Long before Laos became ‘Laos’, the South-east Asian country was known as Lan Xang. It translates as ‘the land of a million elephants’, the name given to the kingdom in 1353 by former king Fa Ngum.
In Buddhist cultures, ringing a bell, a gong or cymbal is said to be a way to make an offering to the Buddha.
Kuala Lumpur’s a city of towers. It’s iconic 452-metre high Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, until Taipei 101 in Taiwan and other subsequent constructions eclipsed them.
Cultural diversity is a great thing. The more people and cultures you have living in a place, the more knowledge, ideas, customs, beliefs and viewpoints you have, all of them bouncing off each other and forming new combinations, whether that’s in art, politics, literature, music or food.
Rome, famously, wasn’t built in a day. The new Apurva Kempinski Bali, the latest addition to Bali’s hotel scene, also took considerably longer than a day.
While some hotels pride themselves on being at the cutting edge of art, design and architecture, a showcase of the future, that isn’t for everyone.
If you talk to anyone who visited Bali 20 years ago, they’ll tell you how much the paradise island has changed. It’s still a beautiful, relaxing place to spend time, one of my favorites.
Modern cities often move at a rapid pace. That isn’t something many locals in Kuala Lumpur would say about the traffic, which can be sluggish. But the Malaysian capital, known as KL, is one of Asia’s major hub cities and financial powerhouses.
Bali is an easy place to be indulgent. Around the coast and across the island, there are plenty of bars, restaurants and hotels where you can laze around, drink cocktails by the pool, and over-eat each day.
My ears pop somewhere around the 40th floor. That´s not a sensation you usually get as you make your way to check-in, but the Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur is more of a high-altitude experience than your average city hotel.
From the tree-covered limestone karsts to the deep blues of the sun-hit ocean, there’s no shortage of color across Krabi, a province in south-west Thailand.
The island of Zanzibar has had a spicy history. Out in the Indian ocean, off the coast of Tanzania, it has for centuries been a key trading post, attracting Arab traders, Portuguese sailors, Persian settlers, British colonists, Bantu people and more, all leaving their influences on everything from architecture to food.
Sitting by the fireside in a quiet lounge inside the Isle of Eriska hotel, it’s hard to imaging a more classically Scottish room.
The pleasure of a stay at Summer Lodge Country House Hotel starts several hours before you arrive. The drive from London to the south-west England country of Dorset goes past Stonehenge and, in early summer, takes in rolling hills and colorful countryside, with thick forests and fields of bright yellow rapeseed.
The lagoons, canals, mangroves and jungle of Mayakoba, a luxury resort area on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, are home to around 250 bird species, from herons to eagles, and around 100 other creatures, including turtles, iguanas and small crocodiles.
