April 2016 by Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia

Southeast asia

april 2016

Styles of

Saigon Okinawa, the edge of Japan A revival in Luang Prabang

Singapore S$7.90 / Hong Kong HK$43 Thailand THB175 / Indonesia IDR50,000 Malaysia MYR18 / Vietnam VND85,000 Macau MOP44 / Philippines PHP240 Burma MMK35 / Cambodia KHR22,000 Brunei BND7.90 / Laos LAK52,000

ANGELINA SINGAPORE Renowned for its sophisticated reputation, Angelina Singapore is located within an historic theatre, hotel, residential and shopping development.

NEW

ENJOY UP TO 50%* OFF AT PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS WITH YOUR CARD Inspired by Singaporean's enduring love affair with fine dining, Palate Dining Privileges presents an unprecedented collection of Singapore's popular restaurants and sleekest bars, carefully handpicked by our team of dedicated gourmands.

OLA COCINA DEL MAR OLA Cocina Del Mar is a contemporary Spanish restaurant that marries the best seasonal produce with traditional methods in a homely and casual atmosphere.

NEW

With your American Express® Platinum Reserve or Platinum Credit Card, enjoy exclusive dining privileges at a range of artfully curated establishments from relaxing brunch spots, stunning fine dining restaurants, to elegant wine bars.

YOUR PRIVILEGES

DINING SAVINGS*

with 1 Friend

50%

with 2 Friends

35%

with 3 Friends

25%

with 4-19 Friends

20%

Alone

15%

*For more information, please visit http://palatediningprivileges.americanexpress.com.sg/ American Express International Inc., 20 (West) Pasir Panjang Road #08-00, Mapletree Business City, Singapore 117439. americanexpress.com.sg Incorporated with Limited Liability in the State of Delaware, U.S.A. ® Registered Trademark of American Express Company. © Copyright 2016 American Express Company.

TWG TEA Savour chic and contemporary tea gastronomy in elegant fine dining locations across central Singapore, paired with teas from one of the world's largest collections.

NEW

KINKI RESTAURANT + BAR Singapore's first graffiti art restaurant and bar with a urban concept that departs from the conventional with its edgy persona and surprising twists on Japanese cuisine.

ALKAFF MANSION RISTORANTE Perched atop Telok Blangah Hill Park in a century-old colonial manse, this exquisite Italian restaurant has been awarded numerous accolades.

THE MARMALADE PANTRY The Marmalade Pantry remains persistent in its quest for modern comfort food, while retaining the freshness and clarity of the ingredients. Indulge at its two outlets.

LAWRY'S THE PRIME RIB Distinguished for its American cuisine, Lawry'sÂ roasted beef is aged for up to 21 days to heighten tenderness then slowly roasted on rock salt for flavourful meat.

THE PELICAN SEAFOOD BAR & GRILL Drawing inspiration from the glamorous era of luxurious sea travel, The Pelican Seafood Bar & Grill is a chic laidback dining spot offering classic East Coast American cuisine.

DANCING CRAB The distinctive richness of Creole cuisine awaits you at Dancing Crab, with an impressive range of seafood from Boston lobsters to Dungeness crabs.

SYMMETRY Taking inspiration from both the Australian dining culture and French cuisine, Symmetry presents a unique dining experience with an emphasis on sharing.

DEAN & DELUCA Gourmet enthusiasts in Singapore can now enjoy epicurean treats for cooking, eating and entertaining at two of this iconic New York cafĂŠ's outlets in Singapore.

XIN CUISINE CHINESE RESTAURANT Savour authentic Cantonese specialties and delicate dim sum - all specially prepared by the team of award-winning chefs.

avista hideaway phuket patong - thailand

MGallery is a collection of boutique hotels dedicated to sophisticated and adventurous explorers. each of these charMinG hotels has their very own fascinatinG story to capture the interest and iMaGination of Guests. an MGallery also has the “je-ne-sais-quoi” that coMes hand-in-hand with french “art de recevoir”. Guests will love beinG inspired and cocooned all around the world. MGallery, part of Accorhotels Group, has joined the Sofitel Brand Universe. MGallery by Sofitel will bring its unique experience of charm and luxury as well as an impressive portfolio of 82 luxury, boutique hotels to Sofitel. Each of the hotels possesses a story which illustrates the brand’s individual character and defines it as belonging to one of three categories. “Heritage” hotels are filled with a rich historical character. “Serenity” hotels are typically hidden natural or urban retreats whilst “Signature” properties reflect an aesthetic based on their creation or decoration.

Immersed in its own neighbourhood, each property provides an authentic local experience. Additionally, each MGallery by Sofitel has developed a “memorable moment” for guests so that they can take home exceptional and unforgettable memories of their stay. For today’s discerning travellers, MGallery by Sofitel offers a collection of distinctive hotels, where no two destinations are alike, and each stay is filled with discovery, and emotion. Whether a historic mansion, a modern marvel, a rustic retreat or a serene seaside resort, all MGallery by Sofitel hotels envelope guests in an exceptional world to explore.

la veranda resort, phu quoc

La Veranda Resort, Phu Quoc, a “Serenity” hotel, takes you on elegant journey of discovery back to historic Indochina. A destination for wellbeing and rejuvenation, this French colonial style mansion, secreted away in tropical gardens, is set on the charming island of Phu Quoc. The hotel’s story is based on the inspiring life journey of the founding Gerbet family reflected in the carefully chosen furnishings and art pieces. The memorable moment is an unforgettable voyage to a secluded private island where guests can explore and enjoy an indulgent picnic. Hotel Royal Hoi An, one of MGallery by Sofitel’s “Heritage” hotels, is set in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Hoi An. Standing majestically on the banks of the picturesque Thu Bon River, the hotel is blessed with a magnificent vista of the river and the low rise cityscape of ancient Hoi An. The theme of the hotel, the 16th century love story between a Japanese merchant and a Vietnamese princess, pervades the property atmosphere, beautifully blending a touch of both ancient Japanese and Vietnamese style; guests can feel the sense of history. The exquisite memorable moment is a meandering cultural trip along the river followed by a romantic dinner at the hotel. For something altogether different, the “Signature” Hotel Baraquda Pattaya is breathtakingly modern. Located in the centre of Pattaya, close to shopping and entertainment areas, it offers today’s travellers a contemporary hub from which to explore the city or a hideaway in which to escape and relax. hotel royal hoi an - vietnam

hotel baraquda pattaya - thailand

Design is the hotel’s story, and its cutting edge, cool nautical design harmonises bold interiors with art and sculpture inspired by Pattaya’s fishing village history. In April 2016, Avista Hideaway Resort and Spa will join the MGallery by Sofitel collection. A luxurious sanctuary in the vibrant heart of Phuket, Avista Hideaway draws inspiration for its design and story from the traditional Thai village. Set on a hillside overlooking azure blue waters the hotel blends modern luxury with legendary Thai design and hospitality. Classic architectural and interior elements inspired by the traditional Thai village, are combined with clean, contemporary lines and an open-air layout, to create a serene atmosphere that is at once timeless and decidedly modern. The hotel’s memorable moment is an intimate roof top dining experience with panoramic views of the ocean that guests will remember for years to come. Exciting developments are on the horizon for the boutique luxury MGallery by Sofitel brand with upcoming openings in Myanmar, Australia, China, the Philippines and Thailand.

PERFECT ESCAPES…

CREATED FOR YOU Centara Hotels & Resorts offers a choice of hotels and resorts in all of Asia’s best destinations. From sophisticated city hotels in Bangkok offering amazing restaurants and rooﬅop bars, to luxurious beachfront resorts in Thailand and beyond. Whether you’re looking to party, relax on the beach or experience a little culture, we’ve got you covered. With sumptuous dining, award-winning spas and a thousand ways to discover city or sea, your most difficult decision is just which rooﬅop vistas or cocktails to choose, or which island or beach to discover. BOOK DIRECT FOR OUR BEST PRICE PROMISE centarahotelsresorts.com • T: +66 2101 1234 # 1 THAILAND

•

BALI

•

MALDIVES

•

SRI LANKA

•

E: reservations@chr.co.th •

VIETNAM

April

On the Cover

The floral designs of Saigon designer Tran Phuong My. Photographer: Zhang Jingna.

features

Green Lands The coral-rich Yaeyama Islands are Japan’s terra incognita. Adam H. Graham heads south to gorge on taco rice and swim in a sea of stars.

The Good Earth Kevin West takes a walk among the wallabies and wedge-tailed eagles in the South Australian outback and finds new meaning in the idea of natural selection. Photographed by Jesse Chehak

c l o c k w i s e F R O M t o p LE F T: N a o ya K i m o t o ; j e s s e c h e h a k ; m i s h a g r av e n o r ; Am b r o i s e t É z e n a s

We Built This City Michelin stars and Big Architecture have come to Oakland, California, one of the most storied melting pots in the United States. By Jeff Chu. Photographed by Misha Gravenor

104

Spirit of Hope Even as new tensions grip the former Soviet region, Kiev remains a cosmopolitan city with a strong culture, a striving populace and an indelible spirit. By Gary Shteyngart. Photographed by Ambroise Tézenas

104

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / A p r i l 2 0 1 6

In Every Issue T+L Digital 12 Contributors 14 Editor’s Note 16 The Conversation 18 Deals 74 Wish You Were Here 118

departments

23 Hall Pass Singaporean flavors making waves in Melbourne.

Beyond 41 Rose of Saigon Fashion designer

(and mathematics whiz) Tran Phuong My’s unconventional road to international success.

A thriving art scene in Shenzen, in

26 Where China Gets Creative the south of the country.

28 Perfect Scents Hotels in Asia are jumping on the fragrancemaking bandwagon with signature smells.

innovative cocktail bars.

32 Mixing Things Up Tokyo’s most 35 London Calling How to pack

your weekend full of culture in the British capital.

world of the French designer.

36 Isabel Marant The fabulous

Detouring through the forgotten

44 Backcountry Odyssey

gems of northern Malaysia.

allure of India’s fragrant alphonso

50 The Mightiest of Mangoes The

The Guide

favorite retail obsessives reveal

55 The Thrill of the Hunt Our

shopping finds that make their hearts beat faster, from Bangkok to Manila.

Upgrade

possible to be an eco-friendly

65 Going Green Is it actually

traveler? We tell you how to avoid the hype and make choices that really matter while flying, cruising and checking in.

variety, now ripe for the picking.

51 A Breath of Fresh Air From food trucks to shops in shipping containers, low-rise Dubai blossoms beyond the skyscrapers.

The Place

generation is tweaking the

114 Luang Prabang A new

picturesque hamlet’s craft, culinary and creative scene while keeping faithful to its heritage charm.

38 The Royal Treatment

Budji+Royal brings novel design philosophy to the Philippines.

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

F R O M LE F T: c o u r t e s y o f H aw k e r H a l l ; K i t y e n g c h a n ; z h a n g j i n g n a ; c o u r t e s y o f l i b r a r y

Here & Now

t+l digital

Lookout

Seeking Inspiration in Burma We chug through Rangoon with the creative director of lifestyle brand Yangoods in search of bold new ideas.

4 Hot Restaurant Openings in Hong Kong From kimchi Bloody Marys to veal cannelloni, these new Hong Kong eateries promise to please palates.

perth’s Treasury is Reborn as a Slick Boutique A top-to-toe refurbishment restores a historic gem in the CBD to glory and glamour.

Download Us

Keep up with Us

T+ L Ta bl e t Edi t ion s

twitter.com/ travleisureasia

Available on iOS, Android, Win 8 and Zinio Desktop Reader.

facebook.com/ travelleisureasia pinterest.com/ travleisureasia

tandl.asia/newsletter

instagram.com/ travelandleisureasia

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

tleditor@ mediatransasia.com

travelandleisureasia.com

fr o m l e f t : au n g pya e s o e ; c o u rt esy o f m y h o u s e ; m o n s i c h a h o o n s u wa n

this month on tr avelandleisureasia.com

A slew of stunning new hotels in Phuket; an insider’s guide to Macau; money-saving tricks for airline-seat upgrades; the latest travel deals; and much more.

contributors

Adam H. Graham

Marco Ferrarese and Kit Yeng Chan

Green Lands Page 78 — “The Yaeyama Islands are a rare slice of relaxed Japan. You don’t see or feel the pressures of Tokyo or Osaka; there is less bowing, less formality and a more casual way of living.” Graham found it easy to assume the vibe. “After snorkeling around an unnamed island in the north, we found this smoothie shop in a gorgeous villa on a breezy palm-lined hill. There were white tables on the lawn. I think the name was Satoukibi Taira, but we couldn’t find it listed anywhere after; it may have just been someone’s kitchen opened temporarily for juice. There seemed to be a lot of that in Ishigaki.” Instagram: @adamgraham

Rachna Sachasinh

Jeff Chu

The Place: Luang Prabang Page 114 — “This ‘sleepy town’ is actually percolating. The creativity here unfolds at a natural, human pace.” After two years working in Luang Prabang as a freelance writer and with village-based artisan projects, Sachasinh says one of her favorite people in the city can be found peddling noodles in the Night Market: “Night after night, Noy dishes a stream of mouthwatering bowls of khao soi and pho with an unflappable, taciturn demeanor. She communicates with her eyebrows, which crinkle and move up and down in a language of their own. My goal is always to say something to make her crack a smile.”

We Built This City Page 96 — Oakland’s Chinatown, quieter than San Francisco’s, “is not a showpiece, but a community.” What does he remember from his childhood there? “Dim sum at a now-shuttered restaurant... The tofu shop where my mom would buy freshly made cakes of bean curd and rice noodles... I’m Chinese—of course almost all my memories are of food.” On this return trip, it was the modern-Mexican that got to him: He ate at Cosecha twice. “Chef Dominica RiceCisneros is gracious—you’ll find her with a big smile, picking up napkins and exhorting folks to try her (extraordinary) horchata.” Instagram: @byjeffchu

W r i t er

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

W r i t er a nd P h o to gr a p h er

Backcountry Odyssey Page 44 — Road trips are the Penangbased pair’s preferred mode of travel: “Marco is good at itineraries and getting us out of bed early; Kit has a natural talent for attracting local sympathies and snaring invitations.” One example on their last trip in northern Malaysia came from “Kak Su, a chain-smoking, gregarious Thai-Malay woman who manages Gunung Stong Park Headquarters. She doesn’t see many foreigners and insisted that we join her family for dinner. We cooked traditional Kelantanese food with her and her three daughters.” Twitter: @monkeyrockworld

W r i t er

fr o m t o p : COU R TESY O F A d a m h . Gr a h a m ; COU R TESY O F M a r c o F e rr a r e s e a n d K i t Y e n g C h a n ; COU R TESY O F R a c h n a S a c h a s i n h ; COU R TESY O F J e ff C h u

april 2016

W r i t er

editor’s note

april 2016

Ask anyone if they would like to visit Tokyo and there’s only

@CKucway chrisk@mediatransasia.com

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r av e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

From My Travels

The call came from London days before Christmas: could I tag along to Kyoto after my Tokyo meetings? Asking me if I’d like to return to Travel+Leisure’s favorite city in the world, as voted by you, our readers, is only slightly ridiculous. Could I stay at the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto (above), a personal favorite? Suffice it to say that Christmas came early. Kyoto is always special and it’s amazing to constantly come across new gems in the former capital, whether it’s unbelievable Wagyu beef sandwiches, an out-of-theway pottery shop with one-ofa-kind plates and bowls, or seasonal kaiseki meals that leave you speechless.

fr o m l e f t: t h a n a k o rn c h o mn awa n g ; C h r i s t o p h e r k u c way

one plausible answer. Whether you’ve been many times or if it’s your first visit, the Japanese capital is intriguing at every turn and in every neighborhood. I’ve just attended a luxury travel symposium called ILTM Japan there and, as alluring as the city is, I spent two days at the Conrad Tokyo without ever venturing outside. That might sound a bit remiss but I hope that all I gleaned about Japan beyond the big three of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto will show in these pages in the coming year. In this issue, we take a solid step in that direction to off-the-beaten path Okinawa. The lush Yaeyama Islands in “Green Lands,” (page 78), present a stark contrast to Minato-ku, but the outdoors and culture here prove more than just a little alluring. Elsewhere, we break down why Luang Prabang (“The Place,” page 114) is as popular as ever. Traditional weaving that gives back to the community. The newest menus in this gastronomic destination. The best way to take in the picturesque Lao town’s sights. It’s all here. This month marks Songkran, the Thai new year celebration when staying dry is impossible. The event has its beautiful moments; just turn to Wish You Were Here (page 118) for evidence of that. It’s worth experiencing once in your life. But having done so, I’m seriously contemplating heading back to Japan, to the Yaeyama Islands.

the conversation

exotic & idyllic retreat ...where life is a private celebration

The travel industry has more reason than ever to green up, judging by the results of the most recent Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability report, a survey of 30,000 consumers in 60 countries about what influences their purchases. Here’s what global and Southeast Asian respondents say:

8/10

10% Increase from 2014 in the number of consumers around the world willing to pay more for sustainable brands

of Southeast Asian consumers like to purchase products for the health benefits and contributions to society

US$20,000

Those who earn this amount or less are more likely to say they’d pay extra to support sustainability than those with incomes greater than US$50,000

#TLASIA

consumers in Southeast Asia, the most in the world, prefer to buy from firms committed to positive social and environmental impact

of millennials are willing to pay a premium for sustainable offerings

This April, our readers traverse the region’s diverse spiritual landscapes

One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi. By @Kanazera

Temple of Heaven, Beijing. By @thebrazengourmand

Nadauungma in Bagan, Burma. By @Monoubani

Masjid Putra, Malaysia. By @leehorbachewski

Sanur I Ubud I Nusa Dua I Jimbaran

P. 62 361 705 777 F. 62 361 705 101 E. experience@kayumanis.com

Share an Instagram photo by using the #TLAsia hashtag, and it may be featured in an upcoming issue. Follow @travelandleisureasia

www.thegangsa.com

www.kayumanis.com

editor-in-chief art director Deput y editor senior editor AS SISTANT EDITOR senior DEsigner DEsigner

Christopher Kucway Wannapha Nawayon Jeninne Lee-St. John Merritt Gurley Monsicha Hoonsuwan Chotika Sopitarchasak Autchara Panphai

Regul ar contributors / photogr aphers Cedric Arnold, Jeff Chu, Helen Dalley, Philipp Engelhorn, Duncan Forgan, Diana Hubbell, Lauryn Ishak, Mark Lean, Melanie Lee, Brent T. Madison, Ian Lloyd Neubauer, Morgan Ommer, Aaron Joel Santos, Darren Soh, Stephanie Zubiri chairman president publishing director publishER digital media manager TRAFFIC MANAGER /deput y DIGITAL media manager sales director business de velopment managers chief financial officer production manager production group circul ation MANAGER circul ation assistant

J.S. Uberoi Egasith Chotpakditrakul Rasina Uberoi-Bajaj Robert Fernhout Pichayanee Kitsanayothin Varin Kongmeng Joey Kukielka Domenica Agostino Justin Williams Gaurav Kumar Kanda Thanakornwongskul Natchanan Kaewsasaen Porames Sirivejabandhu Yupadee Saebea

TR AVEL+LEISURE (USA) Editor-in-Chief Senior Vice President / Publishing Director Vice President / Publisher

Nathan Lump Steven DeLuca Jay Meyer

TIME INC. INTERNATIONAL LICENSING & DEVELOPMENT (syndication@timeinc.com) Vice President E xecutive Editor / International Senior Director, Business De velopment Senior Director, Ad Sales & Marketing

Jim Jacovides Mark Orwoll Jennifer Savage Joelle Quinn

TIME INC. Chief E xecutive Officer Chief Content Officer

Joseph Ripp Norman Pearlstine

tr avel+leisure southeast asia Vol. 10, Issue 4 Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia is published monthly by Media Transasia Limited, 1603, 16/F, Island Place Tower, 510 Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Road, North Point, Hong Kong. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Produced and distributed by Media Transasia Thailand Ltd., 14th Floor, Ocean Tower II, 75/8 Soi Sukhumvit 19, Sukhumvit Road, Klongtoeynue, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand. Tel: 66-2/204-2370. Printed by Comform Co., Ltd. (66-2/368-2942â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7). Color separation by Classic Scan Co., Ltd. (66-2/291-7575). While the editors do their utmost to verify information published, they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy. This edition is published by permission of Time Inc. Affluent Media Group 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Tel. 1-212/522-1212 Online: www.timeinc.com Reproduction in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner is prohibited. subscriptions Enquiries: www.travelandleisuresea.com/subscribe ADVERTISING offices General enquiries: advertising@mediatransasia.com Singapore: 65/9029 0749; joey@mediatransasia.com Japan: Shinano Co., Ltd. 81-3/3584-6420; kazujt@bunkoh.com Korea: YJP & Valued Media Co., Ltd. 82-2/3789-6888; hi@yjpvm.kr

16_067

PREFERRED HOTELS & RESORTS WARMLY WELCOMES

LOSE YOURSELF. FIND YOURSELF. It is when we are furthest from home that we most become ourselves. This is where we discover new things, grow, share, and unite with others. Uncover the world’s most important travel experiences at P R E F E R R E D H O T E L S . C O M #ThePreferredLife

T H E F U L L E RT O N B AY H O T E L

THE SIAM

COCO BODU HITHI, MALDIVES

©2015 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, The Luxury Collection and their logos are the trademarks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its affiliates.

HOTELS THAT DEFINE THE DESTINATION™ Nestled among stunning beaches, lush coconut groves, with never-ending views of the emerald-green Phang Nga Bay and idyllic landscapes of the Phuket coastline, The Naka island is an exclusive boutique resort on Naka Yai Island, located just off the Phuket coast with 10 minutes speedboat journey.

THE NAKA ISLAND A LUXURY COLLECTION RESORT & SPA, PHUKET 32 MOO. 5, PAKLOK, THALANG, PHUKET 83110 THAILAND TEL 66 76 371 400 FAX 66 76 371 401 THELUXURYCOLLECTION.COM/NAKAISLAND

Hall Pass

Ph c o oto u r t eCsrye d oift hT aw e e kkay er hall

Singaporean flavor is spicing up Melbourneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dining scene. Ian Lloyd Neubauer digs in at Hawker Hall, the newest take on this tasty trend.

N e ws + t r e n d s + d i sc o v e r i e s

The Dish

/ here&now /

twist; choose from 18 beers and seven wines on tap; nasi goreng, sunny-side up; follow the signs to fill up.

Customers elbowing their way

around tables laden with food and sauces. Woks clanging loudly in an open kitchen. Food that’s spicy, sweet and sour, often all at the same time. No, it’s not one of Singapore’s famous food courts. It’s Hawker Hall (98 Chapel St., Windsor; 61-3/85600090; hawkerhall.com.au; dishes A$6-$23), an à la mode Australian interpretation set in a refitted 18th century horse stable on Melbourne’s evergreen Chapel Street. A runaway success since its launch late last year, it’s the fourth venue by Chris Lucas, the Asian-fusion pop savant behind Chin Chin, a phenomenally popular Thai street-food joint in Melbourne’s CBD, and Kong BBQ, by the Yarra River, a render of Korean barbecue. The Singaporean eating-complex simulacrum follows in the footsteps of The Old Raffles Place (68 Johnston St., Collingwood; 61-3/9417-4450; oldrafflesplace.com; mains A$10-$38),

a modest diner where Alan Han, the son of the executive chef at the British Consulate in Singapore pre-World War II, has been cooking Hainanese chicken rice and seafood laksa for more than 20 years—though a recent menu update promises some fresh recipes by the seasoned pro, like asam fish curry and Thai-style duck salad. And any buff of down-home Lion City fare will have gorged at Killiney Kopitiam (flagship: 108 Bourke St., CBD; 61-3/9663-5818; killiney-kopitiam.com.au; mains A$7$38) since its arrival from Singapore in 2013. This nearly century-old Hainanese-coffee-shop institution with franchises around Asia has three outposts in Melbourne shilling real-deal dishes like chili crab and durian pancakes. While these old favorites familiarized the Melburnian palate with Singaporean zest, Hawker Hall—which capitalizes on the city’s

april 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

pervasive casual-cool dining trend—has so much to offer, it may be the tipping point for elevating hawker hang-outs to an all-out craze. The 350-square-meter space is many venues in one: a beer hall with 18 bespoke lagers and seven wines on tap; an alfresco sidewalk restaurant; a steamy front-row kitchen theater; a late-night cocktail bar with DJs playing on weekends; and a 160-seat food hall with snappy table service. The menu is as voluminous as the space. Guests can choose from 60some dishes derived from Lucas’s study of Singaporean hawkers who “fine-tuned their craft over decades in order to perfect a single dish,” he says. Nearly all are above par. A few—dishes like the pork and chive wontons with chili and black bean sauce, and the Hainanese barbecue chicken and rice with bok choy—are almost criminally addictive. Sweet talk your way out of there with the Milo Dinosaur sundae, a powder puff of malt chocolate over coconut ice cream with chocolate biscuits, that’s yet another Aussie-Asian fusion star sure to make you salivate.

f r o m l e f t: I a n L l o y d N e u b a u e r ( 3 ) ; c o u r t e s y o f h aw k e r h a l l

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE, AT HAWKER HALL: Drinks with a

/ here&now /

culture

Where China Gets Creative Far from the prying eyes of Beijing censors, Shenzhen has grown into one of the nation’s most daring art cities.

between the sky-high rents of Hong Kong and

the looming threat of government censorship in Shanghai and Beijing, none of China’s worldclass art destinations are actually welcoming to the artists themselves. Shenzhen, which did not exist 40 years ago, but is now a capital of electronics manufacturing, is filling that void. Located on the mainland just north of Hong Kong, it’s both culturally and geographically outside the spotlight, and is under less scrutiny from Beijing than other major cities. Shenzhen, a city of 10 million, has the country’s youngest population, and a rare anything-goes attitude prevails there. “Many residents come from outer villages and are trying to find their place here,” says Bronwen Shelwell, who developed the arts and design program at Shenzhen Polytechnic University. “This makes for an exciting dialogue.” The center of the cultural scene is the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (ocat.org.cn), or

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

G e t t in g t h e r e Though Shenzhen has a sizable international airport, the best way to visit is via Hong Kong. It’s a 45-minute cab ride or a 90-minute subway to either Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau crossings. Most foreigners must have a valid visa to enter China before arriving at the border.

OCAT, which comprises galleries, artists’ studios and an arts library. “Digging a Hole in China,” an exhibition on the tradition of landscape installations, opened in March. It’s an intriguing look at what Chinese artists contend with—there are videos of the creative process and documentation of the hurdles they face in building public art in the country. The area around OCAT, called OCT-Loft (octloft.com), has bohemian bookshops such as Old Heaven Books (No. 120, A5 Bldg.), galleries like Whatever Café (No. 103, E6 Bldg.) and murals by international street artists. There’s also B10 Live (C2 Bldg.), a music venue that will be one of the hosts of the annual Tomorrow Festival in May, featuring underground musicians, talks and film screenings. Later this year, the He Xiang Ning Art Gallery (hxnart.com) will reopen with an excellent collection of Chinese contemporary art. The museum is named for an artist and political radical of the early 1900s, and preserves her spirit with boundary-pushing works, including nudes, which would be considered extreme elsewhere. And slated for completion in 2017 is the Shekou Design Museum—the Victoria & Albert Museum’s first partnership outside the U.K., followed soon after by the Museum of Contemporary Art Shenzhen. The city’s scruffier side is even more apparent beyond OCAT, at places like Brown Sugar Jar, also referred to as Hong Tang Guan (G9 Huangguan Technology Park, 9 Tairan Rd.; 86-755/2541-6110), where rock, punk and experimental artists perform. It’s become a de facto gathering place for creatives, misfits and antiestablishment types—and it’s one of the best places to experience the city’s youthful ethos. “Beijing and Shanghai are held back by their history,” says journalist Kevin Pinner, who edits a local entertainment magazine. “We are creating our own culture here. There’s nothing to hold us back, relatively speaking— it’s still China, after all.” — CHARLEY LANYON

v i r g i l e s i m o n b e rt r a n d

Chen Min, owner of 523 Coffee, a café in OCT-Loft. LEFT: A mural near OCAT by Greek artist Woozy.

Insta

/ here&now / Noticed

Perfect Scents

Kate Springer sniffs out a budding trend as more hotels in Asia design their own signature fragrances.

If a whiff of jasmine

instantly takes you back to a special night in Phuket or slicing into an orange conjures cocktails in the Maldives, then you’re already in tune with your most powerful sense. Smell is a potent tool that more hotels are tapping to ensure a memorable guest experience. Now travelers can create the same olfactory escape in their own homes. To keep the vacation going yearround, turn to allpowerful aromas to revisit

The St. Regis Bali Resort.

those favorite travel experiences. “Smell is crucial to memory,” says award-winning master perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. “You don’t remember the song that was playing, but you will remember the smell.” Here are a few hotels offering scents you can savor as a souvenir.

Shangri-La Vanguards of hotel scenting in Asia, the properties have a bouquet that’s reminiscent of white

flowers, sandalwood, musk, vanilla, tea and a touch of talcum powder. “It’s a polished and refined fragrance that makes perfect sense for that brand,” says John Paulo, chief fragrance specialist at Hong Kong-based bespoke perfumery Artisenses (artisenses. com; perfumes from HK$499), whom we enlisted to analyze hotel perfumes. “In cities, we tend to use more heavy floral fragrances and more wood,” Paulo says,

Indigo Pearl, in Phuket.

“because they’re sophisticated ingredients that work in a fast-paced urban environment.” shangri-la.com; room spray from Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei, NT$1,280.

The Ritz-Carlton The Ritz-Carlton circulates a rich, woody “Ritz-Carlton Black Orchid” aroma through the regal corridors of all its properties. The setting of the new Ritz-Carlton Macau is perfectly in sync

signature suds

Some of our favorite hotels are pampering guests with new specialty soaps. + Grand Mercure Phuket Patong Resort & Villas is now producing its own line of amenities, under the brand name Ryn, available for purchase on site and at Bangkok malls Siam Paragon, Emporium and Emquartier. grandmercurephuketpatong.com; Bt790-1,550. + Spa specialist Banyan Tree recently introduced the Night Queen Collection, a line of moisturizing products that make use of the exotic namesake flower. banyantreegallery.com; S$16-$29.

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

fr o m l e f t : c o u rt esy o f s h a n g r i - l a ; c o u rt esy o f S h a n g r i - L a’ s Fa r E ast e rn P l a z a H ot e l , Ta i p e i ; c o u rt esy o f st. r eg i s ; c o u rt esy o f st. r eg i s ba l i ; c o u rt esy o f i n d i g o p e a r l , p h u k e t ( 2 ) . b ot to m : c o u rt esy o f ba n ya n t r e e

Shangri-La’s hotel in Taipei.

with the aristocratic aroma. Bring a bottle back with you to visualize the soaring views from The Ritz-Carlton Bar, where you cozied up for a few romantic cocktails and a live jazz performance on your last visit. ritzcarlton. com/macau; room spray and candle will be available for purchase later this year.

St. Regis Their new signature scent is inspired by founder Caroline Astor and the VIP guests who attended her high-society balls. The regal “Caroline’s Four Hundred,” with notes of American Beauty roses (her favorite flower), crisp

quince and cherry blossoms, will conjure the clinking of crystal flutes filled with champagne. stregis.com/boutique; scented candles US$80.

Cordis, Hong Kong Formerly Langham Place, this stalwart property is treating guests to the fresh new “Sparkling Mint” essence designed by Laudamiel. “There’s complexity from the back with the wood, and on the top it’s like fresh air with citrus and hidden mint,” the perfumer says. cordishotels.com; candle, room spray and reed diffuser will be available for purchase later this year from the hotel.

Indigo Pearl, Phuket “Location is really important,” Paulo says. “If you’re at the beach, you want to produce something that’s relaxing and perhaps even fruity— because it’s associated with cocktails and vacations.” Indigo Pearl resort in Phuket sells incense sticks of its tropical magnolia champaka oil, designed by the resort’s owner, for an exotic, romantic effect. thestockroomonline.com; champaka candle Bt250.

Cheval Blanc Cheval Blanc’s “Island Chic” fragrance, created by the brain behind Dior perfumes, is used at all of

its resorts, but perhaps at none more successfully than Cheval Blanc Randheli, Maldives, where it is infused in everything from lotions to wooden combs. Blending with the sea breeze, hints of rose and cardamom, tea, cedar and tonka beans combine to offer an almost meditative calm. Consistency is the key to a successfully rendered aromatic ambience. “The hotels that let fragrance play a major role in the whole experience,” Paulo says, “are able to create a level of sophistication and lifelong connection with travelers.” randheli. chevalblanc.com; products from US$14-$40.

/ here&now / The new formula of La Crème, Clé de Peau Beauté’s cult-favorite moisturizer, is packed with more antiaging ingredients than ever. It now contains pinecone extract, which prevents sagging; rosemary extract, which improves skin density; and satsuma extract, which fights fine lines and wrinkles. cledepeaubeaute.com; US$535.

For Hermès’s Eau de Rhubarbe Écarlate cologne, perfumer Christine Nagel focused on the rhubarb plant’s tart, earthy notes. The result: a fragrance that’s warm, subtle and perfect for spring. hermes.com; from US$129.

Dopp Kit

Spring Splendors there’s no reason to scrimp on your beaut y routine because You’re on the road. this season’s best products are luxuries worth packing.

Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutriv Ultimate Diamond Revitalizing Mask Noir takes the DIY mask to luxurious new heights. The two-part ritual includes a dry brush, which is used to prep the skin, and a lightweight black mask with ingredients like purifying bamboo charcoal and Périgord truffle extract, which promote a youthful glow. esteelauder.com; US$340.

Tuberose forms the core of Armani/ Privé’s Rouge Malachite, a new fragrance named for Russia’s famed stone. The floral scent is balanced by notes of pink peppercorn, orange blossom, ylangylang and Arabian jasmine. giorgio armanibeauty.com; US$310.

Chanel’s Sublimage La Crème is a medium-weight antiaging favorite that’s suitable for day and night in any climate, meaning you can bring it to the beach in Palawan or skiing in Japan. chanel.com; US$400.

set sail This month, Holland America’s 2,650-passenger Koningsdam—its largest ship to date, with interiors by Adam D. Tihany and maritime designer Bjørn Storbraaten— begins cruising the Mediterranean. It’s also the company’s first ship with staterooms that sleep five (great for families); a French seafood brasserie; and a 10-seat tasting table created with Chateau Ste. Michelle where guests can blend their own wine before dinner. Seven-night sailings from US$1,199 per person; hollandamerica.com. — J.G.

Act Fast: Serenity Now Swimsuit season looms again, and the timing is perfect to tone up while you unwind. Yoga practitioner Kim White, nutrition specialist Craig Burton and fitness coach Hayden Rhodes team up to ease you through the transformational four-day Quintessential Wellness Workshop this month at Mandara Spa, JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa (jwmarriottphuketresort.com; April 28-May 1; Bt25,000 per person). After a comprehensive health assessment and diet consultation, you’ll be spending the weekend doing daily yoga and Pilates while learning to manage stress and eat well.

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

— monsicha hoonsuwan

— JACQUELINE GIFFORD fr o m t o p : p h i l i p fr i e d m a n ( 5 ) ; c o u r t e s y o f j w m a rr i o t t p h u k e t r e s o r t & s pa

GOODS

Duffel Chameleon

obsession

Fancy a Drink?

c l o c k w i s e fr o m b e l o w r i g h t: c o u r t e s y o f S ø r e n s e n ; c o u r t e s y o f f o u r s e a s o n s k o h s a m u i (4 )

Fine Caribbean and Latin American rums are turning Thailand’s beach escape into a West Indies paradise. Now that Cuba is on everyone’s wish list, it’s time to get acquainted with the region’s sugarcane spirit... all in the name of research. Rum is making a comeback with distillers around the world brewing their own varietals, from New Zealand’s oak-aged Roaring Forties to Phuket’s vodka-clear Chalong Bay. The latter is on shelf at CoCoRum (fourseasons. com/kohsamui), the new Bill Bensley-designed bar at Four Seasons Koh Samui with Thailand’s most

extensive collection of the Caribbean firewater curated by rum mixologist and former Bacardi global ambassador David Cordoba. The Argentinian expert stocks the venue, opened last December, with bottles from the West Indies and Latin America, the two regions distilling most of the world’s rum. You can sip anything from Plantation XO 20th Anniversary, Barbados’s 20-year-old rum with a hint of candied orange, to 15-year-old El Dorado,

CLOCKWISE FROM top left: Beachside CoCoRum; David Cordoba; a Missionary’s Downfall; seafood cebiche mixto.

Guyana’s dry liquor with a nose of toffee. Cordoba’s prized products, however, are Thailand’s only two bottles of Plantation’s “Stiggins’ Fancy,” a 1,000-bottles-per-batch collaboration between distiller Alexandre Gabriel and cocktail historian David Wondrich that the mixologist scouted out especially for CoCoRum. This smoky dark tipple from Trinidad and Tobago follows traditional recipes from the 1800s and is infused with Queen Victoria pineapple rinds to add the tropical-fruit note that shines in classic Old Fashioneds and is equally delicious straight-up on the rocks. Cordoba says you can even forgo the ice and order it neat, with a side of assorted-seafood cebiche mixto for a complete Caribbean fantasy. Wherever you sip it, from Thailand to Tortuga, don’t be shocked if the waves start breaking to a calypso beat. — m.h.

Everybody needs a sturdy duffel bag, and this new design by Scandinavian lifestyle brand Sørensen is great for short trips. This is Sørensen’s first foray beyond the world of watches, and you see the eye for detail and utility that they usually bring to their timepieces in the craftsmanship of this canvas carryall. It converts from a duffel into a backpack by simply taking the straps out of the back pocket and hooking them on to the buckles. The inside pocket fits a 13-inch laptop and is spacious enough for a few changes of clothes, just right for that travel-light weekend away. soerensencph.com; €95.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

/ here&now /

af ter dark

Mixing Things Up

when shuzo nagumo makes a cocktail at Mixology Laboratory (3F, 1-6-1 Yaesu, Chuo-ku; 81-3/62623946; r.goope.jp/spirits-sharing), the process often resembles a science experiment. Mist wreathes his face as he pumps smoke into a bag encircling a martini glass. He uses a handheld compressed-gas cylinder to transform the salt on the rim of a glass into foam. A few years ago, such a modernist approach would have been considered heresy in Tokyo. Cocktail bars—epitomized

by places in the Ginza district like Bar High Five—were hushed temples dedicated to preProhibition American drinks. First introduced to Japan in the 1880s under Emperor Meiji, cocktail making became an obsession. And it was Tokyo’s dedication to old-school methods that helped to reignite the American cocktail renaissance of the early 2000s. But now the city is changing tack, as upstarts like Nagumo introduce ideas and trends from abroad:

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

from top: Dapper barmen

shake cocktails at Osloimport Fuglen; try the Monkey Punch at Bar Tram.

fr o m to p : Y u ta S h i r asa k i ; c o u rt esy o f ba r t r a m

Young, well-traveled bartenders are bringing avant-garde techniques and interesting ingredients to Tokyo’s previously static cocktail scene.

v i cto r p r a d o. st y l i st : j i l l e dwa r d s / h a l l e y r es o u r c es

spirit-specific bars, molecular approaches, indigenous ingredients, European-style trappings. The shift is due in part to a class of younger bartenders who are eager to travel, absorb influences and adapt them for their hometown. Nagumo apprenticed in the kitchen of Nobu in London, while Gen Yamamoto, who now has a namesake bar in the Azabu-Juban district (genyamamoto. jp), spent seven years in the U.S.’s Northeast at places like David Bouley’s Brushstroke, in New York City, before returning home. He draws on his experience abroad and on the kaiseki tradition of multicourse meals for drinks featuring naruto kintoki (sweet potato) and hozuki (winter cherries). Rogerio Igarashi, the owner of Bar Tram and Bar Trench (small-axe. net), was one of the first in Tokyo to experiment with unorthodox styles. His bars, which opened in 2003 and 2010, respectively, have moody interiors reminiscent of New York speakeasies and menus with bitters, amaros and absinthe. “I feel that the creative approach has, at last, become accepted,” he says. Frank Cisneros, who worked at Brooklyn’s Dram and Prime Meats, recently spent a year bartending at Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental. He sees two reasons for the shift: First, more Japanese bartenders are entering competitions and gaining exposure to bars around the world. The popularity of Fuglen (fuglen.com), a café and cocktail bar imported from Oslo that serves drinks blending Norwegian and Japanese elements, is a sign of the city’s eagerness to assimilate tastes. Second, Tokyo is in an internationalizing mood as it anticipates the 2020 Olympics. Visitors will soon see signs in other languages on the subways, and these newer bars are more in sync with the times. “Japan wants to be influenced by the outside world,” Cisneros says. “But it also has an island mentality—and the people are very proud of what they do.” — CHRISTOPHER ROSS

the essentials

1/ Brioni dress shirt, US$850. 2/ John Lobb shoes, US$1,610. 3/ Coach wallet, US$150. 4/ Mark Cross card case, US$225. 5/ Hermès watch, US$8,500. 6/ Lord and Taylor umbrella, US$20. 7/ Jeffrey Rüdes blazer, US$1,600.

Smart, sleek pieces to pack for a night of barhopping in Tokyo.

7 6

4 1

/ here&now / Dining

Honker’s Hedonists

New restaurants in Hong Kong are offering all the decadence you crave. BY david ngo CafE Bauhinia

Cobo House by 2am

Hidetoshi Nakata, famous footballer and sake ambassador, has joined forces with the Kee Club to open this modern izakaya restaurant with a garden terrace and an impressive sake menu. There are bottles galore and 15 varieties served by the glass, so you can explore the whole range of nihonshu. kokohk. com; dinner for two HK$640.

Fresh flowers and melted chocolate: life doesn’t get much sweeter than this. Café Bauhinia is part flower workshop, part restaurant, where guests are invited to create stunning bouquets and terrariums followed by campfire fun with the city’s only S’more buffet bar. fb.com/cafe-bauhinia; tea for two HK$368.

Award-winning pastry chef Janice Wong serves up sweets that are as beautiful as they are mouthwatering, like the “Purple” dessert combining lavender marshmallows, wild berries and a purple potato puree. Now she’s bringing her artful eye to savory fare with the launch of all-day dining. cobohouse.com; degustation menu HK$2,500 for two.

The Roundhouse Chicken + Beer Watch a perfect union in action at this restaurant specializing in craft beer and Southern fried chicken. There are 33 brews on tap and while the hand-battered chicken is the star of the menu, the hot honey-drizzled biscuits share the marquee. roundhouse. com.hk; dinner and beers for two HK$400.

Tsujirihei green tea tart at Cobo House by 2am.

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

c o u rt esy o f c o b o h o u s e by 2 a m

KOKO

/ here&now / Cheat sheet

London Calling

Everything you need to know for a culture-packed getaway in the British capital, from literary-themed nightlife to the biggest openings and shows.

On View: modern blockbusters the trend: bars meet books

fr o m t o p l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f l at e n i g h t l i b r a r y c l u b ; C o u r t e s y o f l i b r a r y; c o u r t e s y o f z e t t e r t o w n h o u s e

Late Night Library Club | This

roving party takes inspiration from such books as The Picture of Dorian Gray and Tipping the Velvet for evenings at venues including a Tudor mansion in Hackney (above). Guests—many of whom dress in period costumes—clink glasses with artists, poets and performers— some of whom may take the stage late into the night. latenightlibraryclub. co.uk.

Society Club | An outpost of this Soho club and bookshop has opened in Shoreditch. Both have specialized book collections (Soho’s is 20th-century literature, Shoreditch’s focuses on music and the visual arts) and literary-inspired

cocktails (the daiquiri recipe was a favorite of Ernest Hemingway). Nonmembers can attend events by calling ahead for a spot. thesocietyclub.com.

Library | This private members’ club in Covent Garden (above)

also operates as a restaurant, hotel and lounge. A day pass lets you join seminars, parties, and conversations with celebrities including Idris Elba, who recently recommended his three favorite books to attendees. lib-rary.com.

check in: artful lodging

The 24-bedroom Zetter Townhouse in Marylebone (thezettertownhouse.com; doubles from £169) is filled with antiques (ornate moldings, heavy four-posters, tasseled lampshades) that give the quirky property a Victorian feel (left). Maestro Tony Conigliaro oversees an inventive list of cocktails, served in the painting-filled parlor. Over in West London, the Laslett (living-rooms. co.uk; doubles from £109) features the work of local Notting Hill personalities, including artist Toby Mott and fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki, in the library, bar and 51 guest rooms. — EMILY MATHIESON

An Anish Kapoor sculpture in any city is big news, but the striking red tangle he made for the 2012 Summer Olympics will add a slide twisting around the installation in May (arcelormittalorbit. com; £12). + Take in the panoramic view at the top, then whiz down the 115-meter-tall structure. This month’s hottest ticket is “Exhibitionism” (stonesexhibi tionism.com), a Rolling Stones retrospective that takes up nine galleries at the Saatchi. + In up-and-coming Vauxhall, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery (newportstreet gallery.com) showcases the artist’s own collection. It’s predictably avant-garde but surprisingly understated. Has the enfant terrible matured?

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

/ here&now / My Fabulous World

Isabel Marant

The French designer can’t get enough of Indian fabrics—or her electricity-free cabin in the woods outside Paris. NATURAL WONDER

I first visited India when I was 18, and every time I go, I collect more fabrics and embroideries. My latest (1) runway collection is inspired by (2) Rajasthan’s heritage—I’ve always been attracted to the region’s textile techniques, like embroidery, mirror work and beading.

While in India, I stay at the (3) Imperial New Delhi (the imperialindia.com; doubles from Rs100,000). It’s in an old colonial building, and it has a beautiful garden. MARKET SWEEP

I love to go to markets and find objects from everyday life, like black-clay pottery

from Oaxaca, Mexico, and jewelry from Africa and India. In Paris I can spend hours at the Porte de Clignancourt flea market looking at clothing. HOMETOWN GETAWAY

On weekends, I go to my cabin outside Paris in the Fontainebleau forest. I spend a lot of time there— there’s no electricity or running water, but it’s next to a river. INTIMACY IS KEY

One of the best hotels I’ve stayed at is the (4) Rachamankha in Chiang Mai, Thailand (racham ankha.com; doubles from Bt8,025). It’s like an old temple and every piece of furniture is just gorgeous. I prefer discreet places where the décor feels local, with good food and service—I like to feel like I’m at home. — As told to Stephanie Wu

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : S t e p h a n e C a r d i n a l e / P e o p l e Av e n u e / C o r b i s ; c o u r t e s y o f r a c h a m a n k h a ; c o u r t e s y o f i m p e r i a l n e w d e l h i ; Kr i s t y S pa r o w/ g e t t y i m a g e s ; P h o t o s i n d i a / C o r b i s

PASSAGE TO INDIA

/ here&now / Royal Pineda (right) and Budji Layug.

introducing

The Royal Treatment

Architects Budji+Royal have beautifully balanced nature and luxury in their design concepts for new hotels in the Philippines. By Isobel Diamond

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : COU R TESY O F m e r a n t i h o t e l ; COU R TESY O F Am o r i ta R e s o r t; COU R TESY O F t h e r e e f h o t e l . o p p o s i t e : COU R TESY O F P h i l i p p i n e TATLE R

Man is nature, and nature is peace,

according to philosophical architects Royal Pineda and Budji Layug. The creative duo behind Bedji+Royal Architecture+Design, one of Southeast Asia’s leading firms, share the belief that constructed spaces should feel like natural landscapes, which results in stunning structures that may leave you wondering if you are inside or out. They founded the company in 2001, fusing their complementary disciplines to work across a range of leisure, residential and commercial projects. But the hotel world is where this pair is really making waves; their dedication to organic forms shines through in every element of the hotel environment, paying homage to the world’s ability to heal, nurture, renew and restore. They’re putting their innovative stamp on some of the most exciting launches in the Philippines, from the expansion of the Amorita Resort (amoritaresort.com; doubles from P8,348) in Bohol, with its natural limestone render and woven rattan furniture, to the Meranti (meranti. manila-hotels-philippines.com; doubles from US$108), a nine-story boutique hotel in Manila’s Quezon City, where expansive windows and organically finished furnishings are all part of their eco-friendly ethos. The Reef Hotel (thereefmactan.com; prices not available at press time), their latest feat, is inspired by the coral reefs of Mactan, connecting guests with the marine world through color, texture and even visual space. While the creative vision behind Budji+Royal stems from a shared love for the natural bounty of the Philippines, the partners bring very different backgrounds to the drawing board. Layug studied at the New York School of Interior Design before setting out to travel the globe. He was inspired by his time in London and Paris, but once he’d honed his skills as a furniture designer, he returned to the Philippines to explore traditional techniques, such as handweaving wicker and intricate wood carving. Pineda says he knew he wanted to be an architect since junior high and after university he joined Leandro V. Locsin & Partners, where he cut his teeth at the leading firm credited with shaping Manila’s skyline with high-profile projects such as the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

When Layug and Pineda first met at a party back in 2001 there was an instant spark as they discussed their common goals of transforming the design world. “We want to shape the modern Filipino design sensibility,” Pineda says. “Through creating luxurious spaces, which are defined by a sophisticated subtleness and sensitivity to the environment, we hope to amplify the beauty of nature and leave our mark on the landscape.” Over the last decade they’ve watched the country’s cultural industries change and develop. Technology and social media have put the Philippines in touch with global trends, enabling designers to be more international. Yet rather than just mirroring western aesthetics, a distinctly Filipino style has surfaced in design, using indigenous materials like bamboo and rattan and design motifs taken from the patterns of indigenous tribal. “We represent a new, progressive energy that’s emerging,” Pineda says. “It’s an exciting time to be working here.” Though the pair is expanding across the globe, with projects underway in the U.S., Europe and China, Budji+Royal is moving in a direction that is deeply local. Checking into one of their properties is like peering through a window to the future of Philippine design, and you’re going to like the view.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Meranti

boutique hotel; limestone touches at Amorita; The Reef is inspired by the marine world.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

v i e t n a m | m a l ay s i a | d u b a i | + m o r e

A look from Phuong Myâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest collection.

Fashion

Rose of Saigon

One of Vietnamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most sought-after stylists and design stars never intended to enter the fashion world at all. Diana Hubbell catches up with Tran Phuong My about her unconventional road to international success. photographs by Zhang Jingna >>

/ beyond /f a s h i o n Tran Phuong My says, “I just set a goal and keep going.” Yes, she’s doggedly pursued her ambitions, but it is hard to look at the clothes this fashion prodigy creates, some of Saigon’s dreamiest styles, and not see the spark of fancy. At 19, when most of her peers at UCLA were busy planning their party outfits, she imagined creating them. But her family pressured her to pursue a future in business and a degree in mathematics. “A friend asked my why I was studying math and all I could think of was that I was good at it,” she says. “So then they asked me what I would do if I could choose anything, and I said fashion. So two weeks later, I transfered to a fashion school in San Francisco.” Though she moved quickly, it wasn’t an easy decision to make. “My father cried when I told him. He told me he didn’t send me overseas just so I could become a tailor,” she says. It didn’t get any easier after enrollment. She may have been a whiz at math, but in the creative scene she felt like a rookie. “At fashion school it seemed like everyone had been practicing art their whole lives. I had to start from the beginning.” Fast-forward eight years and Phuong My now collaborates with runway rulers like Versace and Fendi, while her gorgeously crafted garments have appeared on the catwalks of New York Fashion Week and are favored by celebrities including Minh Hang, Lydia Hearst and Lindsay Lohan. Though only three years old, her eponymous label boasts boutiques in France, Kuwait and Vietnam and is sold in more than 20 countries. With five stores opening in Vietnam in 2016 and a new line of more affordable ready-to-wear, Mymy by Phuong My, this is set to be a breakout year for the 27-year-old designer. As it turned out, Phuong My got to use her math training after all. She quickly realized that the hyper-rational approach she had once used to solve to equations could be applied to couture. If the goal of a piece of clothing was to highlight an individual’s physical strengths and downplay defects, there had to be a logical way to approach the reallife geometric puzzle: “I spent a lot of time studying human ratios. Everything I create is very proportional, because of my background in mathematics.” Phuong My finished her degree and started developing clear aesthetic ideas of her own, and by 2012 she was ready to return to Vietnam and plunge headfirst into the fashion scene. Rather than focus on one specific culture, she allowed her imagination to roam the continent, resulting in styles that hover somewhere between pan-Asian and of-the-moment Saigon, and right within her clients’ aspirations.

“I’m not a dreamer,”

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

from top: Designer Tran Phuong

My; a dress from her Spring/ Summer 2016 collection.

“My favorite part is talking directly to my customers,” she says. “Most of our clients are between 30 and 55. I love that because these women are confident and strong. They know who they are and what they want.” What they want, it seems, are artfully draped pleats, bold cuts and vibrant textured fabrics. Since the flagship store in Saigon opened its doors in March 2013, the brand has kept evolving to meet the needs of her headstrong clientele. Initial collections consisted of pure silk attire, but when customers complained that the material wrinkled too easily, Phuong My went searching for an alternative, creating custom silk and synthetic blends. “We use new fabrics every season and new cuts to highlight their textures.” Phuong My’s return to Saigon reflects her deep affection for the country and culture. “People in America are very realistic,” she says, “they buy a piece of clothing because it’s a piece of clothing. Vietnamese are not that way. They dress like who they want to be, not who they really are.” It’s easy to see how a designer who once swapped a safe reality for an uncertain dream could relate. phuongmy.com; dresses from US$500.

/ beyond /r o a d t r i p Clockw ise fr

on the

scener y om left: Lush ds; a

lan to Cameron High man Negara Ta drive from Pulai s hornbill in the ro ce ino rh ful Dee Wan Ton color noodles at Loh on nt wo t; es for ghlands. rain Hi n ro me Ca Hotel in Mee; The Shop

y e s s y d O y r t n Backcou

and primeval rain -back river towns of northern Malaysia’s id la s, ak pe ty is otten gems A loop through m luster to the forg t Ye ng Ch an forests gives new rr ar es e. Ph ot og ra ph ed by Ki Fe By M ar co emerald interior. Paved highways be damned, we’re going rogue. When our local friends take a road trip, they rarely explore beyond the convenience of the coastal North-South Expressway’s guardrail. But we have our sights set on adventure, as we pull out of the driveway of our home in Penang in a tiny Perodua Kelisa (a Malaysianmade clone of the Fiat 500) to drive in a loop from the archaeological town of Lenggong to Kuala Kangsar, Perak’s royal city. By the route we’re taking, a 40-minute drive becomes an eight-day, 1,000-kilometer back-road expedition via little known towns and viridian river valleys that dazzle in our headlights.

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

Penang to Lenggong Day 1 Drive Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes | With the 30,000-year-old caveart attractions currently fenced off for renovation, stopping at one of Malaysia’s least known unesco World Heritage sites may, at first, seem like a waste of time. But sitting among chatty locals at hole-inthe-wall Loh Dee Wan Ton Mee (Jalan Baling-Kuala Kangsar; meal for two RM15), I learn that my bowl of hand-pulled noodles with wontons is just one of many reasons to linger. Five minutes outside of town, the 10,000-year-old Perak Man, Malaysia’s oldest known resident, is waiting to meet us at the museum in Kota Tampan. The observation tower gives a bird’s-eye view of Lenggong Valley, where a meteor struck about 1.8 million years ago. Eight kilometers south along Federal Route 76 we find the 50-meter-high Lata Kekabu waterfalls. No ticket is required to listen to the local insect philharmonic reverberate into this amphitheater of rock, water and jungle vines. Loh Dee’s customers tell us that sunset is best at Tasik Raban, a shimmering lake nestled farther south along the >>

3,999++

/ beyond /r o a d t r i p

d Day 3: 114 km

Penang A

lan

Tasik Temenggor Day 2 Drive Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes | The best way to appreciate the ancestral forests surrounding man-made Lake Temenggor is from the water. Belum Rainforest Resort (belumresort.com; doubles from RM700) organizes day excursions into the Belum-Temenggor reserve (from RM150 per person including boat transfer; permits for Belum require seven days advance application). The jetty

at Pulau Banding offers lake cruises on houseboats (Banding Crew Nine Enterprise: 60-13/453-0190; RM550 per day for eight people) stopping at waterfalls, aboriginal villages and a salt lick where, if you’re lucky, you’ll see wild deer and tapirs.

i Tha

M a l ay s i a

highway and the scene is as stunning as promised. Come nightfall we’re craving Lenggong’s staple dish—steamed riverfish belly—so we steer to Chat Sook Restaurant (60-12/598-1733; meal for two from RM30) where it is served with soy sauce and spicy sambal. Sated we head to the basic Soon Lee Hotel (fb.com/ soonleehotel; doubles from RM55) nearby, right on the main road. For longer sojourns, 4WD-accessible farm stay Permaculture Perak (permaculture perak.com; doubles from RM290 including meals and agricultural workshops) offers jungle hideaways atop the valley’s flanks.

Tasik Temenggor

Day 1: 126 km

D Gunung Stong

Day 2: 96.3 km

Dabong

Day 4: 139 km

Lenggong

Gua Musang

Days 8, 9: 259 km

Day 7: 130 km

Days 5, 6: 33.2 km

Kuala Kangsar

G Taman Negara H

Cameron Highlands

Sungai Relau

Gunung Stong Day 3 Drive Time: 2 hours | Despite the promising elephant-crossing signs, rugged Route 4 is pachyderm-free. We drive down the Titiwangsa mountain range at the Jeli turn-off where the limestone caves of Batu Melintang are a worthy pit stop. Stalagmites reach up to a ceiling where hundreds of bats take their daylong siesta. Another half hour along jungle-flanked Route 66, and we’re peering up at the 300-meter-drop, seven-tier Jelawang Waterfall cascading from 1,440 meterhigh Gunung Stong like a river of tears.

catch the sun Rise at 5 a.m. to n dripping daw , le p r u p g in z bla f misty clouds. o t e k n la b a r e ov

om Clockw ise fr from left: Choose

g checkers or cavin at Dabong; the tone towering limes caverns of Batu Melintang in Gunung Stong; , Kampung Pulai ic Malaysia’s Islam of e on ; nd tla ar he fall Jelawang Water in rs tie n ve se the Gunung Stong; sleepy Dabong station on the line. Jungle Railway

Avoid the park headquarters’ neglected wooden chalets, and hike two hours to Baha’s Camp (four-men tents RM20 per head), at the base of the five-hour hike to the summit (guides RM180 per day for 15 people maximum). It’s worth roughing it for a night to rise at 5 a.m. and catch the sun blazing purple, dripping dawn over a blanket of misty clouds. Dabong, Gua Musang and Kampung Pulai Day 4 Drive Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes | Breakfast along the Jungle Railway at Dabong’s train station puts us in touch with yet more friendly locals. After a cup of frothy teh tarik, we follow an invitation to visit Gua Ikan, a cave complex five kilometers south of town. The massive entrance leads to a warren of narrow tunnels that extend through the cave and into adjacent Gua Kris. We decide to skip the crawl through mud, and stay back at Dabong’s railway station to play a

game of checkers with the local trainspotters instead. For lunch we head to Kak Zah Restoran (fb.com/ kakzahrestoran; meal for two from RM15). We are deep into Kelantan’s Islamic heartland, a cradle of zesty Malay cuisine, and this restaurant has dished up traditional fare for three generations, with recipes that have only gotten better with time. Their nasi kerabu (coconut-flavored blue rice) is great with or without a serving of tangy rendang chicken. As the day winds to an end, we navigate to the river town of Kampung Pulai, eight kilometers south, to take in the sunset. This odd slice of bamboostrewn southwest China, floating in the middle of Malaysia, started off as a secluded Hakka gold-mining settlement six centuries ago, and only opened to the outside world when the first tarred road was built in 1988. The Water & Moon temple, one of the country’s oldest Chinese shrines, rises above a quiet river that flows in the shade of jungle-clad karsts. We hike along rubber estates to the top of Princess Hill just before sun clocks out for the day, where a stalagmite carved into Goddess of Mercy Guanyin gives us a stone blessing.

We’re transfixed watching the river glint in the valley below while the surrounding jungle blends into dusk. We spend the night in a cozy wood-fitted room at Pulai Holiday Village (pulai.org; doubles from RM55), an unbeatable spot set beside a karst and underground cave. Taman Negara Sungai Relau Days 5 and 6 Drive Time: 40 minutes This less-visited entrance to Taman Negara, the world’s oldest rain forest, has three hiking loops that can be selfexplored in a day. Ten minutes into the jungle, and we shriek like schoolkids when

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

/ beyond /r o a d t r i p

wild boars emerge from the thicket to check us out. The next day, our morning call is the equally high-pitched hoot of colorful rhinoceros hornbills. They flutter about, picking their breakfast of fresh fruit from the treetops. And if that’s not enough wildlife, chartered 4WDs venture seven kilometers farther into the jungle to the Bumbun Rimau hide, where dorm-style rooms overlook a salt lick. The end of the jeep track at Kuala Juram marks the starting point of guided four-day expeditions to the summit of 2,187-meter Gunung Tahan (tamannegara.asia/ gunung-tahan-4d3n; from RM225 per person for a group of 12), peninsular Malaysia’s highest peak. While there are lodges at nearby Merapoh, we backtrack to Gua Musang, where Welcome Inn (609/912-2912; double room from RM75) is a perfect mid-range option.

Cameron Highlands Day 7 Drive Time: 2 hours | We arrive at this former British hill station and famous tourist spot from Kelantan’s back roads, ready for a break from the road. Gorging on fresh strawberries with whipped cream at the top of Raaju’s Hill farm (60-19/ 575-3867) and browsing through a cornucopia of Malaysian vintage pop and colonial memorabilia at the Time Tunnel Museum (timetunnel.cameronhighlands. com; entrance tickets RM5) is just the respite we are after. Spending a night by the fireplace at The Smokehouse (thesmokehouse.com.my; doubles from RM400), a piece of Tudor style built in 1939, may be the closest to an evening in rural England as we will ever experience in the tropics. Kuala Kangsar to penang Days 8 and 9 Drive Time: 4 hours | As we explore the rich evidence of colonial history, well-landscaped boulevards and the ornate golden-domed Ubudiah Mosque, we marvel that we are the only travelers here. A stop at the Malay College, one of Malaysia’s premier schools where A Clockwork Orange’s author Anthony Burgess taught between 1954 and 1955, is a must for every literature and history geek; Malaysia’s first rubber

tree still stands opposite the school’s gate. We drive around the colonial clock tower and arrive smack in the compact city center where we stop by Yut Loy kopitiam (60-5/776-6369; meal for two from RM30), a Chinese shop more than 50 years old, for their homemade traditional Hainanese pau (buns stuffed with sweet and savory fillings, like curry chicken or yellow bean), which are worth the trip alone. We have dinner at Sudut Nyonya (GF, 6 Taman Suria; 60-5/776-6410; fb.com/sudutnyonya; meal for two from RM30), small and packed to the gills with hungry locals. A feast of curry fish fillet with sambal belacan kangkung (vegetables in spicy fish paste) and deep fried assam prawns in caramelized tamarind juice is so deeply delicious it makes us dizzy. After so much backcountry driving, waking up the next morning at boutique hotel and bistro The Shop Hotel (fb.com/theshophotel; doubles from RM85) to a steaming cappuccino feels like a well-merited indulgence. We decide to drive the last hour and a half back to Penang along the North-South Expressway, but 10 minutes among speeding cars and we’re already missing our off-road mojo. We steer the wheel to the next exit and back to life in the slow lane. We’ll get to Penang eventually, but really, what’s the rush?

Relau, n Negara Sungai in Kuala Mosque iah ud Ub t; es for est rain the world’s old Raaju’s Hill farm. strawberries at Kangsar; fresh

Clockw ise fr

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

om top: Tama

/ beyond /i n s e a s o n

The Mightiest of Mangoes Among the varieties of South Asia’s most cherished fruit, one looms especially large in India’s consciousness at this time of year. Chandrahas Choudhury explains the allure of the alphonso mango. ILLUSTRATION BY MONICA RAMOS WHEN SUMMER ARRIVES on the

Indian Subcontinent, in April, only one aspect of its scalding touch gives comfort. The heat ripens and suffuses with sweetness the region’s parade of mangoes, much missed from Delhi to Dhaka, Karachi to Chennai, since they disappeared the previous July. First into the markets—and also, many assert, first in taste, bouquet, color and shape—is the alphonso variety of western India. “Hapus! Hapus! Hapus!” Every year, around the time temperatures start to rise above 35 degrees, the region’s own word for the variety begins to circulate in boardrooms, trains and tea shops. Merchants in city markets welcome fragrant, hay-lined boxes of the green-gold fruits with their enticing rosy blush, costing up to US$20 a dozen—a stratospheric figure by local standards. The price represents the promise, if not always the reality, of perfection. The creamy saffron flesh of the best specimens can pack such a burst of flavor and texture, it seems to deliver all of life’s sensual pleasures directly onto the tongue. Like champagne, the alphonso belongs to a place. The soil and climate that give it its legendary qualities are found south of Mumbai, in the balmy tropical region known as the Konkan Coast. Here, the alphonso is anxiously contemplated and cosseted all year by estate owners, gardeners, grafters, pluckers and packers. (With good reason: as the world’s largest producer

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

of mangoes, India exports some US$50 million of the fruit per year.) It was on this stretch of palm-lined shore, more than 400 years ago, that Portuguese colonists made the grafts that brought the alphonso into being. According to one story in its copious lore, the fruit gets its name from Afonso de Albuquerque, a mango-loving 16th-century Portuguese conqueror. For all its pleasures, the preeminence of the alphonso in modern fruit-ology is somewhat circumstantial. It is relatively scarce, therefore expensive, therefore talked-up; it arrives right at the start of mango season; and it travels better than most, giving it access to life and lucre in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. But then again, is there another Indian mango as versatile and cosmopolitan? Eaten by itself, it is exquisite, but it can star in a cocktail at a high-end hotel or surprise in a chickpea salad, and it came singing out of the best cheesecake I’ve ever eaten. Its mere aroma can bring on a burst of sudden happiness. India offers many experiences of the sublime, but in April, all roads lead to the alphonso.

/ beyond /u r b a n s tu d y The Dri Dri gelato truck at CityWalk, one of Dubai’s new lowrise developments. BELOW: The view from the rooftop lounge of the Four Seasons at Jumeirah Beach.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Forget the air-conditioned towers of glass and steel—today, Dubai’s most exciting design projects are about reconnecting people to life at street level. Todd Reisz reports. PHOTOGRAPHed BY DANIEL GEBHART DE KOEKKOEK IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD, Dubai is defiantly a city of skyscrapers. It’s perceived as an ultramodern, man-made metropolis, in which everyone glides between underground parking garages, air-conditioned malls and glittering high-rise towers. Projects like the 163-floor Burj Khalifa, the world’s reigning tallest skyscraper, and the 355-meter JW Marriott Marquis, currently the world’s tallest freestanding hotel, are seen to have successfully isolated city residents and visitors from the environment—a blistering desert beyond the sealed, plate-glass membrane.

Any rumor survives on a grain of truth, but the Dubai that exists outside the skyscrapers has always been vastly more vibrant than most people assume. And now, with global design trends shifting in favor of pedestrianized public spaces where residents and visitors can experience an authentic sense of place, architects are changing course. For the first time in decades, the city’s headlinegrabbing developments are not recordbreaking, nosebleed-inducing feats of scale, but efforts to reconnect Dubai dwellers to life on the ground. As one Emirati architect, Ahmed Al Ali, told >>

tr av el andleisure asia .com / april 2016

/ beyond /

u r b a n s tu d y

FROM TOP: The Salt burger truck on Kite Beach; shops in shipping containers at Boxpark. opposite: Visitors take in views from the 148th-floor observatory of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

me, “Developers are no longer just selling good design; now urban ambience is seen as part of the product.” Meraas, a holding company directly connected to Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is at the forefront of developing what it calls “dynamic outdoor concepts.” The firm is behind CityWalk (citywalk.ae), where sleek storefronts and restaurants are set around a palm-shaded courtyard. The complex includes a promenade along Safa Road, one of Dubai’s busiest thoroughfares, where, a couple of years ago, few people dared to walk. Meraas’s most eye-catching project, Boxpark (boxpark.ae), in Dubai’s fashionable Jumeirah district, is a three-block stretch of storefronts housed in steel shipping containers—a concept borrowed from a similarly named development in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London. If you do attempt to walk its length on a 35-degree day in September, as I did, you may find it necessary to make at least one restorative stop in an artisanal gelato station. Even the potted plants on the street are kept alive with buckets of ice. Entering any of the units, whether it turns out to be a trattoria selling dairy-fresh mozzarella or a Nike store, is like stepping into a refrigerator. The cantilevered containers, with their canvas awnings, make halfhearted attempts at shading, but they can’t compete with artificially chilled air. In a desert city-state where summer temperatures often exceed 40 degrees,

leisure time has typically been spent indoors (Dubai is home to the world’s largest indoor ski slope, as well as the world’s biggest mall). In many parts of the city, a sidewalk bench is still enough to make pedestrians stop and stare. But technology may make outdoor urbanism more palatable. The Gate Village cultural district, in the Dubai International Financial Centre (difc.ae), has installed columns in its exterior arcades which spray visitors with cool air year-round. At Salt (instagram.com/findsalt), a hamburger truck on Kite Beach, diners can slip into a climate-controlled plexiglass box to eat at picnic tables with their feet in the sand. There have been reports of a proposed “air-conditioned mini-city” (essentially a 743,000-squaremeter mall), as well as trials of a product called Cloud Cast, which delivers localized air-conditioning to people as they move around a space. Down on Dubai Creek, Deira district benefits from a more natural cooling system: breezes off the water that frequently freshen the shore. Until last year, traditional wooden dhows reigned here, bringing cargo in and out of the

original city center. With their cargo stations now shifted to Deira’s Persian Gulf shore, the creekside has been transformed into a broad promenade. Here, Dubai dwellers of every demographic come out to exercise in the cool of evening. Twentysomethings play lightning-speed games of badminton with fluorescent shuttlecocks, groups of elderly Chinese people practice tai chi, and South Asian men power-walk from one end of the promenade to the other. In this city, the perspiration gathering on their brows seems like an act of defiance. My Emirati friend Hind Mezaina always says that Dubai is a city where “everything changes and stays the same.” But there is a growing sense that residents want to be outside—even in the hottest months. Just across the creek from Deira, Meraas is pursuing another walkable district called Marsa Al Seef (marsaalseef.ae). This waterfront development of Modernist hotels and stores, accessible by boat and sidewalk and packed with references to an Arabian Nights–style interpretation of Gulf history, could be Dubai’s grandest pedestrian area yet. Urban design trends aside, Dubai is still a city best navigated by car. (Its highways are known for their satinsmooth asphalt, but turn a corner on a sidewalk, and a crater can betray your ankle.) As a result, it’s going to take a lot to change Dubai’s traffic problem. The last time I arrived in the city, well after midnight, I was caught in gridlock for more than an hour. As my rental car

crawled toward Satwa roundabout, around which many of Old Dubai’s most popular restaurants are arranged, I caught sight of a set of familiar green neon lights—the sign of the classic Al Mallah shawarma restaurant. I swerved to the right and, before I knew it, had taken a sidewalk table and ordered chicken shawarma and a lemonade with mint. By then, the temperature had dropped to slightly below 38 degrees. A cooling unit blew a gust of tepid air in my direction, just refreshing enough for me to sit back and enjoy watching passers-by stroll along, a fraction slower than the traffic I had escaped. Across town in Jumeirah Beach stands one of the most high-profile low-rise developments in Dubai—the new Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach (fourseasons.com/ dubaijb), a discreet oasis on the Persian Gulf. Though a mere six stories above the ground, its rooftop Mercury Lounge is already a hub for Dubai’s cool crowd, especially around sunset. At that magic hour, as bartenders sliced citrus fruit to a studiously chilled-out sound track, I took in the area where Dubai residents have traditionally lived: Jumeirah’s low-lying layer of villas and apartment buildings. In the distance, the famous line of skyscrapers along Sheikh Zayed Road faded into the dust. From this vantage point, it struck me that the hubristic message these towers convey, so pronounced in the media, is quickly lost in the reality of life at ground level.

LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CONNECT

WWW.TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

@TRAVLEISUREASIA

TRAVELLEISUREASIA

@TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA

The Thrill of the Hunt

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f ta i l o r o n t e n ; c o u r t e s y o f t h e n e w d i s t r i c t; Cé l i n e C l a n e t

Secret artisans, emerging designers, one-of-a-kind boutiques—finding even a single amazing shop can define a journey. We asked our favorite retail obsessives and acquisitional experts to reveal the discoveries that make their hearts beat faster, from Bangkok to Manila.

Lyon, the city of scarves. clockwise from top: Bespoke suits

in Bangkok; The New District, Saigon.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

the

/ guıde /

shopping

special

To Market, To Market Braving the labyrinths of Saigon’s weekend markets, Lim Sio Hui leaves a trail of crumbs to the hottest designs in town.

made even more wearable when paired with billowy culottes. Owner and designer Diep Nguyen was a font of shopping and fashion tips. “Other than mixing it with the traditional pants,” she told me, “the ao dai can look very chic and sophisticated when worn with skinny jeans.” Bingo. I was sold. And hooked, on Vietnam fashion. I asked Diep to point me in the right direction for more local looks, and she informed me that the coolest designers were all hawking their wares at

e m a k r ’ s t te a

2 1. Crowds browse The New District. 2. A modern ao dai from Le Rustic Chic’s new collection.

“Although I went to Japanese language school for six years as a child, my skills are laughable. Therefore it took some time to locate the silver Harold Koda cups I once saw in Kyoto. I mistakenly thought His patient search they were used for beer at the restaurant Kitcho, through Kyoto for the perfect Japanese cups but it turns out I had seen them at Tawaraya, the venerable ryokan. The proprietor there directed me to Seikado, a tiny, tiny, very traditional shop with mud-and-bamboo walls. Eventually, I was able to get my cups: solid silver with a narrow profile and a beautiful chased (delicately hammered) surface. It takes ages to make them, as each is hand-formed. They are especially wabi sabi when they suffer the first fog of tarnish and the silver takes on a faintly warm glow.” Former curator of the costume institute at the metropolitan museum of art

Seikado / seikado.jp

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f t h e n e w d i s t r i c t; c o u r t e s y o f l e r u s t i q u e c h i c ; c o u r t e s y o f s e i k a d o ( 2 ) ; K a r i n W i l l i s / C o u r t e s y o f T h e M e t r o p o l i ta n M u s e u m o f Ar t

I’ve long been on the hunt for my very own ao dai, the ultimate prize. My quest for this flowing national costume that had every local looking effortlessly svelte and beautiful came to an end after breakfast one day. It was on the lovely little terrace of hip new coffee joint The December Co., where silver-foil balloons spelling Le Rustique Chic ( fb.com/lerustiquechic) on the neighboring balcony caught my eye. It was here one mission came to an end and another began. Amid the petite boutique’s modest collection, I found a modern ao dai, in big, bold monochromatic prints. The sleeveless, slightly loose version I bought is both more comfortable and more subtle than the traditional figure-hugging tunic,

1 mak e r’s ta te

1. Quirky cups at Saigon Flea Market. 2. Sandals from Libé Workshop, The New District. 3. Sunglasses at Hello Weekend

Blogger and television show host

Ingrid Chua-Go

On uncovering secret Philippine treasures

fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f S a i g o n F l e a M a r k e t; c o u r t e s y o f L i b é W o r k s h o p ; c o u r t e s y o f h e l l o w e e k e n d m a r k e t; c o u r t e s y o f In g r i d C h u a ; c o u r t e s y o f p o w e r p l a n t m a l l ; c o u r t e s y o f a c c e s s o r y l a b

the city’s weekend markets, which have been growing in scale and popularity over the past two years. At first, I was daunted. I had been hoping for a list of small stand-alone boutiques, easily found and simple to shop. By contrast, these weekend markets can be intimidating, a maze of clothing on racks and crowds jostling for good buys, and their rotating roster means that you may not find the same brands each time. The markets pop up in different locations and different dates, so you should to check their websites and Facebook pages before you go, to lock down when and where they are operating. But with Diep’s roadmap and other recommendations from local shopping insiders in hand, I set out to brave three popular bazaars. The New District (7 Nguyen Tat Thanh, District 4; fb.com/thenewdistrict) is one of Diep’s top picks, and she has a stall here herself where she sells T-shirts, underwear, running shorts and the like from her cheaper line, Chic Republic. On my visit, it wasn’t easy to spot the entrance to The New District in the row of godowns on District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh road, not far from Ham Thu

Thiem tunnel, but we followed the welldressed hipsters through a car repair garage and into the cavernous Cargo Bar ( fb.com/cargosaigon), a nightclub turned market on selected weekends, and found it packed with independent young creatives just like Diep. Wearable basics are a forte of Saigon’s collective of independent designers and it is impressive to see how they keep competitive in a small market; the big difference is the tailoring quality that Vietnam is famous for. Tops that I tried on fit as though they were measured for my size, and I loved the added details like a flattering scalloped waist, or an embroidered emblem tucked in the corner of a T-shirt. An added bonus is how pieces are churned out in small batches. It’s great to know that you’re probably not going to bump into anyone wearing the same outfit as you. I picked up shapely shirts and tops from Libé Workshop ( fb.com/ libeworkshop) and Jeelook ( fb.com/ jeelookshop), and a small leather sling from Sixty Eight ( fb.com/sixty.eightt), a new brand about to open their first shop in District 1. Prices are generally fixed and are sometimes discounted just for the market occasion, but if you buy more than one, ask for a bit more off—the stall owners are usually happy to oblige. A cool beer in hand, time was flying, and before I knew it, I had spent a good chunk of the afternoon covering close to a hundred stalls while my male companions entertained themselves at the market’s pop-up drink stall, with a DJ spinning on the stage overhead. Even if

“I love getting natural crystals and stones at Accessory Lab in Rockwell Power Plant Mall, in Manila. This quaint store also stocks lots of accessories and jewelry. Make an appointment to meet the owner, Rodina Chua, a natural crystals expert who can tell you the healing properties of the stones you pick out. Also in Makati is AC+632 in Greenbelt 5 Mall. Yes, it’s another shop in a mall, but this is a well-curated lifestyle boutique that has hats by local designer Tracy Dizon and hoop earrings and bracelets by Natalya Lagdameo.” Accessory Lab / fb.com/accessorylab AC+632 / 63-2/758-2564

the

/ guıde /

shopping

special 2

you knew where to go to find these smalltime retailers, these pop-up markets are still a godsend, bringing all the shops from the city’s chaotic streets together in a handful of handy locations. These markets are small enough that you can cover all the stalls in about half an hour, so enjoy walking around and keep your eyes peeled for the best designs. Fun addons like live music featuring local talent, elaborate photo booths, topped with tasty food options make for an unbeatable shopping experience and great outing with a bunch of friends. Another well-established bazaar, Hello Weekend (Hoa Lu Stadium, 2 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, District 1; fb.com/ helloweekendmarket) is regularly held at District 1’s Hoa Lu Stadium as well as in the southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho, four hours away. The vibe here is cheap and cheerful, with stalls geared towards bargain hunters, but come early as the

1. Fashion crisis at The New District. 2. Handmade books, Saigon Flea Market. 3. Kat Jewelry rings, Saigon Flea Market.

booths are small and it gets crowded easily. It’s a good spot to pick up accessories from socks to silver jewelry, but I also came away with great finds from Pur ( fb.com/pur.braslove), a small lingerie brand with racy lace designs. For a less hectic vibe in an artsy setting that’s no less of a treasure trove, Diep recommends Saigon Flea Market (107 Ton Dat Tien, Phu My Hung, District 7; saigonfleamarket.org). The first of these creative outdoor markets, it has been running since 2011 and is the best place to buy standout vintage and handmade products. Apart from the many hand-painted signs, handdrawn calendars and handcarved vases by talented hobbyists without a webpresence to share, we picked up cool silver pendants in origami designs by Kat ( fb.

k Shinola designers

m a k e r ’ s ta te s

Richard Lambertson & John Truex The time they discovered how great the shopping is in Portugal

com/katjewelry) and fragrant handmade lemongrass soaps by Ekoko (ekokohandmade.com). If you are searching for a specific brand or stall, check their Instagram page as some shops update their social media with photos of their location within the market. Just before we left, happy but exhausted, some friendly stallholders told us about the equally good selection at The Box Market (2 Ho Xuan Huong, District 3; fb.com/theboxmarket2015) and Saigon Urban Flea Market (188/1 Nguyen Van Huong, Thao Dien, District 2; fb.com/saigonurbanfleamarket). But the weekend was only so long and our luggage was in danger of bursting, so we’re saving those spots for the next trip, a perfect reason to return soon… with an extra empty suitcase to fill.

“We’ve only been to Lisbon once but cannot wait to return. Our absolute favorite place to shop in the city has to be A Vida Portuguesa. The atmosphere is laid-back, and there’s the finest selection of everything you can imagine, from clothing and tabletop items to cans of sardines. It is truly a one-stop shop.” a vida portuguesa / avidaportuguesa.com

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f t h e n e w d i s t r i c t; c o u r t e s y o f S a i g o n F l e a M a r k e t; c o u r t e s y o f k at j e w e l r y; h o s R o b i n s o n / g e t t y i m a g e s ; a lva r o l e i va

The Right Cut

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f ta i l o r o n t e n ( 2 ) ; c h r i s t o p h e r k u c way

All too often, Bangkok’s tailors come with dubious credentials but, finds Christopher Kucway, here’s one worth a look and a fitting or two.

Six years ago Alex and Ben Cole saw a “we can do better” opportunity, so the Canadian brothers opened Tailor on Ten (tailoronten.com). Bangkok’s many tailor shops, lining major streets and minor sois like so many bolts of cheap fabric, have a less than stellar reputation—how many Armanis not named Giorgio can one city boast? Unbelievable prices that tend to fluctuate with the brand of watch a customer is wearing, incomparably quick turnarounds most often cobbled together off premises and swathes of fabric of suspect origin. Misspoke rather than bespoke. It’s not a pretty picture, at least not one you’d want to be wearing in public. That doesn’t stop one place from boasting that it clothes “CIA operatives,” but who’s gonna dispute that? Or more importantly, how do you dispute that? Enter Tailor on Ten, now located in an older Thai town house with a small, lush garden at the end of a mid-city soi, where you can get a suit minus the shakedown. Factor in fixed prices, in-house tailors, a quality-control staff, multiple fittings and follow-ups, and—hallelujah—genuine fabrics from the best of England and Italy, and visions of a properly made ensemble begin to take form. At Tailor on Ten, shirts range between Bt2,200 and Bt4,700, suits from a basic at Bt14,500 to a top-of-the line Holland & Sherry for Bt29,000. “We’re not a tailor you ‘end up at’ during a tuk-tuk ride,” Ben Cole tells me. “We’re a real tailor, where you get real clothes, clothes that you will want to wear for a long time.” One thing that sets their operation apart is that it employs 60 tailors and three quality management staff, each paid a salary year round instead of earning based on production. Outsourcing, the businessminded brothers concluded, leads to a lack of control over the final garment.

1. Bespoke suit in progress. 2. Italian silk pocket squares. 3. Luxe fabrics by the meter.

3 After the initial consultation, customers here typically have three fittings when they purchase a suit. Knowing what you’re after before visiting helps, but there is a kid-in-a-candy-store sensation once all the options are lined up in front of you. A proferred coffee or imported beer only adds to the feeling that you’re in someone’s home and not a frantic Sukhumvit storefront. The first consultation takes around an hour. After choosing a fabric and cut, there are as many as 25 body measurements. In a hot climate, Cole suggests you opt for a light construction, either jackets that are halflined with breathable Bemberg or, more casually, no lining. A day later, after a tailor cuts fabric, makes drawings and starts sewing, is the first fitting. Expect much more structure to the second fitting as it incorporates your input. The third and final fitting is a bit of fine-tuning and any minor alterations are done as you wait, so you get exactly what you want. If something isn’t quite right, the tailor may even ask for a fourth fitting. Then comes quality control, ensuring the garments are up to the Cole brothers’ standards. And, of course, your own.

Suit and Thai Ben Cole offers advice on having a suit made in Thailand, regardless of the tailor you choose to commission. • Ask to see production. If no tailors are working on site, it’s likely the shop farms out its work and has little or no control over it. • Ask to see other customer’s garments to narrow down what you want. • Ask about the brands of fabrics. “If the salesman claims it’s of European origin or very exclusive material— such as cashmere or Super 180s—you will be able to Google the mill. It should be well-known. If you can’t find it, it’s not legit.” • A parting shot of advice? “Avoid the impulse to go super slim,” advises Cole. “Keep in mind that you’re going to wear your clothes all day and they have to be comfortable.”

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

the

/ guıde /

shopping

special

Trying On the New Lyon Sure, this French city is famous for its food, but as Lynn Yaeger discovered, the shopping is pretty delicious, too.

1. Ceramics and glassware at Auguste et Cocotte. 2. A silk scarf from Brochier Soieries. 3. Silk-screening at the shop.

e m a k r ’ s t te a

Fashion designer

Polpat Asavaprapha His Tokyo go-to for cool and classic menswear

“Tokyo is my favorite shopping city. To roam the streets is always fun and exciting, and you can never have enough of it. One of the must-visit shops is Isetan Men’s, a one-stop destination with a good combination of brands, both local and international. You can find just about anything you need in menswear along with great clothes by emerging designers Mihara Yasuhiro, White Mountaineering and Visvim; I believe items from these new talents will eventually set trends.” Isetan Men / isetan.mistore.jp

screwiest bucket list of all time: I want to visit every major French city, and some minor ones, and check out their shopping scenes. The short amount of time I had on hand (I was between fashion weeks in London and Paris) seemed tailor-made— if you will pardon the pun—for a city where there is currently a strong movement to honor the town’s past and to encourage local talent. In truth, most people don’t come here in search of sartorial satori. They come because they have new jobs in the burgeoning tech industry, or they are excited about the new museums that have

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

C l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c é l i n e c l a n e t ( 3 ) ; C o u r t e s y o f i s e ta n m e n ' s ; c o u r t e s y o f w h i t e m o u n ta i n e e r i n g ; c o u r t e s y o f p o l pat a s ava p r a p h a

Once upon a time a thousand silk looms sang in Lyon, and a million glorious threads wound their way from this city to the ballrooms of Paris. But during those hundreds of years that the city was Europe’s center of the weaving trade, did anyone ever embroider Debbie Harry’s portrait on a black silk blouse or decorate a suit jacket with a Dalí-worthy lobster? Not until now. Émilie Sauzet (emilie sauzet.com), whose Lyonnais atelier is across from a fabric museum, is one of the young designers revitalizing the city’s fashion industry and putting new bounce in its historic footprint. I met Sauzet on a crisp autumn day, and I was immediately drawn to her and to her vaguely Dadaesque ensemble. I was in Lyon because I have perhaps the

2 1

C l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c é l i n e c l a n e t ( 3 ) ; C o u r t e s y o f Er i c a W e i n e r ; L a rr y B u s a c c a / G e t t y Im a g e s ; J o h n D u r g e e / C o u r t e s y o f Er i c a W e i n e r ( 2 )

sprung up. And they come to eat. The city is famous for its gastronomy, including those family-run bistros called bouchons that specialize in things like duck pâté and tripe. But my desire for such meals is not as strong as my fascination with interesting boutiques. (In fact—don’t shoot me!—one night I sank to having a hamburger at Hippopotamus, the French equivalent of Applebee’s.) But not every repast I had was a Lyonnais version of chain dining. On my first afternoon, the gallerist Olivier Houg took me to lunch at a bistro and gave me a crash course in local lore. “It’s the kind of city where all new things are welcome,” he said. “It was the city of the first movies—the Lumière brothers lived here!” The two hills on the north and west sides of the city were nicknamed for work and prayer, he said, adding that Lyon is now in a perpetual battle with Marseille over which can lay claim to the title of second city of France. Houg’s gallery was until recently located on Rue Auguste Comte, a delightful artery bursting with boutiques. “Once it was full of art galleries, but in recent years, this has changed,” Houg said, referring a bit mournfully to the proliferation of clothing stores. He may have greeted them with ambivalence, but they certainly suited my purposes. (Since our meeting he has in fact closed his gallery, and relocated to Paris.) After lunch, I visited Louise Della (louised ella. com), where a Fair Isle sweater was so

commodious it morphed effortlessly into a poncho; next door a shopfront brandished antique chandeliers that were gorgeous but would have been perfect hell to ship home. Easier to transport were the treasures at Aude de Breda (40 Rue Auguste Comte)—vintage linen nighties, bronzes and beautifully burnished cutlery. But perhaps the store most emblematic of the new Lyon was Auguste et Cocotte (augusteetcocotte.com), where there were 1970s Eames chairs, a vintage orange bicycle and, my favorite, a washed-cashmere scarf so fine it could pass through the eye of a needle. Oh, how bittersweet is life! I would not be in town for Lyon’s flea market, which broke my heart until I discovered Marilyn (55 Rue Auguste Comte), an antique-doll shop where the toys are piled high. Wielding long pincers, the owner removed a 1930s monkey, and I ended up buying that smiling simian, along with a pink needlepoint sampler lovingly worked by nimble fingers a century ago. In the afternoon, I headed for the Passage Thiaffait, where Village des Créateurs (villagedescreateurs.com) had set up shop. This organization supports some 70 emerging designers (many of whom trained at one of Lyon’s fashion schools), helping them open small boutiques, connecting them with the

e m a k r ’ s t te a Actress

1. Wool-and-silk scarves at Sophie Guyot. 2. A selection of vintage tableware at Aude de Breda. 3. A 19th-century silk dress made in Lyon, paired with early-20thcentury accessories, at Aude de Breda.

Lena Dunham Her New York City go-to for retail therapy

“I wish I could claim a little haunt in Paris or Stockholm, but my favorite place—for gifts, for self-care, for marveling—is Erica Weiner, a jeweler in Nolita. Her mix of haunted vintage and witty new pieces is ideal. We use a lot of her stuff on Girls (Marnie’s engagement ring is a big one), and just being in her sweet space calms me right down.” Erica Weiner / ericaweiner.com

the

/ guıde /

shopping special 2 s

mak e r’s ta te

k Fashion designer

Gabriela Hearst

1. Émilie Sauzet embroiders a purse at her atelier. 2. One of Sauzet’s ensembles. 3. Colorful dolls at Louise Della.

city’s venerable textile factories, and promoting their work. The surrounding neighborhood, a study in urban cool, hosts gay fetish stores, bike repairers and vintage-clothing shops, including the wittily named Carrie Bradshop. En route, I stopped in at Sophie Guyot (sophieguyot. com), whose loftlike studio had magnificent scarves and floral headpieces to rival that washed cashmere I was pining for. Passage Thiaffait managed to be ancient and postmodern all at once. Among its enticing outposts was Maison Martin Morel (maisonmartinmorel.com), which won first prize in 2015 in VDC’s Talents de Mode contest, and where a windbreaker with a print that owed a debt to Paul Klee could be had for US$160.

Across the cobblestones, the window of Chez Vanessa (chezvanessa.com) presented a voided-velvet skirt and a quote from Vivienne Westwood: buy less, choose well, make it last. With this stern instruction in mind, I dedicated myself to uncovering Lyon’s retail roots. I began at the Passage de l’Argue, a shopping destination since 1828. The stores still have exquisite wooden cabinetry, their racks and shelves crammed with bow ties and suspenders; umbrellas and walking sticks. At Brossard (maison-brossard.com), fondée en 1830, the elegant knives sported handles of horn and bone. (Don’t pack these in a carry-on!) Then I crossed the Saône River to Vieux Lyon, a unesco World Heritage site famous for its Renaissance architecture; its warren of tunnels, known as traboules, that link streets and buildings; and, not least, René Nardone (glaciernardone. com), an ice cream parlor that dates back to 1929. It is an intensely touristy area, but careful exploration unearthed Brochier Soieries (brochiersoieries.com), where there were yet more scarves, printed with luminous velvety flowers. Too many scarves, too little time. And suddenly it occurred to me—those hills that represent work and prayer—maybe they really stand for silk and style? I repaired to René Nardone, buried my face in a Poire Belle Hélène sundae and contemplated the offerings of what I am now convinced is indeed France’s second city. Move over Marseille! You may have a groovy harbor, but can you boast Nina Hagen’s visage emblazoned on an evening jacket?

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

“A store I fell in love with recently is Aizel, in Moscow. Its visionary owner, Aizel Trudel, is wonderful and kindhearted, and has a great eye—her selection of luxury products is extremely well curated. Unlike so much shopping in big cities these days, going there feels like picking something special at a friend’s home who has extraordinary taste. I especially liked the Russian jewelry brand called Axenoff Jewellery and their War and Peace– inspired collection.” Aizel / aizel.ru

fr o m t o p : c é l i n e c l a n e t ( 3 ) ; An a s ta s i a D u b o vaya ; J i m S p e l l m a n / G e t t y Im a g e s ; C o u r t e s y o f a i z e l

The cutting-edge Moscow boutique that caught her eye

spoNsoreD series

Pure Power

If you’re looking for one camera for all your photography needs in the great outdoors, look no further than the Canon PowerShot G3 X.

When it comes to wildlife photography, the variables are the only constant. The more adaptable you are, the better your shots will be. That’s where the Canon PowerShot G3 X comes into play. With a powerful 24-600 mm zoom and an excellent 1-inch image sensor, the PowerShot G3 X is an excellent photographic tool when in the great outdoors. It passes every test when it comes to both high-speed photographer and excelling in low-light conditions. The aperture ranges between f2.8 and 5.6 on this 20-megapixel camera. Whether you’re an amateur or professional photographer.

As far as videos go, the PowerShot G3 X features an improved Dynamic IS with five axes of movement that minimizes blur while moving and shooting footage on the go. Where available, Wi-Fi connectivity is an option. Out in the field, Near Field Communications (NFC) capabilities offer seamless transfers to your social media and storage. Another useful feature when it comes to wildlife photography, is the ability to connect to a smart device with Remote Shooting. Your camera is there, so too is the wildlife, but you’re at a safe distance controlling the focus, shutter speed, zoom, ISO, aperture and aspect ratio. Even the camera body is dust and water resistant, perfect for wildlife photography, in other words. The Canon PowerShot G3 X is the sought-after camera for wildlife photography, whether you’re a weekend amateur or a professional shooter looking for the best camera equipment to capture these onechance photos and videos.

CloCkwise from top:

The Canon PowerShot G3 X offers great depth of field; the camera is great for shooting in the outdoors; crisp photos are the norm.

t r av e l s m a rt e r

Your travel choices make a difference to the environment—and not always in the ways you might think. Here’s how to know what has a positive impact and what’s just wishful thinking when you’re flying, cruising and checking in. by Alex andr a zissu with additional reporting by monsicha hoonsuwan Illustr ations by Autchar a panphai

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

/ upgrade /

The Reality of Eco-Travel

The Enviro-Matrix

Simple changes in travel behavior can substantially reduce your environmental impact. Since it’s impossible to be perfectly planet-friendly, use our chart to see what’s most worth the trade-off between hassle and helping.

supereco Take a shorter cruise A medium-size ship generates about a third of a tonne per passenger of CO 2 per day. Reuse hotel towels A 300-room hotel can save around 197 cubic meters of water per year.

Turn the AC down

Walk

Fly less

Book a rental home Hotel construction has a huge impact on the environment.

NUMBER TO KNOW

Take public transportation A car emits two more kilograms of CO 2 per 10 kilometers.

billion

Pack lightly Rent a hybrid car Buy carbon offsets The Green-e logo ensures that the project you’re supporting is legit.

Cut back on personal water use

Stay in a LEEDcertified hotel

Carry your own water bottle It can take three liters of water to make a half-liter of bottled water.

Choose a hotel without a pool

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

helps a little

challenging choices

Tourism Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. Last year, about 50 million more people traveled to international destinations than in 2014, according to the UN’s World Tourism Organization. The rapid growth of tourism is creating dangerous amounts of untreated wastewater in some destinations and outstripping efforts at improving airplane efficiency. Consider changing the way you travel—how you get there, what you pack, how you eat—to lighten your footprint. Our guide is here to help.

EASY options

et’s get this out of the way: The greenest way to travel is not to. Spare the jet fuel, the cruise waste, the gas-guzzling rental car. Just stay home and recycle. Clearly that’s not going to happen—nor should it. Tourism produces 5 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, and contributes to the depletion of natural resources, the degradation of ecosystems, and the proliferation of the waste found from shorelines to trekking trails. But the global travel industry is worth US$1.5 trillion and is crucial for economic stability, development and the conservation of natural and cultural heritage. The answer is to travel responsibly. That’s getting easier, because the industry has upped its eco-game. “What was seen as good practice 10 years ago would not be good enough today—which proves progress is being made,” says Fiona Jefferey, founder and chair of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, a sustainability initiative by the World Travel & Tourism Council. It’s no longer enough for hotels to screw in low-flow showerheads. Now they’re installing in-room recycling bins and tending rooftop beehives. With all the offerings out there, it can be difficult for travelers to judge what’s really responsible—and whom to trust. “The industry does get a bit confused at times,” said CEO Stewart Moore of EarthCheck, an Australiabased environmental advisory and certification group. “Many words are used interchangeably when they shouldn’t be.” Some of the most important areas to focus on are air and water pollution, says Megan Epler Wood, director of the International Sustainable

Tote your own utensils Disposable forks are a relatively minor source of waste.

Liters of sewage the cruise industry produces each year, according to environmental organization Friends of the Earth.

See Through Greenwashing

irports use electricity and chemicals; passengers toss water bottles and food wrappers. But the biggest problem with air travel is air pollution: aviation accounts for about 2 percent of global CO 2 emissions, according to Air Transport Action Group, an industry organization. “Every time you take a long-haul trip, you are likely to double your annual carbon footprint,” says Harvard’s Epler Wood. Spurred on by the bottom line, popular interest and the UN’s COP21 climate talks last year, the industry is trying to improve. But that’s not enough, Epler Wood says; travelers need to cut back to make up for the growth in their numbers. Here’s how.

Most companies aren’t out to trick travelers, but plenty make misleading claims. How to tell fact from fantasy.

NUMBER TO KNOW

236

kilograms

What Airlines Are Doing

What You Can Do

Dreamliner is designed to use about 20 percent less fuel than a 767, and Airbus claims the A320neo is 15 percent more fuel-efficient than comparable planes. Adding winglets. The small, upright wing extensions reduce drag, save fuel and cut emissions. Alaska Airlines says retrofitting winglets onto its 737s saved 2,200,000 liters of fuel in 2014 alone. Lightening up. Less weight, less fuel burned. By replacing paper flight manuals with iPads, American Airlines saved more than 1,500,000 liters of fuel a year. Using biofuel. Carriers including Hainan Airlines, Jetstar and Qatar are turning to alternative fuels, whose production (growing plants) absorbs carbon. A caveat: the Natural Resources Defense Council points out that biofuel, if not produced sustainably, can be more polluting than petroleum.

several weekend jaunts—each requiring flights—take one longer vacation with a single round-trip. Fly economy. A World Bank study showed that the carbon footprint is four times higher for a business-class seat than for economy because of the weight of larger seats, extra crew, and niceties such as real plates. Take nonstop flights. Planes use more fuel during takeoff and landing than while cruising. You’ll also be traveling a shorter distance. Stay close to home. Shorter flights equal reduced emissions—or, take a train. Buy carbon offsets. Most major airlines make it easy to balance some of your impact by supporting third-party environmental projects; Cathay Pacific and Delta even let you use frequent-flyer miles to pay.

Replacing planes. Boeing’s new 787

Combine vacations. Instead of taking

Amount of CO2 emissions prevented each year by replacing a single hotel emergencyexit sign with an LED version.

Power to the Max

Boeing’s 737 MAX, the latest iteration in the world’s bestselling family of jets, uses 20 percent less fuel per seat than its predecessor. Geek out on its green advances.

COU R TESY O F BOEI N G

1 On the Wing

The MAX has a specially designed winglet called the AT. Instead of a little flip at the ends of the wings, it’s a V shape that boosts efficiency and reduces fuel consumption.

2 In the Gears

The plane’s new engines, CFM LEAPs, have 3-Dprinted ceramic components that are lighter and more effective than the parallel parts in previous aircraft engines.

3 In the air

With a 40 percent smaller noise footprint—how widely the plane is heard on the ground—than the 737-800, the MAX is less stressful for people as well as wildlife.

Check for third-party certification. This ensures that hotels, airlines, cruises and tour operators are being honest (see “Labels to Look For,” page 70). Also, check a company’s site for a complete program. If your hotel says it recycles soap, assume it only recycles soap. Consider impact in context. Saving water should be lauded, where there are shortages, but not so much in places with no scarcity. “You have to address the local needs and use tourism to support that, not just tick boxes,” says Sarah Faith of booking site Responsible Travel. Apply common sense. “If claims seem excessive, they probably are,” says Fiona Jefferey of WTTC. Seek specifics—a company should know how much energy it’s saving. Many operators post sustainability reports online.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

/ upgrade /

Destination: Sustainable

ROYAL CARIBBEAN + WORLD WILDLIFE FUND

As part of a new partnership with the WWF, the company promises to cut greenhousegas emissions by 35 percent over the next five years. That will have a substantial impact—in 2014, Royal Caribbean generated 4.9 million tonnes of CO2. By 2020, the company also aims to get 90 percent of its wild-caught seafood from certified sustainable fisheries.

A Sea Change?

The most sustainable concept in cruising doesn’t come from a traditional cruise company but from Japan-based Peace Boat, a 33-year-old organization that promotes peace through educational voyages. Late last year, Peace Boat announced plans for the Ecoship, which it plans to have built by 2020. Among its impressive features:

1 Eco-power

The 10 retractable sails harness both wind and sun, doubling as photovoltaic panels. The ship will also use biofuel.

2 high-tech hull

Unlike traditional hull coatings, this one will be nontoxic, and will even imitate dolphin skin, for less drag in the water.

3 mini-farm

The ship’s garden, fed with rainwater and organic waste generated on board, will produce ingredients for meals.

CARNIVAL + THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

In 2014, the world’s largest cruise operator threw its support behind the Nature Conservancy, earmarking US$2.5 million to fund projects including mangrove research and coral-reef restoration.

the top five performers

Finland Iceland Sweden Denmark Slovenia

Very Improved

countries that have gotten much greener since 1996

Comoros Kuwait São Tomé and Príncipe Egypt Djibouti

THE AU CO AND BHAYA CRUISES + VIET HAI VILLAGE, VIETNAM

The Halong Bay cruise operator chose a small village on Cat Ba Island, whose population lacks access to vegetables, as a base for their organic farm initiative. The project improves the local economy and health, and supplies the cruises with high-quality produce all year round.

Green Machines

Losing Ground the biggest declines in performance over the last decade

60% NUMBER TO KNOW

april 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

Proportion 0f the 5,400kilogram leftover oil off-loaded from Disney’s ship each week used to create biodiesel fuel for its fleet in the Bahamas.

Suriname Singapore Uzbekistan Seychelles Burma Source: Environmental Performance Index, 2016 Release

C O U R T E S Y O F P E A C E B O AT E C O S H I P P R O J E C T

ruises can be a cost-effective and fun way to see the world. But what they’re not is green. “Cruise ships are probably the least environmentally friendly kind of transportation,” says environmental consultant Pat Maher. Cruises burn huge amounts of fuel, dump untreated sewage into the ocean and spew sulfur dioxide. Academics and activists have called the industry out for lack of transparency. Cruise lines have made some progress. Recycling, incinerating and waste processing are now standard. Companies are structuring itineraries to save fuel and cut noise pollution. And some are partnering with respected environmental organizations and local communities on sustainability projects like these.

You can be an environmentally conscious traveler anywhere in the world. But if you want intel on which countries are the most eco-friendly, look to the global Environmental Performance Index released every two years. Countries are ranked based on scientific data on air quality, biodiversity, climate impact, and other measures. Some highlights of the 2016 results.

40 Cat Linh Str 10000 HANOI

Enjoy the Pullman Experience in Vietnam. Pullman Danang Beach Resort

Pullman Hanoi

Pullman Saigon Centre

40 Cat Linh Street - 10000 HANOI

148 Tran Hung Dao Boulevard District 1 - 70000 HO CHI MINH CITY

Vo Nguyen Giap Street - Khue My Ward Ngu Hanh Son District - 55000 DANANG

Photographer: Nick Meek.

Book now at pullmanhotels.com

Paris . Sao Paulo . London . Shanghai . Dubai . Bangkok . Sydney . Phuket . Pattaya . Khao Lak

/ upgrade /

Labels to Look For Green Globe What It Does The group looks at sustainable practices, from management to resource uses to contributions to communities. What It Doesn’t Do The high cost of membership and certification excludes small operators that contribute to the local economies.

Looks Really Green

TripAdvisor GreenLeaders

LEED What It Does The U.S. Green Building Council puts its stamp on buildings and upgrades around the world that meet their requirements and adds points for extras, such as building on land that has already been developed. What It Doesn’t Do Ensure that a project is as green as it could be—for example, a building far from any public transportation may still be LEED-certified.

IS REALLY GREEN

Solar panels. It takes a large array to generate enough energy for a property. A couple of panels won’t do much.

Reflective film on windows. It’s not sexy, but screening out sunlight can cut energy use by 25 percent.

Rooftop gardens. Though they insulate buildings and reduce storm-water runoff, most aren’t enough to make an impact.

Leaving land undeveloped. Lawns, golf courses and flower borders require a lot of water and chemicals.

In-room recycling bins. It’s better to recycle than landfill. But guests generate a small percentage of hotel waste.

Careful construction. AccorHotels found that its biggest source of waste was building and renovations.

Saltwater swimming pool. Such pools need less chlorine than the traditional kind, but they’re not chemical-free.

Fixing leaks. According to the EPA, leaks can take up more than 6 percent of a commercial building’s water usage.

NUMBER TO KNOW

tonnes

Volume of kilograms of trash that the annual Eco Everest expeditions have retrieved from the mountain since 2008.

Taking Eco to an Extreme One of the popular aspects hoteliers and developers strive to improve is energy efficiency. Thanks to modern technological advancement, it’s easier than ever to incorporate the use of renewable energy, whether from the wind, the water, the sun or even biomass, without sacrificing comfort for the guests. The following are just some of the most unusual examples.

april 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

The Brando.

The Brando

Instead of electricity, the Tahitian hotel uses cold deepocean water to power a cooling system for all its buildings. thebrando.com

Hotel Verde

Using the Cape Town hotel’s fitness equipment creates (a little) electricity that flows back into the hotel’s power system. hotelverde.co.za

Hoshinoya Karuizawa

Geothermal heat from a nearby active volcano is the main source of the Nagano ryokan’s energy. hoshinoyakarui zawa.com

COURTESY OF The Brando

What It Does To get the leaf badge, hotels have to meet minimum standards, such as recycling and linen-reuse programs, and educate guests about their practices. What It Doesn’t Do Make it easy to find green hotels —you have to search yourself.

hink it’s easy to tell how earth-friendly your accommodations are? Some highly visible features may not mean much, while what you don’t notice can be a game changer. Properties with sustainability programs usually provide details on their websites. A hotel’s green efforts may also be on its TripAdvisor listing page. Or, you can e-mail the hotel and ask. This is how some practices break down.

/ upgrade /

How Low-Impact Can You Go?

We map two possible paths from Hong Kong to Bali—one environmentally conscious, the other less so.

FLIGHT | An economy seat on a nonstop round-trip flight from Hong Kong to Denpasar on Cathay Pacific creates about 0.63 tonnes of CO 2 . A carbon offset costs HK$16.51.

LODGING | Stay at an off-grid hotel, saving the roughly 17 kilograms of CO2 per day the average hotel room generates. Extra points for a property off the oceanfront— it won’t contribute to beach erosion.

MEALS | Dine at spots that serve local produce and seafood. Small-scale fishing tends to be less destructive than industrial fishing, and eating local ingredients supports the local economy.

TRANSPORTATION | Use a bike or—even better— walk to get around.

ACTIVITY | Volunteer for a beach cleanup. Collecting trash near coastlines could help keep 31 percent of microplastics out of oceans, according to research from Imperial College London.

TREADING LIGHTLY

This trip produces about half the CO 2 of the other trip, supports the community, and might even make you feel more connected to the destination.

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

TRIP B

FLIGHT | Jet to Denpasar on an older plane in first class, generating about 1.26 tonnes of CO 2 per person.

LODGING | Bed down at a big luxury resort with a golf course, multiple swimming pools and airconditioned rooms, generating about 34 kilograms of CO 2 a day.

MEALS | Opt for imported foods and beverages at the hotel buffet. That bottle of wine had to travel about 12,670 kilometers from Bordeaux.

TRANSPORTATION | Rent an SUV to get around. A recent model might get an average of eight kilometers per liter, resulting in 0.25 kilograms of CO 2 for each kilometer you drive.

ACTIVITY | Take a motorboat to scuba dive. The harm doesn’t come just from engine emissions—anchors can harm coral, as can divers. Sunscreen chemicals cause coral bleaching.

TRAMPLING

This vacation generates roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as an average person in India creates in an entire year— and contributes to ecosystem damage.

f l o w c h a r t i l l u s t r at i o n s b y t h o m a s p o r o s t o c k y

TRIP A

/ upgrade /

DEALS | t+l reader specials

BEACH LANGKAWI

A traditional Arabian falconer in Qatar and a culinary guide through Thailand are but a few of the folks who’ll make sure you see the region’s best cultural gems this month .

St. Regis Langkawi’s newest five-star is hidden in an exclusive cove on the southern tip of the island, offering splendid seclusion. Eighty-five gold-accented suites come with legendary St. Regis butler service and views of the island’s ancient rain forest or the Andaman Sea. Wind down in the company of 200 native bird species under the shade of 500-million-yearold forest. Your stay includes breakfast for two at L’Orangerie and a round-trip airport transfer. The Deal Special Opening offer: a night in a St. Regis suite, from US$580 for two, April 15-September 30. Save up to 30%. starwoodhotels.com.

A Pool suite at the new St. Regis Langkawi.

SUPER SAVER Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Thailand Songkran is here. Join in on the country’s annual water fight with special rates at Andara Resort & Villas, in Phuket; The Landmark Bangkok; and The Tongsai Bay, in Koh Samui. The Deal Songkran Bed & Breakfast Deals: a night in a standard room, from US$109 for two, through May 31. Save 25-50%. preferredhotels.com.

a pr il 2016 / t r av el a ndleisur e asia .com

FAMILY SEOUL

The Ritz-Carlton Get your Gangnam groove on at The Ritz, in Seoul’s affluent consumer district, where the options include luxuriating in one of the hinoki-wood saunas. The skyline views will add color and light to your complimentary dinner in room. Kids get their own rubber duck and other bath amenities, as well as crayons, a scavenger hunt map and restaurant activity books. The Deal Ritz Kids Party package: a night in a

fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f S t. r e g i s l a n g k aw i ; c o u r t e s y o f An d a r a R e s o r t & V i l l a s

SAMUI

Novotel Samui Resort Chaweng Beach Kandaburi The first Novotel on Koh Samui sits right on fun Chaweng Beach with plenty of shopping and nightlife venues, though all rooms offer the relaxation you’d expect from a beach vacation. The airport is only 10 minutes away via your complimentary round-trip transfer. The Deal Samui Island Holiday Escape: five nights in a Deluxe Beachside room, from Bt16,900 for two, through June 30; book at kdbrsvn@katagroup.com. Save 20%. novotel.com.

Corner Deluxe room, from W320,000 for two adults and one child, through June 30. Save 25%. ritzcarlton.com.

with code DALY30. Save 30%. starwoodhotels.com.

MANILA

Raffles Hotel You’ll be staying in one of 18 Raffles Inc. State-room suites, 67-square-meter rooms with separate studies, in the historic 112-year-old Bras Basah Wing. High ceilings, teak floors, lazy fan: your room is an airy temple of tranquility in the heart of the Lion City. A complimentary tour provides the history of this iconic hotel and that Singapore Sling you sipped upon check-in; for anything else, ask your 24-hour butler. The Deal The World and You: two to five nights in a Raffles Inc. Stateroom suite, from S$1,213 for two, through May 31. Save up to 30%. raffles.com.

CULTURE SINGAPORE

New World Makati Besides a third complimentary night in one of the suites at this city hotel in Makati, you’ll also receive a complimentary one-way airport transfer and Residence Club privileges for breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and all-day refreshments in the Living Room at no cost. Guests with children under six years old can also take advantage of the venue’s designated family area. The Deal Bonus Stay: three nights in a one-bedroom suite, from P29,200 for two, ongoing. Save 37%. manila. newworldhotels.com.

CITY BANGKOK

c o u r t e s y o f T h e H e rm i ta g e , a t r i b u t e p o r t f o l i o H o t e l

Well Hotel At this new property in Bangkok’s business zone, it’s easy to squeeze a workout in between meetings, and you can do it right in the private cocoon of your room thanks to the stationary bike equipped in each of the four suites. In addition, the offer brings breakfast for two, daily minibar refill and late checkout at 3 p.m. The Deal Sleep Well: two nights in an Executive suite, from Bt14,106 for two, through October 31. Save 39%. wellhotelbangkok.com.

ASIA

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts Whether it’s a city staycation or an island getaway, your weekend is all about relaxation with this package. From late checkout at 4 p.m. to breakfast buffets for two, perks await at destinations including Hanoi; Bangkok; Phuket; Samui; Bangalore, India; and Karachi, Pakistan. The Deal Go Weekend: two nights in a

standard room, from US$164 for two, ongoing. Save 30%. movenpick.com. THAILAND

Adventure Life This eco-conscious tour operator gives you the best of Thailand, from urban Bangkok to slow-life Chiang Mai to beach paradise Koh Yao Noi. Learn about the country’s culinary diversity from north to south, trying Chinatown street food, Lanna noodles and spicy southern snacks. You’ll take a walking tour of old Bangkok, a cooking class in Koh Yao Noi, and get a room upgrade. The Deal Exclusive Thailand: 11 nights in upscale boutique hotels in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Koh Yao Noi, from US$1,475 per person, double occupancy, for departures between June and September. Save 25%. adventure-life.com. JAKARTA

The Hermitage, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel One of the best addresses in Jakarta just opened in the restored Art Deco, historic Dutch Telecommunications office. The rooms and suites of Southeast Asia’s first Tribute Portfolio hotel are thoughtfully decorated with indigenous

textiles. You’ll also find Tribute’s signature “#ourlikes” list of secret corners, must-see features and worthwhile experiences at the property, as suggested by previous guests, such as a 1920 chandelier, a gramophone and the Basil Smash cocktail. The Deal Opening offer: a night in a Deluxe room, from Rp3,000,000 for two, through June 14. Save 25%. starwoodhotels.com. QATAR

Shangri-La It’s East-meets-Middle East hospitality at this new hotel in a gleaming 50-story Doha skyscraper inspired by a falcon’s head and decorated with museum-quality artworks loaned from the Sheikh Faisal Collection. Upon arrival, you’ll meet a traditionally attired falconer with the live bird of prey perched on his arm, and be welcomed with a cup of rich Arabian nomad-style coffee. For relaxation, hit the city’s first Oriental-themed spa, then the Club Lounge for gratis snacks and drinks amidst stunning views. The Deal Suite Indulgence: a night in an Executive suite, from QR1,196 for two, through April 10. Save 20%. shangri-la.com. — M.H.

SAIGON

Le Méridien The contemporary rooms at this riverside hotel feature mod, colorful furniture and a wall-size installation depicting the Saigon River. Well-rested nights are promised on the LM Bed with hypoallergenic pillows, overlooking the glittering skyline or rushing river. The Deal Stay 3 Nights & Save: three nights in a Premier Classic room, from VND8,100,000 for two, through December 31; book

The Hermitage, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / A p r i l 2 0 1 6

ILTM ASIA SHANGHAI 30TH MAY – 2ND JUNE 2016

ASIA ILTM Asia is a specialist invitation-only event, where Asia’s best travel agents and advisors meet the world’s most spectacular travel experiences, and Asia’s most spectacular travel experiences meet the world’s best agents and advisors. If you are a luxury travel supplier or buyer, please register your interest in attending one of the world’s leading luxury travel events at www.iltm.com

M i s h a Gr av e n o r

Trains, Cranes, and Pain, a mural by Norman “Vogue” Chuck in West Oakland.

/ april 2016 / Surf and turf in the Yaeyama Islands, the Hawaii of

Japan | A bushwalk through Australia’s rewilded Flinders Ranges | Oakland’s eating and art scene explodes | Cosmopolitan Kiev is full of surprises

Green

The Yaeyamasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; surprisingly sweet surf. Opposite: Hibiscus in bloom on Ishigaki island.

78â&#x20AC;&#x201E;

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

Y u s u k e O k a d a /a m a n a i m a g e s / C o r b i s . o p p o s i t e : N a o ya K i m o t o

Lands Subtropical climes... Sublime surf... traditional Matriarchy? It might not sound like Japan, but the coral- and culture-rich Yaeyama Islands are the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terra incognita. A da m H . G r a h a m heads south to gorge on taco rice and swim in a sea of stars.

I’m in a deep, leaf-shaped pool under a black sky twinkling with an infinity of stars. A young Japanese woman is whirling me around the water on foam pool noodles while I fix my gaze to the sky. The adults-only treatment is called the Tinnu Floating Experience and it’s supposed to relax me and connect me with the constellation. It’s late. I already ate dinner and threw back a few glasses of awamori, a potent Okinawan shochu made with long-grain rice. As I spin in the warm water, my sense of depth becomes distorted and suddenly it feels like I’ve been catapulted into space. There are no recognizable terrestrial sights in my periphery and each star seems graspable. This lack of grounding is a bit ironic considering I’m actually in an earthly paradise, one of the lushest places in Japan. The breezy island of

Taketomi is one of the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost chain of the Ryukyu Archipelago in Okinawa Prefecture. These off-the-radar subtropical islands are considered Japan’s most remote, though they’re a mere 100 kilometers east of Taipei. A nature lover’s paradise, they’ve increasingly become a second home to Japan’s urban dropouts who seek a greener and slower lifestyle. But they’re also Japan’s oldest occupied islands with a human history dating back to the Paleolithic era. Eleven of the 32 islands are inhabited, and one— Sotobanari—is home only to a naked 80-year-old Japanese hermit. This is Japan’s Hawaii and it’s a stark contrast to the rest of the country. I’d already been in Japan for my husband Ralph’s sabbatical and after two months of heavy

f r o m t o p l e ft: P i e r r e A d e n / E y e Em / g e tt y i m a g e s ; J T B Ph o t o / g e tt y i m a g e s ; B . S . P. I . / C o r b i s

Glass-bottomed boats in Kabira Bay. From top left: An Ishigaki local; a shisa guards against evil on a kawaratiled roof on Taketomi Island.

drinking, eating and shopping in Tokyo, we needed a sunny break. So we booked a budget flight to the Yaeyamas for a tranquil two-week stay and planned on doing absolutely nothing. But we were surprised at just how much there was to do when we started reading about it. We found blog posts about surfing, hiking, birding and snorkeling. There were secret beaches, sacred promontories, coral reefs—of which some were double-barrier and eight were newly discovered in 2014 on the deep-ocean floor off Nagura Bay, leading the islands to apply for unesco inscription. There

was the archeological wonder of Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave, site of 24,000-year-old human bones, four millenia older than remains previously thought to be Japan’s oldest. There was even a small city for rainy days. When we told our friends back home in Switzerland we were Yaeyama-bound they shrugged; they’d never heard of it. But when we told our Japanese friends, smiles and looks of envy washed across their faces, so we knew we were onto something. Getting to the islands is easy. A three-hour flight from Osaka brought us directly to Ishigaki, the main island and airport. From the plane, I felt the sun getting stronger as we neared the equator. We spent the first two nights unwinding on tiny, flat Taketomi, reached by a 10-minute ferry from Ishigaki’s port. The five-squarekilometer island is home to 323 residents who’ve made it a model of cultural sustainability by adhering to ancient traditions and strict development rules. One example is the Hoshinoya Okinawa resort, where we planned to pamper ourselves for two nights before heading to neighboring Ishigaki. Hoshinoya’s 48 guest pavilions huddle around a 6.5-hectare lot meant to replicate an ancient Okinawan village. The villas are surrounded by gukkus, pockmarked coral walls enclosing a private garden, while on the red-tiled rooftops perch Okinawan deities called shisa, said to ward off evil. After settling in, I shuffled across the room’s soft

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

fr o m l e f t: N a o ya K i m o t o ; T s u n e o Ya m a s h i ta / g e t t y i m a g e s ; Un i v e r s a l Im a g e s Gr o u p/ g e t t y i m a g e s

tatami mat floors to slide open the front and back windows and let the warm breeze blow through. “You don’t get this in Tokyo,” I said to Ralph above the buzzy hum of cicadas. The immediate serenity that Taketomi brought was almost unnerving. Hoshinoya’s activities emphasize local culture and include live music in the Yuntaku Lounge, grass-toy making, deep breathing full moon exercises, and a spa using indigenous ingredients like mozuku seaweed and getto, an Okinawan healing herb. For dinner, we feasted on clam flan and Japanese beef tartare at the restaurant’s outdoor patio then listened to the plucky sanshin music being played against the island’s wind. I could feel myself decompressing and slipping into island time. We used the hotel’s complimentary bikes to tour the island, rolling down bumpy crushed-

coral lanes past a gukku overflowing with purple bouganvillea and hibiscus. On Kaiji Beach, we discovered hoshizuna, star-shaped grains of sand said to be the exoskeleton remains of marine protozoa—though ancient folklore says they’re the children of stars eaten by sea serpents. At Yarabo, a wooden shack nestled under the shade of kyangi and screw-pine trees, we slurped the famed Yaeyama soki soba, wheat noodles topped with pork ribs stewed in awamori and local brown sugar. And we visited Yugafukan, an informative cultural museum of Ryukyu history filled with handwoven relics and giant clamshells resembling local sfogliatella pastry. “Taketomi may not have convenience stores, but we have Muyama, the six important on,” the museum’s director said. Locals believe that

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

Sandy villages with coral walls epitomize Taketomi. top, From left: Line ’em up to surf ’em down; in awe of the clear waters and sunny skies.

Taketomi is the birthplace of Okinawa, and these on (or utaki in the regional parlance), sacred forest temples marked with torii gates, are where onarigami gods are worshipped. Tourists are explicitly forbidden from entering them, but even if we were local, we’d be barred for being men. Onarigami is Japan’s only matriarchal culture and it’s still respected and adhered to today by the island’s residents.

he next day we took the ferry back to Ishigaki Port, which is everything Taketomi isn’t—busy, populated, overdeveloped and in some parts downright dodgy. Fortunately the rest of Ishigaki—35 kilometers long and 18 kilometers wide—is gloriously empty and the emerald, mountainous island sprawls northward, offering endless terrain to lose yourself in including weathered beachheads, swaths of jungle, and clustered groves of Yaeyama palms, a fern-like endemic palm tree creeping up the sides of Ishigaki’s lush mountains. Most tourists stay in the city, which—though it does boast some upscale shopping boutiques like Mahina Mele—is a shame since Ishigaki’s best parts are on the outer fringes. Getting a rental car is a must. We picked one up at Paradise Rent-A-Car and headed to Beach Village Nosoko to settle in and exhale. It’s 30 minutes away on the island’s remote northwestern

coast accessed by going through the Omotodake Tunnel that cuts through a lush swath of jungle and marked with a roaring shisa deity and, in our eyes, a threshold to a rarefied world. The pink four-room hotel had a view of both the ocean and the lumpy green Mount Nosoko. It’s connected to the beach— which we could see, hear and smell from our deck—by a two-minute foot path, where we often walked early mornings and evenings. The young Tokyo-transplant owners, Nobu and Naoko Amano, were laid-back but attentive and kind. When it rained one afternoon, they moved our hangdrying clothes inside. For an extra ¥500, they bought us a pre-lit charcoal grill to cook on. Best of all, they had a pet goat. The next 10 blissful days were filled with easy-going excursions around the island. At Ibaruma Sabichi, we trudged through beachfront caves dripping with salty stalactites and encountered Buddhist shell shrines watched over by ruddy kingfishers, bright crimson birds perched on Sakishimasuou trees. In Banna Park at the island’s center, we spotted more birds like the endemic Ryukyu minivet and flycatcher. Extraordinarily colored flowers and butterflies with long polka-dotted tails, cobweb-like wings, and candy-red dragonflies with bulging red eyes reminded us we were in another world. We snorkeled the reef just offshore at Yonehara Beach, which teemed with

marine life. We discovered secret beaches, roadside ice-cream trucks, and tucked-away smoothie shops frequented by local surfers like Café BonsBois marked with a surfboard sign at Urasoko Bay. We hiked up Mount Nosoko, and visited the Uganzaki Lighthouse, a sacred oceanfront promontory especially popular with surfers in the winter months that was abloom for us with fragrant Easter lilies. Locals say it’s where the gods first descended to Earth. The longer we stayed on Ishigaki, the bigger it felt. At the lovely Nei Art Museum we admired the breezy, vivid tropical landscape paintings and befriended the painter’s widower Yougo Katori who invited us for tea and spent an hour telling us all about the local art. “It’s not easy to capture the spirit of a place,” he said in his studio. “But Nei understood what a gentle island Ishigaki is.”

shigaki grows coffee beans, soy, sugarcane and pineapple, which feature prominently in local dishes. We felt fully nurtured by the big warm bowls of fresh tofu at the red-tin shed and scattering of picnic tables that make up Tofu no Higa. We also discovered another kind of comfort food in taco rice, a delicious hybrid that’s exactly what it sounds like, supposedly invented by a Japanese chef on a U.S. military base in Okinawa who was trying to cook classic Americana for homesick servicemen, but didn’t have access to corn tortilla shells. For Americans like me who grew up eating tacos once a week at the school cafeteria, the dish is somehow Proustian, in spite of its double bastardization. A version of it at Re:Hellow Beach, a vegetarian-friendly deck restaurant on Maezato Beach, also beloved by surfers for its summer swells, was especially

We feasted on clam flan and beef tartare, to plucky sanshin music played against the island’s wind

fr o m l e f t: N a o ya K i m o t o ; P i e rr e A d e n / E y e Em / g e t t y i m s g e s ; N a o ya K i m o t o

good and topped with toothsome slices of goya, Okinawa’s bitter melon. There’s a staggering variety of seafood and seaweed on Ishigaki too, but the island is most known for its meat. Moromi pork comes from pigs fed awamori, high in citric acid, which tenderizes the fat. Ishigaki beef comes from local cattle that graze on grass rich in ocean minerals and feed flecked with coral calcium. You can try the meats in chewy wheatsoba-noodle stews like beefy gyu soba and do as the locals do and sprinkle them generously with piyashi, a regional

peppercorn, and koreigusu, the spicy bottled sauce of red chili peppers marinating in awamori seen on virtually every table on the island. But in my opinion, the best Ishigaki beef dish is at Mengate, a ramshackle wood restaurant where sukiyaki with Ishigaki beef is served in a western-style cast iron skillet with enoki mushrooms, homegrown tofu and leeks. Desserts are not to be skipped, especially if you like ice cream. Yukisio is known for its soft-serve and variety of flavored salts to sprinkle on it. There, I chose plain milk ice cream with hibiscus salt, but sought out more unusual flavors at Miru Miru, a hillside café overlooking the bay and serving scoops of purple yam, island banana, salt and brown sugar. We went to a different restaurant every day and still felt like we hadn’t seen it all. But our best moments were spent at Nosoko Beach. During sunrises, we walked through the shallow clear water on the vacant beach strewn with

Uganzaki Lighthouse.

From far left:

Get your fill of chewy wheat soba noodles; underground adventures.

coconut husks and seashells. After a rainstorm, we jogged past the earthy banana trees along the red dirt trails encircling Mount Nosoko. We seared Ishigaki beef on our grill while cracking open cans of Orion beer and sitting in the dark stillness listening to the hoots of the Ryukyu

scops owls, noting the occasional neon-blue firefly flit past. This kind of unplugging is not an easy find in Japan, a country where it’s rare to feel alone. While there was no heated pool to spin around in, the night sky was especially black and vivid. It was just us and the trillion stars above.

The details Getting there Peach (flypeach.com), Japan Transocean Air (jal.com) and ANA (ana. co.jp) fly to Ishigaki Airport from Tokyo, Osaka, and Okinawa’s Miyako Island and capital Naha, while China Airlines (chinaairlines.com) started regular flights from Taipei last year. Hotels Hoshinoya Okinawa Taketomi, Taketomi-cho,

Yaeyama-gun; 81-50/3786-0066; hoshinoyataketomijima. com; doubles from ¥90,000. Beach Village Nosoko 1048-10 Nosoko, Ishigaki-shi; 81-980/892181; www5.plala.or.jp/ bvn; doubles from ¥12,340. Restaurants Yarabo 107 Taketomi, Taketomi-cho, Yaeyama-gun; 81980/85-2268; soba

bowls ¥700-¥1,100. Mengate 10-19 Misakicho, Ishigaki-shi; 81980/82-8065; Yaeyama soba ¥600. Tofu no Higa 570 Aza-Ishigaki, Ishigakishi; 81-980/82-4806; yushi-tofu dishes ¥350-¥650. Re:Hellow Beach 192-2 Maezato, Ishigaki-shi; 81-980/870865; rehellow.com; meal for two ¥3,000. Miru Miru 1583-74 Shinkawa, Ishigaki-shi;

81-980/87-0885; mirumiru-honpo.com; gelato ¥320. Café Bons-Bois 148-311 Fukai, Ishigaki-shi; 81-980/882838; meal for two from ¥1,500. Museums Nei Art Museum 1585-105 Shinkawatomisaki, Ishigaki-shi; 81-980/83-6303; nei-museum.net.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

In the South Australian outback, an ambitious tourism and conservation project is returning a 24,000-hectare former sheep ranch back into a habitat for threatened species of native flora and fauna. Kevin West takes a walk among the wallabies and wedge-tailed eagles and finds new meaning in the idea of natural selection. | Photographed by Jesse Chehak

THE GOOD EARTH

A view of Arkaba, a private conservation area near Flinders Ranges National Park.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

I WOKE UP THE FIRST TIME BEFORE DAWN and felt around the edge of my sleeping bag for my hiking boots. I shook out my glasses and phone to check the time: 4:20 a.m. A canopy of stars was spread overhead. The notched fin of the Elder Range cut a dark silhouette against the speckled depths. I watched the sky until I saw a meteor’s cold streak and then fell back to sleep. The next time I woke up, it was 6:03. First light was on its way but hadn’t yet arrived: the constellations were still clear. Fifteen minutes later, dawn had rinsed them all away, leaving the sky pale and flat. A butcher-bird sang and was answered by another. Color seeped into the foreground, which before had been rendered in grays. At 6:30, the rocky face of the Elder Range caught the sky’s reflection and glowed pink, as if it were the source of all light. Finally, after an hour of watching the day arrive, I saw the first direct rays of sun hit the mountains, and the notched ridge blazed orange, a visual cymbal clash. It was the start of another day of bushwalking at Arkaba, a 24,000-hectare private nature conservancy at the edge of South Australia’s outback. A small group of guests and I, led by a Zimbabwean guide named Paul Bester, had begun our walking safari two days earlier in the adjacent Flinders Ranges National Park. We had traversed Wilpena Pound, a natural amphitheater formed by 500 million years of erosion, or by two giant sleeping snakes, depending on whether you consult geologists or Aboriginal Adnyamathanha storytellers. We’d crossed onto Arkaba land, and for the rest of the walk we had been alone on the property, further isolated by the lack of cellular communication and electricity. As we followed streambeds lined with seemingly immortal river red gums and climbed hills on the way to the Elder Range, my sense of time slowed from the frantic speed of the Internet to the pace of an unhurried walk. By the third morning, when I lay in my bedroll and watched the sun rise, my patience, the ability to sit unbothered by the urgencies of daily life, had been renewed by the raw Australian landscape. I felt recomposed. I had come to this part of the outback, 400 kilometers north of Adelaide, to witness not just the dramatic splendor of the landscape but also the transformation of Arkaba from a 19th-century sheep station into a 21stcentury model of ecological tourism. On my stopover in Sydney, I met Charles Carlow, the head of Wild Bush Luxury, which owns Arkaba. He explained how the property is working to rid its land of invasive species, to reintroduce native flora and fauna, and to create an intimate connection between visitors and their surroundings so that they leave with a deeper understanding of the ecological stakes. “Most Australians have no idea that we have the greatest rate of mammal extinction in the world,” he told me over lunch. “It’s not something they think about. Australia is highly urbanized and the divide between the city and the bush becomes greater all the time.”

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

Carlow got interested in conservation-based tourism as a result of a trip to Kenya when he was 12 years old, and he modeled the Arkaba Walk, a three-day trek between remote camps, on the traditional African safari. The Arkaba Walk is subtler. Much of the appeal is that this, as Carlow pointed out, is some of the most accessible outback in the country. And some of the most beautiful. “For us, Arkaba isn’t about the accommodations, but what we do with the outdoors,” he said. “You’re not paying for spa amenities but for the privilege of sharing so much land with only 10 other people. It’s very special—very Australian.” Many of the highlights called for a naturalist’s magnifying glass rather than a telephoto lens: spotting dingo tracks in an area where they supposedly had been exterminated; learning to identify Salvation Jane, a pretty wildflower that is also a rampantly invasive weed; watching a column of ants bridge a spring-fed trickle by linking their near-weightless bodies into a living pontoon. Such signs and wonders required Bester’s sharp eye and thoughtful explanations. The Arkaba Walk was like a semester-long introduction to Australian ecology spread over the course of 43 rambling kilometers. At the heart of Arkaba is the property’s intensive efforts to undo the ecological damage caused since sheep farmers settled the area in 1851. When Wild Bush Luxury bought Arkaba, the property’s “low country had been grazed to buggery,” Carlow told me. He initiated a plan to phase out grazing by 2013, and today many parts of the property are “in relatively good nick,” he said, despite ongoing pressure from feral goats. A fence that separates Arkaba from its neighbor clearly shows significantly more vegetation on the ungrazed land. As a result, the populations of kangaroos and emus have boomed, and Arkaba’s guides report sightings of the yellow-footed rock wallaby, something of a mascot for the conservancy. The species was once hunted for pelts, and more recently its survival has been threatened to near-extinction by predation and habitat loss. “We now have two colonies,” Carlow said. “That didn’t exist two years ago.” But removing sheep was the easy part. Arkaba’s ongoing conservation efforts focus on the more pernicious threat of foxes and feral cats. Their impact on wildlife and birdlife has been profound. “The cats and foxes nailed a lot of small marsupials and small mammals before anyone knew what was happening,” Carlow said. As much as 10 percent of Australia’s endemic mammal species have gone extinct since colonization, he added, and some areas of the country have lost 75 percent of their small mammals and marsupials in the past 10 years, leaving many of these species now in collapse. In this sense, Arkaba represents a microcosm of a global ecological calamity—the damage done by exotic species. New Zealand’s struggle to eradicate them has

The outbackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iconic cypress and gum trees.

below, from left:

Wilpena Pound, a 10,000-hectare mountainringed bowl where sheep once grazed; a western red kangaroo.

The trail at Arkaba Homestead, where guests complete the three-day bushwalks.

risen to the level of a national emergency, and victory is declared on the poignantly small scale of a few dozen square kilometers at a time. The American landscape is a catalogue of noxious weeds and pests that have disrupted native ecosystems: Japanese kudzu in the South, Amazonian water hyacinth and Burmese pythons through the Everglades, Russian zebra mussels choking the Great Lakes, Asian carp invading the Mississippi River system, rodents and voracious tree snakes decimating bird populations in Hawaii, and European brown rats everywhere. A successful case study is the tiny, subantarctic Campbell Island, where the government removed cattle and sheep before successfully eradicating rats in 2001, leading to the recovery of seabird populations and other endemic species that were on the brink of extinction. In the far South Atlantic, the government of the Falkland Islands launched the world’s largest successful crusade against rats on South Georgia Island, a 2,300-square-kilometer bird sanctuary; the next step was to eliminate reindeer introduced by Norwegian whalers for meat over a century ago. Australia is also an island ecosystem, though it’s an exceptionally large one. Its fragile ecology has been reshaped by some 130 invasive species that have arrived since colonial settlement. And while Arkaba’s conservation work represents a mere speck on the

THIS IS THE STORY OF THE

Accommodations at Elder Camp, a stop on the bushwalk. ABOVE: The entrance of Arkaba Homestead, the property’s historic lodge.

continent, it nonetheless provides an example of how an intense conservation push can begin to mitigate the damage done by out-of-control pests. “We can’t presume nature will take care of itself,” said Arkaba’s chief conservationist, Brendon Bevan. “We’ve affected nature, and only we can rectify it.” All of this I learned by degrees during my visit, starting with the first night’s dinner at the Homestead, a 19th-century stone farmhouse converted into comfortable if not extravagant lodgings. I drove five hours up from Adelaide and arrived in time to meet Bester and Bevan over a glass of Riesling from the nearby Clare Valley. The other guests had already arrived: a retired couple in their late sixties from New Zealand, a high-powered pair of Sydney professionals, and a single woman in her thirties who was originally from Adelaide but now lives in Los Angeles. Bevan and Bester left us after drinks around the bonfire, and we sat down for a homey meat-and-potatoes dinner alfresco. The next morning we set out for the national park, half an hour away. Arkaba staffers would ferry our bags between camps, which were glamping-style accommodations with bucket showers, and cook our meals. The semiarid landscape reminded me somewhat of Utah’s red-rock country—dry gulches, rusty bluffs, scattered scrub trees, and tufty grass. It was late August, nearly the start of the antipodean spring, and I was surprised by the cool weather and relatively verdant

vegetation. I’d been expecting a Mad Max dustscape. Bester explained that summer heat parches the ground every year and that the entire region is subject to lengthy droughts and periodic wildfires. The wet-season growth I saw was what originally attracted settlers to the region, but it was only deceptively lush. Unaware of Australia’s drought cycle, herders overstocked the land with far too many sheep, destroying native plants and leading to catastrophic stock losses when the rains failed. Invasive weeds followed in the flocks’ wake. Creek beds were hardest hit, and Bevan’s wife, Kat, describes the thick stands of exotics along Arkaba Creek—some 30 species including ward’s weed, soursob, nettle-leaved goosefoot, and African boxthorn—as a “hectic catastrophe.” The aggressive spread of Salvation Jane across former native grasslands gave rise to its other nickname, Patterson’s Curse, named after the hapless settler who imported seeds in the 1880s to plant an ornamental flower that would leap the garden fence and run amok. We arrived at the national park, donned our daypacks, and headed up a creek drainage toward Wilpena Pound. The path led through a magnificent riparian forest of river red gums, a blue-green-leafed eucalyptus that can live up to 1,000 years. The trees, some of them two meters in diameter, shed their bark to reveal trunks that gleam dully like old silver.

red kangaroo, the western gray kangaroo and the common wallaroo or euro—and I was reminded of Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, an enclosed sanctuary for threatened species. “There’s water and fresh veg, so why would you move?” Bester said, to explain the seasonal density of wildlife in the Pound. “But in the summer they’ll move up to 80 kilometers per day.” That afternoon, Bester was delighted when we spotted a fresh dingo track—evidence that the dog fence hadn’t been entirely successful—but as we descended onto Arkaba land via Bridle Gap, we saw less-welcome animals. Thirty or so feral goats moved across a ridge. “That’s a problem,” Bester said. He explained that the goats compete aggressively with native grazers for vegetation, and that they monopolize springs, effectively driving the shy rock wallabies away from their only water source. Arkaba controls goat populations by rounding them up for sale or by aerial culling. That night we made camp at Black’s Gap, in a cluster of open-sided huts facing the hills. In the morning, we set out on the Heysen Trail, a hiking route named for Hans Heysen, a German-born Australian painter. His early20th-century landscapes from his travels through the Flinders Ranges helped establish a national iconography of arid hills and gnarled gum trees aflutter with roseate

The Pound is a 10,000-hectare flat-bottomed bowl ringed by mountains—Wilpena derives from an Aboriginal description of a cupped hand. Although less well known to foreigners than Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef, to South Australians it is an iconic feature of the Flinders Ranges, a series of ancient mountains named for explorer Matthew Flinders, who circumnavigated Australia in 1802. After European settlers brought sheep to the Pound, the Australian government completed a 5,600-kilometer “dog fence” in 1885 to exclude dingoes from the southeast part of the continent. Shepherds killed hundreds of dingoes, possums and kangaroos. Foxes, introduced for sport, and feral cats decimated the yellow-footed rock wallabies, along with other uniquely Australian species like bilbies and bettongs. In 1899, homesteaders planted wheat in the Pound’s near-sterile ground, more rock than dirt, but drought soon made folly of their efforts. The launch of Operation Bounceback 23 years ago, a government initiative to rid the park of pest species, has helped the rock wallabies recover. We paused for lunch under a huge coolibah tree, another native eucalypt, and the couple from New Zealand sang a few lines of “Waltzing Matilda,” a “bush ballad” or folk song that is Australia’s unofficial national anthem: “Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong / Under the shade of a coolibah tree.” In the distance, we could see the park’s three commonest macropods—the

cockatoos. It was the exact landscape that surrounded us. As we made our way down a dry wash, the color of the stones underfoot perfectly matched the river red gum heartwood we burned in the morning’s campfire. Bester suddenly held up a hand and pointed to the lapidary sparkle of a mulga parrot, so much brighter than the Australian ringneck parrot we’d seen in camp earlier. “Very special,” he said reverently. “That’s one of those species people come from around the world to see. That was awesome.” Arkaba’s progressive conservation efforts face challenges in this deeply conservative part of the country. Bester gave us an example when he pointed out the nest of a wedge-tailed eagle, one of the world’s largest raptors. They were once shot as vermin, but their numbers have rebounded, thanks in part to the overabundance of nonnative rabbits—one benefit of an introduced pest. Today the nest was empty, but Bester spotted a pair of “wedgies” aloft on thermals overhead, their two-meter wingspans like dark lint on the featureless blue. It reminded him of a conversation he’d overheard in a local pub, where an old rancher said he’d just seen two wedge-tails feeding on a roadkill kangaroo. “He said, ‘If I’da had my rifle, I woulda shot them both,’” Bester recalled, shaking his head. “That mentality still exists.” At lunch in Madge’s Gully, a narrow smooth-rock canyon, Bester pointed out a small seep dampening the

GOAT VERSUS THE ROCK WALLABY, CAT VERSUS BILBY

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

sand. Since Arkaba removed the windmill-fed stock troughs, natural springs were reemerging after 80 years of pumping. The kangaroos and wallabies would need the water come summer. That afternoon, we climbed for hours to the crest of the Red Range, then descended into camp at the base of the Elder Range. Tired from the walk and relaxed from the Barossa Valley Shiraz, I turned in early and awoke before dawn seven hours later. On the last morning, we set out to the sound of parrots, red-capped robins and yellow-throated mynahs, but the highlight was provided, oddly enough, by the ubiquitous cypress pines. A faint breeze stirred and caused the male trees to release their pollen, ejaculating clouds of copious fertility. Suddenly an entire hillside was going off, and the slanting morning light turned pollen into gold dust. The sight made us giddy, and we gasped “ooh!” and “aah!” like spectators before fireworks. For the rest of the walk back to the Homestead, my mind drifted into romantic musings on “untrammeled nature” and “eternal natural cycles”—that sort of typical outdoorsy endorphin high. But the sight of a dozen large rabbit warrens, goat-browsed bullock bush, and the “hectic catastrophe” of invasive weeds along Arkaba Creek near the Homestead imposed a corrective. Arkaba’s concerted and expensive conservation efforts prove that the beautiful property, though isolated, is by no means pristine. Indeed, Arkaba called into question the very idea that any corner of Australia could be considered untouched. A radical theory of restoration biology takes the term rewilding and argues for restoring ecosystems to a state of pre-civilization integrity. But what would that even mean in Australia? Of course European settlers changed the landscape, but then so did Aborigines, who arrived on the continent some 60,000 years ago. Their hunting may have contributed to the extinction of numerous species of giant kangaroos and other grazing megafauna, and they introduced dogs (the ancestors of today’s dingoes) and the practice of largescale burning, in part to improve hunting habitats. Man himself is arguably the most pervasive exotic species in Australia, and the most destructive. The same holds true everywhere in the world, a fact that invalidates the utopian conservation ideal that we can simply stand back and let the earth return to some prior, Edenic state. Arkaba proves that conservation is not a passive stance— letting nature run its course—but a permanent land-management activity. Arkaba’s conservation requires an ongoing, annual investment of money and manpower, just as surely as the grazing it replaced. Bevan drove this point home the next day, when he took me to track a radio-collared feral cat, part of a study of the movements and habits of this hugely destructive predator. He’s eliminated 173 cats from Arkaba in five years, and he wants to know how many more remain. Probably a lot. Wildlife biologists estimate Australia’s feral cats will each kill about a dozen reptiles, birds, small marsupials, and mammals a day, for a combined loss across the continent of 70 million to 80 million native animals every day. “We’re headed toward a precipice at a

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

great rate,” Bevan remarked, as he pulled out his radar tracking equipment. This is the story of the goat versus the rock wallaby, he said. The cat versus the bilby. Bevan is not a pessimist, though. No conservationist can be. Instead, he focuses on the positive impact of Arkaba’s other eradication efforts. For example, there’s been a spike in echidnas since fox populations were suppressed by the aerial distribution of poisoned bait. Bevan tracked the collared cat to a hollow river red gum, which he compared to an “apartment block for life,” a habitat utilized by all sorts of native species, from birds of prey and brush-tailed possums to witchetty grubs. The trees are remarkably tough and have evolved to survive extended drought and to recover from deep wounds. He focused my attention on the hollow where the cat was denned and how the tree’s cambium, or growth layer, had started to “re-sheath” over the gap, suggesting, Bevan mused, a degree of resilience that an optimist might metaphorically apply to Arkaba’s overall mission. “When something is that far gone and looks shot to hell, it can still come back,” he said. “Good conditions continuing, it will look grand again.” A rainbow bee-eater.

The details Getting There From Adelaide, rent a car for the five-hour drive to Arkaba through the Clare Valley wine region. Or, Port Augusta is a 75-minute drive from the property and has weekday flights from Adelaide. Charter flights and private drivers can also be arranged through Arkaba. BUSHWALKING Arkaba offers a one-night stay at

the historic Homestead, and a three-day trek through Australia’s southern outback with stays at luxury camps along the way. Meals are family-style, with wines from the region. The walk is about 43 gorgeous, easy-to-moderate kilometers (about 14 per day) with guests’ luggage ferried by jeep. arkabawalk.com; 61-2/9571-6399; doubles from A$1,632 per night, walks from A$4,300 per person.

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

WE BUILT THIS CITY Michelin stars and Big Architecture have come to Oakland, California, one of the most storied melting pots in the United States. And with gentrification comes controversy—whose city is it? Jeff Chu meets the people on the forefront of change and finds that, if this is not the same town it once was, maybe that’s just fine. I PhotographED by Misha Gravenor

march 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

Musician Xavier Dphrepaulezz at Blackball Universe, his studio in Jack London Square. Opposite: Wildin’ Out, a mural Wildin’ Out, a mural produced by Fuming Guerilla Productions, in Fruitvale, an East Oakland neighborhood. Opposite, clockwise from TOP left: Chicana artist Natalia Anciso and her husband, John Nepomuceno, outside Taqueria El Grullo; produced by Fuming Guerilla the Cathedral of Christ the Light; Justin Carder, owner of E.M. Wolfman Bookstore; landscape architect WalterProductions, J. Hood Jr. in his studio; in Fruitvale, an the kitchen at Commis, Oakland’s Michelin two-starred restaurant; dishes at Commis.East Oakland neighborhood.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

Oakland’s Temescal

Alley glowed on a bright

August morning, as I sat at a public outdoor table. Before me were an espresso, brewed from locally roasted beans, and a US$3 doughnut injected to order with small-batch cherry jam. Around me was a hipster communion. A couple with carefully tended mustaches and MacBooks sipped cappuccinos. A quartet of French speakers swept through wearing summer scarves. A plaidclad dad tended to his doughnutsilenced toddler. Temescal Alley’s two narrow rows of stables were once home to trolleypulling workhorses. Now they house purveyors of precious goods and services. There’s the Cro Café and Doughnut Dolly, where I bought my breakfast. Crimson Horticultural Rarities sells succulents and terrariums, Japanese gardening tools and L’Aromatica fragrances. The bookshop Book/Shop stocks US$38 canvas sleeves in which to carry your first editions. As significant as what I saw is what I didn’t: non-white people. Oakland, a city of 414,000 on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, remains one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the U.S.: a third of its residents are white, a quarter black, a quarter Latino, 17 percent Asian. Yet, excepting shop staffers, I saw only one other person of color in Temescal Alley, a focal point of gentrification in the North Oakland neighborhood of Temescal. One black shop clerk told me that dozens of camera crews have visited, eager to glimpse this sparkling “new” side of the city. Some reporters have then declined to identify Oakland on its own terms, dubbing it “Brooklyn by the Bay” (the New York Times) and “the Brooklyn of the West” (the Seattle Times). “Are you one of them?” she asked, eyeing my notebook.

I spent much of my childhood nearby, and my grandmother lived in Oakland’s Chinatown. I said that the comparisons to Brooklyn—where I now live—irritate me. She relaxed. “You know, then,” she said. “The real Oakland isn’t here.”

What is the “real” Oakland? To

start to get at the answer, look first at the city’s many historical layers now forgotten. This sunnier side of the bay was first home to the Ohlone tribe, then Spanish colonial ranchers. In the mid 19th century, much of what is now Oakland was a separate city called, ironically, Brooklyn. In the mid 20th century, a vibrant music scene earned it the nickname “the Harlem of the West.” The Black Panther Party was born here. Oakland was a hub for the Chicano arts movement, too. But as manufacturing slowed down, decimating the post–World War II economy, Oakland declined. Gangs and drugs appeared. By the 1980s and 90s, when I was growing up in the Bay Area, it looked like San Francisco’s ugly stepsister. Its Victorian homes, unlike the cameraready models across the bay, had boarded-up windows. No longer. Although some parts of Oakland have always been affluent, gentrification is transforming previously impoverished sections. Those Victorians have been restored. Historic high-rises are becoming luxury condos. Upscale cafés, restaurants and shops like those in Temescal Alley open at a rapid clip. The entire Bay Area is undergoing transformation, thanks to Silicon Valley’s money and power. It’s startling to see all those Maseratis and Teslas on San Francisco’s streets. In Berkeley, the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive recently reopened in a Diller, Scofidio

April 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

& Renfro–designed building, and the century-old Claremont Club & Spa hotel has been given a major face-lift by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Part of Oakland’s appeal is that housing remains relatively affordable (for now). Coaches whisk workers to Facebook, Apple and Google’s campuses, an hour away. Uber plans to move thousands of staff into a new office in the longempty Sears, Roebuck building. This energy has buoyed Oakland. But it has also fed terrific tension, as residents fret about who’s getting priced out, whether the past is being honored, and if the city is becoming another San Francisco. Underlying these strains are issues of race and class. In neighborhoods like Uptown, which has seen a condo boom, the contrasts are stark. Newcomers often buy there because they can’t afford elsewhere in the Bay Area, yet more than 40 percent of the residents still live below the poverty line. What I heard in the shop clerk’s declaration about what’s “real” was a plea for respect, for what—and who—was here before, and what— and who—still is. “When you put people from diverse backgrounds together, it’s not always comfortable,” said local painter Bryan Keith Thomas, who specializes in Africaninspired iconography. Temescal Alley is unquestionably real. But it (and the city overall) isn’t just a blank canvas waiting for new arrivals. One upside of the gentrification debate is a reconsideration of what makes Oakland unique. Thomas spoke of the city rediscovering its beauty: “When you know, ‘This is my charm. This is my talent’—that’s where the power lies. There’s a strong life force here.” What I discovered on my return to was just how strong that life force is right now, fed by rich history, cultural diversity, and, yes, wave after wave of newcomers. And to experience it in full, you have to venture well beyond one alley.

OAKLAND IS SHAPED LIKE A FAT

horse standing on its hind legs. Its head nuzzles Berkeley. The hills form its crest and back. Its front legs kick toward San Francisco.

You’d think that Oakland would be oriented west, facing the bay. But the city’s container port, the country’s fifth busiest, forms an ugly barrier along 30 kilometers of shoreline, so development looks instead toward Lake Merritt, just east of downtown. As local landscape architect and UC Berkeley professor Walter J. Hood Jr. said as we circled Lake Merritt in his Porsche: “Oakland is introverted.” Lake Merritt was once a marsh. “Estuaries are such rich ecological areas,” said Hood, a National Design Award–winner whose work includes the grounds of San Francisco’s de Young Museum and a community park in Oakland. The fish-rich marsh lured birds, attracting the Ohlone, the area’s earliest locavores. White settlers completed the food-waste cycle in the 1860s, using the marsh as a sewer. Then they dammed it, forming a brackish lagoon. Two of Hood’s current projects seek to recognize Oakland’s history and reweave its urban fabric. One, called Releaf, aims to replant the city’s eponymous coast live oaks, which are almost all gone. (You can find a rare survivor in the plaza by City Hall.) Hood and his students planted 72 saplings in Lowell Park; they intend to transplant the trees to yards and gardens in West Oakland. The other plan will redevelop an area on Lake Merritt’s southwestern shore into a pedestrian-friendly recreation-and-culture district. Eight lanes of traffic now divide the ribbon of lakeside park from the Beaux-Arts Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, where the Grateful Dead played nearly 60 shows, and the Oakland Museum of California, a low-slung Brutalist building that evokes the entrance to a Bond villain’s lair. None of it organically connects. As we drove, Hood cursed the ghosts of urban planning past. “Are we ridiculous or what? Can we create a cultural diagram as strong as Golden Gate Park? Or Central Park?” He spoke of revaluing existing riches, not building anew. Maybe the failure to do so thus far reflects low civic self-esteem. “Can we get people to see Oakland in a clearer way?” he asked.

Clockwise from top left: In Temescal

Alley; the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill–designed Cathedral of Christ the Light; Piedmont Avenue, a restaurant row; Lake Merritt, the first official national wildlife refuge in the U.S.; caramelized sunchokes with sunflower, smoked trout roe and warm sea-lettuce butter at Commis.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / m a r c h 2 0 1 6

“This is the greatest city in

Clockwise from top left: Cosecha

Café, a modern Mexican restaurant in Swan’s Market; the Cathedral of Christ the Light; an employee at Book/Shop, on Temescal Alley; Joyce Gordon, the owner of her namesake fine-art gallery; the kitchen at Commis, Oakland’s Michelin two-starred restaurant.

the world!” Musician Xavier Dphrepaulezz, a.k.a. Fantastic Negrito, said this as he jumped off the sidewalk near Jack London Square, where Blackball Universe, his art gallery/record label/creative space, is headquartered. One of Oakland’s first neighborhoods to gentrify, the area is home to old warehouses, new condos, and Blue Bottle Coffee’s headquarters. The change has been steady, not shocking; produce wholesalers have held on, as has the 133-year-old Heinold’s First & Last Chance Saloon, Oakland’s oldest bar. With his shock of hair sprouting from his slim frame, Dphrepaulezz resembled, in body and spirit, an exclamation point. Now 48, he moved to Oakland from Massachusetts at 12. It was a revelation. “So colorful! There were brothers! And Asians!” he said. “The streets just called me.” We got into his car and drove through West Oakland to Seventh Street, once the heart of the Harlem of the West. Any respectable jazz or blues artist touring California from the 1940s to the 70s played Slim Jenkins Café or Esther’s Orbit Room. One of the few visible reminders of this history is the Blues Walk of Fame, unveiled last spring outside the West Oakland BART station. It commemorates musicians who performed here in that heyday and, in a play for relevance, some who came after: Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, homegrown talents the Pointer Sisters, and MC Hammer(!). We paused outside a Victorian where, Dphrepaulezz said, he almost died during a wayward drug deal 30 years ago. The house had fresh paint, new Andersen windows, and blossoming bougainvillea. “Even the flowers are hustling,” he said. This neighborhood, long predominantly black and poor, is convenient—a one-stop, sevenminute BART ride from San Francisco. Lately it has lured white millennials and businesses targeting them. When I passed the two-yearold restaurant 10th & Wood (the menu features “Oakland cuisine,” like pulled pork with coffee-andhoisin sauce on “artisan buns”), all

six people at the sidewalk tables were bearded white men in plaid shirts. Dphrepaulezz has gentrified, too. He married (“my wife’s Japanese— very Oakland”). He grows kale, cauliflower, kabocha squash. Last year, he entered National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk music contest on a whim. From the first bars of his winning entry, “Lost in a Crowd,” which beat nearly 7,000 others, you feel Oakland—gospel hum, bluesy thrum—and hear echoes of past greats. (His first full-length album, The Last Days of Oakland, which focuses on the city’s rebirth, comes out this May.) “Black roots music is part of our story here,” he said. “Our art comes from their struggle. You think of that and you stay humble.”

naughty-looking owl presiding over a parking lot. Its caption: nada es bastante bueno para mi (“Nothing is good enough for me”). And in Jingletown in the southeastern corner, I surveyed one of the biggest murals in the city, Wildin’ Out, an exquisite menagerie covering a 75-by-10-meter warehouse wall. The two-year-old mural was produced by Fuming Guerilla, a nonprofit that facilitates street art. “There’s so much talent in Oakland,” founder Sage Loring told me. “I wanted to help artists put together projects and get them paid.Fuming Guerilla has placed nearly 20

Fourteenth Street is the key

artery connecting West Oakland, Downtown and Lake Merritt. Yet in 2003, when Joyce Gordon opened Downtown’s first black-owned fine-art gallery, “there was nothing here. Well, there was a doughnut shop,” she said. Why Downtown? “Because I’m crazy.” Today, Downtown has half a dozen galleries, adjacent Uptown more than 20. Streets that were desolate when I was a kid now bustle with life. Uptown’s First Fridays— monthly street fairs featuring artists and musicians—can draw 25,000. Yet Gordon, who sits on the city’s Public Art Advisory Committee, worries that her industry isn’t representing, or attracting, all of Oakland. “On First Friday, 90 percent of the people are white and 95 percent of the businesses are white-owned. Do I need somebody to redefine diversity for me? I don’t know what to do.” The demographics probably reverse in Oakland’s biggest “art gallery,” liminal spaces like parking lots and underpasses that display some of America’s best street art. These pieces colorfully channel Oakland’s past and its hopes for the future, and are created by artists who might struggle to reach First Fridays’ crowds. A block from Gordon’s gallery, on Harrison Street, I fell in love with a

what’s organic to the community. In 2014, he opened E.M. Wolfman General Interest Small Bookstore, Downtown’s first new indie bookshop in years. “I don’t want to be this super-cute curated space that caters to white art kids,” Carder said. Though it is a super-cute, art-kidfriendly space, with reclaimed wood and Iliad quotes, his products reflect attention to Oakland’s diversity. He publishes zines and prints from local artists such as the all-female, all-minority Black Salt Collective. He grabbed the book Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas, about an Oakland designer whose work ran in the Black Panther Party’s newspaper. “Everyone should read this,” he said. “Everyone.”

In 2010, Commis, which serves

“even the flowers are hustling” projects. Some are by well-known graffiti writers like Vogue, Griffin One and Ernest Doty, who created Wildin’ Out. Others are educational: for 99 Dragons—99 beasts enlivening Chinatown—artists Doctor Dragon and Anderson Gin worked with local youth. One of Oakland’s most prominent murals—a woman holding a dove, on the 1914 Cathedral Building—was commissioned in 2014 for the United Nations’ 70th anniversary. The artist: Zio Ziegler, whose parents founded Banana Republic. He lives in Marin County. Several people mentioned this to me unbidden, with questions: Why an outsider? Isn’t what we have here good enough? Two blocks away, Justin Carder wrestles constantly with questions of

only a US$125-per-person tasting menu, won Oakland’s first-ever Michelin star. The restaurant now has two, thanks to Thailandborn, Oakland-raised, El Bulli– trained chef James Syhabout’s revelatory food; no amusebouche has ever wowed me like Commis’s financier—corn bread elevated to heavenly heights. With 20 percent of the populace living in poverty, equally noteworthy is that since Commis opened, Oakland has welcomed more—and more affordable— restaurants that reflect its diversity. Fusebox offers modern Korean cuisine amid West Oakland’s warehouses. At Belly, Alice Woo and Alan Chun’s casual Uptown spot, kimchi and sambal invigorate the tacos. Chef Malong Pendar’s Taste of Africa, in East Oakland, could be the country’s best Cameroonian kitchen. My favorite: Cosecha, Dominica Rice-Cisneros’s modern-Mexican counter-service joint. One of a crop of Oakland restaurants opened by chefs who trained at Alice Waters’s Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Cosecha anchors Swan’s Market, a busy food hall on Downtown’s south side. Rice-Cisneros’s profoundly flavorful cuisine features extremely local produce; when possible, the epazote in her mole comes from urban-agriculture educator and

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

101

writer Novella Carpenter’s tiny Oakland farm. Tacos run US$3.65 apiece. The crowd was diverse: black, white, Latino, Asian. One afternoon, Chicana artist Natalia Anciso and I wandered Fruitvale, a neighborhood that may be most famous because of the 2013 film Fruitvale Station, which dramatized the killing of a young man, Oscar Grant III, by transit cops. Anciso, who mentors at youth centers in largely Chicano East Oakland, earned a master’s degree from Berkeley last year. She noted that many Berkeley students have discovered Fruitvale’s cuisine— especially the Tacos Sinaloa trucks. “You’ll see lots of hipsters. It’s great they’re providing business. But how do they respect the community beyond saying, ‘Hey, this is a good place with good tacos!’ ” New residents and investment may be changing North and West Oakland quickly, but less transformation has reached South and East. While crime has dropped, Anciso and her schooladministrator husband have lost several students to shootings. The heartbreak spurred their move to safer Jack London Square. How’s her new neighborhood? “Boring,” she admitted, with both relief and guilt. In Fruitvale, we passed an elderly Chinese woman selling knickknacks, an Ethiopian Orthodox priest whose blue robes swept the surface of his church’s parking lot, Chicano boys doing chores. Oh, and tacos: Anciso says the ladies at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church make the best, selling them after Mass to raise money for the parish. But it’s not Sunday, so we settle for Anciso’s everyday favorites, the tacos al pastor, at Taqueria El Grullo.

Early one evening, I drove into

the Mountain View Cemetery—a prime spot to watch the sun set over San Francisco Bay. (Local secret: though closing time is 7:30 p.m., the cemetery’s automated gates will still let you out after hours.) Accepting residents since 1863, the 90-hectare cemetery is diverse. It’s the permanent home of five former California governors and other Golden State giants: names like

102

Justin Carder, owner of E.M. Wolfman Bookstore.

Kaiser, Ghirardelli, Stanford. In one corner is the Strangers’ Plot. Hundreds were buried in this redwood-shaded field between 1863 and 1914: poor people; people who committed suicide; Chinese people who, because of laws prohibiting immigration, died alone, since their families couldn’t join them. The man who chose the cemetery’s cypresses and cedars was Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of some of the greatest U.S. parks. I saw how the

living use this land: moms jogged, couples walked dogs. Near the top of the cemetery, I stood in the cool dusk. The sky looked like a slo-mo lava lamp, oranges, blues and pinks. Driving downhill post-sunset, I felt at peace—until I spotted a white hearse, its back open. Two people, picnicking in full zombie makeup, stared out at me. But it was not Halloween. In the gloaming, I couldn’t see what they were eating. I stepped on the gas and the hearse disappeared in the rearview mirror. Later, thinking of the zombies, I returned to the question of what’s real in Oakland. “Real” can be code for “familiar.” Change, the unfamiliar, can be jarring, even threatening. But it also keeps a city, this city, dynamic and alive to different forms of beauty. Today’s Oakland isn’t the one I knew as a child. In many ways, that’s wonderful. But it’s also incumbent on recent arrivals to acknowledge the past. “Let’s love all of Oakland, even the parts of it you may fear,” Dphrepaulezz had said to me. “That’s what makes it cool. That’s Oakland, baby.”

The details HOTELS Claremont Club & Spa, a Fairmont Hotel A recently renovated, century-old, hillside grande dame near the Oakland-Berkeley border. Berkeley; fairmont.com; doubles from US$239. Waterfront Hotel These nautical-themed rooms sit on Jack London Square and overlook the harbor and marina. jdvhotels.com; doubles from US$169. RESTAUR ANTS Belly Try the Asian-style fusion tacos featuring ingredients like kimchi and sambal. bellyuptown.com; tacos from US$3.75. Commis Chef James Syhabout serves inventive, ambitious Californian cuisine at this Michelin- starred restaurant. commis restaurant.com; tasting menu US$125. Cosecha A blend of Californian and Mexican cuisine is on the plate at chef Dominica RiceCisneros’s celebrated counter in Swan’s Market. cosechacafe.com; mains US$13-$15. Doughnut Dolly Hand-rolled doughnuts are filled to order with small-batch jams, bourbon caramel, house-made vanilla crème fraîche and more. doughnutdolly.com. Fusebox The friendly service and KoreanAmerican fare soften West Oakland’s

April 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

hard-edged industrial vibe. fuseboxoakland. com; small plates US$2.50-$12.50. Taqueria El Grullo A local favorite serving authentic, no-nonsense tacos, tortas and pozole. 2630 Foothill Blvd.; 1-510/261-6091; tacos from US$2. SHOPS & SIGHTS Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive A former Art Deco factory is now a new US$120-million home for this beloved East Bay institution. bampfa.berkeley.edu. Cathedral of Christ the Light The newest Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States—designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill—has an unusual façade and a stunning, luminous interior. ctlcathedral.org. E.M. Wolfman Bookstore Pocket-size shop carrying the latest best sellers as well as zines and small-run editions by local artists and writers. wolfmanhomerepair.com. Joyce Gordon Gallery Downtown Oakland’s first black-owned fine-art gallery displays pieces that reflect the diversity of the Bay Area. joycegordongallery.com. Oakland Museum of California A fascinating collection of Golden State-focused art, history and science in a 28,000-square-meter Midcentury Modern structure. museumca.org.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

TO OUR DIGITAL EDITION 1 year / 12 issues for US$29.99. Available at www.zinio.com/TravelandLeisureAsia

S o much o f Uk r aineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s p as t is m ar ked b y t he s c ar s o f w ar and l o s s, y e t i t s c api t al h as per s e v er ed despi t e such ad v er si t y. A nd no w, e v en as ne w t ensions t ake hol d in t he f or mer S o v ie t r egion, K ie v r em ains a co smopoli t an ci t y w i t h a s t r ong cult ur e, a s t r i v ing popul ace, and an indelibl e...

Khreshchatyk, the main boulevard of Kiev.

104â&#x20AC;&#x201E;

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

Spirit of

Hope

By Ga ry Sh t e y nga rt Pho t ogr a phed by A mbroise T Ã© zen as

At the new downtown bar Budu Pozhe.

Kiev l e a v e s t h e m i n d reeling. Perhaps no other city except Havana is as torn between its past and its future, with the present but an afterthought. If in Havana you drown your despair in sunlight and song, in Kiev you squeeze it down into a shot glass of vodka, or horilka, as it is known here, and then you talk about the Russian troops massing on the border, and about the flamboyant corruption of the local politicians, and then, despite it all, you find yourself laughing into the night. A graceful city stashed amid the full catalogue of 20th- and 21st-century horror, Kiev has pockets of cool and hip, and entire valleys of grief and insanity. Yes, Chernobyl is just a two-hour drive north. Yes, Russianbacked forces (and actual Russians) are currently occupying parts of the country’s east and the Crimean peninsula. Yes, one of the city’s best new attractions is the over-the-top suburban palace of the deposed ex-president of Ukraine, complete with an ostrich farm and a Tibetan-mastiff breeding center. Yes, Babi Yar, the ravine in which up to 150,000 Jews and other inhabitants of the city were shot to death in World War II, is to be found here, and yes, there is also a memorial commemorating the millions of Ukrainians who were starved to death during Stalin’s bloody rule. And, yes, yes, yes, despite all of that, and perhaps because of it, you should still go. Now. Because the true measure of a city isn’t what scoundrels do to it, but how the locals survive their plight. Kiev muddles through with verve and spunk and something not unlike joy. Its coat of arms could well be a pair of shoulders shrugging. Being driven into Kiev, I can tell something is different from my usual jaunts to the former Soviet Union. My cabbie isn’t complaining about Tajiks being lazy, Chechens violent, Jews arrogant, or Georgian youths partying too loudly in this building’s courtyard—the usual racist babble. Although, according to the talk show on the taxi’s radio, there is a lot to complain about. The hryvnia, the local

currency, is down 60 percent for the year and inflation is up by 50 percent, the result of the nightmarish Moscow-directed civil war in Donetsk and Luhansk to the east, a conflict that has hit a stalemate by the time of my visit. And, more impressive, almost every single billboard running into the city has been commandeered for the upcoming local elections. It would appear that half of Kiev’s population is running for mayor. There’s the Party of Simple Folks; the Dill Party, which promises “concrete results;” a cartoon rhinoceros who promises “reform”; and the party of the current president, Poroshenko, promising nothing less than “peace.” If I could vote, I’d probably cast it for the “free Wi-Fi” party. Throughout my stay I will be told how many of the candidates are in the pockets of corrupt oligarchs (et tu, Dill Party?), but the cacophony of democracy is still impressive, louder and more urgent than anything you will find in the European Union, to which Ukraine desperately aspires to belong. After being in Kiev for 40 minutes, I feel oddly safe and free.

That night, I have dinner with Masha Gessen, the popular

Moscow-born writer and commentator who is visiting Kiev for a conference. “Ukrainians actually like their food,” Gessen says. She’s suggested Lyubimy Dyadya, or Favorite Uncle, which just might offer the best meal to be had in Kiev these days. The place is bizarrely uncluttered despite the presence of Buddhas, motor scooters, electric fireplaces, and the stylish Westernized couples who love them. The menu can be coy—there’s an “almost-Thai salad”—but the cuisine hits the mark with a kind of Egyptian-Israeli-IraqiUkrainian-Jewish bent that might spell disaster anywhere but here. The traditional Jewish appetizer of forshmak, a salty, heavenly mix of chopped herring and onion, presented with egg and cucumber, sits next to salo, the Ukrainian version of lard, served with smoky mustard and marinated onion. A quick word on salo: cruder but more assertive than, say, a timid dash of Italian lardo di colonnata, salo is indeed the spirit of a nation, the means by which a Ukrainian peasant communes with her pig. It is also bacon’s cooler Eastern European cousin; you can’t chase shots of horilka with bacon, right? Talk naturally falls to the topic du jour—which country will Putin invade next? Gessen’s take: “He lost in Ukraine and is losing in Syria, so Estonia’s next.” Having put that issue to rest, we order dessert. Nostalgia triumphs and we go for the Kiev torte, a dry Soviet creation that has haunted me throughout many family occasions. Originally invented by Kiev’s Karl Marx Confectionery Factory in the 1950s, the torte is a sad testament to how the combination of t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

107

A view of the ghost town Pripyat, in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, from the abandoned Polissya Hotel. opposite: Sunday mass at the Refectory Church, which is part of Kiev’s historic Monastery of the Caves.

hazelnuts, meringue, chocolate and sweet buttercream can actually be used in the service of evil. At Favorite Uncle, however, it’s a masterpiece: light and lovely, and easy on all the ingredients, most of all the cardboard meringue that can make finishing one the equivalent of some mad diabetic half-marathon. “Kiev has always been a better eating city than Moscow,” Gessen says, and although these are politically charged words, I agree completely.

The next day, following

Gessen’s advice, I get a bottle of nalivka, a thick-bodied western Ukrainian liqueur. My favorite flavor is honey, sweet enough to wash away any brand of local despair save for the heartache of first love. Armed with a handy bottle of forgetting, I’m ready to tackle the city. The wide Khreshchatyk Boulevard is the spinal column of Kiev, an outrageous Neoclassical wonderland filled with midrange labels like Zara and Mango sprouting beneath gigantic Stalin-era arches and courtyards. Its emotional heart lies on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), home to the major protests against the 21st-century oligarchs trying to run Ukraine into the ground, including the deadly Euromaidan uprisings of 2013 and 2014 that saw the ouster of the hilariously corrupt, pro-Russian president

108

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

Viktor Yanukovych. The square, hemmed in by monumental Stalinist buildings, as thick and puffed-up as the Generalissimo’s whiskers, is actually above two cavernous underground malls. The Euromaidan—so named because of Ukraine’s desire to float out of Russia’s orbit and into Europe’s—may have been the first revolution staged atop a Tommy Hilfiger. The Maidan is today a place of celebration and sorrow, with billboards glorifying Ukraine, and memorials to the “Heavenly Hundred” who died during clashes with Yanukovych’s armed minions. The mood is somber, babushkas crying over photos of fallen computer programmers, economists and welders, while easels show the ragtag forces battling the Russian-backed insurgents in the east. That honey liqueur is coming in handy already. But now it’s time to move on to the hard stuff. I meet up with my friend Yulia McGuffie (a Kiev native; she married a Scotsman) and we decide to do something very Kiev, just stroll

around eating salo and doing a shot or three. McGuffie turned 40 a few weeks ago, and celebrated with an epic bacchanal. She used to be the editor of a prominent online news magazine whose owner turned up on an Interpol list after Euromaidan. Now she cohosts an Internet radio show and tends bar at Alchemist, one of the best in town. We walk up the busy Khreshchatyk, passing grandmothers selling rolls of toilet paper with Putin’s likeness captioned by the nickname his opponents use for him (it references the male genitalia) to the Besarabasky market, an Art Nouveau hangar brimming with flowers, fruit and endless cries of “Caviar!”—mostly of the contraband variety. We stroll past the Peizazhna Aleia and take note of the fact that half the hatchbacks in the city have been repurposed to sell espresso. We also note a vehicle shaped like a snail. As counterintuitive as it sounds, Kiev reminds me of Portland, Oregon. There’s just a whiff of the unconsciously strange here; snails

dispensing lattes, but also shops with names like Bowties Are Cool and brass bands playing Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita.” The corrupt police force has recently been reformed and now all the young, cute cops in the city center seem to be driving Priuses. “It’s trendy to take selfies with them,” McGuffie says. “It’s the new Ukraine.” There’s nothing hip about the Andriyivskyy Descent, the city’s most touristy street, winding down from St. Andrew’s Church to the Podil neighborhood, but lovers of borscht, the beet soup at the heart of Ukrainian cuisine, must stop at Kanapa. We order 50 grams of horilka to get warm, and another 50 grams to keep warm. The borscht is of the highest order, incredibly sweet, studded with little chunks of fried pig’s ears, prunes and smoked pear. It is served with a fearsome hunk of garlic challah—pig’s ears aside, the line between Ukrainian and Jewish cuisine can at times feel imaginary. Back in the upper portion of the city, we stop by St. Sophia’s Cathedral, the most beautiful church in Kiev. Built during the 11th century and named after Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, the cathedral feels like a more humane version of its storied parent. At 4 p.m. on a cold autumn day, its mosaics and frescoes glow warm and transcendent, needing shelter in a stormy part of the world. As the sun sets, we drink in earnest. Yes, there’s a financial crisis on, but you wouldn’t know it by the profusion of up-to-the-minute

bars in the city. The style is the kind of speakeasy chic pioneered by the late New York cocktail revolutionary Sasha Petraske—think meticulously made drinks and leather aprons. Most of the bars are a brick’s throw away from the Khreshchatyk: Alchemist is where bartenders sporting topknots lovingly concoct negronis. Nearby is Budu Pozhe, whose founder, Dima Gavrysh, spent years in New York and Portland. “When I saw what was happening on the Maidan, I had to move back,” he tells me, thrusting into my hands an elderberry-and-gin drink that has yet to be named. There are many men and women in interesting sweaters around me. Gavrysh is careful about curating his clientele. He doesn’t want corrupt older

biznesmen and women with footwear that suggest the possibility of amorous relations with such men. Indeed, the absence of these high-heeled, two-and-a-half-meter-tall creatures makes Budu Pozhe feel like the antithesis of a post-Soviet night out.

In the morning, I take a trip to

Chernobyl with a motley collection of disaster enthusiasts. We are helpfully told not to eat the dirt in the

The Rodina Mat, or Motherland Monument, which stands over 70 meters tall and was erected by the Soviets. opposite: Inside St. Sophia’s Cathedral.

50-kilometer Exclusion Zone, and that while there are no bathrooms, we can “use bushes, trees, or abandoned buildings to pee.” Leaving Kiev we see the other Ukraine, the one with a rusted fishing trawler in the middle of a sandy field, and young beauties by the side of the road, their calves glistening in the sun, waiting for the bus or something more lucrative. Several days before the trip, Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian writer, won the Nobel Prize for literature in part because of her

masterful accounting of the nuclear disaster, Voices from Chernobyl. “The Zone pulls you in,” a hunter relates to her. “You miss it, I tell you. Once you’ve been there, you’ll miss it.” And he’s right. The Exclusion Zone, which includes both the village of Chernobyl and the town of Pripyat, is one of the most fascinating places I’ve ever visited. Surrounded by carpets of pine, filled with vibrant fauna—no, you will never encounter that fabled three-headed fox, because it doesn’t exist, but you will see Japanese tour groups playing with stray puppies—Chernobyl dares to pose the most irreverent question: Will the world be a better place once human beings leave it alone? The Zone’s plentiful boars, moose and wild horses seem to think so. In a sense, the Zone is a monument to the failures of the Soviet Union. One of the attractions is the enormous “Russian Woodpecker” radar structure, designed to spot missile launches from North America moments after they would take place, and reportedly costing more than the Chernobyl power station itself. In typical Soviet fashion, it never really worked. You can actually climb the first two stories and marvel at the podlike signal receivers that never got a chance to predict a nuclear attack, much less the disaster that unfolded only a few kilometers away. The blown reactor itself stands beneath a temporary Soviet sarcophagus; a new European-made one is being prepared to roll over the old one using a set of railroad tracks. “Time for some radiation exposure!” our feisty local guide says as our bus pulls up. Right in front of the reactor, my dosimeter is showing traces of radiation about 16 times the recommended dosage—at one of the hot spots near an abandoned kindergarten I clocked 48 times normal— but this is still considered safe for limited amounts of time. And there it is: a gray wreck of cement with that iconic red-andwhite ventilation stack. It’s hard to know what to feel when confronted with a wretched piece of machinery that nearly took out half of Europe. Bored-looking cops smoke to the side. But the most interesting part of the trip is the abandoned town of Pripyat, once home to 50,000 citizens and today a time capsule of Soviet life and Soviet death. One lane of Lenin Street, the main thoroughfare, has been taken over by jungle-like foliage, and the sign dominating the ruins of the main square reads let the atom be a worker, not a soldier, a Soviet slogan supporting peaceful use of nuclear energy. Think of Pripyat as a far-better-preserved Pompeii. You look for the little details of past habitation, of lives uprooted and torn. A supermarket with aisles of beer and juices testifies to how privileged “nuclear cities” like Pripyat used to be compared with ordinary Soviet burgs where you stood in line for hours for inedible sausage. There’s a massive swimming pool that left me speechless. Until 1996, the so-called Liquidators, the brave workers who cleaned up Chernobyl and prevented a much larger catastrophe from unfolding, took swimming breaks here after their grueling and dangerous rounds at the reactor. But nothing is sadder than School Number Three, its cafeteria littered with children’s gas masks. They were supposed to be used in case of nuclear attack by the United States, but when the reactor next door exploded, the children were not instructed to use them, with devastating consequences. The authorities didn’t want to cause a panic. When you leave, you go through two full-body radiation scans at the 30-kilometer and 10-kilometer checkpoints. The results are either “clean” or “dirty.” I test clean, but a part of me knows the hunter is right. I will miss this place, with its chirping birds and t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

111

gurgling brooks carved out of a landscape of death. Chernobyl is proof of how beautiful nature can be when it reclaims our mistakes.

Mezhyhirya, the estate of the deposed president Viktor

Yanukovych, tells the story of what happened next. Located less than an hour outside Kiev, it occupies 140 hectares on the banks of the Kiev Reservoir. In all its gaudiness and megalomania, one may think of it as a contemporary Versailles. I am fortunate to be the guest of Denis Tarahkotelyk, a burly former philosopher and businessman who is now the “People’s Commandant” of Mezhyhirya. Once Yanukovych fled for Russia, it was Tarahkotelyk and others who convinced more-radical members of the Euromaidan movement to save it as, in his words, “a monument to corruption.” Today the estate, filled with ostrich and goat farms and greenhouses, is run as a business and a museum. “The antelopes are having so many kids, we’re building extra sheds for them!” Tarahkotelyk says as we tool around in his Volvo station wagon, listening to Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” When I ask him to which branch of the government the estate now belongs, Tarahkotelyk says: “It belongs to the people.” The main house feels like Carmela Soprano’s hot, fevered dream. Canaries sing from their gilded cages. Lalique glass tables worth US$150,000 dot the parlors and antechambers. There are tanning booths and a salt cave, an oxygen bath and a helipad, not to mention the hall of Tibetan and English mastiffs and a restaurant in the form of a large galleon ship. (To give a small measure of respect to the deposed leader’s taste, the floors do feature some amazing Ukrainian woodwork.) But perhaps the most symbolic part of the estate is the bowling alley, where the porcine leader placed a photo of himself in a shaft wearing a miner’s outfit—mining is one of Ukraine’s most dangerous occupations—grinning so that his guests could get a nice laugh contrasting the leader to his subjects. For Tarahkotelyk, the true purpose of Mezhyhirya is “to give our children a vaccination against slavishness.”

“We’ve had a good

collection of tragedies,” Andrey Kurkov, Ukraine’s preeminent writer, best known for his mordant Penguin novels, tells me over dinner. “We’ve had twenty-four years of crisis.”

We pass gr andmo t her s selling r olls of t oile t paper w it h Put in’s likeness We’re dining at La Cantina, a charming Italianish restaurant on the equally charming Yaroslaviv Val, one of the pleasant Art Nouveau–dotted streets that lends Kiev a delicate, Prague-like air. Since the conflict with Russia began, Kurkov’s works have been banned in that country because of his proUkraine stance (he is an ethnic Russian and is fluent in both languages). As we talk, two giant pieces of juicy beef sizzle away on hot rocks. We flip over our steaks and slap on pats of butter and creamy Gorgonzola sauce. Kurkov’s books are available in dozens of languages, and he spends half of his year giving readings in places as far flung as Beijing and Cape Town. But this stretch of leafy Kiev remains his home, and as we dine, his two lovely boys, ages 12 and 16, are in his apartment just around the corner, silently watching Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in English. “Ukraine is Russia’s last hope,” he says, raising a glass of Montepulciano to two countries forever intertwined in a part of the world that could use fewer tragedies and more of Kiev’s laughter and bonhomie.

The details hotel Eleven Mirrors Design Hotel Situated in the heart of Kiev, this independent, 49-room hotel is steeped in contemporary design. 11mirrors-hotel.com; doubles from HRN6,785. restaur ants & bars Alchemist A trendy haunt where bartenders wear leather aprons while live music plays. 12 Shota Rustaveli Vul.; 380-96/008-7070. Budu Pozhe After a stint as a contributor for the New York Times, Kiev native Dima Gavrysh returned home to participate in the thriving nightlife scene in the

112

city center. 6/2 Krutyi Uzviz; 380-67/508-9156. Favorite Uncle The eclectic menu is perfectly echoed by the hodgepodge of international collectibles throughout the space. 20 Pankivska Vul.; mains HRN55-300. Kanapa Restaurateur Dima Borisov is tapping into longstanding Ukrainian culinary tradition with dishes like borscht with fried pig’s ears. borisov.com. ua; mains HRN110-490. La Cantina Watch your meat and seafood sizzle on a hot stone before pairing it with one of the bar's European wines. la-cantina.

april 2016 / t r av el andleisure asia .com

com.ua; mains HRN80-220. Parovoz Named for the Ukrainian word for locomotive, this “speakeasy” is located downstairs from an old Soviet cinema. 19 V. Vasylkivska Vul.; 380-67/949-8828. Sights Besarabsky Market Vibrant flowers and the smell of smoked meat fill the market as patrons sift through produce, cheese and honey. 2 Bessarabska Ploshcha. Chernobyl Several operators, including Solo East Travel (tourkiev.com), offer guided tours of the site.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti The city’s main square has served as a place for political rallies and protests, including the deadly Euromaidan demonstrations in 2013 and 2014. Mezhyhirya The house of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, on the outskirts of Kiev, has been a museum since 2014, after it was returned to public ownership. Novi Petrivtsi. St. Sophia’s Cathedral The 11th-century marvel was built during the reign of the Great Prince of Kiev and is a unesco World Heritage site. n.sophiakievska.org.

LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CONNECT

WWW.TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

@TRAVLEISUREASIA

TRAVELLEISUREASIA

@TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA

place luang pr abang

Sinh City

By R achna Sachasinh

For centuries, this unbearably picturesque hamlet luxuriated in the royal patronage and homegrown ingenuity that combined to make it Laos’s cultural capital. On a sliver of land along the banks of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, the gilded spires and dramatic murals of the many temples, the classic Buddhist and French colonial architecture and an easy-going café culture are at once an artistic muse and an ideal backdrop for reverie. Now, in a quiet revival in line with the town’s sleepy-cool persona, a new generation is tweaking the town’s craft, culinary and creative scene while keeping faithful to its heritage charm.

UNESCO-protected Luang Prabang.

Gecko, Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre.

Handmade screen-prints, Passa Paa.

Shop Like a Local

Ask an Insider Vanida Viphavady

Luang Prabang Artisans Café.

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p l e f t: c o u r t e s y o f Pa s s a Pa a ; c o u r t e s y o f L u a n g p R a b a n g Ar t i s a n s C a f É ; c o u r t e s y o f Tr a d i t i o n a l Ar t s & E t h n o l o g y C e n t r e ; r achna sachasinh (2); courtesy of Ock Pop Tok . opposite: John Quintero/ge t t yimages

The sinh—the iconic national dress—cuts a demure silhouette (think classic pencil skirt), but the latest incarnations are not afraid to get cheeky. In the past, the patterns and motifs woven into the sinhs served as an artistic and folkloric historical record. A spending spree in this town today will be built on the sinh’s present role as design springboard for everything from hip accessories to modern home accoutrements. At imaginative Passa Paa, Heather Smith’s graphic, screen-printed, poetic patterns merge London cool with Luang Prabang craft. Hemp and leather cross-body bags and matching head scarves come in sensuous magentas, inky blues and banana-leaf greens. Screen-printed artworks on wood and canvas are new additions, as are stacks of mix-and-match table linens. Duck into the studio below the shop to see Smith and her talented staff at work. passa-paa.com; accessories from US$12. Head to Ban Vat Sene for Ock Pop Tok’s updated heritage collection and enjoy a Silk Road-inspired lunch and espresso drinks in the newly installed garden café. The pioneering social enterprise celebrates its 15th year with a star-studded ensemble of silk stoles, organza wall hangings and ornate table runners. ockpoptok.com; products from LAK120,000, lunch and coffee for two from LAK160,000.

The sinh gets a savvy makeover at the Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre. Corseted and buttoned up versions accentuate the rear, and work equally well with stilettos or sneakers. Peruse the museum-cum-boutique’s exquisite trove of updated styles or have one made to order. taeclaos.org; bespoke tailoring from LAK110,000, fabrics from LAK300,000. Gentlemen are going to want to update their wardrobes at Ma Té Sai, where skinny ties and handsome caps cut from handwoven indigo sinhs marry artisan and bespoke surprisingly well. For women, it’s all about billowy indigo tops, skirts, shawls and hoodies. matesai.com; clothing from LAK120,000. The pha aap (lively checked bath sarongs) and Tai Lue ethnic sinhs are the jumping points for a contemporary home collection at Luang Prabang Artisans Café. The soft bath linens come in

naturally dyed terracotta brown, pale pink and yellows. Above the shop, an old wooden house teetering on stilts is adorned with gorgeous antique silver and textiles. In the courtyard, a tropical repast of iced rosella tea and Lao-style larb pla (minced fish salad) is served under dappled shade of tamarind and banana trees. luangprabangartisanscafe. com; bath sets from LAK120,000, lunch for two from LAK90,000.

Ock Pop Tok.

Tips from a style maven

The owner of Chithanh Minimart may be the local goto for epicurean imports, but shopping local keeps her looking worldly. For classic sinh styles, try Dara Market (Kingkitsarath Road, Ban Khamyong). “Every now and then, you get a great bargain.” Accessorize with loot from Naga Creations (Sisavangvong Road); they make silver pendants embedded with Oma and Hmong embroidery.

Haute Relics Pillows at Asiama Textiles.

Pattana Boupha’s eponymous shop harbors some of the last vestments of Luang Prabang’s royal court, as much as three-century-old relics collected by his great-grandfather, an imperial minister. Engraved silver drums and filigree jewelry from far corners of the Lan Xang kingdom are a testament to the skill of Lao silversmiths, while old sinhs, wedding blankets and window panels archive the distinctive styles of Laos’s diverse ethnic milieu. Chao Xomphmu, 26/2 Ban Visoun; silver sold by weight, sinhs from LAK700,000. + At Asiama Textiles, the meticulously curated collection reads like a cultural anthology. Antique, museum-quality pieces sit alongside newer selections of Lao, Burmese, Indonesian and Indian textiles. asiama.fr; from LAK150,000. + Nouan’s Antique Shop is a tousled bodega worth elbowing into. A policewoman by day, Nouan’s moxie and sharp detective work have led her to the country’s prize vintage finds. Natural handwoven cotton fabric in alluring indigo shades and stripes are sold by the meter. Ban Vat Nong, Sisavangvattana Road; fabrics from LAK50,000 per meter.

t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a p r i l 2 0 1 6

115

/ place /

luang

prabang

Where to Eat

The Gastronome Yannick Upravan

From termites to tiramisu to teas from old trees, the eateries in this town dish up something special. Home Plate

At Manda de Laos, doyenne Toune Sisouphanthavong sought out Frederick Meyer of Bangkok’s famed Issaya Siamese Club to help spiff up her Mama Phiew’s traditional kitchen recipes. The humble Lao fare like mok pa (fish steamed in banana leaf) hovers somewhere between soul food and culinary art. The French legacy is in the refined wine list, a sublime riz au lait, and “Baba Maknut”—a pineapple flambé doused with lao-lao, a local rice whiskey. Lotus ponds, trusses of bougainvillaea and starlight make this eatery one of town’s most atmospheric. mandadelaos.com; meal for two from LAK300,000.

Botanical Tasting bounties

“Insect is food,” Blue Lagoon chef Somsack Sengta says, plating grasshopper tagliatelle in creamy dill sauce. Spätzle and risottos simmer in sauces with flying termites and bamboo worms; caviar and truffle help wash it all down. blue-lagoon-cafe.com; set menu with wine for two from LAK160,000. + Indigenous flowers, herbs and spices are pureed and whipped into a vegan feast at L’Elephant Vert. Turmeric and bee pollen aperitifs start things off, followed by earthy greens and nutty curries. Dessert? Fruit sorbets and cacao. elephant-restau. com; set menus from LAK120,000.

Tea & Toddies

Erudite Asian teas are fêted in an airy atelier above Le Café Ban Vat Sene. Sip rare varietals from Ippodo and Yunnan, along with native Paksong and Phongsaly teas, the latter from 400-year old trees. elephantrestau.com/cafebanvatsene. + Burasari Heritage’s riverside lounge has vintage scotch, topshelf cigars, and a dapper postprandial lounge on the banks of the Nam Khan. burasari heritage.com. + Londoner Andrew Sykes’s 525 endows the town’s nightlife with an urbane sensibility, replete with smart cocktails and eclectic tapas. Inside, the handsome banquettes are nostalgic for the clandestine speakeasies of uptown Manhattan, while garden benches and fire pits in tropical foliage evoke the aura of languid, gin-sipping Indochine. 525.rocks.

116

a p r i l 2 0 1 6 / t r a v e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

La Dolce Vita

Andrea Cassinis and Phoutsady “Lee” Vangsengxiong’s Secret Pizza opens thrice weekly in their home garden. Milanese Cassinis mans the oven; Lee makes ravioli and tiramisu. secret-pizza5.web node.it; pizzas from LAK60,000. + Piedmont and Lombardy flavor La Rosa. Think seared scallops with pumpkin cream and truffles. 40 Khoun Xoua Rd., Ban Vat Nong; sets from LAK69,000. + Punk meets palazzo at La Silapa, with cannoli, cocktails, eclectic tunes and a beat-up 1959 Fiat. lasilapa. com; pizzas from LAK64,000.

“Pop-ups were happening in Laos long before they became trendy,” chuckles the cofounder and culinary director of L’Elephant Restaurant. Though he cooks in brick and mortar, stands are where he loves to eat. “For classic khao piak, a hearty Lao chicken noodle soup, Mrs. Teud sets up opposite Dara Market from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. [LAK8,000 per bowl]. The road to Vat Manorom is full of aunties who sell authentic Lao-Vietnamese pho outside their houses [LAK15,000 per bowl]. Sin Dat Lao, our version of sukiyaki, is great fun to eat with friends. Look for the ones along Nam Khan promenade [dinner for two LAK60,000].”

Taste of History

Lao mythical creatures and folk heroes come to life at Garavek (garavek.com; LAK50,000 per person). The two-man show is headlined by Siphai Thammavong, a gifted orator, and Keo Udon on the khene, a mellifluous reed instrument . + Before Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack released King Kong, they made Chang, a silent movie about the perils of life in the Lao-Isan jungle, circa 1920s. Shot in the archaic Magnascope format, the film was thought lost until the last remaining copy was found in a warehouse near Paris. Cinema Tuk-Tuk (cinema-tuktuk.org) hosts two daily screenings of this Oscar-nominated classic. Garavek.

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f m a n d a d e l a o s ; c o u r t e s y o f ya nn i c k u p r ava n ; c o u r t e s y o f G a r av e k ; c o u r t e s y o f L e C a fé B a n Vat S e n e ; c o u r t e s y o f b l u e l a g o o n ; c o u r t e s y o f L a R o s a

the

Maison Dalabua.

Where to Sleep

c l o c k w i s e fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f m a i s o n D a l a b u a ; c o u r t e s y o f S o f i t e l L u a n g Pr a b a n g . I l l u s t r at i o n b y a u t c h a r a pa n p h a i

The petite town is big on personality, with more than 30 villages or ban, each with its own temperament. Bunk in charismatic, eminently walkable Old Town with its gilded temples, classic Lao wooden homes, colonial-era bungalows and no shortage of superb French bakeries. Stroll past shophouses peddling homemade sticky rice, fishing nets and baskets, and get a feel for local living in a boutique pensión tucked in a residential enclave. Or, settle into a bespoke riverside villa and watch traditional fishing boats skim the mighty Mekong.

Sofitel Luang Prabang.

Sofitel Luang Prabang imbues the former French governor’s mansion with winsome joie de vivre, pairing heritage architecture and French élan seamlessly. The ultra-luxe resort in residential Ban Manoram receives top marks for its well-kitted spa and personalized sleeping and bathing regimens. A table at the Governor’s Grill surveys the expansive interior courtyard, where steak dinners end with imported cigars and a nightcap. accorhotel.com/9669; doubles from LAK2,010,377. + Serene lotus ponds, cool fountain courtyards and stately teak

along the river

For a close look at traditional village life and hidden forest temples, founder and director of the Luang Prabang Film Festival (lpfilmfest.org) Gabriel Kuperman heads over to Chomphet District. Follow his path. 2. Shimmy up Pha Tad Ke and survey the world heritage scenery on both banks of the Mekong (jeweltravellaos.com offers rock climbing excursions with equipment and lunch, LAK250,000 per person) or meander the woodsy trails at Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden (pha-tad-ke.com, gardens open officially in late 2016).

4. Nibble on sticky rice and ping gai (barbeque chicken on handwhittled skewers) at Ban Xieng Mane village. Climb up 123 steps to Vat Chomphet for unsurpassed views of Luang Prabang from across the river. Inside the temple, the peeling stencils and murals hint at the late-19th century temple’s original grace.

3. Explore the underground kilns at Ban Chan, a traditional pottery village.

quarters give Maison Dalabua an air of colonial grandeur. A former nobleman’s estate amidst the whitewashed Midcentury bungalows of Ban That Luang, the Maison’s lovely spa is ensconced in one of the original wooden houses with ornate doorways painted in gold leaf. maison-dalabua.com; doubles from US$94. + On the peninsula, the Sala Prabang boutique portfolio boasts seven dutifully restored colonial era homes, including the former residence of the first prime minister of Laos. The rooms have a Zen-like sensibility, with earthy lime-washed walls and

hardwood floors dating back 100 years. The main villa’s gorgeous veranda overlooks the broad, placid waters of the Mekong. salalaoboutique.com; doubles from LAK650,000. + A five-minute tuk-tuk ride south of the old city puts you in Ban Saylom, where the riverside Sunset Villa by Burasari gets up close with the Mekong. With only four suites, 24-hour butler service and a stunning, cerulean lap pool, the villa is decked out in handsome teak furniture and handloom textiles. burasariheritage.com; doubles from US$124.

5. View centuries-old murals and walk the meditation hall at Vat Had Siaw.

6. Marvel at the bucolic setting and spectacular stone masonry at Vat Khok Pab.

7. Moor at Had Mak Tang for spicy cucumber salad and refreshing Beer Lao. The island is underwater during the monsoon season.

1. Hire a boat at the main ferry crossing at Tha Heua Luang behind the Royal Palace and make a day of it (private boats K400,000600,000 based on the season, or enlist a local tour company to arrange transport and a guide).

*Alternatively, hike from Ban Xieng Mane village all the way to Vat Khok Pab and have your boat meet you at the end. Hobo Maps (hobomaps.com) provides a detailed map of the hike and environs; available online and at Monument Books in Ban Vat Nong.

wish you were here

Atid Kiattisaksiri / Chiang Mai /

â&#x20AC;&#x2030; â&#x20AC;&#x2030; thailand This month sees the Thai new year celebration of Songkran between April 13 and 15. In the north of the country, firecrackers are set off to repel bad luck on the first day, while the locals prepare food to present to monks the next day. Making merit at a temple involves bathing an image of Buddha, which represents purification and the washing away of sins, but Thais also pour water on the hands of elders, asking for their blessing. A more raucous side of Songkran sees an all-out water festival where no one is immune from the splashing and, in a more modern vein, the water-pistol battles that erupt on closed streets. The festival has another good side to it: April is normally the hottest month of the year, so getting drenched is a welcome diversion.

118â&#x20AC;&#x201E;

April 2016 / tr av el andleisure asia .com