opposite: Papa Bresolin mans Duke’s loo door; Ruth Pretty (far left) and Jamie Selkirk (in green) debate the Kapiti Coast’s best fish and chips.
... Friday MORNING
Let’s get oriented. A chopper ride with Helipro (64-4/472-1550; helipro.co.nz; from $95) circles Wellington harbor, offering an aerial overview of the capital area cascading down into the bay. There’s history at every vantage point, from the manmade beaches to the murderous reefs of Cook Strait to Matiu/Somes Island, which has been a POW camp and a quarantine station for countless immigrants including one unlucky presumed-leper. Touch down over rowers, paddleboarders and, on many days, controversial pontoon-paddlecycler Rick Matenga out for their morning constitutionals. Then it’s 15 minutes over the hill from downtown and you’ll find yourself bouncing along the jagged and rocky south shoreline in an SUV, with the personable guides of Seal Coast Safari (64-4/801-6040; sealcoast.co. nz; adults $115) making stops for you to spot spur-winged plovers and hand-feed friendly deer. Keep an eye out for the fur seals who laze on the beaches and boulders—and who congregate at a point at the trip’s climax, reached by summiting a steep, stalagmite-like rock gate. Yes, the big adventure is in the journey: with the area’s unpredictable weather and positioning on a major fault line, you never know whether around the next corner you’ll be skirting the aftereffects of a landslide, fording a river that just appeared, or driving into the foggy unknown.
AFTERNOON
Your helicopter pilot probably pointed out Miramar, the suburb a smidge southeast of downtown that, thanks to Peter Jackson’s outsize presence for an understated guy, has helped redefine the capital as “Wellywood.” Take the pretty coastal road here for lunch at the Roxy (5 Park Rd., Miramar; roxycinema.co.nz; lunch for two $50), a renovated 1920’s Art Deco movie theater that has become a community touchstone since its sparkling renovation three years ago. Savoring your roast pumpkin and
amaretto ravioli in lobby cafe, Coco, you might spot local luminaries like co-owner and Oscar-winning film editor Jamie Selkirk popping in for a coffee on a break from his nearby office at design, special effects and props studio Weta Workshop. Trail him back up the road—not as a stalker but a gawker, on a tour of the Weta Cave (wetanz.com; 64-4/909-4100; adults $20) and its life-size Lord of the Rings trolls and behind-the-scenes peeks at movies in the making.
EVENING
For your first supper, walk yourself into the warm embrace of Duke Carvell’s (6 Swan Ln.; dukecarvell.co. nz; dinner for two $80), a ragtimesoundtracked, gothic candlelit, typewriters-on-the-wall place that’s of-the-moment Wellington—which is to say a slightly cooler Portland. The small plates (raclette croquettes with pickles… perfectly sauced courgettes… gnocchi with gorgonzola cream and sage) nudge out the mains, but it’s all solid. Whether you sit in the sexy noir banquette-lined bistro/bar, the open-air alcove, or the paintingpacked room that’s pure Lower East Side gastro-pub, you’ll be surrounded by a clientele that spans the age and apparent-hipness gamut. No one’s too cool for school here, not even handlebar-moustachioed Lorenzo Bresolin, who often can be found amiably presiding over his favorite outpost of his and his brother’s
mini-empire that also includes New York-style pizza counter Tommy Millions. Duke’s list of local microbrews is extensive, and the cheeky cocktail menu is hilarious: start the meal with Afternoon Tea with Betty Ford, and end it with Robert Duvall the Consigliere. You’ll be all juiced up for a nightcap at Havana Bar (32a-34 Wigan St.; havanabar. co.nz; drinks for two $30), which basically everyone agrees is the best watering hole in town. These colorful, connected cottages teem with lively groups, but the live jazz, dim lights and mixologist menu practically demand a cuddle in the corner.
... Saturday MORNING
Roust yourself for an hour’s drive up the Kapiti Coast, via car, to the Bus Stop (50 Dixie St., Te Horo; 64-21/650636; meal for two $15)—really, a 1960’s blue bus parked in proprietor Kirsty Green’s front lawn—for your flat white with a side of flaky steak-and-cheese pie, a homemade grapefruit soda chaser, and a dash of random, witty banter. Sure, you can sit at her picnic table feeling the beach breezes from a block away, but we’d stay squeezed in the chassis, maybe commandeering the driver’s seat, and joining the group chat. “I’m a suburban cook,” Green says. “I used to run a restaurant to bring the community together: call it social work slash brunch.” And
speaking of community, the fact that Kiwis comprise quite the tight-knit one smacks you in the face when you run into a bemused Jamie Selkirk (“Didn’t we see you with your suitcases at the Roxy?”) and his wife Ann here again… or yet again five minutes away in the gardens of the equally engaging though more polished homestead of New Zealand’s go-to State Dinner celebrity chef. Book a slot well in advance at Ruth Pretty Cooking School (41 School Rd., Te Horo; ruthpretty.co.nz; classes from $210 per person), where Pretty alternates teaching with a rotating roster of guest chefs. If she’s not at the stove, you’ll find this favorite aunttype flitting about her lovely brookaccented, picket fence-lined property. Get her talking and she just might share some choice tidbits on her afternoon grilling with Prince William and Prime Minister John Key, but when a woman’s scones are this light, who needs dignitaries to dignify your respect?
AFTERNOON
The delightful greenhouse lunch that comes with your cooking class will power you back to Wellington, where it’s time to hit up the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (55 Cable St.; tepapa.govt.nz). This crazy-comprehensive, vaultedceilinged, interactive national exhibition will guide you through the intersecting geological, historical, 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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Havana Bar’s live JAZZ, dim lights and mixologist menu practically demand a CUDDLE IN THE CORNER artistic, maritime and sociological stories of the Land of the Long White Cloud. Key takeaways: 1) The hooktentacled, beak-mouthed colossal squid—even encased in glass—is terrifying; and 2) When warriors (read: Maori) consistently beat back colonial invaders in wars for territory, whether or not they actually maintain sovereignty in a blended country, their valor lives on in their new nation’s origin story.
EVENING
With class time over, take a load off at the Malthouse (48 Courtenay Pl.; themalthouse.co.nz), a happening hops showcase of 29 beers on tap and more than 80 brands from all over the world. Yes, New Zealand is wine country, but it’s also a microbrew microcosm, with loads of baby-batch brands competing for your taste buds. If beer commentator Neil Miller is at the bar, ask for his advice. For many labels, the backstory will sell you, the unique brews a happy bonus. Take, for example, ParrotDog, run by three 20-something guys named Matt—“the boy band of brewers,” Miller quips— out of an old mechanics shop 200 meters from the Malthouse. If you promise it won’t spoil your dinner, try a Spider: their dark Dogg session ale with a dollop of ice cream. Then trot a few blocks over to the Wellington institution that is Matterhorn (106 Cuba St.; matterhorn.co.nz; dinner for two $100). Opened as a Swiss cafe 50 years ago, this is now one of the sleekest, best-executed resto-bars in town. We insist you get the crispy pork belly with homemade kimchi, and the roast wagyu fat potatoes with toasted hay, buttermilk, crisp sage and almond beurre noisette. Did reading that sentence just stop your heart? We won’t even bring up the oysters. (But, really, if they’re from Bluff, sorry, gotta do it.) Then stick around for digestifs, and tunes that run the gamut from remix-master, radio DJ 90
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Redbird to live sets by Rwanda-born, jazz-influenced rapper Raiza Biza.
... Sunday MORNING
Food is practically a religion in this town, and on Sundays markets are the temples. The historic Harbourside Market (corner of Cable and Barnett Sts.; winter hours 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.), the line-caught fish and boutiquewine highlighted City Market (Chaffers Dock Building, Herd St.; 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.), and the Whole Foods-meets-Trader Joe’s cult favorite grocer Moore Wilson’s (93 Tory St.)—you’re spoiled for choice, and if the options overwhelm and the path seems unclear, you might consider a little spiritual guidance. We’re talking about the victual-obsessed vicars at Zest Food Tours, whose Capital Tastes Sunday (zestfoodtours.co.nz; $169 per person) will introduce you to their favorite local producers, ply you with samples to snack on the spot, and set you on the path to culinary enlightenment, amen.
AFTERNOON
We hope you ate heartily, because now you’re getting down and dirty up in the hills outside the city. After a seemingly interminable climb up to his gorgeous, hand-built timber home—Are you really launching your daredevil career at this altitude? Oh, yes indeed—Nigel Thomas will ask offhandedly if you can ride a bike and drive a car. Add equal doses of control and confidence and that’s all you need to man an ATV with Quad Bike Expeditions (wellingtonadventures.co.nz; half-day trips from $219 per person). A spot of training (outdoorsman-extraordinaire Thomas was a river guide in the U.S. Pacific Northwest for 12 years), and you’re off to the races up peaks and down valleys, across an old airstrip sending the sheep scattering, along mountain ridges from which you’re peering down at clouds. Drive all the way down to sea level and back up through a riverbed. It’s raining? All the better! You’re in all-weather gear in order to take those mud-puddles at high speed, and higher splashes.
EVENING
After the surprisingly tough workout the quad bike demanded of your arms, thighs and accelerator-button thumb, you’ll want a hot shower and a classy meal. Enter Floriditas (161 Cuba St.;
Cruise from mountaintop to Cook Strait with Quad Bike Expeditions. Left: Many Zest Food Tours culminate in lunch at Logan Brown, in an old bank building.
floriditas.co.nz; dinner for two $100), a white-tiled, giant-windowed, homey joint with a sweet staff, a sweet tooth and locavore leanings. Ideal order: a bottle of Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc; the 125-gram ball of Clevedon Valley buffalo mozzarella with Hawke’s Bay figs; the Cloudy Bay clam linguine with white wine; and the brown sugar pavlova, feijoas and guava berries with salted caramel sauce. After that palate party, you’ll be overjoyed at Floriditas’ location at the top of Cuba Street; you can just roll down the hill to Poquito (11 Tory St.; drinks for two $30) for one of their nutty nightcaps. The El Bootross is made with roast pineapple El Jimador tequila and agave, while the Monkey Business is fig-infused whiskey with chocolate bitters and orange zest. The spirits are all infused in-house—and you should expect no less in Wellington, this undercover epicurean Elysium. ✚ Getting There Fly direct into Auckland from Bangkok via Thai Airways, from Hong Kong via Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific, from Kuala Lumpur via Malaysian Airlines, and from Singapore via Singapore Airlines. Air New Zealand and Jetstar run domestic flights to Wellington. Visit newzealand.com for more airline and travel information.
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Neighbourhood At this eclectic gastro-pub run by playful brewhouse Mac’s, you’ll want to start with a pint of Sassy Red and a dish of slow roasted pork and beef meatballs, and see where the night takes you. 498 New North Rd., Kingsland; neighbourhood. co.nz; dinner for two $80.
Skydive Auckland Don’t let the laid-back Point Break operation fool you; these guys are serious about their sport. If you’re strapped to 6,500-jumpsand-counting Kitsch Baldwin, for example, get ready for a wild ride—he’s a high performance canopy pilot representing New Zealand at skydiving world championship competitions. Definitely opt for the highest jump (16,500 feet) because while 75 seconds of freefall may sound insane from the ground, the adrenaline rush will leave you cursing your tandem instructor as soon as he pulls the parachute. Eyes up and alert, kids: on a clear day you can see from coast to coast, while if you have the surreal experience of sailing through a storm cloud you’ll be rewarded with a rainbow or two. Double rainbow! The rest of your week is guaranteed to be the most boring ever. 72 Green Rd., Parakai; skydiveauckland.com; tandem jumps from $295.
Federal Have a nosh at a New York City Jewish deli: bagels, Reubens and latkes galore! Soda counter authenticity bonus points for the egg creams and cherry lime rickeys. 86 Federal St.; thefed.co.nz; brunch for two $60.
The Foodstore Chef Mark Southon stars on three TV shows as well as the in-house live stream of this wide-open kitchen. Oversee the action over an aperitif at the raised bar, and whet your appetite for the feast ahead. The tuatua, sweetcorn and hamhock fritters, and fjordland crayfish linguine with saffron cream sauce are both downright divine. Market Square, Viaduct Harbour; thefoodstore.tv; dinner for two $110.
Auckland Sky Tower With its crisp air and oceanic orientation, New Zealand evokes the U.S. Pacific Northwest at every turn—including boasting its own version of the Seattle Space Needle. Yes, this is Tourism 101, but it’s worth a trip to the top to get your bearings on this spread-out city, and maybe even base-jump back down into its center. Corner of
Federal and Victoria Sts.; adult admission $28, adult SkyJump $225.
Ponsonby Social Club We’re confused. How does this jam-packed, open-air front hall and dark-andsultry back room in the heart of the high-hat Ponsonby ‘hood (above) stay so down-to-earth? The mixed crowd is chill, the speedy staff lenient. Just be cool. Everyone else is. 152 Ponsonby Rd.; ponsonbysocialclub.co.nz; drinks for two $30.
Depot Eatery It looks like a bustling Boston oyster bar, so why not go all-out pescatarian, with the fresh shucked Marlborough clams, and turbot sliders with pickled lemon mayo and watercress? Pair them with the Ataahua Gewurztraminer from the Waipara Valley and it’s a beautiful afternoon. 86 Federal St.; eatatdepot.co. nz; dinner for two $100. Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum Maori legend has it that great Polynesian chief Kupe discovered the Land of the Long White Cloud in the 10th century. From the double-canoes those first inhabitants sailed across the Pacific to the 1968 capsizing of the Wahine ferry, this is a culture steeped, for better and worse, in the sea. Corner of Quay and Hobson Sts.
BEI JI NG 24/7 The head long rush of China’s booming capital city, as seen by g a r y s h t e y n g a r t — old-school restaurants, futuristic architecture, Internet entrepreneurs and over-the-top nightclubs.
Haidilao Hot Pot, a restaurant in Beijing’s Sanlitun district.
photogr aphed by m at t h e w n i e de r h ause r
Jingshan Park, near the Forbidden City. Below: Beijing Capital International Airport.
IN BEIJING, THE PAST TREMBLES BEFORE THE FUTURE.
Nowhere on earth is the fast-forward button pressed with such might and frequency. Nowhere else do the centuries disappear into the night, handed over to starchitect Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho, a building that looks like four UFO’s have landed around a traditional Chinese courtyard, or to shopping malls called the Place or the Village, or to ring roads that encircle the Forbidden City carrying millions of cars, each barely inching forward through the haze of pollution that the government euphemistically likes to call “bad weather.” And yet even as you slide past the ghost buildings that line the impossibly wide boulevards, broken up only by flashing billboards of Western beauties hawking Dior, you start to think: This is where it’s at. Beijing, China’s political capital, is where the future will be partly decided and packaged and presented to large swaths of the globe. Even a few of the foreign denizens of the financial capital, Shanghai, tell me they’d rather move to Beijing, if only to better grease the palms of those who actually wield power, the functionaries of China’s Communist Party. I’ve met many Europeans who proudly announce that they’ve never in their entire lives visited New York. To participate in the 21st century and not know Beijing will require similar pride. Or foolishness. In fact, the saddest flight in the world is from America’s decrepit Newark Liberty International Airport, essentially a giant bathroom with airplanes, to the gleaming and sinuous Norman Foster–designed Beijing Capital International Airport. I’d been preparing for Beijing’s notorious pollution, stocking up on every asthma inhaler known to man, but on my visit I get lucky. Most of it coincides with the Two Sessions of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In preparation for these grand fêtes, the pollution around the capital magically dissipates, and the air, while not BritishColumbia-fresh, smells merely like an older dog after exertion. The Two Sessions brings Communist partyers from all over the land to Beijing, but if you were picturing dour Maoists in polyester suits, you don’t know the New China! The locals call this “Beijing Fashion Week,” and China’s Netizens have a ball checking out the latest in Communist apparel, noting attendees clad in the latest
Hermès leather belt (RMB20,000, or about US$3,000), or toting the finest Hermès Birkin bag (RMB100,000). But let’s not forget the standard Chanel necklaces and the allimportant Bottega Veneta leather briefcase. No wonder a ramble through the still-shockingly-stunning Forbidden City ends in a man-made jumble of rock called the Hill of Accumulated Elegance. If only I had paid more attention during my Introduction to Marxist Thought seminars at Oberlin College, I too could have been zipping around town in one of the long black Audi A8’s to which the ruling elites are quite partial (“Audi, the official car of official corruption,” a local tells me), instead of huffing along in one of the ubiquitous Volkswagen Santana cabs. But this is true of Beijing: everything here is political, down to which karaoke bar you frequent and which ethnic noodles you slurp down. You stand there in the middle of Tiananmen Square, watching Jumbotrons play patriotic music as images of Tibet, Macao and Taiwan (who knew the island nation had already rejoined the mainland?) flash by, watching the lampposts with their dozens of loudspeakers and hundreds of CCTV cameras watching you. It’s all out of scale, and out of sync, and then suddenly you see a two-year-old boy barely tottering on his feet, but already coming up to everyone he meets with a smile and a handshake. “Future party leader,” says my friend Lilly Kam. Lilly, Chinese American, Chicago-born, MIT-educated, works at the locus of technology and education (she has since returned to the States) and has been an excellent tour guide through the world of Beijing now. Even as the Two Sessions of the party have been meeting—and stripping the powerful and extra-super-corrupt party boss Bo Xilai of all his influence, a move that will shake the party to its core—she has been introducing me to a kind of alternate politburo, the young men and women of Chinese descent who have gathered from all over the world to help make their country great again. Lilly takes me to a Pi Day party (it’s held on March 14, or 3.14 in nerd code) for young fellow Stanford and MIT alums, where I am introduced to the acronyms. There are the ABC’s (American-Born Chinese), the CBA’s (Chinese-Born Americans), the MIT’s (Made in Taiwan), the BBC’s (British-Born Chinese), and, of course, the HG’s, the Hai Gui or Sea Turtles, who have gone out to the top Western universities as adults only to swim back to share their expertise. At an Irish bar in the still-fashionable Sanlitun district, I am introduced to dozens of people who seem to have hundreds of Internet start-up ideas between them, many for Chinese versions of Groupon and Kickstarter. The Sea Turtles, I am told, are especially powerful, because they know how things work. But they are often wonderfully earnest and gregarious. I am delighted to meet a young Turtle who asks me what I do for a living— always the first question in China, followed by “and how much do you make?”—and when I tell her I’m a writer she shouts out, “Congratulations!” as if I have just won some bittersweet prize. I am staying in Sanlitun’s Opposite House hotel, famous for its wooden soaking tubs, its fine art, and the fact that it’s 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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wedded to the Taikoo Li Sanlitun mall, where Balenciaga competes with the homegrown Brand New China collection. The Sanlitun area, formerly a seedy nightlife district, makes sprawling Beijing manageable. For pockets of authenticity, a visit to one of the remaining non-gentrified hutong alleys is a must (try Gongjian Hutong near the Bell Tower), if only to marvel at the elderly men playing checkers within the ancient stone mazes. Sanlitun is also where the young Beijingers, local and foreign, drink and dine and mate. The capital is friendly to all three pursuits. When it comes to dining, it ties in all of China’s cuisines, of which Sichuan is the most consistently yummy. Sanlitun’s Haidilao Hot Pot is part of a growing chain, a chain doing so well its Sichuan owner reportedly lives in a replica of the White House. The queues are long in this massive complex of spice and steam, but where else will people feed you fruit and do your nails while you wait? Haidilao may well have the best service in the country. Mix in sesame oil and cilantro and whatever else your heart desires to create your own versions of Heaven and Hell—mild and spicy broths— then dip in the porous foods: the frozen tofu (oddly enough better than the unfrozen kind for these purposes), the slices of tenderized beef, the chocolate-like cakes of chicken and duck blood. “It’s like climbing Everest,” a sweating Ukrainian author tells me as he dips his tofu into Hell. A nice way to end a Haidilao evening, and cool down a flaring Sichuan stomach, is a trip over to Sanlitun’s Apothecary bar. It may look like your standard global wood-and-steel joint with tropicalia on the stereo, but the conversation in Beijing is anything but standard. This time Lilly and her friends are talking about the best VPN’s, or Virtual Private Networks, which savvy Netizens use to get around the heavily censored Chinese Internet (I, too, will discover what life is like without Twitter and Facebook). She introduces me to Kaiser Kuo, easily one of the world’s most fascinating human beings. An ABC (American-born Chinese), Kaiser was formerly a member of Tang Dynasty, China’s first heavy-metal band, not to mention the author of the hilarious essay collection Ich Bin Ein Beijinger. Currently, he is the communications czar over at Baidu, the controversial yet wildly successful Chinese search engine. “It’s like Jon Bon Jovi went to Google,” one of his friends tells me, although I’m not sure Google would appreciate the comparison. The Apothecary is known for its house-made bitters, and over some potent Sazeracs, Kaiser, who is in his forties, but whose scalp still supports long heavy-metal hair, explains how he found himself in China: “It was like a low-gravity planet over here. I couldn’t just be in the top band in the U.S.” When I later ask him how China’s most famous rock band broke up, he tells me, “We had what we call in the business a Yoko Ono problem.” Beijing is huge but it is, in its way, small and incestuous. Everyone seems to end up in the same place sooner or later. On one night, that place proves to be Chocolate. Chocolate is a nightclub near the Russian section of town, in the appropriately named Alien Street Market, and at least two women tell me the club makes them “ashamed to be 96
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Russian.” That, to me, a Russian émigré, sounds like a rousing recommendation. Many readers will have been to glitzy, over-the-top Russian nightclubs in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York, or, indeed, in Russia itself. Chocolate is far, far worse. In fact, it could only exist off something called Alien Street Market in a city called Beijing. The doorman is a Mongolian dwarf in a white suit—and he represents the tasteful part of the evening. You ride down an escalator, Moscow Metro–style, into a gaudy wonderland of epileptic strobes and gilded murals of Nubian princesses and black leopards. “We’ve got a praying mantis type of situation here,” Gady Epstein, a reporter for the Economist, tells me, as we watch Russian women in six-inch heels tower over their male Chinese prey. “These women will kill you.” The evening’s floor show features a klezmer-jazz saxophonist “straight from Israel!”; an instructional bondage-ballet performed by a Russian dance troupe to German industrial-metal band Rammstein’s “Mein Herz Brennt”; and the pièce de résistance, a 150-kilogram Russian woman dressed like Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, smothering a blindfolded Chinese man with her massive attributes. Whatever feelings this may evoke the viewer, one can’t deny that this is one part of China the censors have not been able to control. The fact that it takes a Russian nightclub in China to make one feel free speaks for itself. Still reeling from that Chocolate buzz the next morning, Lilly and I decide to take in Racist Park. China’s adventures with English translation have been well documented, and it’s hard to beat a restaurant famously calling itself “Translate Server Error.” Before the English cleanup campaign leading
AT CHOCOLATE, YOU RIDE DOWN AN ESCALATOR, MOSCOW METRO–STYLE, INTO A GAUDY WONDERLAND OF
EPILEPTIC STROBES AND GILDED MURALS OF NUBIAN PRINCESSES AND BLACK LEOPARDS
Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho. Below: Jumbotrons in Tiananmen Square.
The Great Wall at Mutianyu, northeast of Beijing.
up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, devoted to showcasing China’s 56 minorities, was indeed called “Racist Park.” Within sight of the gorgeous Herzog & de Meuron “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, built for the Olympics but lately used for Jackie Chan concerts and the like, the Entity Formerly Known as Racist Park is China’s attempt to present its diversity to the world, by means of what is essentially a friendly human zoo. The country is more than 90 percent Han Chinese, but within the replicas of Buddhist temples and stupas and wooden houses here, every ethnic group gets a chance to shine. We come early, when most of the minorities are still asleep. The Koreans have stirred, and are drowsily showing off their hanbok dresses and kimchi in earthenware jars. At this hour, the Russians are nowhere to be seen. The restive Muslim Uighurs have seceded for the season. We wake a Miao in his yellow ethnic garb. He had been peaceably sleeping with his red cell phone over his eyes, but now gets up to do a little song and dance. The Tibetans sit around glumly as if waiting for the Han Chinese to leave, which I guess is what Tibetans do. All the ethnic cutlery and embroidery makes us hungry. The result is probably the best meal I’ve had in Beijing. Far off in the western Xicheng district, behind the Xinjiang Consular Office, which represents the secessionist Uighurs in Beijing, lies the lamb-scented treasure that is Xinjiang Islam Restaurant. Within the giant dining room the Uighur waiters proudly wear their excellent national hats beneath
wall-length scenes of mosques and mountain lakes and a sign that says beautiful xinjiang welcomes you. Here, for the equivalent of a few dollars, are cold noodles that are the platonic, Tony Soprano ideal of al dente, with a nice burst of spice at the end. Could these be the best cold noodles in the world? Then there are the cumin-and-chili-spiced mutton kebabs. These kinds of kebabs haunt Central Asia, but traveling to the eastern end of the continent has done them good: they are spicier and juicer, more tender and fatty than any I have ever tasted. And, finally, sautéed lily buds with gingko, a dish that defies explanation: an explosion of gingko crispiness and earthy, lily-bud flavor. For those looking for more upscale digs, the Temple Restaurant Beijing, in the central Dongcheng district, is sited in a 600-year-old temple compound. This is Beijing at its coolest and most clever, down to the bowler hat worn by the helpful concierge, Mr. Peng. I ask the dashing chef, Ignace Lecleir, formerly of Maison Boulud à Pekin, if he’s French, to which he answers: “I’m Belgian. It’s frankly much better.” The restored temple compound also includes a hotel inside a former printing plant for Buddhist sutras. The restaurant space once belonged to a factory that made Beijing’s first black-and-white television sets, and now the redesigned room is as free and bright as Eero Saarinen’s TWA terminal (granted, much smaller) and nicely matched by the Gershwin on the stereo. Someday Woody Allen’s Beijing movie will be shot entirely within this compound.
Lecleir has a way with lobster. The pea soup with lobster tastes as green as it sounds, and when a terrine of foie gras meets a poached crustacean, the stakes are raised for both. The loveliest part of Temple is the sense of calm that is so rare in Beijing. It’s a pleasure to see couples dining quietly, knowing that tonight no one’s going to sell a hanger factory in Shenzhen to a rapacious Taiwanese financier. Another mind-blowing recent venture is Susu, a Vietnamese restaurant inside a thoughtfully repurposed old hutong courtyard just northeast of the Forbidden City. The owners are a charming couple, Amy Li and her husband, the New York Times journalist Jonathan Ansfield. The energy of China is such that every expat I meet also happens to have more jobs than an entire graduating class at Bard College. Speaking of his wife, Jonathan says, “She’s from the adjacent Hebei province, I’m from Wisconsin. Both are prairie and dairy states. The similarities stop there.” The couple used to run a bar and café called the Stone Boat, which was, literally, inside a stone boat on a nearby lake, until their partner, a local municipal official, decided to throw them overboard. A flyer handed to a neighboring journalist led the couple to this location, and now it’s hard to imagine Beijing without Susu. Slurping up a bold gin Saigon Fizz full of ginger, lime and bitters, I plow into amazing fried-tofu vermicelli salad, banana-prawn rolls, perfectly seared shaking beef tenderloin flash-fried with fish sauce, and silky snakehead fish sizzling with fennel leaves, turmeric, and scallion. Susu is unobtrusively sleek, a clean, well-lit place that still pays homage to its origins, a quiet corner of the capital Zaha Hadid has not yet reformed. The walk here “takes you past massage parlors, barbershops, noodle huts, a vinyl-record shop, and a public toilet,” Jonathan says. “You can’t plan that. Likewise we could never have planned to create Susu.” Back in Sanlitun, on the highest floor of the sleazy Eastern Inn, Q-bar twinkles amid the dreary architecture. This red-clad joint is as sweet and cozy as my local watering hole. I’m kicking back with an Earl Grey vodka martini and some Christian investment bankers who made a killing in China’s lingerie business. Elsewhere in the bar, a young Sea Turtle is launching into Kaiser Kuo, castigating him for leaving his rock-and-roll life behind to toil for Baidu, the search engine many love to hate. “You were so free—you epitomized freedom for me,” she says. “Now you work for the man.” Kaiser defends himself: “You have to work within the system.” (Someone who’s on Kaiser’s side of quietly sums up the dilemma for me: “He has kids.”) In a week, I will go to Shanghai, where the conversation, much as it is in New York or London or Hong Kong, will be about money. In Beijing it is about money too, but here in the country’s cultural heart, the calculations are tinged with regret. “It’ll be nice when China finally figures itself out,” Lilly tells me. The next day I am standing at the Great Wall at Mutianyu, northeast of the city, amid Ming-era guard towers and
hawkers of so many red-and-gold souvenirs and Obama-asMao T-shirts. Many deride this section of the wall as touristy, but to me it feels as accurately relentless as the rest of the country. Where else would an enterprising company build an actual toboggan ride stapled to the wall with a large red sign instructing the potential user of the fact that toboggan is a dangerous sport…. our company is not responsible . Zooming off the Great Wall and down the craggy hills that frame it is great childish fun. Down at the lower level, I walk past the wall’s bustling Subway franchise and into a public restroom. Above the urinal a bilingual sign urges me not to miss my mark. close to the distance , near civilization, it says in English. And sometimes, in difficult circumstances, that’s the best anyone can hope for. ✚
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T L Guide Getting Around For the most reliable service, hire a car and driver. Local tour operator Bespoke Beijing (bespoke-beijing.com) can arrange one for RMB1,150 per eight-hour day, but avoid traffic-heavy times (7 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.).
STAY Aman at Summer Palace 1 Gongmenqian St.; amanresorts.com; doubles from RMB5,200. East, Beijing 22 Jiuxianqiao Rd.; east-beijing.com; doubles from RMB1,150. Opposite House Taikoo Li Sanlitun North, Bldg. 1, 11 Sanlitun Rd.; theopposite house.com; doubles from RMB2,100. The Peninsula 8 Goldfish Ln.; peninsula.com; doubles from RMB1,200.
EAT AND DRINK Apothecary Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun Rd., 3rd floor; 86-10/5208-6040; drinks for two RMB120. Chocolate 19 Ritan Bei Rd.; club-chocolate.asia; drinks for two RMB90. Haidilao Hot Pot 2A Baijiazhuang Rd.; 86-10/ 6595-2982; dinner for two RMB180. Q-bar Baijiazhuang Rd., 6th floor; drinks for two RMB100. Susu 10 Qiangliang Xixiang; susubeijing.com; dinner for two RMB320. Temple Restaurant Beijing 23 Shatan Beijie, Songzhusi; trb-cn.com; dinner for two RMB1,000. Xinjiang Islam Restaurant 7 Sanlihe Rd.; 86-10/6830-1820; dinner for two RMB160. DO Chinese Ethnic Culture Park 1 Minzuyuan Rd.; emuseum.org.cn. Mutianyu Great Wall Huairu District; mutianyugreatwall.com.
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In search of age-old culinary traditions, oliver strand travels to the valleys and coastlines of southern Spain, where he discovers just-caught seafood, plump chorizo, charming inns, whitewashed towns, and plate after plate of prized jam贸n ib茅rico.
Lunch on the terrace at Trasierra, a hotel and restaurant in the Sierra Morena mountains, 80 kilometers north of Seville. Ullate provit, autOpposite: ut of the Salmorejo, a creamier dolor eheni ditiam ut pra cum version of gazpacho, nimus daerum susant. Lorem Trasierra. ipsumatquunt que.
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A view of the Zahara reservoir on the road to Ronda. Clockwise from below: Shrimp cooked in sherry at Poma, in SanlĂşcar de Barrameda; Zahara de la Sierra, a town near Ronda; lunch at Trasierra.
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From top: Harvested lemons at Trasierra; Antonio Hidalgo and his jamón ibérico at El Capellán, in Constantina, near Trasierra.
very afternoon at Trasierra, a whitewashed Spanish estate an hour’s drive north of Seville, a bounteous lunch spread arrives on the breezy pool terrace—tortilla, slowcooked eggs and potatoes flipped out of a skillet and cut into thick wedges; ajoblanco, a cold soup of almonds and garlic; cheese; blistered peppers; and prized jamón ibérico sourced by the proprietor’s son at El Capellán, a farm just a couple of towns away. On my recent visit to the 18-room property, Madrid-born British expat Charlotte Scott (she left the U.K. in 1978 and raised her four children here) encouraged her guests to put down their books and wander over to the feast prepared by her eldest daughter, Gioconda. There were different varieties of the region’s peppery olive oil on the table, bottles of wine on the honor bar—it was, in every way, a perfect meal. Scott’s olive-grove-shaded retreat, a small collection of thick-walled farmhouses and barns laced with flowering vines, may not be a temple to molecular gastronomy or have the type of Michelin-star-studded menu that draws ambitious gourmands to Spain to eat and Instagram. Like so much of the cooking in the rugged provinces of Andalusia and Extremadura, it feeds your soul. And while I love an envelope-pushing meal as much as anyone else, that wasn’t what my trip was about. What lured me to this corner of Andalusia was the prospect of eating simply and well by tapping into a heritage that connected me to the heart of Spanish cuisine. So when I picked up my old friend at the Seville airport, I announced to him that our trip had a theme: we were going to
drive a lot, and we were going to eat like 70-year-old Spanish men. It is two hours from Seville to the cliff-side town of Ronda if by highway, but it’s a half-day’s drive on the narrow roads etched into the sides of the craggy mountains, where cinematic vistas unfold at every turn. This part of Andalusia is known for its pueblos blancos, ancient villages of buildings painted a blinding white. Ronda, which dates to the sixth century B.C., is the largest and best-known; it’s famous for olive oil, its 253-year-old bridge across a 90-meter gorge, and its bullring that is to bullfighting what Boston’s Fenway Park is to baseball. The Plaza de Toros in Ronda is the most historic bullring in Spain. It traces its history back to the 1573 founding of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda, a royal order of cavalry, and the patios of the equestrian school have the wellfunded, well-worn elegance of a courtyard in Cambridge. Since their construction in 1785, the stone columns have been softened by time, the painted trompe l’oeil garlands and skulls faded by the sun, the thick white walls gently curving from one carved archway to another. But we weren’t at the Plaza de Toros to see a fight. We were there to dine at the nearby Pedro Romero, a provincial restaurant with heavy wooden chairs, and pink tablecloths. This is where local dignitaries take visiting luminaries, and where sun-worn toreros come to dine after a match. The walls are covered with framed photographs of noted bullfighters, yellowed newspaper clippings, and signed programs. When we arrived, a dusty TV hummed with a soccer game—Spain versus Brazil— which the waitstaff consulted as they brought us dishes that were as satisfying as they were simple: blood sausage cooked with apples and onions; stubby links of a chorizo found only here, simmered in white wine until soft and plump; a pile of the olive-oilfried potatoes so typical of Spain topping a wide bowl of rabo de toro. (That would be oxtail from the animals that lose in the ring across the street. Olé.) Each dish, prepared with such careful attention and solid craft, was
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T L Guide When to Go Spring or autumn; May and October have fewer crowds and mild weather. Getting Around Rent a car at Seville Airport with Hertz (hertz. com), Avis (avis.com) or Budget (budget.com).
STAY Al Lago Guest House A six-room boutique hotel facing the Zahara reservoir. Zahara de la Sierra; al-lago.
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polite, you let your dining partner have his pick of the maza first; if you’re eating like a 70-year-old Spanish man, you just order another round. Our server suggested we take a quick detour to visit the tiny village of Almonaster la Real, and to walk up to the small church that sits next to a bullring, smaller and rougher than the one in Ronda, on the crest of a hill overlooking the town. We entered up a flight of stairs cut in two by a trough of water fed by a low fountain inside the door. The building dates to Roman times, it was turned into a mosque by the Moors, and it has the columned arcades of an extra-small Córdoba—the majesty of an empire on the scale of a weekend house. The church tower was unlocked, and when we climbed it we disturbed a flock of birds that flew in tight circles above the wall where the bullring met the church. To the south, nothing but green hills. I looked for the next road we would take. It was still light out, but I was already thinking about dinner. ✚
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few fishing villages survive along the coast, but only one is as famous for its sherry as its shrimp: Sanlúcar de Barrameda, which hugs a sandy inlet where the Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Sanlúcar de Barrameda is to the northwest of Jerez de la Frontera, a larger city that’s the capital of Spain’s sherry industry. But the sherries of Sanlúcar de Barrameda are known for having a distinctive flavor, a funky dryness from aging the barrels in bodegas near the beach. According to lore, salt from the sea air seeps into the sherry. I tasted it. At least I think I did. I can’t actually say. By the time our car had carried us across the province, dropping from the high altitude of Ronda to the fields outside of Jerez, the strange sight of the enormous white bodegas lined up on the sand was so suggestive that when my friend said he could taste it, I said, “Absolutely!” We were at a restaurant called Poma on the water and one of a dozen that looked the same: the same metal tables out front, the same middle-aged waiters working with crisp professionalism. We were told by the owners of Finca Buenvino, a fivebedroom B&B with cooking courses near the village of Los Marines, to stop here and order a glass of sherry and the shrimp cooked in sherry—an entire meal made of two ingredients. After one taste of those succulent gambas de Sanlúcar, pulled from the ocean that morning, I decided that if I were to return to Andalusia, it would be to dine again at Poma and watch the fishing boats creep up the Guadalquivir. Heading east around Seville, then north, we arrived at Jabugo, widely regarded as the mecca of jamón ibérico, located in a high valley in the rainiest part of Andalusia, where the streams run all year and where the pears and apples are always sweet. The ham here
is made from plump black pigs that spend the final, happy autumn of their lives feeding on acorns and napping in mud—but it will cost you. At Cinco Jotas, or 5J, the bodega that stands on the edge of town, a leg can run more than €360. When we were in the company store, a group of Spanish men from the north were there on a shopping expedition. The five of them bought three hams, which came out to more than €1,450. (Part of that was for smoked chorizo and bottles of fino and oloroso sherry to drink with the meat.) Another group of men walked in and bought four hams. I too was tempted to buy a whole ham. But my friend sobered me up and took me a few doors down to Las Bellotas, which serves 5J, and asked for a degustación de jamón, a tasting of ham. Each leg has five distinct parts: the maza, the contramaza, the jarrete, the babilla and the punta, and the way the fat is marbled through the muscle is different in each. The maza is the fattiest and most flavorful. If you’re
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es; doubles from €85. Finca Buenvino Los Marines; fincabuenvino.com; doubles from €120. San Gabriel Hotel A vine-covered retreat in the historic center. Ronda; hotel sangabriel.com; doubles from €73. Trasierra Cazalla de la Sierra; trasierra.eu; doubles from €180. EAT Las Bellotas Avda. San Juan del Puerto, Jabugo; 34/95903-2111; dinner for two €60. Pedro Romero 18 Virgen de la Paz, Ronda; rpedroromero.
com; dinner for two €60. Poma Avda. de Bajo de Guía, Sanlúcar de Barrameda; restaurantepoma.com; dinner for two €60. DO Convento de San Leandro Cloistered nuns in Seville earn income by making and selling sweets. Ring the buzzer, put your money on a lazy Susan in the wall, and a sister will replace it with your treats. Plaza de San Ildefonso, Seville; 34/95-422-4195. Mezquita Mosque ruins on a hill above a medieval town. 16 Calle Castillo, Almonaster la Real. Plaza de Toros 15 Virgen de la Paz, Ronda; rmcr.org. Zahara de la Sierra A lakeside pueblo blanco 32 kilometers northwest of Ronda; don’t miss the impressive castle ruins. BOOK WITH A T+L TRAVEL EXPERT T+L A-List super-agent and Spain expert Joel A. Zack creates customized itineraries in Andalusia. htprivatetravel. com.
The 18th-century Plaza de Toros in Ronda. Clockwise from left: Jamón ibérico from Jabugo; a bird’s-eye view of Ronda; Pedro Romero, a restaurant near the Plaza de Toros.
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Not everyone wants to be a star. Some are content to don funny costumes and down fake cocktails for a day in the background. s u z a n c r a n e takes a little-known tourist trip through the movie sets of Mumbai. 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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came to Mumbai to be discovered. Well, sort of. I actually came to India’s most populous city to secure my fifteen seconds of fame as an extra in one of the approximately 1,000 Bollywood extravaganzas—twice Hollywood’s output—that are churned out each year by the prolific fantasy factory. In this three-plus-billiondollar annual industry, Hindi filmmakers regularly seek foreign faces to provide international human wallpaper for scenes ostensibly shot in the likes of London, Dubai or Sydney. And I wanted to be among them. By bizarre happenstance, I’d had a brief flirtation with the fame monster several days earlier in, of all places, Kathmandu when, returning to Thamel district from a hair appointment, I walked smack into the filming of a music video by Nepali actor/comedian Hari Bansha Acharya. Next thing I knew, I was on set alongside four other pale foreigners dancing to a folk-inspired pop concoction lacing the sweet strings of a traditional sarangi with the djimbe’s percussive groove. It was catching. And left me keener than ever to clock additional screen time across the border in India, impending 14-hour workdays for a measly 500-rupee “fee” be damned. I headed out my first Mumbai morning in the tourist enclave of Colaba—a favored haunt for recruiters—in the hopes of being noticed. Up and down the road behind the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel I pranced. In front of the lowbrow Salvation Army Red Shield Guest House I preened. Through the Causeway and around India Gate I strutted. To no avail. Only touts trumpeting “good cheap room” paid me any heed. Clearly streetwalking was not to be my ticket through Bollywood’s rarified gates. So, I reached out to veteran “foreign models” guru Imran Giles, a fast-talking used-carsalesman sort who herds human scenery into many of Bollywood’s biggest films. “I must get on set,” I implored the hotshot agent. “What’s in it for me?” he queried opportunistically. “Your fifteen seconds of fame in my story?” I offered. “Well, I actually need a favor,” he countered in a machine-gun staccato. He needed 25 Westerners under 30, and he needed them in the next four hours for a shoot later that day on Happy New Year. While I was “age inappropriate” for the 108
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blinged-out song-and-dance spectacle directed by Farah Khan and starring “King of Bollywood” Shahrukh Kahn, I was assured my moment of celluloid glory later in Bombay Velvet, a high-profile period opus featuring heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor, scion of an acting dynasty. But first, I had to deliver Giles’s quota. And so it happened that I became a Bollywood scout combing the streets for tourists who prized fleeting infamy, and perhaps a different insight into modern India, above monetary compensation. They were to receive about 500 rupees per day; I, 100 rupees per fair-haired head. Piece of cake assignment, I assumed. After all, I’m a friendly Western female slinging a benign pitch that usually began with “Excuse me, this might sound strange…” But I had more roles on offer than there were “suitable” foreigners wandering about, and guidebook warnings about shifty pavement pounders severely hindered my efforts. Eventually, however, I was able to corral 15 multinational travelers and off we went to Film City, center of the Bollywood universe. Through a heavily guarded entrance we encountered a second layer of security before reaching the inner sanctum, otherwise known as the soundstage. Cameras and phones were confiscated, the veil of secrecy enshrouding these costly colossal productions thick as a thundercloud. Since I wasn’t to be “acting” in this film—being “age inappropriate” and all—I killed time by learning a few Persian dance moves from a group of Iranian and Afghani extras culled from Pune’s Middle Eastern student population, and practicing my Spanish with a Minorcan couple I’d drafted earlier near Colaba’s renowned Leopold Café. I also gleaned some hot gossip and spicy Bollywood trivia, including the little-known fact that on-screen kisses were more passionately rendered prior to 1954, when India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressed complaints about the “corrupting influence” of “precocious sex habits” displayed in films. As for the heat quotient that may or may not ignite Happy New Year, I’ve no idea, as the bit I observed focused on a high-octane dance contest rather than any scripted relationship between Shahruhk Kahn and his comely co-star Deepika Padukone. I’ll get back to you on the sizzle factor upon the film’s Diwali (October 23) release. As day turned into night and back into day again, enthusiasm among the juniors—as Bollywood refers to extras, who in this case were festooned in flamboyant getups that evoked a Michael Jackson video circa 1985—began to wane. Frustration and a few complaints filtered through the hazy studio, even among those earning 1,000 rupees daily and free accommodation in exchange for longer term commitments to the project. Lizzie, a young British backpacker in garish green sequins, was more sanguine. “I’m making some cash and the hotel is better than the hostel in which I’d been staying,” she shrugged during her interminable, chai-fueled wait to be called on set. Still, despite the obvious tedium, I was eager to get my chance to be on camera. Two days later, it finally arrived.
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deserted street in front of Starbucks. But for a few early risers and vagrants, the music of this chaotic city has yet to kick off. Slowly, a handful of foreigners ambles toward the meeting point, all bleary eyed and undoubtedly questioning their sanity. A Chinese couple emerges from the shadows followed by a German Rasta dude. A Latvian choreographer is accompanied by her father, a French professional dancer and her Egyptian boyfriend loping close behind. Some lug rucksacks as they’ll be dropped at the train station after filming. We’re marshaled onto a minibus bound for the venerable Mahalaxmi Race Course about 20 minutes away to participate in the neo-noir epic Bombay Velvet. Inspired by James Ellroy’s L.A. Quartet crime novels and based on the book Mumbai Fables by Indian historian Gyan Prakash, the story explores the birth of this metropolis, its dark underside brewing in a cauldron of love, greed, violence and jazz music. On location we meet another band of foreign extras and hordes of Indian nationals, many of whom are professional juniors. Some are bored housewives, I’m told by a retired Air India flight attendant who does extra work once or twice a week to stave off inertia. All of us are quickly ushered into the frenzied wardrobe, hair and makeup area. Men are shuttled off in one direction, the women in another. Boxes upon boxes of clothing and accessories are helmed by hapless stylists tasked with matching garment to body type. “Too big.” “Too small.” “Needs to cover tattoo.” Needs to cover any number of other unseemly affectations. Even for extras, perfection is the goal.
Everyone is jostling for the best costume and more attention from the stylists, the aesthetic requirements of us ingénues eclipsed by the demands of the more experienced (read: aggressive) regulars. The scene supposedly takes place in 1969 but the garb inexplicably spans a much broader swath of time. Donning a high-collared flowery frock, lace gloves and feather-embellished bonnet, I resemble a frilly 1940’s housewife, while a statuesque blonde beside me is bedecked in a brocade gown from an earlier era. The guys variously emerge in Al Capone three-piece suits and skinny 1960’s ties, some sporting mock mustaches and others with precariously placed fedoras obscuring wild dreadlocks. Hours pass and more bit players begin to appear, clad in a confusing array of saris and Western-wear replete with parasols, fans, Jackie O sunglasses and Queen Elizabeth hats. Unlike the shadowy Vegas ambiance of the Happy New Year indoor shoot, we’re blessed with vibrant sunshine and a welcome breeze, Mumbai unfolding like a panoramic postcard from the sprawling grounds of the famed racetrack. After a quick breakfast, we’re steered into the bleachers, hundreds of us, a veritable United Nations of background players. I am thrilled. Faux cocktails are dispensed, while a production assistant seeks smokers for authenticity. “Don’t light up until we roll film” she commands—though some of us, tired of waiting, ignore the edict. More cigarettes and cigars are distributed for the actual take. “This is cool,” Frederico from Argentina, opines. “We get to smoke and fake drink, all in the name of cinema verité.” Yes, this is fun, I agree. As we
sit in the truly grand spectator stands, a designated heritage site that dates back to 1883, the overall impression is of a stylistic collision between The Great Gatsby and the polo scene in Pretty Woman. But it’s easy to dismiss the anachronisms; I’m in a Bollywood film. And not just any Bollywood film—one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated and pricey, with budget estimates ranging between a staggering 92 and 117 crores (one crore is 10,000,000 rupees). The cameras are positioned and soon a hush befalls the crowd. In our midst, the three leads have congregated, ready for action. Rambir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar are all young Bollywood A-listers and, framed by a coterie of groomers, they look like it. In short order, several crew members trot onto the field, pretending to be the horses that will later replace them on film. Through multiple takes, the extras are instructed to cheer, clap and otherwise exhibit emotions befitting a day at the races. Frederico becomes my foil as we both animatedly immerse ourselves in character. Way in the back rows, Indian extras are texting on their smart phones, well aware that they’re not in range of the cameras, which periodically shift to invoke a larger crowd than actually exists. Occasionally, a cinematographer seems to be aiming towards my section, my row even, and my hopes soar that I’ll make it uncut through editing. After lunch, several of us are assigned more prominent positions, although I’m pretty sure they are shooting from behind. As the day draws on and the sun smolders above, our initial fervor gives way to lethargy. The ovations became weaker, the gesticulations less spirited. And then, some twelve hours after our arrival, the director calls cut for the final time. The scene captured and our jobs complete, the rush to disrobe and return our props is frantic, harried stylists fielding flying accessories like a baseball catcher. In the bus back to Colaba, the weary extras are generally happy with the experience, happier still that it’s over. A few offer to return the next day, but most are content with their furtively obtained behind-the-scenes snapshots, 15 seconds of fame, and enduring tales of their Bollywood debut. A Bollywood set is sort of a microcosm of India itself, where life blazes in vivid paradoxical Technicolor. At once maddening and inspiring, swift-paced and slow, absurd and profound, mystifying and mystical. This is why I’m hitting the streets again tomorrow to assemble another troop of unsuspecting recruits for the next Happy New Year night shoot. Sure, there’s a price on each head. But I fancy myself more Santa Claus than bounty hunter: I truly do want to give others this experiential gift. And, perhaps more importantly, I just never know what adventure awaits me around the next corner. India is just like that. Excuse me, this may sound strange… ✚
‘T H IS IS COOL . W E GET TO SMOK E A N D FA K E DR I N K I N T H E NA M E OF CI N EM A V ER IT E’
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T L Guide STAY Abode Boutique Hotel In a refurbished Colaba heritage building, this intimate 20-room bed and breakfast has recycled furnishings, rain showers and amenities such as eye masks and complimentary mobile phones in deluxe rooms. 1F, Lansdowne House, M.B. Marg, Apollo Bunder, Colaba; 91-80/ 8023-4066; abodeboutique hotels.com; doubles from Rs3,500. Palladium Hotel This favored hangout of the city’s jetset provides 335 rooms, 28 suites, a lavish spa, panoramic swimming pool, two award-winning restaurants (plus another four soon-to-launch eateries), a designer mall and three nightlife venues. 462, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel; 91-22/61628000; palladiumhotel.in; doubles from Rs10,500. Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai’s historic, enormous, bay-view grand dame has over the years hosted dignitaries and luminaries from Barack Obama and Prince Charles to George Bernard Shaw and the Beatles. Apollo Bunder; 91-22/6665-3366; tajhotels.com; doubles from Rs13,250. EAT+DRINK Where to spot celebrities over dinner or drinks: Aurus A lauded chef who excels at elegantly eclectic dishes, a whimsical drinks menu and a glam open-air seafront setting make this a hotspot among Juhu’s celebs. 12, Nichani Kutir, Juhu Tara Rd., Juhu; 91-22/6710-6666; dinner for two Rs5,000. China House Some of the best traditional panChinese in town comes out of this resto-lounge’s interactive glass kitchen. Grand Hyatt Hotel, off Western Express Hwy., Santacruz East; 91-22/ 6676-1149; hyatt.com; set menu for two Rs5,000.
EXO Mumbai’s current it spot, this raging bi-level club pulses to the beats of renowned DJs and draws a hip and elite nocturnal crowd. 37F, Palladium; 91-22/6162-8422; drinks for two Rs1,600. Hakkasan Encased by back-lit blue glass with dark-stained English oak screens, this acclaimed eatery in trendy Bandra is pure drama. Kristal, 206 Waterfield Rd., Bandra West; 91-22/26444444; hakkasan.com; dinner for two Rs3,000. Li Bai Boasting amazing views, this urbane lounge offers live music on weekends, a chance to hobnob with the glitterati and an impressive selection of cigars and libations. 37F, Palladium; 91-22/6162-8422; drinks for two Rs1,600. Mekong Offering a culinary journey through the far reaches of Asia, this award-winning eatery also has enviable city views. 37F, Palladium; 9122/6162-8422; dinner for two Rs4,000. Olive Bar & Kitchen A candlelit indoor/outdoor ambiance offsets a lauded Mediterranean menu. Chill Sunday brunch; Thursday Bar Night is Bollywood’s midweek groove. Pali Hill Tourist Hotel, 14 Union Park, Khar West; olivebar andkitchen.com; 91-22/ 3348-7724; dinner for two Rs2,500. Trilogy This sexy ocean-view nightclub is a long-time mainstay of the Mumbai party circuit. Hotel Sea Princess, Juhu Tara Rd., Santracruz West; 91-22/2646-9689; trilogy. in; drinks for two Rs1,600. DO Get cast in a movie Agent Imran Giles, owner of Casting Stars, is often on the hunt for foreign faces—or even a bit of help scouting them. 91-98/1994-6742; imran@ gmail.com.
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Our Definitive Guide to
Ceramics on display at Modernity, a boutique in Stockholm’s Östermalm district.
Sweden’s design capital is a juxtaposition of modern and medieval, where boutique hotels and avant-garde restaurants share the cityscape with cobblestoned alleys and church spires. Reported by Ingrid K. Williams. Photographed by Simon Bajada 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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The lounge at Ett Hem hotel, in Östermalm. Below: A suite at Ett Hem.
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Lay of the Land Gamla Stan Eye-catching storefronts and authentic restaurants are set alongside 1500’s architecture on this medieval harbor island. Norrmalm Here you’ll find a concrete grid of 19th-century buildings occupied by creative offices and the central train station. Östermalm This part of the city center is full of luxury boutiques, of-the-moment bars, and venerable food halls. Södermalm A formerly working-class neighborhood, Södermalm is now gentrified but still replete with old-school cafés and shawarma stands. Djurgården/ Skeppsholmen These verdant islands are home to acres of woods and gardens, in addition to a few lovely museums. Getting Around Taxi Stockholm and Taxi 020 are the most reliable cabs to hail. A Stockholm Card (visitstockholm.com) includes unlimited rides on buses and subways.
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Stay
Our picks of Stockholm’s top hotels, from the classic to the cutting-edge.
ETT HEM
LYDMAR HOTEL
In the leafy Larkstaden district of Östermalm, this Ilse Crawford– designed 12-room mansion is full of Mid-Century Scandinavian furniture (Georg Jensen candlesticks; Gotland sheepskins), with art from the owner’s collection. Don’t miss breakfast in the living room, where kakelugn (traditional Swedish stoves) keep guests toasty. etthem.se; kr4,900.
When local style-setter Pelle Lydmar’s hotel moved from a 1960’s building in Sturegatan to a 19th-century harborside edifice, it lost none of its cool. Each of the 46 rooms has complimentary films and impressive fine-art photography, while the haute-flea-market décor works even better against herringbone floors and soaring ceilings. On Saturdays, the restaurant is ground zero for Stockholm’s beau monde; book ahead. lydmar.com; kr3,195.
GRAND HÔTEL Spread across three patrician buildings facing the Royal Palace, the Grand Hôtel has kept up with the times thanks to a killer bar scene and a world-class spa. In the rooms, Neoclassical flourishes and vermilion sofas combined with Tiffany-blue walls toe the traditional line. grandhotel.se; kr6,400.
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NOBIS HOTEL The interiors of two Industrial Revolution–era buildings on Norrmalmstorg square have been restored by renowned design firm Claesson Koivissto Rune. The
buff, gray and white palette pairs well with the stripped-down but still elegant interiors (original windows and ironwork; veinedmarble baths). Touches we love: the Orla Kiely toiletries and breathtaking domed atrium lounge. nobishotel.se; kr2,790.
HOTEL SKEPPSHOLMEN A pair of 17th-century buildings on the island of Skeppsholmen have been transformed into an eco-retreat with blond-wood floors and bathrooms featuring Boffi basins. On Sundays, the restaurant terrace serves a standout brunch with freshly baked bullar (sweet cinnamonand-cardamom buns) and tranquil sea views. hotelskepps holmen.se/en/; kr2,690.
Hotel prices represent starting rates for double occupancy.
Shop
The best Swedish housewares, accessories and more.
Svenskt Tenn (svenskttenn.com) offers a beautifully curated, multilevel selection of delicate brass- and glassware, lighting, porcelain, furniture and Josef Frank botanical prints. Sweden’s foremost purveyor of antique and Midcentury Scandinavian design, Modernity (modernity.se), carries ceramics by Danish designer Axel Salto and rare pieces by Poul Kjærholm. Fans of contemporary Nordic housewares will want to make a beeline for Nordiska Galleriet (nordiskagalleriet.se), an industrial-style space filled with portable goods, from candlesticks to alpaca throws. The punchy, unstructured women’s pieces by Carin Rodebjer (rodebjer.com) have earned her a cult following for more than a decade. At Mood Stockholm (moodstockholm.se), you’ll find cafés and stores including local indie brands Bönor & Blad and Supertrash. Two key addresses in Södermalm: Lisa Larsson Second Hand (lisalarssonsecondhand.com), for vintage dresses from the 1940’s to the 70’s, and Nitty Gritty Store (nittygrittystore.com), which stocks niche accessory labels such as Roman jewelers Iosselliani.
Clockwise from top: Looks on display at Carin Rodebjer’s boutique; inside Svenskt Tenn; a Josef Frank floor lamp from Svenskt Tenn.
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See Do
Five cultural spots not to miss.
ARTIPELAG
FOTOGRAFISKA
HAGAPARKEN
BabyBjörn founder Björn Jakobson built this soaring contemporary cultural venue amid grassy meadows on Värmdö island. The space has hosted performances by Sweden’s Royal Opera and rotating art exhibitions, among them a Candida Höfer retrospective. artipelag.se.
In a former customs house in Södermalm, this multipurpose photography museum debuted to instant acclaim: the opening show by Annie Liebovitz was followed by the likes of David LaChapelle and Roger Ballen. Find works of both emerging and established talents for sale in the small gallery and an impressive selection of monographs in the shop. fotografiska.se.
A 116-hectare nature playground in Solna, Hagaparken has long housed Swedish royals, who have a residence here. On sunny Saturdays, locals come to run, row on the lake, or sunbathe on the great lawns. royalcourt.se.
MODERNA MUSEET
From left: The greenhouse at Rosendals Trädgård; a Helmut Newton show at Fotografiska.
On Skeppsholmen Island, the Moderna Museet is a Rafael Moneo–designed art museum that has a permanent collection with blue-chip works by Francis Bacon, Matisse and more, as well as many of their Swedish contemporaries. modernamuseet.se.
ROSENDALS TRÄDGÅRD Originally created in 1817 as an English-style park, Rosendals, in Djurgården, is now a public experiment in organic food- and flora-growing (some of the city’s top chefs buy their produce here). It’s also a nice place to spend an afternoon—the rose garden holds nearly a hundred varieties, while the boutique sells artisanal jams. rosendalstradgard.se.
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Clockwise from far left: Lunch hour at the Flying Elk; the dining room at Matbaren; the entrance to Taverna Brillo; cod with potatoes, fried anchovies and hollandaise at Taverna Brillo.
Eat Where to dine in Stockholm now. FLYING ELK Björn Frantzén has opened Stockholm’s first gastropub, whose offerings are not for the faint of heart: the wine bar’s “umami” sandwich (chicken confit with salted butter, chicken jus and soy sauce, fried oyster mushrooms, truffle and Parmesan) is a highlight. theflyingelk.se; kr2,200. GASTROLOGIK Jacob Holmström and Anton Bjuhr, are the brains behind this New Nordic gem, where minimalist décor sets the stage for specialties such as foraged lichen and pine-scented sorbet. gastrologik.se; kr2,400. MATBAREN This food bar at the Grand Hôtel packs all the gastronomic
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bells and whistles of Matsalen (its formal sibling next door) but with a more relaxed à la carte menu. The changing selections may include smoked-pork buns with spicy apple and pickled cucumber and seared king crab. mathiasdahlgren.se; kr2,200. NYTORGET URBAN DELI In Södermalm, this all-day restaurant and market is the favored hangout of the area’s chic bohemians. Order the pea- soup-and-pancake special, as well as the seafood platter, with shrimp, cooked crab, oysters, lobster and Kalix bleak roe. urbandeli.org; kr900. OAXEN KROG & SLIP For 17 years, chef Magnus Ek and Agneta Green ran one of Sweden’s finest restaurants, on
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Oaxen. Last May, they relocated to Djurgården, where they opened Oaxen Krog, a dining room, and Slip, a bistro. Dishes focus on local tastes (reindeer tartare with char roe). oaxen.com; kr1,950 (Krog); kr700 (Slip). OPERABAREN With its carved-wood ceiling and classic Swedish dishes (meatballs with potato purée and lingonberries), the 109-year-old Operabaren attracts politicos and stage luminaries. A covetable location behind the Royal Opera House completes the picture. operakallaren.se; kr2,500. TAVERNA BRILLO The team from perennially
hip Sturehof debuted this casual Italian hot spot in Östermalm. Pizzas are crisp and laden with top-quality buffalo mozzarella (try the fig-porcini-prosciutto one); the spaghetti with Sardinian pork and chili is a revelation. tavernabrillo.se; kr720. VOLT Radiohead on the stereo and modern furnishings add to the allure, but it’s the adventurous plates that make Volt one of Stockholm’s best restaurants. The understated menu includes dishes such as a delicate fillet of skrei (cod), served atop an emulsion of salsify alongside “burnt” bread. restaurangvolt.se; kr2,200.
Restaurant rates represent approximate prices for dinner for two.
From left: Modern Finnish furniture at Artek; a fresh seafood platter at Restaurant J; Cajsa Warg.
Local Take Three insiders share their go-to places in the city.
BEN GORHAM
Founder, Byredo Parfums
Curator, ABBA the Museum
“A.W. Bauer & Co. (awbauer.com) is the only true bespoke tailor left in Scandinavia. It takes eight weeks to get a suit, but the shop also sells shirts, ties and socks made in Scotland. At Artek (artek.fi), you’ll find timeless vintage furniture by Finnish master Alvar Aalto. Sneakersnstuff (sneakersnstuff. com) is a mecca for anyone who loves athletic shoes. Ingelsta Kalkon (ingelstakalkon.se; kr400) is great for lunch. It’s all turkey on the menu—get the grilled version with coleslaw.”
Worth a Detour
MATHIAS DAHLGREN
INGMARIE HALLING
Chef at the Michelin-starred Matsalen
“I love Restaurant J (hotelj.com; kr800), in Nacka Strand, for its traditional kitchen and unique location along the harbor—it feels a bit like New Hampshire. Order the seafood platter with fresh lobster, shrimp and oysters. In the summer, Djurgården is the place to hang out on weekends; locals go horseback riding and canoeing and for leisurely strolls along the water. ABBA fans won’t want to miss Ulla Winbladh (ullawinbladh.se; kr430), an old tavern with a terrace that the group often visited during their heyday.”
Sandhamm Fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will recognize this seaside hamlet, a two-hour ferry ride from central Stockholm, as the favored retreat of protagonist Mikael Blomkvist. Summer weekenders gravitate to the islet’s gravel lanes and unspoiled beaches.
Drottningholm Sweden’s stately 17th-century royal residence, on the shore of Lake Mälaren a few kilometers west of the city, is surrounded by hectares of parks and has gilded halls and Baroque gardens inspired by Versailles.
“Because I work in fine dining, I look for something deliciously simple and quick when I eat out. At Ramen Ki-mama (kimamma.se; kr750), near my home in Birkastan, I can order a bowl of ramen noodles in broth and be out in 30 minutes. I often stop by Amida Kolgrill (amida.se; kr390), in Södermalm, for its excellent shish kebab. Not far away is the boutique Cajsa Warg (cajsawarg.se). Warg was like a mother of Swedish household cooking in the 18th century. This store sells beautiful artisanal foods and cookware.”
Uppsala An hour north of the capital, this university town charms day-trippers with its hilltop castle, soaring red-brick cathedral, riverside cafés and botanical gardens with 1,300 species cultivated by botanist Carl Linnaeus.
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Last Look
Photographed by Darren Soh
Singapore Gardens by the Bay Despite being just 710 kilometers square, Singapore has managed to carve out green spaces to give its 5.3 million residents some breathing room. One of the newest, this giant park boasts manmade, organic, night-lit Supertrees, and cooled conservatories.
Pasir Ris Park
MacRitchie Reservoir
On the city’s northeastern tip, this long, skinny park dubbed “beach bolt-rope” in Malay has pony rides and a boardwalk-lined mangrove forest. Climb the jungle gyms, camp out... Just don’t feed the monkeys!
Reservoirs serve as important freshwater supplies for the city-state—but also prime spots for fresh-air recreation and sports, such as kayaking.
Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
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Smack in the city’s beating heart, lush Bishan Park is bisected by the Kallang River, a perfect emblem of Singapore’s modern evolution: It’s a former concrete canal that’s been redeveloped into a naturalized river.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA / JUNE 2014
The Best of
SingaporE THE BEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD THE EVOLVING CITY-STATE SOUL-SEARCHING IN SINGAPORE
Digital Destination Guide
SPECIAL PROMOTION
7:42 P.M.
In Singapore In the moment with cocktail hour at the Pacific Club on level 38 at
Pan Pacific Singapore It’s cocktail hour - magic hour in Singapore when you’re ensconced in a private club on level 38 looking out at the city skyline coming to light, under the inky blue sky. An emerging moon throws a gentle glow on the resplendent harbour setting before you’re ready to gather up your gown or tails, ready for a night on the town.
Top of the World Located in the heart of Marina Bay, Pan Pacific Singapore has emerged from an $80 million dollar renovation with a brand new look and cutting edge technology to boot. Sophistication is the word that comes to mind when one steps into the John Portman-designed lobby. Architectural aficionados would recognise his world-famous trademark from the stunning atrium which soars through the 38 levels of the hotel. 790 rooms and suites have been completely transformed to contemporary accommodation which feature panoramic views of the ever-changing city skyline. In spite of the impressive changes that now greet guests, the proverbial icing on the cake, is the hotel’s signature Pacific Club which has been completely transformed. This exclusive enclave - which is only available to guests who reserve rooms with Pacific Club privileges – is now located at the pinnacle of the hotel on the 38th floor, replete with a 360-degree vantage point that provide guests with unsurpassed views of Singapore. Admire the silhouette of Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay from the impressive height, over refined culinary presentations. Whilst appreciating Champagne breakfast and classic afternoon tea, guests will enjoy the attention to detail by the Pacific Club Concierge team. Surrounded by the inviting whimsical décor, impeccable service that anticipates one’s needs and magical sunsets over cocktails and canapés, one wishes for time to stand still in an
Sip, swirl and savour at Sunday Champagne Brunch at Edge, one of Singapore’s best.
Indulge with a myriad of soothing treatments at St. Gregory.
elegant, picture-perfect moment. Says hotel General Manager Scott Swank, “The Pacific Club offers guests the versatility to book their preferred type of room or suite within the hotel and to additionally purchase Pacific Club privileges in their booking. We recognise that our guests may all have very different needs and this option allows them to enjoy a customised stay with us and to have a uniquely memorable experience that is one of the best in Asia.” And one can surmise that it was this steadfast commitment to individual guests’ experiences that resulted in Pan Pacific Singapore being recognised as one of the World’s Best Business Hotels by Travel+Leisure magazine’s World’s Best Awards 2013.
To many food-loving Singaporeans, weekends are meant for culinary appreciation. Without having to leave the hotel, savour classic Japanese kaiseki at Keyaki, exquisite Cantonese at Hai Tien Lo, delicate afternoon tea served at Pacific Marketplace, Indian fine dining at Rang Mahal and gastro-tainment at its best via seven food theatre kitchens at Edge. The recently launched Sunday Champagne Brunch at Edge has to be one of the best-kept secrets in the city – highlights include á la minute grilled omi wagyu beef, signature Pan Pacific sausages and charcuterie, crispy suckling pig, roasts, freshly-shucked Tsarskaya and Fines De Claires oysters, sushi and sashimi and dessert presentations – heaven is home-made Nutella on a beautifully fluffy waffle - as the perfect conclusion. Bask in a lovely spot of sunshine by the outdoor swimming pool or book a spa treatment at St. Gregory to scrub, massage and soothe the tension away, there’s also a well-equipped round-the-clock fitness centre for those who feel so inclined. If perfect weekends existed, a stay at Pan Pacific Singapore with Pacific Club privileges would be it. Pan Pacific Singapore 7 Raffles Boulevard Tel: +656336 8111 panpacific.com/singapore
Luxury is a well-appointed Skyline Suite with full-length windows, for stunning views to wake up to.
Editor’s Note
June 2014
WHERE TO FIND ME
chrisk@mediatransasia.com @CKucway on Twitter
T
here’s never been a better time to cast aside your preconceptions when it comes to Singapore. The always vibrant city-state is worth a look for its arts scene, its mix of cultures, its shopping, its food (of course) and, yes in today’s frantic age, its order. Everything in its place is a welcome bit of fresh air when thinking of Asia’s big cities, and Singapore can lay claim to that ideal. The key to any visit is to explore. Get beyond Orchard Road, explore the twisting streets of Chinatown come nightfall. Head out to Sentosa, still home to some quiet strips of tropical beaches. By all means go to a hawker center, but don’t be afraid to delve into a Basque menu or the latest cocktail bar either. Go local, hop on the MRT and visit Gillman Barracks, an excellent collection of art galleries on the west side of the city. Make the most of that mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures. Within this e-guide, you’ll find stories about old gems like the refurbished Ann Siang Hill; where to drink coffee or tea like a local; the lowdown on Singapore nightlife; and reasons why Changi airport is a world leader in every category imaginable. Overall, this cross section of stories is meant to help you uncover all that is hip and happening in ever-changing Singapore. If you haven’t visited lately and, even if you’ve been there often, know that this city is now a global trendsetter. Fashion and food, the arts and architecture, casinos and shopping malls, each forms of piece of the puzzle that is Singapore. Without one or the other, you might not experience all that this equatorial city has to offer. Don’t fret, another visit for a fresh set of experiences is always in the cards.—christopher kucway
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. 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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* BEST OF SINGAPORE * By Melanie Lee
Sofitel So Singapore Karl Lagerfeld designed “The Lion’s Seal” emblem that graces this historic 1927 structure. Behind its neo-classical façade are bold-colored guestrooms adorned with domed skylights, elaborate wall paneling and, in suites, elegant canopied beds. 35 Robinson Rd.; 65/6701-6800; sofitel.com; doubles from S$509.
Outside Oxwell & Co.
Shaken or stirred at The Black Swan.
SHOP Tyrwhitt General Company This artisanal boutique with retro flair sells crafted goods including tableware, cushions, watches and assorted artworks. They also hold workshops led by local craftsmen, with the idea that things should not just be bought, but also experienced. 150a Tyrwhitt Rd.; 65/8444-5589; tyrwhittgeneralcompany. com. EAT The Black Swan This new dining establishment, housed in a heritage Art Deco building, exudes 1920’s old-school swag. Its contemporary European menu has won many foodie fans here, with an oyster bar and house favorites such as the melt-in-yourmouth baked bone marrow. The Quadrant, 19 Cecil St.; 65/8181-3305; theblackswan.com.sg; dinner for two from S$160. Grub Located in one of Singapore’s prettiest suburban parks, Grub offers wholesomely delicious food that dodges downtown prices. Their beef comes
Dine in the park at Grub.
from New Zealand and their popular slow-roasted pork belly comes from pigs that are fed only barley, wheat and mountain mineral water—the result is divine. Bishan Park 1, 510 Ang Mo Kio Ave. 1; 65/6459-5743; grub.com.sg; dinner for two from S$50. Windowsill in the Woods There’s nothing quite as charming as a café with a whimsical fairytale concept and fresh, crusty pies. Their s’mores pie, which oozes with milk chocolate pudding and dark chocolate fudge, is impossible to resist. 78 Horne Rd.; 65/9004-7827; windowsillpies.sg; tea for two from S$20. DRINK Oxwell & Co With U.K. celeb chef Mark Sargeant and Aussie celeb bartender Luke Wheaty helming this shophouse gastrobar, you know the drinks here will be special. Their own beer brew, the Oxhorn Lager, has hints of nutmeg and calamansi, while their signature gin and tonic comes on tap. 5 Ann Siang Rd.; 65/64383984; oxwellandco.com; drinks for two from S$30. The Tuckshop This beer bar is the perfect place to lounge about on alfresco rattan furniture and play old board games. About 50 types of craft beer from all over the world are offered here, but if you really want to go local, request ice in your brew. 403 Guillemard Rd.; 65/85118102; thetuckshop.com.sg; drinks for two from S$26. Common Man Coffee Roasters There’s plenty of buzz about this new café, given its tie-up with Australia’s Five Senses Coffee. Besides espressobased drinks, Common Man offers coffee made by different pour-over methods such as the V60, Kalita Wave, Aeropress or the Chemex. 22 Martin Rd.; 65/6836-4695; commonmancoffeeroasters.com; coffee for two from S$12.
F R O M TO P : C O U R T ESY O F C O M M O N M A N C O F F EE R OAST ERS; C O U R T ESY O F OX W EL L & C O.; C O U R T ESY O F T H E B L AC K SWA N; C O U R T ESY O F G RU B
Common Man Coffee Roasters.
STAY Parkroyal on Pickering All 367 guestrooms of this awardwinning hotel look out to lush, fourstory sky gardens with reflecting pools, waterfalls and cascading vertical greenery. This is Singapore’s first hotel-in-a-garden, and is built by the famous WOHA Architects. 3 Upper Pickering St.; 65/6809-8888; parkroyal hotels.com; doubles from S$290.
Deals
T+L READER SPECIALS FROM SHOPAHOLICS’ STAYS ON ORCHARD ROAD TO A LIVELY BEACH VACATION IN SENTOSA.
Club Lounge at Oasia Hotel Singapore.
Great Singapore Sale from FAR EAST HOSPITALITY (stayfareast.com), the operator of eight hotels and nine serviced residences in Singapore. The Deal A stay in any one of the properties. The Highlight A five percent discount off rates, free
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WiFi access, a complimentary city tour and a chance to win 100 percent cashback on your next stay. Cost From S$148, double, through July 31. Savings Up to 25 percent. Discover Singapore from SINGAPORE MARRIOTT HOTEL (marriott.com), an iconic, refurbished five-star hotel on Orchard Road. The Deal Two nights in a Deluxe room. The Highlight One-day DUCK & HIPPO city sightseeing tickets for two and breakfast buffet for two at Marriot Cafe. Cost From S$820 (S$410 per night), double, through December 31. Savings 15 percent. Best Room Rate from CONCORDE HOTEL SINGAPORE (singapore. concordehotelsresorts.com), a
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business hotel on Orchard Road. The Deal A stay in a Premier room. The Highlight Complimentary evening cocktails; two pieces of laundry or pressing per day; breakfast at Premier Lounge, at Spices Cafe or through room service; and complimentary wireless Internet access. Cost From S$188, double, through December 31. Savings 25 percent. Summer Sizzle from W SINGAPORE, SENTOSA COVE (wsingaporesentosascove. com), a lively coastal hotel on Singapore’s favorite resort island. The Deal A stay in a Wonderful room. The Highlight Daily breakfast for two people at the kitchen table and signature cocktails for two people at WOOBAR. Cost From S$408, double, through December 31.
Savings 23 percent. Introductory Offer from FAIRMONT SINGAPORE (fairmont.com), a 769-room hotel at the heart of Singapore with 15 restaurant and bar choices. The Deal A stay in a Fairmont Premier room. The Highlight Breakfast for two and complimentary Internet access. Cost From S$318, double, through December 30. Savings 64 percent. Stay Another Night from RAFFLES SINGAPORE (raffles.com), a 127-year-old, colonial-style hotel. The Deal Three nights in a Courtyard suite. The Highlight Third night with compliments. Cost From S$1,380 (S$690 per night), double, through June 30. Savings 30 percent.
COURTESY OF OASIA HOTEL SINGAPORE
Great Singapore Sale 2014 Getaway from GRAND HYATT SINGAPORE (singapore. grandhyatt.com), a luxury hotel at the heart of the Orchard Road shopping belt. The Deal Two nights in a Standard room. The Highlight Ten percent off the Hyatt Daily Rate, a S$50 shopping voucher per room towards purchases at T Galleria by DFS and complimentary wireless Internet. Cost From S$860 (S$430 per night), double, through July 31. Savings Up to 23 percent.
on the map
ALL ABOUT ANN SIANG
This hilly row of charming shop houses on the edge of Singapore’s Chinatown oozes class with a side of swagger. Melanie Lee ambles its sweet streets in search of the coolest places to eat sea urchin pudding, drink Asian-inpired cocktails and indulge in the ultimate spa experiences.
Clockwise from left: Ann Siang comes alive at night; Ding Dong’s Vietnamese Scotch eggs; shave and a haircut at Truefitt & Hill; snazzy interior at The Club Hotel.
AN N SI AN G
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Photographed by Darren Soh
5 A sea urchin pudding? Not just a quirk of the menu at tapas bar Lolla (22 Ann
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(8 Ann Siang Hill; 65/6423-9562; 3 Zui Hong Lou
4 The Club Hotel (28 Ann Siang Rd.; 65/6808-2188; theclub.com.sg; from S$210 double per night) is a 22-room boutique heritage hotel in an elegant building from 1900. Don’t be fooled by its pristine white façade, for there are plenty of fun, artistic touches such as stenciled tree branches adorning the walls and i need tranquility do not disturb signs. Its rooftop bar, Ying Yang, offers stunning views of the city.
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2 The world’s oldest barbershop, Truefitt & Hill (9 Ann Siang Rd., 65/62235263; truefittandhill.com.sg; S$60 for a shave and S$75 for a haircut) opened its first branch in Singapore last year and has become popular with businessmen bromancing their gentlemanly associates in a manly black-and-white grooming establishment that also serves (masculine, we promise) cocktails.
zuihonglouxinjiapopteltd. com.sg; drinks and dim sum for two around S$60) is a concept dim sum bar that exudes a nostalgic vibe with old-school backlit posters hung on its ceilings—a fitting tribute to an area that was once a gathering spot for Chinese coolies. Try the Flower Song, a vodka-based cocktail with chrysanthemum and lychee, served in a Chinese teapot.
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1 The brainchild of Chef Ryan Clift (of the muchlauded Tippling Club) and the Spa Esprit Group, Ding Dong (23 Ann Siang Rd.; 65/6557-0189; dingdong.com. sg; dinner for two from S$100) pioneers Southeast Asian small plates dining concept and fuses creative cuisine with a distinct chill-out vibe. Don’t miss the scallop ceviche with fresh coconut or the cross-cultural Vietnamese Scotch eggs.
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Siang Rd.; 65/6423-1228; lolla.com.sg; dinner for two from S$160), but considered legendary by foodies in this town, and far beyond. Lolla made waves when it opened in 2012 with its Mediterranean-influenced bites, and was named to Zagat’s 2013 list of “The 10 Hottest Restaurants in the World.” So book early. Note: On Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., the Ann Siang area is closed to traffic and becomes pedestrian-only. ✚ 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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JULIAN TAN, CO-OWNER OF THE TANJONG BEACH CLUB, GIVES T+L THE DETAILS ONWHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO WEAR IN THE INCREASINGLY STYLISH ISLAND STATE. BY MARK LEAN
With the influx of celebrity chef-headlined restaurants, highrolling casinos and super clubs, Singapore has shed the final traces of its fusty reputation. “There is a new exuberance here,” says Julian Tan, a former investment banker who moved to Singapore in 2003 where he chanced upon a quiet stretch of beach on the then-tranquil island of Sentosa. Inspired by the Perth coastlines where he grew up and taken by “the sprawling white beachfront and stunning sunsets,” the MalaysianAustralian, together with his brother Christian, set up a pop-up bar on Sentosa called The Shack. It was constructed using a recycled six-meter–wide shipping container, oil drums as high tables and shipping pallets for day beds. The Shack’s immediate success soon called for more concrete expansion plans. This led, in 2010, to the S$3.8-million Tanjong Beach Club (120 Tanjong Beach Walk, Sentosa; 65/6270-1355; tanjongbeachclub. com), or TBC for short—a 9,144 square-meter area featuring a
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Julian Tan by the waterfront,
restaurant with above. Top: The infinity pool at the Tanjong Beach Club. decorative timber paneling and 2.7-meter glass doors and bars fronting both the sun-kissed beach and the infinity pool. “It’s a multi-dimensional space,” says Tan. “With sea breezes blowing, one can take a dip in the pool, or hit the sand for a game of volleyball or lie in the sun with a mojito in hand.” On weekends, the TBC attracts a stylish crowd made up of locals, expatriates and off-duty models, thronging to enjoy tropical cocktails like the Tanjong Sling (vodka, elderflower cordial, apple juice, lychee, kaffir lime leaf and fresh ginger), and listen to house tracks that the DJ spins late into the night. And massive parties like the thrice-yearly Full Steam Ahead full moon celebration give patrons the chance to let loose. “It’s a great spot for people to escape their busy lives,” adds Tan. ➔
C L O C K W I S E F R O M TO P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F TA N J O N G B E A C H C L U B ; © C H R I S T I A N TA N
SINGAPORE SUMMER STYLE
JULIAN TAN’S SINGAPORE ADDRESS BOOK LOOF “This is, by far, my favorite bar in Singapore, with cocktails like the Ho Chi Mint, made from vodka, apple and lemon juice, pear nectar and mint.” 03-07 Odeon Towers, 331 North Bridge Rd.; 65/9773-9304; drinks for two S$51; loof.com.sg.
TAN’S TIPS Clockwise from left: Outside the Loof bar; scallop ceviche and radish salsa at Esquina; inside the Michelin-star restaurant.
STYLE PICKS AQUABUMPS “Some of the coolest beach photography around that looks great on any wall.” aquabumps.com.
PERSOL SUNGLASSES “I am partial to the retro shapes and the classic design made popular by Steve McQueen.” persol.com.
INHABIT “It’s best place for jeans and other casualwear brands not easily found elsewhere in Singapore.” 390 Orchard Rd., B1-03, Palais Renaissance; 65/6235-6995; inhabit.com.sg. DEUS EX MACHINA “I love these motorbikes and there are some pretty amazing accessories, too.” deuscustoms.com.
BASSIKE “It’s an Australian casual wear brand that makes fashion forward T-shirts and sweats all from 100 percent organic cotton.” bassike.com.
SUPERGA SNEAKERS “They are simple and casual. I wear mine everywhere.” superga.co.uk.
FUJIFILM X100 “A retro-style camera with all the options of a digital SLR.” fujifilm.com.
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28 HONG KONG STREET “This underground New Yorkstyle speakeasy has some of the best cocktails in town, like the Literate Lass.” 28 Hong Kong St.; 65/6533-2001; drinks for two S$51. STRANGERS’ REUNION “This is where I get my daily coffee fix, prepared by passionate baristas.” 33/35/37 Kampong Bahru Rd.; 65/62224869; drinks for two S$19. PANGAEA “The party at Singapore’s ultimate lounge club doesn’t start till late.” Marina Bay Sands; 65/8611-7013; pangaea.sg. RESTAURANT ANDRÉ “For fine dining, I’d recommend the restaurant’s eight-course degustation menu, OctaPhilosophy.” 41 Bukit Pasoh Rd.; 65/6534-8880; dinner for two S$1,022; restaurantandre.com.
F R O M TO P : C O U R T E S Y O F L O O F ; C O U R T E S Y O F E S Q U I N A ( 2 ) ; © E U G E N E TA N ; C O U R T E S Y O F P E R S O L ; C O U R T E S Y O F S U P E R G A
ESQUINA “Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton’s new Singapore bolt hole puts a creative spin on traditional dishes. Try the Iberico pork and foie gras burger, as well as the scallop ceviche and radish salsa.” 16 Jiak Chuan Rd.; 65/6222-1616; dinner for two S$128; esquina.com.sg.
WHAT’S BREWING.
From top: The light-filled interior of JewelCoffee; named after a 19th-century Frenchman, Loysel’s Toy serves up craft brews; baristas toiling away at Maison Ikkoku.
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ORIOLE COFFEE ROASTERS Thanks to owner Keith Loh, one of the city’s most respected baristas, this outpost has quickly become a favorite among the coffee-drinking set. The three-story shop house café offers a great merchandise lineup (siphon coffee makers, steam thermometers), in addition to an onsite roasting room and a “lab” facility for experimenting with different blends. While the focus is on craft drinks like piccolo latte and flat white, the café also pays homage to Singapore’s traditional kopitiam (coffee shop) culture with nostalgic bric-a-brac—1970’s Guinness glasses, tungsten light bulbs and porcelain tableware—and a snacks menu featuring local classics such as tau sar piah (mung bean pastry) and kaya (pandanus jam) toast. Not only does Oriole supply its locally roasted beans to other cafés, it also conducts training classes for baristas-to-be, so this is definitely the place for coffee enthusiasts to pick up tools of the trade—check out its Facebook page for the latest updates. 10/10A Jiak Chuan Rd.; 65/6224-8131; oriolecoffee.com; coffee and snacks for two S$18. JEWEL COFFEE Occupying a brightly lit storefront in the Raffles Place CBD, Jewel Coffee has become a daily go-to for the area’s executives since it arrived on the scene in 2011. Former corporate banker turned café founder Adrian Khong decorated the 84-square-meter space with blackboards bearing explanatory sketches and a blonde-wood counter crowned with a cherryred COFFEE sign. Barista Shin Hao operates the small arsenal of high-end gadgetry—the manual La Marzocco Strada espresso machine and the precision-brewing Marco Über Boiler—to deliver exquisite cups of joe like the Chemex (a light, filtered brew) and Gibraltar (a double-shot espresso with just a touch of milk). On offer are single-origin beans from locations as diverse as Brazil’s Fazenda Samambaia, Lintong in Sumatra and Colombia’s
F R O M TO P : CO U R T E SY O F J E W E L CO F F E E ; CO U R T E SY O F LOYS E L ' S TOY; CO U R T E SY O F M A I S O N I K KO K U
AN ARTISANAL COFFEE WAVE IS UNDERWAY IN SINGAPORE, SPEARHEADED BY A CROP OF HOMEGROWN SPECIALTY SHOPS AND A FEW PASSIONATE CAFFEINE ADDICTS. HERE’S WHERE TO DROP IN TO GET YOUR OWN CRAFT CUPPAS. BY LIANG XINYI
F R O M TO P : CO U R T E SY O F O R I O L E CO F F E E R OA ST E R S ; CO U R T E SY O F LOYS E L ' S TOY; CO U R T E SY O F O P E N D O O R P O L I C Y
Huila. One Shenton Way, #01-07; 65/6636-9452; coffee and lunch for two S$30. LOYSEL’S TOY Younger sister to cult roaster Papa Palheta, Loysel’s Toy—named after a 19th century Frenchman who invented the commercial espresso machine—is quirky but serious about its beans. Its obscure location in a renovated warehouse, a 10-minute walk from the nearest MRT station, hasn’t deterred a loyal following—ranging from iPhone-toting hipsters to moms with strollers—from arriving in droves for their caffeine fix. The high-ceilinged interior is outfitted with a gleaming Synesso Cyncra espresso machine, an elegant gold-and-black roaster and paper bags stuffed with house-roasted beans for sale. Besides espresso drinks made from its signature Terra Firma blend, this store also offers filtered sets like Brewed Otherwise, a singleorigin coffee of the day brewed using a siphon and French press, for the purists. To best enjoy the laidback charm, sit in the leafy courtyard and order the tasty scrambled eggs and toast to accompany your coffee. 66 Kampong Bugis, Ture, #01-01; 65/6292-2306; loyselstoy.com; coffee and brunch for two S$30. OPEN DOOR POLICY A trio of Singapore’s food and wine stalwarts—Spa Esprit Group founder Cynthia Chua, Tippling Club’s chef Ryan Clift and 40 Hands’ owner Harry Grover—front this new addition to the increasingly hip quarter of Tiong Bahru. In the rustic-chic space, with exposed brick walls, mismatched steel chairs, teakwood-planked floors and a glassed-in show kitchen, the Asian-European fare shines (mushroom risotto with truffle crumbs; pork belly with braised quinoa). But what makes this buzzing bistro a cut above the rest is its specialty coffee bar— run by Grover and the skilled baristas at 40 Hands, just across the street, doing fresh brews from singleorigin beans sourced mainly from a selected group of Australian roasters. Perch at the coffee bar and watch the barista work his magic to conjure up a Cold Drip—coffee brewed and chilled drop-by-drop over a 12-hour cycle—served in a Pyrex flask. 19 Yong Siak St.; 65/6221-9307; odpsingapore.com; dinner and coffee for two S$70. MAISON IKKOKU Inspired by Tokyo’s hybrid spaces, two style-savvy couples—Janice Ong and Thomas Song; Shanie Teoh and Franz Chua—set up this café cum fashion
boutique last September, naming it after the Japanese manga Maison Ikkoku. The charming trilevel shop house packs a lot of style within its 370 square meters, ranging from whitewashed brick walls festooned with polished copper pipes and preloved wooden dressers to the collection of Japanese menswear labels. Head barista Muhammad Rizuan is often behind the Nuova Simonelli machine on the ground-floor café, crafting coffee embellished with intricate latte art. After 6 p.m., saunter up to the rooftop bar for another round of drinks—this time alcoholic—and soak in the views of the gold-domed Sultan Mosque next door. 20 Kandahar St.; 65/62940078; maison-ikkoku.net; coffee and snacks for two S$26. ✚
From top: Outside Oriole Coffee Roasters in Chinatown; outdoor seats at Loysel’s Toy are surrounded by lush greenery; the coffee bar at Open Door Policy.
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hotel
Natural Touches
The 86-room Hotel Fort Canning provides an unexpected sanctuary in the middle of Singapore’s bustling downtown. Formerly an administration building for British colonial troops, this classily restored 1926 building is nestled amid the rich foliage of Fort Canning Hill, Singapore’s first botanical garden and former residence of ancient Malay kings. 11 Canning Walk; 65/6559-6770; hfcsingapore.com; doubles from S$380.—melanie lee
To preserve the hotel’s historical legacy and charm, the building retains its original colonial façade with antique French doors.
In the Deluxe Garden room, guests can enjoy their own private outdoor patio. The Andalay daybed is the perfect spot to lounge and admire the surrounding greenery.
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Earth-toned silk linens from Jim Thompson, inspired by the bucolic environs of this boutique hotel, drape each of the beds.
COURTESY OF HOTEL FORT CANNING
A stand-alone bathtub greets guests at the room’s entrance. This feature is a tribute to Majapahit royalty who used to have hot baths at Fort Canning’s natural spring.
A flight of three wines, at a price to love ENJOY 25% OFF ON A FLIGHT OF 3 WINES Order a Flight of any 3 wines from our exclusive Wines of the World menu and get 25% off* at participating venues across Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Asia Pacific.
Valid from 15 May to 15 July 2014. Visit spg.com/flightofthree for more information and start enjoying the offer responsibly.
*Terms & Conditions apply.
SINGAPORE’S MAGIC GARDEN. TOWERING MAN-MADE TREES LIGHT UP MARINA BAY. BY JENNIFER CHEN
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o, this isn’t a backdrop from Avatar.
These so-called Supertrees are the centerpieces of the first phase of Gardens by the Bay (gardensbythebay.org.sg), the city’s S$1 billion, 102-hectare waterfront park. The “trunks” of the 18 soaring trellises (which reach up to 50 meters) are dripping with Brazilian bromeliads, orchids from Ecuador and other exotic flora. More highlights: 10 themed gardens, two glass-enclosed biomes and an aerial walkway from which to take it all in. ✚
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Photographed by Morgan & Owens
BACK TO BASICS.
Clockwise from top: Steak-frites at L'entrecote; toiling in the kitchen at La Maison Fatien; a nostalgic vibe at Brasserie Gavroche.
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BRASSERIE GAVROCHE Walk through Brasserie Gavroche’s antique swinging doors, past the hall, into a high-ceilinged space framed by gilt wall-hung mirrors, leather banquette seats and antique furniture. Here, Paris-born chef Frédéric Colin, former executive chef of the St. Regis Singapore, has created an enormous menu teeming with brasserie classics such as tartine d’os a moelle; garlic confit and bone marrow sitting atop toasted bread with a generous spread of parsley puree; and tartare de bœuf Angus, handcut Angus beef with French fries. T+L TIP Ask for grand père Henri’s signature dishes. The chef’s early years were influenced by his grandfather’s Parisian restaurant and, naturally, the latter’s shadow is prominently felt in dishes, including the rarely seen fish quenelle, grated pike fish baked in dough and served in a crayfish bisque. 66 Tras St.; 65/6225-8266; brasseriegavroche.com; dinner for two S$150.
C LO C KW I S E F R O M TO P L E F T: L AU RY N I S H A K ( 2 ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F B R A S S E R I E G AV R O C H E
AFTER OPENINGS BY WOLFGANG PUCK AND JOEL ROBUCHON, SINGAPORE’S TASTE FOR FINE DINING MAKES WAY FOR A HANDFUL OF CASUAL FRENCH BISTROS. BY EVELYN CHEN
F R O M T O P : L A U R Y N I S H A K ; C O U R T E S Y O F B R A S S E R I E G AV R O C H E ; L A U R Y N I S H A K
From top: The casual dining room at L'entrecote; fish quenelle at Brasserie Gavroche; wines by Maison Fatien Père & Fils at La Maison Fatien.
L’ENTRECOTE Located on the cobblestone-paved Duxton Hill, this Parisian-inspired steak-frites joint, by millionaire-turnedrestaurateur Oliver Bendel, is as close as you can get to the Parisian Relais de Venise experience in Singapore. Like the Paris institution, L’entrecote is heaving with hungry diners and tables at this unembellished restaurant are cramped so tightly together that it’s impossible not to tune-in to your neighbors’ conversations. Nor are you afforded a choice of main course—in this case, two slices of entrecote with salad and vinaigrette and free flow of fries, though of course you can pick how you like your steak done. On the other hand, there are plenty of choices among the classic bistro starters and desserts. Don’t miss the dish of escargots de Bourgogne in an addictive parsley accented garlic butter sauce and the hearty serving of tarte Tatin. T+L TIP Given the no reservations policy at
L’entrecote, come early. 36 Duxton Hill.; 65/6690-7561; lentrecote.sg; dinner for two S$130. LA MAISON FATIEN Nestled in a four-story pre-war shop house along Duxton Road, La Maison Fatien has its roots in Beaune, Burgundy, where the Fatien family runs a bed-andbreakfast called Chez les Fatien, and a wine-merchandising business under Maison Fatien Père & Fils. Fittingly, the Singapore outpost also plays the part with rough-cut brick walls adorned with French-inspired posters. The Fatiens have crafted a tight yet perfectly executed menu of all-time French bistro standards: think pan-seared duck liver with caramelized apple, confit de canard and a daily cocotte special that, during our visit, featured a braised lamb shank with French beans and roasted new potatoes on the side. With starters priced below S$18 and mains capped
at S$28, this is Singapore’s value-formoney bistro. T+L TIP Maison Fatien Père & Fils produces only 15,000 bottles of wines annually, a small fraction of which are exported to Singapore. Don’t miss their house Bourgogne pinot noir, a favorite among local diners. 76 Duxton Rd.; 65/6220-3822; lamaisonfatien.com; dinner for two S$115. ✚ 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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Revelers at Zouk. Opposite: A B28 bartender at work.
SHAKE MONEY
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Singapore’s nocturnal fare has never been more diverse, whether you’re into discerning settings, a bit of debauchery or simply a fine craft beer. By Zul Andra. Photographed by Lauryn Ishak
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Maybe it’s indicative of how far Singapore’s after-hours scene has come, but I wasn’t surprised to find myself interviewing “The International King of Clubs” in the opulent, yet somewhat staid surroundings of the Post Bar at the Fullerton Hotel. Surrounded by artichoke lamps and original wall motifs from its century-old architecture, serenaded by a laidback jazz soundtrack, American nightclub entrepreneur Michael Ault and I chatted about his latest ultra-luxe lounge. We sat in what once was a post office talking about his latest venture, a bottle-service hangout for the wealthy and really a new era for Singapore. “Everything you can find at a house party for the rich and famous,” he told me. When I visited in 2011, Pangaea was still a few months away from opening so Ault, who owns and operates more than 25 clubs in 10 cities, tried to create the scene for me. Enter to a colorful array of 20,000 glass bulbs in the ceiling and cozy up to the ostrich- and crocodile-skin sofas, while a personal concierge makes sure your drinks resting on the 1,000-year-old Saur treetop are always filled (Urban legend has it that Ault described this turn-around time as “three minutes tops or we’ll fire the server”). He’s not new to the ultra-lounge business. As far back as mid-90’s New York, his SpyBar lounge attracted everyone from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to Kate Moss to Madonna—does Hugh Hefner still count?—with dedicated service staff almost the same size as their entourages. He made sure these name guests partied their hearts out at private tables, or at least tables where everyone could see them. On to a good thing, Ault then introduced the concept to Miami, London, Aspen, São Paolo, Marbella and, late last year, to Singapore. With a capacity of 450 people, Pangaea exists to pamper Asia’s wealthy and famous. In a city where numbers count, the tourism board reports that Singapore took in S$23 billion
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Clockwise from top: Dinner and drinks with a view at Level 33; Gardens by the Bay as seen from the SkyPark at Marina Bay Sands; on the dance floor; Mat Zo spins at Zouk.
in 2011, up 18 percent from the previous year, with a third of that drawn from both the food-and-beverage, and entertainment sectors. Singapore nightlife is big business. Architect Moshe Safdie’s glass pyramid-shaped Crystal Pavilion is home to two mega-clubs, drawing different crowds through separate entrances—Avalon from the ground floor and Pangaea through an underwater tunnel—which helps keep the Jimmy Choos and Nikes in their rightful places. “Every aspect of the lounge, from the door host to the bartender and even the music in the air, acts in concert to give our clients a personalized and rewarding experience,” he said with a smile that never seems to rest. The S$2,000 minimum price tag for a table (don’t bat an eye since the most expensive is the S$15,000 Dragon Den table which is covered in golden python skin and slightly elevated to discern between the other mere big spenders) has never been a deterrent for the wealthy. As a matter a fact, the high price has been a huge draw since the rich get to rub shoulders with the filthy rich. As reported by New York Post, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin notched a S$62,000 bar tab on his birthday while a local businessman reportedly spent a whopping S$80,000 in one sitting. Is it any surprise then that the crowd consists of bankers, socialites and celebrities?
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ust 10 years ago, the best bars in Singapore were the ones that didn’t forget your orders and hotel bars (think along the lines of Raffles Hotel’s Long Bar or the Highland Bar at Goodwood Park) were the only few that kept the standards high. Now a venue like Ku Dé Ta, perched 57 stories high with a commanding view of the city, lures a wealthy breed that includes everyone from Johor royalty to Singapore’s top five percent. Newer establishments like The Vault—a minimalist bar housed in a 80-year-old former bank—delve into exclusivity. Opened in July, the bar is a modern enclave where creativity meets champagne. Set up by Godwin Pereira, who had been the music director at the now-defunct Ministry of Sound Singapore and at Ku Dé Ta, who labels the venue as an “inclusively exclusive joint” where the artistically rich mingle with the financially wealthy. Exclusivity is the current hot venture, a game-changer when it comes to nightlife in Singapore. Although the throne for the king of the country’s lounge scene is up for grabs, there is reigning royalty in the country’s clubbing circuit, and he is none other than Zouk’s founder, Lincoln Cheng. Since Zouk opened 23 years ago, its success has been credited to how it
A venue like Ku Dé Ta, PERCHED 57 STORIES HIGH WITH A COMMANDING VIEW, lures a wealthy breed that includes royalty and Singapore’s top five percent
continuously reinvents itself. Being named one of the top five clubs in the world, and the only one in Asia, by none other than nightlife bible DJ Mag is not something to simply brush off. The bottle-service culture came to prominence about two years ago when members-only club Filter opened— Pangaea simply added more glitz to the game. Cheng wasted no time converting Velvet Underground (one of Zouk’s four complexes that includes a 1,500-capacity main room, and the smaller sized Phuture and Wine Bar) under the drill. He spent S$3 million to inject Velvet with a bold new look, including two distinctive areas: Velvet Lounge and Dance. While the latter is where the hip and trendy converge under a sprawling interactive LED ceiling while dancing to emerging acts and cutting-edge music (Maya Jane Coles, Mount Kimbie and Aeroplane were the first few guests), Velvet Lounge caters to a more VIP-esque temperament. Artwork by Warhol, Stella, Haring and Romero Britto adorns the walls in this intimate 12-table (each for S$1,500 a pop if you really must ask) lounge complete with a dedicated server for each table. The club’s dominance in the Asian clubbing circuit has also produced Singapore’s most successful DJ, Aldrin. Though he has since left Zouk, the former resident DJ and artist booker left an indelible mark on the place. He was instrumental in shaping the musically progressive attitude the club has held on to till today. Currently an independent DJ and label owner of Onewithmusic, his curriculum vitae matches that of the world’s finest. Having taken the spotlight at Renaissance in London and Ibiza’s Pacha, Space and DC10, he was the first Southeast Asian to headline a two-hour guest mix on Pete Tong’s world-renowned BBC Radio 1 show, Essential Mix. Even now, Aldrin continues to be a figure of inspiration for upcoming DJs in Singapore. Zouk also keeps up to date with its events. Mambo Jambo, a popular retro night held every Wednesday for the last two decades, has now moved its quirky mass-synchronized dancing from the main room to the 200-person-capacity Phuture. A new night called TGIW—Thank God It’s Wednesday—features
Although clubs like Avalon and Zouk are THE BIGGEST SPENDERS ON DJ BOOKINGS, smaller clubs are garnering a fair attendance for their parties
current dance hits that are all the rage. While Zouk is still considered a rite of passage for local revelers, gone are the days when it was the perennial go-to club in Singapore. On average, a handful of international and more than 20 homegrown acts perform during any given week. Although clubs like Avalon and Zouk are the biggest spenders on DJ bookings, smaller clubs are garnering a fair share of attendance for their parties. From testosterone-driven college kids hell-bent on getting completely inebriated at The Butter Factory to the youthful artsy crowd at the bygone Home Club in tune to more alternative music styles such as dubstep, drum and bass, and indie, there really is something for everyone.
Clockwise from left: Ku Dé Ta at dusk; beer on tap at Level 33; Syaheed manages many of Singapore’s indie music talents; fans gather at Timbre@Substation for local band 53A.
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side from venues promoting the best that electronic dance music has to offer, live music is also a mainstay in Singapore’s nightlife circuit. With three outlets across the island—The Arts House, The Substation and Old School— Timbre not only serves the most tantalizing pizzas around but has also turned artists into household names. Pop-rock outfit 53A and jazz-singing sensation Michaela Therese have been lauded for their musicality and powerful performances—something they might not have been known for without Timbre’s platform. Bands like the nine-piece rock and hip-hop group SIXX, and the country’s best indie export, Inch Chua, have all played through Timbre and went on to feature at Midem, a music trade show in France, and South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival at Austin, Texas respectively this year. However, music is not the quintessential element for a good night out. For some, it’s not even important. As more nocturnal consumers develop an affluent palate from their travels and a surging trend to be aware of what goes into their mouths, more specialty bars are sprouting up to serve these specific needs. I met up with Indra Kantono, one of the founders of Jigger & Pony, at his studiously chic, 65-seat bar that has been making waves for its classic cocktails . “Just look at this punch,” he pointed to a glass bowl that could serve more than 15 people. “It’s a communal cocktail paying homage to the past, and the flavors are consistent; not like bottle services where the potency, flavors and quality of the drinks can vary into the night,” Kantono insists while we sip the citrusy classic rum punch—ingredients which originated from traders working along the Dutch East Indies spice routes in the 17th century. Raveen Misra on the other hand, believes that the last say will inevitably go to the drinker. The bar chef from Nektar—a cozy and intimate venue with an L-shaped wooden top bar as its centerpiece—speculates that the next trend will be cocktail master-classes. “Customers are getting more knowledgeable and will soon want to create their own cocktails exactly to their liking,” he figures. Mixologists and founders of now defunct BarKode, Karen Heng and Caryn Cheah noticed the same trend at their minimalist watering hole located in the heart of Little India. “These days, drinkers come in with a specific liquor base, a particular fruity flavor and even their own concoctions in T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M
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mind,” Heng says. Classic and tailor-made cocktails aside, experimental concoctions (or “molecular cocktails”) are piquing the interest of cocktail aficionados. Places like the greenhouse-looking Tippling Club offer 10- to 15-course degustation menus that pair progressive dining with molecular cocktails. It’s a pilgrimage worth experiencing if you’re into flavorful theatrics—think cocktails in a setting full of dry ice. Not to be outdone are the good old suds. The sprawling Level 33 has a selection of craft beers made in five-meter high cauldrons. Smaller bars catering to Singapore’s growing thirst for international craft beers have also cropped up. Located behind a shopping mall, the timid frame of JiBiru, founded by Charlie Guerrier, who is also the director of the Japanese Craft Beers Association, is a treasure trove of rare Japanese brews counting the range of Shiga Kogen and Hitachino as must-tries. From cocktails to beers, what’s a drinking culture without whiskey? B28, located along the lively Ann Siang Road, is the definitive haven for whiskey lovers. Set in an intimate and opulently decorated bar, pick from 100 premium Scottish, Irish, American and Canadian single malts. With jazz music and videos from the 50’s and 60’s acting as a soundtrack through your whiskey journey, the 35-seater room rubs off as a club from another era. ✚
Singapore Nights Avalon 2 Bayfront Ave., Crystal Pavilion South, Marina Bay Sands; 65/6688-7448; avalon.sg; cover charge from S$30, including one drink. B28 28 Ann Siang Rd., basement The Club Hotel; 65/9026-3466; btwentyeight.com; drinks for two S$30. The Butter Factory 1 Fullerton Rd., #02-02/03/04 One Fullerton; 65/6333-8243; thebutterfactory. com; cover charge from S$23 inclusive of two drinks. The Foundry 18 Mohamed Sultan Rd.; 65/6235-4624; drinks for two S$20. JiBiru 313 Orchard Rd., #01-26 313@Somerset; 65/6732-6884; jibiru.com; drinks for two S$20. Jigger & Pony 101 Amoy St.; 65/6223-9101; jiggerandpony. com; drinks for two S$40. Ku Dé Ta 1 Bayfront Ave., Marina Bay Sands SkyPark, North Tower; 65/6688-7688; kudeta.com.sg; cover charge S$38, including one drink. From top: Aldrin Quek started as a DJ at Zouk, but now spins around the world; 53A on stage at Timbre@Substation.
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Level 33 8 Marina Blvd., #33-01 Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1; 65/6834-3133; level33.com.sg; drinks for two S$36.
Nektar 31 Scotts Rd.; 65/68369185; nektar.com.sg; drinks for two S$40. Pangaea 2 Bayfront Ave., #B2-05, Marina Bay Sands; 65/8611-7013; pangaea.sg; cover charge S$40. Post Bar 1 Fullerton Sq., G/F Fullerton Hotel; 65/6877-8135; fullertonhotel.com; drinks for two S$32. Timbre timbre.com.sg. Tippling Club 38 Tanjong Pagar Rd.; 65/6475-2217; tipplingclub. com; degustation menus from S$145 per person. The Vault 23 Circular Rd.; 65/6223-9695; facebook.com/ TheVAULTsg; drinks for two S$32. Zouk 17 Jiak Kim St.; 65/67382988; zoukclub.com; cover charge from S$15, including two drinks.
A night out above Singapore at Ku DĂŠ Ta.
Soul-Searching in Singapore
It’s a common refrain: this modern island’s shine outweighs its substance. But Singaporeans are increasingly strolling down memory lane, looking for their cultural roots. m elan ie lee follows the trail. Photographed by da r r e n s o h
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: SULTAN MOSQUE IN KAMPONG GLAM; THE CENTURY-OLD PERANAKAN MUSEUM FAÇADE; CRAVEABLE KEONG SAIK SNACKS— NOW REBRANDED AS THE STUDY; THE WANDERLUST HOTEL IN LITTLE INDIA.
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am on a “Sultans of Spice” tour—a three-hour exploration of Kampong Glam, a historical Malaysian precinct in Singapore. “To know Kampong Glam is to know Singapore,” the guide, Geraldine Koh, declares as our group of 10 meanders through the neighborhood, checking in at Sultan Mosque, a former royal palace and collection of sweetsmelling shops selling hajj pilgrimage supplies and tombstones of old Malay kings. In the past, Malay aristocracy resided here, along with Malay and Arab merchant communities who came to this thriving port town to seek their fortunes. Today, colorful rows of restored shophouses are bars, restaurants, shisha joints and indie fashion shops. “By being conscious of some of the things that have taken place here,” YuMei Balasingamchow, co-author of Singapore: A Biography tells me, “you deepen your appreciation of what is there today. This is especially so for Singapore because so much of its past is seemingly invisible and overlooked. Yes, this is a terrific, glitzy, hypermodern city—but that is only one layer of meaning to this place.” It’s this juxtaposition that I’m in Kampong Glam to explore, the layers of the old and new that give this youthful city-state its context. Beneath Singapore’s dazzling cosmopolitan status is a darker, grittier past—150 years when its power as a port wasn’t enough to fend off social problems and racial riots in this ethnic hodgepodge. It’s been 48 years since Singapore parted ways with Malaysia, and in that time the historic has held little hip cachet. Perhaps that’s because the city’s visionaries have been veering on the side of pragmatism, generally valuing
economic development over cultural preservation. Perhaps it has to do with a socially entrenched stoicism: the American pollster Gallup recently ranked Singapore as the least emotional country in the world. But lately Singapore is getting nostalgic. The city-state has realized that clean streets and administrative efficiency do not a complete culture make. Little by little, Singaporeans are clinging to the existing remnants of our past with an attitude akin to reverence. There’s a move to tell old stories and repurpose old structures, as this dynamic city attempts to redefine itself. The most accessible windows to the past nestle a far bit below this skyline of glass towers and Marina Bay Sands. Historic hotels now dot the low-rise landscape, offering interested visitors a place to immerse themselves in the past. The boutique offerings of the Unlisted Collection—Hotel 1929, New Majestic and Wanderlust—are found in restored shophouses and school buildings around Chinatown and Little India. “To me, these ethnic enclaves are unmistakably Southeast Asian and they feel original,” says Unlisted’s managing director, Loh Lik Peng. His approach in restoring old buildings is to “always show some scars of wear and tear to make things interesting”—such as the stripped and exposed lobby ceiling at the New Majestic that reveals previous generations of paintwork. “I lived abroad for a long time so I can’t help but get nostalgic about my childhood here,” Loh says. “While the past can never be brought back in totality, I go for a pastiche of old and new with the idea that the spirit of these buildings is retained.” At The Fullerton Hotel, the building’s spirit is revived three times a week, on hour-long, heritage tours of this grand 1928 Palladian monument that once housed a general post office, government offices, a lighthouse and a country club. “This is really the heart of where
FROM TOP: HOTELIER LOH LIK PENG; THE COFFEE CROWD AT CHYE SENG HUAT HARDWARE; A MOUTHFUL AT OLD KEONG SAIK SNACKS. OPPOSITE: WANDERLUST WAS A 1920’S SCHOOL.
FROM LEFT: A CUP OF PAPA PALHETA COFFEE AT CHYE SENG HUAT HARDWARE; TRIGGER HAPPY’S WINSTON CHAI AND JOHN CHAN PERUSE THEIR SINGLISH DICTIONARIES; THE NEW MAJESTIC HOTEL. OPPOSITE: HAJI LANE IN KAMPONG GLAM.
So much of the past is invisible and overlooked. Yes, this is a terrific, glitzy, hypermodern city—but that is only one layer of meaning to Singapore
Singapore blossomed into a bustling port town,” says Florence Minjoot, the effervescent Fullerton guide who takes me through the hotel’s iconic spots such as the Post Bar (the old Post Office hall) with its polished brass rails, and the elegant Straits Room (the old billiard room of the Singapore Club) with its high, coffered ceiling. The tours were launched as a result of frequent guest inquiries about the building’s history, and an expanded version, which includes other landmarks such as The Fullerton Waterboat House, Clifford Pier and Customs House, was later initiated to cater to this growing interest in Singapore’s past. Of course, the thing about nostalgia is that it’s interpretive, and what better contemporary commentary on old Singapore than the field of art and design? John Chan and Winston Chai of design-collective trigger happy came up with Singapore Souvenirs, a range of tongue-in-cheek concept tchotckes, for an exhibition three years ago. These products were so well-received that they now are sold commercially in museum shops and book stores. Their “Singlish” notebook contains a glossary of the vernacular English used in Singapore. Chan designed it deliberately to look like a hardcover Bible to give it an air of “formality and credibility,” he says. “We are taught that Singlish is ‘bad English’ but I feel that it is a reflection of our multicultural heritage; this interspersing of Chinese,
Malay and Indian colloquialisms into daily life has been going on for generations.” And the pencil erasers shaped like kueh tutu, a steamed rice flour pastry with shredded coconut filling—Chai, 33, created these because it’s a favorite old childhood snack of his that is getting harder to find. “I don’t want people to forget about its existence,” he says. “These products make a great starting point in helping foreigners understand Singaporean culture at a more intimate level,” Chai says. “We wanted to create souvenirs that really represented what is unique about Singapore. We didn’t want this country to be symbolized by Merlion paper holders or Boat Quay fridge magnets. It is so much more than that.” Adds Chan, 32: “With our parents, life was a lot more pragmatic: earning money, progressing and modernizing. But now that our generation has got everything materially, we are searching for ourselves and this inevitably leads back to our past, especially since things change so dramatically and quickly around here.” Maybe this is why one of the most popular haunts at the moment is Chye Seng Huat Hardware, whose name so appropriately means “to flourish again” in Hokkien. Local specialty coffee brand Papa Palheta has its roastery, tasting lab, school and coffee bar in this conserved Art Deco shophouse in the industrial area of Jalan Besar. Since its opening in August 2012, the latte-loving hordes who
flock here still baffle purveyor Leon Foo, who “never meant for Chye Seng Huat Hardware to become trendy. I figured giving it an industrial look would be a fitting way to complement this area’s hardware heritage,” he says. “Apparently, that makes it hipster.” Further strengthening Chye Seng Huat Hardware’s Brooklyn cred, the Singapore Memory Project recently held an event here called “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” Young folks brought their parents and grandparents down to tell their autobiographies and share memories in exchange for free coffee. Romanticizing the past seems to me a logical form of introspection in a city that predominantly focuses on the present and the future. As hotelier Loh points out, “after a while, all these shopping centers get dehumanizing. You can find all these branded boutiques in any other part of the world, and a sense of rootlessness sets in whether you are a local or a traveler.” That’s why I’m delving into my country’s history and seeking out the humanity. As a third-generation Singaporean, I want to know not just the sparkling success stories, but also the personal hopes and struggles of my predecessors as they attempted to build their dreams here. It is my way of making sense of my own personal history as well. This is what I tell the European and Australian tourists on my “Sultans of Spice” tour, who are surprised to see me, a local, doing the legwork with them. “Don’t you already know this place?” an elderly British lady asks. The answer, as with most things in life, is yes and no. I visit Kampong Glam occasionally to check out vintage clothes, chill over a pint or get my fix of spicy nasi padang. However, besides remnant textbook knowledge that this was once a Malay enclave, I never bothered to find out more about the area, to my own loss, I think. Yes, Singapore often enough seems to value efficiency over personality. But I know we’ve got one: ballsy with a hint of shyness, modern yet sentimental, and always, always evolving to stay on top of the game. And this is why reminiscing is important—not because the past was better, but because it draws out who we are and shows us where we came from. ✚
T+L Guide DO Visit the National Museum of Singapore for an overview of the city’s past. 93 Stamford Rd.; 65/63323659; nationalmuseum.sg; S$10 per adult. The Peranakan Museum tells the tales of Singapore’s original foreign traders and their (often mixed-race) descendants. 39 Armenian St.; 65/6332-7591; peranakanmuseum.org.sg; S$6 per adult. The Original Singapore Walks offers nine tours (including Sultans of Spice) through historical and cultural enclaves. 65/63251631; journeys.com.sg; from S$35 per adult. The Preservation of Monument Boards runs periodical public tours of
national monuments and architectural heritage sites. 65/6332-7953; S$5 per adult. If you prefer DIY touring, visit National Heritage Board for information on the marked heritage trails throughout the city. nhb.gov.sg. EAT AND DRINK Chye Seng Huat Hardware 150 Tyrwhitt Rd.; 65/63960609; cshhcoffee.com; coffee for two S$10. The Study 49 Keong Saik Rd.; 65/6221-8338; thestudy.sg; dinner for two S$120. STAY The Fullerton Hotel 1 Fullerton Sq.; 65/67338388; fullertonhotel.com; doubles from S$448; guided
heritage tours on Mondays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 5 p.m.; guided Maritime Journey tours on Fridays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. New Majestic Hotel 31-37 Bukit Pasoh Rd.; 65/65114700; newmajestichotel. com; doubles from S$229. Wanderlust 2 Dickson Rd.; 65/6396-3322; wanderlusthotel.com; doubles from S$162. Hotel 1929 50 Keong Saik Rd; 65/6347-1929; hotel1929.com; doubles from S$136. SHOP Check out Wheniwasfour (wheniwasfour.com) and trigger happy (triggerhappy. sg) for locally made, retro products, and shop listings.
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OVERLOOKING BAGGAGE CLAIM IN TERMINAL 3 AT SINGAPORE’S CHANGI AIRPORT. OPPOSITE: THE FLIGHT-CONTROL TOWER.
IS THIS THE BEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD? ↓
Singapore’s Changi is a paragon of modern, smooth-functioning, award-winning airport operation, but its appeal is deeper than that. Karrie Jacobs discovers the secret to airport success. PLUS Six more great terminals. photographed by darren soh
C
hangi Airport, in Singapore, is the fifth busiest airport in the world. It serves more than 57 million passengers a year—about the same as New York City’s JFK—but very much unlike JFK, it is universally popular, beloved even. Changi has placed in the top three of the Skytrax “best airport” rankings for the past 15 years, and it topped the list for the fourth time again this year. Why? I recently spent several days at Changi trying to find out. In contrast to the airports that have gotten the most attention in recent years, such as Beijing’s international terminal (designed by Norman Foster) or Madrid Barajas Terminal 4 (designed by Richard Rogers), Changi doesn’t dazzle with architectural spectacle. As I stood on a moving walkway and glided past a lengthy expanse of green carpet, I wondered if I’d somehow arrived in the wrong airport. What does it even mean to be the best airport in the world? Efficiency is certainly at the top of the list. You want all the moving parts to work. Check-in should be flawless. Security procedures should be swift and rationally organized. You should be able to find your gate, your suitcase and anything else you need without thinking about it. And flights should take off and land more or less on schedule. But those tasks are the baseline; any airport, in theory, should be able to get them right. Being the best requires more. According to architect Bill Hooper, who heads the aviation practice at Gensler, a global firm and leader in airport design, the best terminals “anticipate what your needs are when you need them.” Those needs—the varied desires of tens of millions of travelers a year—might include plentiful daylight, comfortable seating, reliable free Wi-Fi, and good or even great restaurants. But there are also qualities that are harder to pin
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down, an aviation “it” factor. “When I fly through Munich, it’s crisp, but not so sterile as to be unwelcoming,” says Hooper of his personal favorite outside the United States. Another architect who designs airports for a living, Anthony Mosellie of Kohn Pedersen Fox, champions Hong Kong for the almost miraculous way it whooshes passengers from the train station in Central, where there’s an airline baggage check, to an airport that is famously a breeze to navigate. “The airport is a reflection of the mentality of Hong Kong,” Mosellie notes. Indeed, it was when I began to see Changi as a reflection of Singapore’s mentality that I really came to
appreciate the place. Staying at the exceptional Crowne Plaza Changi Airport (great swimming pool), I explored the public areas of the airport’s three terminals as I might an exotic urban neighborhood. And I could see that Changi’s goodness isn’t so much about how the place looks—although it definitely has its aesthetic moments—but how it feels. Somehow Singapore’s airport authority has managed to embed the island nation’s oxymoronic culture—call it technocratic humanism—into a transportation facility. No, Singapore’s airport isn’t as overtly futuristic as Seoul’s Incheon, nor does it have the calculated coziness of Amsterdam’s Schiphol. But it is of a piece with its city, at once hyper-organized and packed with carefully crafted pleasures. My most vivid memories of Changi are of the thousands of butterflies in the idyllic two-level Butterfly Garden in Terminal 3 (T3). One of five specialty gardens throughout the airport—others feature sunflowers, cacti, orchids and ferns—this one muffles airport din with a
waterfall and has a see-through “Emergence Enclosure” where the cocoons come of age. More than the airport’s two movie theaters, various TV-watching lounges and endless other diversions, this contrived encounter with nature was, for me, the antidote to that pickled sensation I get from spending a solid day in flight. Changi is also well-equipped for napping. All three terminals have dedicated areas such as the Snooze Lounge in T3, where travelers can stretch out on chaises for as long as they’d like. I dozed for a bit ahead of my 12:30 a.m. departure to Tokyo in T2’s Sanctuary, where upholstered chairs face a babbling indoor brook and mini
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: AN EXPERIENCERATING PANEL; OUTSIDE CHANGI’S TERMINAL 2; TRAVELERS IN TERMINAL 1; BAGGAGE CLAIM IN TERMINAL 3; THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN IN T3; AN AIRPORT EXPERIENCE AGENT; THE MULTISTORY SLIDE INSIDE T3; TERMINAL 3 DEPARTURES; ARTWORK AT A CHILDREN’S ACTIVITY STATION IN T2.
INSIDE THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN IN TERMINAL 3.
jungle of broad-leafed tropical plants. And it’s a terrific airport for eating: I had several memorable meals, including a credible version of the local specialty, Hainanese chicken rice. Mostly, though, Changi aims to be a place where people are happy to idle, whether they’re travelers with long layovers or—and this is the curious part—Singaporeans who want to do a little shopping or let their children loose in the public areas. “We are a land-scarce country,” explains Ivan Tan, who works in the airport’s communications department. Singaporeans regard Changi as “a big open space where kids can roam free,” he says. Indeed, T3 is stocked with a most amazing collection of toy stores and video arcades and a pay-to-enter playground with rides, long slides and surreal inflated animals, all accessible without passing through security. All of this is what the management refers to as the “Changi experience.” No, Changi isn’t beautiful, exactly—it’s humane. And humanity is something at which the staff works overtime. “Every day on the ground at Changi we conduct surveys,” Tan says. “We know when things don’t work.” Even objects offer surveys: every restroom, for instance, has a wall-mounted screen that says please rate your experience. Below that is a row of simple faces ranging from grinning to frowning. If you tap anything lower than “good” (a smile), you’ll get a questionnaire: Wet floor? No toilet paper? The real-time feedback means problems are solved very quickly. And, in theory, if you simply stand around looking perplexed, one of more than 200 iPad-wielding Changi Experience Agents—men in purple blazers and women in 42
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pink—will buttonhole you, ask what’s wrong and attempt to fix the problem. I had coffee with a couple of them who told me stories of helping passengers who’d missed flights or whose relatives were trapped in passport control with visa issues, or were simply looking for an outlet to charge a cell phone. In a small, densely populated nation like Singapore, little things count. Many of Changi’s best innovations are small and considerate, such as the charging stations with rows of little lockable boxes, so you can safely leave your cell phone while you wander the terminal. There are free foot-massage machines (socks on, please) on every concourse. Even the acres of carpeting are part of the thoughtful culture: you can tell you’ve crossed from one terminal to the next when the pattern shifts. I’ve come to realize that the amenities that make an airport exceptional are antithetical to the beeline nature of airports. And against all odds, Changi is as good at getting you in and out and on your way as it is at welcoming you to stay awhile. ✚
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Our Definitive Guide to
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Often written off as too staid, the city-state is continually evolving—its restaurants, night spots, hotels and other diversions leading Asia into the global spotlight, writes Christopher Kucway. Photographed by Darren Soh.
The fast-changing Keong Saik Road.
SINGAPORE
The W Singapore— Sentosa Cove. N
ORCHARD EAST COAST PARKWAY
CHINATOWN CLUB STREET
SINGAPORE STRAIT SENTOSA ISLAND 0
1.6 KM
Lay of the Land Chinatown Not just any old Chinatown, Singapore’s version is, well, clean. There’s an endless array of places to eat and— these days—stay and shop, but remember to go on walking tours early in the day or in the evening to avoid the equatorial heat. Orchard Road Abuzz with all things that epitomize the city’s modernity, this is airconditioned bliss if shopping for the latest labels is your thing. Club Street Cheek-by-jowl with Chinatown, this everchanging street is lined with restaurants and bars. Head a block or two further west for a fast-growing collection of even newer eateries. Sentosa A great stop when you have kids in tow, the place to get away from it all in Singapore has become crowded. Still, it’s good for a weekend break within the city. East Coast Parkway Crowded on weekends, and rightly so, the ECP is the spot for seafood—as any day at the beach should be.
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Stay Some hot new hotels in the city and a timeless favorite. W SINGAPORE Far-flung and funky, the design-centric hotel in all its eye-popping orange and purple is aimed at those in need of some fun in the sun. Head to Skirt, which specializes in meat and seafood dishes, such as saltbush lamb and any number of deep-sea fish. wsingaporesentosa cove.com; doubles from S$450.
HOTEL NAUMI LIORA A series of 10 interconnected and refurbished shophouses in a cool mixed
neighborhood adds up to 79 odd-shaped rooms with the latest mod-cons, plus free ice cream and coffee in the lobby. Book a Liora Porch room that opens out onto a slightly hidden outdoor deck above a shaded jogging path. naumiliora.com; doubles from S$215.
PARK ROYAL ON PICKERING Looking like a giant planter from street level, the hotel prides itself on its green focus. Its 367 guestrooms are finished largely in wood and stone, but what’s more
obvious on the plus side of its eco-ledger are recycling bins for plastic, glass and paper in each room. parkroyalhotels.com; doubles from S$420.
THE FOREST BY WANGZ If you’re looking more for a serviced apartment feel, even the 25-square-meter studios here come with modest kitchenettes, though the Molton Brown amenities and a clean, modern look that is standard throughout give off a hotel vibe. Walking distance to the
Novena MRT station. forestbywangz.com; doubles from S$275.
RAFFLES SINGAPORE A 127-year-old landmark, Raffles still radiates the same colonial elegance that grabbed the attention of literary legends like Rudyard Kipling, Ernest Hemingway and Alfred Hitchcock decades ago. Round out your classic stay with a sip of another classic: the original Singapore Sling at the two-story Long Bar. raffles.com; doubles from S$790.
ONE TO WATCH Sofitel So Singapore (sofitel.com) has opened, with modern Karl Lagerfeld touches adapted to what was a historic postal and telecommunications building.
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Shopping Beyond the obvious labels. WORLD SAVAGE The signs say it all in this hole-in-the-wall: this ain’t no museum. this junk’s for sale. Junk it is not—though anti-Orchard Road might prove a more apt description. Count on funky retro clothing for both men and women, fantastic jewelry finds that someone’s grandmother used to wear and other assorted oddities from around the world. worldsavage.com; 70 Bussorah St.; Bugis MRT.
INHABIT—THE OTHER STORE
From top: Outside the distinctive World Savage; inside the shop’s racks of vintage clothes; three clutches from Property Of...; a durable dufflebag from the shop.
Cool and sometimes hard-tofind labels—think Dion Lee and Les Aperizes—from beyond Singapore are on the racks here, for both men and women, and featuring established and emerging brands offering dressy and casual looks. 333A Orchard Rd.; Somerset MRT.
PROPERTY OF… Hardwearing travel bags and backpacks made of waxcloth and vegetable-tanned leather—in other words, perfect for tropical climates during the wet season. For a real splurge—it will set you back around S$900—invest in the brown leather backpack. Just don’t forget it on the MRT! thepropertyof.com; Orchard MRT.
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See Do B O T T O M : C H R I S T O P H E R K U C W AY. A B O V E : C O U R T E S Y O F P R O P E R T Y O F. . . ( 2 )
GILLMAN BARRACKS Revamped and worth a visit, this contemporary art hub is home to 14 galleries, but be sure to pop into The Drawing Room and the Sundaram Tagore Gallery, two nods to the international art scene. gillmanbarracks.com; 9 Lock Road; Labrador Park MRT.
An acrylic on wood Franz Kafka, by Lee Waisler at Sundaram Tagore Gallery, part of Gillman Barracks.
RED DOT DESIGN MUSEUM For something a bit more hands-on, head to this museum on Maxwell Road where more than 200 designs are on display. Don’t
On an art and culture crawl across the city, some hidden riches.
stop there: opt for a half- or full-day tour of designoriented stops in the neighborhood. The museum shop is interesting, veering from the terminally cute to items you wish you’d thought of. museum.red-dot.sg; Tanjong Pagar MRT.
SINGAPORE TYLER PRINT INSTITUTE Specializing in contemporary paper and print art, the institute offers several exhibitions each year, with world-renowned conceptual artist Rirkrit Tiravanija’s works
on view until June 28. There are also workshops dealing with topics such as fabric printing or etching. stpi.com. sg; by appointment only; closest MRT stop Clarke Quay.
MARINA BAY SANDS Monstrosity it may be, but the complex always has a lot to offer. Until October 19, the ArtScience Museum is hosting Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 19902005, displaying almost 200 of her iconic photographic works. marinabaysands.com; Bayfront MRT.
GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL Como Shambhala Urban Escape This little nook on Orchard Road offers yoga, Pilates, nutritional counseling and massage therapy, bringing a little bit of Bali from the COMO Shambhala Estate to the big city. comohotels.com.; Orchard MRT. 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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SINGAPORE
From left: Hainanese chicken rice at Maxwell Road hawker center; beverage concoction at Waku Ghin.
Eat Everything from Basque pintxos to Australian burgers. FAT COW
CHARLIE & CO.
HAWKER CRAWL
Here’s proof that it’s not necessarily a bad thing to order a sashimi set at a restaurant that’s actually noted for its fine cuts of beef—slow grilled over charcoal or seared on the teppan. Just remember to book ahead. fatcow.com.sg; lunch or dinner for two S$100.
In an age when worrying about what’s in your meat is a cool concern, this Aussie import is a straight shooter. Order the New Yorker burger: grass-fed sirloin, aged cheddar, caramelized onions and the sea-salt fries with chili jam. charlieandco.com.au; lunch for two S$50.
TAMARIND HILL
ARTICHOKE CAFÉ+BAR/ OVERDOUGHS BAKERY AND DELI
Chinese, Indian, Malay or a mix of all three—everyone needs to eat a few dishes from each cuisine when in Singapore. One of the better ways to sample Singapore’s mix of flavors is at a hawker center such as Maxwell Road. Do not miss: char kway teow, bak chor mee, nasi lemak, laksa, biryani…stop when sated.
Perched atop Labrador Nature Reserve in the west of the city, the restaurant in a colonial bungalow serves fairly standard Thai cuisine but is worth a visit for the historical touches and tranquil setting. Book a table on the lanai with views out to sea. tamarindrestaurants.com; dinner for two S$160.
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Rugged, grungy and not always traditional is the description you’ll get of the café’s Moorish cuisine. Add to that: fun. Now the Overdoughs Bakery and Deli— really a counter in the sculpture garden outside—offers takeaway treats in the afternoons. artichoke. com.sg; dinner for two S$100.
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AFTER HOURS The Bar at Waku Ghin Can’t finagle a table at the restaurant? Drop into the mod bar for a cosmopolitan or two along with appetizers that start at S$20. Oh, and there’s four pages of whiskey listed by where it was distilled, so you might want to make a bit more room in your dayplanner. 65/6688-8507; drinks for two S$40. The Naked Finn Schedule your tour of Gillman Barracks later in the day and stick around for the minus 12 degrees Celsius coconut cocktail at The Naked Finn, and you’ll definitely feel far from the city. Snack on grilled seafood. nakedfinn.com; drinks for two S$35.
SPECIAL FEATURE
REFRESHED. RESTORED. REDEFINED. A modern masterpiece that embraces culture and traditions, Fairmont Singapore receives a new lease of life with a multi-million dollar renovation. Ideally situated at the crossroads of Singapore’s business, cultural, entertainment and shopping districts, with the City Hall Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) train station and other major transportation nodes at its doorstep, there is no better way to enjoy the captivating city than by staying at the heart of it all. Offering 769 luxurious guestrooms and suites, a collection of 15 distinctive restaurants and bars, as well as 70,000 square feet of prime meeting space, the options available are endless. Fairmont Singapore recently unveiled transformed spaces within the complex – including a vibrant new lobby, guestrooms and guestroom corridors in the North Tower of the hotel as well as a modern cocktail bar, that collectively feature a modern interpretation of the Peranakan culture which highlights a vibrant amalgamation of design elements that are distinctly and authentically local. An ethnic marriage of the Chinese and Malays, Peranakans are known for their distinctive customs and intricacy in their craft.
Inspired by the locale, traditional Peranakan motifs were reinterpreted in a modern way and carried through in the design of the various spaces. A further mix of vivacious art and light installations that adorn the areas not only highlight the diversity of cultures, but also reflect the integration of the cosmopolitan character and greenery of the city. A timeless design that cohesively combines modern day luxury with Singapore’s unique heritage, expect an elegant presentation of the past and present at the new Fairmont Singapore. From now till 30 December 2014, experience the new Fairmont Singapore with an introductory room offer with rates from S$318++. Visit www.fairmont.com/singapore or call +65 6837 3883 for reservations or more information.
80 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 189560 Tel: +65 6339 7777 | Fax: +65 6337 1554 | singapore@fairmont.com | www.fairmont.com/singapore
SINGAPORE
From left: Inside the pre-rebranding Keong Saik Snacks; mixing cocktails at the Cufflink Club; a chance to unearth a treasure at Tong Mern Sern Antiques Arts & Crafts.
Local Take Get the scoop on the city from three insiders.
You’ve not been to Singapore if you haven’t tried chili crab. Head to Melben Seafood (232 Ang Mo Kio Ave. 3; 65/6285-6762; dinner for two S$55) and order it—and butter crab and blackpepper crab too, if you have room. Keong Saik Street and its surrounds has been slowly gentrified over the past few years. Drop by Keong Saik Snacks—now The Study (49 Keong Saik Rd.; the-study.sg; dinner for two S$120) for classic British fare. For drinks, go to The Library (47 Keong Saik Rd.; 65/6221-8338; drinks for two S$35). It’s called an un-named bar, and you’ll need a password to get in.
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MR. HAS
TRACY PHILIPS
Artistic Director W Singapore
Creative consultant, Present Purpose
Check out Kyo (133 Cecil St., #B1-02; 65/6225-6001; drinks for two S$35), where I love the basement underground feel that serves my favorite Hendrick’s gin and tonic with a dash of deep house music. Go early to avoid the long queue. If you are up for something more mellow, try Cufflink Club (6 Jiak Chuan Rd.; thecufflinkclub.com; drinks for two S$35), a bar setting with an extensive cheeky cocktail menu. Last but not least, don’t forget to check out Woobar at the W Singapore— Sentosa Cove. Sip and flirt while DJs spin until late.
I’m not a coffee drinker but The Plain (50 Craig Rd.; the plain.com.sg; lattes for two S$10) is the one place where I make an exception. They serve a generra, coffee with chocolate and orange zest that is heavenly. After the caffeine fix, head next door to Tong Mern Sern Antiques Arts & Crafts (51 Craig Rd.; tmsantiques.com)
to trawl the three-story shophouse and its array of treasures amassed since it opened in 1972. For repurposed furniture, travel a bit further outside of the city to the warehouse of Like That One (2 Bukit Batok St. 24).
To get a real sense that you’re near the equator and not in a big city, head to MacRitchie Reservoir Park and its walking trails that range between 3 and 11 kilometers. If you’re not afraid of heights, then opt for the TreeTop Walk, a journey that gives you a bird’s-eye view of the tropical forest surrounding the reservoir and takes between four and five hours to enjoy properly. nparks.gov.sg
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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
JIA EN TEO
Co-founder, Roomorama