March 2015 by Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia

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Contents

Features

Diving In Surfacing from a coral-constructed gnome’s garden for a comforting post-dive hot cocoa, novice holly mcdona ld relays how she got her sea legs on a two-week sail through some of the least-seen Indonesian isles. m a p page 85

86 Breathe in the Air Practicing yoga is great for balance—especially if you’re on a boat. chr ist opher k uc way

attempts his first high lunge saluting the rising sun over a small piece of paradise in the Maldives. 90

Out of the Blue On a jungle-shrouded private island in Fiji, a reclusive billionaire has created what may be the world’s

most extravagant resort. Is Laucala for real? pe ter jon lin dberg reports from a most improbable paradise. pho t ogr a phed by joh n l au r ie

100 Berlin Grows Up The city of rakish charms and anything-is-possible artistic energy has lately taken on a new gloss— without losing its cool. a le x a n dr a m a r sh a ll

visits Europe’s bourgeois bohemian utopia. pho t ogr a phed by bä r bell sch mid t . gu ide page

105

106 Capital Dining Innovative chefs and bartenders—along with a wave of new residents—are shaking up Washington, D.C.’s restaurants scene, proving there’s more to the Beltway than boring steak houses and stuffed shirts. by fr a ncin e m a rou k i a n . pho t ogr a phed by m a rc us

JOHN L AURIE

n ilsson . gu ide page

111

Fijian horses offer another way to ride the waves at Laucala, page 94. 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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Gone Fishing Beach-bumming on Burma’s coast.

Party Girl A Manila designer shares what inspires her.

Warmer Welcomes Boutique hotels with personality.

Plus John McDermott’s Siem Reap; Kiwi food festivals; and more.

Trip Doctor

55 Strategies Five ways hotels help you stay fit. Plus Getting VIP treatment at a hotel; and more. 66 Deals

March Special

68 The IT List 2015 The world’s best new properties. Decoder 112 Our Definitive Guide to Chiang Mai by joe c um mings . pho t ogr a phed by cedr ic a r nold

Last Look

118 Shanghai Past and present collide. In Every Issue t +l digi ta l

e d i t o r ’s n o t e

con tr ibu tor s

16 i n b ox

18 On the Cover The Sanchaya, Bintan, Indonesia, one of this year’s IT List hotels. Photographed by Scott Woodward. Assistant, Aiszam; stylist, Furqan Saini; makeup and hair, Joanna Koh/Indigo Artisans. Model, Thais Roberta. Swimsuit and Collier de Chine bangle, both Hermès; Batrix necklace and matching earrings and heels, all Tory Burch; and chiffon kaftan, H&M Studio.

112 10

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F I N N A D AY; F R A N C I S C O G U E R R E R O ; C O U R T E S Y O F L’AT E L I E R D E J O Ë L R O B U C H O N ; C E D R I C A R N O L D ; C O U R T E S Y O F N G A P A L I B AY V I L L A S & S P A

28 The French Connection Joël Robuchon opens an outpost in Bangkok.

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M A R C H 2015

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tleditor@ mediatransasia.com

Editor’s Note

Contact me

@CKucway chrisk@mediatransasia.com

AS IT NORMALLY DOES, OUR ANNUAL IT LIST

(page 68) is bound to give you an itch to uncover some game-changing hotels, many in Asian time zones. Whether it’s the Rosewood Beijing, the Aman Tokyo or Cape Weligama on Sri Lanka’s coast, each is worth ticking off your to-stay list. Art Director Wannapha Nawayon checked in to The Sanchaya in Bintan for this month’s cover shoot, while I’ve stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, and what stands out from my visit is that the design-centric hotel felt more of a piece of Kyoto than it did of a major chain, even

At Maalifushi by COMO, part of this year’s IT List.

though it bore all the luxe hallmarks you would expect from the storied brand. The hushed public areas and guest rooms that demand lingering are just two elements that make it worth booking. That said, if you’re in need of spoiling yourself with a break, any one of the 43 properties on the It List will fit the bill. One hotel that perhaps should have been on this year’s list but isn’t is the new Mandarin Oriental, Taipei. Having just returned from a long weekend there, I can point to more than a few pleasantly surprising highlights. Among them: not one but two well-informed door women; 1,700 pieces of original artwork; and my room’s enveloping bed—despite my earlyriser tendencies, particularly to explore a city as intriguing as Taipei, it was so comfortable that I wanted to stay under the covers 10 more minutes each morning. We’ll have more on fascinating Taipei next month. Sparing no expense, writer Peter Jon Lindberg and photographer John Laurie team up again to head to Fiji (“Out of the Blue,” page 90) to report on what may well be the world’s most extravagant resort, Laucala. Think an organic farm including heirloom chickens imported from Austria, 32 full-time gardeners (one of whom must hand-pollinate vanilla vines every day), and a private submarine and you begin to get the idea. So, this month’s issue involves more than a little pampering, but isn’t that one of the reasons we travel in the first place—not just to get out of our comfort zone but also to relish in the extremely comfortable?

The T+L Code While on assignment, Travel+Leisure editors and contributors travel incognito whenever possible. They also generally do not accept free travel or take press trips; we will clearly identify any instances in which we’ve made an exception to this policy.

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F R O M T O P : N A P AT R A V E E W AT; C O U R T E S Y O F M A A L I F U S H I B Y C O M O

Christopher Kucway

Contributors

Want to

Cedric Arnold — Photographer “Decoder: Chiang Mai,” page 112

explore AsiA?

Tailor-made tours inspired by local knowledge. MYANMAR ∙ JAPAN ∙ BHUTAN ∙ VIETNAM ∙ THAILAND CAMBODIA ∙ CHINA ∙ INDONESIA ∙ LAOS ∙ BORNEO

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Marcus Nilsson — Photographer “Capital Dining,” page 106

Alexandra Marshall — Writer “Berlin Grows Up,” page 100

Did you try any of the D.C. restaurants you photographed? I’ve been to several Spanish restaurants, and my favorite by far is Estadio. It feels like a proper Madrid tapas den. And the ramen noodles from Toki Underground were unbelievable. Travel plans This spring I plan to rebuild an old Harley-Davidson in preparation for a long motorcycle road trip around the U.S. in the summer. What’s next? A cookbook with chef Ignacio Mattos, of Estela, in New York City.

What’s the best example of Berlin’s transformation? Mädchenschule, a converted Bauhaus Jewish girls’ school in Mitte, which is today filled with fantastic galleries and restaurants including local favorite Pauly Saal. Biggest trip regret That I didn’t have refrigerated luggage for smuggling sausages home from the famous department store KaDeWe. Don’t leave Berlin without... Going to a beer garden. It’s a German cliché, but a great one. I loved Prater, where I ordered a schnitzel and a dark beer.

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F C E D R I C A R N O L D ; C O U R T E S Y O F A L E X A N D R A M A R S H A L L ; H A R R Y B A I L E Y/ C O U R T E S Y O F M A R C U S N I L S S O N

step into our BAckyArd

Chiang Mai evolution December 2000 was my first trip up there; it was still fairly rustic. The city is now very well set up and connected for tourism, but still has kept its warm, laid-back vibe. Best reason to return Coffee! Favorite northern Thai food It’s not an original choice, but it’s a classic. When done well, khao soi gai (coconut curry noodle soup with chicken) always hits the spot. Chiang Mai in three words Cozy, creative, caffeinated.

Inbox If I had to pick one place to spend a fortune, it would be Nihiwatu [“Welcome to Sumba,” January 2015]. You really have to admire a resort that does so well by its neighbors. That gets my travel-dollars vote. –Dan Nault, singa p or e

Old-Fashioned Memories

Dreamy North Bali

I love the idea of sketching tourist sites [“Jet-Sketchers,” January 2015]. It must really etch the experience in your memory. —Marybeth Maloney

Ahh… Ubud [“Transcendence,” July 2014] was my honeymoon place. We stayed at the Kamandalu, but that whole region—I love it. —Dian Komala

I’ve taken the reverse trend ... From sketching and painting to photography, due to time constraints. Maybe one day I’ll go back to sketching places—one day when I have the time! —Juliana Mohd Hashir

Cruising Vietnam

Timely Tip

I’m here visiting Seminyak now. I’m excited to go to The Butchers Club Burger [“Meat Market Mania,” December 2014] to have a taste! Thanks for the tip. —Jason Nevin

I went to Bai Tu Long [“The Bay Less Traveled,” August 2014]. It was very peaceful. —Sally Graham Next Great Adventure

I was elated to see Burma [“This is Burma’s Moment”] in your December issue. Experiencing that exceptionally beautiful and culturally complex country is a must for any serious traveler. —Michelle Jensen boston

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JOHN L AURIE

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A regal entrance to Preah Khan.

News. Finds. Opinions. Obsessions.

m y t ow n

CAPTURING OLD KHMER John McDermott has seen the once-sleepy Siem Reap boom into a tourist hot spot. Ashley Niedringhaus finds out his favorite places, both new and old, in town. â&#x17E;&#x201D;

P HOTOG R A P H ED BY JOH N MC DERMOT T

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The juxtaposition between the surrounding ancient temples of Angkor and the luxe shopping and vibrant nightlife within Siem Reap makes the city feel like bit of a paradox. Wedged in between the past and present is American photographer John McDermott, who has spent decades behind the lens capturing the history while embracing the evolving culture.

Cambodia’s best-known dish is amok—a fish curry with coconut milk—and my favorite place to get it is Sugar Palm (Taphul Road; 855-63/636-2060; thesugarpalm. com; dinner for two US$26). If I’m out at night, you’ll likely find me soaking up the old-Shanghai vibe at Miss Wong (The Lane; 855-92/428-332; misswong.net; drinks for two US$10). I wash down their dim sum with a martini.

Eat+Drink For authentic Khmer food, no place is better than Cuisine Wat Damnak (Wat Damnak Market Street; 88577/347-762; cuisinewatdamnak. com; five-course tasting menu US$24). The dishes focus on back roads recipes served within a Western-style tasting menu. I’ve been almost a dozen times and never had a repeat dish.

Shop Most of my shopping is done in Bangkok, but I buy necklaces and earrings for my wife from Ly Pisith, the French-Khmer owner of Garden of Desire (The Passage Pub Street Alley; 855-12/319-116; gardenofdesire-asia.com). He makes exquisite, custom pieces with silver and stones that are indigenous to Cambodia. For

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people who are looking for clothing that is completely different from standardized options, I recommend the colorful silks of Eric Raisina (ericraisina. com), one of Cambodia’s best-known designers. The best place for souvenirs is Theam’s House (25 Veal Village, Khum Kokchack; 855-78/208-161; theamshouse.com), which supports the work of local artists, but I go to the Old Market just like everyone else for knickknacks and small goods. Do Seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise is a rite of passage, but for me dawn is the best time to be there. The key is to stay just past sunrise when the flocks of tourists depart and give you no competition for the best views and photos. Those few peaceful

hours before the first wave of post-sunrise visitors arrive are magical. Unfortunately, Ta Prohm is too overrun with construction and sightseers for it to be enjoyable, but the giant tree roots, temple carvings and architecture at Preah Khan make it a more-than-suitable replacement—and with less foot traffic. It’s one of my favorite spots to shoot because I can still weave in and out and find hideaways to myself. When I arrived here in 1999, the temples and Siem Reap were on the cusp of an international explosion. Every now and then, I’m hit with a wave of nostalgia for the old days, and the cure is to take my motorbike out to Beng Mealea and explore this beautiful and mostly unrestored lost temple in the jungle. +

Q U A I L : C O U R T E S Y O F C U I S I N E W AT D A M N A K ; B R A C E L E T: C O U R T E S Y O F G A R D E N O F D E S I R E ; C O U R T YA R D : C O U R T E S Y O F T H E A M ’ S H O U S E

Clockwise from top left: John McDermott; crafts at the atmospheric Old Market; inside the crumbling Preah Khan temple; Cuisine Wat Damnak’s marinated quail salad with lotus root and seeds; an ornate bracelet from Garden of Desire; the courtyard of Theam’s House.

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drink

THE NOSE KNOWS

The late-night crowd at Highline.

If boutique spirits like New Zealand’s Broken Shed vodka leave you feeling peckish, grab a bite from Street Meat, a New York-style snack bar located at the same address. Order the ramen burger, a surprisingly tasty meme-turned-guilty-pleasure stuffed with Wagyu bulgogi and kimchi. 50 Wyndham St., Central; facebook. com/highline.hk. —helen dalley

Juniper Sling in a teacup.

goods

THE DOCTOR IS IN Orthopedic sandals are back, thanks to Marc Jacobs, whose spring collection includes wooden-soled slides resembling classic flats by Dr. Scholl’s (which some might say never went out of style). This is joyful news for travelers: the easy-on-the-feet ergonomics make them ideal for city streets and beach boardwalks alike. From left: Dr. Scholl’s sandal (US$78); Marc Jacobs twill slide (US$1,945). —jane bishop 26

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F R O M TO P : C O U R T E S Y O F H I G H L I N E (2) ; DAV I D A L E X A N D E R A R N O L D

Hong Kong cocktail bar Highline has formed an aromatic partnership with British perfumery Penhaligon’s, where snifters are shaken for customers based on their olfactory preferences. Inspired by the spirit of the elevated public park in Manhattan from which the bar takes its name, the approach is simple: follow your nose to a fragrance and the mixologists will whip up a corresponding cocktail. If you’re the dashing gentlemanly sort, ask for a Bayolea, which takes its aromatic cues from Penhaligon’s first grooming range for men with notes of black pepper, musk and sandalwood. More of a delicate flower? Raise your pinkie and sip your Juniper Sling—made with crushed juniper berries and the rosemary-infused Gin Mare—from the daintiest of china teacups. It’s a wonder no one else in Asia thought of it sooner, though Fragrances, in the Ritz-Carlton Berlin, narrowly beat them to the parfumerie punch. Highline has also teamed up with G.H. Mumm to curate four champagne cocktails based on the aromatic elements of tea leaves, fresh herbs and dried flowers including L’été en Provence, which features notes of French lavender and Earl Grey.

gourmet

KIWI SIPS AND SHUCKS Oenophiles are jetting south of the equator this month for one of only 2,000 tickets to Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival (March 7; wairarapaharvestfestival.co.nz; tickets NZ$47.50), a showcase of 16 wineries—among them one of our favorites, Murdoch James—in New Zealand’s northern wine region. Nibble on local staples like rabbit pie, crayfish cake and Wairarapa wild pork from nine high-profile food vendors, then wash them down with glasses of silky Pinot Noir and unoaked Chardonnay. Sauvignon Blanc-lovers can head across Cook Strait to Havelock Mussel Festival (March 14; havelockmusselfestival.co.

nz; tickets NZ$40) in Marlborough for the white’s fated companion: fresh green-lipped mussels. Celebrity chef Chelsea Winter will be cooking and the entertainment includes live music from local bands as well as watching the dexterous competitively shuck their mussels. Fancy more bivalves? Come back in May for the annual fair dedicated to the “world’s tastiest oysters.” At the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival (May 23; bluffoysterfest.co.nz; tickets NZ$25) in New Zealand’s southern-most seaside town, the cold, clean water of Foveaux Strait lends to the mollusk’s exceptionally large, plump and juicy bite. —monsicha hoonsuwan

F R O M TO P : C O U R T E S Y O F WA I R A R A PA W I N E S H A R V E S T F E S T I VA L ; C O U R T E S Y O F B L U F F OYS T E R F E S T I VA L

Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival.

Bivalves and brews at the Bluff Oyster Festival.

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debut

THE FRENCH CONNECTION As we struggled with our last spoonfuls of silken potato purée—an unearthly emulsion more beurre than pomme de terre—chef Olivier Limousin of Thailand’s new L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon swooped by. “You had better finish those potatoes or no dessert for you,” he admonished with a swooninducing French accent and nary a wink. Rakish and evidently deadpan, the man is the 12-year veteran of the culinary empire who previously helmed its London outpost. “If you do not finish them, I am going to call my mother.” He meant his maman, of course. En France. It wasn’t the small talk I’d expected in this most serious of gastronomic temples. The term “spare no expense” springs to mind as you enter the darkly opulent, Pierre-Yves Rochondesigned space, where the floor-to-ceiling curtains of crystal are Swarovski, the Warhol prints are original, and the gilded, custom-made dinner plates clock in at a cool US$1,000 a piece. Truffle shavings, lobster, caviar and edible gold leaf pepper the contemporary French menu. If Mr. Robuchon wants to prove that he isn’t going to rest on the 28 Michelin stars he’s accrued over the years to impress an audience, well, mission accomplished. Luckily for Bangkokians, there’s substance and some fine cooking ensconced in all that glitter. Most diners will get a front-row seat at the open kitchen that purrs with hushed, mechanical efficiency, turning out Lilliputian landscapes of baby braised endives and leeks with surgical precision. Staff, attired in enviably chic

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Clockwise from top: Chef Olivier; a scallop in kumquat reduction; “chocolate nuns” made of pâte à choux; ring-side seats at the open kitchen; an upright eggplant salad; a Swarovski-shrouded dining room.

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black-and-crimson uniforms, trained around the clock for a full two months prior to opening in order to nail every detail, from the sculptural toast obelisks beside a quail-yolk-topped tartare to the sear on a single Hokkaido scallop bathed in a buttery kumquat reduction so smooth I would have happily submerged in it myself. There was a lot to love on our recent visit. The thoughtful wine list, for one, which is heavy on old-world, organic and biodynamic vintages. The upright curlicues of foie and wafers of truffle on a plate with the dramatically understated name “potato salad.” The shockingly aromatic cloud of coconut foam over a melting slab of black cod. The soup—steaming onion cream poured over chestnut-studded custard—that tasted like a crisp autumn day somewhere far, far away from Thailand. Oh, and those dreamy mashed potatoes? Devoured. After all, our own mamas always told us to eat our vegetables. 5F Mahanakhon Cube, 96 Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Rd., Silom; 66-2/001-0698; robuchonbangkok.com; lunch sets from Bt950 for two courses, dinner tasting menus from Bt5,000 per person for five courses. +

C O U R T E S Y O F L’AT E L I E R D E J O Ë L R O B U C H O N (6)

Pomp, pedigree and a little playful persuasion are all on the menu at Bangkok’s hottest new restaurant. Diana Hubbell sidles up to the bar for a serious meal.

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GONE FISHING

Clockwise from top left: Traditional fishing boats rigged with lights to attract their prey; women at prayer with thanaka-streaked faces; the view from Ngapali Bay Villas & Spa; preparing rice the old way; Neptune’s bounty makes for excellent eating.

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Fishing may not be my calling in life. I’m out at sea on a hand-hewn Burmese vessel painted a cheerful shade of green. Kyi Kaung, a boy of maybe 13, snoozes across the prow, his skinny adolescent limbs draped over the edge. Captain Zagar sits on the starboard side with a tin spool of baited thread, waiting. After a few minutes of peering through clear waters straight at the ocean floor, I abandon my crude lure for flippers and a snorkel mask. It’s mesmerizing below the surface, where I see blizzards of damselfish and opal-iridescent parrot fish swim languidly along. By the time I pry myself away from the underwater spectacle, Zagar has rounded up the first of several fat groupers we’ll have for lunch. We have to throw my first catch of the day back to Davy Jones—“Very poisonous!”—but Kyi has roused himself and reels in a few white snappers. Our trophies flop frantically in the hull, shimmering, doomed, delicious. We head to a speck of sand too slight to justify the term “island,” to a few umbrella-shaded tables that could barely be called a “restaurant.” Known as Lobster (95-9/421-756-777; cooking fee K4,000), the place consists of a bare-bones kitchen and a healthy supply of rum. Like Angel (95-9/250-896-816; dinner for two K11,000) and Green Umbrella (95-9/421-753-814; dinner for two K12,000) both back on the mainland, it’s one of several eateries I encounter with suspiciously tacky names and incongruously excellent food. For about four bucks, the staff grill and deep-fry our catch. I sip from a freshly cracked coconut and wish I could be marooned. Even as Rangoon erects shopping malls and Inle Lake scrambles to build hotels, this palmfreckled coast has somehow stayed sleepy. Yes, resorts increasingly line the bay, but the islands just offshore remain craggy, densely green and wild. The people of Teik Taw and other fishing villages can’t be bothered with tourists; they have real work to do. The men sail out for three weeks at a time with a pair of boats, one rigged up with 40-watt bulbs to lure prey from the deep, the other, a net. The women, their faces smeared with golden thanaka and their longyi saltcrusted from wading, man the land. There’s a

C O U R T E S Y O F N G A P A L I B AY V I L L A S & S P A (5 )

Ngapali, Burma, offers sugar-sand beaches, glimpses at the old ways, and little else—for now. By Diana Hubbell

timelessness to this place, a rhythm of life that is only now, only reluctantly, beginning to change. “This is what Thailand must have been like 20 year ago,” says Gilles Flores, the general manager of Ngapali Bay Villas & Spa (ngapalibay.com; closed May 15-October 1, 2015; villas from US$275), where I’m staying. There’s no need to hide on the beautiful bespoke teak- and antique-filled resort with that sweeping sandscape lacking the usual tourist trappings or, indeed, any bothers at all. Still, it’s hard to turn down a coconut-sea-salt scrub and a thanaka facial at the spa. The former leaves my skin glowing for days, while the latter makes it clear why women here have been using this fragrant ground bark for 2,000 years. When I try to take it off, my masseuse shakes her head, “beautiful,” and points to her own gilded cheeks. Local traditions influence more than just the wellness here. From the 400-plus pieces of pottery fired in Rangoon to the curtains handwoven in Pakokku to the bronze works forged in Mandalay, almost everything has its roots in Burmese craftsmanship. Even the 108 oil paintings scattered throughout are specially commissioned works by Khin Maung Yin, one of the country’s most influential abstract artists, completed shortly before his death last year. And then there’s that vast natural canvas. All 32 villas face west, a fact you don’t appreciate until you’re confronted with enormous oceanfacing windows. It means sunrises are gentle, a pale creep of lavender into the sky, and sunsets shame every filtered Instagram imposter. After I watch my final one collapse into burnished reds and oranges below the horizon, I head up the street to Min Thu (95-9/250-604-859; dinner for two K13,000) for supper. We are three, but we order for an army. A quintet of salads— tomato; slick-ripe avocado; pale papaya; a tangle of black octopus tentacles; and fermented tea-leaf—then coconut prawn curry, Rakhinestyle. Finally, a snapper of Jules Verne proportions in all its sweetly charred glory. “I never buy fish that’s already dead,” the charismatic owner Min Thu says. “I get up when it’s still dark to get to the market as soon as the boats come in. You have to know the right guys in order to get the good stuff—and I do.” Everything is cooked the day it’s caught, often only an hour after it stops twitching. Recently, Min Thu has made a few modest concessions to modernization. He’s on TripAdvisor, where as of this writing he occupied Ngapali’s No. 1 spot; he’s added drink fridge and plans to spruce up the kitchen. When asked if he’ll switch to gas instead of his charcoal-fueled clay stoves, he’s appalled. “Never.” It’s nice to know that some things won’t change. +

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locafile

INSIDERS’ HONG KONG How to navigate this fast-paced, 21st-century metropolis? Three movers and shakers reveal their go-to spots to Jeninne Lee-St. John. That famous view of Hong Kong from Tsim Sha Tsui.

favorite hangouts I love the cocktails at Stockton (stockton.com. hk), a cheeky, old-world whiskey bar in Central. In Sai Ying Pun, Ping Pong Gintonería (pingpong129.com) has a cool-friend’s-basement vibe and serves the best gin and tonics in town. hotel pick The Pottinger (thepottinger.com; doubles from HK$1,900) is a boutique hotel with a beautiful, subtle Chinese aesthetic, tucked away in the heart of the city. where to shop Tai Ping Shan Street—green, relaxed, walkable—is lined with independent shops and studios. I often find myself at Ellermann Flower Boutique (ellermanndesign.com). last great meal I enjoyed the fish tacos, whole sea bass, and sweet-potato fries at Repulse Bay’s new Limewood (limewood.hk; meal for two HK$700). Go during the week, when it’s quiet. A suite at The Pottinger.

The Artist Li Jiabo Principal dancer, Hong Kong Ballet Moved from Shanghai in 2003

what’s underrated You always hear about Soho or Lan Kwai Fung but there’s a lot to explore in Tsim Sha Tsui, with stylish shops and Victoria Harbour views. You can’t miss the cool Space Museum (hk.space.museum). in-town escape I love the beach on Lamma Island. There are no cars! I can forget I’m in the city—it’s so peaceful. Rainbow (rainbowrest.com.hk; set menus from HK$398) has delicious live seafood and runs free ferries. local icon Hong Kong String Orchestra (stringorchestra.org.hk), founded by Jue Yao, a violinist who, like me, spent her childhood in Shanghai studying her craft.

The Chef Jowett Yu Chef, Ho Lee Fook restaurant Moved from Sydney a year ago

Scallops at Serge et le Phoque.

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quintessential hong kong bite The goose leg lai fun from Yat Lok (852/2524-3882; meal for two HK$150) is aromatic and crispy. The grease seeps into the noodle soup, so it’s deliciously rich. under-the-radar restaurant On a backstreet of Wan Chai Market, Serge et le Phoque (852/5465-2000; dinner for two HK$1,100) specializes in French “bistronomy” and is run by chef George Scott-Toft, who cooks with confidence and flair.

last great meal The best veal parm I’ve had in a while was at Carbone (carbone.com.hk; dinner for two HK$1,100). The lightly breaded steak is baked with a slathering of Jersey Fresh crushed tomato sauce and highquality mozzarella. after work i’m usually... Playing darts and drinking bourbon at White Horse (852/3426-4818), a bar in Causeway Bay that is open late. Canto-pop music blares while 90s Chinese movies roll on screen. +

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: L A M Y I K F E I / B L O O M B E R G V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F J O A N N A G U N N ; M I C H A E L W E B E R / T H E P O T T I N G E R H O N G K O N G ; COURTESY OF JOWET T YU; COURTESY OF SERGE ET LE PHOQUE; COURTESY OF LI JIABO

The Tastemaker Joanna Gunn Chief brand officer, Lane Crawford Moved from London in 1997

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spotlight

PARTY GIRL Free-spirited, fun-loving Manila designer Rossy Yabut-Rojales talks to Isobel Diamond about the sources of inspiration behind her latest collection.

← Confetti shades “Color is key to my creative process. Right now, I’m enamored with pastel and confetti hues, reminiscent of ice cream and candy. I’m teaming these softer shades with vibrant gold for a striking contrast.”

↓ City limits “The design scene is developing and maturing in Manila, and it’s a thrilling place to be. From local festivals, to gigs, to club nights, the creative scene here provides constant inspiration.”

← What’s old is new again “I’m excited by vintage typography and the use of words and slogans in design. It has inspired my latest creations of cushions and wall hangings.”

← Nature and nurture “I love organic shapes, influenced by the tropical landscapes of the Philippines, and I take ideas from everyday objects in nature, from fruits to animals.”

My apartment → “I’ve finally completed the interiors for the apartment I live in with my husband. It reflects our shared taste, from classic furniture painted vibrant colors to artworks by artists we admire. There are plenty of conversationstarting pieces, with the definite feel of a Brooklyn loft.”

← Serving with a twist “A retro bar trolley is the ultimate home accessory for me. I have one at my place, which I so enjoy using. It captures the spirit of my designs perfectly.”

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: F R A N C I S C O G U E R R E R O (4) ; C O U R T E S Y O F H E I M A ; T E D A L J I B E /A F P/ G E T T Y I M A G E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F H E I M A ; F R A N C I S C O G U E R R E R O

← Joie de vivre “I wanted to create a range that celebrates throwing soirées at home, so the latest collection for my brand Heima (heimastore.com) is titled Life is a Party. It’s full of bright, quirky and characterful home accessories.”

Radar Inn A Day’s 4:00 PM room with clear views of Wat Arun, in Bangkok.

hotels

WARMER WELCOMES There’s a new breed of innkeepers on the scene, for whom it’s not enough to provide just a nice room and a cool lobby. Drawing on their cultural credentials and connections, they’re creating intimate spaces that blur the line between B&B and neighborhood clubhouse. Who needs a concierge’s tips when the fashion crowd is in the living room and the mixologist is holding a cocktail class in the lounge? Meet the next generation of millennial-centric, experience-driven microhotels. by colleen clark and monsicha hoonsuwan

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Veraus Chinitsarayos and Inn A Day. ↓

Ulrika Lundgren and Maison Rika. ↓

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 I N N A D AY ( 2 ) ; M A R I J K E A E R D E N / C O U R T E S Y O F M A I S O N R I K A ; C O U R T E S Y O F M A I S O N R I K A ; C O U R T E S Y O F A R T I S T R E S I D E N C E ( 2 ) . O P P O S I T E : C O U R T E S Y O F I N N A D AY

Inn A Day, Bangkok

Unprecedented were Veraus Chinitsarayos’s aims when he sought the help of Jurathip Intrassai, the architect behind Old Bangkok Inn, to transform his parents’ riverside coconut palm sugar factory. The result is a scrapbookinspired B&B where guests feel, he hopes, “at ease, as if staying at a friend’s house.” Boasting stirring views of Wat Arun, each of the 11 rooms is time-stamped, from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and represents a snapshot of his

↑ Charlotte Newey, Justin Salisbury and their Artist Residence Cornwall.

Tha Tian community framed by a dawn, midday or dusk color scheme mirroring the hues reflected off the temple’s prangs. The restaurant pays homage to the shophouse’s industrious past with walls of red bricks and peeps (metal cans used to store the sugar); countertops made of blocks of jaggery; and the bathroom’s folding metal doors and grills. Says Veraus: “Guests will remember the community, local lifestyle and joys of being in Bangkok.” innaday.com; doubles from Bt3,200.

Maison Rika, Amsterdam

Artist Residence, England

When you check in to the two-room Maison Rika, in the 9 Streets district, you’re welcomed with a chic skull- and-star print canvas bag and a personalized guide to the city. “That’s the way I treat someone who comes to my home,” says owner Ulrika Lundgren, designer of the cult fashion label Rika (Julianne Moore is a fan). The line’s girly rocker aesthetic finds expression at her guesthouse in a bold black-and-white palette softened by fuzzy throws and embroidered pillows. Downstairs, a concept store hosts trunk shows and street-art installations and sells accessories inspired by Lundgren’s travels. Though she has big plans for the brand—Tokyo and Scandinavia outposts are in the works—Lundgren wants to stay small. “No more than five or six rooms, so they will always feel intimate.” rikaint.com; doubles from €250.

In 2008, Justin Salisbury invited local artists to redecorate his family’s run-down guesthouse in Brighton in exchange for a stay. The result—all whimsical murals and kitschy throw pillows—was such a hit with guests that it led to two other hotels, one in Cornwall and the latest in London. The look of the latter has grown more sophisticated (sofas upholstered in Turkish kilims, copper lighting by Nud Collection), but Salisbury and fiancée Charlotte Newey have stuck to their communitybuilding mission. A belowground lounge draws a mixed crowd of foreign guests, magazine editors and diplomats; a series of cocktail master classes is planned. “What makes a great hotel are the people— the guests and the staff that create that free-spirited, homey ambience,” Salisbury says. artistresidence.co.uk; doubles from £69. +

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Radar

bars

ROOFTOP REVELRY A slick Venetian gastropub is a tough act to follow, but restaurateur Beppe De Vito’s latest venue ups the ante once again. This time, the Puglia native has ditched his Italian roots in favor of a globally inspired spin on everyone’s favorite combo: oysters and bubbles. It doesn’t hurt that Southbridge’s perch on top of a fifth-floor renovated Boat Quay shophouse offers the perfect vantage point to soak up the city-state’s architectural splendor. From this bend of the snaking Singapore River, colonial-era low-rises on one bank are dwarfed by lofty CBD skyscrapers on the other, with scale and scope accentuated in dazzling fashion. “I wanted to match the striking location by creating an environment where the vibe is always buzzy, yet relaxed and unpretentious at the same time,” De Vito says. Translation: look for shared plates of comfort foods like 38

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pulled-pork sliders and fat, lobster-knuckle rolls, plus those oysters, served hot or cold by the half-dozen. De Vito enlisted his compatriot Gerry Callipo, bartender of the Florence cocktail club Bitter Bar, to conceive the drinks program. It’s anchored by 16 sparkling wines, a compelling range of spirits mostly sourced from small-batch distillers, and craft cocktails such as Lust, Caution, with Southbridge’s Sichuan peppercorninfused gin, or the boozy, rum-based One Night in Bangkok, playfully presented in a hollowedout coconut. With libations this smooth, and a crowd almost as photogenic as the view, we can certainly think of worse ways to while away a Friday night. 5F 80 Boat Quay; 65/65365818; southbridge.sg; oysters and cocktails for two S$90. +

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Clockwise from top: A sweeping panorama of the CBD; warm oysters topped with sustainable Avruga caviar; juicy Wagyu beef sliders; Sex on the Quay with Earl Grey-infused vodka.

C O U R T E S Y O F S O U T H B R I D G E (4)

A romantic new Singapore sky-bar delivers champagne wishes and oyster dreams. By Brian Spencer

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

Radar Art Central’s tent on Central Harbourfront. Below: A kitsch-cool print by Valery Barykin.

b e au t y

FARM TO FACE Skin-care companies are taking a locavore approach, producing goods with a strong sense of place.

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art

CREATIVE CITY Hong Kong’s newest art fair champions upcoming Asian talent and sophisticated style. By Helen Dalley With the arrival of Art Hong Kong, the sister fair to Art Basel, two years ago, Asia’s financial center established itself as equally important as an arts hub. It already boasts the world’s third-largest collector base—after New York and London—and the public’s appetite for the surreal, the beautiful and the boundary-pushing continues to grow, if new additions to the arts calendar are any indication. The first international-standard satellite fair to be staged in Hong Kong, Art Central (artcentralhongkong.com; tickets HK$200) will exhibit works from more than 75 galleries, from local spaces such as The Cat Street Gallery to global heavy-hitters like New York’s Dillon Gallery. The two-day fair, opening on March 14, one day earlier than Art Basel, will be held in a 10,000-square-meter temporary structure on Central Harbourfront. The focus here is on select superstars shedding a light on regional

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talent. More than half the participating galleries are from Asia Pacific, giving up-and-coming local artists, such as home-girl Joyce Wang with her scintillating, Swarovski-studded Oculus installation, a chance to shine. The fair has also allocated a section titled Rise to artists from emerging markets. Would-be collectors can preview the show’s works at Artsy.net from March 10, which has a microsite and app dedicated to the fair. Smaller in scale, but just as worthy of attention are some of the city’s independent gallery showings throughout the month. We’re quite enamored of Erarta Galleries’ “Soviet Pin-Up” (March 1-31; erartagalleries. com) exhibition of works by Russian painter Valery Barykin, which blends buxom 1950s-style Americana babes with old-school Soviet propaganda to deliciously kitsch effect. Colorful, eye-popping and a bit edgy—not unlike Hong Kong itself.

F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F A R T C E N T R A L : C O U R T E S Y O F E R A R TA G A L L E R I E S . I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y H A N N A H K . L E E

Just as chefs are increasingly careful about knowing where their food comes from, beauty brands are thinking more about what goes into their products— and even growing their own ingredients. Bottega Organica (bottegaorganica.com) produces its own olive oil, sage and roses on farms in Liguria, Italy, and Columbia County, New York, while Manila-based VMV Hypoallergenics (vmvhypoallergenics.com) harvests organic virgin coconut oil for its skin-care and makeup lines on a family-run estate. Julisis (julisis.com) combines liquid precious metals with medicinal plants grown in a 120-year-old biodynamic garden near the Italian Alps. Cult favorite Tata Harper (tataharperskincare.com) raises flowers and herbs for an extensive range of skin care and cosmetics on its property in Vermont. For Guerlain (guerlain. com), the unique honey produced by black bees in Brittany, France, led to the anti-aging Abeille Royale collection as well as a partnership with the local bee conservancy. Sustainable beauty, indeed. —k atie james

preview

MAKING MAGIC

Manila chef Jose Luis Gonzalez.

COURTESY OF MADRID FUSION

Manila just scored one of the world’s most prestigious food-fests, featuring words of wisdom and exceedingly delicious dishes. By Stephanie Zubiri “As a chef, it is important to stay curious, to keep learning,” says Jose Luis “Chele” Gonzalez, an El Bulli and Noma alum whose sleek, sexy Basque tapas bar Vask is a Filipino A-list favorite. “I went to meet the Aetas indigenous people, one or two hours away from Manila, and in the middle of the forest you see people still cooking in bamboo, just as they did 5,000 years ago… and that is the magic of the Philippines. This is what we want to embrace in Madrid Fusión.” Magic. That is the operative word. Gastronomic magic from a whole lot of stars is what happens when you put a culinary dream team including Andoni

M57 AD_TravelLeisureMar15_(FAOL)V2.pdf

Aduriz, Elena Arzak and Andre Chiang under one roof and give them hightech toys, locally sourced produce and rich regional traditions to play with. Madrid Fusión, Spain’s most important gastronomy congress, is coming to Asia for the first time and making its home in Manila. From April 24 to 26, gastronomes can indulge in local delicacies such as crisp-skinned suckling pig and kinilaw, a ceviche-esque dish perfumed with calamansi limes and spiced with ají chilies, with a hearty side of “foodosophical” musings from speakers such as Hong Kong’s Michelinadorned, tattoo-covered Alvin Leung.

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Not in the mood to think before you eat? Then just come to enjoy the many foodie side events happening during Fusión’s Flavors of the Philippines Festival. There will be gourmet food trucks and craft beer. Need we say more? madridfusionmanila.com.

Radar

ALOHA HIGH How designer Michael Kors does Honolulu.

Why do I love Hawaii? I love it because it’s not too far from the U.S. mainland, but it feels like it’s worlds away. I love the lush landscapes, the mountain vistas, the perfect weather. I love that people go swimming after work before they get ready for dinner. What could be better than that? stay+eat I always spend a few days in Honolulu—it’s the ideal blend of city and sea. The divine Halekulani Hotel (halekulani.com; doubles from US$495) is right on Waikiki and close to some of the best restaurants and shops. One of my favorite dishes is the pho French dip at The Pig & The Lady (thepigandthelady. com; sandwiches for two US$26) , a braised brisket sandwich you dunk in Vietnamesestyle broth. Another must: lunch on the terrace at Plumeria Beach House (kahalaresort. com; lunch for two US$50 ). I get the Kahala burger with a fried egg, bacon and guacamole and check out the dolphins in the lagoon.

shop The quirky Hound & Quail (houndandquail.com) stocks an eclectic mix of vintage and modern furniture. There’s inevitably something I never knew I needed— like a taxidermied deer head. And I enjoy browsing the vintage aloha shirts and ornate Hawaiian silver jewelry over at Manu Antiques (manuantiques.com). do While I’m perfectly happy sitting on the beach with a stack of magazines, it’s worth spending a few hours at Doris Duke’s former estate, Shangri La (shangrilahawaii.org), with its gardens and collection of Islamic art. When time allows, I fly over to the Big Island for a day or two. The traditional lomilomi massage at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai (fourseasons.com; doubles from US$895) leaves me feeling completely re-energized. And a helicopter ride around the island’s black volcanic landscape reminds me that Hawaii is like no place else on earth. +

Clockwise from top: Michael Kors soaking in the sun; Doris Duke’s former estate, Shangri La; a tropical look from Kors’s spring/summer collection; the pho French dip sandwich at The Pig & The Lady; sunset at Oahu; the quirky Hound & Quail.

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F M I C H A E L K O R S ; C O U R T E S Y O F S H A N G R I L A C E N T E R F O R I S L A M I C A R T S A N D C U LT U R E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F M I C H A E L K O R S ; C O U R T E S Y O F T H E P I G & T H E L A D Y; B O B A B R A H A M / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F H O U N D & Q U A I L

field notes

Radar

c u lt u r e

THE WORLD ON A PLATE

Clockwise from top left: Overseen by Sforza Castle, Via Dante is aflutter with world flags; Il Foyer mixologist Luca Marcellin; perfect pies at Maruzzella; Magna Pars Suites; bespoke cocktails at Dry; sarcophagus-hunters should visit Basilica di Sant Ambrogio.

It’s only fitting that the host of the “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”-themed Expo 2015 (expo2015.org; May 1-October 31; tickets from €27) is one of the greatest gastronomic cultures. “We have power in food,” says chef Fulvio Siccardi of Da Noi In (Via Forcella 6; dinner for two €90) in Milan’s fashion-centric Navigli area. Siccardi tinkered with his modern Italian menu to incorporate foreign flavors (soy; curry; ginger)—a Pangaea-like approach in line with the Expo’s organization. Country pavilions will be grouped by their main produce, creating a world map based on the palate. Caffeinate under the tropical canopy of the Africa and Central Americadominated Coffee Cluster, or step into a giant paddy in Rice Cluster, home to a few Southeast Asian nations. Then return to Italy—for Milan holds a vast old world beyond the Expo’s borders. Do Cryptic, brittle and haunting, da Vinci’s ethereal Last Supper (vivaticket.it; €6.50) is a must, and a must-reserve. You can’t miss the magnificent Duomo di Milano, however, sarcophagushunters should see the Basilica di Sant Ambrogio (basilicasan tambrogio.it), which dates to 379 A.D. and has three saints and an emperor in its creepy crypts. Still, Milan is a living city, so go local: hipsters imbibe alfresco in the crumbling Colonne di San Lorenzo; Parco Sempione is alive with soccer, picnics and live music; have a quartino of vino at one of the many sidewalk cafés in the bohemian/yuppie, labyrinthine Brera district.

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Eat+Drink A tiny room of tiny tables, murals of nymphs and lushes: Bagutta is one of the city’s most romantic trattorias (bagutta.it; dinner for two €100). Get the veal Milanese and Parmesan-saffron risotto. Homey Ristorante Solferino (ilsolferino.com; dinner for two €90) has crafted beautiful pastas since 1909. The best pizza in an Italian city? Tough question. For a consistently adored Neapolitan pie, try Maruzzella (pizzeria maruzzellamilano.it; dinner for two €40). To drink? Trust your taste buds to the aproned bar masters at stark, buzzy Dry (dry milano.it), or to the peripatetic inspirations of Luca Marcellin at Il Foyer (fourseasons.com). His Expo Martini has global dashes of flavors, from cardamom to chamomile to bitter chocolate. Stay It’s hard to get more central than the Four Seasons Milan (fourseasons.com; doubles from €570), in the super-swank Via Montenapoleone shopping area. A vaulted-ceiling pool; breakfast in the cloister; dapper, obliging concierges are highlights in this refit 15th-century convent. The newest rooms, including triplex suites, center on a courtyard like in a Mediterranean home. In the design-house ‘hood across town is gleaming, glassy Magna Pars Suites (magnapars-suites milano.it; doubles from €270), tied spiritually and stylistically to the perfume factory that once operated in its spot. Pre-Expo, this lofty boutique added 11 rooms, plus exclusive tours such as Secret Palaces, a visit to hardto-access noble palazzi. +

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: © M I H A I - B O G D A N L A Z A R / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; C O U R T E S Y O F F O U R S E A S O N S ; C O U R T E S Y O F M A R U Z Z E L L A ; C O U R T E S Y O F M A G N A P A R S S U I T E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F D R Y; W A LT E R B I B I K O W/G E T T Y I M A G E S

The culinary-centric World Expo rolls into Milan in May. Get your food and culture on in a city brimming with both. By Jeninne Lee-St. John

Radar apps

T+L MARCH ISSUE.pdf 1 2/3/2015 4:58:52 PM

Pinterest, Twitter, Vine and, yes, Zuckerburg’s behemoth—do we really need another social network, you ask? Bear with us, we were skeptical too before we downloaded Spottly. The plucky little Hong Kong startup, which officially launched in Singapore on February 12 after receiving US$850,000 in Silicon Valley seed funding, combines the ubiquitous Instagram aesthetic with intuitive organizational tools and a clean, user-friendly interface available in 14 different languages. Snap a shot of that street art in Penang or take a video of orangutans in Borneo and Spottly will time stamp it, file it away by location and share it with the 80,000-plus people who’ve downloaded the app so far. The result is a compelling collage of your travels, plus access to crowd-sourced visual guides from more than 2,300 cities across the globe. And since the app plans to stay true to its Southeast Asian roots, you’ll barely have to lift a finger to receive loads of local eye-candy. Free; iOS. —diana hubbell

Escape to the peace and tranquility of Kamandalu Ubud, a 5-star boutique resort situated amid lush paddyfields in the green hills of Ubud. From your very own Balinese-inspired villa, step out to enjoy the warm hospitality of our staff and explore the natural surroundings that lie just beyond.

C O U R T E S Y O F S P O T T LY

SPOTTED

HERITAGE OF SERENITY

Jalan Andong Banjar Nagi Ubud, Bali 80571 Indonesia T +62 361 975 825 reservation@kamandaluresort.com www.kamandaluresort.com kamandalu

kamandalu

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Radar style

SMALL WONDERS Spring’s hottest handbags are a day-tripper’s dream—chic, packable and perfectly strapped. By Jane Bishop

2 5

1 Mark Cross leather box bag, US$2,395. 2 Burberry hand-painted bag, US$2,795. 3 Reed Krakoff calf-leather tote, US$1,290. 4 Bulgari calf-leather purse, US$2,350. 5 Jimmy Choo leather top-handle bag, US$1,495.

P HOTOG R A P H ED BY YASU + JU N KO

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Radar

book

BEHIND THE LENS Aung San Suu Kyi herself endorsed the stunning new photography book Burma: An Enchanted Spirit. David Heath has captured everything from sea gypsies to temple spires—and is using sales to help build a school in Rangoon.

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What brought you to Burma in the first place? I’ve always sought out exotic locales and ancient cultures, so I was intrigued by this once isolated land. Traveling there felt like I was being let in on a secret. From the moment I set foot in the country, I was under its spell. I was so impressed with the generosity, humor and compassion of the Burmese.

crashing in, I only hope that Burma will retain its spirit.

How has the country changed over the years? Since I first started visiting six years ago, tourism has increased rapidly. After 50 years of isolation, their doors are now open to the world, resulting in heightened interest and investment. This charming land will soon change forever, but as the contemporary world comes

What are some of your favorite under-the-radar destinations in Burma? I have two favorite places, but by the time this goes to print they might not be so secret anymore! The first is Mrauk U, a tropical town located in Rakhine State. If you climb atop the hills, there are 360-degree views of temples. Once a little-known place,

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What are your tips for getting the perfect shot? My number one tip for a great photo is to hire a trustworthy guide who speaks the language and knows where to be at the right time. Find someone willing to stay up late and wake up early to catch the sunrise.

tourists are starting to catch wind of its beauty. The second destination is the Chindwin River in the northwest. Its water passes through a gorgeous array of rural Burma; visitors will pass by lush landscapes, steep mountains and quiet villages. Keep an eye out for the colorful-looking onion farmers along its banks. What surprised you most during the eight trips and 38 flights required to make this book? The Burmese people are intoxicatingly genuine and surprised me with their enthusiastic support in creation of the book. And Burma’s landscape is incredible. It’s truly the most photogenic place I’ve been. —di a na h u bbell

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F D A V I D H E AT H ( 3 ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F R I V E R J O R D A N ; C O U R T E S Y O F D A V I D H E AT H

Clockwise from left: U Bein Bridge at dawn; sea gypsies leaping for dinner; playful novice monks at a Bagan monastery; David Heath at work; Burma: An Enchanted Spirit.

Radar chefs

TOKYO BY THE SEINE

One of France’s food obsessions of late is whether la gastronomie française is in decline, eclipsed by the sexier, more innovative cooking coming out of Copenhagen, Spain and even London. But another popular dinner-table conversation—one about the onslaught of Japanese chefs who are setting up high-end restaurants in Paris— suggests that the nation’s cuisine isn’t imperiled, it’s just evolving. For a group of talented young chefs from Japan, French food is not 50

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only relevant but also worth crossing continents to master and adapt. Parisians have welcomed the new guard’s gentle hybridization, which emphasizes seasonal, intellectually ambitious, delicately prepared, and mostly French food—with only the slightest hint of a foreign accent. There’s long been an affinity between French and Japanese cuisines—both ritualistic, both demanding. “For so many of us who got inspired by French food back in Japan, the only way to

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gain knowledge of real French products and philosophy was to come here,” says Ryuji Teshima, who opened Restaurant Pages last year near the Arc de Triomphe. Teshima obeys both his native and adopted cuisines’ edicts of strong and clear flavors, as in a lavishly deconstructed rendition of pot-au-feu with Wagyu beef, Limousin veal, pristine root vegetables and citrus zest. Shinya Usami studied at the Cordon Bleu before opening Clover in stylish Saint-Germain in December with Jean-François Piège, the chef behind fashion hangout Brasserie Thoumieux. The quinoa chips with eggplant and black-sesame mousse speak to Usami’s Japanese roots—but the duck pithiviers is pure ancien régime. At the popular Abri, in the 10th Arrondissement, the food is mostly neo-bistro; Taillevent alumnus Katsuaki Okiyama’s most conspicuous nod to his place of birth is the flash-fried tonkatsu sandwich, served at lunch on Mondays. At Restaurant AT, chef Atsushi Tanaka creates bold dishes—such as shredded poached lobster with raw radishes and squid-ink bread crumbs—that merely flirt with Asian flavors. But the bite-size portions presented dramatically on stoneware subtly reveal the chef’s heritage. +

↑ Abri 92 Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, 10th Arr.; chef Katsuki Okiyama’s (above) tasting menu €38.50 per person. Clover jeanfrancoispiege.com; tasting menu €58 per person.

↑ Restaurant AT atsushitanaka.com; tasting menu €85 per person.

↑ Restaurant Pages 4 Rue Auguste Vacquerie, 16th Arr.; tasting menu €85 per person.

F R O M T O P : Y O A N N S T O E C K E L ; C O U R T E S Y O F R E S TA U R A N T AT; R I N A N U R R A / C O U R T E S Y O F R E S TA U R A N T P A G E S . I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y H A N N A H K . L E E

Japanese chefs are jazzing up the Paris dining scene—no sushi or soy sauce in sight. By Alexandra Marshall

THREE AFRICAN ADVENTURES IN ONE

nearthing southern Africa’s hidden jewels has never been easier with the Sunlux Collection. Sun International has three five-star establishments, positioned in a “Golden Triangle” that links Cape Town’s landmark The Table Bay, within the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront; Sun City’s The Palace Sun City, nestled in an extinct volcanic crater surrounded by the Pilanesburg big 5 nature reserve, and Zambia’s gracious Royal Livingstone, set against Victoria Falls. Each is a gem, and offers a different perspective on the continent’s must-see attractions. Within Sun City, The Palace Sun City is a resort with a difference: many guests arrive for the Gary Player Golf Course, but soon find themselves immersed in natural African surroundings of streams, waterfalls and an overall bush feel to the grounds. There are 338 luxurious suites designed with a modern African décor. For the best view, take a hot-air balloon ride where you can spot the Big 5: lions, elephants, leopards, rhino and buffalo. The second jewel in this crown, the Royal Livingstone Hotel, is on the Zambezi River and is within a short walk of the majestic Victoria Falls. The hotel’s interior reflects the elegance of African days gone by—think polished brass, fine crystal and silver service. Aside from a number of safaris, tours of the iconic Victoria Falls either on foot or in a helicopter, there’s also a chance to spoil yourself with a spa treatment overlooking the Zambezi River. There are few things in life more cosmopolitan in Cape Town than the Table Bay Hotel. One of the city’s best addresses, it also offers easy access to nearby Table Mountain and the region’s vineyards. South Africa colors blend with the hotel’s neo-Victorian architecture resulting in an address with 329 luxurious rooms, each with a view of the majestic Table Mountain or the Atlantic Ocean. Three stops in Africa, each unique and each will leave you yearning to return.

For more information: suninternational.com/sunlux www.a2asafaris.com T: +852 2525 2776 (Hong Kong), +65 6442 7600 (Singapore) and +632 9527414 (Philippines)

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Trip Doctor

STAYING FIT ON THE ROAD Destination spas aside, hotel wellness used to begin and end with a couple of massage rooms and a shoe-box-size gym. But now many companies are responding to the needs of nutritionminded, Fitbit-wearing travelers by incorporating holistic programming into every aspect of the guest experience—even launching entirely new brands that are making your health their business. Here, five ways you can reap the benefits. BY SANDRA RAMANI, WITH REPORTING BY NIKKI EKSTEIN, DIANA HUBBELL AND MEL ANIE LIEBERMAN. PHOTOGRAPHED BY FREDRIK BRODÉN

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Trip Doctor

Strategies

the excuse I find going to the gym boring. the solution A workout doesn’t have to involve plodding away on a treadmill in a dingy hotel basement. At Banyan Tree Seoul (banyantree.com), the state-of-the-art two-story fitness center includes all sorts of diversions, including a climbing wall. Sometimes, a simple change of scenery can be the best motivation. Over at the Four Seasons Guangzhou

(fourseasons.com), the gym’s floor-to-ceiling windows showcase a sweeping panorama of the city from the 69th story.

NEVER MISS A WORKOUT It’s getting harder to come up with a reason for skipping the gym—especially now that hotels are making it easier and more enjoyable than ever to break a sweat.

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the excuse I didn’t have space to pack my running shoes and yoga mat. the solution Westin (westin.com) has been loaning New Balance gear to guests for a few years. Now other hotels are following suit. Loyalty-club members at all Fairmont properties (fairmont.com) can request Reebok apparel and sneakers.

T V STI L L : WA R N ER B R OT H ERS/P H OTO F EST

the excuse I need someone to motivate me. the solution There’s no slacking at Kata Rocks (katarocks.com) in Phuket, not with Callum McGregor, a strongman competition winner, ex-British special forces commando and personal trainer extraordinaire, to whip guests into shape. For Bt10,000 a day, you’ll get a plush boot camp, complete with detox juice program.

SEE A SPECIALIST Want to overhaul your diet and exercise regimen? Urban hotels are now offering the kind of diagnostic tools that have traditionally been found at destination spas. Consultants at The Shilla Seoul (shilla.net) are on hand at the gym to give guests a full fitness assessment and to create custom workouts for them. At the Madinat Jumeirah (jumeirah.com), in Dubai, trainers help guests evaluate and improve their cardiovascular strength in a high-altitude simulator. Metropolitan by COMO, Bangkok (comohotels.com) offers expert advice from their visiting consultants. As of printing, Nakorn Meecum, a veteran of Chiva-Som with a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in physical education, was running the show. Past health gurus at the hotel include a raw food cookbook author, a professional dance choreographer and an Olympian trainer.

TREND-SPOTTING

KICK STARTER Who has time to exercise when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a whole day of vacation planned? With that in mind, some resorts are catering to early-birds. At Vana Belle, in Koh Samui (starwoodhotels.com), greet the sunrise with a killer abs workout down by the ocean. While in Sri Lanka, burn calories the fun way with a private morning surf session at Amanwella (amanresorts.com).

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Trip Doctor

Strategies

SAY SO LONG TO THE TREADMILL

Hotels are finding new ways to help guests stay fit. We’ve picked some of the top workouts and where to try them.

muay thai

what it is Thailand’s ferocious

national sport, involving swift kicks and punches to the face. why we like it It’s a chance to learn about one of the country’s most popular traditions and break a sweat. where to try it The Peninsula Bangkok (peninsula.com) offers

one-on-one classes.

pilates

what it is Developed by a German physical-culturist, Pilates integrates East-West forms of exercise. why we like it Pilates strengthens core muscles, increases flexibility and

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tones every part of your body.

where to try it If there’s a better

class in the world than the stellar one at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong (mandarinoriental.com), we don’t know where it is.

triathlon training

what it is High-intensity prep for a

truly grueling athletic event. why we like it The fastest way we know to an adonis-worthy set of abs.

where to try it Thanyapura Phuket

(thanyapura.com) is a training ground for Olympic teams as well as weekend warriors. Their staff and facilities are all professional grade.

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hydro treadmill

what it is Just what it sounds like: a partially underwater treadmill. why we like it All the benefits of running without the joint strain. where to try it Capri by Fraser, Changi City (capribyfraser.com) offers

a hydro treadmill in their pool.

rooftop tai chi

what it is China’s ancient series of controlled movements, but with a view. why we like it It’s the reason those nai nais stay spry well into old age. where to try it The historic Fairmont Peace Hotel (fairmont. com), overlooking Shanghai’s Bund.

TREND-SPOTTING

THE BIG SQUEEZE

TAKE TIME TO RELAX

Hotels are stepping in to help workaholics and e-mail addicts truly disconnect. Westin (westin.com) pioneered this trend, partnering with meditation guru Andy Puddicombe to develop a series of 10-minute travel-themed podcasts; topics include “Switching Off from Work,” “Using Technology Mindfully” and “Getting Ready for Sleep.” Japan’s capital is a famously high-octane city, which is probably why the Park Hyatt Tokyo (park.hyatt.com) has a special “Good Night Sleep Stretch” on their 47th-floor aerobics studio to help guests wind down at the end of the day. Warm herbal tea and soothing aromatic oils are combined with a gentle series of stretching exercises. Meanwhile, Raffles Singapore (raffles.com) helps comfort travel-weary guests with spa treatments specially tailored to fight jet lag.

Kale juices and beetroot smoothies used to be the domain of crunchy, raw vegan health-food junkies. Now that celebrities are happily quaffing these antioxidentlaced concoctions, it’s safe to say that the juicing craze has gone mainstream. After all, a few extra vitamins are a nice change of pace for the lessvirtuous—or less sanctimonious— eaters among us, especially when on the road. Get your fix at Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing (amanresorts.com), where the wellness facilities, in addition to fitness consultants, squash courts and a 25-meter pool, include a freshly squeezed juice bar. Over at Bali’s COMO Shambhala Estate, Ubud (comohotels.com), the signature restaurant uses mostly organic ingredients, minimal salt, zero processed sugar, and offers ginger-wheatgrass shots whenever the craving strikes. There’s a whole menu of juices with names like Stress Reliever—apple, grapes, spinach, fennel, sweet potato, beet, carrot and ginger—and Muscle Mylk—coconut water, banana, cinnamon, almond milk, flax and cocoa beans.

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Trip Doctor

Strategies

GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

Thanks to these innovations, you can rest easy on the road. smart beds Last year, Four Seasons (fourseasons.com) created a customizable bed, allowing guests to pick their preferred firmness for mattress toppers and pillows. At some Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts

(crowneplaza.com), new curved headboards act as sound buffers to help you tune out noisy neighbors. sleep retreats Kamalaya Koh Samui’s (kamalaya.com) Sleep Enhancement programs are among the region’s best-known for a reason. They incorporate holistic healing techniques such as shirodhara, acupuncture and ayurvedic massages with personalized 60

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one-on-one sleep consultations with experts. Herbal baths, meditation and an all-around Zen environment help guests nab those elusive Zs. The idea is not only to help you rest easy during your stay, but also prepare you to fight off future bouts of insomnia. sleep yoga At Six Senses (sixsenses.com) resorts from Con Dao to Koh Yao Noi, guests can engage in a three- to 14-day course program designed to help boost the quality and quantity of their shut-eye. Combining yoga nidra, an ancient practice designed to induce complete relaxation, with pranayama breathing

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techniques and a series of spa treatments, the program is equally suitable for sun-saluting pros and rookies who just want to get their beauty rest. bedtime gadgets Does the roar of the city leave you tossing and turning at night? When booking a room at W Taipei (starwoodhotels.com), ask the reservations team for one of the 19 Pure rooms on the 23rd floor. Although not listed on their website, these highly specialized rooms each feature a Marpac SleepMate, which generates gentle white noise to drown out the din of the Taiwanese metropolis. +

Trip Doctor

The Fix

HOW CAN I GET VIP TREATMENT AT A HOTEL? Let’s face it: hotels favor certain guests over others. Some will always be offered the biggest rooms with the best views, the extra attention and all the perks (welcome gifts, on-site credit) that make staying at a hotel a little bit nicer.

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Work with a top agent The luxury-hotel industry is built on relationships, many of them formalized agreements between hospitality companies and travel agencies. Travel advisors get preferred rates and better commissions when booking clients into partner hotels—along with special amenities like room upgrades, early check-in and late checkout, and often spa or restaurant credits. Two of the biggest agency groups, Virtuoso (virtuoso.com) and Signature (signaturetravel network.com), each work with thousands of top hotels. At Phnom Penh’s Raffles Hotel Le Royal, for example, guests who book with either a Signature or Virtuoso advisor will automatically get daily breakfast and a 50-minute massage, along with a space-available room upgrade and priority requests for early check-in/ late checkout. Many advisors have deeper, personal relationships with hotel managers, which means more benefits for their clients. Don’t be shy about asking a potential advisor what he or she can do for you. You can find T+L’s A-List of the bestconnected travel advisors at tandl.me/tlalist.

Use your card One of the perks of ponying up the US$450 annual fee for an American Express Platinum Card is access to American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (americanexpress.com/fhr), a collection of luxury properties that offer benefits to cardholders who book through the website or an affiliated travel specialist. The perks are nearly identical to those offered by Virtuoso and Signature (resort credit, free breakfast, spaceavailable upgrades), with one crucial difference: you get a guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout. The website also lists cardholder deals, like a 30-percent discount at Hotel Panorama by Rhombus Hong Kong. Join the club Loyalty pays off even at the most basic level. Starwood, Marriott, InterContinental and Fairmont all offer free Wi-Fi just for signing up. Often those at higher levels can check in early, depart late, get free breakfast and be prioritized for upgrades —while also doubling their points and racking up free stays. And your request for a better room is more likely to fall on sympathetic ears if you are a member. There are also benefits to joining the programs of hotel collections like Preferred Hotel Group, Leading Hotels of the World and Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Preferred

I L L U S T R AT I O N : J A V I E R J A É N

Q+A

So how do you get VIP service if you’re not a big spender and haven’t racked up a million loyalty points? There’s no app for that—so here are a few strategies.

Have a question for T+L’s Trip Doctor? Send it to tripdoctor@ travelandleisureasia.com. Follow @TravLeisureAsia on Twitter.

I L L U S T R AT I O N : B E N W I S E M A N (4)

Hotels gives free Internet to all its iPrefer members, while Small Luxury Hotels offers space-available room upgrades to all members, regardless of status. Leading Hotels charges US$150 annually, but guarantees daily breakfast, Internet access and room upgrades when available. Get into the lounge Many hotels—especially those geared toward business travelers—offer executive- or club-level rooms that come with access to a private lounge serving complimentary breakfast, snacks, cocktails and more. These rooms often have extra perks, too, including better views (on higher floors), dedicated concierges, and free Wi-Fi and laundry services. Club rooms can cost between 10 and 60 percent more than standard rooms. Some of the best are in Asian cities, where the offerings are more developed. At the new Rosewood Beijing, club rooms have access to a private pool table and bar. The executive lounge at the Shilla Seoul serves excellent food and has sweeping city views. You can also find great club floors at The Langham Auckland and the harborview InterContinental Sydney. The amenities (and quality) vary by hotel, but if you’re planning to spend a lot of time at the property, free breakfast and cocktails alone can pay off. —a my fa r ley

WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? NOISY NEIGHBORS

Do...

EASTERN & ORIENTAL EXPRESS

Call the manager, so he or she can intervene. Trying to do it yourself may just escalate the problem.

Don’t...

Expect to be moved. If the hotel is fully booked, you may have to put up with the inconvenience.

Do...

Ask for earplugs, or a white noise machine. An extra mattress propped against an adjoining door may even do the trick.

Don’t...

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Trip Doctor

Tech

Want to share a travel app or ask a tech question? Tell us at tripdoctor@ travelandleisureasia.com.

CHECK IN ON THE CHEAP

Five new tools that will help you get the room you want at the lowest possible price. By Tom Samiljan and Monsicha Hoonsuwan

FOR THE TIME-STRAPPED Booking Now (Free; iOS) Browsing Booking.com’s network of 585,000 hotels for a last-minute deal just got easier. Tell the app your name, contact information and lodging preferences, then it loads up a map of hotels nearby, ranked according to how well they match your needs. It also learns from your history, which means an even faster reservation next time. top find 20 percent off at The Grove Suites, in Jakarta.

FOR THE INDECISIVE SHOPPER Worldmate (Free; Android, iOS, Windows Phone) Say farewell to buyer’s remorse: this handy all-in-one travel organizer now sends price-drop alerts for any refundable booking that you forward to trips@worldmate.com. It will also send counteroffers if cheaper rates pop up at similar hotels in the area— or if you can upgrade to a better hotel for less money. top find 33 percent off at the Hotel Allegro, a Kimpton property in Chicago.

FOR THE LOYALIST Kaligo (Web only) Booking with most apps means choosing savings over loyalty points. But this Singapore-based search tool offers competitive rates at more than 300,000 hotels and lets you earn up

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to 10,000 miles per night that can be used to redeem free flights, upgrades or vouchers from its partners including Thai’s Royal Orchid Plus and Asia Miles. top find 43 percent off at LiT Bangkok.

FOR THE BARGAIN HUNTER HotelPower (Web only) Sign up for this site’s Travel Club, and you’ll find discounts that reach up to 70 percent, even at properties that rarely ever discount (like Four Seasons). Membership is US$50 a year and can pay for itself in a single booking—as long as you have the patience to scroll through a somewhat cumbersome interface. top find 56 percent off at Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar.

FOR THE ULTRAORGANIZED AirAsiaGo (Free; Android, iOS) You can search AirAsia flights, find hotels anywhere in the world, keep track of your itineraries, and sometime in the future, book tour packages all with a one easy-to-use platform. Launched in January, the application promises up to 70 percent mobile-only savings on more than 365,000 properties and sends you real-time reminders of check-in and checkout times. top find 70 percent off at Herathera Island Resort, in the Maldives.

I L L U S T R AT E D B Y O L I V E R M U N D AY

here are a thousand things to do at our island hideaway. Or nothing at all.

At The Racha, the island is your playground. For starters, the five-star Racha Dive Center provides personalized scuba instruction and trips to the Andaman Sea’s most beautiful sites. Energetic guests may choose to kayak, snorkel the island’s famed house reefs, learn Thai boxing, attend yoga class, ride ATVs or hike the island. cooking and batik painting classes are offered to guests who wish to take thai culture home with them.

For those preferring serenity, guests might wish to stroll the resort’s twenty-acre grounds, swim in three ozonated pools, peruse the library, or indulge in treatments at the famed Anumba Spa. Or simply watch the world go by. www.theracha.com

X O

P R I VAT E

Enjoy your 3rd night free with every 2 paid nights (Pool Villa Free Nights) for selected pool villas*. For stays until 31st October 2015 at www.theracha.com.

A menber of Small Luxury Hotels of the World

85 luxurious villas • 3 ozonated pools (excluding private ones) • 3 signature dining establishments & bar

world-acclaimed anumba spa • club del mar for chilling • personalized sea and land experiences • to-die-for-views complimentary tel: 66 76 355 455 fax: 66 76 355 637 email: reservation@theracha.com

www.theracha.com

* terms & conditions apply

Trip Doctor

Deals

REA D E R E XC LU S I V ES

THIS MONTH’S BEST DEALS From stylish baby accoutrements in Sydney to free-flow spa treatments in Vietnam, this month’s offers spring glorious gifts.

CITY ✪ JAKARTA The Deal Opening offer from Fairmont Jakarta (fairmont.com), a new 380-guest room, urban hotel with 180 one- and two-bedroom Sky suites for long-term visitors. Stay A night in a Fairmont room. The Highlight Twenty-five percent off best available rates, with late checkout. Cost From US$244, double, through April 30. Savings 25 percent. TAIPEI The Deal Living in Art room package from Humble House Taipei (humblehousehotels. com), the only member of Design Hotels in Taiwan. Stay Two nights in a Premier room. The

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Highlight Special first-openinganniversary rate with daily breakfast, welcome drink, daily dessert and Humble House Art Book included. Cost From NT$15,800 (NT$7,900 per night), double, through December 29. Savings 46 percent. BANGKOK The Deal Dinner on Us from Preferred Hotel member The Siam (thesiamhotel.com), a Bill Bensley-designed riverside retreat. Stay A night in a Siam suite. The Highlight A Western or Thai set dinner for two at Deco Bar & Bistro or Chon Thai restaurant. Cost From Bt60,969 (Bt15,242 per night), double, through December 20. Savings 20 percent.

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Super Saver

CHINA The Deal Romance of the Castle from The Castle Hotel, (starwoodhotels.com), a Luxury Collection hotel in Dalian. Stay A night in a Deco Deluxe Ocean View room. The Highlights Four-hour dongbei-style spa treatments for two; four-course Bavarian set dinner for two; in-room breakfast for two; the Luxury Collection’s signature cocktail for two; and roundtrip airport transfers. Cost From RMB2,188, double, through April 30. Savings 55 percent.

SINGAPORE The Deal Westin Indulge package from The Westin Singapore (thewestinsingapore. com), within walking distance from several corporate headquarters, Chinatown and Marina Bay Sands. Stay A night in a Deluxe room. The Highlights Breakfast in Westin’s signature Heavenly Bed; sparkling wine with strawberries; and 4 p.m. late checkout. Cost From S$485, double, ongoing. Savings 25 percent.

FAMILY BALI The Deal Play@Sheraton from Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort (sheratonbalikuta.com), on the island’s most popular surfing

✪ Newly opened

COURTESY OF THE CASTLE HOTEL

A Deco Deluxe Ocean View room at The Castle Hotel, in Dalian, China.

spot. Stay Two nights in a Deluxe room. The Highlights Admission to the new two-level Play@Sheraton Kids Club, an “edutainment” center for children up to 12 years old; SPG Kid Pass with all-inclusive access to diverse dining options; a bottle for free-flow chilled juices, milk or chocolate milk; and a manicure or pedicure for children. Cost From US$400 (US$200 per night), double, December 31. Savings 40 percent. SYDNEY The Deal BabyQ from QT Sydney (qtsydney.com.au), a sassy boutique with a hint of history in the CBD. Stay Two nights in a QT King Deluxe room. The Highlights Treatments at SpaQ for two; an award-winning, hi-tech Iiamo baby bottle; “Take Me Away” travel pack containing Bath Time Wash, Shampoozle & Conditioner, Moisturising Qweam and five anti-bacterial wipes from Milk & Co.; Milk by Lindy Klim body oil; and use of Bugaboo Bee3 urban stroller. Cost From A$760 (A$380 per night), double, December 31. Savings 38 percent.

C O U R T E S Y O F B A N YA N T R E E L A N G C O

DINING HONG KONG The Deal Celebration Retreat from Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong (mandarinoriental.com), a prominent address with stunning views of Victoria Harbour. Stay A night in an Harbour room. The Highlight HK$500 credit applicable at any of the hotel’s restaurants including threeMichelin-starred The Mandarin Barber, or at the award-winning Mandarin Spa. Cost From HK$5,050, double, through March 31. Savings 27 percent.

✪ CHINA The Deal Opening offer from Sanya Marriott Hotel Dadonghai Bay (marriott.com), featuring the longest infinity pool and the biggest indoor kids’ club in Sanya. Stay Two nights in a Deluxe room. The Highlights

RMB300 dining voucher and late checkout at 3 p.m. Cost From RMB2,376 (RMB1,188 per night), double, through March 31. Savings 20 percent.

ROMANCE BANGKOK The Deal Celebration package from The Okura Prestige Bangkok (okurabangkok.com), 240 rooms and suites with special tinted windows that showcase the city’s impressive skyline while blocking out heat and noise. Stay Two nights in a Premier Club or Prestige Club. The Highlights Daily buffet at Up & Above, or Japanese set breakfast at Yamazato; a five-course set dinner for two at Elements; a bottle of sparkling wine; anniversary cake; a bouquet of flowers; and 15 percent discount on à la carte treatments at The Okura Spa. Cost From Bt21,000 (Bt10,500 per night), double, through December 25. Savings 29 percent. PHUKET The Deal Honeymoon package from Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket (moevenpick-hotels.com/ phuket-karon-beach), with traditionally decorated rooms, thatched-roof villas and three swimming pools. Stay Three nights in a Plunge Pool villa. The Highlights A dinner for two at El Gaucho or OrientAsia; and a 60-minute spa treatment for two. Cost From Bt24,150 (Bt8,050 per night), double, through November 30. Savings 30 percent.

From US$1,200 (US$400 per night), double, through March 31. Savings 25 percent.

GOLF & SPA

COOK ISLANDS The Deal Stay Five Pay Four from Pacific Resort Aitutaki (pacificaitutaki.com), a Small Luxury Hotels of the World resort with 27 beachfront bungalows, villas and suites. Stay Five nights in a Premium Beachfront bungalow. The Highlights One complimentary night; daily à la carte breakfast; and roundtrip airport transfers. Cost From NZ$4,440 (NZ$888 per night), double, book by March 31. Savings 20 percent.

VIETNAM The Deal Ultimate package from Banyan Tree Lang Co (banyantree.com), pool villas sandwiched between the majestic Truong Son Mountain Range and the East Sea. Stay Two nights in a Lagoon Pool villa. The Highlights Either unlimited rounds of golf or unlimited spa treatments per person daily; roundtrip airport transfers; shuttle service to Hoi An and Hue; and late checkout at 6 p.m. Cost From US$980 (US$490 per night), double, through March 31. Savings 68 percent.

THAILAND The Deal Island Escape from Away Koh Kood (awayresorts.com), bungalow villas with private terraces and turquoise-ocean views. Stay Two nights in a Deluxe Oceanfront bungalow. The Highlight An all-inclusive package including meals and roundtrip ferry transfers between Trat and Koh Kood. Cost From Bt17,842 (Bt8,921 per night), double, through May 31. Savings 40 percent.

MALAYSIA The Deal A Hole in One offer from The Andaman (theandaman.com), a Luxury Collection resort surrounded by ancient forests of Langkawi. Stay A night in a Deluxe room. The Highlight A choice between a round of 18-hole golf at the Ernie Els-designed Els Club Teluk Datai or an 80-minute spa treatment at award-winning V Botanical Spa per person. Cost From RM1,690, double, through June 30. Savings 50 percent. +

BEACHES BALI The Deal Unforgettable Experience from The Oberoi, Bali (oberoihotels.com), overlooking Seminyak’s surf-worthy waves. Stay Three nights in a Luxury Lanai room with garden view. The Highlights Daily afternoon tea at The Amphitheatre; and return airport transfers. Cost

Views from a Lagoon Pool villa at Banyan Tree Lang Co, in Vietnam.

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THE IT LIST

There are great new hotels, and then there are game changers. For our annual editors’ choice awards, we picked the 43 properties that are transforming their destinations, shining a spotlight here on the 11 most remarkable newcomers. Read about all the winners at tandl.me/itlist.

FAR-FLUNG FANTASY • • •

Five years since the end of a decades-long civil war, Sri Lanka is gaining its footing as a leisure destination, and luxury hotels are arriving to meet the demand. The most resplendent among them is Cape Weligama, a cluster of 40 terra-cotta-roofed bungalows, each with its own frangipani-filled private garden, on a secluded stretch of southern coastline. From here, immersive trips to scenic tea plantations, Buddhist ruins and rain forest leopard habitats are all within easy reach, and the 16thcentury fortified city of Galle is just 26 kilometers away. capeweligama. com; $605 including half-board, alcoholic beverages and one activity per day.

EDITED BY JENNIFER FLOWERS AND NIKKI EKSTEIN

COURTESY OF CAPE WELIGAMA

CAPE WELIGAMA S RI L A N K A

THE IT LIST • 2015

DESIGN STAR • • • EL BLOK V I EQ U ES, P U ER TO RIC O

The term design hotel gets tossed around indiscriminately these days, so it’s refreshing when a property truly merits the distinction. Such is the case at El Blok, the Caribbean’s most stylish new lodgings, on the quiet Puerto Rican island of Vieques. The materials—colorful cement tiles, rubber-and-concrete lamps from Dutch designer Renate Vos, an eight-meter single piece of almond wood that forms the bar—show off

the gorgeous imperfection of the handmade, while perforated concrete louvers shield guest rooms from the afternoon sun and create Matisse-like shadows on the floors. Downstairs, the curves and ovals of the reception area intuitively lead guests to the bar, which faces the beach across the street and flows into the lively open-air restaurant, headed by Jose Enrique, Puerto Rico’s star chef. elblok.com; $220.

F R O M T O P : A N N I E S C H L E C H T E R (8) ; C O U R T E S Y O F P I K A I A L O D G E

ECO-PIONEER • • •

PIK AIA LODGE GA L Á PAGOS IS L A N DS, EC UA DO R

Hotel prices throughout are in US dollars and represent starting rates for double occupancy.

Luxury in the Galápagos Islands took an evolutionary leap with the debut of Pikaia Lodge, the archipelago’s first carbon-neutral five-star resort. The setting is spectacular: set along a plateau on Santa Cruz Island, its 14 rooms put the entire lush valley and Pacific coastline on display through floor-to-ceiling windows. But what’s most remarkable is that it exists at all. For decades, tourism in the Galápagos has been ruled by boats with rigid itineraries, but Pikaia lets you see the islands by both land and sea (the property owns and operates a private 30-meter yacht), a combination that allows guests to explore with fewer emissions and greater flexibility, whether snorkeling with sea lions or visiting an organic coffee farm. pikaialodge.com; $7,560 for a three-night minimum stay. 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 IT LIST • 2015

INSTANT• •CLASSIC •

In Japan’s ancient capital, where tradition is prized over novelty, Ritz-Carlton has made a deferential debut with Kyoto’s first true luxury hotel. Set along the banks of the serene Kamo River, the low-slung retreat is a kind of modern-day ryokan, with Japanese motifs given a modern spin: Zen gardens and sleek stone waterfalls fill interior courtyards. Abstract artworks themed after the Tale of Genji decorate the 134 guest rooms and the public spaces. And the restaurant’s superb sushi, teppanyaki and tempura are served on smooth ceramics made by local artisans. From a river-facing suite, you can watch passing cyclists and schoolchildren hopping stones, or take a walk to some of the city’s most exquisite temples and shrines. ritzcarlton.com; $529.

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We never knew we wanted to go to Prince Edward County until the arrival of the Drake Devonshire Inn, the Drake Hotel Toronto’s ultra-hip country sister. Now the property is turning a sleepy, vineyard-filled corner of Ontario into a buzzy summertime escape. In a converted 19th-century foundry, the 14-room hideaway draws high-profile creative types and weekending Canadians with live music, art installations, and the rustic charms of gabled ceilings, handmade wool throws and lakeside bonfires. Oenophiles should get excited, too: some of the best Pinot Noir producers in the country are a short drive away, and the Drake’s tasting room stocks the region’s best bottles. drakedevonshire.ca; $160.

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INDIE•DARLING • •

DR AKE DEVONSHIRE INN O N TA RIO

F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F T H E R I T Z- C A R LT O N K Y O T O ; J O H N C U L L E N ( 2 ) . O P P O S I T E : D A V I D C R O O K E S

RITZ-CARLTON K YOTO

SAFARI• SHAKE-UP • •

SANDIBE OK AVANGO SAFARI LODGE BOTSWA N A

The Okavango Delta already offered some of the most over-the-top safari experiences in Africa—yet andBeyond has upped the ante with this architecturally stunning camp. Sandibe was rebuilt from the ground up, and reopened last September with 12 cocoonlike suites that hover on stilts above a private floodplain reserve. Each is made with rounded, handwoven cedar, designed after the elaborate nests of the golden weaverbird. Wood-burning fireplaces, private plunge pools and solar-powered air-conditioning make it easy to forget that you’re in the middle of nowhere. Except, of course, when you’re being gently woken up by birdsong, or sharing a communal meal by campfire when an elephant saunters by. andbeyond.com; $1,880.

SCENE• •MAKER • MIAMI BE ACH EDITION F LO RI DA

In any other hotel lobby, you probably wouldn’t be caught dead shooting pool on an all-white billiards table mere steps from the front door. But at the Miami Beach Edition, Ian Schrager and Marriott’s latest love child, showing off is compulsory. Open gathering spaces ripple through the white-and-gold Yabu Pushelberg lobby, a potted-palm-shaded lounge opening to a glassy cocktail bar that gives way to a market-style café. Downstairs there’s a nightclub, a bowling alley and a pint-size skating rink. Even the round dining room of Jean-Georges’ Matador Room restaurant encourages gawking. If some of the 294 rooms seem simple to the point of afterthought, it’s hardly a deterrent for Miami’s cool crowd, which is flocking to what is hands down the city’s hottest address. editionhotels.com; $729.

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S I M O N W AT S O N . O P P O S I T E : C O U R T E S Y O F T H E M I A M I B E A C H E D I T I O N

THE IT LIST • 2015

NEW URBANIST • • •

HAM YARD HOTEL LO N DO N

For their latest project in London, Firmdale hoteliers Kit and Tim Kemp have created an entire microneighborhood in the middle of Soho—one that still feels so hidden even a London cabdriver might have trouble finding it. Surrounding a tree-lined courtyard are a 91-room hotel, residences, a spa, a movie theater and boutiques selling hard-to-find international labels. The hotel itself evokes a dapper Londoner’s pied-à-terre, with a library anchored by a fireplace and a Joanna Carrington landscape, and an airy restaurant serving seasonal British fare (a chic crowd comes in for afternoon tea, and the place heats up at night). The rooms are a signature Kit Kemp fantasia of pattern, color and texture, but her most surprising design flourish lies downstairs: an entire bowling alley, circa the 1950s, imported from Texas. hamyardhotel.com; $403.

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THE IT LIST • 2015

WALDORF ASTORIA A MST ER DA M

COMEBACK QUEEN • • •

MALLIOUHANA , AN AUBERGE RESORT A N G UI L L A

Malliouhana was once the place to stay on Anguilla— until its buttoned-up vibe and 1980s décor began to wear thin. So we’re thrilled that its new managers, Auberge Resorts, have given it a stemto-stern overhaul and brought back the sense of glamour that had gone missing. The property is less formal but no less luxurious, from the lobby’s shimmering new glass-tiled floors to the 44 bright guest rooms, with their yellow-and-whitestriped carpets and orange chaise longues. The breezy seaside restaurant got a makeover, too, with just the type of unfussy menu you’d want at the beach: conch-andspiny-lobster pizza, locally caught tuna poke, and tomatoand-watermelon panzanella. aubergeresorts.com; $850.

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Amsterdam’s most sumptuous hotel is a newcomer disguised as a grande dame, tucked into six 17th- and 18th-century patrician houses on posh Herengracht canal. A hand- carved, Louis XIV–style staircase in the lobby sets a regal tone, but the 93 rooms take a more understated approach, with sleek marble fireplaces and subtle touches of the city’s famous Delft blue. Nods to tradition aside, these are no old-fashioned accommodations: the Vault Bar draws a fashionable crowd each night for what might be the city’s best martini. waldorfastoria.com; $975.

F R O M TO P : C O U R T E SY O F T H E WA L D O R F A S TO R I A A M S T E R DA M (3); S T E FA N R U I Z . O P P O S I T E : C O U R T E SY O F M A A L I F U S H I BY C O M O

STYLE• •SETTER •

IT LIST 2015

For reviews and photos of all 43 winners, visit tandl.me/itlist.

•••

A-LIST• •ESCAPE • MA ALIFUSHI BY COMO M A L DI V ES

Over-the-top luxury isn’t hard to find in the Maldives; it’s the family-friendly vibe at Maalifushi by COMO that sets it apart. A serene lagoon safe for children, a kids’ club with an outdoor cinema, and snorkeling and picnic excursions keep everyone happy. Babysitters allow parents to slip away for a morning yoga session (in a waterside open-air pavilion), a surfing lesson (there are legendary breaks nearby), or a hot-river-stone couples massage (the spa suites hover over the water). The relaxed ambience extends to 65 sprawling overwater bungalows and beachside villas (the latter a better option for little ones), sustainably built with native balau wood and traditional thatched roofs. comohotels.com; $750.

FAR-FLUNG FANTASIES Alila Jabal Akhdar Oman Cape Weligama Sri Lanka Norden Camp Gansu, China Vana Malsi Estate Uttarakhand, India Viña Vik Millahue, Chile Vines Resort & Spa Mendoza, Argentina DESIGN STARS Adler Mountain Lodge Dolomites, Italy El Blok Vieques, Puerto Rico Temple Hotel Beijing ECO-PIONEER Pikaia Lodge Galápagos Islands, Ecuador SAFARI SHAKE-UPS Namiri Plains Tanzania Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge Botswana Wilderness Safaris Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp Namibia INSTANT CLASSICS Aman Tokyo Four Seasons Resort Orlando, Florida The Norman Tel Aviv Park Hyatt New York The Peninsula Paris Raffles Istanbul Ritz-Carlton Kyoto Rosewood Beijing Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard London INDIE DARLINGS Drake Devonshire Inn Prince Edward County, Ontario Hotel La Semilla Playa del Carmen, Mexico La Villa Pondicherry, India SCENE MAKERS Miami Beach Edition Florida Thompson Miami Beach 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin NEW URBANISTS American Trade Hotel & Hall Panama City Ham Yard Hotel London STYLE SETTERS Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort Costa Rica Belle Mont Farm St. Kitts Hotel Sahrai Fez, Morocco Sublime Comporta Portugal Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam COMEBACK QUEENS Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff Johannesburg, South Africa Hôtel Plaza Athénée Paris Malliouhana, an Auberge Resort Anguilla One&Only Hayman Island Australia Shelborne Wyndham Grand South Beach Miami A-LIST ESCAPES The Brando French Polynesia Maalifushi by COMO Maldives The Sanchaya Bintan Island, Indonesia

March 2015 Features

P A U L R E I F F E R , W R E T R E AT & S P A M A L D I V E S

78 Diving Indonesia Yoga in the 86 Maldives Fiji 90 Berlin 100 106 Washington, D.C.

Tara Stiles strikes a yoga pose at W Maldives, page 86.

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Diving In

G R A E M E L O C K W O O D . O P P O S I T E : L AT I T U D E S T O C K /G E T T Y I M A G E S

Surfacing from a coralconstructed gnomeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s garden for a comforting post-dive hot cocoa, novice H O L LY M C DO N A L D relays how she got her sea legs on a two-week sail through some of the least-seen Indonesian isles.

Diving the blue waters near Ambon. Opposite: A dog-faced puffer fish lurks in soft coral.

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B A R R Y K U S U M A /G E T T Y I M A G E S . O P P O S I T E , F R O M T O P : M A R K L E W I S / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; H O L LY M C D O N A L D ; GRAEME LOCK WOOD

volcano—right there!—blasts plumes of smoke and ash, white-hot stones skittering down a slippery-dip of hardened lava to plunge hissing into the ocean. We’re not running away though; my dive buddies and I instead glide to the Banda Sea floor surrounding Indonesia’s uninhabited Pulau Komba, ignoring the intermittent rumblings of Gunung Batu Tara. The landscape beneath is just as shocking. The island’s isolation to the northeast of Flores means nearby marine life thrives. Abundant corals, soft and hard, range through the colors of the rainbow and teem with all kinds of critters—it’s a documentary breathed to life. Tuna swish by on the hunt and a thousands-strong school of violet, juvenile anthea fish encircles me. Two shy but curious octopi thrust out their tentacles, fusiliers in electric blues and yellows dart by, lobsters peer from crevices, and an array of nudibranchs (a type of sea slug that, living off the sugars photosynthesized algae it stores in its tissues, is actually solar-powered) wait to be discovered.

In sensory overload, I accept the challenge and try to take mental pictures of everything, shuttling to the back of my mind any consideration of what wonders I may have left undiscovered over the past two weeks. For, we’ve reached our final day of diving from the Damai, a phinisi, or two-masted wooden sailing boat. The 40-meter-long vessel was built over 18 months in South Sulawesi using the traditional techniques developed by the seafaring Bugis people generations ago, but stocked with modern luxuries including ample privacy and personal attention. Powered by engines rather than wind, we’ve just ploughed through some of the remotest parts of the entire Indonesia archipelago, from Ambon to Maumere via a portion of the 1,000-kilometer-long path of the socalled Forgotten Islands. With this remarkable dive trip emblazoned on my brain, I can say that the name is an utter misnomer.

The Maluku Islands, where we From top: A path through the palm trees; navigating in the bridge; Ardeadoris egretta, a type of nudibranch. Opposite: The mountainous Maluku Islands are home to active volcanoes.

begin our 14-day journey, boast a turbulent and intricate history. The area was controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then the Dutch, as rival empires brutally sought to control the global trade in nutmeg and cloves; more recently, World War II saw a traumatic occupation by the Japanese. In the capital, Ambon, ahead of embarkation, I savor a panorama of the bay, a half-built bridge showing that this region is once again on the move as a gateway to Indonesia’s under-explored east. On the boat, in my private, woodpaneled, port-holed cabin, I reread my diving textbook for my return to the sport after years of failing to really get into it, despite being certified twice. So much gear-wrangling. So many things that could go awry. My anxieties are quelled by the fact that I have my own guide—as does each of the three couples on this trip. On our first dive, Paul, a nine-year diving veteran from Flores, tumbles from the tender boat with me back into the blue of Pantai Nama, off Ambon, and we’re going down. Like any beginner diver, managing my

buoyancy and getting a feel for the equipment is the focus. A camouflaged black frogfish, then a white one, hanging out on the sea floor waiting for prey to swim by are highlights. The next dive is more relaxed as the magic of the underwater asserts its pull. And unlike standard liveaboards, no diver has to lift a finger on the full-service Damai: staff are on hand to help me squeeze into my wetsuit (moisturizer helps, fellow diver Carole advises), zip up my booties (yes, really), pile my equipment into the tender, and offer a post-dive hot chocolate. On-board massages are included as well. We depart east for the reef of Ameth, which cruise director Alberto Reija, a Spaniard, rates in Indonesia’s top five—in part for the proliferation of dramatic, bizarre-looking hammerhead sharks. The wooden boards of the Damai creak and groan as she rocks and slices her way across the Banda Sea. It’s alarming, at first, then romantic; within a few days, her evocative protests go unnoticed. Between dives in Ameth, I wander ashore to Nusa Laut’s pretty hillside village of Nalahia, home to neat streets of shuttered houses with manicured lawns draped in mats of drying aromatic cloves, nutmeg and spidery red mace. A local takes us on an impromptu tour to some jungle-set hot springs, past sago and banana palms, durian and cassava trees. He cracks open a fresh kenari nut, sweet and almond-like and used in local cakes. We peer inside an austere colonial-era church. Then it’s off to the Banda Islands, the very heart of the Spice Islands sought by the explorers of the past. The volcanic cone at the bay of Bandaneira rises from the ocean mist; hard corals have flourished here since a 1980s eruption, making for another fine dive site. Bandaneira itself hosts a centuries-old fort, a museum with Dutch artifacts, crumbling colonial buildings and peaceful, carless streets. It drips in jackfruit, rose apple, guava, nutmeg and cinnamon trees. The cafés are known for their nutmeg pancakes, but we skip back to the boat for a twilight dive, hoping to catch

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sight of psychedelic mandarinfish. It proves a good choice. The highly prized fish are out in droves and look just like the robes of their imperial namesakes, all blues, greens and oranges, fluttering and darting from behind rocks. At Batu Kapal off Banda Besar, beautiful pinnacles here rise to six and 18 meters in gin-clear waters. Moray eels, boxing crabs, huge schools of pyramid fish are among the many creatures we easily spot. Tanjung Nama, another site, feels like some ancient, abandoned underwater city, with barrel sponges taking the role of funerary urns; seeing a large cuttlefish dart off as it transmogrifies from white to black is a highlight. Every dive is completely different. I grapple with an inadequacy of vocabulary to describe the seascapes and life. As a newly minted diver, I simply cannot identify very much. What’s more, I find that emerging from a dive is not unlike waking from a dream—if pen isn’t put to paper immediately, the memory slips away. When in the deep, though, I see how designers are inspired: a crazy olive and cream syphon for a vase; curlicues of coral for jewelry; a vast sea anemone for a carpet. It’s a gamble spending two weeks in a confined space with people you don’t know. British couple Carole and Graeme are taking this trip to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. “It’s harder to stay married under water than above it!” Carole quips. Arkansas retirees Chrisanda and Ricky are repeat visitors to Indonesia; Chris has a startling knowledge of the Latin names of seemingly every creature we encounter. California-based Dieter and Rita, also retirees, are on the first of three back-to-back trips on the Damai; over the sumptuous threecourse meals we eat together each day, bantering and joking as we talk shop, the rest of us try to hide our envy.

important breeding colony. The Damai’s route takes us right through Wallacea, the evolutionary transition zone between Australia and Asia demarcated by Weber’s Line, with its own endemic flora and fauna species. We spot various swooping terns, boobies and frigate birds, their coloring suggesting they are juveniles. Indeed they shake their wings in a gangly, adolescent way as they loop endlessly around the island, over the boat, back to shore. The site here is famed for its abundant numbers of sea serpents—I have a cold so I skip this one, but the other divers are impressed. We then trace a route further south, well into the Forgotten Islands chain now, and stop at Nil Desperandum (“Never Despair”), barely an islet at all at high tide. Over pristine corals, we spot a turtle, puffer fish, a huge slow-moving tuna, blue fusiliers, grey reef sharks, giant clams and a school of nine bumphead parrotfish. It’s easy to lose time poring over the maps, with mysterious, melodic names. We head further southwest, stopping at Pulau Kelapa, Sermata, Amortaun, Nyata. The greens of north Maluku give way to toasted browns as we head south, closer to Australia, and the geography is bleak, desolate and stunning. One afternoon we spot a huge pod of dolphins (but during the entire trip, only two other dive boats). “You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It’s just incredible—so isolated and remote,” Graeme says unprompted after one dive, shaking

Alberto warns us we’re heading

out of phone range for the next week. Digital detox diving. We wake anchored near the uninhabited bird sanctuary of Pulau Manuk, an

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I savor the vertigious sensation of spinning as weightless as an astronaut

From top: Divemaster Gusti Sukawana explains the plan for the dive ahead; the early morning waters await; a pair of honeycomb moray eels. Opposite: A diver amid plenty of fish and fans.

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G R A E M E L O C K W O O D . O P P O S I T E , F R O M T O P : H O L LY M C D O N A L D ( 2 ) ; G R A E M E L O C K W O O D

I grapple with an inadequacy of vocabulary. Emerging from a dive is not unlike waking from a dream

The Damai off the seabird breeding colony of Pulau Manuk at sunset. Opposite: A Rhinopias eschmeyeri (or, paddle-flap scorpion fish).

Indonesia

MALUKU AMBON

JAVA SEA

AMETH

BANDANEIR A

’S

LIN

JAK ARTA

PUL AU WETAR KISAR

FLORES SEA BALI

G R A E M E L O C K W O O D . O P P O S I T E : H O L LY M C D O N A L D

100 K M

MAUMERE FLORES

INDIAN OCEAN

his head. “Sam, you’ve started at the top,” Carole says, waggling her finger. “I don’t know where you’ll go next.” As I gain more experience, I savor the vertiginous sensation of overlooking a wall plunging into opal blue, of spinning as weightless as an astronaut. Some sites are novelistic worlds: corals are like fairy coins tossed in a gnome’s secret garden, fish like so many characters massing for epic wars amid golden crepuscular rays. Silence for an hour lets your imagination run wild and the beauty is relentless. On the island of Wetar, we take an early morning boat upriver trying to spot crocodiles, sliding past thick mangroves, burned ridges soaring into hills of gnarled white trees—it’s easy to feel the proximity of Australia. During a dive off Alor we spot an elusive white Rhinopias, a genus of scorpion fish. Beautiful and bridelike, it’s “the holy grail of macro

TIMOR SEA

divers,” Alberto says. At Beangaban on Pantar Island, we have a muck dive where at first I think there’s been a horrible mistake because there’s absolutely nothing to see. But then the muddy bay comes alive with almost too many creatures: a dozen baby scorpion fish and a massive barracuda, huge crustaceans peer from holes the size of human thighs, a dartfish attacks my mask when I swim too close to its territory, a blue-spotted stingray slinks into the distance and a cuttlefish hovers and shimmers in morphing colors. Above water, local kids in the bay jostle for position to guide us to more hot springs—we are skirting our way through the Pacific Ring of Fire, after all—and show off a mica mine rimmed with half-toppled trees. A kid tells us he killed a crocodile at the river flowing into the bay here, just a few days earlier. Given the life in those waters, I am not surprised. Westward towards Flores, we stop at Lamalera, a village on Lembata Island where men hunt for whales the way they did centuries ago—not counting the engines now tacked on to their rickety boats. Twenty-five whales have been caught this year, Jeffrey Batona, a teacher at the village, tells us. “There is no waste here—all parts are used, even the bone,” he says. Jeffrey and a dozen other men display their hunting techniques, using a boat with an old-style sail to catch wind. One man balances on the prow and hand-throws a bamboo harpoon with a metal tip into the ocean. It’s hard to believe they catch anything at all.

We make a stop at Pulau Pomana Kecil on our final day and I head out for a snorkel—it’s too close to our return flight to dive. Something appears from the deep blue, a dot at first, then several. They take shape: six eagle rays sweep across the ocean floor towards us, and Paul and I scream into our snorkels, not daring to lift our heads away from their majesty. Three turn around and come back. One raises its wing, as if in greeting. It’s an odd sensation: on a lengthy, magical dive trip about which I cannot gush enough, my two favorite moments— this one right now, and witnessing that exploding volcano—both happened sans tank. But don’t tell Paul. Because, I can’t wait to go back under. + Damai (62-361/284-359; dive-damai.com; from US$525 per person per day, allinclusive) plies a variety of routes throughout the Indonesian archipelago and is also available to charter. The Forgotten Islands trip detailed here departed from Ambon and finished in Maumere. Both cities have connections with Jakarta and Bali’s Denpasar via Garuda (garuda-indonesia.com) or Lion Air (lionair.co.id)— though Dive Damai can also arrange your domestic flights. Visas are available on arrival in Indonesia for most nationalities, either free or for US$35. 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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breathe in the air

y speciall e â&#x20AC;&#x201D; e c lan nge s. high lu t for ba a t s e r r fi g is is Maldive h a e s g h t o t p y m in ing atte dise Practic of para K U C W AY R e E c H ie P p O HRIST small bo a t . C over a a n u n s o g e in if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;r g the ris salutin

PAU L R EIF F ER, W M A L DIV ES (2)

s I trip out of my beach villa, the sky is as pitch black as the two coffees I’ve just downed. With apologies to the meditative purists out there, I needed to kick-start my way to a yoga session. At sunrise. On a boat. In the middle of the Indian Ocean. This is good for me, I murmur to myself walking along a sandy trail lined with palm trees and dense bougainvillea that leads me through the dark to the dock. It’s the start of a four-day yoga getaway at W Retreat & Spa Maldives with Tara Stiles, an affable, thirtysomething American who specializes in contorting her limbs into inexplicable pretzels—sorry, smoothly stretching into yoga postures—and gently coercing others to do the same. With books on Amazon, web-based instructional videos, a line of Reebok yoga wear and a popular flagship studio in New York City, not to mention 71,000 Instagram followers, she’s her own brand. Occasionally, that surprises even Tara. Arriving in the Maldives, she was pulled aside by an immigration office who, it turns out, simply wanted to take a photo together since she practices yoga daily with Tara’s videos as her guide. In person, Tara is a mix of guru and cheerleader. Her mantra is, “Make your own rules.” Our group numbers a dozen and is composed of several of what are best described as casual Tara groupies—Oh, remember the retreat we did at W Bali?—as well as a handful of yoga newbies, me among them. Yes, that’s me at the extreme end of the flexibility scale. What I know about yoga, not to mention what I can do on a yoga mat, is pretty much limited to, well, showing up. No matter. As the sweep of sky brightens, we churn out into the North Ari Atoll, an azure paint box of ocean at the top sprinkling of coral reefs that make up the Maldives. Once on the upper deck of Escape, W’s two-masted yacht, I claim a yoga mat away from the edge of the deck fearful of ending up in the water after a too-exuberant standing split. (Not that, at this point, I even know what a standing split is—I just don’t feel like getting wet so early in the day unless there’s a shower involved). Like a kid at the start of a new school year, I also make sure I’m not in the first row— watching me might throw everyone else off balance. Each of us has a plush rolled towel, a bottle of water and two green apples, all very civilized for this time of day. The epitome of laid-back, Tara eases our class into a series of stretches and poses. “Concentrate on your breathing,” she insists. “If you can breathe, you can practice yoga.” Before long, I’m convinced that this is how yoga classes should be: we’re out on open water, the sun is breaking

through a few clouds on the landless horizon and there’s even a gentle breeze to cool our exertions. That’s when it hits me: we’re a YouTube video for healthy living.

we’re also the u.n. of zen. We’ve got

practitioners from Moscow and Singapore, from Brazil and Australia, from London and Dubai. Global yoga. As a group, we don’t resemble anything close to a synchronized North Korean acrobatic squad, but we’re not bad. And no one takes him or herself too seriously. After one session, I get dragged into a debate with three women about where the best vodka is from. I think I know more about yoga. We’re as chilled out as our location. Despite all the giddy amenities and alliterative hype associated with the brand, the 78-room W Maldives spread across its own corner of the atoll has a calm aura about it, making it a perfect spot for our yoga retreat. Seen from an arriving floatplane, it’s a small, green island with a wooden-deck whip of a tail lined by over-water villas. A string of suites along the beach are well hidden from each other, while the restaurants and bars are all within a palm-tree shaded stroll of anywhere you might find yourself—though if you need a break, there are random oversized sofas or crazy-angled cushions scattered about, each large enough to swallow a yoga acolyte or two. One recommended, equally tranquil, pastime is snorkeling around the island, which doesn’t sound doable but is. (Insider tip: the most colorful coral and fish are near the spa). Adopting the “make your own rules” philosophy that Tara touts, our retreat is an extended, when-in-paradise version of what she normally does back in her Manhattan studio. That means six yoga sessions, each at sunrise and sunset. It means yoga on a dock, yoga on a boat, yoga at a

W Retreat & Spa Maldives. Opposite: A sunset session with Tara Stiles on a secluded island.

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to my untrained ears, the session Inevitably—as certain as the fact that you’ll feel a part of your body you never knew existed—Tara says something where the only sane reaction is, “Huh?” My moment in the Indian Ocean sun comes when she says, “Now, gently place your knee next to your ear.” Disbelief shoots from my ears through my being out to my arms and legs. I fall to my mat, not bothering to see if the three limber women aligned next to me have accomplished the feat. Turns out, as I sip water and sneak a peek, they’re a mirror image of each other. This is no surprise: our class is mainly female and younger than me, meaning light years more flexible. Later, I ask two of them if, you know, I had misheard the directions? Instead of attitude, they tell me my hearing is fine and instead echo Tara: approach each class in small steps. Downward dog before you crab. Crab before you crow. And, remember, concentrate on your breathing.

spa, yoga in a W villa—that last one with Tara perched above an infinity pool located above the ocean—and yoga on an island home only to a few palm trees and a few wellplaced yoga mats. I secretly suspect that some are even practicing their yoga moves in their suites. At first, to my ears, the session sounds like it’s taking place in code—I know none of the vernacular. The woman goes perpendicular in slow motion. Yet, Tara’s soothing, occasionally giggling, voice eases through instructions. “Maybe sway a little side to side.” “Soften back down to the ground.” “Open up your hips and breathe, staying nice and calm and easy.” In my mind’s eye, I keep up with most of it, though I know the form of my side plank is not nearly as angular as many of my classmates’ and don’t even get me started on my side plank tree. (Yes, I’m pose name-dropping). Only later do I see photos of the classes in which I’m almost always one move behind everyone else. Tara reminds me that the idea isn’t to keep up. Instead, she tells me to concentrate on my breathing and repeat. Back in the real world I harbor no major health problems—knock on wood—aside from the one we all share: age. I cycle a lot (some say too much), go to the gym regularly, and have been meaning to improve my flexibility for longer than I care to admit. Still, I figure a yoga class will be full of those who measure their body fat every morning, who are more limber than a stand of bamboo and, let’s face it, who look good naked. While, you’ll be glad to know, I can’t answer any of those questions about my classmates, it’s apparent from the get-go that Tara’s yoga sessions are far from the norm, let alone from my own preconceptions. It’s a controlled, do-what-you-can, then gradually push-your-limits series of poses. 88

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on yoga, but will admit to being ravenous for a healthy dinner. That night, Tara has teamed up with W chef Paul Lewis at Fish, where the menu focuses on ocean-to-table cuisine. The endless series of light bites and energizing smoothies mixes well with some expertly paired wines. (Remember, make your own rules.) Diet is a part of this yoga business, which I’m beginning to think is more a way of life than an hour’s commitment every day or two (see, I was listening!). Still, I’m curious as to how Tara became a modern poster girl for yoga. Between courses, she tells me that there was never any master plan to conquer the yoga universe, if that’s what anyone thinks she’s done. Originally, she was into classical dance. When did that start? Oh, when I was four years old, she says offhandedly. This yoga as a lifestyle idea is coming through loud and clear. In the following days I find myself talking about the sense of softness in our bodies. I even say “zest for life” but immediately want to hit the rewind button. I can see how some use yoga as a form of healing. Where I thought it was about physical balance, I discover yoga is as much about internal balance. How to move, but how to sit still, too. My favorite session takes place on a secluded island. We’re on the beach, a stand of palm trees behind us, facing the sun sinking into the Indian Ocean. It’s a postcard moment, with the only sounds being Tara’s soothing instructions and gently lapping waves. Jean-Louis Ripoche, the general manager at W Maldives, is beside me and wows us all with his crow pose—the sun is gone so the stars come out. The next morning, I miss the last class to catch a floatplane. But, I know full well I’ll explore yoga more. I’ve only just begun to learn how to breathe. +

W Retreat & Spa Maldives (wretreatmaldives.com); suites from US$1,570 a night. Tara Stiles (tarastiles.com) has yoga retreats at W Hotels in the region throughout the year.

P A U L R E I F F E R , W M A L D I V E S ; O P P O S I T E : C H R I S T O P H E R K U C W AY

after the first session, I can’t say I’m sold

sounds like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taking place in code

Just another perfect beach. Opposite: The best follow-up to sunrise yoga on a boat? Breakfast on a boat.

Laucala staffer Siti Tawalili aboard the resortâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s traditional Fijian camakau sailing canoe. Opposite: The islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s private airstrip.

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OUT OF THE BLUE On a jungle-shrouded private island in Fiji, a reclusive billionaire has created what may be the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most extravagant resort. Is Laucala for real? peter jon lindberg reports from a most improbable paradise. photographed by john laurie

UPPOSE YOU WERE TO BUILD YOUR OWN RESORT—ON A REMOTE FIJIAN ISLAND, SAY—AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT.

Common sense not a factor, either. Maybe you don’t even need people to come. Maybe you’d be content to use the place yourself, with the occasional paying guest, and only a distant chance that someday you’ll break even. What might that place look like? And what would you put there? Perhaps you’d put in an 18hole golf course, then hire a team of 32 just to maintain it. You could add a couple of restaurants—no, how about five restaurants?—that would each stay open every night. You’d want a state-of-the-art airstrip and a pair of planes trimmed in leather and burled mahogany. Definitely a marina or two. And maybe there’s another island two kilometers west, where you’d build an entire village from scratch just to house your staff, using three ferries to shuttle them back and forth. If you’re really feeling ambitious, you could add a 97-hectare farm with plots growing six varieties of mango and 10 types of tomato; orchards of avocado, papaya and passion fruit; flocks of Fijian sheep and heirloom chickens; and your very own herd of Wagyu cattle. Of course the island would be covered in coconut palms, all bursting with fruit—so much of it that the spa would make its own line of coconut-based massage oils, and butlers could even draw guests a bath of coconut milk. But why stop there? Maybe you could buy a submarine— an actual submarine, straight out of a Tintin comic!—for surreal rides among the rays and reef sharks and hawksbill turtles right offshore. (Clincher: there’d be no extra charge for sub rides.) If all this sounds like your kind of crazy, then you’re going to love Laucala.

L O C AT E D I N F I J I ’S N O R T H E R N A R C H I P E L AG O , an hour’s

flight from Nadi International Airport, Laucala (“lo-THAla”) is a 12-square-kilometer private island that might as well be a private alternate universe. It is the brainchild of Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, cofounder of Red Bull energy drinks. He bought the island in 2003 from the estate of Malcolm Forbes, who’d used it as a personal getaway since 1972. (Forbes’s ashes are buried on the island, under the inscription when alive, he lived.) Building off the Forbes estate, Mateschitz spent five years and untold millions creating a 25-key, ultra-luxe resort. Laucala opened in 2008, charging rates only a mogul (or Mateschitz himself) could afford. Villas—which come 92

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with infinity pools, dining pavilions and hulking stone tubs, each as big as a sarcophagus—start at US$4,600 per night, all-inclusive, though half cost between US$6,600 and US$9,600. (The three-bedroom Hilltop Residence goes for US$44,000 a night, which could explain why in six years it’s been booked only a handful of times.) For all the manmade excess, Laucala’s natural beauty is equally extravagant. Most of the island is jungle-draped volcanic peaks; forests of pandanus, sandalwood and mahogany; coastal mangroves; and long, empty beaches framed by lagoons and the sparkling Koro Sea beyond. Abundant foliage—frangipani, heliconia, torch ginger—means Laucala is especially rich in birdlife, such as white-collared kingfishers, collared lories and the rarely seen orange dove, with plumage like a ripe persimmon. It is exactly the island you’d choose if you were buying one yourself. Mateschitz is among a small group of island-owning impresarios that includes the late Laurance Rockefeller, Richard Branson, David Copperfield and Larry Ellison. Unlike those men and their islands, Mateschitz keeps an exceedingly low public profile, and Laucala operates with a seemingly total disregard for profit. If non-Austrians know the name, it’s likely because Mateschitz was the moneyman behind skydiver Felix Baumgartner’s 37-kilometer leap from near-space in 2012. Or because he owns four football clubs, a nascar team and two Formula One teams. (He also collects vintage airplanes.) The 70-year-old has a Bransonian flair for adventure and expensive toys along with an air of mystery befitting Charles Foster Kane. Mateschitz has always been a business iconoclast. Ignoring market research that said Red Bull tasted terrible, he forged ahead and built an empire. To Laucala he’s brought the same damn-the-torpedoes attitude. For its first few years, Laucala hovered quietly under the radar, as its publicity-shy owner seemed to prefer. Lately, however, the resort has gained exposure and momentum as Mateschitz

The Pool Bar and lagoon-style swimming pool, above. From far left: An in-villa barbecue with hand-caught lobsters; a piglet on the organic farm; one of the three greenhouses; a cordyline plant; chef Anthony Healy inspecting a soursop tree in the garden.

Vast stretches of private beaches offer ample shores on which to ride.

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Here, you can believe youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re invited houseguests on the island of the lotus-eaters, residents of a sovereign principality governed only by the rule of yes

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Inside the Peninsula villa, below. From left: A performance by Laucala staff; descend into clear waters from the seagrass beach hut; island-grown products at the spa; Rere Ahi, the resortâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teak-and-kauri sailboat; tropical drinks to match the setting.

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and the aforementioned Wagyu beef; even grows its own orchids—3,500 of them—in a vast greenhouse. Fully 85 percent of Laucala’s food is produced on-island. It is not, on the surface, an altogether rational endeavor. Laucala is rather like something you hallucinated in a fever dream after a night guzzling Red Bull—and then, to your accounting team’s mounting alarm, went ahead and built.

has bankrolled extensive upgrades to the property and made some flashy acquisitions, like that US$1.85 million submarine. Last year, he even coaxed Aman Resorts’ longtime director of operations, Andrew Thomson, to come aboard as general manager. (It’s a homecoming of sorts for Thomson, a fifth-generation Fijian.) Why the sudden amping-up of ambition? Perhaps Laucala’s patron realized that it would take even more money, and horn-blowing, to rise above the scores of luxury beach resorts in the world—or at least to justify prices two to three times more than they charge. (Only North Island, in the Seychelles, with villas averaging US$6,700 a night, comes close.) Or perhaps it’s just that Mateschitz doesn’t do half measures. “He wants this to rank among the finest resorts on the planet,” Thomson said. “And he’s sparing no expense in making that happen.” The numbers would make an unseasoned GM blush. Laucala employs 385, including 32 full-time gardeners, five dedicated coconut pickers, and a team of seven to attend to the island’s 32 pools. (Yes, that’s a staff-to-guest ratio of 8 to 1. And this assumes all villas are occupied, which is almost never.) The property makes its own honey, tamarind jam and lemongrass candles; raises pigs and quail and ducks

S O W H O AC T UA L LY G O E S T O L A U C A L A? The week my wife and I visited, the guest list was like the setup for a joke: two honeymooning Kuwaitis (they were 22, if that), a Russian couple celebrating their anniversary, two regal-looking Germans, and a group of Hong Kong traders who’d heard about Laucala from Steve—son of Malcolm—Forbes himself. “Steve and I had lunch, and he suggested we come,” one of them told us. “Though apparently even he can’t afford it anymore.” (We paid a press rate, which made it a whole lot more affordable.) The week prior, I learned, one villa had been occupied by a couple from Kazakhstan, who were dismayed to learn that Laucala’s 1,160-meter airstrip could not accommodate their private jet. (It was a 767.) Reluctantly, they consented to park the plane in Nadi and ride Laucala’s seven-seat Beechcraft turboprop to the island. It’s not all oligarchs, emirs, or oil barons from former Soviet republics; the majority of Laucala’s guests are in fact Americans, albeit extremely rich ones. But in truth, one seldom encounters other guests. The resort’s 25 villas are widely spread across the north coast—along the beach, on a forested plateau, or on private seaside bluffs—and well concealed from their neighbors. We saw our housekeepers (who came three times a day, delivering fresh-squeezed juices, fruit platters and canapés at each visit) more than we saw the Kuwaitis, Germans and Hong Kongers. That left only the Russians, to whom we spoke just once. Turns out they’d been married at Laucala the year before, and planned to return for every anniversary. They’d invited no friends or family to the wedding, the wife told us, only a

crew of six videographers to document their every move. For a week. If you’re bent on filming your own reality show, Laucala offers dozens of stage sets you might have all to yourselves. Like the cliff-top aerie Rock Lounge bar. Anywhere else, this bar would be packed. But every evening we stopped in, we were the only guests. Joeli Vuadreu, the lone bartender, was always comically excited to see us. “It gets a bit lonely,” he admitted while polishing the glassware for what must have been the 19th time; there are weeks when Vuadreu hardly sees a soul. Yet each night he shows up, wipes down the teak bartop, cues up the music and lights the torches and the fire pit, on the off chance someone might show up. This sort of practice would drive a corporate efficiency expert nuts—but then Laucala is the furthest thing from efficient. A normal hotel, for instance, might ask if certain projects are worthwhile. Is it a sensible investment of time and resources to plant an orchard of 50 vanilla vines, which now require a Laucala staffer to spend several hours each morning pollinating hundreds of flowers by hand, using a toothpick? But such questions—Is this worth doing? Should we even bother?—do not apply here. At Laucala, the default answer is: Of course.

A N T H O N Y H E A LY, L A U C A L A’S E X EC U T I V E C H E F , showed us

the vanilla-pollination trick himself. It was delicate, frustrating work, like threading a needle covered in sap. It’ll be six months before the beans can be harvested, and another year before they will be ready to use. Healy was leading us on a farm tour, one of Laucala’s most popular activities. The island grows 40 different vegetables (including taro, okra and eggplant), 15 fruits (pineapple, guava, gooseberries, soursop), countless herbs, hydroponic lettuces and microgreens, even coffee, tea and sugarcane. All of them are under organic cultivation. Among the livestock, Austrian Sulmtaler chickens lay eggs with yolks as vibrant as an orange dove’s feathers. The Wagyu herd now numbers nine, up from the original four bought in 2013 for US$150,000. The cattle graze in the lushest pasture you can imagine, under incongruous coconut palms. (While Laucala’s food sustainability is undeniably impressive, the resort is not exactly green: it burns through almost three tonnes of shipped-in oil daily.) From the paddocks we circled around the south coast, bouncing down a dirt track through ever-thickening jungle. This was the untouched side of the island. Two wild goats scampered off into the woods, and Healy briefly considered giving chase. “My crew likes to catch them and make goat curry,” he said, hungrily. Healy pointed to the reef just offshore, where he and his chefs had gone free diving the day before. They’d brought up a dozen lobsters, which would be on the dinner menu that night.

T H E F O O D I S A H I G H P O I N T. I loved the fresh-caught tuna sashimi at Beach Bar, breakfasts of silky congee and those golden-yolked eggs, and the quasi-secret, six-seat teppanyaki restaurant that clings to a cliffside above the sea. All five restaurants really do stay open every night, 98

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An orchard of 50 vanil a vines requires a Laucala staffer to spend several hours each morning pollinating hundreds of flowers by hand, using a toothpick even when only one couple is in residence. Guests can also dine in their villas, and some do so for every meal. But we kept returning to Seagrass, Laucala’s Thai restaurant, run by chef Piak Sussadeewong, formerly of the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. Piak’s prawn salad with palm hearts and fiery gai toey (fried chicken with pandanus leaves) were among the best renditions I’ve had. Days at Laucala are spent snorkeling among the hawksbills, paddling the lagoons on an outrigger canoe, and game-fishing on the Riviera Flybridge yacht. There are hikes to nearby waterfalls and long rides along the beach on Laucala’s resident Fijian horses, a sturdy crossbreed of Clydesdale and Australian Thoroughbred. And if you want something more adventurous, there’s always the submarine. The DeepFlight Super Falcon Submersible is more fighter jet than sub, in both looks and performance. It is nearly seven meters long and shaped like a Star Wars X-Wing—the pilot sits in front; you ride in back, like R2-D2. It can dive to 120 meters. It can barrel-roll. It can go six knots per hour, which isn’t all that fast, but feels so when you’re flying—the only word for it—through the ocean, darting among the coral like a high-precision drone. Now, the Super Falcon is launched from shore using a beach-loader, and travels only inside the reef at an average depth of eight meters. But Laucala is considering buying a new boat that could launch the sub in the water, allowing for excursions well beyond the reef—to the famous Great White Wall, for example, one of Fiji’s top dive sites. It’s no surprise that Laucala is incredibly wellconceived and well-run—though its understated style does come as a surprise. (At resorts with unlimited budgets, decorative restraint is rare.) I’d arrived expecting something absurdly over-the-top. I was prepared to be disoriented, if not outright put off, by the idea of so much

From left: Resort transport; the Overwater Villa; the DeepFlight Super Falcon Submersible, straight out of Star Wars; breakfast featuring gold-yolked Sulmtaler chicken eggs; Laucala horse groomer Wani Pita Joni astride one of the resort’s Fijian horses.

being spent for the enjoyment of so few. That feeling did creep in on occasion, but Laucala mostly manages to come off as an entirely natural, almost normal undertaking. This is, in essence, a place where the über-rich can go to pretend money doesn’t matter, all while spending massive amounts of it. They can believe they’re invited houseguests on the proverbial island of the lotus-eaters, residents of a sovereign principality governed only by the rule of yes. The question of whether Laucala turns a profit (currently a definite no) is for now of little consequence, one manager told me—and why would it be? Even beyond his US$7 billion net worth, Mateschitz has no board of directors to answer to, no brand managers to appease, and no reason not to indulge every whim and desire. In that respect, he’s the embodiment of his resort’s clientele. For jaded plutocrats, Laucala provides a sure-fire cure for ennui. For the rest of us, it offers an anthropology lesson in what the super-wealthy seek now: extreme privacy, unbridled freedom, and an outwardly wholesome breed of luxury, couched in notions of eco-friendliness and sustainability (while not entirely adhering to either). “What we’re trying to achieve here doesn’t follow any recognized business plan,” Thomson told me, perhaps

stating the obvious. When Thomson took the reins last January, he was constantly asking himself, How on earth does this work? “And there’s no real answer to that,” he added, “except that this is Mateschitz’s home, and he’s extremely keen to see it get better and better.” Mateschitz, who lives primarily in Austria, spends only about a month per year at Laucala. But the rest of the time he’s still a constant presence around the resort, his name invoked in whispers by employees and guests alike: this reclusive, Hearst-like figure with his toy Fijian island. Of course Laucala is much more than Mateschitz’s toy. It’s clearly his passion project—a series of grand experiments in agriculture, design, self-sufficiency and logistics, and one its patron might very well keep pursuing even if all his guests were to someday up and leave. In the meantime, for those who can afford it, the club is open. + laucala.com; villas from US$4,600 per night all-inclusive, plus US$600 per person air transfer on the resort’s plane to the island from Nadi, Fiji. Fly direct to Nadi from Hong Kong via Fiji Airways (fijiairways.com) or from Seoul via Korean Air (koreanair.com); otherwise several airlines offer connections from Sydney and Auckland.

Clockwise from top left: An exhibition at KOW gallery; street musicians in Mitte; lunch at Markthalle Neun, in Kreuzberg; the beer hall Prater Garten, in Prenzlauer Berg; Barn Coffee Roasters.

BERLIN GROWS UP THE CITY OF RAKISH CHARMS AND ANYTHING-IS-POSSIBLE ARTISTIC ENERGY HAS LATELY TAKEN ON A NEW GLOSS—WITHOUT LOSING ITS COOL. ALEXANDRA MARSHALL VISITS EUROPE’S BOURGEOIS BOHEMIAN UTOPIA. PHOTOGRAPHED BY BÄRBEL SCHMIDT

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IT WAS BACK IN the mid 1990s when I first started to hear what a cool place Berlin was. “Cool,” meaning that, among the members of my social circle in New York City, the ones with the most interesting tattoos and grants from prestigious arts institutions were running off to live in massive apartments in rundown Kreuzberg, in the former West Berlin. They’d come back with tales of creating utopian early-Internet communities or composing blatantly uncommercial music, of spending warm, humid summers bicycling through parks that were more like forests and enjoying extremely low overhead. The all-night techno parties in bombed-out buildings were said to be epic, as if Mom and Dad left town after the Wall came down and never came back. Today, Berlin is starting to seem downright grown-up. Having lost most of its center during World War II, the city will never have the preserved-in-amber beauty of Paris or Amsterdam, but in the last 15 years it’s seen a steady upscaling. Districts in the former East, like Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, still have lovely pastel row houses and brick Bauhaus-style buildings, but their leafy squares, once home to squatters, are now destined for starchitects. In 2013, Daniel Libeskind unveiled plans for an apartment building shaped like a metallic cube, in Mitte, and on nearby Alexanderplatz, Frank Gehry will build Germany’s tallest residential complex next to the iconic 1960s TV Tower. And though there are still pockets littered with graffiti, the “tagging” inside the lobby of Berlin’s Soho House is by Damien Hirst. That’s a lot of change in a short time. Many of the older guard had warned me that the city had become impossibly bourgeois. But improvisation, kookily high concepts and earnestness still typify the creative output here, which imbues its restaurants, hotels and shops with a freshness that defies been-there-done-that cynicism and an energy that helps drown out the naysayers. Berlin has one of the most youthful populations in Europe and offers a solid argument that risktaking and originality are as important to a city’s well-being as the quaintness of its historic quarter. And Berliners, as I discovered, are embracing change while holding onto their individuality. “As everything in the world morphs into the same, many question whether there’s even a place for a local identity anymore,” interior designer Werner Aisslinger told me. With the opening of his 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin in the former West’s erstwhile conservative Charlottenburg neighborhood, Aisslinger is defying this notion. Housed in a remodeled white 1957 Modernist landmark building, the space has eccentricity in every corner, starting with the greenhouse theme of the rooftop restaurant, Neni, which looks out over the vast, bushy expanse of the Tiergarten park and the Berlin Zoo. Many of the plants surrounding the restaurant’s tables could end up on your plate, as they’re part of a hydroponic micro-garden dreamed up by an urban farming collective. The rooms feature a mix of vintage industrial furniture and rough-hewn copper walls, with stuffed animals on the beds, window-side hammocks, and do not disturb signs with 25 variations on the message. (If there’s a monster behind this door doesn’t suit your mood, then how about access denied?) Aisslinger commissioned local artists to realize most of these capsule narratives and make visitors and Berliners alike feel welcome. And they 102

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do, if the lines waiting for the elevator to take them to the upstairs Monkey Bar are any indication. Many of them will have headed over from Bikini Berlin next door, which combines a high-design shopping space with pop-ups and slick offices. The box-size stores there are available for three- to six-month leases, and longer-term residents include the cutting-edge boutique Andreas Murkudis and Gestalten, an art-book publisher and shop. The next great hybrid shop that will open is The Store, on the ground floor of Soho House in Mitte, with clothing by designers like Junya Watanabe and Jil Sander, contemporary furniture, an organic café, a co-working space and a barber shop. Why be just one thing?

ONE WAY TO KNOW when a city feels poised to enter the big leagues is when it sets up a Fashion Week. Berlin’s first, in 2007, wasn’t ready for prime time, but now the event, held every January and July, draws global media fascinated as much by Berlin’s scene as by what walks the runways. German designer Svenja Specht, who has participated in the shows, puts out two beautifully constructed collections a year under the name Reality Studio. “There are a lot of international influences in the city now, which makes the creative scene and the shopping much more interesting,” she told me. “But Berliners are still under a lot of pressure to keep prices low. I can understand the nostalgia for things not to be so polished, but do we want to be stuck in it forever?” Inspired by her years studying art and working in Beijing, Specht designs clothes that are minimalist and sculptural. At Baerck, a boutique with a mix of

Clockwise from top left: Impromptu jam sessions in Tempelhofer Freiheit park; a Berliner near Rosenthaler Platz; La Soupe Populaire; Street Food Thursday at Markthalle Neun; Baltic Sea salmon with citrus fruits and cauliflower at Pauly Saal.

SVENJA SPECHT Reality Studio’s head fashion designer at her studio in Berlin.

KAVITA MEELU The Street Food Thursday co-organizer at Markthalle Neun.

WERNER AISSLINGER The designer of 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin at the property’s rooftop restaurant, Neni.

Berliner, French and Scandinavian designers, her bomber jackets in Japanese silk and paper-bagwaisted trousers pop off the racks. If polish is a problem, there’s no evidence of that here. In cities like New York or London, derelict spaces do not remain so for long, but given the sheer number of them in Berlin and the turbulent history they reflect, there is a movement among local developers to work with them rather than knock them down and start over. Nowhere is this approach more clearly expressed than at the Neues Museum, where David Chipperfield Architects put the contemporary into direct conversation with history. They took the existing 19th-century Neoclassical structure, which had been sitting empty, half-destroyed during the war, and restored its original volume and layout, while adding understated galleries and a modular inner concrete shell. (The firm has won the commission to restore the Mies van der Rohe–designed New National Gallery, too, scheduled to reopen in 2019.) Architect Arno Brandlhuber is another believer in minimal intervention, best known for his firm’s translucent-polycarbonate-fronted office in Mitte, which also houses the fashion magazine 032c and KOW contemporary art gallery. When Brandlhuber began building the concrete structure on top of existing foundations in 2007, the neighborhood had none of the artisanal cafés and boutiques it does today. When I visited his studio, his associate Tobias Hönig told me how a couple of years ago, when land values in Mitte were skyrocketing, Brandlhuber was asked to create an art installation for KOW. He filled the basement with water to mimic the state of the site when he first began construction, a reminder of the past.

BERLIN’S IDEALISM extends to its burgeoning

food scene, too. Anywhere else, the gastropub Katz Orange, which serves wild game, might be content to remain a casual-glamorous hangout for locals and off-duty movie stars. (Zachary Quinto sat one table over from mine.) But here, the young owner, Ludwig Cramer-Klett, wanted to express his commitment to sustainable agriculture, and so he added the Contemporary Food Lab, an event space for workshops by farmers, scientists and artists. At Bötzow Brewery, a behemoth that dates back to 1885, there is now a cavernous art gallery, a bluelit craft-cocktail bar, and a bistro by Tim Raue, La Soupe Populaire, which serves German comfort food and is decorated in the city’s omnipresent flea-market-industrial mix. “I’m not doing foam sausages here,” Raue said to me. “My dishes are pure Berlin,” albeit rendered with sophistication. That means a luscious version of Königsberger Klopse, veal meatballs in cream sauce, alongside potatoes and beets—the same dish Raue served to the Obamas on their most recent visit to Germany. At Reinstoff, Daniel Achilles divides his menu between “far away” concoctions of international inspiration and “quite near” dishes, including catfish with a quail egg and Jerusalem artichokes. The restaurant’s exposed brick and contemporary light sculptures are clubby and informal, much like the ceramic tiles and leather banquettes at Pauly Saal, the other buzzed-about restaurant now, with its cleaned-up interpretations of hearty German fare and more than 800 wines in the cellar. Seasoned travelers recognize this thought-out, produce-conscious approach to native cuisine in other urban centers, but it’s still relatively new in Berlin, as are those other objects of culinary fascination, food trucks and fairs. Street Food Thursday at Markthalle Neun, in Kreuzberg, is the brainchild of Kavita Meelu, a London transplant who arrived five years ago with a desire to break into food. She had planned on staying a couple of months, but saw an opening: “The creative and rebellious personality of Berlin wasn’t being reflected in the culinary scene,” she said, “and there were so many immigrants with ideas and stories.” We met on the last night of her monthlong pop-up, Bar Market, where she had been hosting close to a thousand people a night for craft cocktails and small-batch wines. But it’s Street Food Thursday that has given the city somewhere to be one night a week. Within an hour of opening, the space was flooded with visitors sampling ramen by the Californian-Korean duo Mr. Susan, barbecue from the German-Italian Big Stuff Smoked Barbecue, and beers from local brewery Heidenpeters. The smiles were broad as they immersed themselves in the new tastes of home. +

T L Guide Getting There Several airlines offer one-stop itineraries between Berlin and Asia. Getting Around Berlin’s public transit system, which includes the U-Bahn and S-Bahn, is fast and convenient. Taxis are also plentiful and easy to hail. STAY Das Stue Drakestrasse 1; das-stue.com; doubles from €220. Hotel Adlon Kempinski Unter den Linden 77; kempinski.com; doubles €260. Soho House Berlin Torstrasse 1; sohohouseberlin.com; doubles €170. 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin Budapester Strasse 40; 25hours-hotels. com; doubles from €120. Hotel Zoo With Diane von Furstenberg carpeting and a central fireplace, this recently reborn icon embodies the lush style of its predecessor, the VIP hotel for the Berlin International Film Festival through the 1950s. Kurfürstendamm 25; hotelzoo.de; doubles from €127. Hotel am Steinplatz This 1913 hotel got a luxury boutique makeover for its 100th birthday. Steinplatz 4; hotelsteinplatz.com; doubles from €125. EAT Barn Coffee Roasters Schönhauser Allee 8; barn.bigcartel.com. Katz Orange Bergstrasse 22; katzorange.com; dinner for two €70. La Soupe Populaire Prenzlauer Allee 242; lasoupepopulaire.de; dinner for two €60. Pauly Saal Auguststrasse 11-13; paulysaal.com; dinner for two €100. Prater Garten Kastanienallee 7–9; pratergarten.de; beer for two €7. Restaurant Reinstoff Schlegelstrasse 26c; reinstoff.eu; five-course set menu €110. Pantry Almost everything is sourced from within a 100-kilometer radius of this locavore hot spot in Mitte. Friedrichstrasse 120; pantry-berlin.com; dinner for two €70. Noto Follow the red neon sign to inventive cooking that hovers between Teutonic and Mediterranean. Torstrasse 173; noto-berlin.com; dinner for two €80. Grill Royal Unapologetically decadent and still where the one-percent go to see and be seen. Friedrichstrasse 105b; grillroyal.com; dinner for two €100. Jolesch Contemporary Austrian fare sits alongside classics like the brittle-crusted, butter-fried Holy Grail of schniztel. Muskauer Strasse 1; jolesch. de; dinner for two €50.

Gasthaus Figl This former Kneipe bar serves flawless Flammkuchen pizzas and Bavarian staples. Urbanstrasse 47; gasthaus-figl.de; dinner for two €35. Café Einstein Stammhaus This grand Viennese café in one of Charlottenburg’s few surviving buildings from the 1800s boasts a history as rich as its famous Apfelstrudel. Kurfürstenstrasse 58; cafeeinstein.com; strudel for two €13. DRINK Bürkner Eck There’s no sign, website or Facebook—just expertly crafted libations by candlelight. Order an Elder Fashioned with St. Germaine. Hobrechtstrasse 39; drinks for two €20. Die Legende von Paula und Ben Tapas, wine and off-the-menu tipples are the name of the game at this legendary local haunt. Gneisenaustrasse 58; facebook.com/paulaundben; drinks for two €10. Buck & Brek Ignore the closed sign in the “abandoned” shop front and hope the bouncer lets you into this secretive speakeasy. Brunnenstrasse 177; buckandbreck.com; drinks for two €26. Lugosi Dark enough for Dracula, this Kreuzberg watering hole has a palpably hip vibe. Reichenbergerstrasse 152; lugosi-berlin.de; drinks for two €16. Schwarze Trauben Don’t bother looking for a menu. Mixology wizard Atalay Aktas’s creations are all bespoke. Wrangelstrasse 24; facebook.com/ schwarzetraube1; drinks for two €24. Neue Odessa Bar Follow the lead of the throngs of beautiful people and order Moscow Mules. Torstrasse 89; neueodessabar.de; drinks for two €16. Solar Ride the glass elevator 16 stories up for a peerless panorama of the skyline. Stresemannstrasse 76; solarberlin.com; drinks for two €26. DO KOW Brunnenstrasse 9; kow-berlin.info. Markthalle Neun Every third Sunday of the month, stop by the Breakfast Market for all-day brunch. Eisenbahnstrasse 42-43; markthalleneun.de. Neues Museum Bodestrasse 1-3; neues-museum.de. Tempelhofer Freiheit thf-berlin.de. Neue Heimat Hipsters congregate weekly for this flea market with food trucks in a graffiti-bedecked space. Revaler Strasse 99; neueheimat.com. SHOP Baerck Mulackstrasse 12; baerck.net. Bikini Berlin Budapester Strasse 38-50; bikiniberlin.de. The Store Soho House Berlin, Torstrasse 1; thestore-berlin.com.

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CAPITAL Innovative chefs and bartenders—along with a wave of new residents—are shaking up Washington, D.C.’s restaurant scene, proving there’s more to the Beltway than boring steak houses and stuffed shirts. BY FRANCINE MAROUKIAN. PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARCUS NILSSON 106

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DINING This page: Grilled octopus with potato-and-caper salad at Estadio, chef Haidar Karoumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Spanish-influenced restaurant. Opposite: The U.S. Capitol, as seen from the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.

ashington, D.C., always takes its cues from its Resident in Chief. And since the Obamas have been in town, D.C. has been riding a wave of energy, with millennials, who helped put the administration in office, moving to the metro area in big numbers. Cranes now hover over a boomtown skyline, and gentrification is sweeping through inner-city neighborhoods, bringing with it new businesses—and new restaurants. A host of pioneering chefs, bartenders and entrepreneurs caters to D.C.’s fresh faces, who refuse to settle for the bland, lobbyist-filled steak houses and diplomat-packed French dining rooms that used to define the city’s cuisine.

DOMESTIC POLICY As you might expect in the nation’s capital, there are many distinct takes on classic American fare here, with chefs sourcing crops and livestock from across the mid-Atlantic region—and giving traditional techniques a modern spin. Leading the charge is the Red Hen. With its leather-topped bar, brick walls and wood-fired-grill aroma, it has become a fixture in Bloomingdale, a front-stoop neighborhood lined with Victorian row houses. The restaurant updates its menu and wine list seasonally, but chef Michael Friedman always includes throwbacks to the red-sauce joints of his Jersey youth, like house-made rigatoni in a fennel-sausage ragù or a chicken fra diavolo punched up Sicilian-style with fiery red chilies, preserved lemons and currants.

Top row, from left: Chef Michael Friedman of the Red Hen; Estadio, in Logan Circle; pork-belly bocadillo at Estadio. Bottom row, from left: Iron Gate’s patio; the “Istanbul” sandwich, made with ground beef and lamb, at Sundevich; Sundevich, a Shaw lunch spot.

Sommelier Sebastian Zutant presides over a well-edited wine list heavy on old-world bottles. Just south in the Penn Quarter is the Partisan, restaurateur Michael Babin’s haven for carnivores, where the meat comes from farms in places like Virginia and Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County. (You can also buy it from the Red Apron, his butcher shop next door.) The expansive charcuterie menu is divided into categories like “bright” (Thai-basil-cured bresaola beef) and “herbal and floral” (orange-basil pork rillettes). Nearby, in the historically African-American neighborhood of Shaw, award-winning bartender Derek Brown plays off D.C.’s ties to the South at Southern Efficiency. More than 50 domestic whiskeys complement a compact menu of lesser-known regional specialties like Virginia peanut soup and “country

captain,” a one-pot chicken stew infused with curry—a reference to the British-colonial spice trade. Eat the Rich, another Shaw success story from Brown, specializes in hearty seafood dishes like fish chowder with steamed clams and Chesapeake oysters that arrive at just the right temperature to enhance their flavor without a hint of splintered shell (what the pros call “shrapnel”). And to help diners get in touch with their inner longshoreman, Brown sends out one-liter pitchers of cocktails (try Drink the Martini, made with local Green Hat Gin). A few blocks away, Seasonal Pantry acts as a neighborhood market by day, and a ticket-only restaurant with a 12-seat communal table by night. Chef-owner Daniel O’Brien draws inspiration from vintage community cookbooks to create nostalgic dishes that lodge in your

Top row, from left: Del Campo, near Chinatown; chicken fra diavolo at the Red Hen; Stephen Starr’s French brasserie, Le Diplomate. Bottom row, from left: Sumac roasted potatoes at Iron Gate; Eat the Rich, known for its oysters; kimchi ramen at Toki Underground.

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memory, like house-made brioche stuffed with bacon, caramelized-onion waffles topped with spiced maple syrup, and duck pot pie served with smoked breast, turnips and crispy skin on the side. Plan ahead: seats become available one month in advance.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS D.C. entertains people from around the world, and thanks to its role as global host, the ethnic-restaurant scene is both authentic and innovative. This wasn’t the case 26 years ago, when New Delhi native Ashok Bajaj opened his first venture, the Bombay Club, and had to distribute cards to get customers in the door. That all changed after a 1993 visit from then-president Clinton sparked citywide interest; today, Bajaj runs eight restaurants, including the popular Rasika, in the Penn Quarter. With its dark-wood floors, tangerine accents, and curtain of hanging Belgian crystals tipped in ruby red, the place glows—and so do the dishes, prepared by 2014 James Beard Award winner Vikram Sunderam, which feature the rich, round flavors of sophisticated Indian cuisine. Don’t miss the palak chaat, the house specialty of crisp fried baby spinach with yogurt, tamarind and dates, which is earthy and airy. At the minimalist Del Campo a few blocks north, near Chinatown, chef Victor Albisu’s passion for asado, Argentina’s answer to barbecue, transforms the standard steak house into a personal statement. Albisu, who at the age of 10 was already working the butcher’s saw in his mother’s Latin American market in Virginia, has incredible control over his meat, cooking it rare while getting crisp edges. With vegetables, he grills one side beyond caramelization—burnt, not burned. Due east in the still-gritty H Street corridor, chef Erik Bruner-Yang looked to his family’s heritage in creating Toki Underground, a Taiwanese noodle shop perched 32 steps above street level. Locals queue up to get into the tiny, quirky dining room, where the counter footrests are fashioned from discarded skateboard decks. The menu is equally economical: five ramen bowls with add-ons including Berkshire pork belly, fried prawn heads and the special house “Endorphine” sauce for freestylers, plus Yang’s cross-cultural dessert of warm chocolate-chip cookies on a bed of red-miso buttercream—velvety sweet with just the right touch of weird. A few kilometers west at Estadio, a standout on the 14th Street restaurant strip in Logan Circle, chef Haidar Karoum serves twists on traditional Spanish dishes, like a deceptively simple tortilla española of creamy layered eggs and potatoes set off by sherry-vinegar-doused roasted peppers, and bacalao crudo with jalapeño, avocado, orange and olive oil. On weekends, the Source, adjacent to the Newseum, just off the National Mall, is the place to go for brunch. The stars of chef Scott Drewno’s inventive dim sum menu are the delicate chive-and-kurobuta-pork dumplings and 110

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puffy bao wrapped around lacquered Pennsylvaniafarmed duck, served hot and fresh at the table—no more waiting until the carts roll by. Sundevich, a casual spot north on Naylor Court, has a similar cult following. The sandwiches are named for the cities their flavors represent: you can travel from “Seoul” (bulgogi beef, kimchi, greens, garlic mayo) to “Buenos Aires” (grilled steak, chimichurri, sautéed onions) in the course of a single meal.

VISITING DIGNITARY No other out-of-towner has been welcomed into the fold quite like Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr, who rolled into D.C. in 2013 with his French brasserie, Le Diplomate. Starr reportedly spent more than US$6 million to renovate a defunct dry cleaner and wound up with an instant institution. Soon after the doors opened in Logan Circle, city councilman Jack Evans launched his mayoral campaign here, saying it symbolized the revitalization of the city. It also represents the new Washington in its thoroughly democratic approach. No matter who’s at the table—whether the First Lady, Vice President Biden or Secretary Kerry—there’s something for everyone. From perfectly crusted baguettes and Gruyère omelettes to onion soup, it’s a menu of crowd favorites.

THE COCKTAIL CAUCUS In this town, political debates grow more spirited when the drinks are well crafted. At the subterranean bar Two Birds One Stone, over on the U Street corridor, whitewashed walls and splashes of cool lighting conjure up an Aegean nightspot—a welcome change from the city’s ubiquitous dark speakeasies. Weekly drink menus (with ink and pencil cartoons drawn by bar director Adam Bernbach) include a punch of the day and a grappa cocktail with bitters, lemon juice and honey, served in mismatched vintage glasses. In Shaw, Derek Brown has another hit on his hands with Mockingbird Hill , which serves 80 different sherries alongside cured hams like Surryano, a local version of Spain’s famous jamón serrano from third-generation Virginia cure master Sam Edwards. During the day, the bar turns into a coffee house offering seasonal brews and tasting flights consisting of three beans or blends. Housed in historic Spanish-style stables in Dupont Circle, Michael Babin’s Iron Gate is dramatically set off by a path of lanterns leading from the sidewalk to the enclosed carriageway bar. Inside, you’ll find craft cocktails and a taverna-style menu from chef Anthony Chittum, whose love of Mediterranean coastal cooking shows up in dishes like peppery roasted Sicilian olives and baked Chincoteague oysters with a spanakopita-style topping. With its long zinc counter and low lighting, the bar has become one of D.C.’s most atmospheric destinations for drinks—before, after or instead of dinner. +

The team behind Toki Underground (from left): souschef Howard Chang, chef-owner Erik Bruner-Yang, and beverage director Colin Sugalski.

THE NEW D.C. ESTABLISHMENT RESTAURANTS Red Hen 1822 First St. NW; theredhendc.com; dinner for two US$60.

Del Campo 777 I St. NW; delcampodc.com; dinner for two US$80.

The Source 575 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; wolfgangpuck.com; brunch for two US$64.

The Partisan 709 D St. NW; thepartisandc.com; dinner for two US$75.

Seasonal Pantry 1314Â˝ Ninth St. NW; seasonalpantry.com; dinner for two US$260.

Toki Underground 1234 H St. NE; tokiunderground.com; ramen for two US$24.

Sundevich 1314 Ninth St. NW; sundevich.com; dinner for two US$20.

Southern Efficiency 1841 Seventh St. NW; whiskeyhome.com; dinner for two US$40.

Rasika 633 D St. NW; rasikarestaurant.com; dinner for two US$60.

Estadio 1520 14th St. NW; estadio-dc.com; dinner for two US$60.

Le Diplomate 1601 14th St. NW; lediplomatedc.com; dinner for two US$70.

Eat the Rich 1839 Seventh St. NW; etrbar.com; dinner for two US$50.

BARS Two Birds One Stone 1800 14th St. NW; 2birds1stonedc.com. Mockingbird Hill 1843 Seventh St. NW; drinkmoresherry.com. Iron Gate 1734 N St. NW; irongaterestaurantdc.com.

Our Definitive Guide to

Serving tea at 137 Pillars House. Opposite: CafĂŠ de Nimmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deep-fried som tam.

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The ancient Lanna capital brimming with temples and ringed by mountains is more than a laid-back escape from Bangkok; it’s an artistic, café-culture, outdoor-lovers’ destination in its own right. By Joe Cummings. Photographed by Cedric Arnold

CHIANG MAI

N FAHAM

NIMMANHEMIN AND WEST

WAT KET

OLD TOWN THA PHAE

From left: The Rachamankha’s library; sleep in style at The Rachamankha.

0.5 KM

Lay of the Land Old City The original city plan forms a near-perfect square, bounded by a moat and the remnants of brick walls. A network of lanes bisected by four broad avenues leads to 30-some Lanna temples. Tha Phae A grouping of streets lined by Shan-Burmese temples, hotels, restaurants and the famed Chiang Mai Night Bazaar radiates from here. Wat Ket/Faham A century ago, this was the center for Western traders and missionaries. Today, historic shophouses and villas are hotels, clubs, restaurants and galleries. Nimmanhemin and West A grid of modern streets encompasses Chiang Mai University, the town’s oldest forest monastery and Nimmanhemin Road, an area exploding with well-off Thai vacationers. Getting Around Red songthaews—small pickup trucks with benches for passengers in back—ply the streets from Bt20 per trip. Tuk-tuks and taxis charge about Bt200 a trip.

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Stay From the grande dames to the mod boutiques, the city’s best hotels are rooted in history. THE RACHAMANKHA Portico-fronted rooms wrapping a central quad evoke a monastic cloister. This beauty brims with Golden Triangle antiques, and signed Robert Motherwell lithographs. 6 Rachamankha Rd., Soi 9; 66-53/904-111; rachamankha.com; Bt9,728. TAMARIND VILLAGE Step out of the Old City and into a serene retreat right in its center. Tropical-colonial wings envelop spacious courtyards and a huge, eponymous 200-year-old tree. 66-53/418-896; tamarindvillage. com; Bt7,062. THE ARTEL NIMMAN Artist Torlarp Larpjaroensook has transformed a former dorm into a funky boutique: circular windows; wrought-iron chandeliers; vintage

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floor tiles. 40 Nimmanhemin Rd., Soi 13; 66-81/594-623; Bt2,300.

Soi 1; 66-53/247-788; snhcollection.com; Bt14,500.

DHARA DHEVI CHIANG MAI The sprawling resort, paying tribute to Asia’s royal capitals, is filled with Burmese, Lao and Tai Lü treasures, and, in the top villas, baby grand pianos. The new Ren restaurant is already hailed as the city’s top Japanese. 51/4 Moo 1, Chiang MaiSankampaeng Rd.; 66-53/888888; dharadhevi.com; Bt21,500.

FOUR SEASONS RESORT Lanna-style pavilions sprinkle the fields of a rice farm; guests are invited to help plant the crop and the harvest goes to the local village. Order the Mango-Sticky Rice Daiquiri. 502 Moo 1, Mae Rim-Samoeng Rd.; 66-53/298181; fourseasons.com; Bt23,990.

137 PILLARS HOUSE A logging magnate’s historic house has been repurposed as part of a hotel named for the teak logs supporting the building. Sixty post-colonial villas have been added. 2 Na Wat Ket Rd.,

AKYRA MANOR This new boutique has a dreamy rooftop pool bar and an angular and undulating façade inspired by the Old City wall. Each of the 28 suites has its own light-filled courtyard. 22/2 Nimmanhemin Rd., Soi 9; 66-53/214-351; theakyra.com; Bt7,700.

Hotels rates represent starting cost for double occupancy.

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Find far more than your standard tribal handicrafts in this artistic city.

COLOUR FACTORY Local and international artists (Mark Jacobs; Isaac Mizrahi) have painted whimsical designs on hundreds of resin elephant sculptures in several sizes to produce Elephant Parade, sold here to benefit The Asian Elephant Foundation. Striking original-design scarves, handbags and other accessories are also available. 154-156 Charoen Rat Rd.; 66-53/246-448; colourfac.com. SOP MOEI ARTS Here, Pwo Karen villagers market their arts and crafts in novel ways. Traditional basket shapes morph into handbags and wine-bottle holders; bamboo and wood interwoven with bright fabrics produce sumptuous wall hangings. 150/10 Charoen Rat Rd.; 66-53/306-123; sopmoeiarts.com. THE BOOKSMITH Sirote Jiraprayoon, former director of Thailand’s ubiquitous Asia Books, runs this independent shop heavy on oversize

art, architecture and graphic design books, along with a small but wellselected fiction collection. 11 Nimmanhemin Rd.; 66-91/071-8767. SILVER BIRCH Hand-carved, brightly painted wooden sculptures, including large birds meant to hang from the ceiling, are the main draw. Art and décor of natural materials are also sold. 28 Nimmanhemin Rd., Soi 1; 66-53/227-474. WALKING STREETS Wualai Road has been Chiang Mai’s silver-smithing center for more than a century. Every Saturday evening, the street closes to vehicles and fills instead with vendor stalls offering silverwork and other handicrafts. Bands pound out Thai folk music, while neighborhood grannies hawk local snacks. On Sunday evenings, this lively market on Ratchadamnoen Road stretching west from Tha Phae Gate through the heart of the Old City, is the premier shopping draw.

See Do WAT PHRATHAT DOI SUTHEP Of many well-touristed temples, this gilded 14th-century cloister 1,000 meters above sea level on Doi Suthep should not be missed. If you’d rather not slog up the 306-step naga staircase, take the tramway for Bt50. To avoid crowds, arrive around 5 p.m. and stay through sunset, when the chanting of resident monks brings peace. 66-53/206835; admission Bt30.

The 306 steps to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.

WIANG KUM KAM Visit the excavated ruins of Lanna’s first capital, originally founded by the Mon in the 8th century and later sacked by Burmese invaders, flooded and left underground for 700 years. A ride in a tram or horse carriage for Bt200 takes you through the brick remains of 10 temples, including Wat Chedi Liam, one of two still functioning.

From top: Elephant Parade at Colour Factory; Sop Moei Arts sells new takes on traditional crafts.

This cultural capital could keep you busy for weeks.

MON JAM At the heart of the Nong Hoi Royal Development Center, this peak offers majestic views across the Mae Ping valley. After touring the strawberry fields and grape orchards, stop at the open-air dining room for teas, fruit juices and Thai fusion cuisine prepared using farm-fresh produce. 22/8 Moo 7, Mae Ram, Mae Rim; 66-81/950-9767; thairoyalprojecttour.com. NORTHERN THAI MASSAGE Chiang Mai’s therapeutic massage differs from Bangkok’s with its softer touch and more continuous movement of the therapist’s hands and fingers. Old Medicine Hospital has offered bodywork and instruction since 1962. 238/1 Wualai Rd.; 6653/201-663; thaimassage school.ac.th; massage courses from Bt2,000.

FOUR SEASONS COOKING SCHOOL Prepare classic Thai dishes such as tom yum and khao soi in a state-of-the-art teaching pavilion designed by Bill Bensley. Visit a market, join interactive cooking demonstrations, and share the meal in an open dining room overlooking a waterfall. fourseasons.com; Bt6,300. CRAZY HORSE BUTTRESS One of Thailand’s most user-friendly, sustainable limestone crags for rock-climbing is in Mae On. Bolted routes vary from beginner to advanced levels. Guided climbs and lessons are available through any travel agency, or directly from Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures. 55/3 Ratchapakhinai Rd.; 66-53/207-102; thailandclimbing.com; Bt3,995 per person.

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CHIANG MAI

Clockwise from far left: David’s Kitchen at 909; healthy fare at Anchan Vegetarian Restaurant; Akha Ama coffee, brewed of sustainably farmed local beans.

Eat

Coffee or Tea?

Sample a globe-spanning buffet of culinary delights. DAVID’S KITCHEN AT 909 This fairly new spot occupies a large house on the Ping River, where a former Dhara Dhevi chef cooks French and Italian dishes with subtle Thai twists. Head for the sofas on the outdoor terrace and sprawling lawn. 90/9 Moo 3, San Phi Sua Rd., San Phi Sua; 66-53/110-732; davids kitchenat909.com; Bt2,000. THE DINING ROOM Chiang Mai-influenced modern Thai includes gaeng hang lay gae (northern dry curry, slow-cooked lamb shank, edamame) and miang yum ped neua poo (crispy shredded duck and crab salad with cantaloupe, shallots, shiso leaves). 137 Pillars House; 2 Na Wat Ket Rd., Soi 1; 66-53/247788; snhcollection.com; Bt1,400.

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ANCHAN VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT A simple dining room adorned with fresh flowers serves the city’s most popular veg. You can’t fail with the massaman curry, cashew tempeh, banana-flower salad and papaya-lime smoothie. Nimmanhemin Road, opposite Soi 13; 66-83/581-1689; Bt400. SP CHICKEN Connoisseurs of gai yang, grilled chicken, rave about cook/owner Chavalit Van’s version, which uses vertical spits to slowly roast the lemongrass-and-garlicstuffed birds on a wall of charcoal. 9/1 Sam Larn Rd., Soi 1; 66-80/500-5035; Bt250. SHANG GARDEN Hong Kong chef Jacky Chan

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focuses on traditional southern Chinese. The Peking duck is exemplary, while the dim sum is easily the city’s best. Reserve the chef’s table for a kitchen view. 89/8 Chang Klan Rd.; 66-53/ 253-888; Bt1,000. RUSTIC & BLUE This creative restobar matches craft beer and tea cocktails with such reinvented comfort plates as barbecue pork sliders with beet, pumpkin-sausage gnocchi, chickpea-crust pizza, and duck prosciutto crostini. The cheeses and charcuterie are housemade. Nimmanhemin Road, Soi 7; 66-86/654-7178; Bt800. Restaurant prices represent approximate cost of dinner for two.

In a town with more coffee shops per capita than anywhere in Thailand, the two branches of Akha Ama (akhaama.com) stand out. Beans are sustainably farmed by 20 local Akha families. Blends and single-estate coffees span an impressive range of strength and complexity. Delicious cakes and muffins are baked fresh every day. If you prefer brewed leaves to beans, visit Kalapela (145/6 Ratchadamnoen Rd.; 66-81/634-2245), a shophouse converted by a Thai designer and his Japanese partner into a tea room and wine bar full of art and antiques. During the day, attentive staff serve 80 teas from around the world (replaced with wine and sake after sunset). Quiet rooms are available to let.

From left: Simple goodness at Larb Dee Khom; bedroom suite at Chiang Dao Nest; Ristr8to roasts high-quality coffee beans; once known for its tea, Mae Kampong is now sought out for its homestays.

Local Take Insiders offer their best-of lists.

ANDY RICKER

M I D D L E T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F C H I A N G D A O N E S T. B O T T O M : © S U T T H I P O N G S E N AT H E E / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M . I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y W A S I N E E C H A N TA K O R N

Chef and founder of the Pok Pok Thai restaurants; cookbook author

Don’t pass up smoky jintup (semidried grilled beef flank, hammered for tenderness) and Sangsom at Pa Daeng Jin Tup (Chiang Mai Outer Ring Road, San Sai). For somewhere more civilized, try the larb khua (stir-fried minced-meat salad) at Huen Jai Yong (65 Moo 4, Sankampaeng), a nice Lanna home redone as a restaurant. For larb pladuk yang (spicy smoked catfish salad) and gaeng aom (spicy soup simmered with pork ribs and pickled cabbage), I highly recommend Larb Dee Khom (208/82 Moo 2, Arak Rd., Soi 5).

Getaway to Mae Kampong

PIM KEMASINGKI

LEE AYU CHUEPA

Editor-in-Chief, chiangmaicitylife. com and Spoon & Fork

Owner/social entrepreneur, Akha Ama Coffee

Ginger & Kafe at The House (199 Moon Muang Rd.) is my go-to for coffee and eggs Benedict, in a fabulous setting with a shop selling original fashion and home décor. Café de Nimman (12/1 Sirimangkhalajan Rd., Soi 13) is great for mouth-watering deep-fried som tam and pork-stuffed squid in green sauce. For an out-of-town getaway, drive north along the Ping River to the mountain town of Chiang Dao. I always stay at Chiang Dao Nest (144/4 Moo 5, Chiang Dao; chiangdaonest. com). The hot springs nearby are perfect for a dip—with a bottle of wine.

Explore northern Thai food to feel the harmony between cuisine and place. I love Gao Cham Chaa’s (Ratanakosin Road, behind The Prince Royal’s College) larb muang (minced-meat salad). It’s hard to find good pizza here, but my favorite is at La Lanterna di Genova (31 Ratchadamnoen Rd., Soi Phra Singh). The best burgers are at Little Cook Café (244 Saha Sripoom Pl., Maneenopparat Road). Besides my coffee shop, two of my other favorites for high-quality beans and roasting are Ristr8to (15/3 Nimmanhemin Rd.) and Happy Espresso (Bamrungburi Road).

The mountain-valley village of Mae Kampong provides a year-long cool-climate respite from Chiang Mai’s brutal hot season, yet relatively few international visitors seem to find their way here. Mae Kampong Waterfall drops seven levels from a plateau with inspiring, misty views. Wat Khantha Phreksa is the community’s spiritual center; its ordination chapel is topped by a wood-shingled roof blanketed with ferns and moss. Villagers cultivate orchids, oolong (young leaves for brewing tea, older leaves for pickled-tea salad) and great Arabica coffee beans. Take off on thrilling aerial tours with Flight of the Gibbon (treetopasia.com; Bt3,599 per person), with three skybridges and five kilometers of ziplines, including the longest in Asia.

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Last Look

Photographed by Jonathan Pozniak

Shanghai

Heart of the city The Bund is the central nerve pulsing through Shanghai. Puxi presents the old, Pudong the new, but this is also where the nouveaux fashionable elite mix with tourists from the provinces.

A culinary concession Many restaurants in the French Concession fuse traditional Chinese fare with modern French cuisine. You never know what you may find, but there’s always a whiff of something good in the air.

Meditative metropolis Finding solitude in a sprawling city with 20 million people isn’t always easy. Elderly locals are particularly good at finding a quiet corner for a walk or some tai chi as this woman does in Yu Garden.

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River views In a city of constant change, Shanghai’s night-time skyline remains iconic. Pudong reaches ever higher and isn’t afraid to show its neon-induced ambitions.