Cambodia and Vietnam’S Mekong Delta + Rediscovering Santa Barbara County
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INSIDE: STYLISH RETREATS IN CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM’S MEKONG DELTA + REDISCOVERING SANTA BARBARA COUNTY MAY 2019 SINCE 1979 Traveling the world in search of truly enchanting places Horizon pool amid tropical forest at Shinta Mani Wild CAMBODIA: AN OPULENT NEW REFUGE Flamboyant tented accommodations surrounded by the deep seclusion of a private nature sanctuary hen I arrived in Phnom Penh after Memories of calamitous wars still linger, million people visited Angkor Wat, the W a four-and-a-half-hour flight from even though around 65 percent of the 12th-century temple complex built on a Shanghai, there were just three other inhabitants are under age 30 and hence 400-acre site outside the northwestern commercial jets parked at the terminal, were not alive when the Khmer Rouge city of Siem Reap. And notable hotels and only one of which belonged to the national were driven from power. And the past is resorts are beginning to open in areas of airline, Cambodia Airways. For a capital given daily physical embodiment by the the country that were previously inac- city, in the middle of the day, this seemed saturnine figure of Prime Minister Hun cessible to all but the most adventurous surprising. During pre-trip research, I’d Sen, who has been in office since 1985. of foreign travelers. learned that Cambodia is the least devel- However, my reading also revealed A lack of development may be bad for PHOTO BY HIDEAWAY REPORT EDITOR oped of the Southeast Asia countries, with that economic growth is now starting the citizens, but for visitors it can have a a per capita GDP in 2018 of just $4,322, its to accelerate, driven chiefly by Chinese plus side. Central Phnom Penh remains a economy having lagged behind those of investment and the rapid expansion of congenial place, with much of its elegant neighboring Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. tourism. Last year no fewer than 2.6 French Colonial architecture intact and Hideaway Report editors travel anonymously and pay full rate for all lodging, meals and related expenses. Since the launch of the Hideaway Report in 1979, featured hotels and restaurants have been selected on a completely independent basis. For comments and inquiries, please email [email protected]. Clockwise from top left: Tranquil river excursion, outdoor tub of our tented villa, and daybeds overlooking the ravine, Shinta Mani Wild little of the unrestrained concrete sprawl Thailand. Bensley’s style is theatrical and resort is integrated into its natural and gridlocked traffic found in Bangkok baroque, and in many ways his properties surroundings, and as few trees as possible or Ho Chi Minh City. We have long recom- are the antithesis of those of the celebrated were felled during its construction. The mended the Raffles Hotel Le Royal, which Asian boutique brand Aman Resorts, public areas are situated at the edge of a opened in 1929; today it is overlooked by whose founder, Adrian Zecha, preferred ravine overlooking a dramatic waterfall, or the new Rosewood Phnom Penh, a much- an austere minimalist aesthetic. at least they are during the wet season and lauded 175-room property that occupies After about three hours, we turned off its aftermath (May through December), the top 14 floors of a 615-foot tower (the the highway onto a dirt road and headed but this being February, the river’s flow city’s second skyscraper). into a forested landscape dominated by was much diminished. Bensley’s designs On this occasion, however, we had no the peaks of the Cardamom Mountains, are often based on a story or a theme, and plans to linger in the capital, so instead we which rise to an elevation of nearly 6,000 Shinta Mani Wild was inspired by a trip headed along Highway 4 in the direction feet. Once, this inaccessible region was a that King Norodom Sihanouk arranged for PHOTOS BY HIDEAWAY REPORT EDITOR of Sihanoukville, a major port on the Gulf final hideout for Khmer Rouge guerrillas; Jackie Kennedy on her visit to Cambodia in of Thailand. Our car, driver and “butler” more recently it has been the scene of 1967. (An extremely large, slightly incon- had been sent by Shinta Mani Wild, a widespread illegal logging and mining, as gruous portrait of the first lady occupies new resort that opened in December 2018, well as rampant poaching. Despite these located 80 miles to the southwest of Phnom depredations, the area is still covered by R. Penh on a private nature sanctuary. one of the largest forests in Southeast LAOS THAILAND O N G Shinta Mani Wild is the personal Asia, home to Asian elephants and pileated MEK project of one of the most flamboyant gibbons, as well as remnant populations figures in luxury travel. Originally from of tigers, clouded leopards and sun bears. ANGKOR WAT PHOTOS BY HIDEAWAY REPORT EDITOR Southern California, Bill Bensley studied Bensley acquired a lease on an 865-acre CAMBODIA SIEM REAP 0 100 MI at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, site that is located in a wildlife corridor TONLE SAP 0 100 KM after which, in 1984, he headed to Singa- between the Bokor and Kirirom national L AKE pore. He has been in Asia ever since. parks. His ambition was to create a R. O N G MEK Over the years, Bensley’s Bangkok-based sustainable ecotourism project — in PHNOM architecture firm became synonymous conjunction with the New York-based PENH SHINTA VIETNAM with exotic resorts created for InterCon- Wildlife Alliance, the Royal University of MANI WILD SONG HO CHI tinental, St. Regis, J.W. Marriott, Oberoi, Phnom Penh and the Cambodian govern- SAA SIHANOUKVILLE MINH CITY Anantara — in fact just about every major ment — in order to protect the environ- KRABEY KEP ISLAND hotel company you can think of. The prop- ment, frustrate the loggers and provide MEKONG CAN THO DELTA erty that first made him famous, however, training and employment opportunities G ULF was the Hideaway Report-recommended for local people. OF SOUTH THAILAND 15-room tented camp that he designed for The camp comprises 15 opulent tented CHINA SEA Four Seasons at Chiang Rai, in northern accommodations, erected on stilts. The 2 HIDEAWAY REPORT MAY 2019 Clockwise from top: Outdoor sitting area and bar, bedroom, and dining table of our tented villa, Shinta Mani Wild pride of place in the main dining room.) an elevated king-size bed, bookshelves, of activities centered on wildlife and the As a result, the property resembles an old- framed prints, ceiling fans, custom local national parks. Dense forest is a fashioned colonial-style safari camp, with furniture and an old-fashioned Bakelite challenging environment in which to brass fixtures, leather chairs, dark wood telephone with which to summon room view animals, or even birds. At present, furniture, steamer trunks, silverware and service. A counter made from a stretch it is possible to accompany rangers on crystal tumblers and decanters. of tree trunk ran along an entire side of patrols and to help them check camera On arrival, we were escorted to the bar, the room, into which were set two brass traps, as well as to explore an estuarine where we accepted a welcome cocktail and sinks. Lights and gilt-framed mirrors river system aboard a custom-built boat. chatted with the exceptionally friendly were suspended from the ceiling, an However, the conservation model at Cambodian staff, who hovered about and arrangement driven more by the design Shinta Mani Wild is undeniably impres- seemed almost too eager to be hospitable. aesthetic than the needs of those wishing sive. Funds from the resort help to support PHOTOS BY HIDEAWAY REPORT EDITOR Would we like to go ziplining? the duty to apply makeup or shave. A separate the local wildlife rangers, while The Shinta manager inquired hopefully. Having room contained a monsoon shower. (In Mani Foundation coordinates community- just flown from New York via Shanghai, this setting, the lack of an outdoor shower outreach and environmental-educational followed by a three-hour drive, we declined seemed an omission.) Overall, our villa programs. Young adults who would other- and said that we’d much prefer to head struck us as a romantic private world, in wise have few career opportunities can to our room for a shower. His expression which it would be a considerable pleasure attend a free hospitality training school was so crestfallen that we immediately to luxuriate and unwind. in Siem Reap (where there are three other regretted not having taken up his offer. I suspect that most of the guests at Shinta Mani hotels), and the foundation Our lavish tented villa (#5) was Shinta Mani Wild will stray from the also helps to finance children’s dentistry, secluded at the end of a narrow gravel seductive accommodations only as far as dig wells and provide academic scholar- PHOTOS BY HIDEAWAY REPORT EDITOR path that twisted through thick vegetation. the dining room — which serves excellent ships. In all of this, Shinta Mani Wild is a Its huge partly shaded deck was appointed locally sourced Cambodian cuisine — the fine example of intelligent, compassionate, with a dining table and canvas chairs dramatic black lap pool and the small contemporary tourism. Bill Bensley’s backed by a colorful painting of wildlife hilltop spa, which offers Khmer treat- nostalgic design may hark back to the and jungle plants in a style vaguely remi- ments employing only organic products. romance of a vanished age, but in many niscent of the work of Henri Rousseau. A It remains to be seen if the resort will be ways his camp is at the cutting edge of vibrant animal-print sofa and two leather able to develop a comprehensive program modern luxury travel.