Innehållsförteckning för June 2022 - August 2022 från DestinAsian

JAKARTA Dapperly dressed bellmen and a pink vintage Austin parked out front are among the first clues that there’s a nuanced Britishness afoot at The Langham, Jakarta. White-paneled rooms with faux fireplaces are another. Yet there’s absolutely nothing stuffy about this sleek addition to the city’s five-star hotel scene, which fuses nods to its parent brand’s English heritage — the flagship property is The Langham, London, a grand Victorian pile that dates to 1865 — with contemporary Southeast Asian opulence. Rising 65 stories above the upscale District 8 complex in Jakarta’s Sudirman Central Business District, the 223-room hotel is a delight of visual surprises. The ground-floor arrival lobby is overlooked by an installation of 3,000 hand-blown crystal “butterflies” by Czech lighting designer Lasvit, which drew its inspiration from the biodiversity…

LONDON The trains are sleek, silent, and liveried in royal purple; the platforms and concourses, buried deep in the ground, appear luminous with their curving white concrete panels. Welcome to Elizabeth Line, a London railway fit for the 21st century. Though well over budget and long delayed, the city’s most ambitious transportation project to date finally began operations on May 24, a 118-kilometer network stretching from the Berkshire countryside and Heathrow Airport in the west, through new tunnels under central London to rural Essex in the east. While direct services to Heathrow won’t start until the autumn, the line, originally known as Crossrail, is set to dramatically transform travel in the British capital, relieving congestion on the aging Tube system and cutting travel times across the city by as much…

INDONESIA A new resort for Natuna Set on a boulder-studded stretch of shoreline on the east coast of Natuna Island, Adiwana Jelita Sejuba Natuna (adiwanahotels.com) is the latest resort to open in Indonesia’s far-flung Riau Archipelago. With relatively easy access from Jakarta and Singapore via Batam’s Hang Nadim Airport, the property oozes tropical charm, from its overwater bar and breezy Napoleon restaurant (named for the reef fish, not the man) to its granite-clad infinity pool, which rises straight from the sea. Backed by the 1,000-meter summit of Mount Ranai and overlooking turquoise waters, it’s an enticing spot, especially with an opening offer (running till the end of the year) that includes 25 percent off room rates, daily breakfast and afternoon tea, and discounts on food and spa treatments. UNITED STATES…

More codeshare destinations for SIA, United Star Alliance members United Airlines and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have expanded their codeshare agreement, making it easier for passengers to travel to more cities in the United States, Southeast Asia, and other destinations in the Asia-Pacific region. SIA customers can now connect on United flights out of Los Angeles to Austin, Baltimore, Boise, Cleveland, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, and Sacramento, which compliments the existing connections available on United’s network from Houston to Atlanta, Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, and Tampa. United passengers, for their part, can look forward to connecting via SIA’s network to nine new regional destinations including Bandar Seri Begawan, Siem Reap, Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Jakarta, Perth, and Male. The codeshare flights will be progressively made…

SWIM WITH ORCAS Come November, orcas congregate in the frigid waters off northern Norway to feed on seasonal shoals of herring. Those looking for an immersive experience with these remarkable creatures can join one of Natural World Safaris’ ship-based Swim with Killer Whales trips, which begin and end in Tromsø (350 kilometers above the Arctic Circle) with six nights at sea in between. Your base is the Kinfish, a former research vessel that now carries a maximum of 12 passengers to where orcas and even humpback whales are most likely to be encountered (departs Nov. 4, 11, and 18; naturalworldsafaris.com; from US$7,860 per person). GET WILD WITH WOLVES The remote Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba, may be known as the polar bear capital of the world, but local outfitter Churchill…

JAPAN The last time Tokyo-based photographer Irwin Wong teamed up with art-book publisher Gestalten, it was to produce 2020’s Handmade in Japan, a tribute to the country’s traditional artisans and craftspeople. But the focus of their latest collaboration falls at a different end of the cultural spectrum: otaku, those die-hard devotees of Japan’s myriad subcultures. Photographed and coedited by Wong, The Obsessed provides a vivid glimpse into the more offbeat corners of Japanese society — and we’re not just talking cosplay and Lolita fashion. The book’s subjects include the owners of itasha (cars plastered with anime decals and decorations), a sofubi (soft vinyl toy) collector, and a chiptune artist who lays down tracks using the sound chips of Nintendo Game Boy consoles. Wong also introduces readers to the “latex haute…

Overlooking the Andaman Sea from its perch on Bangsak Beach in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga Province, the just-opened Avani+ Khao Lak Resort sets the stage for a sun-soaked Thai getaway. The 327-room property is a 90-minute drive from Phuket International Airport and features four swimming pools, a full-service spa, a two-story kids’ club, and a state-of-the-art gym equipped with an indoor rock climbing wall and Muay Thai boxing ring. Activities include sunrise yoga sessions, tennis, and cooking classes, while the roster of off-site adventures ranges from day trips to Takuapa Old Town to excursions to the Similan Islands, Phang Nga Bay, or Koh Phi Phi. The resort’s culinary offerings are equally diverse, with gourmet lunches and themed dinners at all-day dining restaurant Elements, grilled seafood and Thai dishes at The…

Hessa al ali hops out of her Jeep and greets me with a big smile. Sporting a black abaya and aviator sunglasses, a wisp of dyed-blond hair peeping out from under her headscarf, she tells me her name means “unique pearl,” which is apt, considering that she’s the first female tour guide in Ras Al Khaimah. We are here to explore Al Jazirah Al Hamra, the last surviving pearling village in the Arabian Gulf and the ancestral home of Hessa’s grandmother. RAK, as it’s known locally, is the northernmost of the seven United Arab Emirates. Just an hour up the road from Dubai, the territory shares part of the rugged Musandam Peninsula with the sultanate of Oman, yet encompasses its own unique swath of coast, desert, and mountains. Settled continuously…

Uninterrupted views of Victoria Harbour and a soaring art deco–inspired lobby aren’t the only things that inspire guests at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. A place to see and be seen since it first opened in 1989, the landmark Wanchai property was recently revamped by Melbourne-based design firm BAR Studio, which blended contemporary style with traditional Asian design touches in the 542 rooms and suites. Visiting gourmands can look forward to an exciting lineup of 11 restaurants and bars; these serve up everything from Cantonese and Italian to Japanese cuisine and American-style steaks. Another highlight? The blissful high-tech treatments at Plateau Spa, located on the 11th floor beside one of Hong Kong’s loveliest lagoon-shaped outdoor pools. The prize is for a three-night stay in a Harbour View room with daily breakfast…

First established in 1976 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch, the prestigious Rolex Awards for Enterprise have since supported 155 Laureates whose endeavors have made a significant contribution worldwide to improving life and protecting our planet. Five Laureates are chosen in each biennial edition of the Awards based on their originality and the impact they have on the world at large, as well as on their spirit of enterprise. Read on to discover the latest Laureates and their pioneering projects. LUIZ ROCHA A hundred meters or more beneath the ocean surface in the Maldives lie deep coral reefs that have yet to be explored. In a pioneering diving expedition, Brazilian marine biologist Luiz Rocha plans to survey these mysterious, twilit depths to…

A century ago this November, British Egyptologist Howard Carter made one of the most dazzling archaeological finds of modern times: the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun. Unearthed in the Valley of the Kings outside present-day Luxor, the ancient burial site was the first such tomb to be found almost entirely intact, its chambers filled with treasures that had lain undisturbed for 3,300 years. Carter’s meticulous cataloging and conservation techniques meant the excavation work took almost a decade to complete; Tutankhamun’s mummy was unwrapped only in 1925. But the world’s fascination with the discovery was immediate, sparking a craze for King Tut and Ancient Egypt that has endured to this day. This year will see interest piqued anew with the November opening of the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza,…

It seems like a happy coincidence that the best time to visit Mozambique’s unexplored white-sand beaches is also peak safari season in Africa. Yet beach escapes matching the sharp edge of safari travel — those immersive, eco-luxe hideaways funding conservation across Africa — were few and far between before the recent opening of Kisawa Sanctuary. With just 12 bungalow “residences” set on the southern shores of Benguerra Island, the 300-hectare resort defines the ultimate luxury as not having to share your immersive experience in a wildly beautiful place with more than a handful of other guests. A property as visionary as this would have raised the stakes anywhere in the Indian Ocean — even the Maldives — so I’m curious why Nina Flohr, Kisawa’s founder and creative director, chose a…

Don’t let the apparent tranquility of this scene fool you: situated in the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, Anak Krakatau (“Child of Kratakau”) is an offspring of the infamous Krakatau volcano, whose 1883 eruption was among the most destructive volcanic events in recorded history. “Although I painted a pretty peaceful picture, this younger volcano — it began rising from the sea almost a century ago — is anything but,” says Alex Louise Hill, a Vancouver-based illustrator who grew up in Jakarta. “Anak Krakatau has been frequently active since I first saw it from Java’s Carita Beach back in the early 2000s. This scene actually depicts the island as it would have looked before the sudden collapse of its cone in 2018, an event that triggered…