Unique Asia Hotels by Cynthia Rosenfeld
Featured Hotel in Phnom Penh
Raffles Le Royal Hotel
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Travel is not just about the destination anymore. While a comfortable place to stay makes any vacation more enjoyable, increasingly people want the hotel to be the focus of their journey, staying on and around the grounds throughout the duration of their down time. These exceptional experiences need not be pricey to create priceless memories. Here are some unique spots around Asia worth waking up in for a few nights.
CAMBODIA
Shinta Mani:
Guests at Shinta Mani make the ethical decision to stay at this eighteen room inn named for “the gem that provides for all” in Sanskrit, because of its much-lauded Institute of Hospitality entirely funded by room tariffs as well as private donations. Eighty Khmer youth applied for the inaugural class of 18 in 2004, including one young woman desperate for a skill that would help earn her way out of her abusive family. “Looking at her, I realized that’s why we were doing this,” says Paul Hutt who was the school’s first chef recalls. “Now she’s working in a local restaurant. This is a life-altering place.”
Knai Bang Chatt:
After France’s departure from Indochina but before the tragic killings by the Khmer Rouge, wealthy Khmer industrialists erected Art Deco coastal mansions and casinos in Kep and Sihanoukville. A few years ago, two traveling Belgians spotted some of these crumbling relics and rescued four to create this eleven room air-conditioned waterfront retreat three hours’ drive south from Phnom Penh on the Gulf of Thailand, including the four-bedroom Blue Villa said to be designed by Vann Molyvann, the renowned Khmer pupil of Le Corbusier. Minimalist chic interiors, alluring roof decks, beachfront canopy day beds built for two and a waterfront dining space create a shabby chic retreat with deep historical roots.
INDIA
Barefoot at Havelock:
There are beach hotels, and then there's Barefoot at Havelock... Two hours in the air from Calcutta or Mumbai, another hour’s boat ride and a thirty minutes bounce along muddy village tracks delivers the lucky beachcomber to the eco-resort on one of 572 Andaman and Nicobar Islands strung out like grandmother’s pearls along the western edge of the Andaman Sea. Conical thatch roof cottages built with rapidly regenerating bamboo and palm fronds blend seamlessly into the postcard perfect environment along the mile plus white sand stretch with swaying coconut palms extending out from dense primary rainforest. Serious divers make the pilgrimage here for nearby dive sites filled with lionfish, napoleon wrasse and triggerfish though nothing beats swimming alongside Rajan, the hotel’s male tusker elephant.
HONG KONG
The Eden:
Not even a full night is required to enjoy the unique pleasures of Hong Kong’s first upscale “love hotel”. Conveniently located near the perennially trendy neighborhood of Lan Kwai Fong, this 24-room property offers two and three hour sessions around the clock, plus overnight rates for those wishing to wake up together. Slightly seedy hallways lead to elegant soundproof suites offering plasma televisions, flatteringly low lights and European linens on the rose strewn beds. Spotless bathrooms are well stocked with Crabtree & Evelyn products while the red velvet boudoir-like Super VIP room boasts a double Jacuzzi as well.
INDONESIA
Nihiwatu:
Only something inordinately seductive would lure geographically blessed Southern Californians off their own sun kissed shores to this ten bungalow retreat overlooking the Indian Ocean 250 miles east of Bali. For serious surfers, many of whom make that transcontinental trek annually, “God’s Left” is the main attraction. Lethal for beginners, these left breaking waves crest off the resort’s outstretched reef, reserved for maximum of nine surfers at a time. The laid back but luxurious eco-oriented resort overlooks a 2.5 mile caramel sand curve cosseted inland by lush jungle and bountiful rice terraces on Sumba, a Spice Island first mentioned in the 16th century by a traveling companion of Magellan. Non-surfers can swim under languid waves and head by deluxe speedboat to pristine paradise coves of sun bleached sand and turquoise waters.
JAPAN
Benesse Art Site Naoshima:
Art pilgrims deem the six hour train-bus-boat trek from Osaka or Tokyo to remote Naoshima Island in Japan’s Inland Sea time well spent for around the clock access to original works by Cy Twombly, Hiroshi Sugimoto and 100 Live and Die, a roomful of Bruce Nauman's blinking neon contemporary commentary inside the Tadao Ando designed Benesse House, also home to ten art-filled guestrooms and a gourmet cafe. Last year, an adjacent 41-room property, named Park opened with a bijou spa as did the eight suite Beach, located directly above the waterfront. All these cutting edge edifices are contained within the grounds of a national park where art pops up along the wooded trails. Spring and summer are the best times to take the plunge into Cai's seaside work, "Cultural Melting Bath," a standard Jacuzzi set amid lifelike limestone rocks imported from China.
SRI LANKA
Tea Trails:
Tea may not sound synonymous with travel but this collection of former planters’ bungalows set among Sri Lanka’s lush highland estates infuses the classic brew with new experiences even for committed coffee drinkers. Dilmah, the leading producer of this country’s so-called “green gold” reinvented four sprawling planters bungalows built between 1890 and 1939 as an innovative resort offering a taste of colonial life without the hardship. Activities at this 4,000 foot elevation three hours from Colombo include mountain biking, kayaking, white water rafting and golf plus scenic walking trails between the properties. To accompany the single estate Watte range, comparable to fine wines, chefs create delicious British classics and Sri Lankan curries.
Ulpotha
A favorite for globetrotting yogis willing to forgo electricity to find their inner light, this unusual village near Kandy three hours north of Sri Lanka’s international airport is not for everyone. The in-house Ayurvedic physician recommends the four week detox program but can tailor treatments to the one week minimum stay during which time guests live in unexpectedly lavish mud huts with high thread count sheets and outdoor showers.
Morning and sunset yoga are led by some of London’s top teachers (resident monkeys have been known to take part), all meals are organic including the wine but the real draw is the holistic spa, best known for the funky steam bath reminiscent of a dim sum basket. Massages in the thatched roof mud hut and outdoor herbal baths balance more invasive Ayurvedic treatments like enemas and blood-letting but those in search of a more passive program can explore the palm fringed jungle or just watch the organic red rice grow.
TAIWAN
Villa 32:
Landscape worthy of Chinese scroll painting unfurls on approach up Yangming Mountain, a long dormant volcano known for its sulfur fissures and natural springs on the outskirts of Taipei where this ultra modern private home turned five suite retreat boasts private hot spring baths that overlook the mist covered mountain. At this popular detox spot for Asia’s boldface names, spa therapists train in the ancient Chinese practice of qi-gong to ease sore muscles back into harmony and Evian flows freely throughout the hotel, a particularly decadent indulgence for brushing teeth. Hermes silverware adds cache to gourmet European dishes and the two Japanese tatami suites boast the same duvets as on the futons of Japan’s Imperial family.
Like the sound of these places? Check out our full collection of luxury hotels in Asia.