Huka in the Winelands; and Armenia as the next Hot Spot?

Above 2 images © Grande Provence Estate

When I got a call from CH asking me if I wanted to meet with the Manager of Huka Lodge, I have to admit I wasn't too keen. Afterall, I was (and still am) swamped trying to meet the month end deadline of putting all 3 upcoming Little Cream Books to bed. I had just visited Huka Lodge last year, I explained to CH, I didn't think that I needed another presentation. "Just 10 minutes," CH insisted. Begrudgingly, I acquiesced. Of course, surprises always come up. I found out that Huka has a new addition to their stable of ultra-luxe properties (Huka's Owner's Lodge caters to the set that travels with security detail, nannies etc.). Grande Provence is located in Franschhoek, South Africa's Winelands. The Owner's Cottage can accommodate up to five couples. On the estates are the wineries that produce Angels Tears and Grande Provence wines, a restaurant, gallery and private function venue. The size of Grande Provence makes it the perfect venue for a small, intimate family vacation or celebration.

Above 2 images © Grande Provence Estate

So now, with La Residence and Le Quartier Francais also nearby, visitors to Franschhoek are spoilt for choice.

Another interesting meeting today was with an Italian journalist from Milan and her accompanying photographer. Sometimes, you meet people you just click with. And recently, that has been the case. A couple weeks ago, when I met CR, a freelance writer who has just spent the past 6 months travelling throughout Asia to research and write Condé Nast Traveler's 2006 Hot List, it was a meeting of travel minds. We spent hours swapping travel addresses over 2 Starbucks-laced meetings. Likewise, I immediately clicked with Chiara, especially when we got on the topic of skiing in Cortina. Turns out, she grew up skiing Cortina. She was in town on the invitation of Hong Kong Tourism Board checking out the city's spas (including the brand-new, totally revamped Peninsula Spa. I have yet to check it out, but Chiara loved it and placed it above Four Seasons' spa) and had chanced upon our books in G.O.D. But the most fascinating thing about the meeting had nothing to do with our conversation about Little Cream Book or my travel planning company WANLILU Play, but had to do with where she was heading next. When she mentioned Armenia (and when she mentioned that the best coffee outside Italy was to be found in Beirut), my interest immediately piqued. I hadn't really even thought of Armenia as a travel destination, but when she mentioned Armenian architecture (her father is an expert in this field), with its intriguing blend of Roman, Persian and Arab influences, I began to think it would be a fascinating place to visit. So now I'm eagerly awaiting her Armenian travel addresses. But being impatient, I did some research myself and found: Tufenkian Heritage Hotels (with Avan Villa in Yerevan and three other properties in Lake Sevan and Lori in Georgia). As soon as I saw the photo of the Lori property though, I realized that I had just seen a picture of the property in last weekend's FT How to Spend It Special Travel Edition ("A growing tribe of wealthy travellers are signing up for tailor-made trips to 'difficult' parts of the world," reports Sophy Roberts in her article, feeling a bit risky?)! In fact, DY had just sent me a copy of the magazine yesterday and it was sitting at the top of my as-yet unread travel magazines and articles. While I hadn't had time to read through it thoroughly, I did skim all the attractive photos and captions and had some recall. Check it out: the first photo below is of Avan Villa in Yerevan and the second is Avan Dzoraget in Lori.

Above 2 images © Tufenkian Heritage Hotels

Now, are you interested in Armenia?

Four Seasons Eye Candy

One of the fun things about this job is meeting various people from all sorts of luxury hotels. Just had a visit on Monday from the Sales Directors of Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay (Bali), Sayan (Ubud), Langkawi and Chinzan-so (Tokyo). Got an update about their new properties. Although I'd already come across some them -- Four Seasons Damascus, in fact, is mentioned in one of our upcoming books and I had looked into their Gold Triangle property for a corporate client -- I was very happy to hear that FS Maldives Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru will finally reopen in November 2006 (hopefully, no more delays)!. Hendra, from the Bali and Ubud properties, I had met and worked with before, so it was especially nice to see him again. I had a browse through the Langkawi CD Angela left me, all the sun-drenched photographs just made me want to escape the drizzling reality of rainy Hong Kong. But instead, I have to get back to it -- chasing for photos from golf courses we've selected for inclusion in LCB: Golf. Anyway, here's some luscious eye candy (first is Langkawi, second is Golden Triangle and last, but not least, is Maldives Kuda Huraa)...

Above 3 images © Four Seasons Resorts

Post-Typhoon Bliss & Found by a Trufflepig!

Since Wednesday's typhoon no. 3 came and went, we've had amazing weather here -- clear blue skies, cool breeze, sunshine, no haze and amazing visibility. The only other times we usually see this kind of weather is when the factories in southern Guangdong province shut down, like the Labour Day week (1-7 May) or National Day week (1 October). Before the typhoon, I got an sms from AP in Singapore. Move to Singapore, she told me, because she was reading an article in Time about the dire state of pollution in Hong Kong. Given the current situation, if I continued to stay here, "you might as well start smoking and stop exercising". But on the rare days like today, Hong Kong is really beautiful. The verdant jade green of the trees set against a cystal blue sky. It's funny, but everyone is so grateful for clean air and clear visibility. People walk around with smiles on their faces and a new-found spring in their steps. Everything just looks more beautiful. Life is more beautiful. So I just couldn't resist moving my office outside. I've spent the afternoon fixing formatting on the layout for Little Cream Book: Golf. Not the most exciting thing to do, but made much more enjoyable by sitting on the terrace of RED at IFC2. If you look at the picture to the right, it's amazing that you can actually see the white houses perched atop the clear outline of the Peak. I suppose they're all grateful up there that they can actually see to Kowloon side of the harbour today.

On the line of rare and unexpected occurences, yesterday morning, I got an email from a guy called Charlie Scott who was in town after a research trip through SE Asia. He said he had chanced upon WANLILU Play's website and discovered that our two companies do the exact same thing and share the same sensibilities and taste. Normally, in most industries, this is either no big deal (because it's such a common business) or cause for concern (because they're competition). But for me, going through Trufflepig's website was akin to finding a soulmate. For the longest time, we've felt like we've been the only fools to operate a travel planning business by charging only planning fee instead of taking commissions from suppliers and planning every single bespoke trip from scratch rather than tweaking existing packages. We both felt that the old model of travel agents and packages trips did not meet the needs of a growing market of independent travellers who don't want cookie-cutter experiences, whose needs are better serviced by a breed of travel professionals that are willing to devote the time to understand the client's desires as well as to invest time in making new discoveries in various destinations. We both spend a lot of time with our clients to get all the details sorted (how many travel agents will also recommend the right kind of restaurants and make the booking or arrange to have your luggage shipped from point to point during a long trip?), but we also have to spend more time on the road finding the gems, or in Tufflepig's case, the truffles. So Charlie and I spent a good part of our conversation swapping travel addresses and sharing experiences. Anyway, I hope I'll continue to have such surprising meetings. It's exciting to see that the acceptance and demand for bespoke travel planning services is growing. I'm starting to see clear, blue skies...

Dream houses

Villa Malaparte 2
Originally uploaded by picacch.

I came across this beautiful picture of Casa Malaparte while finalizing Little Cream Book: Architecture. I still remember the first time I saw a picture of this house in the 16 July, 2002 Sunday New York Times Magazine (it was an article by Herbert Muschamp). I was absolutely stunned by its beauty. And even today, after having seen many different versions of this picture, it still takes my breath away each time. But funnily enough, BKS was just telling me on Saturday that she has bad memories from staying at the house during her AA (Architectural Association) student days. Apparently, her tutor locked her and her other classmates in the house for days to measure each part of the house for her tutor's research. I thought it ironic since Malaparte actually means "he of the bad place". So it was fitting that BKS should have memories of Casa Malaparte as a "bad place".

Another dream house is Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, which unfortunately, did not make it into this edition of LCB: Architecture. I spent a whole afternoon absolutely entranced as I walked from room to room of this amazing house set in the absolutely unexceptional suburb of Paris.

Thinking about health

Was talking to LP about summer holiday plans today. "I've decided I'm going to take it easy and go on a real holiday," she said. She explained that she just found out that a competitor in her field (head-hunting) just passed away at the age of 29. She had a brain tumour. Just within these past 6 months, I have heard of 1 other FoF (friend of friend) undergo surgery to remove a brain tumour, 1 FoF in a coma from a brain heomorrage, 1 F pass away from liver cancer, 1 FoF diagoned with lymphoma. These are just the ones ranging in age from 23-45 years old. What's going on? It seems that cancers and brain tumours are claiming the younger set. It's not just LP that's thinking it's all stress-related. All these stories and my own health scare got me thinking about researching a Little Cream Book on the cream of medical institutions around the world. But what we need isn't just the best places for medical diagnosis and treatment (by the time we need to seek medical treatment, it's already too late!), we need to find ways that will help us live healthier more balanced lives as well so as to prevent the onset of disease. Well, I hope to find some of these places during my research.

Disappointing Private Kitchens

Went to Le Mieux Bistro, a private kitchen (unlicensed restaurants) on the 4th floor of an industrial building in Chai Wan (the opposite end of town, a 30-45 minute drive from Central). I had heard a few positive reviews about the place and decided to check it out. The 6-course, HK$700 (not including Champagne and wine which we brought) per head dinner was a disappointment. The dinner left me thinking about all the other places where HK$700 would have gotten me a much more satisfying meal! The 6-course set menu, while not bad, was nothing out of the ordinary. While the ingredients were fresh, the dishes (Tian of lobster, scallop and salmon; tomato consomme; grilled king prawn; pasta with spicy minced pork; mustard seed coated rack of lamb; baked turbot and totally unmemorable desserts) were uninspiring. Definitely not worth the trek all the way out to Chai Wan to dine in an industrial building where the ambiance is also very ordinary (white table cloths, simple place settings), very unimaginative. At HK$300/head, the dinner would have been acceptable, but not at HK$700/head. I could have had an excellent meal at Cipriani with great ambiance in a central location!

A couple weeks ago, I had dinner at Bonheur (same owners of non-defunct Plats), a private kitchen in Sheung Wan. While I was not bowled over by the meal, it is much better value in comparison to Le Mieux Bistro. What I find worrying is that the whole private kitchen concept has evolved into a much more commercialized venture, no different than a normal restaurant, but charging unjustifiably high prices by riding on the "private kitchen" concept. It seems private kitchens have gone the way of boutique/designer hotels. Gone is the passion and soul that differentiated these small ventures and allowed them to create surprising culinary experiences. These new private kitchens deliver stale, hollow dining concepts in low-rent locations.

Fortunately, there's still Xi Yan, Tribute (which is now a proper restaurant) and 131.

Maggie Q: Watch Your Language!

Watched Mission Impossible 3 the other night. The funniest moment in the film was when Maggie Q, having just "accidentally" spilt red wine all over Philip Seymour Hoffman's white tuxedo shirt, blurts out: "ngo ho lun chun ah!" in what's supposed to be Cantonese. Cantonese has got at least 7-9 different tones per sound, each meaning totally different things. In the context of the film, Maggie Q, speaking in the correct tones, would have been saying she's really clumsy. What came out instead, very clearly I might add, was: I'm so f*&@ing dumb!

How could all the translators miss that? Or was it Maggie Q or some scriptwriter's inside joke to all of us Canto speakers??

Booking Your Next Life or Career Experience

Was having dinner at Bonheur with a couple of girl friends. In the middle of dinner, MK suddenly said, "Why don't you organize a boot camp? You know, climbing walls and all that, like Police Academy." LP chimed in: "Yeah, but with luxury accommodation, spa and good food at the end of the day. And of course cute instructors."

It was really interesting, because NY Times had just done an article on Monday about the new trend in leisure travel: travellers want to learn something. Actually, I don't think it's anything new, but what is new is that more and more travel companies are offering more short-term, niche learning experiences that will fit into a week-long holiday. We often tailor such trips for our clients. Single, female travellers like cooking or yoga holidays. Some with more time learn a new language or brush up on a rusty one. On ski trips, we book private snowboard instructors for skiers curious to convert. Others want a wine expert to guide them through tastings around wine regions. We've always tried to build in learning experiences into the trips we create for our clients. So when the girls suggested the boot camp idea, I told them to let me know the size of their group and budget and I'd create a boot camp experience for them. We already brainstormed a few destination ideas -- Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Malaysia.

In a similar vein, but a bit more new is the idea of trying a new career on your holiday. I came across Vacation Vocations in a recent issue of Business Week. This company, I thought, is brilliant! I know so many burnt-out professionals -- lawyers, bankers, accountants, architects -- who want a change in career, but for one reason or another have not gotten up enough nerve to make the break for a new career. Some aren't even sure what their dream job might be and that's why VV's concept is brilliant, because it allows people to sample different careers over the course of a holiday. While it's not enough time to really get to know the industry and gain industry expertise, it is enough time for a person to figure out whether they would like to spend more of their time in a particular line of work. I think this idea would be great for Hong Kong teenagers, who are pressured by parents to go for the "safe" professional careers. Yet, most people don't know what career options exist and which best match their interests and strengths. If teenagers were given more exposure to find inspiring careers that they can be passionate about and see how people can make a living doing what they love, then perhaps students would be much more motivated and would make better educational and career choices that would lead them to be happier and more productive adults. After having had a browse through their offereings, I thought it would be kind of fun to spend a couple days shadowing TV producers in NYC. There are a lot of other interesting opportunities -- advertising, fashion, dude ranching, catering, hospitality, music, the list goes on. All you need is time to check them out (and money to pay for it of course), but it could be a truly life-changing holiday.

Generous Three; delinquent Lane Crawford

My Three epic is finally over. I got my sim card in Singapore and managed to reactivate it without problems while I was there. Billy, the Three Supreme customer service rep, called me again yesterday to make sure everything was in order with my new sim card and told me Three would foot the bill for the DHL charges (I had actually told them I would be more than happy to pay for the charges in order for them to speed up the process). So this is one happy ending leading to one customer retained.

Another reason why SMEs have got it rough, but BIG companies have got it good: With small suppliers such as ourselves financing Lane Crawford (as well as contributing to their revenues in the meantime), how can they not make money??!! We delivered an order of Little Cream Books to Lane Crawford in late last year on C.O.D. terms. But 4.5 months later and still counting, we still haven't received our payment. After months of calls to the buyer, all I've gotten are full voicemail boxes while she has been on buying trips, stories of personnel changes in the accounts department and many "sorry, you'll get it next week" replies. Many "next weeks" have passed and still no cheque. What Lane Crawford owes us is small change to them (less than what I'd have to drop for a Chloé top, a Lanvin dress or a couple pairs of the Christian Louboutin heels I've been eyeing). I even joked to the buyer after she called me in for a private sale that she should just let me walk out with the same amount of merchandise to clear their debts faster. The amount I've spent in their stores since December, more than makes up for what they owe us. So, in protest (and it makes me very sad to have to do this), no more spending at Lane Crawford until I receive payment!!