137 Pillars House in Chiang Mai
137 Pillars House opened in Chiang Mai 10 years ago, built around a stunningly beautiful, immaculately restored 19th-century building that was once the residence of the director of the East Borneo Company (historically, in central Thailand the number of pillars supporting a house was directly related to the owner’s wealth and status; clearly a big man here, then). The hotel’s 30 suites extend out and around the main building in manicured gardens, presenting a variety of configurations and palettes, but all are filled with silk and rattan, ornate Thai encaustic floor tiles and wooden doors lacquered in turquoise, red and lime green. . The dining room at 137 Pillars House The hotel’s pool suite The bar and restaurants are in the original house, with its unvarnished walls and original carved ceilings. Frangipani smell all over the place and the Ping River is a five minute walk away, as are galleries, temples and some very good coffee shops. Feel-good bonus: the owners are a year into a fundraising partnership with the park’s Elephant Nature rescue-rehabilitation sanctuary, which to date has generated nearly $45,000 in support, mostly in donations from hotel guests. 137pillarshotels.com, from around £300 A house of charm in Luang Prabang Whether it’s because it’s on a tiny peninsula whose geography has prevented extensive expansion or because the much-hyped high-speed train from China’s Yunnan province has just started, Luang Prabang in Laos has retained a magic that’s a rare commodity in the region today. It’s tiny and super passable. It’s sleepy – right now, in the monsoon season, you might sit for half an hour at Le Banneton Café, spreading your coffee cream and croissant (both so perfect you could be in the sixth arrondissement of Paris) and see one, maybe two tuk-tuks or cars go by. And this far north, the Mekong is its swiftest, most beautiful self. Luang Prabang is also home to Satri House, a small guesthouse that is a great atmosphere. The gardens at Satri House A maze of stairwells and corridors, garden passages and terraces, spread over a large private plot on the edge of the historic city. The rooms are filled with antiques and framed folk textiles. Many have private balconies. locally produced silks cover the beds. The pool, lined with jade green tiles, is shaded by fan palm trees in the late afternoon. Drinks are served at the covered terrace bar next to it, with its busy 1930s chairs and tables. The library is a perfectly preserved piece of Indochina – original editions, tall windows, swirling dust stains and all. “Magnificent” is a big promise, but please take my word for it: like Luang Prabang itself, this place completely enchants. satrihouse.com, from around £100 Small Bhutanese lodge with a big atmosphere The view from the terrace at Gangtey Lodge, Bhutan © Gangtey Lodge The big Asian news for September is that on the 23rd, Bhutan reopens to foreign visitors. The increased tourist tax has caused quite a stir: now $200 per person per day, which is about a 300 percent increase over pre-pandemic levies, is steep. But justifiably so – it all goes towards building the sector sustainably, which means protecting living culture and heritage, as well as investing in projects that will help maintain Bhutan’s carbon negative status. Near the center of the country, overlooking the Phobjikha Valley, is Gangtey Lodge, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next year. Owners Brett Melzer and Khin Omar Win first came to Bhutan nearly 20 years ago, ostensibly to create a satellite operation of Balloons Over Bagan, their long-standing experiential-travel outfit in Myanmar. But they fell in love with what they found and spent three years building their 12-room home, extending the same ambition they had realized in Myanmar to create opportunities – education, upliftment – for the local community. The entrance to Gangtey Lodge © Gangtey Lodge It combines farmhouse suites (like spacious studios, with roll-top bathtubs that stretch over picture windows and views of the valley) and rooms in the main guest house that have access to its large terrace (more breathtaking views). You can have a private blessing ceremony with a monk from Gangtey Monastery or go birding – aim for October or November when thousands of black-necked cranes arrive from the Tibetan Plateau and settle in the valley for mating season, a natural a sight matched by few others in this part of the world. gangteylodge.com, from $600 with full board Singapore’s hidden gem in the rainforest The exterior of Villa Samadhi in Singapore Singapore is a city that loves the vertical and the new. At its western end, however – beyond the island of Sentosa, hidden in the Labrador nature reserve – there is a little bit of charm. While many locals will be familiar with Tamarind Hill, the sweet (and quite tasty) destination Thai restaurant housed in a gracious black-and-white rainforest mansion here, fewer may be aware of Villa Samadhi, the 20-room boutique hotel in the colonial guardhouse next door ( the Reserve was a British military enclave until after the Second World War). The Villa Samadhi dive The period interiors of the villa As befits a 120-year-old building, the layout of no one room is similar to another. likewise the design, for which the owners spent years sourcing four-posters and trunks, maps and prints (what they couldn’t find by scouring dealers and markets is custom-designed). It’s one of the most unique places and situations in the city – not for the businessman who needs easy access to the CBD, perhaps, but with a character of its own (and 100 Thai and Shan recipes at Tamarind Hill, essentially the hotel’s restaurant, next door ). villasamadhi.com.sg, from around £198 East Bali’s stealth all-star resort Alila Mangosteen seen from the sea On the southeast coast of Bali, near Candidasa, is Alila Manggis. It’s neither the most overtly authentic of the hotels here (that, I suppose, would be Hotel Tugu, with its grand heritage houses and faithful designs), nor the oldest (that’s probably the Tandjung Sari, opened in 1962 and is a famous supporter of David Bowie, Mick Jagger and multiple Suhartos). But Alila Manggis is a favorite of many people who know this island well, for several reasons. The beachfront location, for starters, in a part of Bali that has somehow retained a lot of its character (black magic is still around, as is the royal architectural heritage at Puri Agung Garangasem Palace in nearby Amlapura). One of the low rise bungalows at Alila Manggis The hotel’s pedigree, too: it was designed by the late great Australian architect Kerry Hill, with its huge square pool, low-slung bungalow rooms and open-air restaurant (where the food is historically excellent). The spa consists of two open-air suites, which stretch out over the water so you can hear the waves kiss the rocks below you while your lomi-lomi masseur transports you into a state of bliss. It’s beautiful when service, food, atmosphere and culture merge so seamlessly, at around £130 a night. alilahotels.com, from around £130
