Innehållsförteckning för August - September 2024 från DestinAsian

“WE WANDER FOR DISTRACTION, BUT WE TRAVEL FOR FULFILLMENT.”— Hilaire Belloc Though I’m much more of a beach and city person at heart, there are times when I can really understand the appeal of a mountain getaway. Especially in a country as enigmatic as Bhutan, a bucket-list destination for adventurous travelers the world over. Who wouldn’t be excited at the prospect of breathing fresh Himalayan air, of slowing down to commune with nature and appreciate the here and now? Friends who have been tell me that Bhutan maintains much of its distinctive charm and centuries-old traditions. That much is clear when you read this edition’s cover story by New York–based photographer Matt Dutile, who has been lucky enough to visit the kingdom on multiple occasions. In a similar vein, Mark…

MADHYA PRADESH At the Jehan Numa Palace Hotel (jehannuma.com) in the central Indian city of Bhopal, history comes deliciously to life at the General’s Table, a multicourse alfresco dining experience with over 20 dishes unique to this erstwhile princely state. The specially curated meal is named for General Obaidullah Khan, who was prince and commander-in-chief of the state’s army when he built this palace as a guesthouse for visiting royalty and dignitaries in the late 1800s. “The recipes have all been borrowed from this royal family’s own kitchens. And the best thing is that many of these dishes are still made by their cooks,” says Vincent Marquis, who conceived the experience. The palace’s former executive chef, he is now general manager at sister property Jehan Numa Retreat on the city’s…

RAMBO WAS EYEING ME WITH COLD-BLOODED INDIFFERENCE. Sprawled listlessly in a dry streambed under the shade of a kesambi tree, the giant lizard didn’t appear particularly ferocious, but he was massive — almost three meters long from tail to snout. “Rambo is the largest dragon in Komodo National Park,” confirmed our wiry local guide, Bahari. Adjusting his grip on the forked stick he carries to ward off any troublesome reptiles, he added, “But don’t be fooled by his sleepy look. When he wants to, he can run at 20 kilometers per hour.” I promised to give the scaly behemoth a wide berth. We were on the eastern Indonesian island of Komodo, not far from a hardscrabble village of the same name tucked in a sheltered bay on the southeast coast.…

Mount Fuji — at 3,776 meters high the closest anyone on Japanese soil can get to the heavens — is beautiful, dangerous, spiritual. But here they also know that Fuji is shy, often evasive. Some days the mountain pulls clouds around itself like a geisha hiding her face behind a fan, or a kabuki actor stepping back, theatrically, behind his kimono sleeves. And on this golden autumn morning, the sacred peak puts on no less of a performance for me. From a viewing point on the far shore of Lake Motosu, some 17 kilometers northwest of the volcano’s conical summit, I wait expectantly for Fuji to appear from behind a bank of conspiring clouds. Eventually, it does, but only briefly, with the fleeting beauty of a shooting star. Motosu is…

22.2898° N, 114.1716° E “I have made it a ritual whenever I return to Hong Kong to hop aboard a Star Ferry for the short trip across Victoria Harbour,” says UK-based artist Lin One Jung, who grew up in Hong Kong. “Both as a former resident and a transient visitor, there is nothing more enjoyable than to sit on the ferry and just take it all in — the smell of the seawater, the gentle humid breeze, the skyscrapers glistening under the sun.” The watercolor pictured here is from a sketch taken on one such journey, depicting the soaring skyline of Hong Kong Island’s Central district from the Kowloon side of the harbor. “The sunlight filtered through the haziness created a very atmospheric scene. To me, it is even a…

It’s an April afternoon in the Old Town of Lijiang, and the stone lanes that run beside willow-lined canals are packed with Chinese tourists. Photo studios offering ethnic costumes and makeup services do brisk business here; everywhere I look, ladies in embroidered tunics and elaborate headdresses pose on small arched bridges or in ornately carved doorways for that perfect post on Weibo or WeChat. One elfin girl in a fur-trimmed red robe even totes a bow and arrow, looking like she’s stepped out of a cosplay convention. Lijiang, with an urban population somewhere north of a million, attracts tens of millions of domestic visitors annually, and not just because of its Old Town’s evocative architecture or historical links to the legendary trading route known as the Tea Horse Road. Home…

AN HOUR OUTSIDE VIJAYAWADA, in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, lies the delta of the Godavari River. Small towns with musical names — Jalipudi, Eluru, Ganguru — dot this fertile landscape, ringed by farmland so intensely green they say it cools the eyes. There are lush paddies and sugarcane fields, thick stands of banana and coconut trees. And flourishing alongside them is a newer crop: cacao. “After eating our chocolate, you will never touch a Lindt or Godiva again,” says Chaitanya Muppala with the bravado of a startup founder, which he is. Tall and loose-limbed, the thirty-something Hyderabad-based entrepreneur is the man behind Manam Chocolate, a new craft chocolate brand that aims to overturn the poor reputation of Indian cacao. On this balmy March morning, he is sitting…

NEW YORK Fifty-five years after the riots outside the Stonewall Inn ushered in a new era for the modern gay rights movement in the United States, a new space has opened as a venue for sharing and celebrating LGBTQIA+ stories. Located at the site of the historic protests in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center is managed by nonprofit social advocacy group Pride Live and features historical exhibits, a theater space, and visual arts displays. In one section, video panels provide first-hand accounts of the events that led up to the 1969 riots, as well as commentary on Stonewall’s reverberations in the fight for full equality today. Elsewhere, a replica of the original jukebox from the Stonewall Inn comes with a track list curated by DJ and producer…

FY-SHAN GLASS STUDIO Glass artist Felekşan Onar’s studio in the Beyoğlu district glows with the colors of balmy summer nights inspired by her childhood on the Turkish Aegean coast. Barware and vases seem to ripple with lapping waves, while finely rendered decorative objects, tables, and light fittings refract Turkish glassmaking traditions. Fit for an Ottoman palace, Onar’s limited-edition pieces — as functional as they are beautiful — are sure to add a delicious touch of opulence to any home (fyshanglass.com). SUCIYAN De Beers Jewellery Design Award recipient Arman Suciyan is a classically trained goldsmith who began his adventures with precious metals at the age of 15. After apprenticing under a fourth-generation master jeweler at the Grand Bazaar, he studied and worked in Milan and London. Suciyan returned to Istanbul to…

Billed as the biggest event ever organized in France, the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will go down in history as the first Olympics to achieve full gender parity, with an equal number of men and women competing. Breakdancing is also making its debut as an Olympic sport. Still, it’s worth reflecting on how far the Summer Games have come in the century since Paris last hosted them. A hundred years ago in July 1924, more than 3,000 competitors from 44 nations congregated in the French capital for the very first edition of the Olympics to feature a purpose-built athletes’ village, albeit a rudimentary one. It was also the first to be broadcast live over radio, but, in contrast to the jam-packed two-week schedule we know today, that multisport extravaganza…

We’ve been standing no more than a few minutes on a ridgeline overlooking Jakar, the largest town in the Bumthang district, when nine-year-old Tsheyang Pema Lhazin ambles over and launches into a litany of questions. Where are we from? What are we doing? Do we want to see her math and English books from class 3A? When I tell her about my mission to file a magazine story on Bumthang, she replies, “Oh that’s nice, even though it is cold. I have a happy life here. I like this place, even though my country is small.” We’re soon invited up the hill for tea with the precocious youth and her grandparents. Over the next hour and a half, we listen, smiling, as she shares her infectious energy for education and…