Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 - February 2023 från DestinAsian

JODI Having discovered a mutual love for India’s rich handicraft traditions, former fashion stylists Gauri Verma and Karuna Laungani quit their magazine jobs eight years ago to found a clothing label that celebrates the centuries-old art of block printing through a contemporary lens. Working with wholly natural Indian fabrics and skilled hand-block artisans in the Rajasthani city of Jaipur, they turn out flowy, happily hued dresses, shirts, jackets, and nightwear embellished with floral and animal motifs — think parrots, pomegranates, pineapples, and Bengal tigers — inspired by their travels across the subcontinent. For those looking to accessorize, JODI also carries a line of handcrafted jewelry (thejodilife.com). SANGARU Sandeep Sangaru’s deep commitment to Indian craftsmanship began almost two decades ago during a visit to Srinagar, where he first encountered the Kashmiri…

BALI A large expat population and an influx of remote workers from Jakarta helped Canggu weather the pandemic better than most of Bali, fueling a restaurant boom as Indonesia’s borders reopened. Now, travelers returning to this hot spot on the island’s southwest coast will find an exciting new crop of top-notch eateries, bars, and galleries to visit. Front-row views of the surf beckon at Skool Kitchen (skoolkitchen.co), a months-old upstairs venue at The Lawn beach club that offers an elevated barbecue experience in more ways than one. Restaurateurs Tai Buddha and Adam McAsey recruited talented chef Vallian Gunawan, whose résumé includes stints at Michelin-starred Singapore restaurants Saint Pierre and Odette, to create the menu. The result? Knockout dishes such as charred octopus in a tangy tomato-and-shallot sauce, wood-fired bone marrow,…

Celebrating its ninth anniversary this year, Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort artfully blends French elegance and traditional Balinese touches throughout its 413 recently revamped rooms, restaurants, and other five-star facilities. The location, overlooking the Indian Ocean on Bali’s southern peninsula, is the perfect setting for a tranquil getaway, with landscaped pools and lush gardens backdropped by an immaculate stretch of white sand. Indulgences range from rejuvenating spa treatments to pan-Asian cuisine at Kwee Zeen and decadent Italian dining at Cucina, the resort’s newly revamped signature restaurant. • Subscribe to DestinAsian before February 28, 2023, and your name will be entered into a draw for a three-night stay in a Prestige Suite Plunge Pool including daily breakfast and access to Club Millésime for two. The prize is valid for stays…

It has been said that you can find all of Japan on Sado Island. There is the refined culture of Kyoto in the form of Noh theater and second-to-none mumyoi-yaki ceramics. There are onsen hot springs and snowy winters similar to what you might find in Tohoku and Hokkaido. And the clear emerald seas here rival those of subtropical Okinawa. Yet Sado is also unlike any other Japanese island I have visited. About the size of Singapore but home to just 50,000 people, it lies off Honshu’s northwest coast in the warm waters of the Tsushima Current, which nourishes an abundance of sea life. Girded by rocky coves and crags, Sado, whose butterfly shape is formed by two parallel mountain ranges connected by a low central plain of rice fields,…

Now with more than 165 private-island resorts, 245 dive centers, and the world’s largest fleet of seaplanes, it’s hard to imagine a time when the Maldives was just starting out as a holiday destination. Yet the humble debut of Kurumba (kurumba.com) on an uninhabited isle near Male 50 years ago marked the arrival of the country’s very first resort. Its founders included a junior Maldivian diplomat called Ahmed Naseem, who by chance had met George Corbin, an Italy-based tour operator, in Sri Lanka the previous year and had been working with him since to introduce Italian travelers to the Indian Ocean archipelago. Kurumba (named for the Dhivehi word for “coconut”) opened in October 1972 with just 30 rustic thatched-roofed rooms, and it was booked solid that first year. Clearly, its…

VIETNAM A place in the sun Talk about making hay when the sun shines: Six Senses Ninh Van Bay (sixsenses.com), a secluded haven of 62 pool villas accessible only by boat from Nha Trang, has burnished its sustainability credentials with the debut of Vietnam’s first resort-based solar farm. Called Ninh Van Greens, the facility comprises 800 individual solar panels positioned to allow just the right amounts of light and shade to filter through to the garden below, allowing organic herbs, fruits, and vegetables to grow while energy is being produced. Some of the crops make their way into the homemade spa and beauty products at the resort’s Alchemy Bar wellness workshop; others can be enjoyed during a plant-based fine-dining experience set up right next to the solar farm. MALDIVES In…

THE GAIT OF MY HORSE fell into a slow and steady rhythm as we zigzagged up through a Berber village named Marigha in the foothills of Morocco’s High Atlas range. Our small group of riders clopped alongside chest-high earthen walls that delineated garden plots shaded by olive and fruit trees. It was a bucolic moment in the soft late afternoon sun, with the calls of flitting birds and the swoosh of horse tails interrupted occasionally by the voice of an unseen person calling out to another. Above the village itself, we traversed bare, brick-colored earth limned with smooth boulders eroded by wind and rain toward our goal, a knoll, where we dismounted to appreciate the view of the Ouirgane Valley. I had left hot, frenetic Marrakech a few days earlier…

Reminders of Lenin are almost impossible to find in modern-day Georgia — his statues and other likenesses were relegated to the literal scrapheap of history after the country broke away from the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1991. Yet Stalin, who was far more sinister, remains in the public eye, I suppose because he was a native son. This is particularly true in his hometown of Gori, where the Stalin Museum enshrines the Soviet dictator’s private railcar, the humble cottage where he was allegedly born, and numerous other mementoes. Given the murderous nature of his rule, I was surprised by the number of visitors. But Stalin wasn’t the only reason for my visit to Gori. Before I drove here from Tbilisi, an hour to the east, someone had recommended a restaurant…

Filled with powerful portraits and stories of women who are rising above their circumstances in communities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Grit and Grace: Women at Work in the Emerging World is the 11th and last book by New York–based photographer ALISON WRIGHT, who passed away earlier this year. The posthumously published tome thus stands not only as a record of female resiliency, ingenuity, dignity, and drive in more than 25 countries, but also as a vivid testament to a career spent traveling the world to photograph endangered cultures and document the human condition. Transporting us to the far corners of the earth, Wright’s images — more than 120 of which appear in the book, including those on these pages — never fail to offer inspiration in their portrayal…

LONDON Looming large on the south bank of the River Thames ever since it began supplying the British capital with electricity in the 1930s, Battersea Power Station (batterseapowerstation.co.uk) is as iconic to Londoners as Westminster Abbey or Tower Bridge. It is said that during World War II, German bombers left it alone because the white plumes of smoke that belched from its 101-meter-high chimneys helped them navigate on foggy days. A decade later the coal-fired plant was expanded, adding a cavernous boiler house so large that it could fit St. Paul’s Cathedral inside. Eventually, in the mid 1980s, Battersea was decommissioned. And there it stood as the powers that be dithered, a striking landmark to some, a decaying postindustrial eyesore to others, used only for magazine shoots and as a filming…

TWENTY YEARS AFTER its establishment to foster new generations of outstanding talent, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative has paired 63 of the world’s greatest artists with 63 highly talented younger professionals from around the globe. The boldface names among the program’s mentors alumni include Stephen Frears, Anish Kapoor, Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Crystal Pite, Alfonso Cuarón, and David Adjaye. And the next biennial cycle looks just as exciting. As announced during the Rolex Arts Weekend in Brooklyn in September, the 2023–2024 round will see five renowned artists spend time over the next two years in one-on-one creative collaboration with promising younger talents in the same field, from architecture, dance, and film to literature, music, theater, and visual arts. For many protégés, the program has been life changing. They…

GETTING THERE There are no flights to Tbilisi from Southeast Asia, but connections can be made via Istanbul, Dubai, or Doha. WHERE TO STAY Stamba Hotel Tucked into an old print factory, the Stamba offers designer-savvy decor, a brooding bar, and lively restaurant in downtown Tbilisi, within walking distance of the Old Town, national museum, and other sights. There’s also a rooftop pool (stambahotel.com; doubles from US$200). Rooms Hotel Kazbegi This rustic 155-room bolt-hole perched high in the Caucasus excels at mountain views, cuisine, and lounge-around-the-fireplace ambience (roomshotels.com; doubles from US$155). Lopota Lake Resort & Spa Located in the heart of Kakheti’s wine country, this lakeside resort offers multiple restaurants, a range of outdoor sports, and 231 guest rooms spread across a 60-hectare vineyard and forest property (lopotaresort.com; doubles from…

On a visit to Portugal in the summer of 2019, Venetian artist Barnaba Salvador’s twin passions for drawing and traveling brought him to the Costa da Prata, or Silver Coast, north of Lisbon. “The beaches on this stretch of coastline are spectacular, with fine sand and impressive waves that attract surfers year-round,” he says. “Swimmers and sunbathers head to sheltered areas like Foz de Arelho on the north shore of Óbidos Lagoon, where I made the sketch for this watercolor. The waters here are calm, shallow, and warm — in dramatic contrast to the Atlantic breakers crashing beyond the sandbars. It truly is a natural wonder.” Salvador was also taken by Portugal’s signature style of music, fado, as well as its cuisine and mellow village life. “I can’t wait to…