JANUARY 2020 JANUARY across Adventures

HONG KONG HK$43 KONG HONG INDONESIA IDR50,000 / / VIETNAM VND85,000 VIETNAM / LAOS LAK52,000 LAOS / CAMBODIA KHR22,000 KHR22,000 CAMBODIA PHILIPPINES PHP240 PHP240 PHILIPPINES / /

SINGAPORE S$7.90 THB175 THAILAND MALAYSIA MYR18 MACAU MOP44 BURMA MMK35 BRUNEI BND7.90 BND7.90 BRUNEI

SOUTHEAST ASIA SOUTHEAST FOR 2020FOR 20 TRIPS 20 TRIPS IN BHUTAN ON THE RISE THE RISE ON

WHERE TO GO IN 2020 01WBApromoCKv2.indd 10 cruise lines you andcruise love destinations the most. airlines, cities, resorts, give back to hotels, those as travel’srecognized highest honor, so ’s time to awards are now These through March 2, 2020. for us, in the we want you ourto rate global travel experiences We you. Wetrust your judgment. trust That’s why Dear TLworldsbest.com FAVORITES TRAVEL VOTE FOR YOUR T+L WORLD’S BEST AWARDS 2020 AWARDS BEST WORLD’S T+L Travel+Leisure Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia readers, Asia Southeast World’s Awards, Best published published in our issue. August 2020 you what think. full The global will results be visit So Asia’sSoutheast voice to be heard. in the awards, so this is participate your chance for Readers of all global of editions truly global travel survey that matters. that survey travel global truly TL destinations and tell us exactly exactly us tell and worldsbest.com For your favorite cities, cities, airlines, cruise lines you love—in the only only the love—in you hotels, resorts, hotels, resorts, Travel+Leisure vote now! vote and and will will 11/25/2562 BE11:49

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DAVID VAN DRIESSCHE; VERONICA INVEEN; SEAN FENNESSY; CHRISTIAN KERBER CONTENTS

Januaryfeatures

66 Destination Paro In Bhutan’s second city, Joe Cummings goes on a spirit-renewing quest to discover why this stopover point feels so ascendant. Photographed by David Van Driessche

74 Passage to Lan Ha A new luxury ship with a focus on wellness carries cruisers to a quiet corner of Halong Bay. Story and photographs by Veronica Inveen 66 74 96 81 81 All Across Australia Exuberant hospitality and great scenery have always defined Down Under, but now there’s fresh energy across the country. 96 A Most Unexpected Place for Pinot Among southwestern Germany’s medieval towns, a new generation of wine makers is bottling some stunning Pinot Noir. By Ray Isle. Photographed by Christian Kerber CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DAVID VAN DRIESSCHE; VERONICA INVEEN; SEAN FENNESSY; CHRISTIAN KERBER

ON THE COVER Surf’s up in , Australia. Photograph by camac/Alamy Stock Photo. TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 3 CONTENTS

IN EVERY ISSUE Contributors 7 The Conversation 8 Editor’s Note 10 Deals 62 Wish You Were Here 106

15 Where To Go 2020 Twenty 44 The Jungle Nook A new suite, wolves in their element—and places to visit this year, including actually a private residence, in a learn why these creatures the majestic Hunza Valley, boutique hotel lets you feel the continue to capture our Bangkok for those with an call of the wild in the middle of imaginations. plus: Other great appetite, and a new-look Kyoto. the Bangkok. animal-conservation adventures. 30 The Big Blue Beyond the 46 Fashion Photography, Indian 56 On This Golden Shore Stability overwater villas and sparkling Style From the streets of and prosperity are luring visitors lagoons, friendly giants inhabit a Mumbai comes a flair you might to Senegal—from the tropical paradise of their own in not expect. plus: Marks on the cosmopolitan streets of the the Maldives. museum map in Miami, France capital, Dakar, to some of West 34 Little Red Cook Book How a and New York City. Africa’s most idyllic, unspoiled nostalgic homage to lost 48 A Second Date in Paradise reserves and beaches. delicacies is putting haute The dreamy French Polynesian 59 African Landing Just outside Cantonese back on the menu. island of Moorea is the place to Arusha, Tanzania, a 100-year-old 38 Farm Fresh In pastoral New test the waters of a budding lodge makes a cozy launch pad Zealand, natural remedies, relationship. for adventure—problem is, you modern therapies and 50 My Own Private Portugal might not want to leave. indigenous wisdom power a one- Lisbon and its coastal enclaves 60 Culture Gets an Update in of-a-kind wellness retreat. may be booming, but in the tiny Austria With boundary-pushing 40 Come As You Are As Thailand seaside town of Porto Côvo life contemporary arts initiatives targets the LGBT+ market, local moves as slowly as ever. and sleek new hotels, this isn’t hoteliers are adopting cool new 52 Go Where the Wild Things Are the same destination your services and amenities that give Travel through Yellowstone stodgy, opera-loving Aunt deeper meaning to “all inclusive.” National Park to glimpse gray Gladys once knew.

44 30 34 38 FROM LEFT: CHARLES DHARAPAK; LEIGH GRIFFITHS; COURTESY OF WYNN PALACE; COURTESY OF WYNN PALACE; FROM LEIGH GRIFFITHS; COURTESY LEFT: OF DHARAPAK; EARTH CHARLES ENERGIES SANCTUARY

4 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM FROM LEFT: CHARLES DHARAPAK; LEIGH GRIFFITHS; COURTESY OF WYNN PALACE; COURTESY OF EARTH ENERGIES SANCTUARY NEW DISCOVERIES 126 countries to bediscovered. NEW YEAR Happy New Year. FINLAND T+L DIGITAL

+LOOKOUT Why Taiwanese THIS MONTH ON TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM should be on your radar; a new luxe resort A NEW RESORT IN THE SIX CRAFT BREWERIES THE ABSURD NUMBER HIMALAYAS IS A HAVEN IN ASIA WORTH OF NEW OPENINGS IN in Sanya, China; FOR TEA DRINKERS CHECKING OUT THE MALDIVES discovering Batanes in A new mountain resort in Asia’s craft suds scene keeps Among the freshest fly the Philippines’ verdant Darjeeling offers an intimate getting better. Check out six resorts in the Indian Ocean, a north; the latest travel chance to get away from it all, exciting breweries using local few are doing environmental immersed in West Bengal’s flavors and ingredients to backflips to keep their aquatic deals and much more. tea-making traditions. push beer boundaries. neighbors in the swim. travelandleisureasia.com

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FROM TOP: COURTESY OF DAVID VAN DRIESSCHE; DAVID VAN DRIESSCHE; COURTESY OF MEI ANNE FOO; COURTESY OF VINCENT VICHIT-VADAKAN 2 4 3 1 Instagram: @meiannatee Instagram: untroubled.” and relaxed therapy, Ithe felt incredibly after but first, at difference a of much made they like seem didn’t pressures light The skull. and body my on therapy zero-balance “The treatment? Favorite energy.” great has property the and hosts great are husband her and She balanced.’ and harmonious is that aspace in when themselves heal and repair to ability innate an have bodies ‘Our me. told Marie Western practices,’ wellness or it’s Asian if matter ‘no mind and body the to balance it’s about bringing Energies, Earth of owners “For the — Page 38 “Farm Fresh” WRITER Foo Mei Anne 3 1 @davidvandriessche Instagram:choose.” to difficult performers—it’s masked and monks Bhutanese the seeing or Nest, Tiger’s of viewpoint the “Reaching memory? Best friend.” new Atrue met. person I’ve ever helpful and devout most the is and life of way their show to monasteries into access got He possible. been have not would photos my of many him Without person. awonderful is guide, our Dorji, Tobgyal Sonam monks. local with friendships build and monasteries small visit to wanted Ialso there. are list bucket Bhutan my on attractions main the because Paro in immerse to wanted “I — Page 66 Paro” “Destination PHOTOGRAPHER Driessche Van David . . Instagram: @joejcummings Instagram: waves.” thought toxic to antidote It’s asoothing stones. river hot by heated water artemisia-infused of abath is therapy Bhutanese iconic most “The tradition? wellness their about What tourists.” other no were there because probably me, for real felt Buddhism Bhutanese time first the was Goenpa. It Samdrupcholing Eutok at chant monks young the listening to was cherish always I’ll moment way. One whole enthusiastic the was he Nest, Tiger’s to climbs 50 than more after joy. Even vigorous infectious, his of because Dorji, Tobgyal guide, Sonam our appreciated deeply also “I — Page 66 Paro” “Destination WRITER Cummings Joe 2 Instagram: @vincentinparis Instagram: yet.” Free. Be Thai. Go like campaign funded publicly visible no is there but Asia, in destination LGBT+-friendliest the considered is “ Welcome Feel slogan the under often inclusiveness, and diversity promote globally hotels Accor and staff; diverse its of supportive and guests LGBT+ to hospitable very is Bangkok in hotel Siam -outs: Some me. told Chattan Khun representative everything,’ to open more ‘We are evolving. is country the and offer, travelers LGBT+ value huge what realized has Thailand of Authority Tourism “The — Page 40 You Are” As “Come WRITER Vichit-Vadakan Vincent 4 CONTRIBUTORS .” Where else in Asia? Asia? in else .” Where . . 7 THE CONVERSATION ASIA TL # A long way to the top, Hong Kong. By @chasingmonique.

Okay, a personal question: what items have you stolen from your hotel room? In a survey of 1,157 hoteliers by hotel-review company Wellness Heaven, towels, bathrobes and clothes hangers topped the list of most- plundered amenities... but there were also a number of head-scratching surprises that cropped up.

Can you believe it? Singapore. In Italy, one Checking in, one Thieves at Throwing a By @helenabradbury. hotelier was guest could not five-star hotels wrench into the crossing his lobby find his room. It, of tend to be a bit works, pricey when he got the course, was still more discerning: bathroom fixtures nagging suspicion there but the they’re more are also popular that something previous occupant likely to check out with guests who was missing. It had removed the with artwork, have some spare turned out to be a room number blankets and room in their grand piano, from the door. tablet computers luggage. Think which three men than guests at rain-shower in overalls had four-star digs. heads, hydro- removed. Neither massage WITH MONTH THIS BACKDROPS DRAMATIC ABOUT ALL IT’S

the piano nor the showers, toilet READER SNAPS SHOWCASE THAT ASIA’S STRIKINGDIVERSITY. men were ever seats and even Avatar mountains, China. seen again. drainpipes. By @losttraveleros.

A Sri Lankan adventure. By @when.is.now.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

OU’D BE HARD PRESSED, at least in my books, to come up with a sexier question than Where are you going FROM MY TRAVELS on vacation next? Our January suggestions to It’s no surprise that Hong Kong has taken a hit the past kick off your year of travels are as diverse as Asia few months, one that has had itself. For sheer beauty, the Hunza Valley is rarely an undue effect on tourism surpassed and visiting now is easier than it has as well as every other area been in a while. As host of the Summer Olympics, Tokyo is a headliner of the city-state—one report in 2020, but rates highly at any time. Everything you could ever think predicts 1,000 restaurants closing. Still, the city of, and some things you cannot, are found in the Japanese capital. continues to be a leader Always-popular Kyoto has seen an influx of new names and diversions when it comes to hotels, to complement its rich historical roots. If you can’t visit this spring, dining and worthy diversions definitely go in autumn. in Central (above) and There’s plenty new on the food front, too. Could you make a full elsewhere. The list of new hotels and eateries alone meal simply out of desserts on your next trip to Ubud? Having enjoyed continues to lengthen, and an all-sweet lunch there, I recommend you do the same—and this year unsurprisingly, so do the to benefit a great charitable cause. Bangkok, a city that loves nothing deals, something worth more than good food, continues to looking into for a long weekend. push ahead with plates in every price range. On the flip side, Thailand is one of several places in Asia making great strides as a wellness destination, with a few retreats in other countries also highlighted for taking new approaches to our physical and mental health. Finally, read where to go and why in Australia. I’m only slightly disappointed that isn’t as overlooked now as it was on both of my visits there. That said, I think I’m free in March.

@CKucway

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samsaraubud samsaraubud KIT YENG CHAN A shiny new decade brings the promise of adventures near and far. With wanderlust-worthy destinations across Asia, Africa and the Antipodes all the way to a Scandinavian surfing town, we launch the year with 20 of our top travel spots to keep you moving in 2020.

no. 1 The Hunza Valley: Fairy-tale mountain trails.

The spectacular peaks and glaciers of north Pakistan’s Hunza Valley have fascinated travelers since the 1970s. A road trip along the Karakoram Highway, which crosses Hunza on its way to the Khunjerab Pass and the China border (the highest paved crossing in the world, upwards of 4,700 meters), was on every traveler’s bucket list until 9/11 repercussions threatened the security of the area. This stunning destination is back on the map in 2020 thanks to a stabilized situation in the north and a simplified e-visa procedure (visa.nadra.gov.pk) to encourage more inbound tourism. A great way to see the region at your own speed is via a guided motorbike tour with Karakoram Bikers (karakorambikers.com; all-inclusive tours from US$2,400, daily rent from US$13), and a stay at Hunza Serena Inn in Karimabad (serenahotels.com; doubles from US$95), which lets you bask in 360-degree mountain views as you gorge on Hunza’s famous apricot cake. — MARCO FERRARESE Riding through the Hunza Valley, Pakistan. KIT YENG CHAN

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 15 The National no. Museum of 2 Qatar. Siem Reap: Easy-on-the-eyes, earth-friendly boutique stays. With a headliner like Angkor Wat, Siem Reap doesn’t have to try hard to keep visitors coming. But, not content to cruise on the unesco star’s coattails, a clutch of boutique hotels in the city is daring to innovate. The new Treeline Urban Resort (treelinehotels.com; doubles from US$170) on the Siem Reap River exemplifies a movement towards chic, local design and more-than- skin-deep sustainability. Designed by architect-entrepreneur Hok Kang, Treeline’s Khmer roots bear bold, contemporary fruits with a clean and understated look. Food, pottery, organic spa products, staff—all are sourced locally. Kang created Treeline as a hotel-slash-gallery space, so at any given time you’ll find both permanent and temporary exhibitions underway. Another serious, and seriously beautiful, proponent of sustainable hospitality in Siem Reap is the three-year-old Jaya House River Park (jayahouseriverparksiemreap.com; doubles from US$365). Designed by Cambodian architect Si Sokvann, the 36-room property pays tribute to Van Molyvann–style 60s Modernism, and features portraits by local students alongside abstract works by established Cambodian artists. The original eco boutique in Siem Reap, Jaya lets you stay plastic-free with your refillable aluminum bottle—a gift from the hotel as part of the Refill Not Landfill no. (refilltheworld.com) project they co-founded. 3 Or, track your lighter footprints around the glamorous-camping site of The Beige (the-beige.com; doubles from US$355), which recreates a French- Doha: A deep- colonial atmosphere in the forested fringes of Svay Chek Commune near dive into Middle- Angkor Thom. Natural-fiber tents open up to the four-hectare grounds, they have an onsite organic farm and there’s an open fire pit around which you can Eastern culture shoot the breeze after a day on the temple circuit. — BEK VAN VLIET OWEN The Qatari capital’s cultural cred is giving travelers a reason to visit even before the crowds arrive for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The National Museum of Qatar (qm.org.qa), designed by Jean Nouvel, FROM TOP: COURTESY OF ROOM4DESSERT; JAKUB FRYŠ JAKUB OF ROOM4DESSERT; COURTESY FROM TOP: opened last year, with exhibits that explore the region from prehistory to the present. It rounds out the city’s collection of art hubs, which include Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (mathaf.org.qa) and the Museum of Islamic Art (mia.org.qa). A just-built railway system will make it a breeze to go from museums to stylish stays like the new Mandarin Oriental (mandarin oriental.com; doubles from US$327) and the Al Najada Doha Hotel by Tivoli Suite art at Treeline Urban (tivolihotels.com; doubles from Resort. US$160). FROM TOP: RICHARD JAMES TAYLOR; COURTESY OF TREELINE URBAN RESORT OF TREELINE URBAN COURTESY TAYLOR; RICHARD JAMES FROM TOP:

16 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM FROM TOP: RICHARD JAMES TAYLOR; COURTESY OF TREELINE URBAN RESORT

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/ JANUARY 2020 A Room4Dessert aptly called Red. called aptly classic dish, classic

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/ JANUARY 2020 no.

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19 1 com) wisdom. beauty and health onancient takes modernized own their with region the around up sprouted have of wellness purveyors new three that better the All do. will healing holistic 2020 the in required rejuvenation 2019 so are spas luxury Regular Fivelements Habitat Blooming Beauty (HK$1,730; 180 minutes) Beauty Blooming 2 Power (HK$3,030; Inner Awakening like program, day forawellness up orsign classes of yoga range vast center’s of the one into hop massage, fora in Drop rituals. tea and baths sound meditation, like practices Eastern Arts”—traditional “Sacred and sessions movement treatments, beauty therapies, of body line-up alengthy into Vedic philosophies retreat 13 destination award-winning their up set Tatriele Chicco and Tahra founders where Ubud, in Bay. Originating path to wellbeing is is wellbeing to path 20 , 400 Creating space in a city with limited supply, limited with acity in space Creating Another inner-city sanctuary following a spiritual aspiritual following sanctuary inner-city Another in Delhi. “A return to ancestral wisdom,” Paro finds finds Paro wisdom,” ancestral to “A return Delhi. in

-square-meter facility in Hong Kong’s Causeway Causeway Kong’s Hong in facility -square-meter JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM years ago, the Fivelements concept translates translates concept Fivelements the ago, years Paro by Good Earth Good by Paro opened in a cool acool in (fivelements.com) opened Three new purveyors ofVedic-inspired new healing. purveyors Three Fivelements Fivelements Hong Kong. Breathe deep at at deep . For the type of elemental of elemental type . For the s, only multi-attack multi-attack only s, 4 Delhi. in Earth by Good Inside Paro (parogoodearth. 0 minutes) 0 . or no.

10 for a full-scale health overhaul. overhaul. health for afull-scale dome—plenty meditation sound-healing ahigh-tech and studio Pilates a circuit, spa hydrothermal a find also will guests property, 19-hectare the Within Fitness. Fearless and Wisdom Chinese Ancient Healing, Ayurvedic like programs lead and assessments wellness personalized conduct to hand at professionals”—are “mindfulness to nutritionists and physicians experts—from of health ateam end which to awakening,” conscious of level anew achieve and harmony find self-clarity, “seek guests help to aims retreat The wellness. integrated RMB6,526) Retreat by Octave by Retreat Library lab, or mix your own tincture in the apothecary. the in tincture own your ormix lab, Library the in workshop Ayurveda an do pashminas, browse to spaces Lotus–crafted Studio its Enter experience. Paro of the aspect every permeates design subcontinent, Indian of the ritual” and tradition “art, the Celebrating more. and workshops treatments, spa bedding, organic oils, essential wares, home apparel, jewelry, of offering eclectic an issues Vedas of the interpretation modern its from and Vedic texts, in forself-healing guidance In Suzhou, the Tsao & McKown–designed &McKown–designed Tsao the Suzhou, In offers a sleek, contemporary take on take contemporary sleek, a offers (sangharetreat.com; suites from from suites (sangharetreat.com; Suzhou. Octave in by Retreat Sangha — B.V.V.O. — Sangha Sangha

FROM LEFT: BRUNA ROTUNNA FOR FIVELEMENTS HABITAT; COURTESY OF PARO; COURTESY OF SANGHA RETREAT

COURTESY OF GAGGAN ANAND FROM LEFT: BRUNA ROTUNNA FOR FIVELEMENTS HABITAT; COURTESY OF PARO; COURTESY OF SANGHA RETREAT

COURTESY OF GAGGAN ANAND songs and most hated ingredients to better better to ingredients hated most and songs rock favorite their on pre-meal surveys he whom guests, the as well as somms, and chefs of team collaborative his with spotlight the shares he though Spot, G’s dubbed table, chef’s 14-seat new his in ringmaster boisterous the still is guy big The opened. bookings day the on deposits of worth US$300,000 in took and planning of months two only after November in launched that villa garden-draped agorgeous is person) per Bt8,000 from come). to want still who those for place old the from bookings honoring (they’re log reservations his and staff… his of most with town across restaurant anew to move and famous, globally him made and list Best 50 World’s on 4 No. ranked that fine-diner starred two- Michelin the quit to Anand Gaggan led partners business former his with blow-up a event, main the in 2019: controversial the quite had on opinion an has everyone seemingly chef of a tornado filter-free The Gaggan Anand Gaggan (gaggananand.com; Bangkok: Multi-stellar Michelin masters. masters. Michelin Multi-stellar Bangkok: ecologically sustainable.”ecologically that’s because home natural its in season in what’s you give “We Gaggan: way. Says own its in responsibility green embraces place the how of example one just biodynamics, the about all is cellar wine expansive The together. put is gras) foie and liver fatty monkfish (i.e., turf and surf of version artery-busting top-shelf, their example, for how, revealing areas kitchen open two with action, some of aview have also upstairs room dining main lit sexily new, the in guests all change: big Another proclaim. they as Wagyu melty to close as is lamb Aussie raised ethically the and sounds it than worthy crave- more is head fish with soaked lentils dishes—the protein substantial weaknesses,” he says) including more our be to used that things on working (“We’re before than cooking actual more dinner. 25-course still yes, among over strangers their four-plus-hour, truth-or-dare and karaoke chat, facilitate The menu now, though, involves a lot alot involves though, now, menu The no.

11 TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM caviar, predominate. gold of adollop and gelee tomato-water with crab blue as such dishes, light where menu, French contemporary Blue’s try you when accolades proffering tastebuds own your be It’ll both. is legend culinary the stars, Michelin innumerable and restaurants of dozens With abrand. or chef a is Ducasse Alain if wondering for forgiven you’d River, be Phraya Chao the overlooks Bt1,600) Ducasse suppliers. small-time their with commune to and produce, and crops of varietals and flavors recipes, lost investigate to visit regularly Yod and U-Prumpruk Jongsiri Ice chefs which region, hottest country’s fiery,fascinating roadtrip through the a is stars, two with restaurant Thai-cuisine from Bt3,200 per person) Fine Southern Sorn first, trying: from you stop shouldn’t that though soon, atable get to unlikely Alain Then there’s Alain by the new Blue you’re where places other of A couple . Entering the bright space that that space bright the . Entering (66-2/005-9412; set lunch from from lunch set (66-2/005-9412; (sornfinesouthern.com;

/ JANUARY 2020 — J.L.S.J. , Bangkok’s only only , Bangkok’s

’ Spot. G’s Anand’s Gaggan Gaggan

21 cafés, the the cafés, and hall market esplanades, paved its With boom. tourism Perth’s driving revitalized Elizabeth Quay precinct, the freshly opened opened freshly the precinct, Quay Elizabeth revitalized the in while of Northbridge, hub nightlife gritty the with CBD the reconnected Western Australia and hip new venues, including the Hassell + OMA–designed +OMA–designed Hassell the including venues, new hip and art street bars, Laneway awakening. of acultural brink onthe is Perth spaces, you. than cooler was she and blinked you minute, Next forever. dorky stay would thought you sister little the like is Perth town, mining tired as a image its off Brushing match. to spunk the has sprawl urban laidback its now and formula, irresistible an prove spaces wide-open and beaches pristine sun, Year-round state. the about alluring that’s everything to minds our casts poem the Australia, Western to homage adirect not My Country work prolific her in Mackellar Dorothea poet Australian plains sweeping of aland country; asunburnt I love Square Treasury. The movement is flowing down the Swan River, too, with the the with River,too, Swan the down flowing is movement The Treasury. COMO The and Perth QT including January, last name-checked we stays of inner-city ranks esteemed the joins A$349) from doubles (ritz-carlton.com; to revamp the beachside area in 2020. 2020. in area beachside the revamp to 22 In addition to the polished appeal of its new-wave hotels and revived public public revived and hotels new-wave of its appeal polished the to addition In Perth: Australia’sPerth: capital. underrated most

JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM (kingssquarefremantle.com) Yagan Square (museum.wa.gov.au) development has successfully successfully has development (yagansquare.com.au) Museum Jaipur Madhavendra Palace the within set park, sculpture contemporary first India’s like attractions, new miss Jaipur. of Don’t south fortress 14th-century when Six Senses when did rajahs the as live can year, travelers this and legend, of stuff the are palaces opulent state’s The no.

12 retail and dining project in Fremantle set set Fremantle in project dining and retail — JENNY HEWETT — JENNY launching in 2020, are collectively collectively are 2020, in launching (amrapalimuseum.com) ’ first India property, the 48-suite Fort Barwara (sixsenses.com)Barwara Fort 48-suite the property, India ’ first Rajasthan: and Opulence, more. art , wrote 19th-century 19th-century , wrote Ritz-Carlton, Perth New Museum for for Museum New River views at at views River Ritz-Carlton, with its collection of 4,000 gems. 4,000 of collection its with no. . While . While

14 Perth. Kings Kings

(thesculpture park.in) € badehotel.dk; doubles from Badehøtel Svinkløv 93-year-old the stay: to place coolest region’s the is away drive hour’s an under Just Park. National Thy of lakes glimmering and dunes sandy the along hike inland, farther rentals; gear and com) Camp Surf Hawaii Cold named aptly The Hawaii.” “Cold nickname the Sea, North the of edge the on Klitmøller, of town the earned swells large and breaks Consistent legit! It’s Denmark? in... Surfing chef Kenneth Toft-Hansen. Danish d’Or–winning Bocuse Yes, for surfing, 160) Amrapali Amrapali the , and is the spot for lessons lessons for spot the is Klitmøller: Klitmøller: , newly reopened by by reopened , newly (coldhawaiisurfcamp. no.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF RITZ-CARLTON; COURTESY OF COLD HAWAII; COURTESY OF SIX SENSES HOTELS RESORTS SPAS

COURTESY OF ROSEWOOD YANGON CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF RITZ-CARLTON; COURTESY OF COLD HAWAII; COURTESY OF SIX SENSES HOTELS RESORTS SPAS

COURTESY OF ROSEWOOD YANGON around the corner from The Strand and Sule Pagoda, the the Pagoda, Sule and Strand The from corner the around hotel. of the opening grand forthe of 2020 half latter the in Visit handicrafts. and paintings artist local via of place” “sense trademark brand’s the by enhanced can, Rosewood only as comfort opulent do suites and rooms its while weddings, forcrazy-rich perfect guests—is 800 to forup room with Burma, in largest Ballroom—the Grand Its gem. heritage a1927 to feel residential ultra-luxe brand’s the brought that makeover million US$150 Yangon Yangon Excelsior launch, soft 2019 October their In dame. grand the out-glam to seeking scene hotel Rangoon’s in contenders of classed-up crop anew there’s well, Strand— The called place of a little heard you’ve No doubt pops like paperboy uniforms and abstract art. art. abstract and uniforms paperboy like pops eccentric aside phones rotary and typewriters antique parquetry, herringbone with aesthetic, newsroom aretro bespeaks of Victoriana version its headquarters, Brothers Steel former the into aesthetic Art-Deco rich a Infusing act. vintage of type adifferent does US$190) Building Building Yangon. Rosewood of façade grand The Downtown, tucked into narrow Bo Soon Pat Street, Street, Pat Soon Bo narrow into tucked Downtown, You might not be able to sleep at the the at sleep to able be not You might unveiled a unveiled US$400) from doubles (rosewood.com; (fb.com/turquoisemountainmyanmar) (yangon-excelsior.com; doubles from from doubles (yangon-excelsior.com; Rangoon: Old-world luxury and next-gen lifestyle. next-gen and luxury Old-world Rangoon: Tourist Burma Rosewood Rosewood , but you’re you’re , but no.

15 to see if yours is on the list. list. onthe is yours if see to (evisa.moip.gov.mm) website Population and Immigration of Labour, Ministry Burma’s Check countries. select from holders forpassport exemptions visa and VOAs for program pilot of Burma’s most the make meantime, the In Museum. Services Defense old the in Yangon Prestige Okura by joined Westin, and Yangon Peninsula with 2021 in opens building Railways Myanmar old the in Yoma longer, as onabit Central hang to have you’ll Rangoon, in of luxury wave next For the events. social buzzy and culture onlocal be will focus the rooms compact and spaces communal big Featuring travelers.” “millennial-minded at aimed hotel athree-star with of pace achange brand—promises lifestyle new Dusit’s coming-in-2020 coming-in-2020 area. downtown historic the through tour for awalking point starting it’s agood Pagoda, Sule near acorner On weekend markets. and pop-upworkshops, restaurants artisans’ like events, cultural regular hosts space ground-floor open-plan its but offices, houses primarily now edifice 1905 this Mountain, non-profit Turquoise by restoration afull after 2019 September in Reopened there. history and culture local into wade to welcome If, after all that, you need a break from yesteryear, the the yesteryear, from abreak need you that, all after If, TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Asai YankinAsai — B.V.V.O — —one of the first openings in openings first of the —one

/ JANUARY 2020

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24 Union. African the of headquarters Addis Ababa, in Centre Conference AU The

Addis New Ababa: leadership and an invigorated arts and culture scene. arts invigorated JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM alongside the once-forbidding space. once-forbidding the alongside midyear open to slated garden, public a build to Sime Elias artist local tapped and public, the to palace 19th-century the opened He has halls. Menelik’s into life breathing is Ahmed, Abiy minister, prime reformist country’s the belt, his under already Prize Peace aNobel with and term his into years two Now, nearly birth. of parents’ my country the to trips family on complex cordoned-off the seeing Iremember imposition. imperial of asymbol as Ababa Addis over loomed Palace Menelik decades, four past For of the much no.

16 institutions such as as such institutions at display on artists finest country’s the by work find year, the Throughout December. this again held be will that festival photography (addisfineart.com) influences, Zoma parallels the aims of aims the parallels Zoma influences, modern and traditional both to attention its In wiring. electrical and phones of discarded composed are which pieces, own of Sime’s some art—including contemporary for abackdrop as architecture vernacular new, using and old Ethiopia blends museum the neighborhood, Mekanisa the in Situated process. building and planning 20-year — BY HANNAH GIORGIS Dashen Terara The interaction). of audience plenty (and music live bet gallery.com) Foto Fest Foto never cloying. tej and food style home- draw: obvious another with Ethiopia around from styles of dance performances pair urbanite’s drink of choice, a macchiato. amacchiato. of choice, drink urbanite’s Ethiopian orthe beer aHabesha with all it Chase garlic. and onions with cooked being after even bite their retain that beans green injera airy Light, had. ever I’ve best the among is here combination vegetarian the but restaurant, any nearly at options meat-free find you’ll means Christians Orthodox many Ethiopia’s US$4–US$12) the the opened Assegued, Meskerem anthropologist cultural and curator the partner, his Ababa, Addis in sites Christian Orthodox significant most of the one Cathedral, Trinity Holy and Sime year, Last Addis. across spaces artistic change firsthand. the witness easily can visitors foreign more Ababa’s airport, of Addis expansion major a to thanks capital—and Ethiopia’s in shifted (stgeorgeofethiopia.com) venues, like like venues, Other Amharic. accented formy me tease azmari the if favorites—even of my one remains nights, music themed its —often fuse visual-arts exhibitions with with exhibitions visual-arts fuse —often azmari azmari as clubs—known Traditional-music For a more low-key dining experience, visit visit experience, dining For low-key amore The Menelik Palace joins several other new new other several joins Palace Menelik The has something that sign latest It’s the Zoma Museum Zoma Fendika Cultural Center is paired with dishes like fossolia like dishes with paired is (addisfotofest.com) . Yod Abyssinia . The fasting traditions of traditions fasting . The (dashenterara.com; mains mains (dashenterara.com; , a honey wine that’s sweet but but sweet that’s wine , ahoney , and , and (zomamuseum.org) St. George Gallery George St. LeLa Gallery LeLa , Addis Fine Art (yodethiopia.com) (fendika.org) , a biennial , abiennial singers gently gently singers (lela- after a after

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ANDREW MOORE

FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF THANN WELLNESS DESTINATION; COURTESY OF THANYAPURA SPORTS AND HEALTH RESORT; COURTESY OF CHIVA-SOM ANDREW MOORE

FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF THANN WELLNESS DESTINATION; COURTESY OF THANYAPURA SPORTS AND HEALTH RESORT; COURTESY OF CHIVA-SOM live your best life. life. best your live you help to kingdom the in emerging are offerings fitness/wellbeing spa/ of integrated ahandful category, broad that Within travel. for wellness destination amajor become should world, the not if of Asia magnet medical-tourism and massage Thailand, that sense It makes aromatherapy baths. The goal here is is here goal The baths. aromatherapy thermal three resort’s the to access is as rate, the in included are activities group and classes fitness meals, All Bangkok. central from drive hour’s an than less Ayutthaya, of outskirts the in retreat spa scented asweet- with space hospitality the into brand aromatherapy and skincare renowned the brings all-inclusive) Bt20,000, from doubles Destination The new (thannwellness.com;

Thann Wellness thermal baths Destination. Aromatic Wellness at Thann Thann at Thailand: YourThailand: health, rebooted. Phuket. Resort, Health and Sports Thanyapura your downtime, get a massage, swim swim amassage, get downtime, your In classes. fitness complimentary and services of health array abewildering from choose then assessment, 360 Health Thanyapura a with Start zone. judgment-free yet afitness-focused in undertaken and of experts team resident resort’s the by led are more and living vegan fitness, anti-aging, nutrition, loss, weight with dealing programs New, novice-friendly facilities. training state-of-the-art of its use make to non-athletes entice to 2020 Bt4,000) from doubles (thanyapura.com; participation scale, scale, participation end. that to geared treatments spa scented of deliciously menu along with relaxation, pampered Sports and Health Resort Health and Sports On the other side of the active- of the side other the On expands its offerings in offerings its expands no.

17 Thanyapura Thanyapura

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM resort, resort, free shuttle. shuttle. free the on beach Surin to off or head pools three resort’s of the one any in — B.V.V.O. — sea breezes and sunrise ocean views. views. ocean sunrise and breezes sea forsalubrious points Thailand—full of Gulf onthe position shore-side a with experience wellness the out rounds Chiva-Som guest. individual the to tailored all performance, golf and yoga spa, management, weight detox, fitness, include that all in 13 with or “retreats,” of programs, list its rejigged entirely has resort the but updated, been hardware physical the has Not only year. this anniversary 25th resort’s forthe time in just refurbishment, large-scale of a stage final the Bt58,000) from doubles com; Thailand’s original luxury health health luxury original Thailand’s Chiva-Som Hua HinChiva-Som in Hua Hin. Hua in Chiva-Som

/ JANUARY 2020 (chivasom. , unveiled , unveiled

25 jumping. Other sustainability programs include sourcing precious metals for medals from an “urban mine” of electronics waste from mobile phones and home appliances, calling for plastic donations from the general public to make the podiums and volunteer no. uniforms, and sourcing flowers for the 18 athletes’ bouquets from areas affected by the Japan tag-team 2011 tsunami. The events will also have electric buses to shuttle visitors around sites and, as can reasonably be expected from Japan, FROM LEFT: Tokyo: The biggest and greenest have a team of robots in various customer- Saitama

Super Arena; Olympic games so far. facing roles. JAYCANGEL KUCWAY; CHRISTOPHER FROM TOP: Shinkansen A perennial topper of travel lists, Tokyo’s Tickets for both games have been sold in bullet train. appeal this year hits record highs with the phases, with online purchases available for Games of the XXXII Olympiad and the 2020 Japan residents only—overseas spectators Summer Paralympic Games a.k.a. Tokyo 2020. should check the list of authorized resellers at It’s the second time the city will host the the official website (tokyo2020.org) and keep up games—the first being in 1964—this time to date with ticketing and events information championing the three themes “achieving your via social media (fb.com/tokyo2020). The final personal best,” “unity in diversity” and round of tickets for the games will be released “connecting to tomorrow.” Running from July in the spring on a first-come, first-served basis 24 to August 9, this year’s Olympics features via the official site and at ticketing booths the highest number of events ever at 339 across around Tokyo. 33 sports, including five new ones: surfing, skateboarding, sports climbing, karate and PLUS TWO NEW EDITIONS. baseball/softball. Working hard towards a “legacy of If you’re looking for in the Tokyo Tower end of sustainability,” Tokyo 2020 is already somewhere new and hip town. Meanwhile, The knocking it out of the park, earning ISO 20121 to stay in Tokyo this year, Tokyo Edition, Ginza certification for sustainable event management Edition—the boutique will take up a 13-story and addressing all 17 United Nations baby of Ian Schrager and building amid flashy Marriott—makes its retailers on Chuo-Dori Sustainable Development Goals. Part of this Japan debut in the Street, a fitting style- includes using existing venues; so expect to see summertime. The Tokyo centric crash pad for the a retro as the iconic Budokan arena Edition, Toranomon will shopping-inclined. again hosts the judo, the Yoyogi National offer 200 rooms inside editionhotels.com; rates Gymnasium hosts the handball and the public the mixed-use Pastoral not yet available at

Baji Koen Park hosts dressage and show Building in Minato, down publication. GOVERNMENT METROPOLITAN OF TOKYO 2020/COURTESY ©TOKYO

26 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Kyoto: An old-favorite city ups the ante. STATE OF THE ARTS. Tokyo may have the Olympics in 2020, but As if there wasn’t already Kyoto’s got Kyoto—a ludicrous amount of enough eye candy in Kyoto, the unesco World Heritage Sites and a hotel scene new Fukuda Art Museum that gets better by the minute. At the top of the (fukuda-art- museum.jp) list there’s the serene Aman Kyoto (aman.com; launched in October last year rooms from ¥130,000) that opened in with more than 1,500 pieces November, inhabiting dense forest to the north from the private collection of of the historic city. Spread over 34 secluded owner Fukuda Yoshitaka. hectares, it was built on land that was Featuring the works of major originally intended for a museum dedicated to artists dating from the Edo the obi kimono sash. Instead, four main Period to the modern era, the focus here is on the famed buildings rise out of the mossy forest floor, Kyoto circle of painters. In each housing only six guestrooms for March, the Kyocera Museum maximum privacy and calm. Up on the of Art (kyotocity-kyocera. hillside, a pair of two-bedroom villas sits amid museum) reopens after an the cedars, alongside two restaurants and a extensive upgrade led by spa with its own onsen. Kyoto history is within leading architects Aoki Jun close reach here; Aman shares the same and Nishizawa Tezzo. mountainside as the popular Kinkaku-ji Upcoming exhibitions include Temple—the Golden Pavilion—a 20-minute the epic ‘250 Years of Kyoto FROM TOP: A guest Art Masterpieces’ (March 21 to walk away. Also nearby is Imamiya Shrine and room at the Aman June 12) and ‘Andy Warhol the sprawling but beautiful Ryogen-in Kyoto; Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple, Kyoto,’ a large-scale solo Temple—two must-visits of any Kyoto trip. in Kyoto. exhibition featuring more than For a heftier dose of nostalgia, The Park 200 works from the artist Hyatt (hyatt.com; doubles from ¥81,000) takes a spanning the 1950s and 60s. traditional turn with understated, wood-heavy design that recalls a ryokan inn. Featuring 70 rooms in a collection of low-rise buildings and wrapped around a central garden, interiors and prints, and original artworks, lending

FROM TOP: CHRISTOPHER KUCWAY; JAYCANGEL JAYCANGEL KUCWAY; CHRISTOPHER FROM TOP: come adorned with tamo wood, artisan pottery warmth to its minimalist spaces. Cuisine at the Hyatt has been 142 years in the making— the hotel centers on Kyoyamato, a traditional kaiseki restaurant run by the same family for seven generations. Begin your evening at the equally as historic Soyotei teahouse, dating from the Edo era, and end it at Kohaku, a slick little whisky, gin and sake bar overlooking Yasaka Pagoda. For Kengo Kuma–crafted style in spades, the oft imitated but never duplicated Ace brand arrives in Japan’s cultural heartland in 2020. Ace Hotel Kyoto (acehotel.com; doubles from ¥38,000), is set to open in the old Shinpukan building—the Kyoto Central Telephone Office—this spring. The original 1920s building will be incorporated into a new build drawn up by renowned architect Kengo Kuma, and feature interiors by Ace favorite, Commune Design. The finished product will feature 200 rooms and integrate modern design with traditional touches and works by local artists and artisans. — B.V.V.O. ©TOKYO 2020/COURTESY OF TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT METROPOLITAN OF TOKYO 2020/COURTESY ©TOKYO

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 27 28 opened last year on the South Island’s Lake Tekapo, Tekapo, Lake Island’s South onthe year last opened 2020 onin twinkling be will that experiences travel astronomy-related new of acluster with trend, astro-tourism global the leading it’s And forstargazing. world the in places best of the one is Zealand New pollution, of) kind (or any light minimal and skies night clear With right. own its in incredible Way is Milky own away”—our far far, “galaxy that Forget

JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Selinda Selinda Camp. . New venture Dark Sky Project Project Sky Dark venture . New Lake Tekapo:Lake the universe. Gaze across the classic safari aesthetic. aesthetic. safari classic the on spin asultry put that rooms with June last reopening rebuilt, been has dog, wild African rare the plainsconservation.com; doubles from US$1,530 per person) Camp Selinda Plains’ Great Meanwhile, bush. the through safaris walking take can you Expeditions Linyanti camp mobile six-tent the find you’ll Park, National Chobe of edge the On Reserve. Game Moremi the in debut Lodge Safari Xigera June, the solar-powered tree-house-inspired camp, Tuludi Selection’s Natural of opening the saw just Delta Okavango The lodges. new luxe of Take pick your Botswana: Safari adventures and tree-house stays stays and tree-house adventures Safari Botswana: no.

19 (naturalselection.travel; doubles from US$915 per person). constellations. constellations. the to seats front-row offer “Pods” mirrored glass-walled, luxury, new Their Tekapo. Lake from away drive hour’s an about Valley, Ahuriri isolated of the stillness The Lindis the to head crave, you star-bath averitable in sleeping it’s If astrophysics. and culture indigenous astronomy, Maori ancient combine that experiences guided offering (africanbushcamps.com; doubles from US$546 per person) per US$546 from doubles (africanbushcamps.com; no.

20 will will person) per US$2,550 from doubles (xigera.com; (thelindis.com; NZ$2,000) (thelindis.com; — J.H. , in a northern area known for sightings of of sightings for known area anorthern , in , in the immersive immersive the , in (great (great Pods at The The at Pods Lindis, New New Lindis, Stargazing Zealand. Come Come , where , where

FROM TOP: COURTESY OF THE LINDIS; ANDREW HOWARD/COURTESY OF GREAT PLAINS CONSERVATION FROM TOP: COURTESY OF THE LINDIS; ANDREW HOWARD/COURTESY OF GREAT PLAINS CONSERVATION with ourlocalexperts,orfindtranquillityinthebluestwatersyou’veeverseen. A worldofdiscoveriesaboveandbelowthewavesawaitswithFour Seasons. Swim amongsharkswithourdivemasters,surftheultimatebreak Bali•ChiangMaiGoldenTriangle •HangzhouHoiAn,Vietnam •Koh Samui•Kyoto •Maldives •Langkawi INTO THEBLUE Find at: resorts outmore aboutourparticipating fourseasons.com/intotheblue DISCOVERY

The Big Blue Beyond the overwater villas and sparkling lagoons, the friendly giants of the Maldives inhabit a paradise of their own. Eloise Basuki jumps into the deep. PHOTOGRAPHS BY LEIGH GRIFFITHS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Lunch at signature restaurant Sea. Salt. Fire.; a pier with a view; Beach villa with private pool. OPPOSITE: Off the deep end with local grey nurse sharks.

In, yes, a sea of new resort openings in the Maldives, Anantara Dhigu is one of the originators in South Malé Atoll—built in 2006 on a natural island that existed long before that. But these organic foundations give them an edge over the newer properties that have MY BODY IS RIGID. My arms crossed tight to had to dredge the sand they’re built on: the my chest. Muffled expletives gurgle through reefs are rich with a community of sea life my snorkel as I yelp at the sight of a four- that has been there for millennia. Introduced meter-long grey nurse shark staring me a year ago, Anantara’s Snorkeling With down, angling straight for me. We’re about to Sharks provides a chance for guests to see face off, but as she nears, she quickly turns a more than just cute Nemos and colorful few degrees and skims right past me, her corals, and get up close and personal with wake causing a ripple of bubbles in the water some of the bigger sea creatures that inhabit and a chill of goose bumps on my skin. these waters. Underwater here, I’ve never felt She’s not the only local I’ve interrupted in like such a small fish in a big pond. the last 10 minutes—I’m floating in the middle of a group of at least 30 nurse sharks IT ALL STARTED when I was on the loo. off the coast of Dhiggaru Atoll, an hour’s boat Anantara Dhigu’s villas hover above ride from Anantara Dhigu Maldives Resort, luminescent turquoise seas, and the wooden who had promised me—multiple times—that ensuite not only has a square glass peephole this was a safe snorkeling activity. Now, so right below the toilet bowl, but floor-to-ceiling many sharks above me, below me, to the left, windows with endless ocean views. It was to the right, I can barely see my guides, Mibu here I noticed a black-tip reef shark in the and Visam. But there’s no need to worry. As corner of my window. And also here where, close relations of the whale shark, when these later, I watched the sun set all purples and guys open wide all you get is a big, toothless oranges, and noticed a few more black-tips grandpa grin. sneaking a feed by the villa’s wooden stilts.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 31 DISCOVERY

THE REAL GOAL of my trip was to meet those sharks. So we board the resort’s speedboat for the one-hour journey to Dhiggarum Atoll, passing Anantara’s adults-only property, Veli, and its tiny Naladhu Private Island, and soon the world becomes 360 degrees of deep blue, Even when you leave your villa, you don’t with no other sign of life around. have to stray far to experience Dhigu’s watery After 30 minutes, the captain cuts the wonderland. At low tide you can walk to the motor. This was earlier than expected, and neighboring picnic island, Gulhifushi, where Mibu and Visam head up to the bow to check you can snorkel the house reef. You can even out what’s going on. The captain points to the learn to surf in these waters—as I do, with distance, then the boat back in the the incredibly patient Coline of Tropicsurf. direction we came from. As the motor stops We take our long boards to the resort’s again, Visam yells, “Get your snorkels on, laughably flat lagoon; a perfect learning there are mantas in the water.” By luck, we’ve ground for beginners like me. My upper-body come across a group of 15 manta rays having strength barely gets me through the one-hour lunch. I jump in and notice the poor lesson, but I do manage to learn to jump on visibility—the super-cloudy water is full of my board and switch feet without crashing plankton, and the mantas are loving it. They into the shallows. I consider that a win. More barely spot us as they glide through the water experienced surfers can head to the reef just with their mouths open, their billowing fins past Veli Island across the lagoon, where shoveling the plankton in and flushing out the bigger waves break consistently, or venture on excess through their gills. Manta rays are not a half-day excursion to the best surf spots in dangerous—their tails aren’t used to sting, North Malé Atoll. but rather to balance. With a span of three or

32 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Swinging in the lagoon; aquatic guide Visam; another local resident; sunset views from an Overwater villa. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Origami's Japanese-influenced fare; surf's up; a green way to get around.

four meters, one accidentally tickles me as it glides past. They somersault together and we spend 15 minutes simply taking in this beautiful dance. But we still have the sharks to get to. I haul myself back on the boat, completely high on middle of an underwater Shibuya crossing this accidental sighting. The motor starts with sharks veering every which way, feeding again, but we barely have time to dry off when on the krill that get caught in this particular I hear: “Get your snorkels on, there are bay. I duck-dive under and follow a big shark dolphins.” I stand up to see what’s happening, away from the boat. I get so close I can see but Visam yells, “Quick! Quick! Dolphins are that its leathery skin is covered in little fast.” So I plunge in, flippers askew, and freckles. Like me, the sharks seem to have watch about 30 spinner dolphins glide in front also had too much Maldivian sun. Visam of me. The silence of being underwater points out a crooked shark. One fin is smaller emphasizes just how dramatic this scene is. I than the other and its tail is warped like it follow from behind and see a big grey cloud up was run over by a car. Beneath me, a mother ahead. That’s when I realize it’s not just 30 and baby glide away from the frenzy. dolphins. That cloud is a pod that numbers After half an hour, it’s time to head home. about 200. As the boat speeds off we warm in the Visam was right, I can’t keep pace and they afternoon sun. I chat to my guides, who grew dart away. The boat retrieves us, just as the up on these waters. “I have been working here dolphins return to show off, torpedoing into for 10 years,” Visam says. “I’ve spent many, the air, leaping into the distance. many days as a guide, but I’ve never seen mantas, dolphins and sharks in one day. OH YES, THE SHARKS. At this point, they’ve Today was one of the best experiences of my become an afterthought. How could this day life.” I’ve been in this country for only 24 possibly get any better? We pull up to the hours, and I’d have to agree. anchor point and I dive in yet again. Despite everything I’ve seen today, the sight of 30 anantara.com; doubles from US$770; adult-sized nurse sharks is a wonder. The Snorkeling With Sharks US$195 per person; sharks are everywhere; it feels like I’m in the Tropicsurf lagoon surf session from US$90.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 33 DINING

CLOCK FROM LEFT: Food writer Agnes Chee; her red book of Cantonese classics; entering the ornate Wing Lei Palace.

Little Red Cook Book How a nostalgic homage to lost delicacies is putting high-end Cantonese back on the menu. BY RON GLUCKMAN CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF AGNES CHEE (2); COURTESY OF WYNN PALACE COURTESY OFWYNNCOURTESY (3) PALACE

34 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM EXCITABLE CHATTER fills Wing Lei Palace, the Seventh Son, which has a Michelin Plate, she standout modern-Cantonese restaurant at found herself increasingly surprised each time Wynn Palace (wynnpalace.com; doubles from he mentioned a dish she’d never heard of. This US$200 per night) in Macau. Lusty exclamations inspired her to speak to other top Cantonese reflect lip-smacking southern-Chinese chefs about the beloved foods of their enrapture. The Cantonese language has nine childhoods that for various reasons had different tones, giving diners extra leverage to disappeared from restaurants. “I’d talk to all project the passion they feel for this incredible these chefs [about] dishes we loved that you meal. “Aiya! It’s like my grandmother would didn’t find anymore,” she tells me. “They’d say order at family gatherings.” they hadn’t cooked them in 30 or 40 years.” As The ardor, at the moment, is over fish skin, the recollections piled up, Chee had more than in particular its fine crispness. A generous enough reminiscenses of things past for a strip of it is submerged in a thick sauce along historical culinary tome. with pomelo peel, kombu (kelp) and venison Vanishing Flavors of Cantonese Cuisine is tendon. The dish is one of six in a feast fit for 175 pages of dishes that are rarely, if ever, found royalty—literally, since its creator, chef Tam in restaurants, with descriptions by great Kwok Fung, drew inspiration for it from the Cantonese cooks of how they were traditionally Manchu Han Imperial Feast. But it also has a prepared. It’s unlikely you’ve ever tried, for more modern reference: Vanishing Flavors of example, deep fried sea-urchin custard, or double-boiled pig stomach stuffed with chicken FROM LEFT: Tam Cantonese Cuisine, a new book by Hong Kong– Kwok Fung, the based food columnist Agnes Chee. and bird’s nest. Aside from Chui, Chee’s chef executive chef of Chee, who was raised on Cantonese cooking collaborators in Hong Kong include Leung Fai- Wing Lei Palace; and has spent years writing about it for a Hung of Hoi King Heen at the InterContinental four dishes from number of international publications, says the Grand Stanford; Jayson Tang Ka-Ho at Man Ho the Rediscovering the Lost Flavors of book evolved as a nostalgic collection. While in the JW Marriott Hotel; and Danny Yip of Cantonese Cuisine

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF AGNES CHEE (2); COURTESY OF WYNN PALACE working on a column for Hong Kong Economic The Chairman, Hong Kong’s sole venue on the menu at Wing Lei Times with lauded chef Chui Wai-Kwan of World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Palace. COURTESY OFWYNNCOURTESY (3) PALACE

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 35 DINING

At Wing Lei Palace, former chef and The high-end celebration of historic dishes Singapore foodie David Yip exclaims how I’m attending is part of an effort by Chee and amazingly packed with flavor the fish skin is. chef Tam to bolster their native fare. It’s the Then we all laugh when chef Tam walks over ninth edition of the Ruyi Gastronomy in his kitchen whites, draped in what at first Experience, a series of culinary events around appears to be a cabaret cloak. Actually, it’s a Greater China hosted by tableware company fish skin so large it swallows him like Jonah in Inhesion Group. Desmond Chang, creative the whale. Yep, Tam’s playing with his food. director of Ruyi Gastronomy and vice He recounts his search for this rare skin, president of Inhesion Group, curates the series. noting that the more than US$5,000 pricetag Together, he, Chee and Tam created this menu, wasn’t even the biggest obstacle to recreating matching each dish with gorgeous tableware the dish. “We had to convince the shop owner from Inhesion’s Legle brand. to part with it,” he explains. “They’d had it for “We didn’t want to just replicate the meals, decades, and knew if they sold it, they would but revisit and explore their history, and then never have another. These are treasures.” put it all back together in a modern way,” This is but one example of ingredients in Chang says. “It’s as much about enjoyment as Chee’s book that have become prohibitively education.” Echoing this, chef Tam took expensive, but cost is only one reason these liberties with the old recipes, substituting the dishes have faded from view. Some have too- white shrimp in the dim sum with tastier blue long prep times. For certain kinds of ham, she lobster and adding a dash of caviar to enliven a says, a chef has to work the meat by hand for traditional soup of preserved clam rice broth— hours, seeking out veins to knead into the most the climax of this delightful feast. The revived tender morsels. Other plates have, over the dishes will remain on a special menu at Wing centuries, simply changed beyond recognition. Lei Palace until the end of February. Cantonese food has long contended with a As we dine on—and marvel at—the crisp double edge of popularity and derision. As the braised grouper skin, wok-fried sea conch and Chinese diaspora spread across the globe, dace mousse dumplings, part of our joy is in FROM LEFT: The opening restaurants that catered to Western the hope that flavors of old Canton can find a packed-with-flavor palates, the cuisine changed. “Cantonese more permanent place on the modern plate. braised giant became a global fast-food,” Chee says. As a grouper-skin dish, result, it lost much of its cachet. While haute Vanishing Flavors of Cantonese Cuisine by served up on Ruyi fine porcelain; takes on Beijing’s imperial cuisine and Agnes Chee is available in Chinese from yesasia. Wing Lei Palace's Sichuan’s fiery cooking can be found com for US$21.99. An English version is gilded dining room. everywhere, Cantonese still lags outside China. currently in development. COURTESY OFWYNNCOURTESY (2) PALACE

36 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

OODC_Ad_Travel+Leisure_Draft_Preffered2.indd 1 18/11/2019 5:34 PM COURTESY OFWYNN PALACE (2) OODC_Ad_Travel+Leisure_Draft_Preffered2.indd 1 18/11/2019 5:34PM WELLNESS

Farm Fresh In pastoral New Zealand, natural remedies, modern therapies and indigenous wisdom power a one-of-a-kind wellness experience. BY MEI ANNE FOO

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Owners Marie Latus and Duncan McKenzie in their element; the cabin's sweeping loft-sized views; homemade

goodies are the norm here; the Sanctuary's custom-built float orb lends a sci-fi touch to the rural setting. SANCTUARY (4) EARTH ENERGIES OF COURTESY

38 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM KAWAKAWA A.K.A “the pharmacy of the forest,” is an floatation therapy in the country’s only custom-built float important element in rongoā Māori—traditional Maori orb, shipped over from the U.S., and filled with Epsom healing. Considered one of nature’s most versatile salts to keep me buoyant. The body-temperature water remedies, it’s used for everything from eczema to joint enhances a sense of weightlessness, but though the pain to toothaches. Growing wild in coastal forests around experience is meant to enable inner peace and New Zealand, this organic wonder drug naturally finds its mindfulness I find my mind wandering instead— place among a holistic array of curatives at the new Earth musing about trivial topics, like the weather. Energies Sanctuary, an hour’s drive from Auckland. But then it is time for a hypnotherapy session to really Proprietors Marie Latus and husband Duncan tap into my subconscious. Marie has a diploma in Clinical McKenzie not only prescribe kawakawa to guests, but use Hypnotherapy from Alpha Hypnosis in Auckland, and it as an active ingredient in the artisanal creams and guides me to a place of safety and protection. I can’t help ointments of their Earth Energies Botanical range. They but let go as Marie’s gentle voice leads me to a sunken forage for ’s heart-shaped leaves on their place, one where negative thought patterns are subdued 80-hectare plot, where, Marie tells me, every step from and a sanguine, more optimistic me rises to the surface. harvest to manufacture is carried out with purposeful Who needs those Epsom salts anyway? intent. “From blessing the plants and earth to After a life-affirming and deeply soothing afternoon— handcrafting the products in our own product rooms— my husband was actually relaxed enough to doze off while lovingly built by Duncan—it’s all undertaken in an floating in the orb—we retreat to our charming cottage. incredibly peaceful environment,” she says. It’s the only guest accommodation at Earth Energies, with That all-permeating sense of serenity is evident from two bedrooms, a full kitchen and loft providing ample the moment we turn onto the property, to be greeted by space for four. Perched on a remote hill in the heart of the Duncan rolling down a gravel drive on a farm tractor, property, the cabin’s open-plan concept ensures you’re flashing a megawatt smile. We follow him for a good 10 awash in breathtaking views of a leafy gully. Waves of minutes down a snaking dirt road that contours fertile every shade of green are framed by super-sized windows hills and rolling paddocks, past dams and native plants, and glass doors. A mezzanine carries the master bedroom, kawakawa no doubt among them. It is within this the comfy entertainment area has a wood-burning undulating farmland that Marie has grounded her rustic fireplace, and a big bathtub overlooks foliage, completing retreat. Drawing from Western, Eastern and Antipodean the bucolic feel. We feel far from civilization here, despite natural therapies, Earth Energies Sanctuary is her vision the highway being just below. of a global zigzag of holistic wellness that is firmly rooted To keep things down-to-earth, the kitchen is stocked in New Zealand—both physically and culturally. with easy-to-assemble ready-made meals. We prep our After a nomadic and stress-filled 20 years in the own scrumptious entrées of beetroot and gin-cured mining industry, Duncan and Marie moved back to New salmon with lemon crème fraîche, radish and fennel, and Zealand a decade ago, and Marie soon became drawn to a main course of pork belly with carrots and kumara the healing modalities of natural remedies and physical rosti with apple-tart syrup. Such a setup means guests therapies. She spent the last 10 years honing her skills, can come here and completely cut off from the world, training with leaders in alternative practices such as without the need for room service or a restaurant down zero-balance therapy and the art-meets-massage method the road. Though, we really didn’t mind finding a smiley Alchemy of Touch. A talented craftsman, Duncan hand- Duncan at the front door, delivering some freshly made built all the timber fittings and furniture on the property, sesame-and-linseed bread he’d forgotten to leave behind. and together they opened the Sanctuary on their family’s As for dessert, besides glutting on the gluten-free working farm last May. While Marie plays hostess and brownies, we set our eyes on the sweetest view of the dedicated personal therapist, Duncan manages their Milky Way we’d ever seen. Sitting on the porch outside, sustainably developed farmland and tends to their herd an abiding calm radiating from within, the depthless of Red Devon cattle—when he’s not combing through the evening sky cast its own hypnotic spell—a universe- brush for kawakawa. sized float orb we couldn’t help but drift away in. My husband and I have signed up for the half-day spa program, and it’s packed with goodness. Marie first performs zero-balance therapy on me, utilizing light pressure to address the relationship between the structures of my body and its energy flow. The powerful THE DETAILS body-mind treatment is rooted in Western anatomy and About an hour’s drive from either Auckland Airport or Hamilton, on the Eastern understanding of energy channels for bone- the edge of the Waikato district on State Highway 2, look for a plain wooden farm gate and a small signboard. Its strategic location deep relaxation. After the treatment, my head feels makes it suitable for post- or pre-flight respite while in New lighter and my body more languid, yet there there is a Zealand. earthenergiessanctuary.com; from NZ$590 per night for

COURTESY OF EARTH ENERGIES SANCTUARY (4) EARTH ENERGIES OF COURTESY heightened sense of balance and stability. Next is two, excluding therapies.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 39 TRENDING

Come As You A re As Thailand targets the LGBT+ market, local hoteliers are adopting cool new services and amenities that give deeper meaning to the term “all- inclusive.” BY VINCENT VICHIT-VADAKAN. ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANAWAT MUANGTHONG

THAILAND HAS long been known for its live-and-let-live attitude to gender and sexuality, so it was really only a matter of time before the country became the first in Southeast Asia to actively market itself as a friendly destination for LGBT+ communities. Headed by the new Go Thai. Be Free. campaign (gothaibefree.com) from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), this play for the LGBT+ market has proven more than just clever marketing. While Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, the deputy governor for international marketing at the TAT, admits that the campaign is good for business, he also believes Thailand is evolving. “We are more open,” he says. “It is a priority for us to get people to come and to appreciate the country and if, along the way, we are seen as progressive, then all the better.” To improve their LGBT-readiness, the TAT offers local hoteliers an important resource with the LGBT+ Travel Symposium, now in its second year. The 2019 edition included “sensitivity training master classes” for tourism professionals. The upshot? A better, smoother, more genuine hotel experience for all. Here are some of the ways Thailand’s push for LGBT+ travel is having a positive impact on local hospitality. Some may seem like simple logic, but that’s its own takeaway: good service often boils down to good manners.

40 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM COMMONSENSE SERVICE or nightlife, the concierge shouldn’t Thailand’s position as regional The check-in desk is often the first meet the request with a blank stare, tourism hub is bolstered, while less- place a guest is made to feel but instead have those details at the accepting nations are driven to evolve welcome. “It’s not great for [a same- ready. Hotels like SO Sofitel in or be left behind. “Tomorrow, sex couple] to travel to a hotel where Bangkok have staff in almost every Singapore won’t have any excuses,” they are going to be told they should department who themselves are Zulkiflie says. be in two single beds,” says Ewan members of the LGBT+ community, Taylor, General Manager of the X2 and who can provide “insider” CONTENT EQUALITY Riverside Resort in Chiang Mai. information. Some are specifically Gay travelers, like all travelers, need Instead, when two people check in designated as LGBT+ Ambassadors general locality info—a fact many together, staff have been trained to and act as the public faces of the good-intentioned tour operators or review the booking without making hotel’s inclusiveness. hoteliers might overlook in their any judgment. If “two nights, king quest to be inclusive. The editor and bed, breakfast included,” doesn’t REGIONAL REPRESENTATION designer of gothaibefree.com took a illicit any comment from the guests, To give a face to the Go Thai. Be Free. broad approach. “The original then it shouldn’t from staff either. campaign, TAT enlisted Singaporean iteration was a gay-travel website,” Through sensitivity training, staff artist and social-media heavyweight says Uwern Jong. “But we flipped are prepared for guests whose Hirzi Zulkiflie. “I was really intrigued that. Now it’s a travel website for gay appearance may not match the when I was invited,” Zulkiflie says. people. We feed your interests, but gender in their passport, for a same- “Given the region’s political and social we’re not going to talk about Silom sex couple traveling with children, sensitivities, I was very impressed by [the Bangkok corridor that includes a or for any other traveler not fitting this gutsy attempt at cementing few areas long known for gay hetero-normative stereotypes. [Thailand’s image] as Asia’s queer- nightlife] in every single article.” friendly destination.” Singapore’s What you’ll see on the site is CLUED-UP CONCIERGES Article 377A still technically makes indicative of a new approach to For any hotel, anticipating travelers’ homosexuality a criminal act, and LGBT+ travel where operators cover needs is a big part of providing Zulkiflie’s involvement will no doubt diverse topics like food and culture, excellent service. If guests are bring many more Singaporeans to as well as event and hotel listings looking for a particular style of bar Thailand. The benefits flow both ways: skewed towards the LGBT+ crowd.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 41 TRENDING

HIS/HERS/OURS hosted a number of international The X2 Chiang Mai Riverside Resort circuit parties including G-Circuit ensures that guests find creature and White Party. comforts as soon as they arrive in their rooms. The vanity box comes NICHE INFO with amenities drawers labeled His Insider content is always valuable, and Hers. But on check-in, the front and the TAT leads the way with their desk staff know immediately if they free LGBT+ guidebook, Discover the need to switch them. “They phone Rainbow Side of Bangkok. Covering through to housekeeping and it’s fashion, arts, shopping, muay Thai, done before the guests get to the hotels and more, it’s packed with room,” says Taylor. The same goes anecdotes and interviews with cool for the personalized chocolates left locals, including a gallery owner, a at turndown in the evening. Sister transgender model and a chef. hotel X2 Khao Lak Anda Mani Resort runs with a variation of the theme, INCLUSIVE ATTITUDES switching out their gender-pronoun Not all LGBT+-friendly hotels have pillows as needed. designated products for same-sex couples. For many, it’s a case of being DIVERSE EVENTS a judgment-free zone. “What makes GAY-FRIENDLY STAYS SO Sofitel Bangkok prides itself for us stand out as being LGBT-friendly • In the north of the country, X2 Chiang being at the forefront of LGBT+ is the fact that all guests are Mai Riverside Resort (x2resorts.com; hospitality in Thailand. In addition to welcomed and given our utmost suites from Bt6,460) brings sleek its LGBT+ Ambassadors, who take to attention and service no matter their minimalism to the Ping River. social media to promote inclusivity, sexuality or gender,” says Thareeya • The design-savvy SO Sofitel Bangkok they host a monthly SO Pool Party—a Deasakorn Khamkar of Keemala (accorhotels.com; doubles from Bt4,420) regular feature since the hotel opened Hotel Phuket. The Slate in Phuket, offers themed rooms right in the middle of Bangkok, by Lumphini Park. in 2012—and the annual Drag Me to which occupies a similar stance, • Keemala Hotel Phuket (keemala.com; SO pride party. The hotel has also dubs it “all-welcome hospitality.” Clay Pool Cottages from Bt43,000) features luxurious private nests, cottages and villas nestled in native foliage. • The Oakwood Sriracha (oakwoodasia. com; studio from Bt2,340), has an open- to-all Lovers Package including room, romantic dinner and optional spa in the Thai Gulf-side town of Sri Racha. • Chantaramas Resort and Spa in Koh Phangan (chantaramas.com; doubles from Bt4,724), on the remote and blissful Haad Yuan beach, is owned and operated by two sisters, whose philosophy is “treat everyone the same and never judge.” • Gay-owned bungalow boutique Le Passe-Temps in Krabi (lepassetemps- krabi.com; bungalows from Bt3,075 per night), offers bespoke honeymoon packages, candlelight dinners and more. • In far-flung Taling Ngam, the private pool villas of Avani+ Samui (avanihotels. com; Beachfront Pool villas from Bt13,548) come with Gulf views and a complete lack of raised eyebrows. • The beachfront garden property of Rabbit Resort (rabbitresort.com; doubles from Bt4,500) in Pattaya has been a seaside escape for Bangkokians for years, and is one of the few resorts where pets are allowed.

42 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM AW_CREA_SOFITEL_3nd advert for Sofitel brand_22-10-19 1 10/22/2562 BE 4:24 PM DESIGN

The Jungle Nook A new suite in a beloved boutique hotel lets you feel the call of the wild in the middle of Bangkok. Jeninne Lee-St. John chats with hotelier and designer Eugene Yeh about opening up his private residence to guests. PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLES DHARAPAK

CLOCKWISE FROM A JAGUAR LOUNGING on a branch meets you at what is already one of Bangkok’s superlative ABOVE LEFT: Tea the door. His expression is indifferent, but his all-round stays, The Cabochon Hotel. time in the Cabinet of Curiosities; The presence startling nonetheless. Some people Considering the outsize place it holds in the Cabochon Hotel's have house . Eugene Yeh has big cats: that hearts of Bangkok dwellers—thanks in part to rooftop pool; Isaan black jaguar in the vestibule, a black leopard’s its intimate Isaan restaurant Thai Lao Yeh—it’s fare at the hotel's head on a wall, a clouded leopard nuzzled in a hard to believe the hotel only has eight guest Thai Lao Yeh bedroom chair, a tiger spread eagle on the rooms. The white, four-story boutique debuted restaurant. living room floor. There’s also, among the old in 2012 but with its louver windows opening microscopes, porcelain statues and deep onto tiled and colonnaded balconies, you’d copper tub that is the most comfortable you’ll think it was a century older. Yeh contrived it as ever soak in, a zebra skin and a moose head. a French-colonial relic of 1920s Shanghai, and Wait, before you go calling PETA—these are it’s littered with ye olde authenticities, such as antiques, caught, tanned and taxidermied stickered Vuitton trunks and model biplanes. generations ago and then salvaged by Yeh and Even the greenery-bedecked rooftop pool looks his father from collectors around the world. vintage. Hidden in plain sight in the busy And, these are the denizens of what for years central Sukhumvit corridor, the hotel is all has been Yeh’s private apartment, a throwback romance: dark corners holding old 135-square-meter set of rooms not originally maps, discreet staff in Tang suits. The newest meant for public consumption. Now, though, guest room, the ninth, is a broader, multi- the Taiwanese interior designer has opened up continent circumambulation that is all quirk his Cabinet of Curiosities as the top suite in and character, and, no, not for the squeamish.

44 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Often the most recognizable designers exist But when I was just a kid, maybe eight years on a blurred plane between their personal and old, I was already going to antique shops all the professional styles. Staying in the owner’s time. Many of the objects in my unit I brought suite at The Cabochon reminds me of visiting to Bangkok from my home—I didn’t Bill Bensley, the über-prolific more-is-more actually buy them; my father did. Over the past hotel designer also inspired by specific places 20 years, we’ve bought more, not because of and moments in time. His house is like the ur- Cabochon alone, but because it is our addiction. Bensley hotel: you instantly know where you I still buy when I spot anything good! are. And likewise walking into the bric-a-brac- T+L: What appeals to you about these things? stocked Cabinet of Curiosities grounds you Yeh: Mixing modern living with antique immediately in Yeh’s taste center. It makes the decorations has been my lifestyle for a long rest of his—lovely, welcoming, home-like— time. My father never treated these things as an hotel feel restrained by comparison. I spoke investment and I am the same. We love antiques with Yeh about why he’s now sharing more not for their value, but their beauty. I can’t than a few of his favorite things with the world. image living in a place without vintage items. T+L: Why did you build this apartment? T+L: I was warned before staying over about Yeh: I relocated to Bangkok in 1997. For waking up in the middle of the night and being years, I’d been traveling back to Taipei for a few frightened at all the taxidermy staring at me. days per month for work with my design firm, Does that ever happen to you? CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW LEFT: In QEY, but with my timetable set according to my Yeh: That’s funny. No, I sleep really well the bedroom with a Bangkok life. The Cabinet of Curiosities is full there—always straight through the night. I’m vintage Louis of my passions and my archives of traveling used to living with old and weird stuff. Vuitton trunk and a around Asia, Europe and South America. leopard hide; ewes in the loo; a zebra T+L: What is your Bangkok routine? cabochonhotel.com; doubles from Bt5,800; skin anchors the Yeh: I go jogging for an hour in the morning Cabinet of Curiosities Bt18,999 including a suite's bric-a-brac- in a public park near Cabochon then have my bottle of champagne and breakfast en suite. filled reading room. breakfast and read the newspaper in the hotel. I go to the rooftop pool around 9 a.m. and sunbathe until 3 p.m. While it looks like I’m doing nothing by the pool, I am actually working on my design cases. I swim for an hour every day then go to the market to see what I can do for my dinner. I usually cook and eat alone, but if I have friends visiting I always entertain them at my Thai Lao Yeh bistro. I generally spend most my time in the hotel enjoying my home. If I go out, it’s to Chatuchak weekend market or antique shops, of course. T+L: Does it feel strange to open your private residence to the public? Yeh: I struggled with this idea for a while, but I’ve recently needed to be in Taipei most of the time to take care of my parents and spend time with them, since they are both in their 90s. Since I used the apartment only 10-plus days in 2019, I decided I’d really prefer to share my Cabinet of Curiosities with people who are interested in staying in an owner’s unit. I didn’t design it for a business purpose—I know some people won’t like this décor—but I knew it would be a very unique stay experience. T+L: How did you collect all the antiques and hides? Tell the truth—are you a hoarder? Yeh: The big tiger and clouded leopard were gifts from the mystery elderly man who was the image I based the Cabochon’s hotel style on. ARTS

Fashion Photography, Indian Style

IN THE THREE YEARS I lived in Mumbai, I became I saw that Schuman has done just that. Having spent a convinced that India is home to some of the world’s best decade capturing singular style in cities such as Mumbai, street style. Photographer Scott Schuman’s Sartorialist Jaipur and New Delhi, he’s now releasing The Sartorialist blog was big at the time, and my husband and I would India (Taschen; US$70). As Schuman puts it, “The often say that Schuman should shoot the incredible color, mash-up of new and old, rich and poor, transient and texture, embellishment and outright personal flair we immobile is stronger in India than almost anywhere in saw people sporting each day. So imagine my delight when the world. It was love at first sight!” — FLORA STUBBS

MUSEUM WATCH

The Rubell Family Collection, a The 19th-century painter Opened in New York City’s fixture in Miami since 1993, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, SoHo last month, the Jackie reopened last month as the Rubell best known for Neoclassical Robinson Museum (jackie​ Museum (rfc.museum) in a brand- works such as La Grande robinson​museum.org) pays new space in the Allapattah Odalisque, is back in the spotlight tribute to the life and legacy of neighborhood. The 9,300-square- after the December the athlete who became Major meter campus houses a total of 40 debut of the overhauled Ingres League Baseball’s first galleries showing works by Cindy Museum (musee​ingres​bourdelle. African-American player when Sherman, Keith Haring, Barbara com) in the artist’s hometown of he signed with the Brooklyn

Kruger and more. Montauban, France. Dodgers in 1947. TASCHEN OF COURTESY

46 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM COURTESY OF TASCHEN Radisson Blu_ARTWORKV4-resize.pdf111/28/2562BE10:22AM — — ROMANCE

A Second Date In Paradise Just west of Tahiti, on the dreamy French Polynesian island of Moorea, Maggie Shipstead takes a leap to test the waters of a budding relationship.

At the Sofitel I WAS WAITING at the airport in Papeete, on the off Cape Horn, necessitating rescue by a Moorea la Ora island of Tahiti, for a man with whom I’d gone freighter. (Be still, my salty heart.) He’d Beach Resort. on only one date, four months previously, in decided to come to Les Sables d’Olonne anyway France. He wasn’t French but Australian, to help with safety inspections before the divorced, and nearly three decades my senior, start, and one afternoon, a sailor I’d and he’d been delayed a day because his plane interviewed introduced us. He bought me a was struck by lightning leaving , which drink. Then we drove to a nearby town for we’d decided was a good omen for this dinner. That was it. We hadn’t even kissed vacation, which was to be six days in one of until he emerged from the baggage claim in those dreamy bungalows you see all over Tahiti and planted one on me. Instagram: thatched-roof and standing on “Who are you again?” he asked with a grin stilts in seas as preposterously, luminously as we stood on the prow of the ferry to the blue as blue Gatorade. neighboring island of Moorea. It was and was We’d met like this: I was reporting on a not a joke. Moorea’s steep, cloud-wreathed round-the-world sailing race, one he would crest loomed up, blocking out the sunset’s

have been in had his boat not been dismasted tangerine heart. COURTESY OF ACCOR HOTELS (2)

48 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM We had kept in touch after France, and He left a day before I did, in the early finally I’d asked in an e-mail if he’d ever want morning. I got up and sat outside with my feet to travel with me. Yes, it turned out, he would. dangling over the water. The beginning of a We compared schedules, found a weeklong trip, like the beginning of a romance, brings a window two months away. On the phone, he shock of vitality and possibility. The finish suggested we go fly-fishing in New Zealand. brings a shiver of mortality, a reminder that Sure, I said. But, after we hung up, I e-mailed, all things end. In Moorea, they give you Wouldn’t you rather go to French Polynesia flowers when you arrive and shells when you and stay in one of those overwater bungalows? leave, little rattling husks to hang around your If this sounds brazen and impulsive, fair neck. The next time we saw each other, he and enough. But oddly, for someone who’s not—I I, there would be snow and rain, and our repeat, not—a high-priced escort, I’d gone on a relationship would combust spectacularly. gonzo international date with a much older As I watched his ferry cross water that was red nautical type before, and it had turned out with breaking dawn, I think I already knew well. I mean, not so well that I wasn’t now free we wouldn’t last, but I was also glad for the to repeat the gamble with someone else, but space between arrivals and departures, well enough that I thought, Why not? flowers and shells. Because, of course, that On the other hand, there’s an inevitable space is life. Seclusion in awkwardness to finding yourself alone in a an overwater bungalow with a man and the enormous white accorhotels.com; doubles from US$455. bungalow. bed you’ve agreed to share for six nights, opening the Prosecco the hotel has left with a card wishing Mr. and Mrs. F a pleasant honeymoon because Mr. F told them you were honeymooning, because maybe honeymooners would get things like free Prosecco. We took our glasses out onto our porch and down a ladder into the waist-deep water below. I shuffled nervously in the sand, explaining I didn’t want to step on coral. “Let me help,” he said, and picked me up. After that, everything was fine. People ask if overwater bungalows are worth it, and the answer is yes. They are heaven. Ours at the Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora Beach Resort had a window in its floor that framed an aquamarine rectangle crisscrossed by passing fish. It had sliding doors onto the porch that we never closed, not even while we slept. Openness was our theme. We’d done our best to get acquainted long-distance, but now we purposefully immersed ourselves in radically candid conversations that might have taken us months to cover on a normal dating schedule. Efficiency idea: every second date should be a honeymoon. In the mornings we snorkeled or kayaked or went scuba diving or whale-watching, and in the heat of the afternoon we retreated into bed with cocktails. We talked and napped, filled the space between as you’d expect. We never turned on the TV. In the evenings we lazed on our porch as Tahiti purpled and darkened across the channel. Time stretched and fell slack. By day two, we felt like we’d

COURTESY OF ACCOR HOTELS (2) always lived this way.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 49 ESCAPE

Maria Santos and her dog, Lucky, in front of her inn, Cabeça da Cabra.

THE ALENTEJO region is Portugal’s largest, covering much of the southern third of the country, and its least densely populated. The terrain varies wildly—from vineyards and rolling farmland dotted with cattle to sprawling, shadowy groves of cork trees—and the culture is rooted deeply in land and sea. Nearly everyone in Portugal has a place in the Alentejo to reminisce about—a personal Eden. For me, that place is Porto Côvo, a seaside town about two hours south of Lisbon. Porto Côvo gained prominence as a trading post for the Carthaginians. And while much history, and many populations, have shaped the coast over the years, this whitewashed fishing village retains the languid pace common to tiny, ancient places. An increase in overseas tourism (and newfound affluence in Lisbon) has brought an influx of weekenders to the Alentejo, but Porto Côvo remains sleepy. No crowds throng the praças, the cobblestoned village squares. It’s easy to find yourself alone on a secluded fine- sand beach, staring out at the wild swells— where you’ll often see the growing community of surfers who have fallen in love with Porto Côvo, thanks in part to Alentejo native André Teixeira and his pioneering surf school, Costazul Surf (costazulsurf.com)​ . You can wander out of shouting distance from other humans as you walk a portion of the Rota Vicentina (en.rota​vicentina.com), 450 kilometers of peaceful trails running along the coast and into the interior. The path incorporates a historic pilgrimage route, with devoted travelers traversing the entire length to Cabo de São Vicente—where a lighthouse now stands on the ruins of a Franciscan monastery. Pousadas have sprung up along the way to accommodate them. My Own Private My husband and I first visited Porto Côvo when I was four months pregnant with our twins. Everything was about to change for us, Portugal so we were happy to submit to the region’s slowness with long strolls and lazy lunches. I Lisbon and coastal enclaves like Comporta may be often clambered down one of the steep booming—but Sara B. Franklin finds that in the tiny staircases to the beach, where Atlantic surf

seaside town of Porto Côvo life moves as slowly as ever. pounded the yellow sand, to take a good nap CABRA DA OF CABEÇA MARINA DENISOVA/COURTESY OF CASÃO SILVA/COURTESY ALEXANDRA

50 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM under the rocky cliffs. When I imagine these beaches’ rugged, seafaring past, it stirs in me that distinctive Portuguese feeling of delicious longing: saudade. Climbing back to the village, I would head to one of Porto Côvo’s tiny restaurants. Most are simple spaces hardly decorated save for colorful tile behind the bar. No matter which one I chose, a basket of soft bread with fresh butter would come out first, accompanied by We later returned to Porto Côvo with our local goat cheese and sardine pâté, its richness 18-month-old twins in tow. The Portuguese cut with briny olives. I would pause between adore children, who are welcome bites to order a carafe of the local white wine. everywhere—including at our favorite inn, (The ancient Phoenicians and Greeks brought Cabeça da Cabra (cabecada​ cabra.com;​ doubles viticulture to the Alentejo, and the wine, from €85), a few kilometers outside town. reflecting its terroir, is redolent with stone and Owner Maria Santos grew up nearby. After salt.) My order became routine: presunto de many years of working long hours in Lisbon, pata negra, the well-marbled ham of the black she bought an old schoolhouse, sight unseen, pig; a bowl of clams cooked in white wine; and a and slowly converted it into a small hotel. Over platter of the morning’s catch. At Taska do Xico the years, she herself has also transformed. A (fb.com/taska​ do​ xico;​ mains €7–€35), that former engineer, she now spends her days means choco frito (fried cuttlefish), which you preparing breakfasts with fruit from her can eat with your fingers and a generous garden, tending to her olive trees, and hanging squeeze of lemon. At Zé Inácio (38 Rua Vasco da The terrace the wash while donkeys bray in the fields. of Casão on Gama; 351-269/905-977; mains €10–€30), the Pessegueiro It was through Santos that we discovered specialty is grilled octopus curled atop boiled Island overlooks our favorite restaurant in Portugal: O Amândio carrots, potatoes and cabbage. the Atlantic. (fb.com/oamandio; mains €10–€25), lovingly nicknamed “Julinha” in honor of the matriarch who still works the massive wood-fired grill. Whenever we go, which is now often, we order whatever Julinha has on special, whether it’s morcela, the local blood sausage, or whole grilled robalo. After rubbing elbows with locals at the communal table, we often go for a leisurely drive up the coast. On our most recent Porto Côvo visit, looking for a bit of space to spread out, we found a villa called Casão (casao.weebly.com; from €180, two- night minimum). Its name translates, literally, to “big house.” This whitewashed former coal silo on the outskirts of town has a terrace that catches the sea breeze and looks out on the open ocean and Pessegueiro Island. Our children rushed to throw open the French doors, delighted at the nearness of the wild Atlantic. My husband and I poured glasses of wine and ate local cheese on the sandy stairs overlooking the rocks. We watched the twins pointing excitedly at the gulls diving for their supper. This is my Porto Côvo: fleetingsaudade and sweet nothingness, golden sunlight and the smell of the sea.

Portugal-based A-List travel advisor Hélène Zinck ([email protected]; 351-289/

MARINA DENISOVA/COURTESY OF CABEÇA DA CABRA DA OF CABEÇA MARINA DENISOVA/COURTESY OF CASÃO SILVA/COURTESY ALEXANDRA 009-580) can plan an Alentejo itinerary.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 51 CONSERVATION

Go Where the Wild Things Are Ali Wunderman travels through Yellowstone National Park in hopes of glimpsing gray wolves in their element—and learning why these creatures continue to capture our imagination.

Wolves dot a IT WAS 6 A.M. and the sun had yet to emerge heard a melancholy howl, and a chill crept Yellowstone over the craggy peaks of Yellowstone National down my spine, unrelated to the cold. Through hillside. Park, which spreads across 9,000 square the glass I saw seven wolves, members of the kilometers of the western U.S. in Wyoming, Junction Butte pack. Montana and Idaho. The air was eerily still, and On Natural Habitat Adventures’ Ultimate silence hung over the Lamar Valley, where Wolf and Wildlife Safari, travelers can observe much of the park’s wildlife had gathered for the wolves living wild and free, restored to their winter. The land felt deserted. prehistoric habitat. Though the primary draw We pulled up to a parking lot that was empty is expert-led game drives, the itinerary, which save for one car: that of famed wolf biologist takes travelers from Jackson, Wyoming, to Rick McIntyre. When McIntyre is squinting Bozeman, Montana, includes a horse-drawn through a telescope, you know exactly what he’s sleigh ride through the National Elk Refuge, looking at. I exited the van, the frosty air biting excursions in Grand Teton National Park, at my thick jacket, as McIntyre gestured snow-coach tours of unforgettable sights like

wordlessly for me to take a look. Suddenly I Mammoth Hot Springs, and a visit with PHOTO STOCK WIJK/ALAMY VAN FRED

52 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM FRED VAN WIJK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO CONSERVATION

Prime waters for orcas in British Columbia. wildlife photographer Dan Hartman at his log cabin in Cooke City, Montana. On the journey, moose, foxes, elk, otters and +4 MORE TRIPS FOR WILDLIFE WATCHERS all manner of wildlife make cameos. One night, at the Old Snow Lodge near the famous PRIMATES IN Lodge with tundra last remaining geyser, a herd of bison meandered past. During RWANDA AND camping to track Siberian tigers in a stay at the rustic-chic Explorer Cabins in MADAGASCAR caribou with a the wild. West Yellowstone, a curious came to Roar Africa debuts National Conservationists its new Primatology Geographic lead guests through visit my campfire. I felt as if I were stepping back Experience, which photographer. the 20,000-hectare centuries in time to when wildlife roamed free. will follow the trail churchillwild.com;​ Durminskoye Wolves have all but disappeared from the of gorillas, chimps, seven days from Reserve in remote United States, making Yellowstone one of the golden monkeys US$11,362. Siberia on foot and few places where it’s possible to see one in the and lemurs. It’s by 4x4 and essentially a ORCAS IN BRITISH snowmobile, all wild, and even so, they remain elusive. But 85 research trip that COLUMBIA while setting up percent of Natural Habitat Adventures’ guests few nonscientists The Discovery cameras to record catch a glimpse of the shy creatures. Either get to experience: Islands & Orca the animals in their through a scope set up by one of the naturalists your guides will be Camp Expedition natural habitat. experts from from Intrepid Travel natural​world​safaris. or biologists who lead the tracking expeditions, Chicago’s Field will take you off the com; seven days or just peering out of the safari truck’s pop-top Museum and the coast of British from US$3,800. roof, wolves are easy to spot against the African Wildlife Columbia in July brilliant snow. Thanks to an informal radio Foundation. roar​ and September, and network of rangers, biologists and wolf- africa.com; eight offers Zodiac rides days from and kayaking in the watchers around the park, expedition leaders US$32,500. Johnstone Strait, are the first to know when a pack is located. where you’ll paddle The beauty of seeing an apex predator in the POLAR BEARS IN alongside orcas and wild goes beyond a mere travel memory or a MANITOBA whales. intrepid​ Churchill Wild was travel.com; seven snapshot. These moments reconnect us with the first outfitter to days from the world as it’s meant to be and trigger take travelers out US$3,215. revelations about ourselves. Watching these on foot—rather than animals—deadly, yet still in need of our in a vehicle—to view SIBERIAN TIGERS protection—makes us shockingly aware of the polar bears. Its IN RUSSIA Arctic Safari This trip by Natural power and vulnerability of being human. combines polar- World Safaris gives bear trekking from you a chance to

nathab.com; seven days from US$5,995. Seal River Heritage track some of the INTREPID TRAVEL OF COURTESY

54 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM COURTESY OF INTREPID TRAVEL WANDER

FROM TOP: The beach at Tama Lodge, on Senegal’s Petite Côte; breakfast at the hotel.

FROM MY TABLE at Noflaye Beach, a whitewashed, sand-floored beach shack in Dakar’s hip Almadies district, I looked out at the crashing waves of the Atlantic. Around me, stylish patrons dined on grilled seafood and sipped frosty bottles of Gazelle, Senegal’s national beer, their English and French conversations floating over a playlist of Mbalax, the country’s infectious dance music. I thought about how my social media streams had exploded with “STAY SAFE!!!” messages when I touched down in Dakar, and couldn’t suppress a smile. The first thing that strikes you about Senegal is how international it feels, and how secure. Having gained independence in 1959, today the French-speaking nation has a stable economy, free speech and open elections (the government even mandates that women make up half of all political candidates). It’s a Muslim country that practices the moderate Sufi form of Islam—evident from the way many women wear their traditional boubous alluringly off the shoulder. Dakar’s affable, relaxed residents may count On This Golden Shore amul sólo (“no problem”) among their pet Stability and prosperity are luring visitors to Senegal—from phrases, but these days, there’s also a buzz in the cosmopolitan streets of the capital, Dakar, to some of the air. Economic progress driven by the West Africa’s most idyllic, unspoiled reserves and beaches. president, Macky Sall, along with the discovery BY VIIA BEAUMANIS. PHOTOGRAPHED BY JANE HAHN of major offshore oil deposits in 2014, has led to a multibillion-dollar infrastructure blitz— including a new international airport, urban rail and other train systems, and hundreds of kilometers of fresh highway. And while big hotel brands are moving in (Hyatt and Aloft are both slated for 2020 debuts), Dakar also has an emerging boutique hotel scene, with properties such as the beachfront Seku Bi catering to a design-focused crowd. Dakar also has a dynamic art community. Now in its second decade, the prestigious Dak’Art Biennale is one of the best places to see the work of young African artists. Earlier this year, painter Kehinde Wiley—known for his official portrait of Barack Obama—launched Black Rock, a high-profile artists’ residency in the city. And if you miss the Dakar Music Festival, you can still spend an unforgettable

56 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM evening at Thiossane (pronounced cheo-sahn), the music venue owned by Youssou N’Dour, Senegal’s Grammy-winning native son, who often performs there. After a couple of days exploring the capital, I set off on the90 -minute drive south to Tama Lodge, a rustic-chic beach hotel on the idyllic Petite Côte. Winding along a highway FROM TOP: An artisan populated by as many BMWs and Peugeots as working on a woven bag horses and jalopies, my driver, Mamadou, at the Maison Singer workshop in Saint-Louis; switched on his car radio. “I like this song. Who Au Fil du Fleuve, a is this?” I asked in stumbling French. “Baaba guesthouse in a restored Maal, très bon!” he said. As we slowed down in Saint-Louis riad. traffic half an hour later, Mamadou waved over a boy hawking CDs, bought the Senegalese superstar’s latest record, and handed it back to slowly amassed the impressive collection of artifacts me. “A gift, madame,” he said. and artwork on display around the property. Good taste It was mid-afternoon by the time we pulled runs in the family: Elisabeth, whose locally produced in at Tama Lodge. Over a glass of Sauvignon jewelry was picked up for Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Blanc, the Parisian owner, Elisabeth Ancely, line, also created the handsome, custom-made crockery told me the story of how her father, Philippe, used in the restaurant. bought this stretch of coast 20 years ago and I spent my days at Tama Lodge on the white-sand built a thatched-roof restaurant. Over the beach, swimming, reading, and taking excursions with years, the business grew to include a nine- the aptly named Mr. Top—Tama’s excellent guide, who room hotel. Philippe designed everything whisked me up and down the coast in a pirogue, a himself and, on his travels around the region, traditional wooden fishing boat with an outboard motor. After gliding up an inlet into the Somone Lagoon Reserve late one morning, herons and egrets rising in pale clouds as we passed, we docked at a shellfish farm, where Mère Ndoye, an elderly woman in a bright yellow head wrap, was manning an informal lagoon-side restaurant. We ate a lunch of oysters, sea urchins and clams pulled straight out of the water—accompanied by a freshly baked baguette and a chilled bottle of wine Elisabeth had packed for us. My next stop was the Sine-Saloum Delta, a 1,800-square-kilometer wildlife sanctuary just north of the border with The Gambia, at the point where the Saloum and Gambia rivers converge on the Atlantic. Granted unesco World Heritage status in 2011, the delta’s creeks and lagoons are home to red colobus monkeys, hyenas, flamingos, pelicans, terns, egrets and herons. The place to stay is Les Palétuviers—the name translates to “The Mangroves”—​a 40-room property just outside the village of Toubacouta. I was greeted on my arrival by the hotel’s Belgian owner, Karolien Pieters, who was strolling around with a rolled-up yoga mat under one arm after her morning sun salutations. Les Palétuviers is her family’s former hunting lodge, and when I visited she was in the midst of a revamp, adding a chic three-suite pavilion next to the pool, building a modern tree house in a soaring baobab, and creating a sweeping terrace overlooking the Saloum River. The river is the heart of life at Les Palétuviers, where diversions include bird-watching, angling for African red snapper, and taking moonlight swims in the

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 57 MAURITANIA WANDER

Saint-Louis

bioluminescent waters. Another big draw is Dakar the 60-square-kilometer Fathala Wildlife Reserve, a 20-minute drive away. I booked a private Jeep and a guide, Assane Badiane, to Petite Côte give me a tour. Badiane pointed out turquoise and cobalt Abyssinian rollers resting in the branches of ancient mahogany trees, giraffes Sine-Saloum Delta nibbling at spiky acacias, vervet and red patas THE GAMBIA monkeys swinging through the trees, and— Senegal most thrilling of all—an endangered white rhino, thriving here as part of the park’s breeding program. GUINEA-BISSAU A few days later, I crossed the Faidherbe Bridge into Saint-Louis, the former capital of French West Africa. Today, the town is undergoing a wave of gentrification, and a handful of boutique properties have cropped up contribute by restoring an old house and SET UP A in its French-colonial district. At Au Fil du getting involved with preservation.” Camara SENEGAL TRIP Fleuve, a three-room guesthouse set in a has also launched Open Doors, an architecture restored 19th-​century riad with a palm-shaded tour of private Saint-Louis homes—a welcome GETTING THERE courtyard, I met one of the town’s most addition to the town’s cultural calendar, which Senegal is a long way from Asia, so prepare passionate boosters: the French-Senegalese includes a long list of festivals for art, jazz, for layovers. Fly to Marie-Caroline Camara. dance and documentaries. Dakar via Dubai on The Senegalese have a word for the innate The next day, on the drive back to Dakar, I Emirates (emirates. sense of hospitality so many of its people reflected on how the best experiences I’d had in com) or via Istanbul possess: teranga. Camara, who designed every Senegal were driven by intrepid women. on Turkish Airlines (turkishairlines.com). detail of the hotel herself, displayed this quality Elisabeth Ancely, Pieters and Camara all run in abundance as she laid out dinner that night. authentic, personal properties that are socially GETTING AROUND The centerpiece was thiéboudiène, the national conscious and rooted in family history. Flying Driving is the best dish of fish in a spicy sauce of tomato, tamarind out of the capital, I looked down at the way to travel and most hotels can help and chili pepper. “Moving from Paris to Saint- shoreline, its lights twinkling in the dusk, and book a car and driver. Louis was really about going back to my roots,” couldn’t help wishing I was down there with she explained as we ate. “I thought I could them, enjoying a cold drink on the coast. WHERE TO STAY Boutique Seku Bi (sekubi.com; doubles from US$332) is the Sundowners at place to stay in Noflaye Beach, a Dakar. Tama Lodge popular stop in (tamalodge.com; Dakar. doubles from US$177) is an idyllic retreat on the Petite Côte. In the Sine- Saloum Delta, check in to Les Palétuviers (les​paletuviers.com; doubles from US$216). In Saint- Louis, stay at Au Fil du Fleuve (fildu​ fleuve.com; doubles from US$105).

TOUR OPERATOR T+L A-List travel advisor Starla Estrada (starla@ geoex.com; 415-962- 3650) can plan an itinerary full of art, design and music.

58 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM STOPOVER

African Landing Just outside Arusha, this 100-year-old lodge makes a cozy launch pad for adventure— problem is, you might not want to leave. BY CHRISTOPHER KUCWAY

Some local flair in the main lodge.

WITH MORE THAN a day of travel under our belts, the staff at The Legendary Lodge Arusha greet us with cold towels, iced juice, wide smiles and a query: could they entice us with a dik-diks sprint and the soundtrack is that of abundant birdlife. glass of wine from their revamped bar? Despite it being mid- It feels like you’re already in the wild, but don’t fret: two fences afternoon, all we really want is a hot shower and a comfortable prevent any outside predators from getting too close. bed. If this is Africa, bring it on. African-inspired interiors feature modern inflections of Formerly the Selian Coffee Estate—beans are still grown traditional art, with four-poster down beds, private bars and in corners of the sprawling manicured gardens—the 100-year- fireplaces the norm in each of the cottages. At the center of old lodge is the perfect soft landing when arriving in Tanzania. it all, the lodge oozes comfort with its reading room next to a A 90-minute drive from Kilimanjaro Airport and just outside roaring fireplace, a private dining room, a just-refurbished bar Arusha, it’s the jumping off point for climbing nearby Mount and an open-air dining terrace that looks out onto frangipani Kilimanjaro, or for taking a bush plane to Ngorongoro Crater or trees—and, no doubt, an African adventure beyond. Serengeti National Park. Oh, did I mention it’s in the shadows of the 4,562-meter Mount Meru? Just peek through the trees. legendarylodge.co.tz; cottages from US$595 per person, all- A dozen colonial-style cottages are scattered around the inclusive; day rooms available until 6 p.m. for half-price per main lodge, surrounded by groomed African gardens where person. CHRISTOPHER KUCWAY CHRISTOPHER

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 59 CULTURE

more emblematic of the changing capital than the Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere (hyatt.com; doubles from €164), part of a more than €217 million development project surrounding the city’s central train station, which was completely rebuilt in 2015. Across the street, one of Vienna’s preeminent venues for contemporary art, the Museum of the Twentieth Century, has been rechristened the Belvedere 21 (belvedere.at), and the nearby Belvedere palaces, two Baroque buildings filled with classical art, have been beautifully renovated. Over in the ninth district, the Freud Museum (freud-museum.at) has moved into two temporary locations while its main building readies for a May reopening. Like a psychoanalytic pop-up store, the interim spots showcase furnishings, documents and images from the career of the high priest of the subconscious; the expanded space will give access to Freud’s family quarters and add a nearly 40,000-volume library. It’s a celebration-packed year for Austria’s classical music world: the legendary concert hall Musikverein (musikverein.at)​ —where giants from Brahms to Mahler and Schoenberg premiered many of their most memorable works—turns 150. This year also marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, and his party in Vienna will last through 2020, with events like a weeks-long series of all of his symphonies by the Vienna Philhar­mon­ic and dozens of Beethoven-centric concerts at Wiener Culture Gets an Konzerthaus and Musikverein (musik​2020. wien.info). The world-renowned Salzburg Festival (salzburgerfestspiele.at)​ celebrates its Update in Austria centennial this summer with theatrical With boundary-pushing contemporary arts initiatives and premieres and performances ranging from sleek new hotels, this isn’t the same destination your stodgy avant-garde chamber music to lavish opera-loving Aunt Gladys once knew. BY JOHN WRAY productions of opera classics such as Tosca, Don Giovanni and Elektra. Celebrated chef Markus Mayr just opened The old town in NOT LONG AGO, Austria was viewed as the the Glass Garden (monchstein.at; mains €19– Salzburg, where meringue of the Germanic world: beautiful to €39) inside Salzburg’s Hotel Schloss the famous festival look at, and possessed of an illustrious history, Mönchstein, combining haute cuisine with turns 100 this year. yet somewhat dry when one actually bit in. traditional Austrian fare in a transparent dome That was my feeling, at least, when I went to the with glorious city views. university there 20 years ago—but times have For Alpine art, a two-hour drive through the changed. On recent visits, I’ve watched as the mountains will take you to the Innsbruck country has reinvented itself, pouring International (2020.innsbruck​international. resources into cutting-edge arts institutions com; March 7–22), an up-and-coming biennial while lovingly elevating the cultural jewels that marking its fourth incarnation in 2020. The made it so beloved in days gone by. experience is as far from horse-drawn In Vienna, a wave of new hotels is also carriages as it’s possible to get. Aunt Gladys

catering to a younger, hipper crowd. None is wouldn’t recognize the place. PHOTO STOCK RODRIGUEZ/ALAMY SANTI

60 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM SANTI RODRIGUEZ/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Movenpick CamRanh-Jan2020_resizel.pdf112/3/2562BE4:28PM DEALS

T+L READER SPECIALS Start 2020 with a leisurely staycation, recover from New Year’s FAMILY MALAYSIA revelry with a tropical wellness escape, treat the family to some Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang beach time, or ramp up the romance in the Maldives. Resort & Spa, Penang Treat the kids to a seaside holiday in one of Asia’s favorite cultural enclaves. Stay on the breezy shores of Batu Ferringhi at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and receive a RM200 dining and spa credit; 15 percent off treatments at Chi, The Spa; daily buffet breakfast at Spice Market Café for two adults and two children under six; and a free shuttle service to and from nearby George Town. The indoor Adventure Zone, the Cool Zone kids’ club, a big lagoon pool and daily activities keep little travelers busy. The Deal The Penang Getaway starts from RM660 per night, minimum two nights, valid until December 20, 2020.

BEACH THAILAND Phulay Bay, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve This super-luxurious resort near Ao Nang, Krabi, invites travelers to enjoy Thailand’s tropical winter. Every fourth night is free—pay three nights and stay four, pay six and stay eight, etc. Rates include daily breakfast for two at Jampoon Restaurant, 24-hour butler service, non-alcoholic mini-bar beverages, daily boat trips to Shangri-La’s Hong Island, WiFi and a Rasa Sayang welcome amenity. The Deal Resort & Spa, A Night on Us in Winter starts Penang from Bt18,000 per night, minimum three nights, valid until April 15, 2020.

SUPERSAVER VIETNAM The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore Amanoi, Vinh Hy Bay, Ninh With this long-stay offer you can stretch out a city escape and Thuan Province, Vietnam Recharge post–festive season save at the same time. Save 10 percent if you stay three to five in the serene wilderness of Núi nights, 20 percent for six to nine nights and 30 percent for 10 Chúa National Park, where nights or more. Enjoy daily breakfast, plus one set lunch or Amanoi’s spacious villas, dinner at Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski or 15 Stamford by pavilions and residences offer Alvin Leung. The Deal Irresistible Escapes starts from S$370 forest-bathing by the sea.

per night, minimum three nights, valid until March 31, 2020. A signature hideaway here FROM TOP: COURTESY OF SHANGRI-LA; COURTESY OF THE CAPITOL KEMPINSKI HOTEL COURTESY OF JW MARRIOTT

62 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM FROM TOP: COURTESY OF SHANGRI-LA; COURTESY OF THE CAPITOL KEMPINSKI HOTEL

COURTESY OF JW MARRIOTT The Art of of Art The Deal The Tower. The Amanoi Hideaway starts starts Hideaway Amanoi The The Peninsula Hong Kong services; and the use of one of of one of use the and services; suites, daily breakfast at The The at breakfast daily suites, Art for time in deal special spa and wellness treatments d’oeuvres, desserts and drinks; drinks; and desserts d’oeuvres, daily all-day breakfast; snacks complimentary clothes clothes complimentary Verandah and daily Art Mix Mix Art daily and Verandah off percent 20 and rooms on discount percent a15 offering a lovers art offering is dame exhibition, The Peninsula The exhibition, is and refreshments; evening hors evening hors and refreshments; a scenic ferry ride across the the across ride ferry a scenic at US$1,150 per night, night, per US$1,150 at with options that range from from range that options with two hours per day. The MClub MClub day. The per hours two for rooms club’s meeting the two nights, valid for stays from from stays for valid nights, two Peninsula the of floor 28th the to private picnics. The Deal picnics. private to items laundry two transfers, Spend at least three nights in a a in nights three least at Spend until March 31, 2020. 31, March until for stays until June 2020. 2020. June until stays for night, per Bt3,999 from far-reaching views across the commanding hotel, the of floor pressing; printing local calls; include Club benefits privileges. minimum three nights, valid valid nights, minimum three per day and one daily activity, activity, daily one and day per minimum three nights, valid valid nights, minimum three Bangkok’s Best Perks start start Perks Best Bangkok’s The Deal skyline. Bangkok 27th the on located is Lounge Deluxe room at this park-side park-side this at room Deluxe THAILAND March 16 to March 21, 2020. 2020. 21, March to 16 March minimum night, per HK$5,253 from start rates Luxury on Felix at specials drinks Hour grande original Kong’s Hong Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, Chai, Wan in Centre Exhibition Hong Kong Convention and the at 2020, 21, to 19 March from runs show The Basel. Queen’s Park includes return airport airport return includes hotel for MClub Lounge harbor. For the duration of the the of duration the For harbor. CITY Bangkok Marriott Marquis Bangkok Marriott HONG KONG

of laundry per day; unpacking or or unpacking day; per laundry of 24-hour private arrival; on suites hotel’s specialty the of complimentary full mini-bar mini-bar full complimentary check in and checkout; one-way airport transfer; transfer; airport one-way complimentary non-alcoholic non-alcoholic complimentary amenity. Guests staying in one one in staying Guests amenity. S$350 per night, valid until until valid night, per S$350 further notice. notice. further private check in and checkout; a a checkout; and in check private with hotel plush harborside refreshed daily; up to six pieces pieces six to up daily; refreshed champagne of abottle receive awelcome and daily; refreshed Singapore Enjoy VIP treatment at this this at treatment VIP Enjoy The The drinks. evening in-suite butler service; andbutler one-time service; beverages from the minibar, the from beverages Deal Mandarin Oriental, SINGAPORE Marriott Maldives. JW at villas Pool Duplex Overwater Suite Arrivals starts from from starts Arrivals Suite This new resort in Shaviyani Shaviyani in resort new This JW Marriott Maldives Marriott JW Atoll invites guests to tap into into tap to guests invites Atoll The The session. guided meditation on the beach; a bottle of detox detox of abottle beach; the on class for two; a 90-minute a90-minute two; for class wellness package. The offer two; a 50-minute couple’s couple’s a50-minute two; the Maldives’ restorative until October 24, 2020. October until WELLNESS from US$1,495 per night, night, per US$1,495 from juice on arrival; daily buffet buffet daily arrival; on juice pool villa, either overwater or or overwater either villa, pool minimum three nights, valid valid nights, minimum three massage; and a 30-minute a30-minute and massage; powers with a pampering apampering with powers Detox and Tone treatment for for Tone and treatment Detox yoga aprivate Restaurant; breakfast for two at Aailaa Aailaa at two for breakfast a in accommodation includes Deal MALDIVES The Whole You starts You starts Whole The TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM This package includes the a.k.a. Reserve Private The This über-luxurious resort dinner; and a Sleeping Under Under aSleeping and dinner; breakfast gourmet arrival; on candle-lit rose-petal bath; champagne and strawberries and dinner at Kashiveli; a Kashiveli; at dinner and world’s largest overwater villa. villa. overwater world’s largest villas and enhancements to to enhancements and villas the Stars experience. The Deal experience. Stars the Sleep” gift; a Dine in the Dark Dark the in aDine gift; Sleep” Gili Romance Story starts from from starts Story Romance Gili four nights, valid until until valid nights, four refreshed interiors, morerefreshed pool with month last reopened December 20, 2020. 60-minute spa treatment; a treatment; spa 60-minute in-villa yoga; a Meera “Better “Better aMeera yoga; in-villa Gili Lankanfushi US$2,178 per night, minimum minimum night, per US$2,178 ROMANCE MALDIVES / JANUARY 2020 2020 / JANUARY

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VERONICA INVEEN JANUARY 2020

SURE, BHUTAN’S STANDARD TOURIST CIRCUIT IS FULL OF BUCKET-LIST STOPS, BUT WE SAY DALLY A WHILE RECHARGING YOUR CHI AND GETTING TO KNOW LOCAL FOLKS, FARE AND TRADITIONS IN PARO P. 66 A NEW LUXURY CRUISE TAKES YOU ON A WELLNESS JOURNEY AWAY FROM THE CROWDS OF HALONG BAY. WHY YOUR NEXT VIETNAM SAILING SHOULD BE TO THE LESSER-SEEN LAN HA BAY P. 74 THE LAND DOWN UNDER SHOULD BE ON TOP OF YOUR MUST-VISIT LIST THIS YEAR. WHETHER YOU’RE IN IT FOR THE WINE AND FOOD, BIG-CITY SIGHTS OR WILD ADVENTURE, YOU’LL FIND IT IN OUR GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA P. 81 HUGGING THE RHINE ALONG THE SWISS AND FRENCH BORDERS IS SOME SERIOUSLY GOOD TERROIR. A WINE PILGRIMAGE UNCOVERS WHY SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST PINOT NOIRS ARE COMING FROM The new Ylang cruise in Lan Ha WESTERN GERMANY Bay, Vietnam,

VERONICA INVEEN P. 96 page 74.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COMTRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY / JUNE 20202019 5965 66 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Eutok Samdrupcholing Goenpa, a monastery not usually open to tourists. OPPOSITE: A Bhutanese Cham dancer in a hand- embroidered costume holds a mask of Garuda, a horned bird deity evoking power and protection.

Destination

TURNS OUT BHUTAN’S SECONDParo CITY OFFERS MORE EXCITEMENT THAN MAGNIFICENT TIGER’S NEST AND THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS AIRPORT APPROACH. JOE CUMMINGS DALLIES A WHILE ON AN EATING, DRINKING, SPIRIT-RENEWING QUEST AND DISCOVERS WHY THIS STOPOVER POINT FEELS SO ASCENDANT.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID VAN DRIESSCHE

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 00 Toasting ara, or , for luck and well-being at Paro Penlop Dawa Penjor Heritage Farmhouse. ABOVE, FROM LEFT: Nyamai Zam wooden bridge leads to Paro Dzong; Bumthang quinoa salad at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary. town that is so often overshadowed by Thimphu, its larger, busier neighbor and capital of the kingdom. On this trip, I will take a quick road trip there for the annual Thimphu Tshechu—one of the country’s biggest religious festivals with masked dances and many thousands attending—but this proximity only underscores the attractiveness of Paro. N MY FIRST DAY IN PARO, Not only does the comparatively more rustic and real I learn to make ezay, the Paro offer plenty to do and see on its own, I also reckon omnipresent chili paste that this is my chance to spend more time getting to know one accompanies every meal and almost every dish place, to explore, meet locals, and experience traditional in Bhutan. I’m in Paro Penlop Penjor Dawa Bhutanese healing techniques. I want to delve into Heritage Farmhouse, a restored 18th-century cuisine beyond the fare typically served to foreigners in residence built for a Paro governor who once hotels certified by the Tourism Council of Bhutan. ruled over nearly all of western Bhutan. His Even for a long-time resident of Thailand accustomed descendants still own and inhabit the house to chili-forward intensity, the homemade ezay presents a today, catering to locals and visitors who pay to bold entrée into Paro food culture, and I’m hoping my view the antique contents, and to experience long stay in the city will likewise bring more impact and authentic Bhutanese cooking. depth than the usual circuit route. After climbing a worn wooden staircase that is as steep as a ladder, we’re invited into a PERCHED NEAR THE TOP of pastoral Neyphug Valley rustic kitchen with an ancient-looking wood- just north of town, with its massive whitewashed walls fired mud stove. The patriarch of the family, a and tiered flattened-pyramid roofs, Bhutan Spirit tall, sturdy man with close-cropped steel-gray Sanctuary could pass for a renovated Bhutanese palace hair and a warrior’s bearing, takes charge of or monastery, even up close. Monumental crimson-and- the ezay. Squatting on the smooth wooden bronze gates guard a stone-paved courtyard, on the other floor, he tosses a handful of roasted red chilies, side of which is a sturdy wooden bridge leading to along with garlic cloves, Sichuan pepper, tree another set of only slightly less grand doors. These open tomato, ginger and salt into a large mortar, to reveal a foyer shrine where one is invited to “leave and then mashes it all together in steady, your stress behind” by lighting a butter lamp and incense patient strokes. He stops twice to sample a bit stick on an altar set before a Wheel of Life mural. I know of the paste and, after correcting the balance of I’ll hold onto my stress for at least another day or two, but ingredients, passes me a spoonful. I appreciate the ceremonial gesture. The ezay is so explosively tasty that I’d be The property advocates real cultural immersion, happy to eat nothing else for the whole meal. rather than moving towns every second night—and this But soon all the other dishes are ready and we is exactly the kind of experience I’m looking for. Owner join the family on the floor to share the feast. Louk Lennaerts spent more than two decades in Vietnam We spoon food from iron cookware into our developing all-inclusive wellness resorts such as Fusion thick wooden bowls, and then use small Maia Da Nang before turning his attention to Bhutan handfuls of steamed red rice to scoop the after a chance encounter with Bhutanese Rinpoche contents from bowl to mouth. Gyalwa Dokhampa. The lama gave Lennaerts a copy of The star of the repast is shakam paa, a spicy his book The Restful Mind, which, the Dutch hotelier hash of dried beef and daikon radish, redolent says, inspired him to integrate his own inner journey with roast chilies and long pepper. Kewa with the project in Bhutan. datshi, a hearty dish of sliced potatoes, In a country famed for its five-star retreats, the Bhutanese cheese and chilies, tastes like Sanctuary is the only one where the entire wellness scalloped potatoes taken to the next level, program, including all herbal treatments, massage, yoga, especially washed down with jaju, a soup of meditation instruction, and consultations with two milk, butter and turnip leaves. My taste buds on-site Bhutanese healers are included in the room cost. and I feel right at home. Signature treatments include kunye (traditional massage) The common conception of a trip to Bhutan and numtsug (hot oil compression). There are 10 therapy is a five-district circuit through Paro, rooms, a sauna and a steam room, and a sizeable wood- Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey and Bumthang, floored room for yoga and meditation. A serene indoor made up of permitted drives between and pool with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a view of the guided day hikes from the increasing number valley becomes one of my favorite late afternoon spots. of international luxury hotels. But on this, my My dedicated well-being guide, Dr. Thinley Om, second visit to Bhutan, I’m planning to focus checks my pulse and my eyes before prescribing a course on Paro. I’d stayed just one night here three of traditional treatments and herbal teas to boost my chi years earlier, and want to experience more of a over the next few days. One is a moxibustion session in

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 69 which little sticks of dried mugwort are rice and vegetable curry. The abbot himself pours tea for burned close to meridian points of your head, the young monks after the meal, a humbling gesture. neck and upper body. The pinpoints of intense heat moving in series has a strangely calming OF COURSE, I’D BE REMISS in skipping the one effect on me that’s only superseded a day later monastery on everyone’s bucket list. My humility and chi by a long soak in a traditional artemisia- are both put to the test when I make the trek to revered flecked bath heated by fired river stones. A 17th-century Paro Taktsang, or Tiger’s Nest, built soothing Bhutanese massage, which felt like a precariously over a cave where, legend has it, Guru hybrid of Burmese, Thai and Swedish Padmasambhava meditated for three years in the 8th techniques, rounds out Dr. Thinley’s century. Near the trailhead, I catch a first glimpse of the prescribed therapy for the week—although I’m mist-shrouded Buddhist sanctuary clinging to the side of invited to choose as many treatments as I care sheer rock cliffs, and gasp at what appears be a near- to from the extensive wellness program. impossible climb. It is almost a full kilometer above Paro For the Sanctuary’s dining room, head chef Valley, and as my mind adds that to the four kilometers Parash Chhetri takes just about all the produce of ascending trails, I almost turn around and leave. he needs from rock-walled gardens and But it’s a perfect day of blue skies, drifting white greenhouses on the premises, or occasionally clouds and crisp mountain breezes. The trail, though from local farms, turning out creative, difficult, is lined with fragrant blue pine, and scattered daily-changing four-course lunch and six- rows of yellow, orange and magenta wildflowers. The course dinner menus. Only meat and fish are altitude makes hiking a slow march, but three hours brought in from the outside, a necessity in a later I’m walking barefoot inside hallowed chapels filled nation where slaughterhouses, fishing and with bronze deities and incense smoke, alongside throngs hunting are banned. One afternoon I revel in a of monks, local pilgrims and happy tourists. fresh garden salad, shamu datshi made with Not very Bhutanese of me, but if ever an handpicked wild chanterelles and local farm accomplishment has earned me a beer, this is it. cheese, and jasha maru, a spicy Bhutanese So I head into town to visit to Namgay Artisanal chicken stew. For breakfast I enjoy red rice Brewery, which has only been open for two years and porridge and gondo datshi—eggs scrambled reflects the younger generation’s growing interest in with butter and cheese, Bhutanese style. global cultural trends. By all appearances it is set to All 24 guest rooms, each with an ample become the country’s premier craft brewery, and its veranda, boast sweeping views of the valley adjacent spacious wood-and-stone brewpub, NAB Bistro, and villages below. Across the way at a higher hosts live music from local bands with names like stands Eutok Samdup Choeling Crystal Dew Brothers, Baby Floyd, and Blue Phantoms. Goenpa, a picture-perfect Buddhist monastery I meet owner Dorji Gyeltshen, who learned to home- established in the 15th century. brew while studying hotel management in Switzerland. Though it’s not on the tourist circuit, the After graduation, he set up Namgay Heritage Hotel in Eutok abbot allows guests from Bhutan Spirit Thimphu and ran it for five years, “because that was the Sanctuary to visit the monastery with a guide deal I made with my father,” he says. But his dream was from the resort. It’s a 10-minute SUV ride or a to build a brewery. “I invited someone from Brooklyn stiff 40-minute hike—the latter option proves Brewery to stay in Paro for a few months and show me well worth the effort to meet the 70 resident how to take production up to 2,000 liters per batch.” monks, most from six to 20 years old, who About 80 percent of the ingredients in Namgay beer study Buddhadharma, learn to recite are locally sourced, Dorji says. The water comes from a scripture, and meditate here. I visit at midday, tributary of Paro Chhu. The base malts, hops and yeast and sit for an hour in a sanctuary lined with are imported for now, but Dorji will soon begin malting manuscript cabinets and deity altars, locally and hopes to work with local farmers to absorbing the peaceful soundscape of chanting. experiment with hops one day. Afterwards I’m invited to the monastery Today he’s producing six different types of beer plus canteen for a quiet yet light-hearted meal of apple cider, of which I taste Red Rice Lager, Dark Ale and

I sit for an hour absorbing the peaceful soundscape of chanting. The abbot pours 70tea JANUARY for 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COMthe young monks, a humbling gesture Neyphug Valley, Paro. BELOW, FROM LEFT: Dr. Thinlay Om applies numtsug, a hot oil compression, at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary; Paro Dzong, a fortress- monastery that once ruled the entire kingdom. Your Café in Neyphug Heritage, in central Paro. BELOW: A bath with artemisia leaves and hot river stones at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary. Milk Stout. All three are tasty, with the smooth The Details stout my instant fave. While most of the fare in the brewpub is Europe- or India-inspired, a Five days is about the right You don’t need a route permit for few Bhutanese dishes stand out, including amount of time to take in the best Paro or Thimphu, but travel in the hogay, a crunchy, spicy salad of sliced Paro has to offer, including the rest of Bhutan requires a day hike to Paro Taktsang, or, if Restricted Area Permit, available cucumber mixed with chili flakes, tomato, you’re more ambitious, an via Bhutan-affiliated travel cilantro, onions, Sichuan pepper and crumbled overnight trek to the much agencies. Bhutanese cheese. It goes very well with the less-visited cliff monastery of Red Rice Lager. Bumdrak. STAY The following day I stop in at Your Café, Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary annexed to a newly restored 15th-century GETTING THERE bhutanspiritsanctuary.com; Druk Air (drukair.com.bt) flies to doubles from US$1,100, with farmhouse in Shaba, for a perfectly made latte. Paro from Bangkok, Kolkata, introductory rates as low as The renovated mud-walled structures, Kathmandu and Singapore, while US$650 through 2020. collectively called Neyphug Heritage, include Bhutan Airlines (bhutanairlines. the café, a business center and shared bt) adds Delhi and Rangoon to the EAT+DRINK list of origin or onward workspace, an art gallery, and an outdoor Momo Corner Opposite Post possibilities. Office in downtown Paro; farmers market. Conceived and overseen by Visas are required for all 975-1747-1589; momos from the Neyphug Trulku, the complex donates all nationalities except citizens of US$0.70 per plate. proceeds to support ongoing restoration of India, Bangladesh and the Namgay Artisanal Brewery & Neyphug Monastery, which was totally razed Maldives. To receive a tourist NAB Bistro fb.com/nabparo; visa, you must book travel worth by a 2006 earthquake, and its monastic school. tasting flight of six beers and one US$200 to $250 per day per cider US$5. Serving a short menu of Thai, European and person, depending on the season. Paro Penlop Penjor Dawa Bhutanese fare, it’s the only eatery in Paro Licensed Bhutanese travel Heritage Farmhouse that’s fully vegetarian. agencies such as Bhutan Soul Carpenters Road, Paro; Journey (bhutansouljourney. The heart of the city is a matrix of narrow 975/1775-3585; lunch from com), the main agent for Bhutan US$15 streets and older buildings emblazoned with Spirit Sanctuary, can easily make Your Café & Neyphug Heritage hand-painted, pastel-hued Bhutanese Buddhist the visa arrangements when you fb.com/yourcafeparo; dishes from icons—treasure vase for longevity, parasol for book your visit through them. US$4. — J.C. wealth and protection, and lotus for enlightenment, among others—and ornately carved and painted eaves jutting from each floor. It’s easily navigated on foot or bicycle. Near the town’s main produce market, my gho-clad guide Sonam Tobgyal Dorji brings me through an unmarked door into Momo Corner, a local legend of Paro street food. The rustic dining room’s collection of padded benches and low tables is filled with locals. Sonam orders, and soon we’re sharing plates of fresh-steamed momos, crescent-shaped ones containing minced beef, and round ones with chopped greens. Eyeing them for size, I reckon I’ll enjoy munching three or four, but end up gorging on 10. Dunking them in the house chili paste, a coarse, brick-red ezay, makes them especially moreish, and I recall that for the last finished episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, in which he ate his way across Bhutan, his first meal in-country was momos. “It’s enlightenment,” he gushed about what would remain his favorite dish. “It’s your third eye opening, man.” Looking back on my week in Paro, I feel like all senses have been graced by bursts of enlightenment. From sinus-clearing ezay to the soul-cleansing goenpas, fortified by Dr. The traditional hearth at Paro Thinley’s herbal magic, I’m ready to descend Penlop Dawa Penjor from the Himalayas and take on urban life Heritage Farmhouse. with renewed vigor.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 73 The setting sun dips behind Lan Ha Bay's karsts and paints the sky in dusty pink. COURTESY OF HERITAGE LINE HERITAGE OF COURTESY

74 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Passage to Lan Ha A new luxury ship with a focus on wellness carries cruisers to a quiet corner of Halong Bay, promising a mindful journey through 500 million years of history—if that thought gets too heavy for you, just faceplant on a massage table and commune with working out your kinks instead.

COURTESY OF HERITAGE LINE HERITAGE OF COURTESY STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY VERONICA INVEEN MY FIRST GLIMPSES

CLOCKWISE FROM OF THE GIANT LAN HA TOP LEFT: Ylang's wallpaper depicts KARSTS ARE BETWEEN native blossoms; balconies off guest THE COMICALLY suites; fresh seafood at every ORANGE LIFEVESTS OF meal; the sun- drenched dining my fellow passengers on a tender boat. We’re on our way room. OPPOSITE FROM TOP: The from Tuan Chau Marina, just south of Halong City, to 180-degree bar; on spend two nights aboard a new vessel from Heritage the top terrace. Line, Ylang. I had never been to this part of Vietnam, despite having studied near Hanoi in college and having taken many trips to the country since then. That wasn’t entirely accidental, thanks to my built-in aversion to the booze cruises that made Halong Bay a party destination for others in my age cohort. But the past several years have seen a growth in the number of high-end ships sailing around this dreamy unesco-protected seascape, and the cruise I’m headed for is billed as the opposite of a raucous tourist trap, due to both its destination and the theme of its journey. The 10-berth Ylang has a distinct focus on wellness, from the daily sunrise tai chi on the top deck to the plant-based choices on the dining menu. There’s also a pool up top and a wellness studio equipped with yoga mats and exercise bands. Impressive effort has been put into the onboard spa, where treatments like the bamboo massage—which uses heated bamboo sticks to release muscle tension—are given in cabins with British tearoom–worthy wallpaper and floor-to-ceiling windows. Mindfulness is built into the DNA of this trip, and it’s enhanced by our itinerary to the far less–traveled Lan Ha Bay, a geographical extension of Halong Bay, southeast of Ba Island. Crouching my head down to be level with the tender’s window, the world-famous moss-cloaked karsts immediately stun me into humility. Glad I’ve finally made it to this sweeping limestone sea, I’m already awash with purposefulness.

76 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM TO GET TO LAN HA, boats must cruise farther into the labyrinth of 2,000 karsts. The longer itinerary and distance from Halong City means you get all the majestic goodness of Halong Bay sans crowds. There were only a few other ships in the bay where cruises depart for Lan Han: a handful of old junkers (one aptly named The Tourist), a Miami-style yacht, and Heritage Line’s other new boat, Ginger. Not a booze cruise in sight. “Welcome to Ylang!” the crew yells jubilantly as we shed our orange vests and board our home for the next three days. Leading the way is Layla, the 20-something sweet-faced crew member who had met us at the pier. My first impression of the boat is of awe. Though physically smaller than a 43-cabin vessel I once sailed on down Burma’s Irrawaddy River, Ylang somehow feels much larger—in fact, with its opulent trimmings, tall ceilings and wide windows, the first thing that springs to mind is, improbably, ah, titanic. Like the rest of Heritage Line’s fleet, Ylang emulates the bygone era of the region. The ship, like most of its touristic predecessors in these waters, is built to resemble a traditional junk, but unlike those dark-wood, stuffy schooners of yesteryear, it’s a flash boutique-hotel version in which everything is bright and shiny-new. My eyes are immediately drawn to the floral patterns that plaster the walls. The leitmotif, Layla tells me, is inspired by local poetry and Vietnam’s seasonal blooms, each suite themed around a different flower. My room is dedicated to peach blossoms, a sakura-resembling bud that I remember being toted around on the back of motorbikes when I was last in Hanoi. “During Tet, Vietnamese Lunar New Year, most families in the north decorate their homes with branches from peach blossom trees to bring good fortune,” she says. “I think you’re lucky to get this room.” I can’t argue with her. In fact, I find myself doing a happy dance once I’m alone. At 45 square meters, the place is bigger than my Bangkok apartment and incomparably more luxe, with teakwood flooring, lacquer wall-panel art, and a glorious clawfoot tub that sits next to a floor-to-ceiling window in the bathroom. It’d be all too easy to spend most of the trip here, especially on the spacious balcony, but lunch is waiting. We’re briefed on the schedule for the next two days over a multi-course meal of done-up Vietnamese classics, including my favorite northern specialty, cha ca (pan- fried fish with turmeric and dill). The weekend will be a balanced mix of relaxing and exploring. The ecologically diverse Cat Ba Island is the largest in this archipelago of some 370, and half of its total area—and some 90 square kilometers of its waters—constitute protected national park. On board, there are lots of options for communing with the place, whether it be trekking through the national park or just zoning out in one of the rattan chairs in the bar, though there is a blessedly distinct lack of any structured course. Whenever I want to pop to the spa, it’s likely to be available, since it takes up half of the second floor and encompasses three private treatment rooms, a sauna and a steam bath. This is the type of wellness journey I can sink into. Anchor up, we begin sailing to our first stop, a small lagoon where we will hop on bikes to an inland village. By the time we arrive at the dock, the air has cooled down and is prime for a ride. Two other cruise boats are parked in the bay, but there are no other tourists in sight. In fact, besides me and my friend Wa, only Louise and Mark, the soft-spoken British couple celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, choose to join the excursion. Layla trades her Ylang cap for a traditional conical hat and sets off down the newly paved path on a bicycle. The only people we come across are workers—one installing a roadside garden, one helping to build a lighted arch. We ride at a leisurely pace through the countryside, crossing bridges and passing through tunnels until we reach Viet Hai village, population 200. Here, Layla explains the loss of the native Cat Ba langur—whose population dropped from more than 3,000 in the 1960s to less than 70 by the year 2000, having been hunted for their supposed medicinal properties. Locals believe “monkey balm” helps with erectile dysfunction and other health issues. CLOCKWISE FROM She also clears up any confusion the four of us might TOP LEFT: Sunrise have about where exactly we are. “Lan Ha shares the tai chi with go-to same area and landscape as Halong Bay. Most people girl Layla; stylish details on board; only know of Halong Bay because it is the biggest and peach blossoms closest attraction to Halong City, but just a bit farther in adorn the walls of these waters,” she says of the southern coast of the Cat Ba a Signature suite; Island, “Lan Ha is much quieter and with more the deck-top pool; sleep comes easy vegetation, beaches, and smaller bays for kayaking.” after a singing- I wait for her to explain what the catch is, but the bowl meditation moment never comes. I immediately feel for all the session. people I know who have returned from Halong Bay praising its beauty but chiding its hoardes of tourists. We ride past the local school, where children are indifferent to our gaze, and through a garden where we can get a better view of the valley squeezed between two big hills. “The next village is four hours from here by motorcycle. You’d have to conquer the hills and unmarked trails,” Layla says with the satisfied smile of a guide who’s taken you to the edge of the map, “and I don’t think these bikes could handle it.” Louise looks relieved.

THE SUN IS SETTING between the limestone pillars and reflecting tangerine hues on the inlet waters as we ride back to the dock. Onboard Ylang, Wa and I sit in complete silence in our suite’s deck chairs and enjoy the rest of Mother Nature’s show. It’s pitch-black by the time we realize it’s time to head up for another multi-course dinner. We are puzzled by the randomly placed Jell-o garnish in our prawn salad, but leave with happy tummies. Options for winding down include meditation or a movie on the deck, but I beeline it to the spa for a deep-tissue cupping massage. Afterwards, I wander back to my room in a blissfully sleepy daze, remembering to keep the blinds open before I crawl into bed so that I can wake up to views of the bay. A solid sleep later, I welcome the morning light that fills my cabin. It’s nearly 6 a.m. and the skies are blue and the air crisp with the emptiness of a new day. We try the sunrise tai chi, which I’m surprised to see is being led by none other than Layla, who is this time dressed in tai chi pajamas. The slow pace of the time-honored practice isn’t for me, and I find myself giggling with Wa for most of the session. “Tomorrow you’ll be better,” Layla assures us. It’s still before 9 a.m. when we board the tender for the day’s excursion. We cruise through a floating village on our way to Ben Beo Pier where we hop in a car to Cat Ba National Park. The jungle-like forest is designated as a unesco Biosphere Reserve, boasting more than 1,500 plant species and all sorts of wildlife—though, we’re soberly assured there will be little chance of meeting a Cat Ba langur. The itinerary marks this expedition as a “mindfulness walk through the park,” but since it’s only three of us, Wa and I spend most of the stroll chatting with Layla about her favorite Thai celebrities and what she’d eat for her last meal on earth (Nadech Kugimiya and a bowl of beef pho, for the record). After lunch onboard, I bounce from cabin lounger to deck lounger to a plush sofa in the library until I hear the anchor lower. We’re deeper into the stony labyrinth of Lan Ha Bay and have stopped in a small cove to kayak and swim. It’s late enough in the day that the sun throws a long shadow on the small stretch of beach we paddle to where the crew has set up towels and snacks. The air is chilly, but that doesn’t stop me from taking a dip. Swimming always has the power to put me into a state of reflection, and this humbling setting ensures that today is no different. I wonder if I would feel as overwhelmed if I were in Halong Bay, where I’d be undoubtedly sharing this moment with at least a dozen other tourists. The sand onshore is pristine and powdery. Before kayaking back to Ylang, Wa and I get on our hands and knees with the staff and dig around for tiny clams that they’ll use to flavor the soup for tonight’s dinner. I feel like I’ve earned a pre-meal glass of wine, taking in the final golden hour with deep breaths of sea air, and a book in-hand. I decide to live my best wellness life by joining the singing-bowl meditation after dinner. Again, it’s Layla who is waiting for us in the dimly lit studio, this time sporting a different colored tai chi getup. The fact that this informative and helpful young staff member has literally worn so many different hats throughout the trip has finally struck us as hilarious. Wa CRUISE and I joke that we wouldn’t be surprised if she walked out The Details Ylang’s two-night, three-day of the captain’s cabin with a yachting cap at the end of the Sense of Lan Ha journey is GETTING THERE dedicated to promoting wellness cruise. Naturally, Layla’s singing-bowl skills are stellar Some nationalities require visas through insight into the Bay’s and drown out my almost-constant inner blabbering. to enter Vietnam; check with the natural beauty and a bevy of embassy in your country before The next morning, Ylang moors in a quiet lagoon approachable activities. booking. Fly into Hanoi’s Noi Bai where we can hop on kayaks or take an awakening Low-season rates start at International Airport with plunge. While the bay beckons, I end up savoring my last US$546 for a Signature suite and Vietnam Airlines US$704 for a Regency suite, both moments in Lan Ha with a cup of coffee on my balcony. (vietnamairlines.com), Thai per person based on double I hadn’t drunk any green juice all weekend, wasn’t Airways (thaiairways.com), occupancy, including shore Singapore Airlines (singporeair. forced into a down-dog once, and I buttered my bread excursions, onboard activities com) and others. It is a 21/2-hour every meal. The power of this wellness sojourn is in the and all meals. Departure dates drive to Tuan Chau Island Marina, for 2020 are found on Heritage sea breeze. It’s in the hundreds of towering karsts. It’s in where Heritage Line’s Lan Ha Line’s website. heritage-line.com. the perennial stillness of the bay that I’m knocking Bay cruises embark. — V.I. myself for not giving a chance earlier.

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SEAN FENNESSY SEAN FENNESSY BY MAPS MAY PARSEY MAY state—and enough inspirationstate—and for a lifetime’s of Aussie worth adventures. every majorevery in Asia. Read city on for T+L trips for every editor–curated experiences and hotels have opened up less-frequented destinations. Innovative chefs and winemakers are aglobal putting spin on native shockingly accessible, direct with from flights departing practically down under—the exuberantdown under—the hospitality, the otherworldly scenery— ingredients. while And might it feel like the end it's of the earth, there’s now afresh energy spreading across the country. New One of Australia’s thrilling sights: Hutt Lagoon, which gets its pink hue from algae. algae. from hue pink its gets which Lagoon, Hutt sights: thrilling Australia’s of One While some things have remained constant in the land All Across Across All Australia See it on a road trip along Western Australia’s Coral Coast. Coral Australia’s Western along trip aroad on it See TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

/ JANUARY 2020 2020 / JANUARY 81 key part of the Blue Mountains’ 1.2 million hectares of forest, that were the most captivating. Looking out at the atavistic expanse—which was, as the name promised, bathed in azure eucalyptus haze—I half Natural expected a pterodactyl to sweep into view. The property, which stretches nearly a kilometer along a rugged cliff edge, was the perfect starting point from which to explore a Instincts part of New South Wales that figures large in In the lush Blue Mountains and windswept Byron Bay—two vastly Australians’ vision of our vast, untamed different but equally beautiful corners of New South Wales— continent. The first European settlers saw the determined residents are fighting to preserve the wilderness. raw terrain as an intimidating barrier, and it By Tony Perrottet took 25 years to find a route through its labyrinthine bushland after Sydney was I FOUND MYSELF LOST in the Blue Mountains National colonized in 1788. But in the Victorian era, Park, and I hadn’t even left my hotel. For the first hour in “the Blueys” became the country’s first vacation the Hydro Majestic Hotel, a sumptuous Art-Deco warren destination—the Adirondacks of the Antipodes. about 90 minutes west of Sydney, my hometown, I Sydneysiders in search of fresh air and open wandered wide-eyed from one theatrical setting to the spaces began visiting its villages, with their odd next, taking in the glass-domed lobby and quirky murals English-sounding names such as Blackheath from the 1920s that depict both medieval knights and and Medlow Bath, where the Hydro Majestic outback safaris. But even amid the Gatsbyesque was built. (In fact, explorer Captain James Cook flourishes, it was the sweeping vistas of the Megalong gave the state its Anglocentric name, New

Valley, considered the Grand Canyon of Australia and a South Wales, in 1770 because he thought its FROM LEFT: HILKE MAUNDER/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; LUCIE LANG/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO RAES OF COURTESY

82 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM FROM FAR LEFT: Ever-present restored in 2017 and offers an instant immersion into the surfers at Watego Beach, in wild. Deeper in the Blue Mountains lie resorts that blend Byron Bay; the Skyway cable car over , their eco-cred with luxury—none better than the award- Blue Mountains; the stylish winning Emirates One&Only , which places Raes on Wategos, Byron Bay. as much weight on projects like planting 200,000 native trees as it does on comforts like private plunge pools and elaborate tasting menus. To complete my crash course in Aussie conservation, I hopped on a short flight north of Sydney to the Blue Mountains’ alter ego: Byron Bay. This once-remote surfing town not only boasts one of the most flawless beaches in New South Wales but also sits on the edge of a caldera where tropical and subtropical rainforests meet. Byron first achieved its place in Down Under mythology as the country’s hippie capital, filled with New Agers who wanted to devote themselves to crystals, yoga and mind- altering substances. Then, in the late 1970s, when its idyllic hinterland became threatened by logging, the town’s radical energy seized newspaper headlines. It soon became the jumping-off point for protesters from all over Australia, who sabotaged chain saws when not laying in front of steamrollers. Byron has mellowed since then. Now it’s best known as a home for Hollywood star and native son Chris Hemsworth. But as I drove into town, I found its hippie essence intact: the hand-carved wooden sign at the town entrance exhorts visitors to cheer up. slow down. chill out. and is followed by a flashing alert: be on the lookout for —their habitat is disappearing. I checked in to a legendary boutique hotel called Raes on Wategos. It was the barefoot-beach answer to the Hydro Majestic, a gleaming white villa that, in 1994, was converted into a luxury inn with a vaguely Moroccan flair and is now freshly renovated. The seven-suite property is coast looked like the soggy shores of Wales.) where the gods would go on vacation—or at least Keith Guests used the elegant hotels as launchpads Richards and Tom Cruise, both former guests. I opened for day hikes into pristine valleys, where the my wraparound patio so I could be lulled by the crashing endless ancient forests were framed by surf, then followed a coastal trail for 10 minutes to an sandstone cliffs and filled with kangaroos, open-air café, spotting humpbacks and dolphins wallabies and iridescent cockatoos. cavorting along the way. With such rich wildlife, it figures that the There I met local rangers Liz Dorgan and Matt Australian conservation movement was born Wiseman, who gave me a rundown of how the conservation here in the early 1930s, when a group of struggles of the 70s led to the creation of a network of bushwalkers raised money to buy their beloved national parks in the rugged country around Byron, an —situated within the now- area loosely known as the . “It’s a national park’s —to save it from biodiversity hot spot,” Dorgan enthused. “The caldera rises logging. “It shows what individual action can 1,100 meters, so you’ve got these spectacular escarpments, do,” said environmental activist Chris Darwin, huge waterfalls, and, thanks to the rich volcanic soil, the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, rainforests with rare trees like Antarctic beech.” They when I met him in his home in the foothills. pointed me to the most accessible taste of raw wilderness “They created the seed of the national park, and for a day hike: , in Nightcap National Park. it remains an inspiration.” After a 90-minute drive past rural stores selling A few days after arriving, I channeled those handmade red-velvet pants and local organic teas, I was feisty bushwalkers of the past and set out along bouncing along an unpaved mountain road through a the same trails that have been used for tunnel of ferns and vines. Minyon Falls surges 100 meters generations—first, a brisk descent to the iconic over a cliff that was once part of an ancient volcano, and Three Sisters, a trio of crooked sandstone hiking down to its base led to a natural swimming pool fingers that rise from the bush, then a three- filled with crystalline water, perfect for a purifying dip.

FROM LEFT: HILKE MAUNDER/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; LUCIE LANG/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO RAES OF COURTESY hour trek into the Grose Valley, a route that was The ascent was more of a workout, but just as Victorian The dining room at Raes.

Nic Healey’s Sydney

“Even though I was born a good 700 kilometers away in a small hikers in the Blue Mountains would have retreated to the country town, Sydney is the type Hydro for high tea and scones, I headed back to Byron to of city that was easy to make my settle into one of the casual restaurants with patios home. Yes, people complain overlooking the Pacific. At sunset, no music was needed: it about the housing market and was enough to listen to the waves and watch the humpbacks at play. rental prices, but it’s all worth it when you stand on the edge of The Hydro Majestic Hotel: hydro​majestic.com.au; doubles Sydney Harbour, in the middle of from A$160. Raes on Wategos: raes.com.au; doubles from A$840. Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley: oneandonly one of the most iconic skylines in resorts.com; doubles from A$3,025. Cassandra Bookholder the world. ([email protected]) can coordinate for you. Over the past few years the CBD has transformed itself, with a wealth of small bars opening up

Byron Bay providing something for every taste: from hidden speakeasies masquerading as barber shops to dark, subterranean drinking holes with enough whisky to sink Scotland. In a cultural melting New South Wales pot like Sydney Town, you can Blue Mountains Sydney chase down a bite from almost any cuisine you can imagine, or settle in to a restaurant doing its own take on regional food, all with that modern Australian twist that’s become a hallmark. How Qantas is I may have said goodbye to flying greener Sydney for the moment, working

The health of the natural world along the shore opposite the Great out in the boonies some five looms large in the Aussie psyche, Barrier Reef to block fertilizer run- hours’ drive away, but one of the as global warming has made the off from farms. In 2019, Qantas continent a bellwether of climate also broke new ground by offering great things about that ‘Emerald change. On my trip, the green frequent-flier miles to passengers City’ on the harbour is its messaging began in New York, who purchased offsets, and last where I moved in 1990. Aware that May, it operated the world’s first continual pull—and suddenly a long-haul plane trips are part of “waste-free flight,” from Sydney to five hour drive just doesn’t seem the problem, Australia’s national Adelaide, where every in-​flight airline, Qantas, has developed the item was reusable, recyclable or too far away...” aviation industry’s largest carbon compostable. Even more offset program, with the funds ambitious: Qantas aims to cut its — BREAKFAST RADIO HOST, going to environmental initiatives waste output by 75 percent by the ABC WESTERN PLAINS

including replanting rainforests end of 2021. — T.P. (ABC.NET.AU) RAES OF COURTESY NTMEC DENTON/COURTESY OF LOUISE A Brighter Vision Almost three decades after his first visit to the Northern Territory, famed British artist Bruce Munro explains why he’s returning with ‘Tropical Light,’ a Northern bold, eight-sculpture installation in the capital city of Darwin. Territory As told to Siobhan Reid

IN 1992, I ROAD-TRIPPED from New South Wales to the business district and waterfront. A Northern Territory with my wife, Serena, who was then 2½-kilometer path connects the works, my fiancée. The10 -week-long, 4,000-kilometer journey allowing visitors to experience different parts proved to be hugely formative. It was the wet season, and of the city as they discover the sculptures, all we were camping. There was so much heat and humidity of which are inspired by the areas they it was like being in the Caribbean. We spent our time inhabit. Some are informed by Darwin’s taking pictures of the breathtaking sunsets and walking history, others borrow from natural motifs from one end of Darwin to the other. like trees, birds and sunsets. The city struck me as a unique place. It’s an urban Telegraph Rose, for example, was area surrounded by the jungle and the sea, so while you constructed out of 700 vertically oriented have one foot in civilization, you also feel like you’re on fishing rods laid out in the form of Sturt’s the edge of the world. I was really inspired by the city’s desert rose, the Northern Territory’s emblem. fingerprint and wanted to spotlight its fascinating The sculpture also features a sound recording history, landscape and climatic conditions, which are of the first international Morse code unlike anywhere else in the world. For ‘Tropical Light,’ I message—a nod to Darwin’s history as the decided to bring those ideas together through eight site- first Australian city that could send and specific works scattered across Darwin’s central receive international communication. Another work, Green Flash, is inspired by the eponymous phenomenon, wherein the sun appears to turn green for a second or two before sunrise or after sunset. At dawn and dusk, the sculpture of 2,500 illuminated bottles morphs through an array of colors, flashing green for the briefest of moments. Like the real thing, you have to keep your eyes peeled, or else you’ll miss it.

Munro’s ‘Tropical Light’ will be on view until April 30, 2020.

Water Towers, one of Bruce Munro’s site-specific installations in the

COURTESY OF RAES OF COURTESY NTMEC DENTON/COURTESY OF LOUISE Northern Territory.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 85 Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, a lodge consisting of 15 safari-style tents at the top of the North West Cape. SEAN FENNESSY

86 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM Western Australia On the Wild Side Even in a country known for its vast swaths of pristine land, the Coral Coast—a remote, 1,300-kilometer stretch of Western Australia that fringes the Indian Ocean—is in a league of its own. And the best way to experience it is to get behind the wheel. By Kevin West

THE FIVE-KILOMETER-LONG stretch of white sand dunes at Lancelin rises abruptly from the coastal scrub, a sugar bowl tipped onto shag carpet. Ninety minutes north of Perth via a dawdler’s highway called Indian Ocean Drive, you can sandboard down their 45-degree faces. But on the first morning of my road trip to Ningaloo Reef, a haven for whale sharks and manta rays off the North West Cape, I wasn’t going to be that easily diverted. The itinerary I’d printed out indicated a lunch stop an hour ahead, so I held steady for rock lobster in Cervantes, a flyspeck town farther up the coast. Twenty minutes later, another set of sugar dunes appeared on my left, followed shortly by a paved road that cut back toward the Indian Ocean, now brightly visible on the horizon. This time it occurred to me that the point of a road trip is not necessarily the destination. I swung left toward the rich iodine smell of beached seaweed and, at pavement’s end, met a woman walking her dog through a settlement of corrugated-metal shacks. She must have been 80, lean and sun-toughened, and she

SEAN FENNESSY pulled my handshake toward her with a grandmother’s sweetness. “Where you going?” she asked. Ningaloo back to the good old days, when a scenic place might still Reef, I said. be uncrowded, unhurried and uncommercialized, like “Why you going there? Why not stay here? Baja in the 1960s or California’s Central Coast a It’s paradise.” generation before that. Here turned out to be Wedge, a lost-in-time “Most foreigners don’t know about this region, most squatters’ settlement where Annie McGuinness Australians don’t know about this region, and most has lived for 45 years. She insisted I stay for tea, Western Australians don’t know about this region,” cake and sausage rolls and to meet her explained an Aussie on his way back to Perth from Coral neighbors, both named Chris. Afterward, she Bay. “It’s unspoiled.” gave me a save wedge bumper sticker and fussed about useless modern improvements— like the paved road that had led me to her. “It took all the adventure out of getting here,” Annie said as she walked me back to my truck. With all due respect to Annie and her pioneering spirit, I found there was still plenty of adventure to be found along Western North West Cape Australia’s sparsely settled Coral Coast. The route for my weeklong drive connected several distinct subregions, each with its own flavor. Indian Ocean Drive, north of Perth, led to quiet surfside communities and national parks. The SHARK BAY Midwest, centered around Geraldton, held Dirk Hartog Island wildflowers, whale-watching and the heritage of early European settlement. Shark Bay’s We stern unspoiled marine habitat and stark landscapes Kalbarri lived up to its unesco World Heritage Horrocks Geraldton designation. And finally, the North West Cape A ustralia beyond Exmouth was a place where snorkelers can set off from empty beaches. Jurien Bay Along the way, the spectacular scenery varied from Wedge’s white-sand beaches to the red coastal cliffs at Kalbarri and rippling wheat Perth fields in Greenough. The people I met were Fremantle friendly and gentle, and each day’s drive held long stretches of empty road. “There’s nothing to see,” a regular visitor from Perth told me about the eight-hour leg from Shark Bay to Exmouth. “It’s beautiful.” I understood what he meant. The entire week was like time travel

Driving the Coral Coast in 1,334 spectacular kilometers

DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 Fremantle to Jurien Bay Jurien Bay to Geraldton Geraldton to Kalbarri Kalbarri to Shark Bay Fly in to Perth to rent a car, but On the way to Geraldton, Linger in Horrocks, a charming In the morning, drive five don’t miss Fremantle, a historic mountainous dunes in the Southern beach town with a nostalgic general kilometers down the coast to port city 30 minutes southwest, Beekeepers give store that doubles as a café. Stop by Mushroom Rock. Stop at a natural before setting off for rock lobster way to Lesueur National Park and Instagram-famous Hutt Lagoon, a bridge carved by fierce surf and and fries in Cervantes. In between, historic Central Greenough. The salt lake turned intergalactic pink by wind. The road through Kalbarri stop at Nambung National Park to Pioneer Museum tells the story of a rare, saltwater-loving algae, National Park passes endless see the Pinnacles, an eerie the displacement of the area’s before reaching the tiny fishing stands of wildflowers lit up in

assembly of limestone monoliths. Aboriginal communities. village of Kalbarri by dusk. shades of pink, yellow and white. SEAN FENNESSY (4) CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: A family outing at Shell Beach; cliffs plunge into the Indian Ocean at Kalbarri; a camper parked in Cape Range National Park, on the North West Cape; a shrub-lined road near Shark Bay.

DAY 5 DAY 6 WHERE TO STAY Gecko Lodge (gecko​lodge​kalbarri. Dirk Hartog Island North West Cape In Fremantle, check in to the com.au; doubles from A$190), is This sheep station turned national The midpoint of the last day’s drive National Hotel (nationalhotel​ ​ near downtown Kalbarri. On Dirk park, accessed by ferry, offers is Western Australia’s fruit bowl, fremantle.com.au; doubles from Hartog Island, book at the Eco wilderness camping as well as a Carnarvon, where stands sell A$185). Jurien Bay Tourist Park Lodge (dirkhartog​ island.com;​​ full-service campground. If you organic papayas. Halfway up the (summerstar.com.au; doubles from three-night packages from A$990 have a few days to relax and enjoy Cape, Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef’s A$125) is steps from the beach. per person). Sal Salis Ningaloo the island, stay three or more tents sit on the ocean’s edge, where In Geraldton, stay at Gerald Reef (salsalis.com.au; tents from nights at the six-room Eco Lodge wild cockatoos flock at dawn and Apartment Hotel (thegerald.com. A$1,700) is a set of luxury tents in

SEAN FENNESSY (4) on the beach. sea turtles nest on the beach. au; doubles from A$230). Cape Range National Park.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 89

Queensland Triple Play A trio of notable hotel openings is helping to make Australia’s northeastern state a destination in its own right. By Kendall Hill

QUEENSLAND HAS DEFIED its laid-back reputation reef’s health through marine biologist–led The fire pit at lately with a flurry of hotel activity—more than projects in which guests can participate. It’s Mount Mulligan Lodge, a new a dozen new ones or renovations have opened in paid off, and the state is now a popular option property in the less than two years, in locations ranging from for second- and third-time visitors to the north Queensland the tropical Whitsunday Islands to cattle ranches country looking to experience all the best parts outback. near Cairns to the glimmering skyline of of Oz in one go. To do just that, build an itinerary Brisbane. Resorts bordering the Great Barrier around a trio of stunning hotels—one amid the Reef have undertaken initiatives designed to urban energy of the country’s third-largest city, address recent coral bleaching and restore the one on the reef and the last in the iconic outback.

THE CITY HOTEL overhead and the Brisbane River just property is back after a A$130 working cattle station in the north The Fantauzzo, Brisbane beyond the entrance, there are million rebuild following the Queensland outback; it glows like an Long eclipsed by Sydney’s glamour spectacular views from almost any devastation of Cyclone Debbie in ember in the first light of day. and Melbourne’s sophistication, vantage point (including the rooftop 2017. Hugging the base of a natural Primarily solar-powered, Mount Queensland’s capital is now shining bar Fiume and the adjoining infinity amphitheater of jungle-clad hills at Mulligan Lodge is made up of eight far brighter thanks in part to a pool). It’s the perfect perch from the edge of the island’s lagoon, the pavilion suites of red-gum timber A$190 million revival of its once- which to take in the downtown resort is divided into three wings, and corrugated iron facing a dilapidated Howard Smith skyline. artseries​hotels.com.au; one of which overlooks Hayman’s waterway and the eponymous Wharves, on the Brisbane River. At doubles from A$280. famous saltwater pool. Anchored mountain. Its indigenous name is their heart is this hotel, named for between the mainland and the Ngarrabullgan, and it has defined the Australian portraitist Vincent THE GREAT BARRIER REEF unesco World Heritage–listed Great some 40,000 years of history for the Fantauzzo, seven of whose ESCAPE Barrier Reef, the InterContinental original inhabitants of the region. A hyperrealist paintings hang in the InterContinental resort reduces its impact on fragile three-hour drive or 40-minute foyer. Backed by steep cliffs, with Hayman Island Resort marine environments by reducing helicopter ride from Cairns, the the cantilevered Story Bridge From Brisbane, it’s a two-hour food waste, recycling wastewater lodge offers complete serenity amid flight north to Hamilton Island, then to nourish the lush landscaping, the sunburned soil. Quarterly an hour-long sail on the resort’s and banning plastic water bottles herding of the ranch’s 1,400 head of sleek catamaran (sparkling wine and miniature amenities. ihg.com; Brahman cattle gives guests the and Coral Sea whale sightings doubles from A$740. chance to see Australian cowboys in included) to reach this reimagined action. At night, the sky is covered by tropical getaway. It’s located on THE OUTBACK ADVENTURE a canopy of stars over the ranch, Hayman Island, one of the most Mount Mulligan Lodge which appear closer, brighter and northerly of the Whitsundays, a The escarpment known as Mount more abundant than you’ve ever postcard-worthy archipelago of 74 Mulligan is the star attraction of this seen. mountmulligan.com; doubles islands. The landmark 294-hectare new lodge set on a 28,000-hectare from A$1,700, all-inclusive. Mount Mulligan

Louis Tikaram’s Brisbane Hayman Island “As a chef, I find this region so inspiring—we have some of the best produce and seafood in the world. Passion fruit, lychee, mangoes, the local Moreton Bay bugs (sweet-fleshed crustaceans), huge mud crabs and reef fish are all delivered

just a couple of hours after being picked or caught.” IERACE/COURTESY NORTHERNJASON ESCAPE OF JOHN LAURIE (2) Queen sland Brisbane — CHEF AT THE FORTHCOMING BRISBANE RESTAURANT STANLEY (STANLEYRESTAURANT.COM.AU) The New Culture Capital While it’s sometimes overshadowed by the sunshine and hedonism of Sydney, Melbourne has staked its place as the country’s leader in the arts. A dive into the city’s dynamic creative scene offers a glimpse of the innovations taking place. By Kendall Hill

A 19TH-CENTURY mechanical trade school flanked by public housing towers might seem an unlikely setting for artistic revival, but Melbourne’s visionary urges are not easily bound by convention. The Collingwood Arts Precinct (cap​melbourne.org), opening this month, is a trio of three-story buildings that were left derelict when classes ceased 10 years ago. They will soon be open to the public, and home to a thriving community of potters, painters and sculptors; a public radio station; a cultural heart represented by a collection of band rehearsal space; artist-run galleries; and high-profile institutions. With its Eiffel- the Social Studio (thesocialstudio.org),​ a inspired steeple, the Arts Centre Melbourne nonprofit incubator for refugee- and migrant- (arts​centre​melbourne.com.au) is the continent’s founded fashion labels. There’s a restored Keith largest, and busiest, performing-arts space. Haring mural from 1984 depicting a giant Beside it is the National Gallery of Victoria (ngv. caterpillar, a café for refueling and acrobats, vic.gov.au), Australia’s most visited art venue. too—Australia’s leading troupe, Circus Oz But even this illustrious compound is getting a Victoria (circusoz.com), is based here. shake-up: last year, the Buxton Contemporary The debut of Collingwood is indicative of the (buxtoncontemporary.com)​ opened on the city’s boundary-pushing arts scene—one that campus of the Victorian College of the Arts. FROM TOP LEFT: started in the 1990s with graffiti-covered Exhibitions have included a survey of national Fashion designers alleys, seemingly endless numbers of identity, imagined by a group of Aussie artists at the Social independent galleries, and the kind of public like Ali Gumillya Baker, Callum Morton, and Studio, in art projects that simply don’t exist anywhere Siying Zhou. And the NGV is preparing a third Melbourne; the Arts Centre else in Australia. Southbank campus, NGV Contemporary, which Melbourne, with Over in Southbank, a neighborhood lining will be Australia’s largest gallery of contemporary its striking

JASON IERACE/COURTESY NORTHERNJASON ESCAPE OF JOHN LAURIE (2) the Yarra River, you’ll find the city’s traditional art and design when it opens in 2025. 13-meter spire.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 91 FROM LEFT: Point Lighthouse sits on the Larapuna headland; Krakani Lumi, a lodge on the Wukalina Walk, takes inspiration from traditional structures.

Tasmania

AS I PICKED MY WAY along the crashing surf line, weaving among boulders tinted orange from a striking lichen called Xanthoria, I Tradition stumbled across strange natural treasures, like the exoskeleton of a seahorse, as translucent as a sliver of Greek marble, and enormous heads of seaweed decorated with delicate bulbs. It was Rekindled stunning even by my own Aussie-raised A pioneering hike guided by the Palawa indigenous standards, but that wildness is precisely community affords travelers a deeper, more nuanced Tasmania’s appeal. Then my guide, an perspective on Tasmania. By Tony Perrottet Aboriginal elder named Clyde Mansell, pointed out mysterious formations poking through the brush: shell dumps created by his ancestors centuries ago. “They said we Palawa were all wiped out,”

Mansell told me, referring to the brutal frontier (2) TASMANIA TOURISM BURNETT/COURTESY OF ROB

92 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM pays respect to the local indigenous groups. Shortly after, Mansell and I hiked the shoreline while wallabies bounded nearby. The biggest surprise came when we meandered 100 meters from the beach to Krakani Lumi, a chic wooden eco-lodge. “Fifteen years in the making!” Mansell said proudly. The elegant main structure, with a hemispherical indentation that echoes the shape of Palawa huts, serves as an amphitheater. Guests sit in a semicircle around a campfire, listening to guides tell stories and learning ancient crafts. Five cozy cabins of the same style dot the bush nearby. Hiking along the coast the next day, I thought the bone- white sands and aquamarine waters looked closer to Bora-Bora than Tasmania, whose winds blast straight from the icy . The most awe-inspiring stretch, the Bay of Fires, takes its name from the British explorer Tobias Furneaux, who passed in 1773 and saw Aboriginal campfires flickering in the bush. Back at the lodge, we sat down to barbecued scallops, kangaroo meat and damper, a bowling ball–size lump of flour and water war conducted in the early 19th century by roasted over a flame into a delicious bread. British soldiers and settlers against his people, I spent the final night at the Eddystone Point the first Tasmanians, who had lived in isolation Lighthouse, which has a set of granite cottages on the along these shores since the land bridge to the Larapuna promontory that were originally built for mainland flooded some 10,000 years ago. “Well, keepers and their families in the late 19th century. Today, they sure bloody tried. Obviously,” he added the Victorian-era rooms have been kitted out with luxe dryly, “they were mistaken.” I’d first learned beds and decorated with Aboriginal paintings. That about the decimated Palawa population as a evening, I returned to the headland to imagine the schoolboy in Sydney. A woman known as campfires that once burned here. It had been a rare , believed by many to be the last full- privilege to be with the Palawa and glimpse how they’re blooded Tasmanian, died in 1876, and white reviving their ancient culture in modern Australia. officials argued that the race had become extinct. But there were mixed-race survivors The Wukalina Walk is offered September through April; on outlying islands and in sealing camps who wukalinawalk.com.au; four days from A$2,500 per person, carried on the community’s customs. all-inclusive. I had met Mansell and other elders at the Aboriginal Elders Centre, in Launceston, where I was outfitted for a new four-day hike called the Wukalina Walk, which they had created along the heart-shaped island’s northeast coast. The most ambitious entry in the Australia- wide boom in indigenous tourism, the walk Start represents a movement over recent years to

acknowledge—and hopefully go some way Wukalina / Mount William toward repairing—past colonial wrongs. Today, every government meeting or cultural End gathering begins by recognizing that the event is occurring on Aboriginal land. It may sound

like lip service, but it indicates a striking shift BAY OF FIRES in the attitudes of the dominant Anglo- Australian society. Before embarking on the journey, Aboriginal guides wave smoking eucalyptus branches over visitors as a cleansing ceremony and perform a

ROB BURNETT/COURTESY OF TOURISM TASMANIA (2) TASMANIA TOURISM BURNETT/COURTESY OF ROB ritual “Welcome to Country,” an address that TasmaniaLaunceston through during my weeklong tasting tour of the South Australia area, which included the wine regions of the Adelaide Hills, the Barossa Valley and the Clare Valley—places renowned in Australia for their Riesling and Shiraz, and all an easy drive from Adelaide. I realized that everything I thought I knew about Australian food and wine was either incomplete or out of date, and in the end, Eat, Drink... I took away an impression of multiplicity— multiple cuisines, grape varieties, soil types, wine-making techniques and endemic ingredients. As a vineyard region, it’s the land And Drink of a thousand appellations. Ecologically, it’s a meeting of the sea and the outback, and its agricultural heritage is deeply rooted for such a Again young nation, yet forward-looking. A new generation of winemakers and chefs has helped Adelaide ADELAIDE shake off its staid reputation. Now it’s leaping ahead as the The city’s culinary reputation has been on the country’s most accessible dining destination. By Kevin West rise after decades of eclipse by Sydney and Melbourne, thanks in part to the influx of a FROM LEFT: ADELAIDE’S APPEAL is immediate: the capital new creative class priced out of those places. Skillogalee, a of South Australia combines the good life of Pre-dinner drinks could start with natural winery and wine country with a big city’s energy and wines at Hellbound (hellbound​winebar.com) or restaurant in the Clare Valley; variety. It’s as if Napa Valley’s Yountville had a gin cocktails at Pink Moon Saloon (pinkmoon​ ​ Murray River cod, million-plus residents; a major university; a saloon.com.au). Jock Zonfrillo continues to lead warrigal greens, giant, historic food hall; and a culinary legacy the fine-dining scene withOrana (restaurant​ eucalyptus at shaped by 150 years of immigration from orana.com; prix fixe from A$300), a celebration Orana, in Adelaide. Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. That of native Australian ingredients like foraged sense of discovery and surprise carried Tasmanian mountain peppers. And the city’s FROM LEFT: JOHN LAURIE; COURTESY OF ORANA ARISTOLOGIST SUMMERTOWN OF COURTESY global influences shine atAfricola (africola. com.au; mains A$10–A$39), an African barbecue joint and Parwana (parwana.com. au; mains A$13–A$26), which serves soulful renditions of Afghan staples like ashak, a chive-stuffed dumpling.

ADELAIDE HILLS Many of the notable wineries of the Adelaide Hills—Jauma (jauma.com), Lucy Margaux (lucymargaux​ wines.com),​ Commune of Buttons (communeo​ f​b uttons.com.au)—aren’t easy to visit, as they open their doors to the public only periodically. But you will find them on the lunch menu at the Summertown Aristologist (thesummertown​aristologist.com; small plates A$15–A$25), where shared plates of locavore Valley also has the finest hotel in wine country, Summertown cooking are served under hanging light the Louise (thelouise.com.au; doubles from Aristologist in the Adelaide Hills. fixtures made from glass demijohns. Up the A$590), which has a regal avenue of Canary road in Uraidla, winemaker Taras Ochota Island date palms flanking the approach. tucked a brick oven into a deconsecrated chapel for his informal pizzeria, Lost in a Forest CLARE VALLEY (lostina​forest.com.au; pizzas A$19–A$35). If the Barossa is like Napa, then the Clare Both restaurants have become de facto tasting Valley is akin to Sonoma: an adjacent region rooms for local wines. with a cooler climate, more-idiosyncratic winemakers, and great scenic beauty. The man BAROSSA VALLEY who put the Clare Valley on the map is Jeffrey Small plots of ancient Shiraz vines are the Grosset, founder of Grosset Wines (grosset. area’s emblem and main source of prestige, as com.au), who continues his meticulous work are its ambitious tasting-menu restaurants. At with Riesling grapes. Sixteen kilometers Seppeltsfield winery’s stylish restaurant, Fino north, the winery restaurant at Skillogalee (fino.net.au; prix fixe from A$47), the focus is (skillogalee.com.au; mains A$19–A$50) is in a on regional produce—one dish of flowering charming 1851 farmhouse serving wonderful, broccoli rabe evoked the blooming canola fields homey dishes such as pumpkin soup with I’d seen on my drive. Nearby, indie winemaker thyme. And in a place where white wines have Abel Gibson makes gorgeous Riesling typically dominated, reds are now trending. and Shiraz under the label Ruggabellus Second-generation vintners Damon and Jono (ruggabellus.com.au). Tom Shobbrook, one Koerner of Koerner Wine (koernerwine.com.​ of the leaders of the region’s natural-wine au) were named Australia’s 2019 Young Guns movement, runs Shobbrook Wines (shobbrook​ of Wine on the strength of their lighter reds wines.com.au) amid a pastoral landscape made from Grenache, Sciacarello, Sangiovese punctuated by eucalyptus trees. The Barossa and Malbec.

Abel Gibson’s Barossa Valley

“The combination of mineral-rich soil and warm, sunny days followed by cool evenings means the Barossa is a wonderful place to make wine. Many of us have traveled the world, but always seem to return home. I love the mystical nature of the landscape. It feels resilient.”

FROM LEFT: JOHN LAURIE; COURTESY OF ORANA ARISTOLOGIST SUMMERTOWN OF COURTESY — WINEMAKER, RUGGABELLUS (RUGGABELLUS.COM.AU)

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 95 UTTERLY A MOST UNEXPECTED PLACE FOR PINOT

FROM LEFT: Weingut Franz Keller, a winery at the foot of the Kaiserstuhl hills in Germany’s Baden region; a timber-roofed residence in the Black Forest town of Gengenbach; an alfresco meal at Restaurant Käsestube, in Staufen. A MOST UNEXPECTED The misty, forested landscape of southwestern Germany is known more for its castles than its red wine. But right here, among the turrets and medieval towns, PLACE FOR PINOT a new generation of producers is bottling some of the best Pinot Noir in Europe.

BY RAY ISLE | PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHRISTIAN KERBER

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 97 THERE’S AN OLD SAYING

about wine pairing: “What grows together, country’s vines, red grapes now represent 34 goes together.” This popped into my head as I percent, and Pinot is prince among them. studied the menu in the cozy hotel/restaurant Today, German Pinot Noir is often terrific: Adler, in the Baden-Württemberg region of brilliantly expressive and aromatic. The southwestern Germany, a glass of elegant, bottlings seem to get better and better with earthy Pinot Noir from a nearby winery in each passing vintage. hand. Naturally, I decided on the I checked out of the Adler the next morning hirschgulasch, a venison stew with red wine and headed a few minutes down the road to and wild herbs. It’s a traditional dish here, and meet Markus Wöhrle at Weingut Wöhrle, his would go perfectly with what I was sipping. winery in Lahr, a city of 46,000. “In the past ten The waitress took my order, then came back years we’ve seen a big step forward in Baden,” to set a place mat before me. That’s when I he told me. “The new generation—which looked down and saw it—a large black-and- includes my wife and me—tend to make this white photo of a deer, shot head-on, its eyes brighter, more elegant style of Pinot.” We were staring into mine. I glanced over my shoulder. tasting his 2016 Lahrer Kirchgasse Behind me on the wall, another deer photo, Spätburgunder Grosse Gewachs. Its tongue- nearly life-size, also stared at me. Both of them twistingly guttural name belied its wild seemed to be saying, “Hirschgulasch, mein raspberry aromas and seductive character. Herr? Seriously?” Wöhrle’s winery is in the center of Lahr, I took a sip of my Pinot (or, as they call it which, until 1999, was home to a Canadian here, Spätburgunder). About a month earlier, a military base and about 10,000 soldiers. The deer had jumped out at me while I was driving barracks are now largely occupied by Russian through rural Pennsylvania and totaled my and Eastern European immigrants, most of car. I was low on sympathy for anything with whom work in the auto industry. But central four legs and antlers. My soul was ice. Yeah, Lahr’s industrial aspect faded quickly as we life’s tough, you fuzzy bastards. headed up the dome-like hill where Wöhrle’s Then I sighed, called the waitress back, and vineyards lie. The narrow road doubled as a changed my order to the trout. footpath; we passed a bald guy on an electric Though it might seem surprising, Germany unicycle, a teen couple playing badminton, grows more Pinot Noir than any other country several old ladies with walking sticks, and a except France and the United States. And the group of local high-school girls snacking on Baden wine region—a corridor of stunning grapes they were plucking from the vines. I vineyards that tracks the Rhine River between asked Wöhrle if he minded, and he shrugged the spa hub of Baden-Baden and the university with indifference. “The vineyard is right in town of Freiburg im Breisgau—is the town, so people think of it as their own.” heartland of Germany’s Pinot Noir production. From the slope we looked out over a glinting It’s also next to the Black Forest, where sea of what turned out to be windshields at streamers of mist swirled down from the a huge Fiat plant. “For us, it’s actually good,” pine-covered peaks to the tan-and-rust elms he said. “The car tops are so hot that they and oaks below during the early fall mornings create an updraft. It makes the clouds rise and when I was there. Its mysterious beauty is no separate, so the rain misses our vineyard. less alluring than the vineyards nearby. It wasn’t always that way.” Outsiders are just catching on to Germany’s Whether thousands of hot car roofs count as Pinot Noirs, and even Germans haven’t been terroir, I do not know, but it does seem wise to them for very long. A revolution in inarguable that Pinot Noir vineyards in Baden, quality started in the early 1990s, when and in Germany as a whole, have benefited industrialized co-op wine making (responsible from the rise in overall temperatures over the for tanks full of what critic Jancis Robinson past 30 or 40 years. Even so, this is still a cool once memorably termed “pale grayish pink region. Effectively, it’s a valley, lying between liquids smelling of rot”) gave way to a new France’s Vosges Mountains of Alsace and the emphasis on quality. Once 10 percent of the Rhine River to the west and the Black Forest to

98 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Picking edible herbs, leaves and flowers in Baiersbronn, in the Black Forest; a café in the Market Square, in Staufen; Silke Wolf, the co-owner and viticulturist at Shelter Winery, in Kenzingen, with her fox terrier, Ira.

the east. Cold evening winds from the forest flow down and cool the vineyards in the mornings, which, says Hans-Bert Espe of Shelter Winery, “creates nice, elegant wines.” Shelter, which Espe runs with his viticulturist wife, Silke Wolf, is about a 20-minute drive south of Wöhrle, just outside the little town of Kenzingen. The couple named the winery after a concrete air-raid shelter built for (even more) Canadian troops, where they got started. “In the next shelter over was a Hell’s Angels motorcycle club,” Espe told me as we sat in his winery’s new sunlit tasting room. “Our first summer, they had a huge party with hundreds of bikers. We had to drive through in the evenings because we were harvesting grapes, and they’d take flashlights and look in the car to make sure we weren’t police.” I tasted a number of Shelter vintages under the watchful eye of Ira, Hans-Bert and Silke’s fox terrier, who clearly would have preferred I do something more useful, like hurl a tennis ball so he could tear after it. Espe’s top Pinot

FROM TOP: Grapes ripening in the sunshine at Weingut Wöhrle, in Lahr; setting a table at Schwarzwaldstube, a Michelin three-starred restaurant at Hotel Traube Tonbach. OPPOSITE: Morning fog at Hotel Traube Tonbach, in the Black Forest.

But autumn’s beauty isn’t all scarlet and gold. Early the next morning I took a break from grapes and drove eastward into the Schwarzwald, or Black Forest, to the town of Baiersbronn. Baiersbronn is a paradox. Quaint and tiny, it has all the appropriate Black Forest trappings: the brown-shingled, whitewashed houses that practically shout “charming historic Germany,” the flower boxes on the balconies overflowing with blooms. Yet it’s also one of the country’s preeminent culinary destinations, with a total of eight Michelin stars (10, if you count Le Pavillon in nearby Bad Peterstal-Griesbach) in a town of only 15,000 people. Three of those stars belonged to my destination, Schwarzwaldstube, at the Hotel Traube Tonbach. Noir comes from a single hectare plot of the But before I ate anything, I needed to take nearby Bienenburg vineyard. The 2016 was a wild-herb hike through the woods. In fact, I’d impressively fragrant, full of herbs and dark suggest that anyone headed to Baiersbronn do raspberry notes; the 2007 was leafier and more the same. The hikes can be arranged easily savory, like autumn in a glass. with the local tourism office, the landscape is After the tasting, we drove out to the magnificent, and grazing on herbs plucked vineyard, whose landscape, Espe explained, pathside is a nice counterbalance to multi- was typical of the region: small terraces of Michelin-starred dining. My guide, Anja, vines on the hillside, forest above, cornfields repeatedly stopped to pick leaves and flowers below. The vine leaves were just turning to fall that I would have brushed past as weeds. She’d colors, blending yellow and scarlet and green. hand me sprigs to chew on, and soon I could Past them, stands of ferns were flame-orange, recognize the flavors not only of the herbs— and on the flats, the corn rows lay green. thyme, marjoram, sorrel—but also of dozens of Beyond that, just as the land started to rise, was other, less recognizable plants: yarrow, parsley- a scattering of beech trees that burned golden like spicknel, tormentil (wildly tannic), tiny bronze; the pines on the far hills in the distance blue harebell blossoms, salad burnet with its rose darker and deeper green above them. It taste of cucumbers, almond-scented was outrageously beautiful, all this blätter- meadowsweet flowers. When I mentioned the färbung. Ungraceful as it may sound, that’s the Baden vineyards I’d been visiting, Anja noted German term for fall foliage; the word that Württemberg, where we were, has translates as “the coloring of the leaves.” traditionally been a poor area in comparison.

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 101 “The people are rougher, and the fields here are forests. The Badisch sensibility is just different from ours.” When we lunched at one of the many “wellness hotels”—small, rustic inns with saunas or hot thermal pools—that dot the area, I found that I agreed. The bathroom featured urinals attached to faux tree trunks, with life-size photos on every wall of bosomy German fräuleins in low-cut dirndls peeping at you from behind trees. The women’s room, Anja reported, offered shirtless Aryan woodcutters—even more disconcerting. Württemberg’s historic rusticity, however, was not remotely in evidence at Schwarzwaldstube, in Baiersbronn’s ultra- luxurious Hotel Traube Tonbach. When the legendary chef Harald Wohlfahrt abruptly left the restaurant in 2017, his longtime sous-chef, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Torsten Michel, had the unenviable task of Venison currywurst, sweet- stepping into his role. But Michel proved more potato fries and roasted local vegetables at Adler; a than up to the task. He serves a version of a cobblestoned alley between dish that Wohlfahrt used to cook as well, lièvre the 19th-century houses à la royale—slow-braised wild hare, deboned near Lahr; Christoph Wolber and mantled with a glossy mahogany-colored at his winery, Wasenhaus, sauce rouennaise (a classic red-wine sauce in Staufen. enriched with duck liver). The entire dish was meltingly rich, and sommelier Stéphane Gass’s choice of an earthy 2010 Bernhard Huber Hecklinger Schlossberg Spätburgunder was a perfect pairing. The next morning, I drove back down the winding roads through the mists for a couple of hours and returned to the realm of vineyards at Weingut Huber, in Malterdingen, a tiny hamlet of just over 3,000. Its founder, Bernhard Huber, who passed away in 2014, is often referred to as the godfather of German Pinot. His son, Julian, now runs the winery, which is tucked away in a small valley. His father was inspired, Julian told me as we hiked up the incredibly steep vineyard, by the Cistercian monks of the Cloister Tannenbach, who brought Pinot Noir here more than 700 years ago. “No one wanted this vineyard,” Julian said as I tried to catch my breath, “because it was on such a steep slope.” Yeah, no kidding. Above us, a crumbling 14th-century castle loomed—a common sight in this part of Germany, where ruined castles seem to sprout up like weeds. “My father bought it in 1995. There were 25 varieties planted here, but he replanted the entire thing to Pinot Noir.” People thought the elder Huber was nuts, but today his wines are sought after by collectors and sell for upwards of €90 a bottle. Back at the winery, his cherry- and licorice-scented OUTSIDERS ARE JUST CATCHING ON TO GERMANY’S PINOT NOIRS, AND EVEN GERMANS HAVEN’T BEEN WISE TO THEM FOR VERY LONG

2016 Sommerhalde rivaled a good premier cru Burgundy. I felt similarly impressed at Weingut Franz Keller, a 25-minute drive south, when I tasted its 2016 Franz Anton Spätburgunder (one of the rare German Pinots that are actually available outside of Europe). The Keller family also runs the Michelin- starred Schwarzer Adler restaurant down the road from their very modern winery. It has one of the best wine lists in all of Germany. But for lunch, try the Kellers’ Winzerhaus Rebstock restaurant, in a 200-year-old wooden building across the street. The focus is hearty, traditional dishes like braised roast beef with house-made noodles and whole roasted mistkratzerli (a small chicken whose name translates as “little dung-scratcher,” but try to forget that). My final stop was Wasenhaus, a boutique operation run by two millennial German guys, Alex Götze and Christoph Wolber, out of a 1950s winery on a backstreet in Staufen. With its cobblestoned streets and traditional buildings with brightly colored shutters, the village is a pleasure to amble around in, and even more so if you stop in at Restaurant Käsestube. Run by Wolber’s girlfriend, Krizia Jost, this cheese- focused wine bar is hidden in a historic courtyard. Sit at one of the small tables outside, order a crackling-crisp flammkuchen (called tarte flambée in neighboring Alsace) with Swiss mountain cheese and speck and a glass or two of wine. There is no better way to spend a quiet fall evening. Both Götze and Wolber worked in Burgundy, and their gorgeous German wines hew to the current low-intervention trends of natural yeasts, no use of sulfur, and organic viticulture. Wolber drove me out to one of his vineyards,

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / JANUARY 2020 103 talking geology and climate as we went: “We Exploring have higher mountains that bring cooler air down; that’s why the apples from the Baden-Württemberg mountains are more expensive—this GETTING THERE atmosphere creates the best. And we have The easiest way to get to the Baden wine region a bigger diversity of soil than Burgundy does, and the Black Forest is to fly to Frankfurt and including limestone, granite and volcanic.” pick up a rental car. It’s about a two-hour drive When we arrived at our destination, my only to the town of Baden-Baden, where you can question was, “How the hell do you farm it?” begin your trip.

The slope was probably 60 degrees, a straight STAY plummet off the road to trees and a stream The ultra-luxurious Hotel Traube Tonbach below; it made Huber’s vineyard seem tame by (traube-tonbach.de; doubles from €269), comparison. Wolber laughed. “Right? The guy in the Black Forest town of Baiersbronn, is who owns it, his son nearly pitched over the home to Michelin three-starred restaurant Schwarzwaldstube. For winery touring, the edge one time in his car—he was hanging right hotel/restaurant Adler (adler-lahr.de; doubles there by two wheels. So the guy told me, ‘You from €150), in Lahr, occupies a midpoint want it, it’s yours. I’m never farming that damn between Baden-Baden and Freiburg im place ever again.’” Wolber and the owner struck Breisgau. Rooms are cozy and charming. a deal, and now Wolber and Götze pay €50 a year and a glass of schnapps for the right to EAT AND DRINK In Lahr, Weingut Wöhrle (woehrle- wein.de) is an farm the land. ideal spot for sampling some of Germany’s best Wolber shrugged, looking down over his Pinot Noir before stopping for dinner at the potentially lethal vines. “Sure, it’s crazy here,” aforementioned Adler (adler-lahr.de; mains €14– he said. “But it makes great wine.” €39), which serves traditional dishes like hirschgulasch (venison stew). About a half-hour drive south, stop by modern wineries Shelter (shelterwinery.de) in Kenzingen, Franz Keller (franz-keller.de) in Vogtsburg, and Weingut Huber (weingut-huber.com) in Malterdingen, as well as Vogtsburg’s Winzerhaus Rebstock (franz-keller.de; set menu €34, with wine pairing €55) for braised roast beef and house-made noodles. Explore a selection of natural wines at Wasenhaus (wasenhaus.de) in Staufen, then try regional cheeses at Restaurant Käsestube (restaurant-kaesestube.de;​ mains €6–€23).

TRAVEL ADVISOR Exeter International’s Gwen Kozlowski (gwen@ FRANCE exeterinternational.​ com; from €900 per person for a three-day trip) can arrange private Stuttgart itineraries in the Baden region and throughout Baden- Baden southwestern Germany. — R.I.

RHINE RIVER

Baiersbronn

Lahr

Kenzingen

Malterdingen

Vogtsburg Freiburg im Breisgau G ermany Black Forest

Staufen

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A trail snaked off through the apple orchard in front of me, so I decided to follow it. The rolling tea plantations found around Alishan in the south of Taiwan are perfect for day hikes, so I wasn’t surprised to stumble onto this scene of cheery tea pickers. Gossip about children and husbands carried on the light mountain breeze, but when prodded they were quick to share with me their praise for the oolong leaves they were picking. “The best,” they said. —­ CHRIS SCHALKX

106 JANUARY 2020 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

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