Travel leisure India

A MILENNIAL’S GUIDE TO RIO OLYMPICS

Ooooh! First Look AT THE NEW W SOUND SUITE

OUTRAGEOUSLY OVOLO SYDNEY

WIN A STAY AT MANDARIN ORIENTAL HONG KONG

AUGUST 2016 /

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

LUXURY HOTELS 2016

WENDELL RODERICKS’ SECRETS FROM A GOAN KITCHEN

40+

CHENNAI SICILY YUNNAN

I-Love-India Moments

MUSIC / ART / CRAFT / SPIRITUALITY / FOOD / ‘JUST’

$ 4.50 / SLR 450 / NPR 35 / MVR 60 PKR 30O / BTN 200 / TAKA 350

150

Contents AUGUST 2016

Fe a t u r e s 98

A Dash of Southern Comfort The new InterContinental Hotel and Resort in Mahabalipuram is evocative of the region’s transformation that combines contemporary luxury with old customs and aesthetic. Kalpana Sunder reveals how they do this.

106

The Way They Cook in Sicily Here in southernmost Italy, every dish is infused with love and tradition, reflecting generations of family and centuries of history. Stephanie Danler eats her way across the island, savouring its humble, African-inflected cuisine and soaking up the wisdom of its women.

118

ON THE COVER At InterContinental Chennai.

Photographed by G Venket Ram. Produced by Ragini Singh. Styled by Mahima Shukla. Hair and make-up

by Pinky from Stylesmith. Model Alyona Murashova in a silk-printed maxi dress by Anupamaa, coral and silver necklace by Grassroots

by Anita Dongre; lapiz cuff

by Silverline; grecian sandals

by Christian Louboutin.

The grid-like Nandyavarta painted on the wall, whose layout inspired InterContinental Chennai’s architecture.

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G VENKET RAM

Spirited Away What lies beyond the China of fast-paced cities and hypermodern culture?

Horatio Clare journeys to the rural province of Yunnan, where age-old beliefs and traditions offer a glimpse of the country’s soul.

EXCEPTIONAL EVERYDAY An interactive gourmet destination, Seven Kitchens showcases the drama and showmanship of our specialty Chefs up close. Its live action stations feature made-to-order culinary highlights from across the Orient, Europe and India, and an expansive dessert spread rounds off the buffet.

Soaked in natural light, the restaurant’s vast interiors, private dining room and sectioned bays make it perfect for intimate gatherings of varied sizes. Join us for our spectacular Sunday Brunch or come see why we’re exceptional every day. for reservations, please call 91.22.6162.8422 or e-mail stregismumbai.reservation @stregis.com 462, senapati bapat marg lower parel, mumbai 400013, india stregis.mumbai.com

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D epartments

HERE&NOW

15

The new W Sound Suite in Bali; a milennial’s guide to the Rio Olympics; meet our Instagrammer of the month, Kat Tanita; designer Dhruv Kapur reviews a gadget.

BEYOND 41

Sydney’s Ovolo Woolloomooloo is redefining luxury; 40+ I-Love-India moments; a Montreal vs Toronto guide; Wendell Rodricks on his childhood memory of Tia Rosa.

MADE TO MEASURE

34 28

67 41

Contents

A Turkish Delight A haute jeweller in Turkey and a historical hotel create Istanbul’s most exclusive travel experience. By Riaan Jacob George

THE GUIDE

AUGUST 2016

73

Dublin’s Cool Southside The best thing about Dublin is that you’ll always have something that compliments your travel personality.

By Malavika Bhattacharya

The IT List 2016 79

Each year, only a select few hotel properties earn a place on our It List.

The World’s Best Awards 89

The top cities, hotels, destination spas, as determined by our readers.

In Every Issue 8 Editor’s Note 14 T+L Digital 130 Wish You Were Here

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

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editor’s note | A U G U S T 2 0 1 6

is hereby warned that unless you have this subtle capability, refrain from reading this edit note. I say this because we now live in a country where many take themselves much too seriously and therefore run the risk of landing themselves in the dentist’s chair as a result of gnashing their teeth while reading such pieces.

It’s always good to remember what Simon Wiesenthal said, “Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them.” However if you don’t remember who Simon Wiesenthal was, it might be a good idea to make the most of Google.

Needless to say, and very unimaginatively, every August is our ‘India’ issue. This time, we wanted to evoke a sense of inspired love for the country through a cover story on singularly spectacular moments you can experience at events and locations that offer remarkable examples of our rich heritage of music, dance, film, art, books and more. I must tell you, next year, we’re contemplating making the India issue in January. And I’ll tell you why. We produce the August issue in June-July. I can assure you it is extremely challenging to feel any love for your country during these months as rains turn the roads outside your office into mucky rivers, potholes appear where you could easily fit in a 2BHK flat, typhoid, jaundice and other forms of traumatic stomach ailments knock out half your staff, and generally (while some people find monsoons in India romantic), we just find ourselves in our car stuck in a three-and-a-halfhour jam, cursing that moment when we decided to move back to India.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m hugely patriotic. I didn’t give up my Indian passport/citizenship despite having the option twice in my life.

(When I’m stuck in traffic jams or wasting away mornings at visa offices, or answering silly questions at immigration, I’m reminded of this sheer stupidity). But on the whole, I do love this country. Which is why cover stories like these are so critical. They remind us that despite having to tolerate all the imbeciles who block up a simple left turn, or the aunties who spoon you in queues (there’s no concept of personal space in our country), or men who elbow you aside as they disembark a flight (as if the plane will depart again without letting them off ), it is all totally worth it when you stand on the dunes outside Pushkar and watch the sun set on one side and the moon rise from the other while strains of Langa voices pierce through the twilight. Or, when you’re sitting at a streetside café in Kochi during the biennale, sipping coffee and having a passionate discussion with extraordinary artists and writers like Bose Krishnamachari and Amitav Ghosh. Or, when you’re having a Delhi 6 breakfast on a crisp winter morning, where your eyes are transfixed on that perfectly round and evenly golden bhatura lifted swiftly from its bath of hot oil and placed on your plate, that moment of anticipation of tearing a piece of that, dipping it into choley and popping it into your mouth… Lord, we need to remind ourselves of these simple elevated moments of the extraordinary that can only happen in India.

(PS: Yes, I’m completely aware that I just mentioned Amitav Ghosh, the Langas, and Choley Bhature all in the same paragraph.) Happy reading!

ruchira@emmindia.com @TLRuchira on Twitter @pinterest/ruchirabose

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TRAVEL+LEISURE INDIA & SOUTH ASIA VOL. 9, ISSUE 120

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Hideaway Beach Resort & Spa Boasting the luxury of space and privacy across one of the largest islands in the Maldives, Hideaway Beach Resort & Spa the crescent-shaped Dhonakulhi Island in the north of the Maldives.

The resort offers guests their own private cocoon of space across the island’s expansive 297,000 square meters. Home to the first fully-functional marina in the Maldives, due to its unique reef system, Hideaway Beach Resort & Spa enjoys one of the most desirable locations in the Indian Ocean for exploring the surrounding aquamarine waters.

Characterized by its intimate ambience and remote location, the expansive island resort offers guests ‘a true hideaway’ to relax, rejuvenate and restore their well-being in complete privacy. Set against a beautiful backdrop of coconut groves, pristine white sands and turquoise waters, the island resort provides a tranquil retreat for those in search of an exotic getaway.

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Dhonakulhi Island, Haa Alifu Atoll, Maldives | T. (+960) 650 15 15 | F. (+960) 650 16 16 | reservations@hideawaybeachmaldives.com | www.hideawaybeachmaldives.com

Contributors AUGUST 2016

Peter Bohler PHOTOGRAPHER

Peter Bohler is an LA-based photographer who grew up in New Jersey to Swiss-American parents.

His love for remote destinations has taken him the world over—from Nepal to Arizona, camera in hand— while his work got him featured among PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2015.

He’s worked for leading publicatons that include Afar, Men’s Journal, and The New York Times Magazine.

This issue, he shares photographs of his first trip to rural China, which moved him and filled him with a sense of having all that he needed.

Wendell Rodricks WRITER

Tia Rosa Page 64 —

Wendell Augustine Rodricks is one of India’s leading fashion designers. He established his label in 1990 and his minimalistic designs have been the talk of the country ever since. This Goa-based designer has been awarded the Padma Shri, the third highest civilian honour by the government of India. In an excerpt from Chillies and Porridge: Writing Food, read about his childhood memory of a woman in his neighbourhood who taught him secrets of a Goan kitchen.

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Dhruv Kapur CONTRIBUTOR

My TechStyle Page 37 —

The young Delhi-based designer who was quickly received by fashion critics after his debut show in 2013, is a London School of Economics alumnus with several years of experience in Fashion and Retail Management. Today, he enjoys the fruits of his creative labour with an established label called DRVV. While his collections are a regular at the Lakme Fashion Week and the Amazon Fashion Week, his post-modernist designs make fresh impressions in many fashion magazines, including Elle, Verve, and Vogue. For us, the tech-savvy designer reviews a newly-launched gadget.

CLOCK WISE: PETER BOHLER; COURTESY OF PETER BOHLER; COURTESY OF WENDELL RODRICKS; ANKUSH MARIA

Spirited Away Page 118 —

t+l digital

CHAMONIX IS FRANCE’S SNOW GLOBE Staunch travellers can’t escape Chamonix for long, writes Kalpana Sunder as she takes a leap of faith at the town’s newly-opened Le Pas dans le Vide that takes the thrill of stepping into the beyond to the next level. travelandleisureindia.in/chamonixis-frances-snow-globe

T+L INSTAGRAMMER OF THE MONTH: CHRIS BURKARD Chris Burkard travels to remote, faraway destinations—a trip sometimes takes three years of planning—and brings back photographs that can take your breath away.

Our favourite Instagrammer this month, we talk to him about his life, works, travels, and more. travelandleisureindia.in/tl-instagrammerof-the-month-chris-burkard

HOW DOES BREXIT AFFECT THE INDIAN TRAVELLER? The much awaited British referendum for staying within the European Union or leaving it, is out. While Britain has decided to leave the EU, we decode what the historic decision means for Indian travellers. travelandleisureindia.in/how-doesbrexit-affect-the-indian-traveller

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EMMINDIA.COM A MILENNIAL’S GUIDE TO RIO OLYMPICS

Ooooh! First Look AT THE NEW W SOUND SUITE

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I-Love-India 40+Moments MUSIC / ART / CRAFT / SPIRITUALITY / FOOD / ‘JUST’

CHENNAI SICILY YUNNAN

150

FINLAND, CANADA, and DENMARK were named the three most progressive

COUNTRIES in the world in

2016.

$ 4.50 / SLR 450 / NPR 35 / MVR 60 PKR 30O / BTN 200 / TAKA 350

*Source: Social Progress Index by the Social Progress Imperative.

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F R O M L E F T: J A C Q U E S P I E R R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; SHUT TERSTOCK; CHRIS BURK ARD T

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DEBUT

Mr Rahman, Are you listening?

COURTESY OF W HOTEL

Why settle for listening to music when you can make your own? The new Sound Suite at W Bali can turn you into a cool rockstar—bandanas and all—with its pro equipment and a resident music wiz to guide you. BY ANWESHA SANYAL

The studio offers a menu of deliciously crafted cocktails and finger food.

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THE EXTRAS ►An outdoor garden doubles as an

event space for guests who want to host an evening of music and canapes at the Sound Suite. ►Individual studio sessions can be booked at US$456 per hour where you can get a basic understanding of the equipment. ►There’s free wifi, a minibar, and Go-Pro and LiveStream cameras if you want to record a video of your session.

global partner Coca-Cola looks like, as music curator and DJ at W Bali Damien Saint explains while escorting me in—this has the very best things put together—designed by New York based Josh Held Design, it houses a top notch digital audio workstation with his ‘baby’, a DSI Prophet 6 (a classic Dave Smith poly synth that’s well gone out of market, now a collectible), an Ableton Live Suite & Push 2 (that provides the best multi-track recording with effects); a Midas Venice F24 mixing console, and a live recording room with a Yamaha Pacifica electric guitar, a Yamaha electric acoustic, and a range of percussion instruments. And of course, unlimited Coke and a rider menu for indulgence. First impression: This space will be a sell out. wbali.com

T

here’s a little musician in all of us who wants to jump into the Coke Studio setting and be a maestro, knowing exactly what notes to hit. Now he can. W Bali has officially established the black book for modern hotels (that’s making everybody else in its vicinity a little nervous), by introducing an exclusive Sound Suite in a wise move to attract world-class artists, musicians, and producers to come and experience a suite of superior technology. This is a suite where you can make music.

COURTESY OF W HOTEL

On a cool summer evening a while ago, I had landed on the front porch of the hotel, eager to get a glimpse I was promised—of a fully soundproof, private recording studio that would someday beget tales of musicians and make great legends. It was not until the next day that I found that the space was only a few steps from where I’d arrived in the lobby, yet so removed that I wouldn’t have a clue even if Maroon 5 were making music right under my nose.

The long corridor enroute the recording studio. FROM ABOVE: T he recording room; the lounge at the entrance to the suite.

One Direction

A quick sweep from the main lobby and you disappear behind the hotel’s retail space before bumping into a dimly-lit corridor that grasps the passers-by in a sudden hypnotic trance— two long, carefully designed walls draw you in like quicksand, urging you to follow the track to the other end where a glowing sign reads ‘On Air’. The dramatic culmination is reached as the door opens, and plastered across a white wall of the lounge are profound words from the CocaCola’s 1971 Hilltop commercial: “I’d like to teach the world to sing.”

The Suite

This is the world’s first W Sound Suite. An artsy wall poster sets the mood in the control room and offers you a glimpse into what the collaboration between the hotel brand and its longstanding

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BOOK IT The Sleep/Eat/Record/ Repeat Package Avail a room, breakfast for two, a four-hour studio session with Damien Saint, unlimited wifi and access to FIT (the gym), and complimentary access to Hot Stone, Cold Plunge, Hamam and Detox Chamber at AWAY Spa.

THE DEPTH OF THE SEA IS ONLY MATCHED BY ITS STORIES DISCOVER AMAZING STORIES IN

Discover Amazing Stories: Thai Spa

Contact us: Tourism Authority of Thailand, New Delhi Office: Contact us: Tel: 91-11-46741111 | Email: tatdel@tat.or.th Tourism Authority of Thailand, New Delhi Office: Tel: 91-11-46741111 | Email: tatdel@tat.or.th Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai Office: Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai Office: Tel: 91-22-22042727 | Email: tatmumbai@tat.or.th Tel: 91-22-22042727 | Email: tatmumbai@tat.or.th www.facebook.com/tat.newdelhi | www.facebook.com/tourismauthorityofthailandmumbai | www.tourismthailand.org www.tourismthailand.org T R A V E L + L E I S U R E / A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 17

GROUND COVER

Rio Olympics Guide

Whether your visit is a sprint or a marathon, here’s how to do the city of saints and make it count. By Aditi Datta

KNOW THE PLAYING FIELD BETWEEN THE ASSURED HOMAGES TO THE REDEEMER AND COPACABANA, THERE ARE A FEW OTHER NEIGHBOURHOODS PACKED WITH CHARACTER THAT ARE WORTH VISITING.

The architecture is stunning and there’s a museum, cathedral or library whichever way you turn. Head to Café Arlequim (arlequim.com.br/ loja) for music and coffee and Café Do Bom (Rua da Carioca, 10- Centro; +55-21/2509-1018) for all things literary and a cachaça.

Santa Theresa

Santa Teresa on a little hill with winding lanes is full of little secrets along with a quiet panoramic view. Sip prosecco at Bar Dos Descasados in the stunning Santa Teresa Hotel (santa-teresa-hotel.com) and enjoy artisanal Brazilian cuisine at Aprazivel (aprazivel.com.br).

Jardim Botanico

The area surrounding the periphery of the city’s Botanical Gardens is referred to loosely as Jardim Botanico; with new tricks up its sleeve at every nook and corner, it’s safe to say that life has sprung here and it’s well and flourishing. Head to Rubaiyat Rio (rubaiyat.com.br) for a farm to table meal of meats and grills or to SOBE Bar (Rua Pacheco Leão; +55-21/31147691) for some post event downtime.

LET LOOSE ON A FRIDAY NIGHT Leblon

Things get a bit more posh in Leblon, one of the more affluent neighbourhoods of Rio with deliberately quaint fare. If you’ve got the coin, Leblon has plenty of sophisticated food, drink and shopping on which to spend it. OSCAR Bistro Bar (oscarbistrobar.com) and Venga Tapas Bar (venga. com.br) are two of the most popular haunts.

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Ipanema

Artsy, trendy boutiques cater to like-minded folk. There’s invariably some street action that everyone and their dog (literally, the place is pet friendly) can get in on. Zuka Restaurant (Rua Dias Ferreira, 233B; +55-21/3205-7154) is famous for their grills; Brewteco (Rua Dias Ferreira, 420; +55-21/3217-8280) for their selection of craft beers.

Even the most focused athlete needs to put their feet up and let their hair down once in a while.

Lapa is where they do that best.

Stop in to the brick-lined balcony of Barzinho for beer and banter or gravitate towards the coveted centre stage of Circo Voador (circovoador.com.br) for a live act; swing by the restored mansion of trendy Leviano (levianobar. com.br) or swing in step at the lively Carioca De Gema (barcariocadagema.com.br)— there’s never a dull night in Lapa.

CLOCK WISE: INGO RÖSLER /GE T T YIMAGES; TONY ANDERSON/GE T T YIMAGES; ALE X ROBINSON/GET T YIMAGES; YA N N A R T H U S - B E R T R A N D / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; T I M C L AY T O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S

Downtown

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JOIN A TEAM HAND OVER THE REINS TO THOSE WHO KNOW RIO BEST. CONSIDER SIGNING UP WITH A GUIDE FOR A THEME TOUR OF RIO.

GET OFF THE SIDELINES

RIO STREET ART TOUR could be the best way to get some street credentials in Rio’s art scene. The city’s best masterpieces are splashed across its walls for all to see, and this tour (approximately USS40) ensures you don’t miss an inch. vayable.com BIKE IN RIO covers a few different routes, depending on your interest. In case you’d like company to cruise around the city’s coastline, their Beaches & Lagoon Tour (approximately US$40) might be just the thing. bikeinriotours.com EAT RIO is for those who prefer a less energetic approach, as they get a literal taste of local culture by stopping in at restaurants and cafes dotted throughout the city, best representing dishes and establishments that Rio residents are most proud of. eatrio.net

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Brazilian Cooking

More comfortable with an apron than with dancing shoes? Leave Brazil with a recipe or two, including the secret behind a great caipirinha (fermented sugarcane juice called cachaça) or moqueca (fish served in claypot), with a four-hour immersive experience in Brazilian cooking that caters to your need for knowledge as well as your appetite. (likealocalguide.com) Approximately US$90.

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Capoeira

Beautiful to watch and a bit harder to do, Capoeira is semidance semi-martial art, native to Brazil and it seamlessly spins together athleticism and grace. If that’s a combination you think you can carry off, drop in to one of the many Capoeira centres in the city, such as Grupo de Caoperira Angola (capoeiraangola.at) or Centro Cultural Senzala (princeton.edu).

Prices vary by school.

Samba

Or leave the athletics to the teams best qualified, and stick to just dancing it out with a Samba class followed by a night out on the town to practice those freshly acquired skills, with riosambadancer.com (approximately US$55). In Lapa, Rio Scenarium (rioscenarium. com.br) offers you a night of glitzy costumes and bright masks amidst loud good music, while highly skilled locals dance in circles like professionals.

CLOCK WISE: NURPHOTO/GET T YIMAGES; BUDA MENDES/GET T YIMAGES; COURTESY OF CAPOEIR A ANGOLA; COURTESY OFLIKEALOCALGUIDE

IF YOU’RE THE KIND OF TRAVELLER WHO SEES BEST BY DOING,

BY ALL MEANS, ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES AND DIVE RIGHT IN.

KANAK BHAWAN AYODHYA (135KM)

GANGA GHAT, BITHOOR (105KM)

DARGAH, DEWA SHARIF (35.5KM)

DUDHWA NATIONAL PARK (221KM)

KATARANIA GHAT (125KM)

CHAKRA TERTH, NAMISHARANYA (87KM)

NAWABGANJ BIRD SANTUARY(45KM)

DEAD SEA THE WORLD’S LARGEST SPA

The lowest place on earth brings together breathtaking natural beauties and ultimate relaxation for body and soul. Cobalt blue waters with mineral luxury hotel spas along the shore will pamper your body and refresh your mind. Explore one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world

PROMOTION eavy with salt and rich with minerals, at almost 427 meters below sea level, Dead Sea is fascinating. This unique sea is almost 10 times saltier than regular sea water.

Crystal shape salt formation, cobalt blue waters with a compelling history and modern mineral spas along the shores create a perfect combination to rejuvenate the body and refresh the mind, making it famous a destination for locals and tourists from all around the world.

Dead Sea Spa Experience

Don’t know how to swim? Scared of being in the water? Then the Dead Sea is the perfect place for you! As you step off the shore in to the azure lake you will immediately feel a slight greasiness from the water. The deeper into the lake you go, you begin to experience a strange weightlessness, caused by the hyper salinization, and before you know it you will be elevated and find yourself float-

ing in the world’s largest health spa.

Read a book or a newspaper, take in the view around you, or simply enjoy the serenity while bobbing in and out as you reconnect with your inner child. If you’re still not in the mood to float, visit one of the many spas and take in a massage or a treatment, or just be in the area and enjoy the magnificent views while breathing the fresh, mineral rich air. When you’re done floating, want to wipe off the mud or simply cool off, take a rinse under one of the many beach showers along the shoreline and enjoy the softness and smoothness of your rejuvenated skin.

Dead Sea Mud

On the southern shores at the lowest point on earth, you will find an array of hotels where you can enjoy a magical sunrise, leaving an array of colors on the small ponds with the salt formations scattered throughout.

To complete the experience of being at the Dead Sea, take some of the silky dark mud and lather it on allowing your skin to absorb the helpful minerals. The therapeutic minerals in the mud have been concentrated for thousands of years and are known throughout the world for their medicinal properties, cosmetic and natural anti-aging benefits. Alternatively, you can visit a local spa or purchase a mud pack/ mask and apply at a later time, or in the privacy of your room.

Dead Sea Region – Things to do around the Dead Sea

There is more to do than just relaxing in the spas and floating in the Dead Sea. If you are travelling south from Jerusalem complement your desert experience by stopping at kibbutz Ein Gedi, a natural oasis on the slopes of the Judean desert, and take a hike through a nature reserve where you will see wildlife like the ibex (a kind of mountain goat) and enjoy the waterfalls and pools cascading on the rock formation. Ein Gedi also offers hotel accommodations and spas which houses hot sculpture pools and have different types of healing and therapeutic massages too. Continue south from here to Masada, a national landmark with a strong historical connection, located at the top of a massive mountain that the adventure seeker hike or it can be reached comfortably by cable car.

In the Dead Sea sun shines almost all year round. The many return visitors who venture to continue to relish this region and the lasting cosmetic and health products, which can be brought home to transport you back every time you use it, or to give as gifts to family and friends to share in your experience. To know more about the cities, the activities, adventures and unique offerings of Israel, visit www.goisrael.com/in Author: LAPAM – Itsik Marom

www.goisrael.com/in IsraelindiaTourism

Clockwise: JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai; The Presidential Suite at The Address Dubai Marina; Madinat Jumeirah overlooks Burj Al Arab.

SHOWTIME

Dubai Calling

THE OPENING NIGHT OF THE legendary Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo is sold out, but the Dubai Opera has grand plans all through this year—from Les Misérables, A Life in Music, the Mozart Gala, and West Side Story to Anoushka Shankar and Hussain Al Jassmi concerts.

The 2,000-seat performing arts venue is worth more than a visit, so bring your partner for a romantic date to the Opera, or make a family trip out of it.

Coupling business with pleasure: A larger-than-life hotel, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai (marriott.com)

features 1,600 plush guestrooms and suites, a luxury spa with modern treatments and ancient Hamams, and 16 restaurants and bars. Plan romantic dinner dates and couple’s spa at the world’s tallest hotel.

For a family timeout: Madinat Jumeirah (jumeirah.com) is like a small Arabian township with two boutique hotels, 29 summer houses, and 40 restaurants and bars. If you are taking kids along, Jumeirah Mina A’Salam will be their playground that has a kids’ club, swimming pools, and a private beach to choose from.

Attention, shoppers: Connected to the Dubai Marina Mall, The Address Dubai Marina (theaddress.com) gives you access to designer boutiques and luxury brands.

Stay at a marina-view room and make the most of the pool and spa.

TREND WATCHER Can you hear the chant of um mundo novo (a new world)? Amidst the controversies at Rio Olympics, our eyes are on the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M ‘Rio 2016’ Limited Edition (3016 timepieces). Special features include the five Olympic colours on the bezel with a wave-pattern inspired by Copacabana’s sidewalk on the dial. Set in a stainless steel case and strap, the watch has a helium escape valve at 10 o’clock, and engravings of the Rio 2016 Olympics logo and the limited-edition number on the screw-in caseback. `3 lakhs; omegawatches.com

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—APEKSHA BHATEJA

CLOCK WISE: COURTESY OF JW MARRIOT T MARQUIS; COURTESY OF THE ADDRESS DUBAI; C O U R T E S Y O F M A D I N AT J U M E I R A H ; C O U R T E S Y O F O M E G A ( 2 )

YOUR DUBAI TRIPS WILL BE MORE FREQUENT ONCE THE DUBAI OPERA OPENS ITS DOORS ON AUGUST 31. HERE ARE HOTELS THAT GIVE YOU MORE THAN JUST PILLOW TIME.

PROMOTION

ALONG CAME AN EXPRESS

DID YOU KNOW?

THE 8-HOUR GLACIER EXPRESS IS THE SLOWEST EXPRESS TRAIN IN THE WORLD.

This summer, offer the window seat to your cameras as the Rhaetian Railway takes you through the Swiss Alps, passing glistening lakes and castles. A never-to-beforgotten journey is to be captured.

W

hen the world was still perfecting rails on land, the Rhaetian Railway had its meandering tracks orbiting the Alps. Imagine this: This mountain railroad network is more than 125 years old, and its snaking lines cover 103 stations, run through 115 tunnels, and cross 612 bridges.

What’s more, it’s not limited to Switzerland—you can cross the border and travel all the way to Italy on one of its scenic trains.

So while everyone else is still working their day jobs, escape to Switzerland and make the most of your time by tracking snow-peaked mountains, curtain-like waterfalls, and quaint towns on the Bernina Express and the Glacier Express.

For a bit of inspiration, check @rhaetischebahn account on Instagram.

Enjoy stunning vistas from large panorama windows on the Glacier Express.

TAKING THE BERNINA EXPRESS ON A SPECIAL OCCASION (BIRTHDAY, ANNIVERSARY, OR SIMPLY TO BE ROMANTIC)? BOOK A SURPRISE PACKAGE ON THE WEBSITE FOR AN ONBOARD CELEBRATION, AND THE GIFT WILL COME TO YOUR SEAT.

The Bernina Express offers breathtaking views of the Alps all year round.

BERNINA EXPRESS Launched in 1969, the Bernina Express gives you a gasp-worthy tour of the beautiful country—watch the scenes of nature unfold as this bright red train runs from Chur in Switzerland to Tirano in Italy. Want it to last longer? Continue the journey to the Mediterraneanflavoured Lugano on the Bernina Express Bus. Or, book a seat on the Albula and Bernina route, which will take you cascading through long loops and sharp turns—your audio guide will mention it onboard, but to fill you in, this route has earned UNESCO World Heritage status for its superb engineering in 2008. If you're planning your trip this month, then you can take the open yellow wagons between Pontresina and Tirano and Chur and Arosa.

GLACIER EXPRESS The slowest express train in the world takes you on an eight-hour journey from St Moritz to Zermatt, passing 91 tunnels and 291 bridges. Inside the carriage, you have unobstructed views of Alpine resorts, villages, and valleys. You won't go hungry on this train—the onboard dining experience is matchless, and all meals are prepared using fresh, local ingredients.

For more information, visit MySwitzerland.com/RhB

QUICK FACTS  RhB is the largest Alpine railway in Switzerland with a 384-kilometre network of tracks.  The 122-kilometre line from Thusis to Tirano has UNESCO World Heritage status.  On the Bernina Line, the Montebello Curve—where the train takes a 180-degree turn—is one of the most photographed points.  The Landwasser Viaduct, part of the UNESCO Heritage property, is the most clicked crossing of the Rhaetian Railways.  The Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres is the highest point on the Glacier Express route.

BIKEMEISTERS>>

PAVAN MUTHANNA & NIKHIL RAMMOHAN

FIRST STEP

B-Men Extraordinaire Three Bengaluru men bring inspiring stories about making the right move when it mattered most.

CHIEF CRANKS, CRANKMEISTER BICYCLE WORKS

English lit grad, MBA, and retail ace Pavan Muthanna, 43, and college dropout Nikhil “acads-are-too-difficult” Rammohan, 31, have a history of being mechanical-minded grease-monkeys who find “plenty of success in taking things apart, not so much in putting them back together”. Crankmeister Bicycle Works is their baby.

BIKE ACES Crankmeister has quickly grown to become the country’s premier bike store that offers custom wheel-building, apart from high-end repairs and sourcing of parts and accessories for both road bikes and specialist racing bikes. They stay up to speed with global bike technology, and have deservedly been conferred ‘guru’ status by evangelist customers.

FAV GRUB All kinds of barbeque, apparently, going by the full-house barbeque parties the store hosts. “Naah,” chuckles Rammohan, “Bikers just like food, any food.

Lots of it.” —ROOPA PAI

They built a `2.5 lakh touring bike for a customer using titanium and parts imported from different countries, which took them just three months to finish.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY DIPTI DASAI

During his stint with Chef Johnny Luzzini of Jean George in NYC, he created an Orange Earl Grey Tea Pannacotta with Carrot Halwa, Oatmeal Raisin Crumb and Earl Grey Tea Gel which landed on the menu.

CHEF>>

GIRISH NAYAK

A young and restless Girish found his love for baking at 17 while interning at ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton, Mumbai, and soon followed his instincts to the Culinary Institute of America, New York.

Today the master pastry chef conducts baking classes at studio kitchens for young enthusiasts in Bengaluru and takes off from his busy schedule at least twice a year to travel the world— South America being next.

THE ABSOLUTE Girish feels he’s best at cooking brown rice porridge with fried mackerel and sourdough grilled cheese toast, loves to involve

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PASTRY CHEF AT OLIVE BEACH, BENGALURU

grains and nuts in his recipes, and regards Modern Cafe by Chef Francisco Migoya as his all-time favourite cookbook (he has 40 odd baking books, the latest one being Tartine Book Number 3 by Chad Robertson).

FAVE FOOD CHOICES Bouchons and cookies from Bouchon Bakery in New York City; the Appetiser Set from The Local in Bangkok; Chicken Ghee Roast from Shetty Lunch Home in Kundapur; Grilled Mackerel Sandwich with a side of Ayran from Galata Bridge in Istanbul. —ANWESHA SANYAL

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PHOTO CREDIT

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MARINE DISCOVERY

HAVELOCK ISLAND HAVELOCK ISLAND Andaman and Nicobar MARINE DISCOVERY

Andaman and Nicobar

P HSOHTUOT T C PE R HSR E OHS D TUTIOT TOT CCE RKR ES DTI TO C K

White sand beaches with palm-fringed trees, a crystal blue sky harmoniously blending with the sea in the horizon, and a rich coral White sand beaches with palm-fringed trees, crystal blue paradise sky reef awaiting exploration—Havelock Island is aa picturesque harmoniously blending with the sea in the horizon, and a rich for those yearning for isolation and adventure. Located 39kmscoral from reef exploration—Havelock Island is a picturesque paradise Port awaiting Blair, Havelock is the largest island in Ritchie’s Archipelago. for yearning for isolation adventure.

39kms On those its famous Elephant Beach, and go scuba divingLocated to discover a from Port Blair, Havelock is the largest island in Ritchie’s Archipelago. colourful underwater marine life, or walk into the rain-fed forests On its famous Elephant go scuba diving to discover a to see an eco-system in Beach, full bloom. colourful underwater marine life, or walk into the rain-fed forests to see an eco-system in full bloom.

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HERITAGE WALK

FATEHPUR SIKRI The Taj Mahal features on almost every Indian itinerary; its emotional draw is unimaginable. However, there is another monument, not very far away, that fascinates travellers with its story. Fatehpur Sikri, or the City of Victory, was built by Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 16th century after the prophecy of a Sufi saint living in the village of Sikri came true and Akbar’s heir was born. The first planned Mughal city came as a tribute to the saint, featuring public buildings, residences, mosques, and royal palaces. The Jama Masjid here is one of the largest mosques in the country. Earlier this year when vandals attacked the 440-year-old World Heritage Site and damaged a dome, it brought up the question again: How safe are our monuments?

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Agra, Uttar Pradesh

PHOTO CREDIT

PHOTOGRAPH BY DHEERAJ PAUL

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Kat Tanita INSTAGRAMMER OF THE MONTH

The love for fashionable travel takes @kattanita in pursuit of picturesque settings around the world. She is a widely received, gorgeous Instagrammer, who has worked with luxury brands like Burberry, M Missoni, and L’Oreal, and has been featured in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Marie Claire. She blogs regularly at With Love from Kat, on things that inspire her. This issue, we bring to you some of her favourite destinations.

Illes Balears, Ibiza

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Montmartre, Paris

Bluestone Lane’s West Village, New York

CLOCKWISE: Ibiza is home to

some of the most beautiful beaches with chic cafes plonged on its sides. The Cotton Beach Club overlooks the turquoise blue waters of Illes Balears, a great spot to lay out and have lunch at; Bluestone Lane’s West Village in New York, is one of the best places for a latte and avocado toast.

The Aussie baristas and waiters are friendly and the decor, charming; Sacre Couer in Montmartre is one of the most iconic monuments in Paris. You can come up here and enjoy the breathtaking panoramic view of the city; walk through the streets of one of the most beautiful towns in the world, Positano—which is often referred to as the jewel of the Amalfi Coast—to uncover the town’s history, and places of interest.

Positano, Italy

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LEGENDS & CULTURE

ALAPPAD

Kerala

In Alappad, there is a small village named Parayakadavu.

This village lies amidst an endless expanse of coconut palms stretching along a narrow peninsula marked by an intercoastal waterway on the east, and the sparkling blue-green Arabian sea on the west. The people of the village belong to a humble clan of fishermen who proudly trace their ancestry as far back as the sage Parasara. The story goes that this sage married a fisherwoman called Satyavati (the mother of Ved Vyasa—who wrote the Vedas). There are many legends told about the sanctity and greatness of this village where daily life and social custom are still closely linked to divine myths and stories which the villagers strongly believe took place a thousand years ago but are still relevant to life today. The fishermen call them concepts that return to you like the waves, the waters remain the same but they carry new people.

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REVIEW

My TechStyle

IT'S GOOD FOR BUSINESS

What happens when a fashion designer takes the hottest high-tech gadget out for a spin in his studio on the busiest day of the season? Dhruv Kapur, of Delhi-based design label DRVV, shares his show notes.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANKUSH MARIA

VERDICT It’s a worthy replacement to a working man’s laptop and tablet.

Pair your X2 1012 with HP Active Pen with App Launch, and write your thoughts or draw them!

Take notes on the go. Its aluminium alloy body and Gorilla Glass 4 screen will protect it if it ever slips from your hands.

▪ I used the HP Elite X2 for a week, and the biggest compliment I can give is that while at the studio, I neither reached for my desktop nor my tablet!

▪ The screen is extremely sharp and vivid, which I enjoyed for some mild gaming.

▪ I was particularly pleased with how conveniently one

can enter input using both touchscreen and keyboard.

The trackpad is smooth to work with too.

▪ Albeit a little heavy for a tab-on-the-move, the size is an advantage for using apps on split screen. The size is also an advantage when you’re sketching or editing pictures.

▪ The body is sturdy and appealing, more than most laptops I have come across.

▪ It features Bang & Olufsen technology. However, I would have enjoyed more if the speakers were louder.

▪ Pleasingly, there was no discomfort while detaching or reattaching the keyboard.

Edit photos or sketch—this two-in-one laptop tablet runs heavy apps smoothly thanks to its 8GB RAM.

DIG IN

Whoop of a Scoop

‘Tis the season to enjoy summer’s cold comforts.

We bring to you the scoop on ice cream flavours that’ll leave you dazed at how they hit your tastebuds.

By Apeksha Bhateja

PAPACREAM MUMBAI Thai Sushi ice cream is a frozen rendition of the Japanese dish. Wrapped in a layer of chocolate with rice crispies on top, this is a lemon grass infused ice cream with chunks of kiwi and passion fruit jelly.

COST `260.

CONTACT Cambatta Building, JT Road, Churchgate; 91-22/6517-7272

SEVILLA, THE CLARIDGES DELHI Rosemary enhanced olive oil ice cream is a vegan special made with almond milk, rosemary, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

COST `250 plus taxes per scoop.

CONTACT claridges.com

INDIGO DELI DELHI Butter Pecan ice cream is buttery sweet and salty. It’s a unique combination of caramel— used to add sweetness—and crunchy pecan nut.

COST `195 for a scoop.

CONTACT indigodeli.com

THE BOMBAY CANTEEN MUMBAI Masala Chai popsicles, garnished with jaggery caramel, ginger, and biscuit crumble, is a Mumbaikar’s tea-and-cookie version of a traditional kulfi. COST `180.

CONTACT

CITRUS, THE LEELA PALACE BANGALORE BENGALURU Ginger Himalayan Honey and Lychee ice cream gives you a fill of lychee, fresh ginger, Himalayan honey, and orange blossom. It’s churned with French Elle & Vire cream, and contains no sugar.

COST `250 per scoop.

CONTACT theleela.com

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SPLURGE! YUUKA, ST REGIS MUMBAI Sea Salt & Truffle ice cream comes with toasted hazelnuts and tofu dango. `850 plus taxes; stregismumbai.com WASABI, THE TAJ MAHAL HOTEL NEW DELHI Sakura ice cream platter is made with Sakura flowers, and garnished with hanaho flowers, so kyo hana, and tonyu sauce. `850 plus taxes; tajhotels.com

B A G R O S /A L A M Y

thebombaycanteen.com

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india | canada | goa

SYDNEY’S NEW COOL

Candy Coloured & Candid

COURTESY OF OVOLO HOTELS

All beds at the hotel have artwork on their headboards and a pop of bright colours.

When fairy lights replace crystal chandeliers in a five-star hotel, you know you’re going to get a surprising definition of luxury. Ovolo Woolloomooloo in Sydney is the new happy-go-lucky kid on the block, fighting the status quo with freebies and wit.

Apeksha Bhateja thought it was Christmas time—presents, lit up trees, candy everywhere—when she visited the hotel in the wet winter month of June.

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SYDNEY’S NEW COOL

R

emember those days when you had to act decorous at five-star hotels? Black ties and dinner jackets and no loitering. Ovolo Woolloomooloo just threw that stodgy practice out of the window.

It encourages guests to be casual, laugh at their outrageous sense of humour, enjoy their lively public spaces, and loot the free minibar.

Sitting pretty inside a 100-yearold wharf, Ovolo Woolloomooloo is a modern take on hotels—it’s fun, it’s surprising, and it’s sassy. I know this without a skerrick of doubt because the following words, on a standing board no less, greeted me on arrival.

“Please be so kind as to refrain from playing with our balls… and we promise not to touch yours.”

FROM ABOVE: The

lobby has intimate spaces like this one under a glass pavilion; Malpa Wiren (Good Friends) painting in Glam-a-rama room.

OPPOSITE, FROM ABOVE: A Million Times

AMT clock installed above the reception desk—look at it closely and watch it change patterns; kissing booths in the lobby are ideal for romantic dates or some downtime alone.

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Ovolo, a derivative of the word ‘egg’, means ‘a rounded convex moulding,’ and that’s the brand logo. So, the entrance has three oversized balls that they want to be left alone; it’s one of the many tongue-in-cheek, humorous elements in the hotel.

On the corridor wall, the transcendent geometric art work, Criss Cross by Sydney artists James Lieutenant and Kate Vassallo, beseeches you to admire the juxtaposition of vibrant colours against metal frames.

It seemed as if the wave of bright reds and yellows had seeped through the door gap and uplifted the mood of my Wharf-view room. What fascinated me the most was the headboard, which had an artwork called The Swing by JeanHonoré Fragonard, and complimenting it was an Australian Postage stamp of a girl swinging, framed on the wall.

I didn’t have any vintage Playboys in my bathroom (before you judge me, they keep some stacked in the loft rooms), but a packet of snacks, a Sydney guide, an Ovolo bag, and a yoga mat on the table, all for my taking.

An Apple TV and an iPad guide were thoughtful mod additions.

The hotel has a pool, a gym, and 10 versatile event spaces, but F&B isn’t their strong suit, intentionally. There are too many waterfront restaurants

URBAN STUDY

It’s touristy, all right, but climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge gives you a sense of how much man has accomplished. My guide was a warm, funny lady who clicked everyone’s photographs and entertained us with stories and history lessons.

The best part? Dancing at the top, with Vivid Sydney rainbowing on the Opera House in the distance.

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lined up on the wharf and even more scattered in the city, so instead of competing with them, they give guests an awesome breakfast, keep them satiated with their baked goods, and let them hit the turps during the happy hours at the Lo Lounge.

“Taj just changed the name on the door.”

Woolloomooloo Wharf has recently turned 100. Hard as it may be to imagine, the longest timber-piled wharf in the world was going to be demolished in the 90s, but due to local protests, it was renovated to accommodate apartments, retail spaces, and The W Sydney. When the hotel exited the scene in 2007, Taj took over, but failed to make an impression.

(It went by the name ‘Blue by Taj’).

After Hong Kong-based Girish Jhunjhunwala bought this property in 2014, his team took a year and a half to give it a new look. When interior designer Matthew Sheargold of HASSELL started working on the project, he realised that Taj had just changed the name on the door when it got the reins. Ovolo didn’t make the same mistake.

The biggest challenge for Matt was fighting the council for every

PHOTO CREDIT

SYDNEY BRIDGE CLIMB

Girish Jhunjhunwala, the owner of the Hong Kong-based brand, has a knack for buying old buildings and giving them a new life.

SYDNEY’S NEW COOL

THE FACE BEHIND OVOLO Girish Jhunjhunwala, the owner of the Hong Kong-based brand, has a knack for buying old buildings and giving them a new life. “Destruction is in our DNA,” the brand boasts.

And that’s what he’s doing: Disrupting how world sees hotels and creating his own rules.

Free breakfast, free minibar, free happy hours, free high-speed wifi, and free coffee because he wants his hotels to make things effortless for guests and bring fun back to hotels.

QUICK INFO EAT: The Rocks has a very earthy restaurant called The Fine Food Store (finefoodstore.com) that makes amazing shakes and sandwiches. Drop by for a quick bite and walk around. For dinner, the waterfront-restaurant Catalina (catalinarosebay.com.au) served great vegetable tart and ravioli.

Their dark chocolate mousse was sheer indulgence!

They love the F word: Free breakfast, free happy hours, free wifi with no restriction on number of devices, free snacks and minibar, free self-service laundry, and some gifts in room.

Best rooms: For a party who wants to party, the hotel has Rock n’ Roll lofts, INXS and AC/DC with an in-room bar, a trampoline, a fake fireplace, and vintage Playboys in the bathroom.

‘situation’, with people using the lobby to get to their apartments or to the restaurants, but opposite is the case: they want people to stop and stare.

I could tell that the art curator, Sam Gatsby, was proud of the hotel and its collection of art as he talked at length about his favourite pieces— Good Friends by a contemporary indigenous artist Tiger Yaltangki in the private room, Glam-a-rama, and No Reception by James Ettelson in the lounge. “The artwork is incredibly eclectic,” he added, “and there’s a 50-50 gender parity. We have works from nine female and nine male artists, ranging from highly experienced ones to those who have just graduated from college.”

I loved staying at this property because it does things differently—even their typography and staff uniform screams Ovolo. More than anything else, it is not often that a hotel allows me to forget my age—mostly, opposite is the case. As a young traveller representing a big brand, I am perpetually guarded, conscious of my actions. And here is a hotel insisting its guests feel young and carefree with such antics—the irony was not lost on me.

From US$212 per night; Read about how ovolohotels.com I lost my way in Sydney on travelandleisure india.in.

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little detail. A small example is the 86-kg clock by Swedish design studio Humans Since 1982—the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere—that changes patterns in a trippy manner, was installed above the concierge desk, but the heritage department felt it was blocking too much of the corrugated walls, so it had to be moved to the reception desk.

The lobby, which really is the centre stage, is versatile with intimate spaces catering to business travellers, couples, and families. You can play video games or pool; enjoy a date in the kissing both; get something from the bakery and sit under the tree for a picnic; read a book from the mini library; or simply come down for some candy and free flowing coffee.

His interiors don’t overshadow the original architecture of the building. On level three, there are pipes protruding from the walls in the rooms which have been integrated into the design.

The ceiling of the building has stayed as is, with humongous fans dangling above the lobby, and even the worn out pulleys don’t bother the cheerful environment. In fact, the lobby is a public thoroughfare. You’d think that the hotel would consider this a

AC/DC and INXS lofts are inspired by the eponymous bands.

RIGHT: The fi fth fl oor with Criss Cross painting in the background.

 INDIAN TRAVELLERS GET 15% OFF ON DIRECT BOOKINGS; USE PROMO CODE OVOLOXINDIA.

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THE BIGGER PICTURE 15TH PUNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

MAHARASHTRA

The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), a premier film school of the country, together with the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) celebrates world cinema in an annual gathering in their homeground, Pune. Last year saw the presence of Bad Hair actor Samantha Castillo and Polish flmmaker Krystof Zanussi among others.

DELHI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

NEW DELHI

This festival was launched in 2012 to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. It screens 250 films, 250 selected art works and 50 literary works by NRI and Indian poets.

Sharmila Tagore and Subhash Ghai were among the many celebrities present this year.

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+ I-LoveIndia Moments This issue, we asked ourselves what India really meant to us, and surprisingly, we didn’t simply resort to the ‘motley group of cultures, people, and religions’ theory. We realised that while we still fiercely hold on to our traditional roots, we’ve also come to the era of independent thinking, modern artistic expression, and conscious conditioning. In an effort to understand modern India, we’ve brought together all the things we’ve built fondly in recent times as well as old school practices we can’t get enough of.

T E X T BY S H I B A N I B AWA I L L U S T R AT I O N S BY P R I YA K U R I YA N

DHARAMSHALA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

HIMACHALPRADESH

The festival draws independent filmmakers from around the world to the mountains of Himachal to engage them in the understanding of different societies, cultures, and ideas. Workshops are also organised.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA GOA

IFFI encourages Indian cinema and introduces it to the world, apart from showcasing the best of world cinema.

Held in various cities post its launch in Mumbai in 1952, it has found home in Goa since 2004. Last time, we saw Rakha, Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan at the event.

NATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL

ANDHRA PRADESH

The second edition of the film fete in Vizag coincides with Children’s Day this year as Indian filmmakers bring together short films and feature films for kids at the three-day event.

JAIPUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

RAJASTHAN

It focuses on serious filmmakers and their associates in order to promote a deeper understanding of the art of film-making. Last year the festival received over 2,000 films from more than 100 countries.

GUJARAT INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

This year, at the 6th Gujarat International Short Film Festival, each film selected will be screened at least once. The duration of the films will range from one minute to a maximum of 30 minutes. Winning categories will include ‘best international short film,’ ‘best national short film,’ and ‘best regional short film’, apart from awards that are going to be reserved for the best director, actor, screenplay writer, and cinematographer.

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INDIA TUNES WORLD SACRED SPIRIT FESTIVAL RAJASTHAN

Organised by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, it brings music performances from diverse cultures. Last year, Robab master Daud Khan Sadozai gave a mind-numbing sufi performance.

RAJASTHAN INTERNATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL

RIFF brings an array of music from traditional folk to international rap to the grand Mehrangarh Fort. Sona Mahapatra gave her first performance last season.

MAGNETIC FIELDS FESTIVAL RAJASTHAN

This festival of music and dance offers camping in Bedouin tents, yoga sessions, and star gazing workshops.

THE HORNBILL FESTIVAL NAGALAND

Tribes of Nagaland come together for dance, music, crafts and sports, food fairs and traditional art events.

AJANTA ELLORA FESTIVAL MAHARASHTRA

A unique combination of dance and music attracts visitors from all over the world to the caves.

KHAJURAHO DANCE FESTIVAL MADHYA PRADESH

The temples of Khajuraho form the backdrop to Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam, and Mohiniattam, among others.

KONARK DANCE & MUSIC FESTIVAL ODISHA

The Sun Temple attracts eminent artists of international repute to present Indian folk and performing arts.

LADAKH FESTIVAL JAMMU & KASHMIR

The six-day revelry kicks off at the Leh Market with masked dances, archery, and polo.

ZIRO FESTIVAL OF MUSIC ARUNACHAL PRADESH

Picturesque villages, lush paddy fields and gushing white rivers add to the vibe of the four-day music festival.

SUNBURN GOA

Asia’s largest EDM event features the most explosive DJs for four days of non-stop partying.

LATIN FESTIVAL MADRAS TAMIL NADU

Salsa workshops, choreography bootcamps apart, attend the 3rd Chennai Salsa Solo Open this year.

ESCAPE FESTIVAL OF ART & MUSIC UTTARAKHAND

On the shores of Lake Naukuchiatal, this event sees bands, performance artists, tattoo and graffiti artists.

CHAKRADHAR SAMAROH CHHATTISGARH

A tribute to the late Maharaja Chakradhar Singh of Raigarh, this music fiesta on Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates his legacy.

RAJGIR DANCE FESTIVAL BIHAR PHOTO CREDIT

Get introduced to instrumental music, opera, and various schools of Indian classical music at the Rajgir Samaroh.

SARHUL FESTIVAL, JHARKHAND

The vibrant celebration of spring brings locals together to dance to the beats of the traditional drum.

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BRUSHES & PENCILS KUMAON LITERARY FESTIVAL

UTTARAKHAND

KLF is famous for being the only literary festival hosted in a hill village. It not only celebrates literature, but provides a forum for young adults and a stage for aspiring writers. In keeping with its philosophy of fair representation, the festival provides an equal opportunity to writers from different languages.

INDIA ART FAIR NEW DELHI It provides a platform for modern and contemporary artists of South Asia. During this four-day festival almost 94 exhibitors from 19 countries will present their work.

INTERNATIONAL KOLKATA BOOK FAIR

WEST BENGAL

The largest attendance at a book fair in Asia is here in Kolkata, with a footprint of 17 lakhs and a sale of over `17 crores. Held at the Milan Mela, the book fair launched the Kolkata Literature Festival in 2014 which saw the likes of Amartya Sen and Sudha Murthy on the panel.

JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL

RAJASTHAN

It is a fantastic show of wit and humour, insight and perspective of writers and thinkers at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur. From international award-winning authors to debutants, there’s a place for all kinds. Sundowners are marked by lively performances in exotic locations.

HYDERABAD LITERARY FESTIVAL

TELANGANA

Hyderabad’s annual literary festival has gained significant momentum since its launch in 2010. Today it is the melting pot of panel discussions, book launches, cultural programmes, and events for school and college students.

KOCHI-MUZIRIS BIENNALE KERALA In its third year, Kochi-Muziris Biennale will bring together about 80 artists from 24 countries. Besides its focus on art, expect film screenings and music sessions at various venues in Fort Kochi and Ernakulam.

PUNE INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FESTIVAL

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MAHARASHTRA

Fun-filled panel discussions, workshops and book launches galore, the Pune International Literary Festival selects important social causes to create awareness.

Workshops on writing, positive thinking, and personality development also interest participants.

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FERVOUR AND FEAST MYSORE DUSSERA KARNATAKA

Cultural events at the beautifully lit up Mysore Palace continue for nine nights, and culminate with a procession of vibrant tableaux, decorated cavalry, music and dance performances.

MIM KUT FESTIVAL MIZORAM

The maize harvest festival of Mizoram is dedicated to invoke the departed souls. On the first day, they are offered the first maize harvest as thanksgiving, while the second day involves dancing, singing, and merry making.

HOLI IN BRAJ BHOOMI UTTAR PRADESH

In Braj Bhoomi (Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Nandgaon, Phalen and Barsana), holi is celebrated with a raas leela at Gulal Kund and the playful lathmar in Barsana.

RANN UTSAV GUJARAT

During the Rann Utsav, the white sands of Kutch are splashed with colours. Dance, music, and fairs are common.

LOSAR FESTIVAL JAMMU & KASHMIR

New Year in Ladakh/Tibet is celebrated over 15 days.

Kickstarted by HH Dalai Lama at the Namgyal monastery in McLeodganj, it moves with much zeal to Ladakh.

NEERMAHAL FESTIVAL TRIPURA

Admire Neermahal’s beautiful architecture at this three-day festival that includes a boat race on the Rudrasagar Lake.

INDIA INTERNATIONAL COFFEE FESTIVAL

MAHARASHTRA

This five-day festival brings coffee tastings, demonstrations from world-class baristas, and previews of latest products.

Coffee growers, retailers, equipment suppliers, researchers, and entrepreneurs from over 60 companies participate.

ASSAM TEA FESTIVAL

Take a tour of tea estates and gardens in Assam. Adventure sports like rafting and angling find their way into the celebrations, as do fairs and food festivals.

SANGAI FESTIVAL MANIPUR

In the last week of November, every Manipuri flavour comes alive: art and culture, handloom, handicrafts, indigenous sports, cuisines, and music. This year, other Indian states, foreign traders, and cultural troupes will also be present.

GREEN PEDAL SHILLONG CHALLENGE MEGHALAYA

Every August 15, Shillong organises a race of 45kms with climbs, rapid descents, broken asphalt, and flat stretches through the beautiful landscape of Meghalaya.

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Just a day after Holi, Anandpur Sahib Gurudwara invites devotees to witness martial arts, religious music, and poetry.

PANG LHABSOL SIKKIM

This Buddhist festival is marked by the iconic mask dance performed by lamas in Gangtok’s Chuklakhang Gumpa.

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INDIA MOMENTS

the Details

No matter which city, town, or hill you’re perched on, we’ve found you comfort spots to make travel easy.

The Bigger Picture

JODHPUR

STAY Enjoy a heritage walk through the world’s sixth largest residence converted into a hotel, the Umaid Bhawan Palace (taj.tajhotels.com).

DO Go on an off-road adventure with Overlander India (overlanderindia. com) and experience the rich natural and cultural variety of Rajasthan.

EAT Try the traditional thali at Gypsy (gypsyfoods.com) and enjoy churma, bati, fried and steamed farsaan.

DHARMASHALA

STAY Fortune Park Moksha (fortunehotels.in) in McLeodganj offers a breathtaking view of the Dhauladhar Mountains.

DO Norbulingka (norbulingka.org), a gorgeous Tibetan monastery, makess for a good day trip.

EAT Illterati (illiteratibooksandcoffee. ee. wordpress.com) is ideal for bookworms to relax with a cuppa.

SHEKHAWATI

NEW DELHI

STAY The Imperial New Delhi (theimperialindia.com) is one of the most iconic symbols of the British Raj. DO The Delhi Way (thedelhiway.com) organises comfortable tours to the busy wholesale markets stacked with wares.

EAT The award-winning Indian Accent (indianaccent.com) has pioneered progressive Indian cuisine.

It requires prior reservations.

JAIPUR

STAY For a glimpse into what BBC called “the original exotic marigold hotel” in a recent documentary, check into the 19th century Khatu Haveli (khatuhaveli.com).

DO Uncover some of Jaipur’s secrets during the walking tour with Virasat Experiences (virasatexpereinces.com).

EAT Enjoy a lavish Indian meal at the opulent Maharaja’s dining room at 1135 AD (mshospitality.com) within Amer Fort.

SURAT

STAY The Gateway Hotel Athwalines Surat (gateway.tajhotels.com) on the banks of the Tapti River is drowned in luxury.

DO Take a trip to the Gir National Park, the only home to 400 Asiatic lions and over 600 species of plants.

EAT If you’ve tucked in enough Gujju fare, head to Sizzling Salsa (rajhans. co.in), known for the best sizzlers in town.

PUNE

STAY Book into JW Marriott Pune (marriott.com). They often host live musical evenings at their rooftop restaurant, Paasha.

DO Take a scenic drive from Pune to Lavasa and find a range of adventure activities to pursue.

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EAT Malaka Spice (malakaspice. com) is an ambient restaurant serving fine and street-side Pan-Asian cuisine.

GOA

STAY Coco Shambhala (cocoshambhala.com) has a luxurious spa and offers culinary workshops at Shagun.

DO Drive to the spectacular Dudhsagar waterfalls high up on the Mandovi river.

EAT House of Lloyds (Near Candolim Church, 91-98230-32273) offers the finest lamb and pork chops.

VIZAG

STAY Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach (novotel.com) has an ocean facing bar, Vue, that plays pulsating music at night.

DO Take a two-hour trip to Dolphin’s Nose, the huge hillock in the shape of a dolphin’s nose where a lighthouse stands tall in anticipation of ships.

EAT Vizag’s iconic Sri Sairam Parlour (Bakkanapalem Road; 91-905-9777519) has the best South Indian thalis.

India Tunes LADAKH

STAY The Gomang Boutique Hotel (gomanghotelleh.com) has a 3,000-book library for your leisurely reading.

DO Drive over the world’s highest motorable road at Khradungla and cross over to the Nubra Valley.

EAT Bon Appetit (Chang Spa Road (91-1982/251-533) serves delectable salads and chocolate momos.

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STAY At Alsisar Mahal (alsisarmahal.com), follow the fresco trail through the various routes of the haveli.

DO Visit the Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary and spot blackbuck, antelope, chinkaras, and migratory birds like harriers.

EAT Have breakfast at the terrace of Castle Mandawa (castlemandawa. com) and take in great views of distant temples and cenotaphs.

KOHIMA

STAY Hotel Vivor (hotel-vivor. onetime.com) is one of the few upscale hotels in Kohima that boasts a nightclub.

DO The lush, rolling hills make for a pleasurable trek to the Dzoukou Valley and the Japfu Peak.

EAT From silkworms to frog meat, Naga cuisine is exotic. Head to Orami (Near NSF Martyr’s Park; 91-961553-6788) to experiment.

ZIRO

STAY The rustic accommodation at Siiro Resort (siiroresort.com) offers glimpses into the rich culture of the Nyish and Apatani communities.

DO Adrenaline junkies can raft down the Kameng River.

NAUKUCHIATAL

STAY Club Mahindra (clubmahindra. com), amidst lush mountains, is just 30kms from the nearest station of Kathgodam.

DO Paraglide over the beautiful town with Himalayan Adventure Institute (himadven.com).

EAT Try traditional Kumaoni dishes like ghaut ki daal at Aipan (theaipanrestaurant.com).

RAIGARH

STAY Be chauffeured in an Audi Q3 to Hotel Trinity Grand (hoteltrinity.in) and experience contemporary luxury.

DO The Gomarda Wildlife Sactuary, Ram Jharna (waterfall), and Balaji Temple are the top attractions.

RAJGIR

DO Attractions include the Cyclopean Wall, the Ajatshatru Fort, the Sonbhandar Caves, and Bimbisar jail.

EAT The Nalanda archaeological museum has a small café that offers Indian and Chinese options.

JHARKHAND

DO The beautiful landscape is full of waterfalls like the Dassam Falls, the Jonha Falls, and the Hudru Falls.

EAT For Jharkhandi cuisine, try Kaveri Restaurant in GEL Church Shopping Mall.

AURANGABAD

STAY Check into Vivanta by Taj, Aurangabad (vivanta.tajhotels.com) for a regal stay.

DO Buy a hand-woven paithani saree made from very fine silk with a peacock-design on the pallu.

EAT The meat curry at New Maratha Hotel in Gulmandi with hot rotis.

KHAJURAHO

STAY The Lalit Temple View Khajuraho (thelalit.com) allows you to experience an in-house light and sound show in the City of Exotic Temples.

DO Buy tribal handicrafts and enjoy folk performance arts at Shilpgram.

EAT Raja’s Café (Sevagram; 91768/627-2307) with a temple-view terrace serves fabulous wood-fired pizzas and lasagna.

KONARK

STAY Wooden cottages affront a pristine beach at the confluence of the Kusabhadra River and the Bay of Bengal make Lotus Eco Resort (lotusresorthotels.com) a perfect option.

DO Visit the archaelogical site at Kuruma for the gorgeous lake, undulating hills, and Buddhist history.

EAT The seafood spread and banana pancakes at the Suntemple Hotel (suntemplehotel.com) are to die for.

CHENNAI

STAY ITC Grand Chola (itchotels. in) has fine restaurants like Ottimo, Peshawri and Madras Pavilion.

DO Enjoy the scenic drive along the seashore and pay your obeisance at the iconic Shore Temple at Mammallapuram.

EAT Go for a classic French fare at Le Dupleix (ledupleix.in).

Brushes & Pencils KUMAON

STAY At Jim’s Jungle Retreat at Corbett Tiger Reserve (jimsjungleretreat.com) watch prancing deer, and occasionally, spot a tiger or leopard.

DO Book a walking tour along the banks of the Kosi with Jim Corbett Park’s naturalists.

EAT Take in the jungle sounds at the open terrace at the Safari Café (safaricafecorbett.wordpress.com)

KOLKATA

STAY The Oberoi Grand (oberoihotels.com) offers a European Walk through some of colonial India’s famous sights.

DO Visit Tirreti Market at 6.30 am and feast on Chinese delicacies sold by the residents of the Chinese colony—from bao buns to dimsums and meat balls.

EAT For a curious blend of continental and Bengali food, head to Bohemian (Old Ballygunge, 1st Lane, Near Bondel Road; 91-33/6606424132)

HYDERABAD BAD

STAY Taj Falaknuma laknuma (taj.tajhotels. com) offers a Champagne Palace Walk around the hotel during suns sunset. n et. ns DO Visit Shilparamam, paramam, the cultural village with 15 artisanal huts displaying indegenous degenous art and craft (shilparamam.in) ramam.in) EAT Take offf on a three-hour culinary tourr with Detours India (detaoursindia.com) ursindia.com) through Hyderbad’s erbad’s many Biriyani hubs. s.

KOCHI

STAY The Malabar House (malabarhouse.com) offers an ayurvedic kalari massage spa that has been developed from Kalarippayat.

DO Staying true to the pictorial symbol of Kochi, try your hand at fishing.

EAT Nawras Authentic Seafood Restaurant (nawrasrestaurant.com) uses age-old recipes in their kitchen.

Fervour & Feast ANANDPUR SAHIB

STAY Kisan Haveli (Kisan Haveli Road, Mohalla Bali Sarkar; 91/978080-3000) is a preferred hotel for its quaint rooms and courteous staff.

EAT Be sure to attend the langar and feast on the delicious festive meal.

DO Take a round of Chandigarh.

Attractions include the Le Corbursier Museum and the Rock Garden.

BRAJ BHOOMI

STAY Nidhivan Sarovar Portico (nidhivansarovar.com) offers most comforts—a spa, fitness centre, and large rooms.

DO The Vrindavan Parikrama is a two-hour walk around Vrindavan with stops at Kaliya Ghata, Madana Mohan temple, among others.

EAT Ammaji’s Ayurvedic Restaurant in Vrindavan (ammajis.restaurant) serves a rage of organic fare.

German breads and home-made ice cream are the best.

KUTCH

STAY Serena Beach Resort (serenabeachresort.com) provides a hut-style accommodation that feels like a luxury cabana on the beach.

DO Visit the excavated site at Dholavira and marvel at the city planning that existed 5,000 years ago.

EAT If you’re looking for meat

dishes in the vegetarian belt, Noorani Restaurant (Danda Bazar, Khatri Chowk; 91/937-433-2242) is a good option.

GUWAHATI

STAY Check into the Radisson Blu Hotel Guwahati (radissonblu.com) for stunning views.

DO The Umananda Island in the Kamrup district is also known as the ‘Peacock Island’ due to the resemblance of its shape with that of our national bird.

EAT Gams Delicacy (gamsdelicacy. in) serves the ethnic food of the north-east under one roof. Try the duck meat with black dal and pork bamboo shoot kohrisa.

AIZAWL

STAY Hotel Regency Aizawl (regencyaizawl.com) offers breathtaking views of the valleys and Phawngpui, the Blue Mountains of Mizoram.

DO Climb the Phawngpui or mountain bike through the Hmuifang Hill.

EAT Don’t go looking too hard for Mizo food, just head to Zo Food (Near Vanapa Hall; 91-389/232-8726).

AGARTALA

STAY Hotel Sonar Tori (hotelsonartoriagartala.com) is a low-key but comfortable stay.

DO Take a daytrip to the Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary for southern Tripura’s best known sights.

EAT Traditional Tripuri cuisine is known as Mui Borok prepared without oil. Eat at Hotel LongTrai (JB Road; 0381/2307-617)

IMPHAL

STAY Check into the Presidential Suite at The Classic Hotel (theclassichotel.in) that overlooks the historic Kangla Fort.

EAT The grilled food at The Palace restaurant at Palace Gate is famous.

DO Watch a theatre performance by the acclaimed Ratan Thiyam’s Chorus Repertory Theatre Production.

SHILLONG

STAY Located centrally in the Laitumkhrah area, Café Shillong Bed & Breakfast (cafeshillongbandb.com) offers a relaxed stay.

EAT Jadoh on Don Bosco Square is popular for its Khasi delicacies.

DO Embark on the Living Root Bridge Trail (livingrootbridge.com), a single and double decker bridge made of the massive roots of the Ficus elastic tree.

PEMAYANGTSE

EAT If you’re crossing Gangtok, stop over at 9ine, a restaurant in New Market that offers a traditional set meal with recipes brought from the monasteries.

DO The Rabdenste Fort Ruins and the Pemayangtse Monastery are two must-visit places.

MUMBAI

STAY If you like heights, book yourself at the country’s highest hotel tower, St Regis Mumbai (stregismumbai.com).

DO Try sailing at the Gateway of India.

Oyster (oystersailing.in) offers sail yachts, sail boats, and speed boats.

EAT NRI- Not Really Indian (nrirestaurant.com) is Chef Atul Kochhar’s restaurant with the concept of serving food that is perceived Indian but is actually not.

MYSORE

STAY The Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel Mysore (radissonblu.com) offers utmost comfort to guests.

DO Visit the Shivanasamudra waterfalls with a picnic basket.

EAT Inside the palace built by the Maharaja of Mysore, Sapphire (lalithamahalpalace.in) serves a delicious Mysore thali.

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PENDULUM PERSPECTIVE

The Ultimate Playoff

The generation-old debate has gone way past Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leaf—the rivalry is now also about food, lifestyle, culture, and booze (obviously). This face off gives a blow-by-blow to end years of circumlocution.

By Apeksha Bhateja

Montréal en Lumière is one of world’s largest winter festivals.

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Togue Guisado is refreshing on a hot day.

FOOD

Counting Tables

Find a spot at the hottest local favourites.

Pork buns at Momokufu.

TORONTO Expresso in Little Italy, Kimchi in Koreatown, or tandoori chicken in Little India? The city offers a medley of flavours to world travellers.

Street food was limited a few years ago, but today, it has gone more gourmet than hot dogs.

MUST-TRY RESTAURANTS IN TORONTO

FACT

In summers, Montreal celebrates First Fridays—the largest food truck festival in Canada.

F R O M L E F T: R E N A U LT P H I L I P P E / H E M I S . F R /A L A M Y; R E N E J O H N S T O N / T O R O N T O S TA R / G E T T Y I M A G E S

Au Pied de Cochon Restaurant in Montreal.

MONTREAL What’s Montreal without bagels, poutine, bagels, smoked meat sandwich, pâté chinois, and maple pie? Very hungry. The city is counted amongst those with the highest number of restaurants per capita.

MUST-TRY RESTAURANTS IN MONTREAL La Binerie Mont-Royal An institution known for its baked beans (fèves au lard), you must have a big, hearty breakfast here, and walk an extra mile to shed the calories. labineriemontroyal.com Chez Ma Tante You should try two of Montreal’s favourite dishes at this no-nonsense restaurant: poutine (a delicious mess of fries, cheese, curd, and brown gravy) and steamie (a steamed hot dog). 3180 Rue Fleury E, Montréal; +1/514-387-6984 Fairmount Bagel and St Viateur Bagel When it comes to bagels, the city gets divided into two teams— Team Fairmount (‘the original’ that started in 1919) and Team St Viateur

(opened its door in 1957, and has seven branches). fairmountbagel.com; stviateurbagel.com Moishes This steakhouse has entertained celebrities like Robert Downey Jr, Robert De Niro, Celine Dion, and Penelope Cruz. The draw is its par excellence cuts. moishes.ca Toqué! Chef Normand Laprise opened this innovative French restaurant in 1993. Try suckling pig loin and duck magret, and you will know why it has won so many awards. restaurant-toque.com Au Pied de Cochon Taste signature onion soup and foie gras poutine at this French restaurant in business since 1947. aupieddecochon.ca

Momofuku This NYC noodle bar came to Toronto a few years ago with ramen bowls, pork belly buns, and fried chicken. momofuku.com 360 The Restaurant Located at the CN Tower, this restaurant offers panoramic views of Toronto’s skyline.

Come here for sundowners and Canadian prime rib. cntower.ca Sassafraz Popular with celebrities, this restaurant has on the menu Frenchinspired Canadian cuisine. Best seats: on the front patio. sassafraz.ca Dandylion Called adventurous and interesting by critics, this brick dining room has Asian and European dishes like citrus-beet salad, cod with romesco, and scallops with chorizo. restaurantdandylion.com Mamakas Enjoy tzatziki, spinach and feta filled phyllo pie, or grilled octopus at this Greek taverna. mamakas.ca Branca An Argentinian live grill, it serves empanada, fire roasted chicken, legs of lamb, and skirt steak. branca.ca Banh Mi Boys Try pork belly sandwich and kimchi fries at this Vietnamese sandwich shop. banhmiboys.com

Need Some Help?

Download Street Food Toronto app that tracks down food trucks in the city. UberEATS and Foodora apps are answers to your food delivery prayers.

All available on iOS and Android.

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PENDULUM PERSPECTIVE

Public art display at Quartier des Spectacles, Montreal.

Don the Cultural Hat Feed your art-loving soul.

MONTREAL Montreal is an old soul (it celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992). Go on a heritage tour to see the 17th century St Sulpice Seminary, the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, the Old Port, Basilique Notre-Dame, and The Château Ramezay.

The one-kilometre-square Quartier des Spectacles in Downtown Montreal is where all the cultural action is. You will be pulled in different directions

by Place des Arts, Musée d’art

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contemporain de Montréal, and Place des Festivals. At night, more than 30 public spaces are lit up here— illuminated walkways, dramatic lights on buildings, and artistic video projections on nine buildings.

After a visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts—the largest in the city, discover galleries hidden inside old rustic buildings, refurbished to display contemporary works, such as Arsenal Gallery, Parisian Laundry, and Darling Foundry.

The world’s largest theatrical producer, Cirque du Soleil is headquartered in Montreal and tours all over the world. Whenever they are performing in the city, make sure you get the first row tickets. If you’re a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, you have to take a tour of the Bell Centre, home to the 24-time Stanley Cup winner.

For a complete calendar of what’s happening in the city, make a pitstop at the Vitrine culturelle de Montréal, or visit lavitrine.com.

J A M E S B R I T TA I N / G E T T Y I M A G E S

ART AND LITERATURE

Know More

One of Canada’s most influential contemporary writers, Margaret Atwood has studied at the University of Toronto and lives in east Annex with partner Graeme Gibson.

She has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times, and finally won it for The Blind Assassin.

ON OUR WATCH MONTREAL

C L O C K W I S E : D R E A M S T I M E ; J E R E M Y S U T T O N - H I B B E R T/ G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S H U T T E R S T O C K ( 2 ) ; G U Y L A I N D O Y L E / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; T O D D K O R O L / T O R O N T O S TA R / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S H U T T E R S T O C K

A modern sculpture created by Daniel Spoerri displayed at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; owner David Mirvish at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.

Combine Nature and Art The Arts Put on a Show at the Garden is back with its second season. In the beautiful backdrop of the Botanical Gardens, catch live music performances every Sunday afternoon till August 28.

Follow Cinderella The Tony Awardwinning Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella Broadway musical is coming to Place des Arts this October.

TORONTO Museum hopping in Toronto is a sport. From Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Canadian Art and Space Museum, and Textile Museum of Canada to Hockey Hall of Fame and Aga Khan Museum, you can never fall short of options. Then there are contemporary art galleries such as Copper Cole and Art Gallery of Ontario that have become a part of the city’s identity.

Torontonians love theatre and their answer to London’s West End and NYC’s Broadway

is The Toronto Entertainment District. Comedy acts, Broadway musicals, concerts, and games— this district is known to be the entertainment heart of the city.

If you love the written word, you would like nothing better than a literary tour of the city. Visit the Toronto Reference Library, the largest in Toronto’s library system; University of Toronto, where authors such as Margaret Atwood and Dennis Lee have studied; and the Clarion Hotel & Suites Selby, a building where Ernest Hemmingway once lived while he worked at the Toronto Star.

It’s a Juggle Make a visit to La Tohu to watch a circus performance.

The entertainment venue also gives guided tours of its exhibitions and provides insight into the history of circus.

Free Discovery Take a self-guided public art tour in Montreal, passing neighbourhoods surrounding museums.

Maps are available for free at the Bureau d’accueil touristique Vieux-Montréal and the Infotouriste Centre.

TORONTO See Toronto’s Graffiti Graffiti has kicked off in Toronto, making mural-covered streets tourist attractions. Visit the Graffiti Alley, a onekilometre stretch known as Rush Lane.

Other cool places include Kensington Market, Gladstone Hotel, and The Ossington Laneway.

For theatre buffs Watch Matilda The Musical at the Ed Mirvish Theatre or catch the new Broadway musical, Come From Away, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Eat, read, repeat Eat Your Words is a grandmotherly bookshop on Annette Street that gives one the comfort of vintage and new cookbooks, and hosts cooking events.

Get a Private Tour Stay afterhours at Ripley’s Aquarium on a Friday for some jazz, canapes and cocktails, and a self-guided tour of one of the largest aquariums in Canada.

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Spend a night out in these fun cities.

Oktoberfest celebrations in Toronto.

MONTREAL Montreal knows how to have a good time. It has an eclectic mix of microbreweries, jazz bars, live bars, karaoke bars, Latin clubs, African clubs, and after-hour bars. The best part?

You will meet a diverse bunch of people here, from dapper men to hippies to college crowd. Or, go to the Gay Village and dance till your feet give up.

TORONTO So here’s the deal about Toronto: You need to serve food if you’re serving alcohol. No drinking in bars past 2am, and the legal drinking age is 19 (in Montreal, it’s 18). The city has restrictive BOTTOMS UP! drinking laws, we get it, but Montreal stays up late. it has everything under the You can party until 3am in Montreal (the last call in sun from live bars, sports some bars was recently bars, after-hour clubs to jazz made 5.30am), while Toronto calls it a night bars and dance clubs; casual, an hour early. swanky, or sophisticated.

CRASH PADS MONTREAL

WHERE THE HIPPEST CROWD IS MONTREAL

TORONTO

1 The Ritz-Carlton, Montreal ritzcarlton.com 2 Le Place d’Armes Hotel hotelplacedarmes.com 3 W Montreal wmontrealhotel.com 4 Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth fairmont.com 5 Loews Hotel Vogue loewshotels.com

TORONTO 1 Thompson Toronto thompsonhotels.com 2 The Hazelton Hotel Toronto thehazeltonhotel.com 3 Windsor Arms Hotel windsorarmshotel.com 4 Shangri-La Hotel Toronto shangri-la.com 5 Trump International Hotel and Tower trumphotelcollection.com

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Terrasse Place d’Armes Spend a relaxed summer evening at this terrace bar (above) in Old Montreal. terrasseplacedarmes.com POP! Bar Laloux With a glass of wine, listen to live piano (every Thursday) at this Scandinavian-inspired bar. laloux.com New City Gas Dance to the tunes of international EDM artists at this heritage complex. Past performers include

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DJ Snake, Skrillex, and Chainsmokers. newcitygas.com Sir Winston Churchill Pub Complex This three-floor establishment houses an iconic pub, an English bar, and a club lounge. swcpc.com Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill If you love jazz, this intimate bar needs to be on your list. It has hosted legends like Mark Turner, Sheila Jordan, and Ingrid Jensen. upstairsjazz.com

Horseshoe Tavern Bryan Adams and The Rolling Stones have played at this historic live bar that hosts international performances. horseshoetavern.com Blnd Tger Arcade games, dancing, tap beer, and bottle service—need we say more? blndtger.com Ace Nightclub Dress up in your LBD or D&G jacket, and check out this trendy club (below)

with VIP booths and chic interiors. acetoronto.com The Rex One of the most thriving jazz bars in the city (since the 80s), The Rex offers 19 shows per week. therex.ca Second City Go to this comedy club and theatre for a dose of laughter. secondcity.com Lula Lounge Tap your feet to salsa, jazz, Brazilian, and African music, and try Latin cuisine. This world music bar also offers dance lessons. lula.ca The Fifth Social Club This Hamptons-style club is visited by celebs (think Matt Demon, Michael Jordan, and Paris Hilton). thefifth.com

F R O M T O P : Z O R A N M I L I C H / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F T E R R A S S E P L A C E D ’A R M E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F A C E T O R O N T O

NIGHTLIFE

Find Your Rhythm

Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes at the 2014 Festival International de Jazz de Montreal.

FESTIVALS TO ATTEND THIS MONTH MONTREAL

What’s Up, Canada?

Plan a visit around these events.

MONTREAL You will walk into a festival in Montreal, no matter when you decide to visit. From music, dance, and comedy to art, food, and sports, something is always going on in the city. The most beloved is the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal that has been a must-attend event for Jazzlovers for 35 years now. In this Jazz show, some 1,000 concerts are organised at indoor and outdoor venues. Also mark your calendar for Just For Laughs, Grand Prix Montreal, Montreal Infringement Festival (touted as an art democracy), Montreal En Lumière, and International Festival of Circus Arts.

GR OU ND REALI TY

C L O C K W I S E : R O B E R TA PA R K I N / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S H U T T E R S T O C K ; COLE BURSTON/GET T YIMAGES; SHUT TERSTOCK

FESTIVALS

TORONTO If Montreal hosts celebrations every week of every month, Toronto is not far behind with its list. Some of them get repeat visitors including Pride Week, the world’s second largest gay pride festival (Canada’s cool PM Justin Trudeau was seen marching in the parade this year); Toronto International Film Festival, one of the three most important international film festivals; and Toronto Fringe, the city’s largest theatre fest.

And then they have the annual Toronto Food Truck Festival, Toronto Design Week, The Word On The Street for lit fans, the annual 10-day Canadian Music Week, and the Festival of Beer.

l Montrealers are proud of their language (56 per cent Montrealers speak French), so visiting the city is actually a nice way to learn a few words or brush up your French. In Toronto, you will find a more diverse group, lots of mingling cultures, but as many as 55 per cent are English-

TORONTO

Celine Dion Concert The Canadian pop star is performing at Bell Centre till August 17.

Heavy Montreal The three-day festival will have metal, hard rock, heavy rock and everything in between. Aug 5-7; heavymontreal.com Montreal Pride Seven days of festivities, activities, and dancing, and the famous Pride Parade and Community Day. Aug 8-14; fiertemontrealpride.com 18th Century Public Market Visit 18th century stalls, catch demonstrations by craftsmen, and watch dancers and musicians perform. Aug 27-28; pacmusee.qc.ca Montreal World Film Festival The 40th edition will present international films as well as independent works. Aug 25 – Sept 5; ffm-montreal.org

Come 2017

speakers, so it’s completely fine if you don’t know what Joie de vivre means. l The French city is home to students and artists, so it has a laidback vibe. Allegedly, Montrealers are more approachable.

The Hollywood North, on the other hand, is more cosmopolitan and fast-paced.

Open Roof Festival It’s not a roof-top event, but that doesn’t make outdoor movie screenings and live band performances any less fun. Till Aug 24; openrooffestival.com The Taste of Danforth The 23-year-old street festival attracts 1.65 million people every year with its series of performances, events, and food stations. Aug 5-7; tasteofthedanforth.com Shakespeare in High Park Throughout the summer, the Canadian Stage will produce Shakespeare’s Hamlet and All’s Well That Ends Well at High Park Amphitheatre. Till Sept 4; canadianstage.com

Another reason to visit next year: Canada is celebrating its 150th birthday in 2017 and all its national parks will have free entry through the year.

l That being said, you can very easily make a fashion faux pas in the eyes of a stylish Torontonian. On the other hand, Montrealers are more easygoing, so by all means walk down Saint-Denis Street in your most outlandish clothes.

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Tia Rosa

Fashion designer Wendell Rodricks writes about his childhood memory of Tia Rosa, a woman who lived in the neighbourhood of his small village of Colvale, and taught him a few secrets of the Goan kitchen.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SHREYA KHARBANDA

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t was almost at the end of morning mass that a chapel bell begins to peal. The priest looks up at the high-vaulted ceiling of the Saint Francis of the Wounds Church in the remote Goan village of Colvale. The blue ceiling of the apse is covered in gilted stars that reside in the church by day and escape to sparkle in the sky by night. The walls of the church are pimpled like a youth in acne bloom, interspersed with peeling paint, some pieces hanging mid-air on invisible cobwebs. Too much salt in the water when they plastered the church has caused this sprouting and peeling. The salty water has risen brick by laterite brick, seeping through the laterite holes. Defying gravity, the saline liquid has risen towards the vault leaving behind a uniform curtain of peeling and spluttering. If you listen closely, you can hear the walls move and the paint splutter like bubbles rising to the surface.

Quite like the sound of water that bubbles in the large copper cauldron over the log fire in blackened, soot covered Goan kitchens.

The statue of Saint Francis on his knees below the crucified Christ is perched high on the altar platform. The face of Christ, resplendent with a pure silver halo, is bent towards the kneeling saint whose outstretched arms glow with pomegranate drops of stigmata.

A second gong! At this peal, the eyes of the sparse congregation turn from the altar and its dim interiors to the glowing light in the east where the sun is beginning its ascent over the hills of Tivim. Through the pale morning light outside the main entrance of the church, a startled white owl flutters past into the dark recesses of the high roof. Then a low mournful gong again!

Aunt Emilia whispers, ‘Someone has passed away. It sounds like it is someone near your house.’ She makes the sign of the cross and murmurs a prayer for the departed soul. On the fourth gong, the owl flies out of the church and swallows the sun.

On my way home, I feel the darkness of that moment when the owl darkened the sun, solar eclipse style. With each step, I approach the mourning chapel bells. Opposite my house, I can hear the plaintive voices of ladies in black dresses and long mantilla veils. Along with a few men in mothball-perfumed jackets, they are chanting a ladainha—the rosary, sung in Latin. In the darkened salon, Rosa lies in a purple felt coffin. Her face radiates in peaceful repose. Am I imagining it, or has someone put a lit diya in her mouth? I have never seen her glow so. Her alabaster hands riddled with pale blue-green veins clutch a sparkling crystal rosary. Those are the fingers that clutched my baby hands when we walked on the hills plucking orange coloured cashew fruit, golden mangoes, purple jambools, ivory yellow chunnas, black curvandahs with blood-red flesh within. In her soothing voice, she would point out the otters in the river, a rare crocodile, dancing peacocks, an elusive wolf and singing bulbuls. When we returned

Her husband was the kitchen, the apron her bridal dress. home at sunset, after the Angelus bells had pealed and we had said our evening prayers, Tia Rosa would arrive home with her cornucopia of goodies. Bolin has coconut cookies made with village eggs, a green chutney sandwich made crunchy with grated green apples, a slice of bibinca flambéed in Cointreau.

There was always some innovation with every preparation. She was an excellent cook. But she preferred to dine with her sister, my mother, since she was a lone spinster. Her husband was the kitchen, the apron her bridal dress. Living across the road had many advantages. The biggest was that Tia Rosa taught me to love the colours, the aromas, the textures that resided in her kitchen, in her hands and in her wondrous mind. What was impressive is how she created fusion food long before the word was made fashionable by chefs around the world. Her favourite word was ‘blend’. Followed by ‘with imagination’.

Long before I applied those words of wisdom to clothes, I learnt the basics from humble kitchen ingredients.

‘Today I am going to teach you an easy tender coconut jelly,’ Tia Rosa told me one hot summer morning. Damudor had plucked the matured coconuts

the day before and was requested by Tia Rosa to bring down three tender coconuts as well. Now they lay gleaming like polished, waxed footballs larger than my face. With expert flicks of her wrist, Carmeline the maid exposed the Calangute white, sand-coloured flesh, scooping the top off in a sabre stroke to reveal the clear juice within.

Drained into a glass bowl, chopped scrapings of the tender coconut flesh was added to the coconut juice. Goan molasses coloured the coconut water a golden Muscatel wine hue. Melting a few strands of china grass gelatin, Tia Rosa expertly blended the gelatinous liquid with the tender coconut water.

‘Now, my child, this is the regular recipe. What do you want to add to it?’ I scratched my mop of hair, chin resting at the level of the pink-veined marble kitchen top. ‘Why don’t we add you to the recipe?’ I replied, winking at her. ‘Excellent idea! Go to the garden and bring two pink roses from near the hibiscus shrub.’ In went the pale pink, perfumed rose petals. That night, Tia Rosa said a special ‘Grace before Meals’, extolling the virtues of my creativity with the dessert. I was in rapture at the end of the meal when everyone commented that the rose petals perfumed the golden jelly, but did not overpower the taste of the coconut. Subtlety was a key ingredient I had learnt from my aunt. Each day there was something to learn and marvel at. A chicken mayonnaise salad was infused with the delicious taste of diced, ripe Mankurada mango, crisped up with chilled lettuce and drizzled with crushed black pepper harvested from the garden. At the barbecue, shellfish was splashed with Pernod, beef steak with malt whiskey and local mullet wrapped in bacon.

The heavenly aromas, colours and flavour mixes became a game of sorts between us. Can we try throwing some pine seeds and dried black currants into the mutton kebabs? Shall we add marmalade to the bread-butter pudding? How about dusting the raw papaya salad with ginger juice, roasted peanuts and sesame seeds? For the olive oil and lime dressing, shall we try

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olive oil and tamarind juice? Instead of the standard pork belly with masala, let’s place the pork on fat onion rings drenched in beer, cover in sea salt and slow bake it for three hours till the meat shines like leather and almost falls off the bones. Squeezing a lime over these steamed asparagus will add to the nutty flavour. Tonight when we serve a bitter chocolate soufflé, can we add grated orange rind, a little salt and black pepper to heighten the cocoa taste ... and then serve with chilled red wine?

The possibilities were endless, creative, breathtaking in their imaginative potential. And now, as she lay in her coffin, I began to think up what I could do to make her look special. In the garden I fashioned blood red roses into a small heart and placed the wreath on her chest. In that dim salon, the red glowed and seemed to have a heartbeat of its own each time the candles flickered around the coffin.

One day Tia Rosa told me with a twinkle in her eye, ‘Tia Maria Fernanda taught me this recipe. We are going to elevate the humble drumstick vegetable to cuisine standards. I will teach you to make a drumstick mousse. Looking at my surprised expression, she added, ‘Now close your open mouth and wide eyes, and help Damudor collect two dozen drumsticks from the garden.’ The drumsticks were cut into four-inch long pieces and boiled, two cups of the boiled drumstick flesh were blended with half a cup each of milk and drumstick stock, three heaped tablespoons of grated cheese, a tablespoon each of butter and breadcrumbs, and two pinches of baking powder. Into this batter went five local village eggs whisked to a froth, salt and pepper. An oven proof casserole dish was greased and dusted with breadcrumbs. Into the casserole went the heavenly mousse mixture and baked in a medium oven for fifteen minutes. ‘Uncle Joao is allergic to eggs,’ Carmeline pointed out. Pat came Tia Rosa’s retort. ‘What are eggs?

Protein, right? Use five tablespoons of yoghurt instead.’

The mousse is delicious when served warm or cold. Guests would ask in disbelief, ‘Is this drumstick or

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asparagus?’ ‘Drumstick!’ I grin, till today, and the shower of compliments follow. The fat black caterpillar of the funeral cortege wound its way to church. Now I am no more the little boy who clutched Tia Rosa’s hand on the Colvale hillsides. I am a grownup hiding my tears behind memories of a favourite aunt and her incredible culinary art. A group of two dozen langurs come to shriek a fond farewell from the rooftops. The same langurs she had cursed when they broke the

terracotta tiles as they danced on the roof while being allowed to feast on the mangoes, guavas and papayas.

‘I shout at them, but never mind. We took their jungle with our houses and buildings. Let them enjoy what God gives us each season.’

With that Tia Rosa firmly forbade my gun-trotting Uncle Jose from ever using his rifle on the langurs on her roof. I slip out of my thoughts when the stones and mud begin to fly on the coffin in its six-feet-deep cave. They look like the raisins, currants, orange peels flying into the Christmas cake Tia Rosa made each year. I recall how she slit and chopped 225 g each of dried black raisins, white currants, orange peel and ground almonds and soaked them in a cup of Cognac three months before Christmas. Two weeks before baking day, Tia Rosa would ensure there were twenty-four local ‘gaunti’ eggs collected. Later, the entire

household would be put to work. ‘You blend 550 g butter with 350 g sugar till creamy. Carmeline, beat twenty-four egg yolks with ten egg whites till frothy as lace.’ She would insist I stand by and watch as she blended the beaten eggs into the creamed butter and sugar, a trickle at a time. Flour and semolina, 225 g each, were mixed with one-andahalf teaspoons of baking powder. This was folded expertly in a ‘cut and fold’ technique into the egg, sugar and butter mixture. In went the long-soaking, now plump with liquor, fruits with 100 g of sliced almonds. Even now, at this final stage, Tia Rosa would use her ‘blend with imagination’ motto.

To enhance the nutty flavour of the slivered almonds, a teaspoon of carom seeds was folded into the batter. Poured into two greased and dusted cake tins, the cakes were baked in a medium oven for half-an hour. During baking time, we were counselled to say a rosary for Tia Rosa or the cakes would be a disaster. The aroma floated across the entire street and sent Aunt Emilia into a green rage. ‘There she is again. Year after year she makes that damn cake which the parish priest raves and raves about, ignoring my coconut cake. Just because she is a spinster, dresses well and cooks better than anyone, all the men are at her feet. I am sure when she dies, Padre will say extra-long prayers at her grave.’ Which is exactly what happened! At the end of the lengthy prayers for Tia Rosa’s soul, lightning and thunder blister and crackle in the sky; the heavens open and huge drops of rain herald the Goan monsoon. Our tears mix with those from heaven. As I leave the graveyard, I swear I can smell the aroma of Tia Rosa’s Christmas cake wafting up from the earth.

It has stayed with me ever since.

The recently launched book, Chillies and Porridge: Writing Food, is a collection of short stories brought together by Mita Kapur, founder and CEO of Siyahi, India’s leading literary consultancy.

Inside, readers will find stories by Bachi Karkaria, Chitrita Banerji, Mamang Dai and Naintara Maya Oberoi about food.

Rs 499. Published by Harper Colins.

OTTOMAN OPULENCE

made

measureto

A TURKISH DELIGHT A family-run haute jeweller in Turkey and

a history-laden palace hotel join hands to create

I S T A N B U L’ S most exclusive, O F F - B E A T T R A V E L E X P E R I E N C E . This is the success story we need in

A G F/ G E T T Y I M A G E S

times like these. B Y R I A A N J A C O B G E O R G E

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CLOCKWISE: At Hotel Kempinski Ciragan Palace; a portrait of the Gelan family— Muharrem, Osman, and Ferhan Geylan; a jeweller working on a Theodora Necklace; the Tugra restaurant has a view to kill.

sman Geylan shows up at our pre-decided meeting spot, bang on schedule, dressed sharply in a grey suit and nifty Italian shoes.

We greet each other as he ushers me down a leafy, cobblestoned street right behind Istanbul’s historic Grand Bazaar precinct, through a labyrinth of alleys, and into a nondescript building. Inside, a fortified room greets me with a mid-morning feast of Turkish coffee and artisanal baklava spread and I am introduced to Muharrem Geylan, Osman’s father, and the founder of Gilan, the one of Turkey’s most sought-after luxury brands. Around us, in secluded cubicles, I see a bunch of artisans, busy at work, peering into microscopes, adding finishing touches to pieces. This is one of the many family workshops.

My visit here and the morning with the illustrious Geylands is fraught with purpose of course. The family-run Istanbul-based brand has brought together heritage, luxury, and fashion by collaborating with the historic Ciragan Palace Kempinski hotel and the Topkapi Palace, an the ancient Ottoman residence. This is the first of three stops on the new experiential tour offered to a select set of luxury travellers— Osman begins by summarising for me, “This collaboration is possibly the most luxurious and exclusive thing for travellers to do in Istanbul. Guests at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski get to be on a private tour of the Topkapi Palace with my father, Muharrem, that is followed by a visit to the artisanal workshops to understand the high-levels of savoir-faire, ending at one of the VIP suites at the hotel, with an extravagant display of jewellery.

“The experience is not free, nor is it something you can just book at the concierge,” Muharrem interrupts, “it needs to be requested and booked in advance. It also depends on my availability since I conduct the Topkapi Palace tour myself.” A hotel representative would tell me later that this experience is complementary only to a couple getting married at the hotel, along with their parents.

The Art of Palace Setting Techniques

To gain an in-depth understanding of this strategic partnership, it is important to understand that all the players—the brand, the hotel and the palace—are inextricably linked by their history. Gilan was founded in 1980 by

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T H E O D O R A has long been considered one of the most powerful women in Turkish history, and the

THEODORA

N E C K L A C E , with its rose-cut, dome-shaped stones in a special custom-made design, is a

S I G N A T U R E C R E A T I O N that

C L O C K W I S E : H A C K E N B E R G - P H O T O - C O L O G N E /A L A M Y; C O U R T E S Y O F G I L A N ( 2 ) C O U R T E S Y O F C I R A G A N PA L A C E K E M P I N S K I

takes almost three years to make.

5

ESSENTIAL OTTOMAN EXPERIENCES

ARTS & ANTIQUES Look at Ottoman art

on mosaics found on 400-year old streets, rare calligraphy collections, and enjoy coffee at cafés with spectacular views of the Bosphorus. This tour also takes you to Istanbul’s best design stores, vintage boutiques, antique dealers and art galleries. unisonturkey.com

FOOD Kurtuluş was once home to religious minority groups during the Ottoman Empire, but has maintained its unique, community-oriented soul. On this tour, shop, cook, and feast in this lovely neighbourhood. culinarybackstreets.com/ tours-food-tours ARCHITECTURE Visit neighbourhoods like

the one near the Golden Horn where you can still see local homes from the Ottoman era and old Byzantine city walls while on curated walking tours from mylocalguideistanbul.com

MUSIC & DANCE Go for short on long

immersion into music and dance from Ottoman and Romany cultures. orientalistanbul.com

HERITAGE Find here, tours guided by noted academicians with access to sites of Byzantine buildings, Roman remains, and Ottoman mosques and palaces not open to normal tourists. martinrandall.com TTRRAAVVEELL ++ LLEEI ISSUURREE // AAUUGGUUSSTT 22001166

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Muharrem and Ferhan. But the Geylan family’s tryst with luxury dates back to the 18th century when the founders’ grandmother had tailored dresses exclusively for the Ottoman pashas. The pashas were important people back then, and these dresses were one-of-a-kind pieces. "That’s how this tradition for bespoke, limited edition pieces came about," says Osman, "luxury flows in our blood. Even today, we make a few 100 pieces a year, and most of them are unique."

Reams have been written about the brand, keeping alive the precious art of ‘palace setting techniques’, dating back to the Ottoman courts. The jewellers of the Ottoman courts enjoyed their heyday in the 15th century, when Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, welcomed them into his palace and patronised them. These court-promoted artisans developed their own palace setting techniques, which have remained a closely-guarded family secret to this day. Today, Gilan employs a small and select bunch of the last-remaining artisans from these families, to keep these palace setting techniques alive. Osman explains, “Most of the techniques that travellers see today are the very same techniques used in the palace. For example, the setting technique for rose-cut diamond—you have the diamond, then underneath you close the setting, you mount it on a piece made of silver and then the whole piece is mounted on a base of 18-carat yellow gold.”

Who, then, are the custodians of this dying art? “Today, the craftsmen working for us are the direct descendants of the those who worked at the Ottoman palace. They all come from different backgrounds, some come from Europe, some from India. It is a craft that is passed on from generation to generation. So does the family see this as a dying art that needs to be showcased to travellers? Muharrem says, “At a certain level, it is a dying art. But we are doing what we can to preserve it. We are seen as a national brand because we are preserving a culture of luxury, which is very important.”

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ABOVE AND BELOW:

Ciragan Palace Kempinski looks splendid affront the Bosphorus River; fine dining at Sunset Grill & Bar with top notch seafood delicacies.

OPPOSITE: A well-appointed suite at Ciragan Palace Kempinski; the way to the hamam at the hotel.

IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD WINE & DINE

The trendiest location in Istanbul these days, the Sunset Grill & Bar promises a breathtaking, panoramic view of the Bosphorus River and the cityscape from its vantage point on a hilltop in Ulus Park. Named among the best restaurants in Europe, Sunset not only serves up a great Turkish menu but Istanbul’s best sushi, created by Japanese chef Hiroki Takemura. Don’t forget to ask for a tour of their cellars. Sunset’s sommelier will happily show you the many priceless bottles and precious vintages, from Petrus to d’Yquem, all in one evening! sunsetgrillbar.com

BE SEEN

Spend an afternoon at Istanbul’s trendiest district, Nisantasi. Besides your regular luxury suspects like Chanel and Armani, the discreet neighbourhood is home to a lot of homegrown Turkish luxury fashion brands, design stores and multi-brand stores. Stop at one of the fashionable sidewalk cafes between stores and watch Istanbul’s swish set saunter past.

C L O C K W I S E : C O U R T E S Y O F C I R A G A N PA L A C E K E M P I N S K I ( 3 ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F S U N S E T G R I L L & B A R

made

measureto

The Topkapi Treasury

Being so explicitly linked to the Ottoman court, Gilan’s partnership with the Topkapi Palace is only logical.

One of the main features on Istanbul’s tourist trail, the erstwhile residence of the Ottoman kings between the 1400s and the 1800s, today stands as proof of the halcyon days of Istanbul’s Golden Age. As he walks me through the palace, lavishing me with tales of the country’s heritage, Muharrem talks about Gilan’s involvement in the Topkapi Palace. “In 1999, we signed an agreement with the Ministry y of Culture to sponsor the renovation of the Treasury Chambers of the palace. The royal treasury was entirely restored in keeping with its original 16th century look.

When you visit the Palace treasury with me, not only will I explain the relevance of the jewellery on display there, but also highlight certain precious objects, like thrones and baby beds, which are made of gemstones. They are guaranteed to mesmerise you.”

The Most Extravagant Address

Later that afternoon, I find myself at the other end of town, within the stately confines of the Ciragan Palace Kempinski, an Istanbul landmark of sorts and a lavish 17th century palace, once housing the aristocratic sultans of the Ottoman era. The Ottomans may have left, but the opulent palace has vehemently shunned extinction. Under the Leading Hotels of the World banner, the Ciragan Palace Kempinski is as close as you can get to living like an Ottoman. As I admire the grand staircase, ornate ceilings, massive chandeliers, my Gilan guide leads me to the VIP suite. The original palace rooms have been refurbished and restored to make room for 12 massive VIP suites. While waiting for the jewellery, the palace’s General Manager, Ralph Radtke, lets me in on an insider’s secret—the palace

ISTANBUL SOCIAL

CHAMPAGNE ON THE BOSPHORUS

This is not your regular, touristy Bosphorus cruise.

If you’re a guest at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski, the hotel will arrange for a private yacht for you.

What’s special about this experience is that you aren’t left in the hands of the yacht operators. The hotel has its own liveried staff on board popping the champagne and making fresh Bloody Marys, and even serving up a gourmet meal as you spend an afternoon soaking up the sun.

STAGE THE EXHIBIT

‘DANCING ON THE BOSPHORUS’ This ring in sapphire, Tanzanite and white diamonds is from the Colours of Emotion Collection.

The crown of the city’s buzzing art scene, Istanbul Modern, is a minimalist, 8,000-square-metre space, spectacularly located on the banks of the Bosphorus, housing some fabulous temporary and permanent exhibits. The waterfront museum cafe and design store are perfect for a relaxed afternoon surrounded by great art! istanbulmodern.org

DINE WITH THE LOCALS

Don’t expect a luxurious setting at Pandeli.

However, the food here makes the strongest statement. Not in the least bit touristy, Pandeli is a popular hangout among the locals. Enter the restaurant through the Spice Market, along the waterfront, and order a series of Turkish mezze and grills, cooked to perfection, like in traditional Turkish homes. Wash down with copious amounts of Turkish tea. pandeli.com.tr

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OTTOMAN OPULENCE

wing’s old marble-carved Turkish bath, or hamam, has been converted into a super exclusive private dining-bar area, frequented by a bevy of international celebrities, politicians, and royalty.

It is here, twice a year, that his customers—some of the world’s wealthiest people—flock to for a private showcase.

This is the culminating point of the Ottoman jewellery experience and to me, the idea of showcasing multi-million dollar jewellery, in a suite that is among the most expensive in the world is a good fit.

Istanbul Inspired

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FROM ABOVE:

The luxurious interious of the Ciragan Palace Kempinski; Topkapi Palace is embellished in priceless opulence.

THE DETAILS

GETTING THERE Turkish Airlines flies their stateof-the-art Boeing 777-300ER daily between Mumbai/Delhi and Istanbul, featuring their signature ‘Flying Chef’ service and free wifi in Business Class.

SALMA HAYEK WEARING GILAN IN PARIS

It is not unusual to spot celebrities flaunting Gilan creations on the red carpet. Among them are Amber Heard, Drew Barrymore, Penelope Cruz, and Lucy Liu.

SHOP

Midnight Express This trendy multi-brand store is located in the hip Bebek district and is great place to shop for local fashion and jewellery. midnightexpress.com.tr Silk & Cashmere As the name suggests, this store at Nisantasi is your find for fine silk and cashmere, apart from accessories, and home decor. silkandcashmere.com

BRING BACK

Gourmet coffee and tea of course, along with traditional Turkish eau de cologne and Turkish towels.

F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F C I R A G A N PA L A C E K E M P I N S K I ; AT L A N T I D E P H O T O T R AV E L /A L A M Y; C O U R T E S Y O F G I L A N

When the jewellery arrives and is spread out, the importance of Gilan’s cuts are carefully explained. The tulip cut, used mainly for coloured stones, I'm told, is symbolic because the tulip is Turkey's national flower.

Again, the rose cut is a trademark and is referred to as the Istanbul cut, since it is shaped like a dome.

I marvel at the Bosphorus Cuff, studded entirely with sapphires, emeralds, and white diamonds, to represent the banks of the legendary waterway, pendants with coloured sapphires and white diamonds depicting the minarets on the skyline of the city, earrings shaped like Istanbul’s famous seagulls, and even a ring whose setting represents the Sultan and his cabinet of ministers (the central diamond and the surrounding stone).

After having had my fill of exquisite jewellery, I walk through the hallowed corridors of the Ciragan Palace Kempinski’s heritage wing and get a sneak into the Sultan Suite. Deemed as one of the most luxurious suites in the world, this massive two-bedroom suite is an accurate recreation of an Ottoman palace. The 12-seater dining table in the stately dining room has welcomed a host of international celebrities. I look out of the window from the Sultan Suite. The Palace Terrace is possibly the most breathtaking courtyard one can come across. With the blue Bosphorus on one side, and the palace facade on the other, this would make for a perfect setting for a fairytale wedding.

Before we part, Osman Geylan ends the experience perfectly. “Going to a boutique and buying expensive things is no longer relevant. New-age luxury travellers want experiences that are unique to a city, they cherish the art of bespoke. They might choose to buy a piece, and that is great, but if they don’t, they leave Istanbul with a memory for life.”

As for me, I proceed to the hotel’s Turkish fine dining restaurant, Tugra. After all the jewellery talk, an evening of palace cuisine seems only appropriate. lhw.com; gilan.com

D R E A M ST I M E

Dublin’s Cool Southside The glaring red of The Temple Bar in Dublin, a well-known landmark that locals use as their compass North.

The best thing about Dublin is that you'll always have something that compliments your travel personality; whether you are a gourmand, a shopaholic, a teetotaller or like to return to the hotel tipsy. BY MALAVIKA BHATTACHARYA

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DUBLIN

People sitting outside a cafe in the Temple Bar District.

Eat PRIME TIME RESERVATIONS

A gourmand's Dublin will have hard-to-book restaurants on the itinerary. You could start with these three.

REINVENTED

There’s a buzz about town in Dublin’s once-weary quarters. Hit by a major economic slump in 2008, the Irish capital is on the upswing with a resurgence of trendy cafes and concept stores, experimental bars and vibrant restaurants. Parts of the city that once wore a dishevelled look with abandoned warehouses and boarded up windows are now being reinvented by a slew of hip young locals, out to reclaim these spaces with art, music, design, and food.

Dublin is a city on a cusp and the signs of a revival is apparent. The economic downturn is fresh in the minds of young people in their 20s and 30s.

Yet, their spirit is indefatigable and they are using all the tools at their disposal to lead a creative renaissance in a city so full of Gaelic charm.

Though the city is best known for its alwayslively Temple Bar area, there are charming neighbourhoods away from this loud tourist trap that have given rise to true gems. A typical example of such gentrification is the aptly moniker Creative Quarter, an area around Drury Street in the south of the city. Just two streets away from the upmarket shopping hub of Grafton Street, a stone’s throw from the Dublin Castle, Trinity College and open green spaces including St. Stephen’s Green, this is the enclave where design, art, and resilience collide.

Full of speciality businesses, boutiques, galleries, culinary and shopping offerings, the area is a perfect example of how a neighbourhood that was once rough around the edges has reinvented itself.

THE VIEW

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A restaurant by the seven-floor Guinness Storehouse.

FADE ST. SOCIAL

At the next corner, where tiny Fade Street branches off from Drury Street, is one of Dublin’s hottest institutions: Fade St. Social. There’s a restaurant with fresh local produce, a tapas room, and a cocktail bar. It’s the below-groundlevel tapas section that’s the liveliest, filled with large groups seated at the long tables.The tapas menu is great for sharing: pork belly, peppered bacon, beef Carpaccio, etc. Scrawled on a blackboard are the cuts of steak for the day: aged rib, tomahawk and the like, all sold by weight. A 590-gram chateaubriand? Go with an appetite. fadestreetsocial.com

SUPER MISS SUE

Occupying a prime corner on Drury Street, the bright and friendly Super Miss Sue (SMS for short) offers a contemporary take on the evergreen fish and chips. Combining a takeaway called Cervi, a casual café ideal for lazy brunches, and a fine-dine offering called Luna, expect fresh Italian-style seafood: tender salmon with watercress and wasabi mayo; fresh

The entrance to Super Miss Sue.

The Winter Garden at Fade St. Social. oysters on ice and humongous shellfish platters. supermisssue.com

FALLON & BYRNE

Multi-level offerings seem to be all the rage in Dublin, and Fallon & Byrne, on Exchequer Street, stands as yet another testament to this fact. A wine cellar in the basement, a desireinducing grocery store on the ground level, and a lovely restaurant in the upper levels, this is where you can buy your bread and eat it too. In the lanes of the airy food hall, dip into buckets of green olives, taste crumbly cheese, and breathe in the aroma of freshly baked bread. There’s a coffee counter and bakery, and at the deli, you'll find a great honey-roasted ham and Parmesan cheese sandwich stuffed with fresh greens and tomatoes. For dinner upstairs though, indulge in fresh fish with spinach and pumpkin puree, along with a side of roast carrots and baby potatoes. fallonandbyrne.com

On an easy day, walk to the end of the Dun Laoghaire Pier for a view of the southern neighbourhoods across the Dublin Bay.

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

WHY GO TO SOUTH DUBLIN...

CLOCK WISE: COURTESY OF BROTHER HUBBARD; COURTESY OF SISTER SADIE; COURTESY OF THE BLIND PIG; COURTESY OF BROTHER HUBBARD; COURTESY OF THE K APH

For coffee and cakes or light finger sandwiches, arrive at Brother Hubbard.

p Dr ink U WEEKEND HOTSPOTS

IF YOU'RE CRAVING ASIAN BEVERAGES, TRY

YAMAMORI

at 72, South Great George's Street, Dublin 2. They've been serving some exclusive premium sake for the past two decades.

There are ways to destress on the weekend. From Irish coffees to single malts, these are our picks.

A fine selection at Kaph.

Savoury delights are a must try at Brother Hubbard.

BROTHER HUBBARD

Coffee is no small affair here in Dublin. North of the River Liffey, Brother Hubbard is an independent café that’s made quite a name of itself in the coffee and sandwich space. brotherhubbard.ie

SISTER SADIE

Their Southside branch, also known as Sister Sadie, keeps up the easy going atmosphere. An airy space with pale wood interiors, minimalist design and a wide glass frontage overlooking the street, it’s a lovely spot to get your morning dose of caffeine and a muffin, and lazily segue into brunch with their selection of Middle Eastern flavours.

Harrington Street, Dublin 8.

KAPH

With its skimmed-coconut-milk coffees and matcha green tea lattes that fit right into the healthy and organic rage taking over the world nowadays, it doesn’t get more hipster than Kaph on Drury Street. The café draws a range of creative types to its two-storey establishment, and it’s not uncommon to find a pop-up exhibition of an artist’s work on the upper floor. kaph.ie

THE BERNARD SHAW

It’s not surprising to find a bar at every turn in the city that birthed the famous 'black stuff', Guinness, and Jameson whiskey. Hard to miss, though, is The Bernard Shaw, named for playwright George Bernard Shaw

who is also among the city’s many famous sons. Coffee shop by day, bar by night, and pizzeria throughout, this establishment takes a cue from its graffiti-splattered surrounds to introduce bright art within its interiors. Don’t let the tiny entrance fool you—the innards open up to reveal numerous lively alcoves including a large, mural-covered beer garden in the courtyard that doubles up as an exhibition space; the Big Blue Van, which dispenses pizzas; and an indoor bar. This is where you might wander into a flea market one day, an art exhibit the next, and a live gig some other time.

Whatever you walk into, it’s always a great stop for a pint. 11-12 South Richmond Street, Dublin 2

GROGAN’S

For some of that typical Irish craic, there’s nothing like an old-school Dublin pub such as Grogan’s. A local described it to me as “a permanent art exhibition”, referring to the

Just before the crowd arrives, this quaint joint preps up. numerous and ever-changing works of art by local Irish artists that hang on the walls (also for sale). As with many of the city’s pubs, Grogan’s was, in the ‘70s, the haunt of prolific and thirsty writers. Today, it remains a prime spot for people watching, given its unbeatable location in the heart of the city’s shopping quarter.

Kick back and say sláinte! groganspub.ie

Confidential A five-minute walk from the Trinity College near Grafton Street, The Blind Pig is a closely guarded 1920s-style speakeasy, great for cocktails and dinner.

Passwords and directions are revealed on reservation. theblindpig.ie

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DUBLIN

LIKE THE OLD SCHOOL? HEAD TO

FANCISCHMANCY VINTAGE

Shop SIGNIFICANT PRICE TAGS

at 4, Upper Frownes Street, a quaint vintage store in the Temple Bar area storing dresses, blouses, and knitwear apart from period accessories.

Shoppers passing Brown Thomas department store on Dublin's Grafton Street. BELOW: You won't leave empty handed from George's Arcade.

GRAFTON STREET

Most Dublin visitors head straight to the city’s poshest shopping stretch, Grafton Street, for designer brandstocked department Brown Thomas and jewellers Pandora. Venture beyond this main drag though, for authentic Irish finds, fewer crowds, and more character.

POWERSCOURT TOWNHOUSE CENTRE

In a grand Georgian building just off Grafton Street, the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre is a major draw for its boutiques and restaurants.

In the 18th century, the building was Lord Powercourt’s townhouse, and the architecture retains a regal flair with a glass roof letting filtered

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sunlight in and shops surrounding a central courtyard. It’s crammed with fashion, culinary, and design offerings. The stone steps leading up to the entrance are packed with locals and visitors nursing coffees while watching the buzz of South William Street. powerscourtcentre.ie

GEORGE’S STREET ARCADE

Just across the road is the Victorianstyle building of George’s Street Arcade, one of the city’s oldest shopping centres, reconstructed after a fire gutted it in the 1800s.

Under the arches of this market, you’ll find stalls selling books, second-hand stores with vintage clothing and antiques, florists, and food stalls. georgesstreetarcade.ie

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F R O M T O P : P H I L C R E A N A /A L A M Y; K E V I N G E O R G E /A L A M Y

Indulge in some retail therapy. The shopping districts give you ample reason to swipe the card.

St ay PERFECT PILLOW Book a suite in a quiet locale or a busy neighbourhood, here are two hotels catching our attention.

The Dean is for the artistically inclined traveller.

Pay a visit to Nowhere Man; it sells an exclusive range of fashionable menswear.

s d n i F t a Gr e CITY EXCLUSIVE Dublin's characteristic quirks come in handy on a slow afternoon. Here's where you head.

CLOCK WISE: COURTESY OF NOWHERE MAN; COURTESY OF THE DEAN; COURTESY OF IRISH DESIGN SHOP

NOWHERE MAN

On a non-descript road, behind a dark frontage in an old building stands Nowhere Man. A fairly new entrant that debuted on the scene only in late 2014, this minimalistic menswear store stocks designer labels in clothing, shoes, accessories for men who like to dress outside of Irish convention. Great finds include coats by Irish designer Alan Taylor and charcoal backpacks by Côte & Ciel. nowhere.ie

IRISH DESIGN SHOP

The Irish Design Shop was among the first few stores on Drury Street and is a labour of love by jewellery designers Clare Grennan and Laura Caffrey. Find the best of Irish design and craft; the store promotes

Bring back home decor products from the Irish Design Shop.

indigenous talent. With an eclectic collection, featuring Denise Nestor art, delicate jewellery and homeware, soft wool scarves, notebooks by Duffy, and stationary emblazoned with Irish motifs, everything in the store is covetworthy. The duo scour the country picking out pieces and commissioning works to Irish designers in their mission to promote home-grown talent. irishdesignshop.com

THE R.A.G.E

In a red brick building around the corner on Fade Street is The R.A.G.E—a throwback to the era of analogue music and old-school video games. The vintage record and video game store is every vinyl geek and ‘90s fanboy’s dream. The video game collection seems impressive, with retro favourites such as Mario and Zelda gracing the shelves.

Dusty-jacketed LPs feature everything from the Vanilla Fudge and Talking Heads to Patti Smith and the Velvet Underground. therage.ie

BE SURE TO ATTEND AN

IRISH TRAD

session. The folk music of Ireland plays a big role in its pub culture and traditional trad or music nights are lively affairs featuring bow strings and wind instruments, and often, a fiddle.

THE DEAN

Among the city’s hottest new hotels, The Dean is an ultra-cool space across from the peaceful Iveagh Gardens. You walk straight into the neon-lit bar, which doubles as the lobby and reception. On the upper levels, sleek rooms feature quirky Irish art in a bid to support local artists, turntables and stacks of records, Nespresso machines and trays of Irish munchies. Sophie’s, the buzzing, glass-enclosed bar on the roof offers a stunning view of the

GLASNEVIN CEMETERY

ST CATHERINE’S CHURCH

GUINNESS BREWERY

BROOKS HOTEL

Though Dublin is eminently walkable and all of the Southside’s attractions are packed into a tiny parcel, nothing beats being in the centre of the Creative Quarter on Drury Street. The Brooks Hotel is ideally placed at a stone’s throw from the neighbourhood’s trendiest restaurants, bars, boutiques and best sights. brookshotel.ie

Free Mapping

Oxmantown

Victoria Quay

city skyline apart from being a top spot for parties. deandublin.ie

Usher's Street

Quite contrary to popular belief, you can actually cross Dublin without passing a single pub. Embark on a tour with Hidden Dublin Walks & Tours (hiddendublinwalks.com) that takes you through tea rooms, The Science Gallery, the Jam Art Factory, among other places right to the other end of the city. Funky Seomra (dancefree.ie) for example, is a club enroute where people get together for alcohol-free club nights.

Thomas Street

WESTBURY HOTEL

HOW TO CROSS DUBLIN WITHOUT PASSING A PUB

Aungier Street

Mespil Road

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it list

2016

Each year, Travel + Leisure checks in to hundreds of buzzy new properties, but only a select few earn a place on the It List, our annual editors’ choice awards. What sets these 49 winners apart: a refreshing take on service and design, an uncharted location, or enough glitz. In short, these are hotels worth travelling for. Here, 20 of our favourites.

THE SCENE MAKER SOHO HOUSE I STA N B U L

T O M PA R K E R

Hotels have been opening in Istanbul at quite a clip lately. But none capture the energy of the city quite like the Soho House in Beyoğlu, set in a cluster of buildings that includes the former American Embassy. The inlaid wood and gilded interiors had been hiding under drywall and white paint; now, they embellish a private club for members and hotel guests, with three restaurants, a speakeasy-style bar, and a rooftop pool, where a glittering crowd smokes and air-kisses into the night. The rooms, in a new structure across a pretty courtyard, impress on their own: warm, tactile cocoons of dark wood layered with beautiful textiles. Think of them as a necessary respite from the formidable chic next door, so close and yet so far.

Doubles from US$272. sohohouseistanbul.com

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2016

THE ZEN MASTER PHUM BAITANG

S I E M R E A P, CA M B O D I A

THE INDIE DARLING | HOTEL EMMA SA N A N TO N I O, T EX AS

Some are calling San Antonio Texas’ next capital of cool—and Hotel Emma is at the centre of it all. A brewery turned hotel sounds like a hipster cliché, but the Roman & Williams–designed showstopper advances the industrial-chic aesthetic.

Its 146 character-packed rooms have original stonework and vaulted ceilings, along with an urban edge (guayabera-inspired seersucker robes, exposed steel window frames) . The Emma also fits in with its epicurean neighbours: the on-site larder stocks breads from nearby Bakery Lorraine, the restaurant draws from the bi-weekly farmers’ market, and throwback ice boxes in each room hold the fixings for margaritas. Be sure to hit the bar Sternewirth—the former watering hole for brewery workers, which dates to 1883—where old fermentation tanks double as banquette seats. Doubles from US$325. thehotelemma.com

THE DESIGN STAR | CASA FAYETTE G UA DA L A JA R A , M EX I C O

Grupo Habita, Casa Fayette’s owner, has a knack for creating buzz around Mexican destinations. This time, the company has anointed Guadalajara the next ‘it’ city—specifically Colonia Americana, a bougainvillea-covered neighbourhood of galleries and restaurants. Housed in a 1940s Art Deco mansion, the 37-room property has been given an avant-garde remodel by local firm Estudio5. The interiors mix serious design pieces with whimsical, retro touches. Chairs in the bar are upholstered in a palm-tree print and are dripping in gold tassels; the bathrooms are wall-to-wall marble lit by Midcentury fixtures. Come Saturday night, a who’s who stops by the dramatically lit bar. Doubles from US$132. casafayette.com

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Angkor Wat tops many a bucket list, but the crowds can make seeing the temple a frenetic experience. Siem Reap’s latest resort, with 45 villas on stilts amid lemongrass fields and rice paddies, puts a serene, five-star spin on the area’s traditional wooden farmhouses: each suite has an indoor and an outdoor sitting area, a deep soaking tub, and panoramic jungle views.

Continue your cultural immersion with a coconut-milk massage at the seven-room spa, modeled on the area’s UNESCOdesignated temples, or a crash course on Khmer cuisine at restaurant Bay Phsar. Doubles from US$417. phumbaitang.com

G R I D : T O P R O W C E N T R E A N D M I D D L E R O W L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F H O T E L E M M A . O T H E R S I N G R I D : N I C O L E F R A N Z E N . O T H E R S O N PA G E : C O U R T E S Y O F D E S I G N H O T E L S ( 2 )

it list

BA R C E LO N A

THE CULTURE MAGNET | FAENA M I A M I B E AC H

If a city hotel could ever mimic the why-bother-going-out feeling of a resort, it would be the Cotton House. Set in a 19th-century Neoclassical landmark— once the Cotton Producers Guild—the 83-room gem from Autograph Collection has been deftly reinvented by designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán. His preservation of many original features, like the spiral staircase, tiled floors, and intricately carved ceilings, gives the lobby a sense of history. The location by the boutiques of Passeig de Gràcia is another plus. Nonetheless, we saw guests content to stay on-property, lounging by the rooftop pool and reading in the library. Doubles from US$263. hotelcottonhouse.com

THE BEACH BABE | ONE&ONLY OCEAN CLUB PA R A D I S E I S L A N D, BA H A M AS

Developer Alan Faena tasked Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin with helping him reimagine the historic Saxony Hotel, the anchor of his six-block-long cultural district.

The result? A surreal mash-up evocative of late-period Gianni Versace and the Moulin Rouge. The lobby has eight Juan Gatti murals, including neo-Baroque images of skulls and horses. In the garden is Damien Hirst’s Gone But Not Forgotten, a giant 24-karat-gold-gilded woolly-mammoth skeleton. Los Fuegos, Francis Mallmann’s first US project, serves a rib eye with chimichurri that transcends the hype. The guest rooms are over the top, with red velvet armchairs and turquoise carpeting. Up next is an arts centre by Rem Koolhaas/OMA. Brace yourself, America: the FaenaLand invasion has begun. Doubles from US$745. faena.com

When A&P heir Huntington Hartford II conceived his Bahamian retreat a half-century ago, it’s unlikely that he could have pictured guests arriving in Bentleys with wifi. But times have changed—and so has this property, following a partial but impactful face-lift. The most exciting addition is the oceanfront infinity pool, where couples sip elderflower martinis from butler-serviced chaises. The 52 rooms in the original Hartford Wing were also enlarged and redone; the colonial-style décor was swapped out for clean-lined furnishings and blue-and-cream hues.

Hartford would definitely have approved. Doubles from US$1,035. oneandonlyresorts.com

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F R O M T O P : M E R I T X E L L A R J A L A G U E R ; C O U R T E S Y O F FA E N A H O T E L M I A M I B E A C H ; C O U R T E S Y O F O N E & O N LY O C E A N C L U B

THE NEW GRANDE DAME | COTTON HOUSE HOTEL

it list

2016

THE SECRET ESCAPE BARBUDA BELLE BA R B U DA

There are no planes in the sky, no big boats on the horizon, and no sounds but wind and waves at the remote paradise of Barbuda Belle. You arrive by boat to Antigua’s under-the-radar sister island, where six bamboo bungalows are splayed out along a pristine beach. After a few days spent kayaking among the mangroves, bird-watching at the nearby frigate sanctuary, and lying on the pink sands, you’ll realise exactly what you’ve found: perhaps the most untouched hiding place in the increasingly developed Caribbean. Doubles from US$1,190. barbudabelle.com

Luxury resorts have been moving in to the Bazaruto Archipelago—a 550-square-mile protected marine park off the coast of southern Mozambique—and after a yearlong overhaul, andBeyond Benguerra Island has emerged as the best of the bunch. The 13 stand-alone, thatched-roof suites, which sit by the water’s edge, stylishly pay homage to the area’s Afro-Arabic-Portuguese roots with mahogany four-poster beds and handpainted tiles depicting animal scenes. You can order up a private picnic or go diving at Two-Mile Reef. Just sitting with a cocktail at the beach bar—a converted dhow—is also perfectly acceptable. Doubles from US$1,530, all-inclusive. andbeyond.com

THE INSIDER HANGOUT HALCYON HOUSE

CA BA R I TA B E AC H , AU ST R A L I A

How did a surf mecca of 3,000 people become the Hamptons of Australia? Ask Elisha and Siobhan Bickle, whose 21-room inn has fuelled a boomtown roughly one hour north of Sydney. Each room has details like salvaged hardware, handpicked antiques, and walls upholstered in blue-and-white-patterned textiles. They also have Frette robes, champagne in the mini-bars, and, in many cases, deep soaking tubs. Bonus: guests get VIP access to Paper Daisy, the seafood restaurant, whose chef hails from Noma.

Doubles from US$397. halcyonhouse.com

THE RUSTIC CHARMER | HOUSE HOTEL CA P PA D O C I A , T U R K E Y

The first thing that distinguishes the House Hotel is its location in Ortahisar, a picturesque village off Cappadocia’s main tourist track. Gone is the stuffy, museum-like quality found in many of the region’s properties: the 29 understated guest rooms deftly blend past and present, with frescoes and fifth-century natural

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

THE TROPICAL FANTASY ANDBEYOND BENGUERRA ISLAND MOZAMBIQUE

F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F E S P E R A N Z A , A N A U B E R G E R E S O R T; C O U R T E S Y O F S O U T H B E A C H SINGAPORE, A MEMBER OF PREFERRED HOTELS & RESORTS (5)

THE COMEBACK KID | ESPERANZA CA B O SA N LU CAS , M EX I C O

Cabo San Lucas may have one of the highest concentrations of five-star hotels per square mile in the world. But Auberge Resorts’ Esperanza—which received a stem-to-stern renovation after Hurricane Odile—is the first to bring the Mexican hacienda aesthetic into the 21st century. The 57 suites and casitas now have woven-leather headboards, pillows made from locally embroidered fabrics, and high-tech binoculars for whale-watching. Perhaps more important, they also have the area’s largest private patios, with hammocks or hot tubs facing the Sea of Cortés. The intuitive service is another selling point, especially when it includes free impromptu massages at your poolside cabana. Doubles from US$550. aubergeresorts.com

THE STATEMENT PIECE | SOUTH BEACH S I N GA P O R E

stone walls alongside rain showers and heated Turkish-marble floors.

The designers know you’re going to be outside exploring the iconic fairy chimneys—and yes, you should take one of those now-ubiquitous hot-air-balloon rides—which is why many of the rooms have fireplaces and tubs to take off the chill. At check-in, ask for a crisp glass of white wine made from Emir, a grape native to the region. Doubles from US$141. thehousehotel.com

Across the street from the Raffles and the Fairmont, the South Beach is a welcome foil to its more traditional neighbours. The 654 rooms are spread across two buildings linked by a futuristic, Foster & Partners–designed canopy; the brightly coloured interiors are by Philippe Starck; and the all-day dining room riffs on the destination’s famed hawker stalls. Here, technology drives hospitality: you can order room service from your TV, and free ultrafast wifi is a given. You may roll your eyes at the silly names for, well, everything (it’s not a lobby—it’s a Global Village), but take the elevators— “exploratory vehicles,” as one staffer called them—to the Sky Garden and you’ll discover the most #trending rooftop bar in town. Doubles from US$320. thesouthbeach.com.sg

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THE MOUNTAIN HIGH INKATERRA HACIENDA URUBAMBA The Sacred Valley, with its lush panoramas and impressive ruins, has typically played third fiddle to Cusco and Machu Picchu, in part because there have been few luxe places to stay.

But now Inkaterra provides a reason to stop and linger awhile. Its 36 rooms are an homage to Andean craftsmanship, with exposed eucalyptus beams and handmade furniture. When you’re not lying in bed, staring agape at the forested countryside and the surrounding mountains, you can tour nearby ruins like Ollantaytambo or visit the property’s 10-acre farm, where lima beans and medicinal herbs are grown for use in the restaurant. A standout on the excellent menu is the pastel de choclo: corn cakes with guinea-pig ragù.

Doubles from US$462. inkaterra.com

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C O U R T E S Y O F I N K AT E R R A H A C I E N D A U R U B A M B A

SAC R E D VA L L E Y, P E R U

THE URBAN OASIS | MANDARIN ORIENTAL M A R R A K ES H , M O R O C C O

In a city associated with sensory overload, the Mandarin Oriental—set amid 50 acres of olive trees, roses, and palms—is a breath of fresh air. Instead of zellige tiles and gilded accents, the 54 villas have riad-inspired courtyards with all-white furniture and heated plunge pools. But they still feel Moroccan.

Inside, you’ll find Berber rugs, silver tea sets, and steam showers. The nine suites have Atlas Mountain views, and even the smallest clock is at 1,450 square feet. Elsewhere on site, there’s an organic garden that supplies 94 (yes, 94!) varieties of tomatoes and assorted vegetables to three restaurants. If all else fails to soothe your senses, order a nightcap and stargaze outside your villa as the scent of jasmine wafts by on the breeze. Doubles from US$700. mandarinoriental.com

THE CITY SLICKER THE HOXTON

F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F M A N D A R I N O R I E N TA L , M A R R A K E C H ; C O U R T E S Y O F T H E H O X T O N ( 9 )

A M ST E R DA M

These days, everyone wants to cater to monied millennials. Hoxton manages to do just that— without alienating anyone else—with its own youthful breed of hospitality.

Want tickets to the Van Gogh Museum? A staffer will show you a hard-tofind website for VIP access.

Want breakfast in bed?

Hang a paper bag outside your door, and it’ll be loaded up with fruit and yogurt by morning.

And if you feel like the DIY spirit is incongruous with the stunning rooms—some with ornamented ceilings and canal views—think again. The Hoxton knows that those who march to their own tune can still appreciate a good Brunello. Doubles from US$135. thehoxton.com

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THE ICON REBORN | THE LANESBOROUGH LO N D O N

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

After an 18-month renovation that cost a rumoured US$70 million, this Knightsbridge landmark is somehow more grand than before. Under the watch of Oetker Collection, the austere Regency building was practically gutted and filled back up with crystal chandeliers, parquet floors, and antiques. The opulence extends to the 93 rooms, each with 18th-century paintings and mahogany writing desks. Afternoon tea at Céleste is an exercise in old-school finesse, where the polished staff delivers warm scones and cucumber sandwiches on floral bone china.

The only indication that you’re in the year 2016 is that your butler can be summoned at any hour of the day—via iPad. Doubles from US$876. lanesborough.com

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THE WILD ONE ANGAMA MARA

G R I D : T O P L E F T A N D M A S A I WA R R I O R S : C O U R T E S Y O F A N G A M A M A R A . O T H E R S I N G R I D : A M B R O I S E T É Z E N A S . B O T T O M : C O U R T E S Y O F 1 H O T E L S O U T H B E A C H M I A M I

M ASA I M A R A , K E N YA

Perched on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the Masai Mara, the 30-suite Angama Mara has one of the world’s most spectacular settings: it’s where Out of Africa was filmed some 30 years ago.

The place was designed so guests feel they are floating in air; you could easily spend all day in your beautifully appointed room—a modern take on campaign chic. But owners Nicky and Steve Fitzgerald, who helped build andBeyond into a safari powerhouse, have hired expert guides to tempt you onto the Mara plain below, where you can get up close and personal with the region’s diverse wildlife. Doubles from US$2,800, all-inclusive. angama.com

THE REBEL WITH A CAUSE 1 HOTEL SOUTH BEACH M I A M I B E AC H

South Beach is famous for many things—but truly comfortable, non-nightlife-centric hotels are not its strong suit. That’s what makes this oceanfront property, the debut effort from a new green-leaning brand, all the more refreshing. The smallest rooms start at a palatial 700 square feet; they have bathtubs you could almost swim in, cushy white sectionals, and king-size beds raised on reclaimedwood platforms. The eco-friendly touches include a living wall on the façade, organic-cotton sheets, and triple-filtered water in the taps (begone, plastic bottles). But this is Miami, after all—so there are four Instagram-worthy pools, including one on the rooftop. Doubles from US$699. 1hotels.com

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THE RISK TAKER PUMPHOUSE POINT

L A K E ST. C L A I R , TAS M A N I A

If you build it, they will come.

So thought Tassie entrepreneur Simon Currant, who had the crazy idea to transform a derelict 1940s hydroelectric station, set deep in Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park, into an 18-room hotel. Stay in the Midcentury-inspired Pumphouse— dramatically set at the edge of a 787-foot-long pier—or in the Art Deco–style Shorehouse. Most guests rise early to go trout fishing or to walk the trails in search of pygmy possums, wallabies, and wombats. At night, everyone grabs glasses of local Pinot from one of the two honesty bars, and then swaps stories over celebratory communal feasts. Doubles from US$200. pumphousepoint.com.au

FOR A FULL SLIDESHOW OF ALL 49 PROPERTIES, GO TO TANDL.ME/ITLIST .

IT LIST 2016 WINNERS

EUROPE ARCTIC LIGHT HOTEL Rovaniemi, Finland ASHFORD CASTLE Lough Corrib, Ireland

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BATTY LANGLEY’S London COTTON HOUSE HOTEL, AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION Barcelona DOMAINE DES ÉTANGS Massignac, France THE GAINSBOROUGH Bath, England HÔTEL DES GALERIES Brussels HOUSE HOTEL Cappadocia, Turkey THE HOXTON Amsterdam JW MARRIOTT Venice LA FIERMONTINA Lecce, Italy LA GRANDE MAISON Bordeaux, France THE LANESBOROUGH London SANT FRANCESC HOTEL SINGULAR Palma de Mallorca, Spain SIX SENSES DOURO VALLEY Lamego, Portugal SOHO HOUSE Istanbul

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CARIBBEAN AMANERA Playa Grande, Dominican Republic

BARBUDA BELLE Barbuda ONE&ONLY OCEAN CLUB Paradise Island, Bahamas MEXICO & CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA CASA FAYETTE Guadalajara, Mexico

CASA MALCA Tulum, Mexico ESPERANZA, AN AUBERGE RESORT Cabo San Lucas, Mexico FOUR SEASONS HOTEL CASA MEDINA Bogotá, Colombia INKATERRA HACIENDA URUBAMBA Sacred Valley, Peru AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST ANDBEYOND BENGUERRA ISLAND Mozambique

ANGAMA MARA Masai Mara, Kenya

BROWN BEACH HOUSE Tel Aviv MANDARIN ORIENTAL Marrakesh, Morocco SINGITA EBONY LODGE Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa WILDERNESS LINKWASHA CAMP Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe ASIA & THE SOUTH PACIFIC AHILYA BY THE SEA Goa, India

MANDAPA, A RITZ-CARLTON RESERVE Bali, Indonesia PHUM BAITANG Siem Reap, Cambodia SOUTH BEACH Singapore TEMPLE HOUSE Chengdu, China AUSTRALIA HALCYON HOUSE Cabarita Beach

LIZARD ISLAND Great Barrier Reef OLD CLARE HOTEL Sydney PUMPHOUSE POINT Lake St. Clair, Tasmania

STU GIBSON/COURTESY OF PUMPHOUSE POINT

US & CANADA BACCARAT HOTELS & RESIDENCES New York City CHICAGO ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION Chicago FAENA Miami Beach HOTEL EMMA San Antonio, Texas IVY HOTEL Baltimore L’HORIZON Palm Springs, California MAMA SHELTER Los Angeles 1 HOTEL SOUTH BEACH Miami Beach PALACE HOTEL, LUXURY COLLECTION San Francisco SOUTH CONGRESS HOTEL Austin, Texas

ST E FA N O S CATÀ . LOG O D ES IG N BY MI K E Y BU RTO N . L E T TE RIN G BY J OE L H OLL A N D

THE TOP CITIES, HOTELS, DESTINATION SPAS, AND MORE, AS DETERMINED

BY OUR VERY DISCERNING READERS. Who’s to judge? You are.

Every year T+L asks readers to dish on their travel experiences—to share their opinions on everything from Southern cities to Asian islands, all-inclusive beach resorts to hilltop palazzos.

Those assessments collectively define excellence in travel today, forming the basis of the World’s Best Awards.

This year’s edition marks the biggest World’s Best Awards ever. We counted a record number of votes—more than 2,00,000 respondents submitted ratings—and saw a heap of new players make the lists.

Kudos to all the winners, and thanks to you.

Edited by Sara Clemence

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Top 100 Hotels BIGGER ISN’T NECESSARILY BETTER—SMALL PROPERTIES, MANY OF THEM INDEPENDENT, DOMINATE THE RANKINGS.

2 Spectator Hotel Charleston, South Carolina 97.78 3 Huka Lodge Taupo, New Zealand 97.65 4 Montage Kapalua Bay Maui, Hawaii 97.39 4 Southern Ocean Lodge Kangaroo Island, Australia 97.39 6 Lodge at Glendorn Bradford, Pennsylvania 97.38 7 The Willcox Aiken, South Carolina 97.25 8 Casa Gangotena Quito, Ecuador 97.20 9 Twin Farms Barnard, Vermont 97.19 10 Singular Patagonia Puerto Bories, Chile 97.14 11 Singita Grumeti Serengeti National Park Area, Tanzania 97.11 12 Farmhouse Inn Forestville, California 97.07

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13 Londolozi Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa 97.06 14 The Peninsula Shanghai 97.01 15 Hotel Castello di Casole–A Timbers Resort Casole d’Elsa, Italy 97.01 16 Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa Gateway, Colorado 97.00 17 Cavas Wine Lodge Mendoza, Argentina 96.99 18 Singita Sabi Sand Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa 96.95 H 19 Manoir Hovey North Hatley, Quebec 96.93 20 The Brando Tetiaroa, French Polynesia 96.80 21 Château du Sureau Oakhurst, California 96.77 22 Oberoi Udaivilas Udaipur, India 96.76 H 22 Opposite House Beijing 96.76 22 Triple Creek Ranch Darby, Montana 96.76 25 Wequassett Resort & Golf Club Chatham,

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Massachusetts 96.68 26 Old Edwards Inn & Spa Highlands, North Carolina 96.67 27 Weekapaug Inn Westerly, Rhode Island 96.67 28 Oberoi Vanyavilas Ranthambhore, India 96.63 29 Mombo Camp and Little Mombo Camp Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana 96.50 30 Rosewood Mayakoba Playa del Carmen, Mexico 96.39 31 Sol y Luna Sacred Valley, Peru 96.36

32 Nayara Springs Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica 96.36 33 Kamalame Cay Andros, Bahamas 96.30 34 XV Beacon Boston 96.27

37 Beau-Rivage Palace Lausanne, Switzerland 96.00

44 Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica 95.91

37 Brenners ParkHotel & Spa Baden-Baden, Germany 96.00

45 Lodge at Sea Island Georgia 95.90

35 St. Regis Bali Resort Indonesia 96.22

37 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai, Thailand 96.00

36 Tongabezi Lodge Livingstone, Zambia 96.20

37 Rosewood Sand Hill Menlo Park, California 96.00

37 Alpina Gstaad Gstaad, Switzerland 96.00

42 Katikies Hotel Santorini, Greece 95.95 43 41 London 95.94

46 Lodge & Cottages at Primland Meadows of Dan, Virginia 95.87 47 Ashford Castle County Mayo, Ireland 95.84 48 Las Ventanas al Paraíso, A Rosewood Resort San José del Cabo, Mexico 95.81

C O U RTESY OF N I HI WAT U

1 Nihiwatu Sumba, Indonesia 98.35

No. 1 hotel Nihiwatu was born in 2000 as a rustic surf retreat.

49 Gasparilla Inn & Club Boca Grande, Florida 95.76 50 Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa Rancho Santa Fe, California 95.69 51 Nam Hai Hoi An, Vietnam 95.63 52 Fogo Island Inn Newfoundland, Canada 95.60 53 Brewery Gulch Inn Mendocino, California 95.59 54 Hotel Santa Caterina Amalfi, Italy 95.57 55 Acqualina, Miami Sunny

Isles Beach, Florida 95.53

Connecticut 95.41

56 Chanler at Cliff Walk Newport, Rhode Island 95.51

62 Inn at Hastings Park Lexington, Massachusetts 95.40

57 Zamas Hotel Tulum, Mexico 95.49

63 Curtain Bluff Antigua 95.40

58 J.K. Place Capri, Italy 95.46 59 Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur, India 95.45 H 60 Lion Sands Game Reserve Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa 95.42 61 Winvian Farm Morris,

64 The Surrey New York City 95.37 65 Farm at Cape Kidnappers Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand 95.33 66 Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand 95.33 67 Biltmore Hotel Coral Gables, Florida 95.32

68 Milestone Hotel London 95.32 69 La Réserve Paris Hotel, Spa & Apartments Paris 95.29 70 La Residence Franschhoek, South Africa 95.27 71 The Goring London 95.19 72 Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle Chiang Rai, Thailand 95.17 73 Cloister at Sea Island Georgia 95.16

74 Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa Sacred Valley, Peru 95.11 75 Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa Johannesburg, South Africa 95.09 76 Gleneagles Hotel Perthshire, Scotland 95.08 77 Tu Tu’tun Lodge Gold Beach, Oregon 95.06 78 Leela Palace New Delhi 95.06 79 Le Bristol Paris 95.06

80 Sonnenalp Hotel Vail, Colorado 95.04 81 Villa Cora Florence 95.04 82 Ocean House Watch Hill, Rhode Island 95.03 83 Inn by the Sea Cape Elizabeth, Maine 94.97 84 La Casa Que Canta Zihuatanejo, Mexico 94.96 84 Madikwe Safari Lodge Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa 94.96 86 Inn at Harbour Town Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 94.95 87 Qualia Hamilton Island, Australia 94.89 88 The Lanesborough London 94.87 89 Egerton House Hotel London 94.86 90 Jade Mountain St. Lucia 94.85 91 Greenwich Hotel New York City 94.76 92 The Knickerbocker New York City 94.75 93 River Inn of Harbor Town Memphis, Tennessee 94.71 94 The House Barbados 94.70 95 Singita Kruger National Park South Africa 94.65 H 96 Inn Above Tide Sausalito, California 94.62 97 Cape Grace Cape Town 94.59 H 98 Taj Lake Palace Udaipur, India 94.56 99 Resort at Pedregal Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 94.52 100 andBeyond Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya 94.50

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HOTELS

Oberoi Hotels & Resorts is the No. 1 hotel brand for the second year in a row.

TOP 15

Hotel Brands 1 Oberoi Hotels & Resorts 95.84 2 Oetker Collection 94.29 3 Aman 94.26 4 One&Only Resorts 94.17 5 The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts 93.40 6 The Peninsula Hotels 93.25 7 Capella Hotels & Resorts 93.00 8 Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts 92.64 9 Commune Hotels & Resorts 92.55 10 Dorchester Collection 92.33 11 Belmond 92.27 12 Langham Hotels & Resorts 91.93 13 Auberge Resorts Collection 91.90 14 St. Regis 91.88 15 Rosewood Hotels & Resorts 91.17

Tren d

READERS SAY...

“Oberoi is unique in its ability to transform a busy place into a sanctuary of tranquillity. They even manage to make the air in the hotels refresh-ingly clean.”

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The votes make it clear: T+L readers are willing to travel far—really far—for outstanding accommodations, whether that means a surf haven in Indonesia (Nihiwatu), a quirky luxury lodge on a fjord in Chile (the Singular Patagonia), a villa in the treetops of South Africa (Londolozi), or a concept hotel in Newfoundland (Fogo Island Inn). This year, nine of the top 15 properties require not just a passport to reach, but an overnight flight as well.

D U ST IN AKS L A N D

REMOTE HOTELS

WOR L D’S BE ST

Asia SOUTHEAST ASIA TAKES TOP HONOURS IN CITIES, ISLANDS, AND RESORT HOTELS.

At the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, the lobby is on the highest fl oor—38 stories up.

TOP 10

TOP 10

Cities

City Hotels

1 Chiang Mai Thailand 91.25 2 Luang Prabang Laos 89.85 3 Kyoto Japan 89.75 H 4 Siem Reap Cambodia 88.96 H 5 Bangkok 88.96 H 6 Hoi An Vietnam 88.54 7 Ubud Indonesia 88.52 8 Udaipur India 87.19 9 Tokyo 86.02 10 Lhasa China 85.56

1 The Peninsula Shanghai 97.01 2 Opposite House Beijing 96.76 3 Leela Palace New Delhi 95.06 4 Oberoi Gurgaon New Delhi 94.42 5 Shinta Mani Hotel Siem Reap, Cambodia 94.12 6 Mandarin Oriental Tokyo 94.11 7 Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street 93.90 8 Mandarin Oriental Bangkok 93.68 H 9 Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake Hangzhou, China 93.39 10 Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore 93.35

TOP 5

Islands

C O U RTESY OF MA N DA RI N OR I E N TA L H OT E L G ROU P

1 Palawan Philippines 93.71 2 Boracay Philippines 90.47 3 Cebu Philippines 88.65 4 Bali Indonesia 88.24 H 5 Luzon Philippines 88.23

READERS SAY...

READERS SAY...

“Chiang Mai is packed with energy and excitement.”

“Our only complaint about 137 Pillars House: we didn’t stay long enough.”

TOP 10

TOP 5

TOP 5

TOP 5

Resort Hotels

Resort Hotels India

Hotels Tokyo

Hotels Beijing

1 Oberoi Udaivilas Udaipur 96.76 2 Oberoi Vanyavilas Ranthambhore 96.63 3 Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur 95.45 4 Taj Lake Palace Udaipur 94.56 5 Oberoi Amarvilas Agra 94.19

1 Mandarin Oriental 94.11 2 Palace Hotel 91.87 3 Ritz-Carlton 91.74 4 Park Hyatt 91.72 5 Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi 90.79

1 Opposite House 96.76 2 Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street 93.90 3 Regent 93.33 4 Ritz-Carlton 90.70 5 The Peninsula 90.61

1 Nihiwatu Sumba, Indonesia 98.35 2 Oberoi Udaivilas Udaipur, India 96.76 H 3 Oberoi Vanyavilas Ranthambhore, India 96.63 4 St. Regis Bali Resort Indonesia 96.22 5 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai, Thailand 96.00 6 Nam Hai Hoi An, Vietnam 95.63 7 Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur, India 95.45 H 8 Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand 95.33 H 9 Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle Chiang Rai, Thailand 95.17 10 Taj Lake Palace Udaipur, India 94.56

TOP 5

TOP 5

TOP 5

Hotels Hong Kong

Resort Hotels Indonesia

Resort Hotels Southeast Asia

1 The Peninsula 92.61 2 Four Seasons Hotel 91.84 3 Mandarin Oriental 91.63 4 The Langham 90.48 5 Upper House 90.22

1 Nihiwatu Sumba 98.35 2 St. Regis Bali Resort 96.22 3 W Retreat & Spa Bali-Seminyak 93.60 4 The Oberoi Bali 93.24 5 Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan 92.74

1 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai, Thailand 96.00 2 Nam Hai Hoi An, Vietnam 95.63 3 Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand 95.33 4 Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle Chiang Rai, Thailand 95.17 5 Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, Thailand 94.35

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Florence has been Europe’s best city for 10 of the past 11 years.

Europe

OUR EXPANDED CITY AND COUNTRY HOTEL LISTS MEAN EVEN MORE INSPIRATION FOR PLANNING AN EXTRAORDINARY EUROPEAN GETAWAY. TOP 10

TOP 5

TOP 10

Cities

Islands

City Hotels

1 Florence 89.85 H 2 Barcelona 89.60 H 3 Rome 89.22 H 4 San Sebastián Spain 88.75 5 Krakow Poland 88.72 6 Seville Spain 88.27 7 Budapest 88.05 H 8 Siena Italy 87.98 9 Istanbul 87.89 H 10 Venice 87.61

1 Ischia Italy 90.22 2 Santorini Greece 89.07 H 3 Sicily Italy 86.63 4 Madeira Portugal 86.50 5 Ionian Islands (Corfu rated separately) Greece 85.54

1 41 London 95.94 2 Milestone Hotel London 95.32 3 La Réserve Paris Hotel, Spa & Apartments 95.29 4 The Goring London 95.19 5 Le Bristol Paris 95.06 6 Villa Cora Florence 95.04 7 The Lanesborough London 94.87 8 Egerton House Hotel London 94.86 9 Aria Hotel Budapest 94.44 10 Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam 94.04

TOP 10

TOP 5

TOP 10

Hotels Paris

Hotels Rome

Hotels London

1 La Réserve Paris Hotel, Spa & Apartments 95.29 2 Le Bristol 95.06 3 Four Seasons Hotel George V 93.12 4 Shangri-La Hotel 92.80 5 The Ritz 92.25 6 The Peninsula 92.15 7 Hôtel Barrière Le Fouquet’s 91.53 8 Hôtel Prince de Galles, a Luxury Collection Hotel 90.95 9 Mandarin Oriental 90.52 10 Hôtel Plaza Athénée 90.51

1 J.K. Place Roma 93.16 2 Hotel de Russie 92.51 3 Hassler Roma 91.63 4 Villa Spalletti Trivelli 89.88 5 Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts 88.86

1 41 95.94 2 Milestone Hotel 95.32 3 The Goring 95.19 4 The Lanesborough 94.87 5 Egerton House Hotel 94.86 6 Chesterfield Mayfair 92.06 7 Corinthia Hotel 92.00 8 The Savoy 91.43 9 The Beaumont 90.67 10 Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane 90.65

1 Hotel Castello di Casole—A Timbers Resort Casole d’Elsa, Italy 97.01 2 Alpina Gstaad Gstaad, Switzerland 96.00 2 Beau-Rivage Palace Lausanne, Switzerland 96.00 2 Brenners ParkHotel & Spa Baden-Baden, Germany 96.00 5 Katikies Hotel

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Santorini, Greece 95.95 6 Ashford Castle County Mayo, Ireland 95.84 7 Hotel Santa Caterina Amalfi, Italy 95.57 8 J.K. Place Capri, Italy 95.46 9 Gleneagles Hotel Perthshire, Scotland 95.08 10 Palazzo Avino Ravello, Italy 94.42

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READERS SAY...

“If only I could live as well at home as at La Réserve.”

SYLVA I N S ON N E T / G E T TY IM AG ES

TOP 10

Resort Hotels

TOP 5

TOP 5

TOP 5

TOP 5

TOP 3

Resort Hotels Italy

Resort Hotels France

Resort Hotels United Kingdom & Ireland

Resort Hotels Greece

Resort Hotels Spain & Portugal

1 Hotel Castello di Casole—A Timbers Resort Casole d’Elsa 97.01 2 Hotel Santa Caterina Amalfi 95.57 3 J.K. Place Capri 95.46 4 Palazzo Avino Ravello 94.42 5 Belmond Hotel Splendido Portofino 93.83

1 L’Hostellerie de Levernois Burgundy 92.44 2 Villa Gallici Aix-en-Provence 92.00 3 Château de la Chèvre d’Or Côte d’Azur 91.78 4 Hôtel de la Cité Carcassonne 91.50 5 Grand-Hôtel du CapFerrat, a Four Seasons Hotel Côte d’Azur 89.62

1 Ashford Castle County Mayo, Ireland 95.84 2 Gleneagles Hotel Perthshire, Scotland 95.08 3 Trump International Golf Links & Hotel County Clare, Ireland 94.06 4 Cliveden House Taplow, England 93.87 5 Inverlochy Castle Torlundy, Scotland 93.00

1 Katikies Hotel Santorini 95.95 2 Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa Crete 92.80 3 Canaves Oia Santorini 92.68 4 Mystique, a Luxury Collection Hotel Santorini 92.17 5 Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas Crete 88.00

1 Penha Longa Resort Sintra, Portugal 91.13 2 Convento do Espinheiro, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa Évora, Portugal 90.22 3 Marbella Club Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa Marbella, Spain 89.27

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WOR L D’S BE ST

Destination Spas PAMPERING IS ALWAYS POPULAR, BUT READERS REALLY RAVED ABOUT SPOTS THAT FOCUS ON HEALTH AND NATURE.

TOP 10

American Spas 1 New Life Hiking Spa Killington, Vermont 99.74 2 Westglow Resort & Spa Blowing Rock, North Carolina 96.43 3 The Ranch Malibu, California 95.73 4 Cal-a-Vie Health Spa Vista, California 95.58 5 Pearl Laguna Laguna Beach, California 95.31 6 Lodge at Woodloch Hawley, Pennsylvania 94.50 7 Mii Amo Spa Sedona, Arizona 94.31 H 8 Lake Austin Spa Resort Austin, Texas 94.01 H 9 Sundara Inn & Spa Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin 92.92 10 Miraval Resort & Spa Tucson, Arizona 92.83 H

First-time winner Mountain Trek is a sister property of Rancho La Puerta in Mexico.

TOP 5

READERS SAY...

“Hikes were quite challenging at Mountain Trek, both physically and mentally. But climbing the mountain was a metaphor for a life journey, and I gained deep understanding and compassion for myself.”

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1 Mountain Trek British Columbia 98.13 2 Rancho La Puerta Tecate, Mexico 96.64 H 3 Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica 95.40 4 BodyHoliday LeSport Castries, St. Lucia 92.77 5 Maya Tulum Resort Tulum, Mexico 88.64

DAV I D R. G LU N S

International Spas

August 2016

HAYMAN ISLAND Living the $80M makeover.

JERUSALEM An old country with a new change.

THE PHILIPPINES What an adventure can mean in the islands.

August 2016

CHENNAI

Decoding Mahabalipuram’s concrete transformation.

SICILY

An Italian food journey for the ages.

YUNNAN

S I M O N WATS O N

Finding China’s soul in its wild west.

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H A I R A N D M A K E- U P : P I N K Y, S T Y L E S M I T H ; A S S I S TA N T S T Y L I S T: A N G A M LU I K H A M ; M O D E L : M O D E L : A LYO N A M U R A S H O VA , A N I M A C R E AT I V E S

A DASH OF SOU THERN C O M F O RT THE NEW INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL AND RESORT IN MAHABALIPURAM IS EVOCATIVE OF THE REGION’S TRANSFORMATION THAT COMBINES CONTEMPORARY LUXURY WITH OLD CUSTOMS AND AESTHETIC.

KALPANA SUNDER REVEALS HOW THEY DO THIS.

Photographed by G Venket Ram Produced by Ragini Singh Styled by Mahima Shukla

The grid like Nandyavarta painted on the wall, whose layout inspired the resort’s architecture. On the model, a silk jumpsuit by Gauri Nainika (available at Ensemble); straw hat by Accessorize; turquoise and coral necklace and turquoise ring by Silverline; raffia hobo by MICHAEL by Michael Kors; and wedges by MICHAEL by Michael Kors.

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n the wall behind the desk in the lobby, is an over-sized stone carving, a grid of built forms and open spaces called the Nandyavarta—used in the layout of ancient Indian towns.

This is a modern interpretation of an Indian city settlement, highlighting the architectural concept of the resort. The high ceilings, the craggy walls made from blocks of granite sourced from Kanchipuram, juxtaposed against the leather loungers in the lobby, create the temple ambience, almost immediately.

The majestic central courtyard with its pillars and the massive temple tank with lotus afloat, reinforce the heritage feel of the resort, located on a sprawling 15-acre property, not far from the ancient temple town of Mahabalipuram, famous for its UNESCO Shore temples. This 7th century port city of the Pallavas is most famous for its Shore Temples devoted to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu with their complex carvings embellished with beautiful motifs and craftsmanship.

I am at Mahabalipuram’s first luxury beach resort, InterContinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort, launched in January this year. The luxury resort is the brainchild of the firm of CV Sydney, an offspring of the renowned Singapore-based Kerry Hill design firm. “The resort’s architecture is largely drawn from the majestic wealth of south Indian temple architecture with contemporary sleek lines fused effortlessly,” explains Karuna Amarnath, the Marketing Manager of the resort. The temple motif continues across the resort—the two meeting

rooms are called Mana and Manthan— heart and churning—and the banquet room just across the corridor is Samaya—the meeting of minds.

Its 46 rooms overlook the selfsustaining bio-tank, studded with lotus and coconut trees, and a stunning brass installation of sunflowers with a dark patina by artist Bhavna Sonawane as well as a raised performance pavilion. The other 46 rooms overlook the swimming pool and 12 suites open into the ocean and the landscaped gardens with coconut and frangipani trees. There are water outlets on the sides of the corridors that resemble the spouts in South Indian temples.

The corridors are lined with bright burgundy Athangudi tiles; the 4ft-deep temple-pond-like swimming pool has steps that gently descend into water.

The rooms come as a bit of a surprise, revealing a modern Indian aesthetic: bright canary yellow cushions, polished Terrazzo floors, comfortable day beds and benches, metallic urlis holding flowers, black stone basins, and coffee table books on

FROM TOP: The lobby with

high wooden ceilings and walls hewn from granite offset by contemporary leather loungers; a metallic art installation at the property.

OPPOSITE: The pool area is built like a temple tank with graded steps sloping gently and fringed by frangipani trees. The model is wearing a yellow key hole swimsuit by Turquoise and Gold; and silk scarf cover up by Shingora.

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THERE’S A MEDITATIVE MAGIC WHEN THE LAMPS ARE LIT AND STRAINS OF MUSIC CAN BE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND. South Indian architecture and religion shine. The spacious rooms have bright accents thrown in—dramatic light fixtures, statuettes of deities in tiny alcoves, and triangular niches cut into wardrobes that resemble the ones that hold lamps in temples. The attention to details is amazing: Thoughtfully placed beach bags, ironing boards and sockets of international standard that do not require adaptors. Every room has a black stone bathtub as well as a rain shower, fragrant L’Occitane cosmetics and a Lavazza coffee machine.

The general manager of the property Vijai Singh emphasises that all Intercontinental properties are luxury offerings and talks about the Club InterContinental, another hallmark of the property, with separate rooms, lounge, and meals for the discerning guest. “Another unique element of the property is its dedicated concierge service which is a one-stop-shop that helps you with experiences within and outside the resort. These trips are not done by tour guides but established people who have a wealth of local knowledge, usually trained concierges who have the ‘golden keys'. The resort also offers a luxury spa, Amrtam by Escenza that offers therapies from across the world, Ayurveda and yoga.

What is perhaps the main standout element of the resort is the wide range of dining experiences offered.

The Melting Pot with live kitchens serving South Asian, European and Indian food; the Chinese eatery the Tao of Peng named after Peng Zu, known as the founder of Chinese cooking, offering Hunan and Cantonese specialities; and The Gatsby Lounge bar, a space inspired by the Great Gatsby age, the roaring 20s, which offers live music with classic cocktails and beverages. Two prominent highlights of dining at this resort are

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the ‘Dine by Design’ and ‘Wine by Design’. They feature a private dining experience by the ocean with special tables or tents. I talk to Executive Chef Ashis Rout, who has worked at Ananda in the Himalayas and Park Hyatt, Milan. The exquisite tasting menu is a plated work of art, which begs you to not demolish it. From freshly baked focaccia bread with dips, braised beetroot with orange and citrus emulsion, and chilled green pea and butter milk soup to the Porcini flower pot and Tamarind sorbet—everything is cooked and presented to perfection.

“What makes the resort special and rooted in the local milieu and its proximity to the UNESCO site of Mahabalipuram are certain special rituals and design elements,” says Karuna. She tells me about the evening ritual when staff light lamps, place them at various points, and welcome the evening with a short prayer.

Later, there are South Indian music performances on the pavilion beside the bio-pond. “There’s a special almost meditative magic, when the lamps are lit in the evening and the strains of music can be heard in the background,” says Karuna. At the InterContinental, history and modernity fuse seamlessly.

MY MADRAS

Visiting this new addition to Chennai’s travel landscape, brought back many memories. A bit of Madras nostalgia—being woken up with a tape of MS Subbalakshmi singing the suprabatham, veena classes thrice a week, strong frothy, filter coffee in stainless steel tumblers, demure silk pavadais and soaring temple gopurams, weekend trips to Higginbothams (the oldest bookstore), shopping on the pavements of Pondy bazaar and finishing with ‘tiffin’ at Woodlands' Drive-in restaurant… Old

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

CLOCKWISE: The resort's Amrtam

by Escenza Spa (on the model, a silk printed maxi dress

by Anupamaa; coral and silver necklace

by Grassroots by Anita Dongre; lapiz cuff by Silverline; and grecian sandals by Christian Louboutin); the Presidential Villa with its own plunge pool and view of the landscaped gardens and the sea; Melting Pot: The Market Cafe has an open air area facing the bio-tank with oating lotus and a pavilion for musical performances; The Gatsby Lounge.

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CLOCKWISE: Asparagus and Corn Dimsums at the Chinese restaurant Tao of Peng; The Gatsby Lounge which has a retro look from the 20s (the model is wearing a wrap dress by Ritu Kumar; nude heels by HM; drop earrings by Zarin; and bracelets

by Silverline); a tray at Amrtam by Escenza Spa; the all-day dining restaurant Melting Pot.

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FROM TOP: A view of the

standard room with yellow accents, a day bed, and a black stone bath tub; chefs at work at Melting Pot.

bungalows in tree-lined avenues and the shrill cries of vegetable vendors selling fresh spinach at doorsteps. But Madras became Chennai and along with it came the winds of change— plain apartments rose where graceful bungalows once stood, the pavadais were replaced by the ubiquitous salwar kameez, the supermarkets killed vegetable vendors, and flyovers took over the wide tree-lined roads.

Madras is more than 375 years old and has traditionally been the cultural bastion of the country, often referred to as ‘an overgrown village with old fashioned values’.

Dr Ennapadam S Krishnamoorthy, an eminent neuropsychiatrist and writer, recalls heading to Elliots Beach as a young boy, which used to be a barren wilderness, packed like sardines, in a leaf green Standard Herald along with his cousins, playing cricket on empty streets and watching a Kamal movie at Anand theatre for a mere `10.

“Chennai was laidback, idyllic when we

were children, not a bustling metro like today,” he says with a smile.

But the beauty of the metropolis is that there are pockets of culture and tradition that are still there for those who want it. In December, the music and dance aficionados head to the Sabhas of the Margazhi Festival and savour tiffin in its canteens. Kalakshetra, the dance school, is still a culturalists’ oasis. The Theosophical Society on the bank of Adyar River is a green campus famous for its rare collection of books on religion and philosophy.

I talk to Krithika Subrahmanian, a leading city architect, talented dancer, and designer, who says, “As a designer, I have seen a lot of success in expanding the language of understated elegance with the quirky experimentation of that indefinable Tamil chic. Fast cars, slow joggers, hot coffee, and chill pills, all coexist happily in a city that has been a safe haven for migrants and women workers. I expect it will remain this way because that is Chennai”.

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T H E W AY T H E Y

The bucatini con le sarde at La Cambusa, in Palermo.

OPPOSITE: Gangi, a medieval village in the mountains of northern Sicily.

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Here in southernmost Italy, every dish is infused with love and tradition, reflecting generations of family and centuries of history.

STEPHANIE DANLER eats her way across the island, savouring its humble, African-inflected cuisine and soaking up the wisdom of its women.

C O O K I N Sicily photographs by SIMON WATSON

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

A student pits olives during one of Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi’s cooking classes at Butera 28, in Palermo; granitas at Colicchia, in Trapani; the nightlife scene at Vucciria market, in Palermo; the courtyard of the Gangivecchio estate; caponata at Gangivecchio; the Piazza Mercato del Pesce, in Trapani; fichi d’India, a prickly pear native to Sicily, at La Cambusa.

the crush of the centro, in the maze of markets catering to different ethnic groups. But most of all, you can taste it in the food, which bears the mark of the cultures that have ruled the island.

I wanted to share the meals I’d had here with Christina, and so, on the eve of her 30th birthday, I brought her here, on a long-overdue sisters’ trip, to appreciate the old and discover the new.

Over espressos at the airport in Rome, I’d prepped her: Get ready for lots of pasta courses.

Bread courses. Fried courses. Don’t ever say you’re full. Don’t turn down a glass of wine at lunch. Don’t expect to sleep too much. We would be traveling without a guidebook, I explained, because although I have visited Sicily many times, I have never owned one. I just get bossed around by Sicilian women.

I had, however, brought a handwritten eating itinerary. Nicoletta looked at it and scoffed. “For tourists,” she said, forgetting, perhaps, that that’s what we were. She made us a dinner reservation at L’Ottava Nota, an example, she promised, of a place where a chef was using native Sicilian ingredients to make modern food.

As we were leaving, Nicole, the Australian front-desk assistant, stopped us. “You guys need to go to Vucciria and Aperitivo Alley,” she whispered. “I’m off in ten minutes. I’ll take you.”

Nicoletta was eavesdropping. “Vucciria? No, no, no. All right, one aperitivo, fine. But please, please, do not talk to boys!”

The stalls at the legendary Vucciria market are closed at night, but a few bars, like the barebones Taverna Azzurra, open onto the street.

Cool kids sat on the curb or leaned against the rolled-down steel grates of the stalls. “Well, we found the beards and tattoos!” Christina exclaimed. Vendors sold fried anchovies, panelle (chickpea fritters), sfincione (thick-bread pizza), and pani ca’ meusa (offal sandwiches) to soak up the wine everyone was drinking. Crumpled napkins filled the gutters. At the top of the street was an 18th-century religious statue done up in coloured lights that Nicole called “Disco Jesus.”

“It’s so Sicily,” she said.

Apparently, so is missing your dinner reservation. Between the wine, the fried food, the bearded Sicilian men, and the Disco Jesus– gazing, it was nearly midnight before I checked the time. I cursed, but Nicole was unconcerned.

(A general disregard for time also seemed to be “so Sicily.”) To my embarrassment, she dialed Nicoletta. I prepared a speech: I’m a fraud, I’m a failure, I’ve never read The Leopard….

Within 10 minutes Nicoletta had secured us an outside table at La Cambusa, an understated restaurant beloved by Palermitans. Despite the

My sister, Christina, and I were sitting in a garden in Palermo, a few sips into a midmorning Campari and soda, when I began to feel fraudulent. The sea breeze fanned up from the port and onto the terrace as our hostess, Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi, the Duchess of Palma di Montechiaro, recounted the history of the palazzo we were visiting, which was once owned by the Lampedusa family. It was on this very site, Nicoletta told us, that Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the last of the line, wrote The Leopard, which chronicles the fall of an aristocratic Sicilian family in the late 19th century.

“Which of course you’ve read,” she added, “as you are a writer, and are writing about Sicily.” I shot my sister a look that said, Don’t say a word.

I hadn’t read The Leopard, which is practically synonymous with Sicily. But I learned that Lampedusa wrote the novel after falling into a depression after his family estate was bombed during World War II. Following his death in 1957, the property was flawlessly restored by the Lanza Tomasi family. Today, Nicoletta oversees Butera 28, a collection of apartment-style guest rooms located inside the palazzo, in Palermo’s once-dangerous, now-trendy Kalsa quarter. She also teaches cooking classes, leads market tours, and is a keeper of local culinary wisdom.

During previous visits, I had fallen in love with Sicilian gastronomy: the heirloom wheat varieties, the recipes for caponata passed down through generations, the indigenous Frappato and Catarratto grapes. What sets the island apart is that, even more than the rest of Italy, it has been invaded and conquered for thousands of years. You can see this history in Palermo’s Arabic and Norman architecture, in

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contrast to the kids playing soccer in front of the 15th-century church nearby. When the place began to empty out, Daniele Catalano—owner, maître d’, wine aficionado—chatted with us about the summer crush and all the different kinds of jasmine that grow in San Vito. It was past midnight when he left us to buy roses from some children in the street. I was so happy and sunburned it took me a minute to realise it had begun raining.

hour, children still tore through the lush park in the Piazza Marina across the street. We spotted other Butera 28 guests, who joined us and sipped limoncello while I devoured a perfect bucatini con le sarde—the pasta firm, the wild fennel fragrant, the sardines liquescent. Always listen to Sicilian women.

BEFORE LEAVING PALERMO in the foggy early morning,

we went to the Mercato del Capo for figs, bread, and wet balls of burrata—our version of road-trip fare. We were headed two hours west to San Vito Lo Capo, a place with gorgeous turquoise waters but none of the prestige of Taormina or the convenience of Mondello, and therefore none of those places’ English signs and inflated prices. There is a North African aura to the low, square buildings in rosy neutrals, the beads hanging in doorways, the jasmine and bougainvillea that tumble down shaggy walls.

We planned a beach hike among the cacti, fruit trees, and flowering bushes of Zingaro Nature Reserve, 7½ pristine miles of protected coastline. Beach hikes demand picnic supplies, which is why San Vito has Salumeria Enoteca Peraino. The young men in striped newsboy caps behind the counter listened patiently as I attempted to speak to them in Spanish, pointing to hanging legs of prosciutto and rounds of cheeses and saying, “The muy salty and the muy fuerte.” We took prosciutto dei Nebrodi and a sharp, young pecorino to a secluded, white-pebbled spot for a swim and a siesta.

There is plenty of seafood to be had in San Vito, but for dinner we went to Bianconiglio, named after the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Located just off the piazza, it specializes in dishes like braised rabbit and steak tartare with quail eggs and has a long list of sophisticated Sicilian wines, a welcome option in a beach town that has mostly gelaterie. The tablecloths and refined food were a lovely

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PEOPLE GO TO TRAPANI, a spit of land hanging off Sicily’s western coast, for two reasons: to catch a ferry or to eat fish couscous. Closer to Tunis than it is to Rome, it’s a showcase for the ways Sicilian cooking marries the cuisine of its former occupiers—in this case, Arabs—with its own.

Here, North African spices and semolina grains, salt from the flats outside the city, and almonds from the hills appear in almost every dish.

At Nicoletta’s recommendation, Christina and I went to see Francesca Adragna at Ai Lumi, a bedand-breakfast in a former palace off Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the main street. Of course Francesca knew where the best fish couscous was—it was at her place downstairs, Ai Lumi Tavernetta, once the palace stables and now a dark-wooded, rustic tavern that opens onto the Corso. We drank local beer redolent with orange blossom as the fish couscous came out in three parts: the puffy, airy couscous, the coral prawns, and a broth, essentially a mahogany-colored fish soup thickened with finely ground almonds and softened with cinnamon and saffron. It was true comfort food, and it made us feel healed from our drive.

With its narrow pedestrian lanes and terracotta buildings set off against the startling blue of the Mediterranean, Trapani is built for a passeggiata, the evening stroll that is a sacred Italian pastime. Christina and I began ours with jasmine granitas at the famed Colicchia. These granulated ices flavoured with fruit, nuts, or flowers are another example of a dish brought here by Arabs and perfected, in the centuries since, by Sicilians.

The waves sucked at the stones of the old seawall as we window-shopped the coral jewelry, listening to men and women call out to one another from the stores. Near Ai Lumi, we spotted a crowd outside a brightly lit shop. Inside, to my delight, I found wine barrels stacked in a pyramid, the grape varieties written on chalkboards. The wines were priced by the glass and the liter.

“What is this place?” I yelled to a man with a ponytail. He gestured to the spigots and glasses. There were Inzolias, Chardonnays, Nero d’Avolas, and Frappatos. I had decided to buy a glass of each when I saw, written in English on another chalkboard: vino ambrato: only for strong people, illustrated with a drawing of a flexed bicep. I pointed to it. The man shook his

I have never owned a guidebook to Sicily.

I just get bossed around

by Sicilian women.

Giovanna Tornabene prepares lunch in her kitchen at Gangivecchio.

OPPOSITE: Cauli ower for sale at the Mercato del Capo, in Palermo.

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Ai Lumi Tavernetta, in Trapani, which specializes in ďŹ sh couscous.

OPPOSITE: Whitechocolate-andlemon torta caprese at Cioccolateria Lorenzo, in Palermo.

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head and sent over an English-speaking friend.

“It’s amber wine, oxidized. You won’t like it.”

“Like sherry,” I said, trying to display my wine knowledge. “I’m into sherry.”

“It’s not sweet,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Neither is sherry.”

We regarded each other until he gave me a glass of perfectly chilled, amber-tinted dry marsala-like wine.

Though it had hints of caramel, it was bracingly sharp and salty on the palate. For strong people, indeed. Christina ordered a glass of Catarratto, floral and lush. Outside, we passed through clouds of cigarette smoke and sat on the sidewalk. It was the final minutes of the passeggiata. Kids slept in strollers or in their parents’ arms. Pairs of dolledup old ladies passed by in white kitten heels and jade-green blouses, their hair and lipstick perfectly set.

“That’s us,” I said to Christina as we went home, arm in arm.

The next morning, I gave Francesca a full report. “And then we found this amazing place across the street,” I said, “where the wine comes out of a barrel—” “Oh yes,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “That’s my family’s wine. Our shop.”

“Tenute Adragna?” I asked, looking at the card I’d taken from the wine bar. She pointed to her business card.

Francesca Adragna. Naturally.

THE DRIVE TO GANGIVECCHIO follows a narrow two-

lane road that twists, harrowingly, through the Madonie Mountains, east of Palermo. As we climbed and the coastline became a memory, the air cooled and filled with the sweet scent of yellow flowering broom, pine trees, and wild herbs.

I told Christina to keep her eyes open at each turn, because when the medieval town of Gangi appears, tumbling down

a mountainside with Mount Etna smoking in the distance, it takes your breath away.

Gangivecchio, an estate built by Benedictine monks in the 14th century, lies just outside the village. Green and gold hills rise beyond its faded pink walls. In the courtyard, fig trees, potted cacti, and herbs compete for space. Pigeons roost in the abbey. There is no noise but the wind.

The property has been in Giovanna Tornabene’s family for five generations, but it only became famous in 1992 after the restaurant that Giovanna and her mother, Wanda, had opened years earlier was written about in the New York Times. This led to an award-winning cookbook, La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio.

Giovanna shuttered the restaurant after Wanda passed away in 2011, but she still offers cooking classes to guests of Tenuta Gangivecchio, the property’s inn. I’d been fortunate enough to take one on a previous visit.

We arrived to find Giovanna selecting hazelnuts she had collected on the property.

I asked if I could give Christina a tour before lunch. “You know the rules,” Giovanna said with a wave. She was referring to the menagerie she keeps separated in various areas of the property.

I introduced Christina to the dogs, cats, and pigeons, shutting each gate firmly behind us.

We were heading back to the inn, giddy from the disheveled beauty of the place, when I noticed the front gate was open. Pedro and Dolores, two of Giovanna’s beloved dogs, were missing.

Giddiness turned to nausea.

“You saw me shut the gate,” I said to Christina.

“You shut the gate.”

“I shut the gate!” I yelled.

Giovanna ran up, out of breath. “Pedro and Dolores are gone!”

As we drove the mountain roads, windows rolled down, screaming the dogs’ names, I said goodbye to our leisurely lunch and plotted my suicide. It was the only honorable course of action. Christina was in tears when Giovanna honked at us to pull over.

“Let’s go back,” she said firmly. “I will not cry for them yet. The caponata is waiting.”

The thing about Giovanna is, her dogs are her family, but she is also a professional. She would never let us go hungry. On the way to the kitchen, she grabbed a bottle of white wine. “We need this,” she said.

If anyone’s caponata can ease a tense situation, it is Giovanna’s. The dish is emblematic of Sicily, utilising the island’s abundant eggplant, capers, and olives, all mixed into an agrodolce, sweet and sour. As Giovanna cooked, she shared one of its origin stories, how first it was part of a sauce for capon (hence, caponata), but the peasants, unable to afford chicken, used meaty eggplant instead.

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The dogs were sitting on the steps outside the inn, waiting for Giovanna and looking at the two American girls like they’d gone crazy.

The seawall in Trapani.

OPPOSITE: Diners at Fritti e Frutti, in Palermo.

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the trees outside and put them into a skillet with rendering pork belly. “This is for pasta?” she asked. “What’s in the sauce?”

“Fat,” Giovanna replied as the figs sizzled.

She rehydrated golden raisins and prunes for her Arabian chicken. Then we braised the chicken in cinnamon and butter until the kitchen smelled like a bakery.

To make room at the table, we moved aside plates of cheese and jars of hot-pepper jam.

Giovanna served a small helping for herself and giant ones for me and Christina, insisting that we were young. We were so full by the time she brought out the limoncello that it felt like an act of mercy. The afternoon dwindled, coffee was poured, and reality set in again—it had been hours and the dogs were still missing. We were about to start walking the grounds looking for them when I heard Christina scream, “Pedro? Dolores?”

The dogs were sitting on the steps outside the inn, waiting for Giovanna and looking at the two American girls like they’d gone crazy.

WHEN WE RETURNED to Palermo, we first headed to the Politeama neighborhood to dine at Fritti e Frutti, one of the places on my original eating itinerary, where we secured a table in the back garden. The small-plates menu begins with the fritti—fried things—and we began with ragù-stuffed arancini, the traditional deep-fried rice balls sold on the streets of Palermo. As the lights strung in the tree above us twinkled, we drank an organic Moscato by Arianna Occhipinti, a young natural-wine producer from southern Sicily, and watched as the restaurant slowly filled with chic parents wearing tortoiseshell glasses.

“A little Brooklyn?” my sister asked.

I sighed and recalled dining with Giovanna on a previous trip at a restaurant she’d wanted to try.

“Almost excellent,” she said. “But shut your eyes.”

I did.

“Where are we?” she asked.

I heard Rihanna playing.

“When I’m here, I want to feel that I’m in Sicily,” she had told me. “With all of my senses.”

I shut my eyes again, but at Fritti e Frutti I heard only soft conversation in Italian, scooters on the street, some traffic noises. I kept checking in on my senses as we tasted our way through the arancini, a bowl of steamed shellfish, a plate of salt cod. The manager smoothly refilled my glass of Moscato and complimented me on my choice.

I felt very much that I was in Sicily.

On our last night, Christina and I again found ourselves under the watchful gaze of Disco Jesus, this time at a place Nicoletta had recommended, the rooftop bar of the La Rinascente department store. We drank perfect negronis while across the piazza the Vucciria filled up and music began playing. Palermo’s rooftops turned lavender as the wind came up off the sea and loosened dust

from the buildings. My feeling of fraudulence had faded.

I understood now that what makes Sicily irresistible is the juxtaposition of the decaying and the eternal, of what Nicoletta calls “the horror and the beauty.”

I looked down at the kids in Vucciria and raised an eyebrow at Christina. “We should go for one, right?” And so we went, arm in arm, for one final passeggiata.

THE DETAILS HOTELS Ai Lumi B&B This former palace in the heart of Trapani also serves some of the best food in town. ailumi.it; doubles from $111.

Butera 28 Apartments Beautifully designed accommodations in a restored palazzo in the up-and-coming Kalsa neighborhood. Palermo; butera28.it; doubles from $67.

Tenuta Gangivecchio Deep in the Madonie Mountains, you’ll find this rustic inn on the ancient property of Gangivecchio, with nine rooms, great wine, and fine cooking. Palermo; gangivecchio.org; doubles from $156.

RESTAURANTS Bianconiglio A restaurant dedicated to meat in a seafood town, with fillets, a variety of steak tartares, and braised rabbit medallions. San Vito Lo Capo; ristorantebianconiglio.it; entrées $16–$67.

Colicchia Pasticceria World-famous granita in fl avors like jasmine, almond, or lemon in Trapani’s old town.

6/8 Via delle Arti; 39-0923-547-612.

Fritti e Frutti serves a menu of small plates and modern takes on Sicilian

classics like arancini. Palermo; frittiefrutti.com; entrées $6–$26.

La Cambusa You’ll find superb pasta con le sarde at this eatery on the Piazza Marina in Kalsa. Palermo; lacambusa.it; entrées $9–$16 .

Salumeria Enoteca Peraino An exquisite salumeria with local cheeses, prosciuttos, olives, and other classic Italian goods. San Vito Lo Capo; 39-0923-972-627.

ACTIVITIES Cooking with the Duchess Take a market tour with Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi, then learn to prepare your meal at her kitchen in Butera 28.

Palermo; butera28.it.

Mercato del Capo Capo is the most atmospheric and impressive of the three major markets in Palermo. Buy what’s in season and make snacks for your drive.

Via Cappuccinelle.

Zingaro Nature Reserve Sicily’s first nature reserve runs between Scopello and San Vito Lo Capo. Either hike the full 7½ miles , or start at either end and walk to one of the pristine beaches. riservazingaro.it.

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hot 100 cover celebration Maxim and the 2016 Hot 100 winner, international superstar Priyanka Chopra, celebrated her third Hot 100 title win at the Taj Santacruz Mumbai. Presented by Volkswagen, in association with The Wadhwa Group and the Sanjay Ghodawat Group, the afternoon soiree celebrated Priyanka as the Hottest Woman of the Decade and the only woman to top the Maxim Hot 100 three times. Priyanka, who was also Maxim’s launch issue Covergirl in 2006, interacted with a teeming media contingent and the selected guests. She also thanked her fans for the more than 2,00,000 votes in her favour. Overall, more than one million votes were cast on the Hot 100 voting website.

TITLE SPONSOR

Priyanka Chopra poses with her Maxim Hot 100 cover. #PCTopsMaximHot100

SANTACRUZ MUMBAI

The superstar and Maxim Senior Publisher Vivek Pareek pose with the 21st Century Volkswagen Beetle

Team Volkswagen: Ashish Gupta, Head of After Sales; Kamal Basu, Head of Marketing & PR; Pankaj Sharma, Head of Sales & Sales Planning

Priyanka interacts with the media

Guests at the afternoon media event

Hot 100 debutante Elena Fernandes and host of the evening Kubra Sait

Priyanka and her four Maxim covers, with Pankaj Sharma, Aarti Surendranath and Nivedita Saboo

What lies beyond the China of fast-paced cities and hypermodern culture? HORATIO CLARE journeys to the rural province of Yunnan, where age-old beliefs and traditions offer a glimpse of the country’s soul.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER BOHLER

Three intricate ninthcentury pagodas, known as the San Ta Si, stand near the shore of Erhai Lake, outside the historic town of Dali.

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Y UNNAN M EANS

‘ SOUTH OF THE

CLOUDS. ’ ABOVE: A view of the Yangtze River with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain behind it, as seen from the road to Shangri-La. OPPOSITE: Performers in the nightly variety show about Naxi culture that takes place near the town of Lijiang.

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And as I arrived in this southwesternmost pocket of China, so it appeared to be. The Han Dynasty invaders who named this province could never have imagined that, one day, much of the rest of the country would be covered in a thick gray veil of pollution—that you could travel from Chengdu in the center to Beijing in the north and never see blue sky. But I flew in the other direction, south, and as we came down toward Dali, one of Yunnan’s prettier towns, lagoons appeared through the vapor below us. To the west, great peaks thrust up, outliers of the Himalayas. We circled lower and there, suddenly, was the deep blue of Erhai Lake and the shining green forests of the Cang Shan range, known as the Azure Mountains.

To be met off the plane by sunshine, birdsong, and butterflies seemed almost unbelievable, because I had traveled in China before, the China of mighty cities and poisoned air. In the past 35 years, an astounding 500 million people have moved from rural areas to vast urban centers—migration on a scale without precedent.

In those cities I had seen much of China’s power, appetite, and prowess, but no clear sky, no wild creatures, nothing of nature’s bright wonder. Aside from couples dancing by the light of digital billboards in Shanghai, I had glimpsed little of the nation’s soul. So this was to be a search for the spiritual, the beautiful and true:

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The Ganden Sumtseling monastery, on the outskirts of Shangri-La, Tibet.

Dongba shaman Shi Chun’s home in the Wenhai valley.

Spices for sale in Xizhou’s morning market.

Traditional Bai tie-dyeing techniques in the village of Zhoucheng.

Tibetan-style dri-butter tea and cheese, with balep bread and toasted barley fl our, or tsampa.

Golden prayer  ags at the Ganden Sumtseling monastery.

Dongba shaman Shi Chun in his garden in the Wenhai valley.

Traditional Bai wood paneling at the Linden Centre hotel, in the village of Xizhou.

Preparing horses for a race in Ringha, Tibet.

A hand-painted panel at the Linden Centre.

a journey from Yunnan’s flat farmlands down near the border with Myanmar, up to the high plateaus of the eastern Himalayas. The route would take me due north along rising roads, traveling from Dali up into the hills and then higher, all the way to Tibet and Shangri-La. I would meet shamans, priests, and wise women, who would show me the ancient currents of belief that still pulse at the edges of the world’s most rapidly modernising country.

T

hese encounters began with my first guide, Li Jie, a former nurse with the Chinese army, much traveled. Jie met my flight, took one look at me, diagnosed jet lag, and offered what appeared to be stale toast. It turned out to be honeyed pastry.

As we drove up the lovely western shore of Erhai Lake I felt as though I had woken into a dream. “Ear-shaped sea,” Jie translated, before conceding, “A very long ear.”

Out on the water men fished from boats, and a bird of prey turned slowly on the thermals. Between the mountains and the lake stood three figures, tall and slender, like pale ghosts. “The San Ta Si!” Jie said, “Look! A thousand years old.” The San Ta Si are pagodas, each over 140 feet high and intricate as carved ivory. Constructed in the ninth century, they are expressions of the art and faith of the Bai people, whose Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms endured from the seventh century until 1253, when Kublai Khan’s Mongol warriors came down from the high plateaus. The Mongol empire fell long ago, but over a

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million Bai people remain—one of several minority ethnicities that thrive here, far from China’s main cities.

The villages of Xizhou and Zhoucheng, at the northern end of Erhai Lake, are today home to Yunnan’s greatest concentration of Bai architecture and custom. My base from which to explore them was the Linden Centre hotel in Xizhou, a 1948 courtyard house built by a merchant named Yang Pin Xiang that today feels like a living work of art. Its wooden balconies, doors, and lintels are networks of exquisite carving, a Bai specialty. “It’s a national relic,” said Jeanee Linden, the center’s ChineseAmerican co-owner. “During the Cultural Revolution the building was occupied by the army, so the Red Guards never got in,” she said, explaining why the wooden birds, fish, dragons, and flowers had escaped vandalism. The Cultural Revolution left very few other examples of Bai art and culture standing, and a

postrevolutionary desire for progress meant such historic structures were, until recently, not much valued. “Too many things in China have been taken down in the name of modernity,” Jeanee said. At the Linden Centre, careful preservation and delicate restoration have saved a marvel for the world.

J

eanee and her husband, Brian, count Western diplomats and Chinese officials among their guests—all attracted by the Lindens’ determination to form a bridge between Occident and Orient. “But in the last two years the market has shifted,” she said. “Chinese people are also seeking this kind of experience now. A lot of them feel out of touch with rural life.” That rural life comes right up to the windows of the Linden Centre’s charmingly creaky rooms. Beyond mine, men and women cleared paddies of the remnants of a rice crop, replacing it with garlic bulbs.

As a farmer’s son, I do not romanticise working the land, but the easy solidarity of the sowers was beguiling.

In nearby Zhoucheng village I passed a gentle hour learning tie-dyeing, a Bai specialty. Ladies in traditional dress chattered and laughed as they stitched patterns into cloth before plunging it into vats of dye. Their elaborate costumes are not worn just for the benefit of visitors: the streets throng with women in magnificent Bai bonnets. Jie, my guide, explained that the tassels on these hats represent the wind, and are worn long by unmarried women, short by those who are married. The hats’ crescent shape symbolizes the moon reflected in Erhai Lake; white ruffs denote the snows of the Cang Shan peaks. Thus clothes are symbolic reflections of place, culture, and individual status.

Similarly, Bai villages are mosaics of local gods and symbols. “There are gods for kitchens, wealth, study, chickens— gods for everything!” Jie said. “And all the local gods have birthdays.” She pointed out zhi ma, the woodcut images of these gods that speckle many Bai doorways and houses. In temples, effigies of Buddhist, Taoist, and local, or Benzhuist, deities sit side by side: the Bai see no contradiction in revering figures from different traditions. In the evenings, men hurry through the streets with bundles of thick red incense sticks like cartoon dynamite and baskets of vegetables, the corporeal and the spiritual interwined.

OPPOSITE: A monk at the Ganden Sumtseling monastery, where traditional Buddhist principles are being overtaken by modern culture.

That night, our supper was spiced pork, noodles, rice, and winter greens at the house of the Lindens’ neighbour Shi Jiazhen. The food of rural Yunnan is a treat for Chinese visitors as much as it is for Westerners, and along with Jie and the Lindens, I gorged. Outside the hotel the night air smelled of earth, straw, and the cold of starlight.

The following morning I visited Xizhou’s market, where I found myself among men selling the ingredients of every Chinese meal you ever ate, from live chickens to fresh fungus. All my fellow visitors were Chinese, many of them young—the generation whose parents were among the 800 million people lifted out of rural poverty in the decades following 1978, when the government of Deng Xiaoping began relaxing its economic policies. Many of these urbanites now visit the countryside for pleasure, either returning to their ancestral villages or exploring picturesque areas easily accessible from their home cities. In the center of Xizhou I watched one such young, cosmopolitan couple taking multiple selfies, performing the now-global rite of digitally confirming their vacation.

After lunch I took the road north with a new guide, Zhao Ming, who told me to call him Jack. The highway climbed through the mountains to Lijiang, a town on a plateau below Yu Long Xue Shan, or Jade Dragon Snow Mountain—its name derived from the fact that it can look like a green dragon lying on its stomach, covered in snow. A ferocious peak of spined rock and ice, Yu Long is sacred to the indigenous Naxi people. They insist it has never been climbed.

The Naxi are animists, worshippers of nature. They have no temples. Their religion, Dongba, meaning “wise man,” is led by shamans, and passed down in pictographs that resemble Egyptian hieroglyphs—the last such script still living.

Jack is a Buddhist, but was raised in the Benzhuist tradition of the Bai people. He was an electrician before he took up tourism, and he is married to a Naxi woman, Quixian. Naxi women are renowned for their work ethic (“We say you marry a Naxi, you marry ten mules!”

Jack crowed). Though Quixian works as a university lecturer, the couple still incorporates her Dongba faith into their lives. “Our baby cried and cried every night,” Jack said. “A shaman said he was troubled by a ghost and did a ritual in our apartment—it filled with smoke! The baby never cried like that again.”

Lijiang’s big attraction is its old town, Dayan. A winding maze of canals, passages, boutiques, cafés, and houses crested with flipped-up cornices like the wings of pagodas, it is an entrancing place to wander in the light of a bright morning. Where the 800-year-old streets meet the new town we found the falcon market, a cluster of men with birds of prey on their fists. There was a hypnotic beauty and power in the birds’ barred chests, clutching talons, and furious eyes. I was tempted to buy a captive and release it, but falconry here dates back to the

‘TOO MANY THINGS IN CHINA HAVE BEEN TAKEN DOWN IN THE NAME OF MODERNISATION.’

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time of the Mongols, who introduced hunting with golden eagles. It would have been quixotic to go against such an old tradition, and anyway the goshawk seller would surely have set out immediately to trap another one.

A

nother kind of hunt takes place in Dayan come evening, when the streets are a tumult of young tourists from elsewhere in China, thunderous with the music of bars, afizz with drink and flirtation. “Onenight-stand street!” laughed Guo Jian Zhong, a Lijiang resident I met in a trendy tea shop who told me his life had been changed by a Christian missionary. He said he avoids Dayan at night, preserving his chastity for the wife he hopes to meet.

Chris DeLacy, a young American working in China who is familiar with Lijiang’s bar scene, echoed this sentiment. “Don’t mess with the Naxi girls. Two of my friends had relationships with them. When they tried to break it off they both got stabbed!”

Neither wound was serious, but both are indicative of the strength of Naxi pride.

From the early 18th century, when direct imperial rule was imposed on the Naxi, the Han ethnic majority’s system of arranged marriages caused them great distress. The Naxi, who allowed boys and girls to mix freely and to choose their own romantic partners, fought the new laws in a terrible way. Lijiang became a suicide capital, with many hundreds of couples eloping to Yu Long Xue Shan to meet their ends there, believing they would ascend together to a heaven of everlasting youth and love. Suicide became a romantic cult, with participants treating it as an eternalmarriage vow. The American botanist and anthropologist Joseph Rock, who lived at the foot of the mountain in the early 20th century, recorded six couples taking this fateful course together in a single day.

Today, Naxi women sit in the old town’s square, redoubtable in blue Mao caps and bulky traditional coats that are said to make them resemble frogs.

Frogs, being great breeders, are held sacred by the Naxi, who were historically outnumbered by the southern Bai and the Tibetans to the north. Modern China, dominated by the cities, the Han, and the Communist party, has in many ways preserved Naxi culture from its traditional foes. Minorities were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, but in the post-Mao era, the government promoted ethnic diversity

OPPOSITE: The ingredients of a

traditional Tibetan hot pot, served in a yurt at the Banyan Tree Ringha resort near Shangri-La.

and local traditions as a means of boosting national harmony. The Dongba religion had been so weakened by the revolution that it was no longer seen as a threat by the authorities. As time passed, the Naxi way of life, like that of many other minority groups, grew to be seen as a relic, or a ready-made tourist attraction. These traditions are one reason why international tourism is booming in Yunnan. Along my route from Lijiang to Shangri-La, high-end chains like Aman and Banyan Tree have opened resorts—so now this dramatic trail can be traveled in easy luxury.

A variety show about Naxi culture called Impression Lijiang takes place daily in a theater below Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, an extravaganza created by the film director Zhang Yimou, who made House of Flying Daggers. Five hundred actors perform sketches involving horses and drums against the backdrop of the sacred peak.

Kitsch and bombast—the very image of what the historian Eric Hobsbawm termed “the invention of tradition”—do not detract from the sweetly moving relationship between the cast and the audience, who waved at each other throughout, and joined at the end in a mass wish for peace and harmony.

After the show I had lunch with a Naxi family known to my guide, whose members offer traditional cooking in a small courtyard house.

At a table beside a pomegranate tree over sumptuous pork and eggplant, peppers and potatoes, the father of the family, Li Bo Wei, a farmer’s son who sold his land for development, decried the school system that occupies his 15-year-old son from 6 am until 11 pm. each day, leaving him no time to memorise Dongba pictographs. “He says he wants to put us into an old people’s home!” laughed Wei. “I hate Chinese education.”

An hour or so away in the Wenhai valley, on the south side of the mountain, we sat with a shaman, Hong Zheng Yong, in the courtyard of his house—a place of deep tranquillity perched like an aerie in the heights. Yong has a book that allows him to interpret the cries of crows.

He has a tiger fetish dedicated to the Yi god Wu Tu, inside which are divination sticks for fortune telling. There was nothing of the charlatan about him—Yong brimmed with goodness, sincerity, and fun. I asked him for a blessing. He leafed through a sheaf of papers bound to a stick. Then he began a chant, undulating from deep in his throat, an entrancing incantation from an ancient time. He said, “This blessing is for a traveller. That you will return safely, your family will have harmony, and your work will prosper.”

It was a comforting benediction for someone taking the road to Shangri-La. Over the dull gleam of the Yangtze, between the white peaks of Yu Long and Haba mountains, we drove, up and up, the road a precipitous zigzag rumbling with trucks, which Chinese custom

“HE SAYS HE WANTS TO PUT US INTO AN OLD PEOPLE’S HOME!” LAUGHED WEI. “I HATE CHINESE EDUCATION.”

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demands be overtaken with reckless panache. This used to be a part of the Tea Horse Road, a mule path through the Himalayas from China to India. My new guide, Dakpa Kelden, told me his father was one of the last to trade Chinese Pu-erh tea along this route. Pu-erh is a winking rosy amber when brewed, smelling like sweet young leather and, according to Dakpa, promising potent longevity. “You know Tibetans cannot live without tea, right?” Dakpa said, seriously.

The traders risked all to bring it to them.

The route crosses 78 peaks, each over 9,000 feet high. “My father ran away from his family to be a muleteer,” Dakpa said.

“So dangerous! Every pass was a victory.”

W

ith the crossing of the Yangtze we had entered what is officially known as the Tibet Autonomous Region. To this traveller’s eye, it looked like another country altogether. When finally we topped the Tibetan Plateau, almost 10,000 feet up, we found a new world, a place of faith, to judge by the Buddhist stupas and their streaming prayer flags, and of mysteries, by the feeling in the frigid wind. We passed black yaks, which seem to wear fur coats draped over their shoulders; and black dris, which are female yaks; and black dzos, which are half yak, half ox; and hairy black pigs; and black choughs and ravens. The mountains marched in phalanxes through the searing light, under a Himalayan sky so blue it seemed to roar.

This was Gyalthang, the muleteer’s gateway to Tibet. Gyalthang was originally a vast meadow where traders fed and refreshed their horses; the town of the same name was a market and a key point on the Tea Horse Road. In a stroke of marketing genius the Chinese government in 2001 rebranded Gyalthang as Shangri-La, after the fictional mountain paradise of James Hilton’s 1933 book Lost Horizon. Today, the place has the hectic activity of a town on the up. Everywhere men were working wood in a meticulous mass reconstruction effort.

“For the Chinese, Tibet is a real dream,” Dakpa said, smiling gently, as we watched that dream being built up around us.

Shangri-La thus presents an extraordinary double vision: an old town being rebuilt in Tibetan style with the aim of luring tourists, primarily Chinese; a new town adjacent to the old being built with the aim of populating Tibet (no Tibetan would dare say “colonising”) with arrivals from the rest of China. A railway line linking

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OPPOSITE: Visitors on the streets of Dayan, Lijiang’s old town—an 800-yearold maze of canals, passageways, boutiques, and cafés.

the plateau to Lijiang is under construction, and everywhere there are cameras and police, ensuring this progress is frictionless—or at least unopposed. Talking politics is a hushed business in China. In Tibet, which was invaded by China in 1950, several people I spoke to begged me not to write anything that might be construed as political criticism.

Judging by their laughter, it seemed no Tibetan expected me to be uncritical of their national drink: Tibetan dri-butter tea, widely and incorrectly known as yak-butter tea (yaks, being male, don’t produce milk). At the Ganden Sumtseling monastery on the outskirts of ShangriLa, a senior monk named Nyawang Jhampa made what looked like a classic English brew but was sour and very salty, with gaseous overtones. I have a strong stomach, but two sips were too many.

Nyawang, 40, has a lovely lopsided face, smile-lined. His name means 'power of compassion,' and his life has been devoted to prayer.

But when he and Dakpa began to discuss the future of the monastery, his expression became melancholy. In the past, Nyawang said, “to have a monk in the family was like building a golden stupa. Very auspicious.”

But citizenship of modern China has affected monastic values, even here in the Himalayas. “All my life is for the community. For us, this goes to the next life. Many young monks find this very hard.”

In one prayer hall we found two of these novices playing a battle game on mobile phones, which they stuffed guiltily into their robes when they saw us. Each monk’s dwelling now has a TV, a compulsory gift from the government. The older monks can control the urge to have it on constantly, Nyawang said, but not the young. “Living in the world is improving, but I feel people have lost morality.”

It seemed my search for ancient soul in modern China had taken a sad turn until we went out into the Kochi, or “hidden” valley, to visit a Tibetan farm. Tashi Lhamu’s traditional house is a huge, decorated wooden marvel. It overlooks a farmyard where Tashi was feeding her pigs.

Tashi is a small, energetic woman in a red baseball cap.

Her husband was working in the fields, she said, leaving her to a relentless round of feeding their children and animals, offering incense and prayers, milking dris, collecting firewood, shepherding livestock, cleaning, talking, and, finally, briefly sleeping. I have rarely met anyone so obviously in love with life, despite such a grueling routine.

“I never get tired,” she laughed. “I love my animals—I never want to sell them. Winter is hard. With the snow the animals can’t go out, and in summer I worry about the pigs raiding the barley. But the more work I do, the more food we have—and then I can offer some to the monastery, and to other people!” She made this last point with arresting pride and relish. Tashi lives on a harsh frontier. At 9,000 feet the sun is a blazing flail. In winter the winds are lethal. There is an ethereal beauty to the plateau, where the tink-tonk of cowbells, choughs’ whistles, and roosters’ crows make up the soundscape,

“FOR THE CHINESE, TIBET IS A REAL DREAM,” DAKPA SAID, SMILING GENTLY.

but what Westerners would recognize as Tashi’s rewards are few. During the celebration of the new year she visits hot springs for a week, and in June there is horse racing, which she loves. Her huge pleasure at producing a tiny surplus to give away absolutely seized me.

While there are people who live and think like this there is hope for humanity—there must be, I decided.

On the flight back to my own world I thought of her, and of Yong the shaman, and Nyawang the monk, people who to us seem materially impoverished, but who feel their lives are rich. I gazed down at their plateaus and mountains. There was no sign of any habitation, only the indifferent wilderness. In these distant places you feel the proximity of spirits; indeed, you may meet people who live with them, and who know wonder as we might know a neighbor, and you may sit and talk with them, still.

THE DETAILS GETTING THERE Fly to Dali from Shanghai or Beijing via Kunming or Chengdu.

VISAS & SECURITY The Chinese embassy’s website may list four business days as the processing time for obtaining a tourist visa (L visa), which is required to enter China, but it is best to apply one to two months before your travel date. Make sure your passport is valid for six months after your trip dates.

HOTELS Amandayan Perched on a hill overlooking Lijiang’s old town, this property offers 35 rooms, all with the Aman brand’s typical luxuries, clustered around inner courtyards. aman.com; doubles from $440.

Arro Khampa A discreet refuge with comfortable rooms, Tibetan food, and classes in language and painting at the adjacent Thangka Center. Shangri-La; fb.com/arrokhampaboutiquehotel;

doubles from $200.

Banyan Tree Ringha The rooms here were once traditional Tibetan houses.

Each has two fl oors (bath and shower downstairs) with private terraces and views across the valley. Shangri-La; banyantree.com; doubles from $440.

Linden Centre The comfortable, creaky rooms at this traditional Chinese inn place an emphasis on simplicity and beauty. Xizhou; linden-centre.com; doubles from $150.

TOUR OPERATORS Imperial Tours The writer and photographer both used this operator, which provides an extensive network of contacts, first-class service, and thorough knowledge of Yunnan and Tibet. Packages include hotels, guides, and transportation.

Wild China Based in Beijing, founder Mei Zhang is a Yunnan native and specializes in taking travelers off the beaten path. wildchina.com; mei. zhang@wildchina.com.

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wish you were here...

Abhay Singh / Photographer / MAURITIUS

As I sat on the deck with a chilled beer and watched the setting sun shimmer on the ocean, a ďŹ sherman standing in the distance, cast a rod. On that lazy afternoon, I wished life were always this peaceful. This photograph that was taken in Mauritius in the month of June is a humble reminder of what life can be like.

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