Innehållsförteckning för Aug/Sept 2018 från DestinAsian

Having just returned from an island-hopping break in eastern Indonesia, it’s wonderful to see the variety of places covered in this issue. In Shanghai, correspondent Amy Fabris-Shi checks out the small restaurants that are blazing a new trail in a city whose residents are always on the lookout for novel experiences. Dara Tippapart’s accompanying photographs are enough to make anyone hungry. We then jet off to the Indian Himalayas, where Debbie Pappyn joins a self-taught fashion designer on a journey to meet the nomadic goat herders who produce some of the world’s purest cashmere wool. Elsewhere in the country, Kendall Hill goes in search of Rajasthan’s palace-hotels and finds architectural treasures in unexpected places. New York has always been a favorite destination of mine despite the time it takes to…

• EAT Tucked inside a creative complex on the edge of Makati, Toyo Eatery (fb.com/toyoeatery) serves excellent Filipino fare by chef Jordy Navarra, who presents local flavors and ingredients in elevated ways—his Bahay Kubo ‘salad’ combines all 18 vegetables mentioned in a popular Tagalog folk song of the same name. Two other great spots are Grace Park (fb.com/graceparkdining) for its farm-to-table comfort food by Margarita Forés, crowned Asia’s Best Female Chef in 2016; and Hey Handsome (fb.com/handsomecome), where Southeast Asian dishes are reinterpreted through the lens of chef Nicco Santos. I love the lamb buah keluak and always order beetroot paneer on the side. • SHOP Aphro (fb.com/aphroliving) is Manila’s top concept store, selling artwork and home items by mostly Filipino talents. Price points vary, but there’s something for everyone…

For those looking to get under the skin of China’s largest city, Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai (mandarinoriental.com) has introduced a series of cultural tours available only to guests. These include a four-hour sidecar journey with Shanghai Insiders between three contemporary art galleries, plus a three-hour photo tour led by Gangfeng Wang, an acclaimed local photographer, that promises a behind-the-scenes look at daily life in the historic laneways where he grew up. Also on the cards? A morning cycling tour through the leafy residential areas of the former French Concession, which takes in the colorful arts and crafts enclaves of Tai Kang Road and Tian Zi Fang.…

Barely a year after launching a pre-select dining option for first- and business-class passengers, Qatar Airways has completely revamped its premium dining experience starting with its European routes. Expect newly designed tableware, cutlery, and chinaware, alongside a seasonal inflight menu that features destination-based signature dishes like porcini and truffle risotto for the Italian sectors. In a nod to the airline’s Gulf heritage, traditional Arabic main courses such as the mixed rice dish kabsa, biryani, and flame-grilled meats are available on most routes, while passengers can also sample a range of warm signature desserts (qatarairways.com).…

Bringing the flavors of Peru to Seminyak, AYA Street (ayastreet.com) is seriously fun, from its eye-popping murals to the azure velvet sofas in its lounge, where pisco sours are practically obligatory. There’s a restaurant where you can indulge in flavorful dishes such as fish anticucho, or enjoy tapas and tipples on the terrace overlooking the street. DJs and live music add to the festive atmosphere. Speakeasy 40 Thieves (fb.com/40thieves.bali) is like a slice of New York in Seminyak. Atop Japanese restaurant Mad Ronin, the dimly lit lounge is a shrine to craft cocktails and artisanal spirits. Sink into a leather sofa and let owner and award-winning mixologist Shah Dillon shake you a Moscow mule, spiced gimlet, or something bespoke. A bar within a bar, The Den by Sea Vu Play…

Diving There’s no better way to take in the Philippines’ underwater wonders than donning your scuba gear and heading down into the deep blue. In westernmost Palawan, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tubbataha Reef is considered one of the most extraordinary diving destinations in the world for its immense biodiversity. Situated 180 kilometers from the provincial capital of Puerto Princesa, the 97,000-square-kilometer marine sanctuary is accessible only on liveaboards fitted for the 10-hour journey. Chartered five-day expeditions can be arranged with Zamerdius (zamerdius.com), one of the accredited tour operators that helps fund Tubbataha’s conservation. The same outfitter also runs trips to Mindoro for another covetable dive site: Apo Reef, home to over 300 marine species, including white tip sharks, eagle rays, and bottlenose dolphins. Spanning 34 square kilometers, it…

Located in Thailand’s vast northeastern region of Isan, Buriram is a town and province packed with hidden treasures. Thais from elsewhere in the country have long known about the place because of its high-flying football team, but Buriram remains blissfully off the tourist trail. Travelers who make the effort to come here will be rewarded with sincere Thai hospitality, authentic Isan cuisine, as well as uncrowded Khmer temple sites. And with the debut of the MotoGP in Thailand this October, there’s no reason why Buriram shouldn’t be added to your Southeast Asian wish list. ANCIENT HERITAGE If you’re a history buff, make sure to rise early for the hour-long drive outside town to visit a pair of exquisite Angkor-style Khmer temples dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. The 10th- to…

COASTING ALONG THE TACONIC STATE PARKWAY, a 170-kilometer stretch of highway running north from New York City, it’s easy to see what inspired early American landscape painters like Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church. Each break between the rolling hills and granite peaks reveals a beguilingly bucolic scene: the cerulean-blue waters of a rambling creek; a tilting clapboard grain silo; the delicate, pink-slippered petals of a copse of magnolia trees. Extending from Westchester County to the limits of Albany along the banks of its eponymous river, the Hudson Valley has seen its fortunes rise and fall under many banners since the English explorer Henry Hudson arrived on the scene in 1609. During the American Revolution it became a whaling hub, at a time when the British were terrorizing the New…

LAOTIAN LUXURY With its lush riverside setting amid the jungle-covered mountains of northern Laos, Rosewood Luang Prabang has been the talk of the town since its March opening. Designed by Bill Bensley, the resort’s 23 guest rooms and villas, which include six well-appointed hilltop tents, blend local touches with French-colonial flair. The Great House restaurant specializes in regional Laotian delicacies, while Sense, A Rosewood Spa pampers guests with Laotian-inspired treatments and beauty rituals. Make the most of it all with the Ancient Wonders of Laos package, which runs till the end of the year. Valid for stays of three nights or more, the offer includes daily breakfast for two at The Great House, luxury round-trip airport transfers, a 60-minute Laotian massage for two, complimentary selected minibar items replenished daily, a…

MATT DUTILE Wrote and photographed “At Home on the Hudson,” p. 106 A photographer based in New York City, Dutile is a frequent “weekender” to New York’s Hudson Valley. The globetrotting adventurer makes multiple trips each year to the bucolic riverside region with his fiancé Laura. The valley holds special meaning to the pair, who will tie the knot in Tivoli in late September. “We truly love our weekend excursions through the Hudson Valley,” he says. “Each trip, we make it our goal to explore somewhere different: stay at a newly renovated historic lodge, dine at one the many seasonal restaurants, delve into the region’s artistic community, or lose ourselves amid antiques shops. So the chance to revisit some of our favorite spots, and discover new gems, made this a…

While Bangkok is rightly known as a gastronomic capital of Asia, foodies have even more reason to visit this summer with the arrival of the 19th annual World Gourmet Festival on September 3–9, held at Ratchadamri’s Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel. This year’s affair may be the most star-studded yet: the impressive lineup includes 13 guest chefs with 16 Michelin stars between them, coming from as far afield as San Francisco, St. Moritz, and Lisbon. On the roster are two-star chefs like Jeong Ho Kim, the pioneer of new Korean cuisine at Seoul’s Jungsik, and Bernard Bach, whose Toulouse restaurant Les Puits Saint-Jacques champions French Mediterranean ingredients. Another maestro to consider? One-starred Han Li Guang, who is known for giving the molecular treatment to Singaporean classics. As always, a series of…

Despite its reputation as the city of ground coffee, Bill Gates, and grunge, Seattle’s character is far more complex, particularly when it comes to the neighborhood of Ballard, a 20-minute drive northwest of downtown. Independent-minded Ballard first evolved as a separate city, drawing prospective immigrants to work in its salmon fisheries and lumber mills. What was once a hardscrabble, working-class waterfront area settled by sizeable numbers of Nordic arrivals in the 19th century quickly developed until a chronic lack of clean water convinced residents to vote in favor of annexation by Seattle. More than 110 years on, Ballard continues to exude a distinct small-town flavor, with a cluster of creative shops and restaurants—as well as a growing brewery district—that make for an offbeat counterpoint to its proud Scandinavian roots. Start…

• RICE AND SHINE Set amid lush gardens near the Rama III Bridge, the Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort’s Anantara Spa champions local produce in its rice-based treatments. Try the Purifying Sri Nin Rice Scrub, which harnesses the antioxidants and vitamins B and E found in a special strain of black rice, or the 90-minute Oriental Rice Compress Massage for the rejuvenating benefits of rice bran oil (bangkok-riverside.anantara.com). • MIND MATTERS Some three kilometers upriver is The Peninsula Spa, which occupies a three-story colonial-style Thai house on the grounds of its namesake hotel. The facility’s latest offering, The Essential Mind by acclaimed Thai wellness practitioner Dr. Buathon Thienarrom, is a 90-minute mind-soothing treatment using both touch and sound therapy. This involves a gentle massage with healing oils made from jasmine, clove, and basil…

“Dundee’s setting is probably more extraordinary than any other city in the U.K. It is about as ideal—ludicrously ideal—as any setting could be.” So said comedian and actor Stephen Fry, who once spent six years as a university rector in the Scottish port city. Perched on the flanks of an extinct volcano beside the broad, silvery waters of the Firth of Tay, Dundee has been quietly reinventing itself since its industrial heyday as the center of the global jute industry. Former textile mills now host young entrepreneurs and design collectives, while the historic waterfront is being transformed to the tune of US$1.3 billion. Recent additions here include Slessor Gardens and Japanese architect Kengo Kuma’s outpost of the Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A Dundee (vandadundee.org), whose angular shape and louvered facade…

Two years in the making, The Peninsula Chicago’s recently opened Z Bar (chicago.peninsula.com) is the latest rooftop lounge to debut on a lively stretch of Michigan Avenue known as the Magnificent Mile. Views from its outdoor terrace are a treat, but so too are cocktails like Manhattan Royale, a blend of Elijah Craig Bourbon and straight rye on ice laced with 24-karat gold. Meanwhile, the menu scours the globe for inspiration, offering gourmet tater tots stuffed with bone marrow and Bordelais sauce, and daikon frites that feature lap cheong sausage and spiced tomato jam.…

As martyrdoms go, the fate of St. Vincent of Saragossa was pretty grisly. The third-century Spanish deacon lived during the Great Persecution, when Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered all Christians to recant their faith on pain of torture or death. St. Vincent piously refused and was consequently lacerated with iron hooks and roasted over a gridiron. Legend has it that his body was brought to the wild promontory marking the southwesterly corner of Portugal, where a flock of ravens guarded his grave. In the Middle Ages, Cape St. Vincent became a place of pilgrimage. Today, it marks the end—or the beginning, depending on which direction you take—of the Rota Vicentina, a well-marked network of walking trails that stretches from the village of Santiago do Cacém in Alentejo to St. Vincent’s resting…

An excursion to the Khmer temples should also include a detour to the village of Baan Charoen Suk, where a small collective of local artisans produce Phu Akanee Cotton (66/89-526-6071) using natural dyes sourced from the rust-red volcanic soil, padauk bark, and cultivated marigolds. Discerning Bangkok residents are known to make the trip to procure clothes and textiles that are otherwise prohibitively expensive in the capital. For non-Thai speakers, hiring a guide or translator is essential if you want to get the most out of a cotton-dyeing and weaving demonstration, which can be arranged in advance. Just 15 kilometers from Buriram town lies the silk-weaving village of Baan Sanuan Nok (66/80-595-3414). Visitors here can learn every step of the silk production process, from planting mulberry trees and breeding silkworms to…

SHANGHAI DINERS ARE NO STRANGER to steaming kitchens and elbow-bumping communal tables when slurping noodles or their beloved xiaolongbao soup dumplings. But more elevated culinary experiences in China’s second city have long carried the expectation of fancy dining rooms or conceptual gimmickry. While there’s still plenty of that (you can, for instance, custom-order your coffee or cocktail on WeChat and have it made by AI robots at the just-opened Ratio Bar), Shanghai’s most exciting new restaurants are putting the spotlight firmly on the talents of their chefs, provenance-specific ingredients and wines, and flavor profiles that freewheel around China and the globe. “I’m surprised no one else has jumped on Guiyang cuisine, the flavors are f–ing insane!” says Blake Thornley, a New Zealand chef whose creative passion and lively conversation warrant…

I WAS RESTLESS, SO I WALKED AROUND SINGAPORE. I don’t mean I window-shopped Orchard Road or strolled through the Botanic Gardens. I mean I walked around Singapore—a 160-kilometer loop that took me clockwise along the diamond-shaped island’s perimeter. As countries go, Singapore is small; it could fit eight times into Bali. Former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie is attributed with first calling the city-state a “little red dot,” a gibe that Singaporeans have proudly come to own. Yet however miniscule it looks on a large-scale map, when measured in footfalls, Singapore can start to seem boundless, especially thanks to an equatorial climate that wraps the walker in what can feel like steamed towels. In my two years of living here, no Singaporean I asked had ever heard of anyone walking around…

CHAPUNG SEBALI Unassuming luxury meets eclectic, contemporary design in the south-central foothills of Indonesia’s most beloved holiday isle, where boutique resort Chapung Sebali offers a welcome refuge for savvy travelers just a 10-minute drive from the center of Ubud. Located in the steep-sided Wos River valley, the resort brims with emerald-green paddy fields, lily ponds, and vegetable and herb gardens that blend seamlessly into the surrounding jungle foliage. An expansion last year saw the addition of 14 suites to complement the resort’s eight airy villas. All villas and suites feature abstract paintings plus elegant furniture designed by the Bali-based Greek owner. That eclecticism is also evident in the materials of reclaimed ironwood, black marble, and red brickwork used throughout the rooms. Deluxe Pool Suites come equipped with a plunge pool…

It has been more than 25 years since Keiko Tanabe left Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture to start a new chapter of her life in the United States. “But every year when I go back to Uji to visit family, I realize that my heart has never left home,” says the accomplished watercolorist. “That’s where I feel the weight of history, as well as a strong connection to my past and my relatives.” A small city located between the ancient Japanese capitals of Kyoto and Nara, Uji has its own share of historical attractions, among them the 11th-century Ujigami Shrine and—depicted here—Byodo-in Temple, originally built in 998 and today one of the 17 monuments constituting the World Heritage Site of Ancient Kyoto. “It’s a must-see sight for the millions of tourists who…

The stylishly dressed young man races after his partner, but he’s too late. She flees the cell and swings the forbidding-looking iron door behind her until it shuts with an ominous clang, trapping him inside. His hands grip the bars and a flicker of panic crosses his face as she pulls out her phone to record his captivity for posterity. Not your average date night, perhaps. Yet the prison block at Hong Kong’s old Central Police Station has become one of the city’s top destinations for camera-toting couples since the colonial-era compound was reborn as the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage & Arts in late May—so much so that wags in the local media are already referring to a “cell-fie” craze. On my visit, though it’s been open barely a…

1 / Laikipia County, Kenya NAY PALAD BIRD NEST This quirky riverside tower is the latest addition to Segera Retreat, a private game reserve of more than 20,000 hectares on Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau. Raised off the ground on stilts, the circular two-level suite is topped, as its name suggests, with a crown of interwoven tree branches. Above the upstairs sleeping quarters, an outdoor bed can be added to the open-air viewing platform affording 360-degree vistas of the savanna and its wildlife. Stays at the Bird Nest are single-evening affairs that begin with sunset champagne and a picnic-style dinner, and come included for guests who bed down at Segera Retreat for five nights or more. segera.com; from US$1,250 2 / Waipara, New Zealand GREYSTONE PUREPOD One of five all-glass suites scattered…

Perhaps the most exciting heritage conversion London has seen this year is that of a neglected Edwardian gem in the district of Holborn. What was first built at the turn of the last century as the U.K. headquarters of the Baptist Church is now L’oscar London (44-20/7405-5555; loscar.com; doubles from US$517), the first hotel in the British capital designed by the preeminent Jacques Garcia. The overhaul took six years to complete, with master craftsmen recruited from around the world to restore the ornate stucco ceilings, wood flooring, and other original features, as Garcia brought his signature love of bohemian excess to the revamped spaces. And the result is unabashedly sensual and sumptuous. Exuberant peacock motifs adorn silkscreen wall panels and headboards, while flocks of glass birds make up the seven-story…

SEMINYAK AREA Your meal comes with a side of theater at Salazón (salazonbali.com), a dimly lit, Scandi-styled restaurant with a long counter overlooking the kitchen. Everything on your plate is made onsite, from the sourdough and butter to the pickles and cured meats, with many dishes also wood-fired in the Scotch oven. Try the chopped tuna, which sees dry-aged and house-smoked tuna loin, cheek, and belly served with a tattie scone and sea urchin. In vast contrast is KYND Community (kyndcommunity.com), a popular café that is completely plant-based and almost entirely organic. The gourmet toasties, named after famous vegans and vegetarians including Gandhi and Einstein, are worth queuing for, as are the vitamin-packed juices, smoothies and elixirs, and loaded salads that look like they’ve sprouted in the bowl. Like its…

It’s just after 5 a.m. at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market. Outside, a brief downpour cuts through the humidity of early summer. Inside, there’s an air-conditioned chill in the auction hall as an army of wholesalers move between the rows of tuna lining the floor, trying to evaluate the day’s catch. They do this with barely a touch: just a hook through the gills to gently roll the carcass in order to shine a light into the ice-packed slit in its belly; an appraisal of the exposed flesh where the tail has been removed; and a scan of the tags that indicate the tuna’s weight, lot number, and where it was caught. At 5:30 a.m. sharp, hand bells start ringing, drawing the wholesalers into clusters around auctioneers who rap out a breathless…

PTT THAILAND GRAND PRIX October 5–7; motogp.com The much-anticipated highlight of the Buriram racing calendar this year is the arrival of the MotoGP, which is followed by 800 million viewers around the globe. Over the course of three days, the biggest names in two-wheeled motorsport will descend on Buriram, including Spanish star riders Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo, plus multiple MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi. Also making an appearance will be Honda Team Asia’s Nakarin Atiratphuvapat, the only Thai racer to have competed throughout the 2018 season of the Moto3 World Championship. Three-day passes for the event can be bought online at tickets.motogp.com, but as organizers are expecting as many as 200,000 spectators in all, it’s best to book as early as possible. BURIRAM UNITED SUPER GT RACE TBA; supergt.net…

BRASSERIE LES SAVEURS AT THE ST. REGIS SINGAPORE Look no further than The St. Regis Singapore’s chic brasserie for contemporary French cuisine in the Lion City. Illuminated by a series of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the hotel’s tropical gardens and pool, Brasserie Les Saveurs seats up to 90 guests, with two private dining alcoves that provide discerning patrons an even more intimate experience. Three enormous hand-cut crystal chandeliers and an array of floral decorations add to the opulence and decadent feel of the space, where diners embark on a memorable culinary journey. Expect a harmony of textures, tastes, and colors at the hands of chef de cuisine Kenny Chung, who pairs classic French Mediterranean flavors with Asian-influenced cooking techniques as well as methods that allude to his own Mauritian origins. The…