Innholdsfortegnelse for March - May 2024 i DestinAsian

“THERE ARE NO FOREIGN LANDS. IT IS THE TRAVELER ONLY WHO IS FOREIGN.”—Robert Louis Stevenson Sometimes on our travels, we encounter hotels that truly stand out from the pack. They might deliver a winning trifecta of supremely comfortable accommodations, discreet yet attentive service, and the F&B to match. The memories of that experience might even last long after the trip. Once a year, we give the wider public the chance to chime in for our Reader’s Choice Awards — the full results for its 17th edition are now published within these pages. If you didn’t get the chance to cast your vote and nominate your favorite airlines, cruise lines, destinations, and places to stay this time around, there’s always next time. Our feature stories this issue will appeal to gourmands…

So, monkeys can swim. Did I know this? Not sure. But it’s a fact that becomes alarmingly clear when I spot a troop of crab-eating macaques dive into the water from the shores of a rocky islet and paddle furiously out to sea. Their objective is another longtail boat that has dropped anchor not far from ours. It’s crowded with day-trippers from Krabi who have come armed with bananas to coax the monkeys into this display of aquatic athleticism. While most of the troop is content to bob at the boat’s bow to await their reward, its more piratical members try to climb aboard. They are shooed away by the boat-man, clearly no stranger to their antics. The allure of southern Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay is hardly a secret. A…

Stepping outside my homestay into the soft morning light, I was greeted by an impressive sight: the dramatic outcrops of Gunung Api Purba, a jungle-shrouded volcanic summit that rises from the fertile plains east of the city of Yogyakarta. I’d arrived here under cover of darkness the previous evening, making this grand reveal all the more spectacular. But what I didn’t appreciate, at least not yet, was that it is the people of Nglanggeran, not its rock formations, that make this serene Javanese village such a special place. Centrally located on the Indonesian island of Java, Nglanggeran was among the first communities selected by the United Nations World Tourism Organization to join its newly conceived Best Tourism Villages network in 2021. Today, it is one of only 190 such villages…

1 Bangkok2 Tokyo3 Singapore4 Kuala Lumpur5 Hong Kong6 Seoul7 Sydney8 Shanghai9 Taipei10 Ho Chi Minh City 1 Bali, Indonesia2 Maldives3 Phuket, Thailand4 Koh Samui, Thailand5 Boracay, Philippines6 Phu Quoc, Vietnam7 Langkawi, Malaysia8 Penang, Malaysia9 Palawan, Philippines10 Lombok, Indonesia “As cities go, the Thai capital really is the best of everything: sights, sounds, cuisine, people, hotels.” —RCA VOTER NICK WAVE ON BANGKOK…

(RESORT) 1 Bulgari Resort Bali2 Capella Ubud, Bali3 Alila Villas Uluwatu4 Raffles Bali5 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai6 Banyan Tree Samui7 The Legian Seminyak, Bali8 Aman Kyoto9 Banyan Tree Krabi10 Amanjiwo (CITY) 1 Aman Tokyo2 The Siam Hotel Bangkok3 Bulgari Hotel Tokyo4 137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok5 Villa Samadhi Kuala Lumpur6 The Bulgari Hotel Shanghai7 Capella Shanghai8 Muji Hotel Ginza9 Hotel Fort Canning Singapore10 Hoshinoya Tokyo…

Eight courses into a weekday dinner at Gajah Putih, my fellow diners and I are bathed in a soundscape that transports us to the rice fields just beyond the restaurant’s periphery. Melodic birdsong and the quack-quack-quack of Bali ducks fill the darkened room, as beams of vivid green light pour onto a central stage where server-actors walk in slow circles, clear plastic umbrellas in hand. Then comes a crack of thunder and a blinding white flash. Parasols open up; one by one, the performers hang them on hooks strung from the rafters and make their exit. For the next few minutes, water droplets falling into the upturned umbrellas mimic the flow and rhythm of tropical rain. The calming New Age music crescendos. Our servers reappear with the next dish: duck…

VICTORIA It is a city built on riches. Ballarat was at the center of Australia’s gold rush, and during those heady days, thousands of people arrived to seek their fortune. Many did get rich; in 1856 alone, close to two million kilograms of gold were extracted here. Today, many of the grand buildings from that era are being repurposed. Some are in the hands of a new influx of arrivals, drawn here by the lower cost of housing. (It helps that Ballarat, which sits in the Central Highlands of the state of Victoria, is only 90 minutes from downtown Melbourne by train or car.) Others are being transformed by long-term residents, energized by this wave of fresh inspiration. Among the people who’ve long established Ballarat as their home are David…

High in the foothills of Himachal Pradesh, I stand on a terraced hillside cloaked in wild grasses and pine trees. The only sound is birdsong and the whisper of the cool mountain breeze through the trees. From this perch at 1,460 meters above sea level, the views stretch east across a broad valley framed by the distant peaks of the Western Himalayas. I’m at Amaya, a sustainable boutique hotel near the tiny village of Darwa, and I can’t remember the last time I visited such an utterly peaceful setting. Nor, for that matter, can I think of a better spot for what is being hailed as India’s most exciting new destination restaurant. Naar, as it is called — the name means “fire” in Kashmiri — is the brainchild of Prateek…

AIRPORTS 1 Singapore Changi Airport2 Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok3 Hong Kong International Airport4 Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali5 Hamad International Airport, Doha6 Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Jakarta7 Haneda Airport, Tokyo8 Istanbul Airport9 Kuala Lumpur International Airport10 Shanghai Pudong International Airport AIRLINES OVERALL 1 Singapore Airlines2 Emirates3 Thai Airways4 Qatar Airways5 Cathay Pacific6 Garuda Indonesia7 Malaysia Airlines8 Japan Airlines9 Qantas10 Turkish Airlines FIRST & BUSINESS CLASS 1 Singapore Airlines2 Emirates3 Thai Airways4 Cathay Pacific5 Qatar Airways6 Japan Airlines7 Malaysia Airlines8 Etihad9 Air France10 All Nippon Airways ECONOMY CLASS 1 Singapore Airlines2 Emirates3 Thai Airways4 Cathay Pacific5 Qatar Airways6 Garuda Indonesia7 Qantas8 Japan Airlines9 Malaysia Airlines10 Turkish Airlines IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT 1 Singapore Airlines2 Emirates3 Cathay Pacific4 Qatar Airways5 Thai Airways 6 Qantas7 Japan Airlines8 Air France9 Garuda Indonesia10 Turkish Airlines FREQUENT FLIER PROGRAMS 1 KrisFlyer,…

HOTEL BRANDS FOR LEISURE 1 Four Seasons2 InterContinental3 Capella4 The Ritz-Carlton5 Banyan Tree6 Anantara7 Shangri-La8 Aman9 Grand Hyatt10 Raffles HOTEL BRANDS FOR BUSINESS 1 The Ritz-Carlton2 InterContinental3 St. Regis4 Shangri-La5 Four Seasons6 Raffles7 Hilton8 Kempinski9 Fairmont10 Grand Hyatt SERVICED RESIDENCE BRANDS 1 Ascott The Residence2 Marriott Executive Apartments3 Oakwood4 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites5 Somerset Serviced Residence6 Parkroyal Serviced Suites7 Frasers Hospitality8 K11 Artus9 Citadines10 Oaks Hotels, Resorts & Suites…

The baby stumbles, snorts, and sticks her face into the mud. She’s still finding her feet. Thankfully, her mother is there to lead the way along the narrow path that cuts through a forest of teak and bamboo. Moments later, we watch transfixed as the 13-month-old elephant calf ambles down the slope into a bathing pool, splashing and spraying herself in the loamy brown water. We’re visiting the Mekong Elephant Park in the mountains of northern Laos. Situated across from the village of Pakbeng, the 40-hectare sanctuary is one of the first stops on our three-night journey aboard the Anouvong, a handsome new riverboat launched in October by Ho Chi Minh City–based cruise company Heritage Line. Our 300-kilometer route is taking us from Huay Xai near the Thai–Laos border to…

AUSTRALIA 1 Capella Sydney DestinAsian readers have quickly embraced the first Capella property outside Asia, which occupies a historic sandstone building at the Circular Quay end of Sydney’s CBD. Opened last March, the hotel features 192 meticulously designed rooms and suites, a swanky destination spa, and a skylighted indoor swimming pool, not to mention an expansive art collection. 2 The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne 3 Four Seasons Hotel Sydney 4 Shangri-La Sydney 5 Grand Hyatt Melbourne 6 The Fullerton Hotel Sydney 7 Park Hyatt Sydney 8 Hilton Sydney 9 The Ritz-Carlton, Perth 10 InterContinental Sydney, an IHG Hotel CAMBODIA 1 Anantara Angkor Resort This perennially popular Siem Reap retreat comes with just 39 butler-serviced suites arranged around a courtyard swimming pool. The serene design blends contemporary comfort with traditional Khmer style, while guests looking…

1 Royal Caribbean International2 Carnival Cruise Line3 Resorts World Cruises4 Princess Cruises5 Celebrity Cruises “The clifftop location on Bali’s southern coast is stunning, but it’s the friendly staff who are the soul of this property.” —RCA VOTER LUH TIAWATI ON BULGARI RESORT BALI…

“When you look down into the magnificence of the Nubra Valley in the Himalayan ranges, it’s easy to overlook the family of white doves flying just below the mist line. There is so much going on, so much to see, so much to think about and do in our busy minds. But once you start paying attention to all the smaller things in the much wider canvas, the doves are just as breathtaking as the thousand-year-old monastery clinging to the cliff’s edge. The passing clouds filled with ice and rain and the arrival of the first soft light over the snowy mountains are miracles for us to watch with wonder.” So writes Palani Mohan in the introduction to his latest book of photography, Watch with Wonder, a collection of 107…

Aradiologist from Guwahati in the northeast Indian state of Assam, Sanjeev Handique has honed his skills as a watercolorist on travels around his home region and beyond. On a recent visit to Hanoi, he used his brushes to depict the Vietnamese capital’s famous “Train Street,” where a still-active railway track built by the French in 1902 cuts through the heart of a densely packed neighborhood in the city’s Old Quarter. “When I talked to our guide about visiting the street for a few pictures and sketches, he said it was unlikely we would see a train passing through. And that was perfectly fine for me,” Handique recalls. “The scene had everything I needed for a lovely composition: the tracks curving away into the distance, bustling cafés, and colorful national flags…