A slice of heaven in Hoi An

Tag Archives: travel writing

By Luke Heilbuth

The air is warm and humid, and the sky over Ha My Beach, Hoi An, is turning purple. I’m sipping chilled South Australian pinot noir as the sun falls from view, and our exuberant Vietnamese waiter says, “Happy merry Christmas!”

We’re at the bar of the Nam Hai, the most luxurious oceanfront resort in Vietnam. It’s among the top ten resorts in Asia, according to the latest edition of Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards survey. The seven-year-old beach retreat, ranked twelfth in the 2013 version, climbed two spots this year, marking its highest ranking to date.

For my wife and me, it’s easy to see why. Sixty one-bedroom villas and 40 pool villas occupy 35 hectares of landscaped gardens. The staff are as friendly as any in the world, and our room is like a piece of heaven with its en-suite bath, enormous bed and deep mahogany finish. Best of all, there’s unobstructed views across the East Sea.

The pinot noir continues to go down easily as we enjoy an Indian-inspired meal at the resort’s excellent main restaurant. Walking back to our villa, the sky is black and filled with stars. A large gentleman ambles alongside, his face red with good cheer. He turns to enter his villa and in a rich Scottish baritone booms, to no-one in particular, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.” Happy Christmas indeed.

It’s not for organisers who prioritise rock-bottom rates above everything else. But in my, and many others’, opinion, the five-star Nam Hai, Hoi An, is an exceptional destination. And if breathtaking luxury and marvellous food are prime reasons for seeking a really special venue for a meeting, wedding or other event, to celebrate a major corporate success or special occasion, for example, it’s worth considering.

Located on a 35-hectare section of Ha My Beach 30 kilometres south of Da Nang, with its own beautiful stretch of pristine white sand, it features 60 villas and 40 pool villas, each occupying its own section of landscaped gardens and with views of the sea and the nearby Cham Islands.There’s a 75-square-metre meetings facility, The Boardroom, which can be set up for meetings of 14 to 40 people. The 90-square-metre “Open Lounge” can accommodate groups of 30 to 66, or up to 100 at a reception. With brides in mind, it also offers wedding packages.

Like one of the spectacular dishes served at the main eatery (“The Restaurant”), Hoi An – a town of 88,000 in Central Vietnam – was shaped by the fusion of Asian and European influences. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Faifo, as it was then known, played host to Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and French settlements vying for a piece of Vietnam’s lucrative silk and spice trade. All left their cultural mark. In 1999, UNESCO listed Hoi An’s “Ancient Town”as World Heritage due to its “outstanding material manifestation of the fusion of cultures over time”.

On one of our days spent here, among many other distractions – which include golf, tennis, badminton, basketball, swimming, gym, shopping, massage and so on – I have a full day’s class at the Red Bridge Cooking School to distract me, a Christmas gift from a friend.

The class, which costs USD45++ (shared) or USD55 (private) for a half-day guided tourand cooking session, begins with a walk through an organic herb garden. Soonwe reach the outdoor kitchen to prepare our food. Vietnamese cuisine is practically fat-free, relying on fresh herbs and vegetables, as well as dousings of nuoc mam, a sauce distilled from the carcasses of fermented fish. It sounds hellish but tastes heavenly.

Over the course of several hours, the guide teaches us how to make clay pot fish with fresh dill, grilled chicken and banana flower salad, and the national dish – a delicious beef and noodle soup,pho bo.

And Hoi An is a fashion-lover’s delight: hundreds of shops sell fitted wool and cashmere suits, skirts, shirts and dresses, as well as shoes, at scarcely-to-be-believed prices. It’s couture carnage as we scuttle from tailor to tailor. Two suits, three jackets, six shirts, two pants and six pairs of underpants later we’re exhausted and looking forward to returning to the haven of the resort.

“In the hotel business, it’s difficult to maintain an edge, let alone get better with age,” says Anthony Gill, the Nam Hai’s General Manager, referring to its latest award. “But it’s possible with passion. This accolade is testament to that. It speaks volumes about our team, owners and management company who collectively always seek ways to improve the guest experience.”

From USD600++ per night (low season) and USD670++ per night (high season)

Organisers reserving a minimum of three consecutive nights can save up to 25% on the best available rate, says a resort spokesperson. “You’ll enjoy two set meals, an indulgent Vietnamese massage that’ll leave you relaxed and other benefits to create the perfect extended stay.” Other special offers can be viewed on the website.

Email: reservations@thenamhai.com.

Resort microsite: www.thenamhaihoian.com.

Luke Heilbuth was a paying guest of the Nam Hai.

In the Ratchaprasong shopping district of the Thai capital, my wife and I once stopped to cross a busy intersection when she felt someone rummaging in her handbag. “Hey!” She swung round to confront the thief.

She found herself facing an elephant, accompanied by its human handler, digging its trunk into her bag, looking for something to eat.

On my most recent visit I realised there’s usually something in Bangkok that surprises or confronts, and it’s not always the traffic. But the residents are used to it. Every day its 14.5 million people do battle with serious urban overcrowding, not to mention pockets of shouty, occasionally violent demonstrators – who for the time being are kept quiet by the imposition of martial law.

Yet with a smile and a shrug, the vast majority carry on working, making a buck, eating, drinking and having fun. To the Thais the country’s cultural, political, diplomatic, commercial, financial and religious epicentre is known as Krung Thep, City of Angels. It welcomed more visitors (16 million) in 2013 than any other city in the world, according to Time magazine.

The Ratchaprasong district lies in the hyperactive heart of the city. One of the buzziest shopping, entertainment and restaurant precincts, it’s also home to a clutch of beautiful hotels. When you consider the quality of the accommodation, meetings facilities, service, food and entertainment on offer, these are ridiculously cheap.

For me one of the most remarkable is the Marriott-owned Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong, with 322 rooms and suites, where local glitterati are routinely photographed at functions, and which has nearly 20,000 square feet of meeting and events facilities – as well as a special car lift to carry automobiles up to exhibition space on the first floor.

The five-year-old hotel is a balm for the senses. The lobby is a spectacular place of shimmering marble and glass-and-chrome fittings, with muted lighting and dark teak alternating with pink to create a welcoming, unusual space. As you’d expect in a five-star property, there’s a fine spa, a state-of-the-art gym, full-service business centre and bunch of dining options, including high-end Italian and Chinese. If you choose you can laze in the indoor pool high up in the hotel, overlooking the city.

The ballroom can accommodate 600 and there are dedicated event planners onsite. It’s close to the Chit Lom Skytrain station (the super-efficient transit system) and upscale shopping at Gaysorn, Zen, Central World, Siam Paragon and the new futuristic Central Embassy mall. “The location is perfect,” says Wanpen Chanthariyab (pictured, left), Director of Marketing Communications.

“In many hotels you have to get a cab to get anywhere; here everything’s where you want it.” And importantly for Bangkok, there are four parking levels on site, according to Soo Oftana (pictured, centre), Director of Sales and Marketing.

From USD108 per night

How much will a room set you back here? An online check reveals Internet specials starting from 3,500 baht (USD108, AUD120) per night, a terrific deal considering what’s on offer. “The rooms were outstanding . . . the location is great . . . the staff is very friendly . . . and the best thing was [the] price,” writes one online reviewer. “Excellent value for money. I’ll certainly be back.”

The marketing folks are reluctant to publicise meeting or conference rates, saying they’re subject to negotiation. But one of the best times for good events deals is the last two weeks of December, holiday season in Thailand, according to Sukhum Trongcharoen (above, right), Director of Sales.

Email: wanpen.c@renaissancehotels.com

“Just press the icon on this little screen if you need me, sir,” says Maico, the young butler. “We’re on call 24 hours and can sort everything out for you.” He ushers me into an ornate, sprawling suite that looks like a gambler’s den on a Mississippi steamboat.

The pile carpets are rich burgundy and the sofas, chairs and covers on the bed are deep ruby red. The lamplit walls are yellow and ochre, offset by brown drapes and side tables in dark wood.

The gambling-themed décor is appropriate for the 172-suite Maxims Hotel at Resorts World, Manila. A short drive from Manila’s main airport, Maxims is part of a complex that includes a 30,000-square-metre casino as well as two other giant hotels – a 342-room Marriott and a 712-room budget property, the Remington.

Throw in a four-level shopping mall, theatre, ballroom, conference and meeting rooms, restaurants and cinemas and you have a facility that’s so enormous it seems like it’d take all day to explore. (I walked round a great deal, and never got to see it all).

Yet my “deluxe” suite at Maxims, at 72 square metres – bigger than most one-bedroomed apartments – is the smallest accommodation on offer here. The biggest is a 652-square-metre villa, The Mansion.

“Maxims is the first all-suite luxury hotel and Resorts World is the first integrated resort in the country,” explains John Hagamann (pictured, right, with colleagues), International Travel and Trade Sales Officer for the complex.

Each room is assigned a butler to attend to guests’ wants and whims, from their travel itineraries to spa bookings or finding them a dentist in an emergency. And it has the latest in high-tech hotel technology. For instance the big flat-screen TV can convert into a PC monitor that you can operate remotely while lounging in bed.

“Casino visitors are a vital part of our business but we cater for everyone, from MICE visitors to leisure travellers and others en-route to somewhere else looking to spend a night at a really attractive, reasonably priced hotel near the airport,” says John.

The Resorts World complex, jointly owned by Alliance Global Group and Genting Hong Kong, is set to expand further to maximise the use of its 14-hectare property that flanks Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The expansion will take in a three-storey convention centre that can accommodate up to 2,500 people at any time, and two more hotels, a Hilton and a Sheraton, while both Maxims and Marriott here will add more luxury suites.

Suites from $335 a night

The rack rate for deluxe suites starts at PhP14,800++ (USD335) a night, and they can accommodate up to four people. But travel agents and casino guests can expect to pay less than that, says John Hagamann. Rooms at the Remington Hotel next door, part of the same complex, start from as low as PhP1,000 ($25) a night.

Contact Maxims at reservation@rwmanila.com.

The Siteseer was a guest of Maxims Resorts World, Manila.

The Kalima Resort and Spa is an imposing multi-level complex that sprawls over a jungly hillside on the Thai island of Phuket. From inside the lofty foyer – and most of the 190 rooms – visitors look out over the sparkling blue waters of Patong Bay.

When I arrived at the two-year-old property on a warm day recently, I sat in the lobby for a moment to catch my breath and mop my brow. Seconds later, a smiling staff member brought me a scented refresher towel and chilled glass of lemon-grass cordial. I’d be happy to spend a few days here, just unwinding, I thought.

Plenty of events organisers are thinking the same thing, according to the Kalima resort’s marketers, with delegates in the past year from countries including Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, the US, Singapore and Australia. One of the main attractions is the flexible, hi-tech conference hall, which has a maximum capacity of 220, theatre-style, (130 classroom-style and 80 for banquets) and can be used for any kind of gathering, big or small. Its plug-in-and-play laptop facilities and high-tech gadgetry make it useful for video conferencing, seminars and other events that require folks attending to be connected.

But as an old mentor of mine once observed, most people remember the fun they had at conferences and nothing else, and the apres-conference facilities here are very appealing. Some rooms have their own private infinity pools, and the main swimming pool area is a vast space with panoramic views of the sea. The hotel has its own nine-hole mini-golf course and a private “beach,” an exclusive, elevated stretch of sand, and plenty of dining options. It has its own luxury spa and is a short drive from the big tourist hub of Patong with its bustling nightlife.

Meeting and accommodation rates are flexible and depend on the season, according to Senior Sales Manager Minako Koreeda. The time for the best rates is April through to October.

From AUD105

Daily accommodation rates vary according to the season and room types, but start from just over 3,000 baht, which is about AUD105. The full-day meeting package, including lunch, two coffee breaks, organising support and all the usual technological bells and whistles (and floral arrangements) is USD66 a day per person. The half-day rate is USD55. Yet more evidence that Thailand is terrific value for money.

The sky over El Nido is overcast, scoured by the tail end of a typhoon that’s passed and headed north. I’m the only passenger in the Filipino trigger boat, whose bamboo outriggers scud over a smooth, slate-coloured sea.

Having left a wharf near a small airfield, the boat chugs through a chain of extraordinary islands sculpted into strange, alien shapes. Towering limestone cliffs shoot dramatically from the ocean, their crowns covered in foliage, their bases fringed by white sand beaches and palm trees.

“That’s Lagen Island,” says Jake Lindo, the young boat guide, pointing ahead to a string of cabins in the distance, suspended over the turquoise waters of a small lagoon.

This resort on Lagen, one of 45 islands and islets in the environmentally protected area of El Nido, will be my sanctuary for the next two nights, and I find myself delighted at the prospect. For decades I’ve wanted to visit this place, widely acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful destinations in the Philippines and, finally, I’m going to experience it.

As I step ashore, a group of the resort staff are lined up to sing me a welcome and a cool drink is thrust into my hand. “Please, leave only your footprints here and take away only memories,” says one who shows me to my room. It’s a timber-lined, air-conditioned space set against an old-growth rainforest whose trees, vines and leaves loom over the roof. My balcony overlooks the resort’s big freshwater pool and al-fresco dining area, beyond which the lagoon, lined with more bungalows and fringed with mangroves, shimmers in the evening light.

This tropical resort in the north of the big Philippine island of Palawan is every bit as good as I’d hoped it would be. It’s not just the other-worldliness of the environment here that makes it outstanding; the genuine warmth and obligingness of the Filipino staff is a tonic for anyone seeking a break from workaday routine – as I discovered.

In recognition of the value of its ecosystem, the Philippine government declared El Nido to be a protected area in 1998. But, interestingly, it only became internationally renowned as a tourist destination around 1979, when a dive boat broke down one night, forcing the crew to drop anchor in an inlet.

The next day the divers woke to find themselves surrounded by sparkling sea, white beaches “and a series of magnificently sculpted jade islands,” according to one story. Since then it’s gained further recognition thanks to movies and TV shows.

The final scene of the film “Bourne Legacy” was shot here. (Watch the great scene at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWt-pPn5rS0.)

Lagen’s is one of three island resort facilities operated in El Nido by one company, El Nido Resorts. The other two are set on nearby islands Miniloc and Pangulasian.

The food, usually served in buffets in the main restaurant or, on special days, at poolside, is adequate and plentiful, and there’s a terrific spa, with massage services starting at around AUD30. A plethora of activities from scuba diving to kayaking and guided eco-tours are available. For me though, one of the most agreeable was sitting at the poolside bar at dusk, ice cold San Miguel beer in hand, watching the sun sink into the ocean.

From USD250 per person sharing

Like its sister resorts on Miniloc and Pangulasian, Lagen caters for weddings, meetings, team-building and other corporate events, with a minimum two nights’ stay required. The offer starts with the use of the accommodation for two at PhP 22,000.00 (about USD500; ie $250 per person) per night. That includes breakfast, boat transfers and use of the resort’s recreational facilities. For groups, there’s a meetings supplement of PhP 1,200 (about USD30.00) per person, which includes a snack, half-day use of the conference room, coffee and tea and the usual meetings set-up and pads and pencils.

“Room rates are negotiable depending on the size of the group and the travel period,” says Bambi Samson, Director of Sales, “so the supplement may change according to the requirements of the group. Rates are higher from November to May, and promos and special rates are usually offered from June through to October.”

The ideal season for team building, when staff can set up a private beach club” as a corporate playground, is February to May. An ideal size for a group is about 40, adds Bambi, but the resorts can handle more, or facilitate a “buy-out” of each property in its entirety.

The usual direct method of getting to the islands is from Manila on Island Transvoyager Inc (ITI), with El Nido Resorts handling the bookings. It’s a 55-minute flight on a 50-seater ATR aircraft, followed by a boat trip of about an hour to get to the islands. Cost of the travel from Manila: about $100 each way.

Undeniably it takes some effort to get there from abroad and it’s priced at a premium, but El Nido is worth every cent.

For more information, email holiday@elnidoresorts.com or visit www.elnidoresorts.com.

The Siteseer was a paying guest at Lagen Island.

Like other cities in the Philippines, Manila has its challenges and drawbacks, not least the traffic snarls and pollution. Its best assets, in my view, are its unfailingly cheerful people and splendid hotels.

I’ve been lucky enough to stay at a selection of really good Manila hotels, including the “Edsa” Shangri-la and Crowne Plaza in Ortigas. They have outstanding facilities in common, at a remarkably competitive price, usually less than half what you’d pay in a comparable property in, say, New York or Sydney and with vastly better service. Recently I checked in for three nights at one of Manila’s best and newest – the five-star Fairmont located in Makati, the city’s main business, shopping and leisure hub.

It represents a step forward for tourism in the city and country, say its marketers, with the last luxury hotel in the area having been built way back in 1993-94.

The 280-room Fairmont is incorporated into a 30-storey tower that includes the 32 all-suite Raffles Makati hotel as well as the 237 one- to four-bedroom Raffles Residences, set up for short- or long-term stays. They’re all owned by the same parent company (FRHI). What makes it especially attractive for business and MICE visitors is that it’s been conceived by architects Arquitectonica and interior designer Bent Severin to ensure guests’ privacy, as far as possible, according to Monique Toda (pictured, left), Director of Communications.

“The design allows for exclusivity,” explains Monique, a 27-year veteran of the hotel business. Its lobby, for example, unlike the cavernous foyers of many hotels, has been created as an assembly of separate, partitioned spaces where people can get together and talk in relative solitude.

“We view ourselves as a kind of oasis in the city and place a high priority on people’s privacy,” explains Monique. “A lot of our conference guests or business travellers like that; they don’t want to be stared at, or to feel ‘out there’ in any way.”

In addition to “Fairmont Gold,” the executive room and lounge offer, the hotel has over 1,700 square meters of meeting and function space, including an 859-square-meter ballroom accommodating up to 600. Additional meeting rooms cater for 30 to 40.

“Having Raffles next door and part of the same complex allows us to attract leisure travellers,” says Marketing Communications Coordinator Bianca Rodriguez (pictured, right).

“The Fairmont is almost exclusively for business people, and we generally tend to offer better rates in July-August.” Another agreeable feature is the “Willow Stream” spa, a headily-scented facility covering 1,200 square meters and including a hair salon, nail studio, mineral as well as outdoor pool.

From around US$200 a day The rooms at the Fairmont start at around US$200 a day, and it offers a swag of conference packages.

Take the “Spectrum Buffet” full-day package for up to 30 people. It includes use of a meeting room for eight hours, morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, all the usual IT and wifi whistles and bells, free local phone calls, a conference “butler,” and complimentary car park tickets for 10% of the guests. That package is PHP2,280 per person, or just over $50.

Contact the hotel at makati@fairmont.com.

The Siteseer was a guest of Fairmont Hotel in Makati.

While taking a cab from Tbilisi International Airport recently, I saw that the main road into the Georgian capital was called George W. Bush Avenue. If that wasn’t tribute enough to the former US president, the road signs were adorned with actual pictures of him, albeit now faded.

When Bush visited the former Soviet republic (Stalin’s birthplace) in 2005, its then-president Mikheil Saakashvili revealed that US officials had told him it “was the best reception the American president has ever had”.

This was especially interesting, for me, in my first visit to Georgia: how pro-Western the place is.

In Tbilisi’s pubs and restaurants, many of which could be in Paris or New York City, live bands play Dylan and Oasis classics and stylish shops and boutiques sell Italian and German brands. As I was having a beer at a street café one evening, two black-clad young “Goths,” safety pins securely fastened in noses and ears, strolled self-consciously past. The next day I visited the Museum of Soviet Occupation, a monument to Georgians murdered and imprisoned during seven decades of Soviet rule. Today the country’s major parties are pledged to bring it into the EU and NATO.

It all means visitors from the West are warmly welcomed, mostly in halting English, as I discovered during a week-long stay that included several days in Tbilisi – some of whose buildings and orthodox churches date back to the fifth century – a road trip to the mountain town of Kazbegi just south of the Russian border, and a few days at a German-owned wine chateau in the Caucasus Mountains.

Physically diverse and in places wonderfully beautiful, the nation the size of Ireland is a feast for the senses for sightseers, gourmands and wine buffs. Driving from Tbilisi, we crossed grassy plains shimmering in summer heat, passed steep-sided canyons and glacier-fed rivers, one unfortunately named “Turdo”, marvelled at the cathedral-like peacefulness of beech forests and traversed upland meadows carpeted in flowers and framed by snow-covered peaks.

More MICE visits

Not surprisingly, Georgia is gaining traction as a new and exciting MICE destination, as a big international wine tourism conference, held at the five-star Marriott in Tbilisi in March 2014, attests. Simplified visa procedures and a visa-free regime for around 100 nationalities, including Australians, are aimed at encouraging it. Tbilisi airport is surprisingly well served, offering nonstop flights to 33 cities a week.

Travellers with American and Australian dollars benefit from the exchange rate against the local currency, the lari. On the day I arrived, I had lunch at the big and pleasant “Begeli” restaurant on the city’s outskirts: rich lamb stew; cheese, mushroom and mince-filled khinkali dumplings (sensational); spicy Georgian sausage, delivered on a sizzling plate; tarragon-flavoured mushroom broth; freshly baked crusty bread; tomato and cucumber salad with walnut dressing; and beers all round. The bill for four people: AUD39.

Later in the trip I relished the full gamut of Georgian fare, which is wonderful – and robust. If you’re seeking nouvelle cuisine, forget it. A specialty here is khachapuri (pictured), a pizza-like pie filled with fresh suluguni (pickled) cheese, one version of which is topped with runny egg. The khinkali are fist-sized balls of dough stuffed with cheesy sauce or spicy mince and closed by a pastry nexus at one end. (Eating these knots is apparently a no-no, though we did once or twice.) But my favourite was sacivi, consisting of a whole fried chicken served in a clay dish and smothered with a salty walnut, garlic, cream and mayonnaise sauce. The calorie count probably topped a billion, but it tasted too good to matter.

‘Rooms Hotel’

Of the hotels at which we stayed, the most outstanding meetings site was in the remote mountain town of Kazbegi: a three-storey timber resort set against the 5,000-foot high dormant volcano, Mount Kazbek. The peak is usually shrouded in cloud, but every now and then it shyly revealed its spectacular snowy head.

Georgian investors who built this hotel a couple of years ago might have taken more trouble in developing a snappier name: “Rooms Hotel”. But it’s an excellent property with great service. It has a well-equipped conference room, banquet facilities, wifi, international TV channels, a vast library sprinkled with comfy lounge chairs and a good, reasonably priced a-la-carte menu.

The rooms are elegantly simple with bare wooden floors and plush beds. There’s a huge indoor pool and spa, even a small casino. Business groups can organise hikes or mountain climbs of varying degrees of difficulty, hire quad or trail bikes or organise horse-riding treks into the surrounding wilderness.

Indeed the location is a boon for lovers of the outdoors. When I visited in June, the alpine meadows surrounding the town were dense with grass and flowers; indeed many of the perennials that bloom in the gardens of English country houses apparently have their origins here, taken home by Victorian botanists. In the winter the region provides spectacular skiing for those preferring to avoid the crowded slopes of Western Europe.

From USD80 per night

Standard room prices at “Rooms Hotel” from Monday to Friday start from $80, increasing to $100 at weekends. The town of Kazbegi, also known as Stepantsminda, is a two-hour drive from Tbilisi.

Contact the hotel at roomskazbegi@roomshotel.com. Web: www.roomshotel.ge.

The Siteseer was a paying guest at Rooms Hotel.

In Istanbul recently, my wife and daughter-in-law had an experience that shook them up before leaving them feeling invigorated. They each paid around AUD70 for a scrub and massage at Cemberlitas Hamami, a Turkish baths complex built in 1584 by Nur Banu, the wife of a sultan.

In a steam-filled room, lit by windows in a domed ceiling, they were soaped, pummelled and pounded by robust Turkish female masseuses, after which they each had a massage. “I feel defoliated, clean, scrubbed, relaxed . . . wonderful,” my wife said afterwards.

Later that day, in a guide book, she found a reproduction of an ancient picture of the hamam – and recognised it. The interior of the baths had changed little in four-and-a-half centuries.

Much of Istanbul’s old city, the Sultanahmet, is like that, a dreamscape washed by the froth of history yet, to visitors at least, seemingly impervious to the pressures of ballooning population or changes ushered in by the digital age.

For incentive travellers, especially history buffs, Istanbul can be a thrilling destination. Originally known as Byzantium, it was already a thousand years old when the emperor Constantine the Great made it the capital of the Roman empire in AD 330, when it became known as Constantinople. In 1453 it was captured by the Turks, becoming the capital of the since-dissolved Ottoman empire.

It pays to plan

While even locals will tell you the secular, bustling city of 14 million is no longer the bargain destination it once was, with the Turkish lira relatively stable, Istanbul offers value if you plan ahead and take time to seek good deals. A decent hotel room can cost as little as $85 in Sultanahmet and a typically fabulous meal of antep ezmesi – a spicy tomato, chilli, cucumber and herb dip served with flat bread – börek (savoury meat-and-cheese-filled pastry), köfte (meat balls), salad and pickles will cost $15-20 in a myriad enticing restaurants. Getting around on trams, ferries and the new underground rail line is cheap – about a dollar a ride – and entry to historical sites is free or inexpensive.

Most know that Istanbul’s uniqueness can be attributed in part to the fact that it straddles Europe and Asia, the continents separated by the Bosphorus, the narrow, incomparably beautiful strait that links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and Aegean.

As one scribe has observed, visitors should ideally approach Istanbul from the ocean, as most travellers did for the first twenty-six centuries of its existence. For me, today, it’s thrilling to catch a ferry (around $1.20 per ride) across the Bosphorus, with the sun sparkling on the water and the forest of spires, turrets and minarets of the city etched against the sky.

Istanbul’s benevolent face belies a brutal but compelling past. More blood has been spilled on the ground on which camera-carrying tourists stroll than few other places on the planet. In AD 193, for instance, when refugees from Byzantium tried to escape besieging Romans by ship, they met an awful fate. In his book, Istanbul, the Imperial City, veteran American author John Freely quotes a Roman consul Dio Cassius: “The next day the horror was increased still more for the townspeople, for when the water had subsided, the whole sea in the vicinity of Byzantium was covered with corpses and wrecks and blood.” The survivors had to surrender to the Romans, who promptly murdered all surviving soldiers and magistrates of the city.

Murder most foul

Murder was especially commonplace among the city’s rulers, many of whom drank themselves to death or were murdered in turn. One sultan amused himself by killing innocent passers-by with a bow and arrow. In January 1595, when Sultan Murat III died, his eldest son and successor Mehmet (pictured above) had all nineteen of his younger brothers strangled to ensure none would challenge him. Like many of their kin, they were buried in the garden of Haghia Sophia, the great church erected by Justinian (now a museum), which is adjacent to Topkapi Sarayi, the imperial residence and harem of the Ottoman sultans for four centuries, and the huge Blue Mosque, built in the early seventeenth century.

All of these attractions are open to the public and located in the old city on the European side of the Bosphorus. Like Paris’s Left Bank, this area is a maze of winding streets, hole-in-the-wall restaurants and cosy hostelries.

One of the most enchanting is the Kybele Hotel (pictured), where we spent a night. Its interior is a melange of maroons, mirrors, marble, bric-a-brac and objets d’art, its public spaces linked by mysterious staircases and filled with nooks of the kind that might, in true Byzantine tradition, lend themselves to intrigue and Machiavellian plotting. The lounges, restaurants, bars and bedrooms are illuminated by over 4,000 lamps.

The hotel is within easy walking distance of attractions like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the spice and grand bazaars and the extraordinary Basilica Cistern (below), said to be one of several hundred ancient reservoirs beneath the city and home to huge, slow-moving fish.

Willing to deal

Rates at Kybele Hotel start at around AUD190 per night, which includes an excellent buffet breakfast, and for groups the owners will negotiate a better rate, according to manager Vefa Yuksukcuoglu, who’s been working at the family-run property for 19 years. “When the booking’s solid we’re happy to be flexible,” he says. “On our ratings feedback, we always score ten for location and cleanliness and nine or ten for value – I think that says something about this hotel.”

A ferry ride across the Bosphorus is a terrific way to gain perspective of the city. And a short trip in the Tünel, an underground funicular connecting the quarters of Karaköy and Beyoğlu, is worth, say, a half-day outing. Beyoğlu is the most active shopping, art, entertainment and nightlife centre of Istanbul. Its main thoroughfare, İstiklâl Caddesi, is a pedestrianised 1.6 kilometres street of shops, hip boutiques, cafés, patisseries, restaurants, pubs, wine houses and clubs, as well as bookshops, theatres, cinemas and art galleries.

All providing a rich experience for incentive visitors to the city about which Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “If the earth was a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.”

From AUD190 per night

Voted by The Guardian travel people as one of the ten best boutique hotels in Istanbul, the Kybele is a riot of colour, from its sky-blue exterior to its chintzy, lamplit interiors. The best time to negotiate room deals is November to February. “[It’s] one of the most unique, friendly, magical places I’ve ever stayed in,” says one reviewer.

Email: kybelehotel@superonline.com

See video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GppPldHB6o

The Siteseer was a paying guest at the Kybele Hotel, below.

A curtain of rain thrashes down as I alight from a taxi in central Ho Chi Minh City. Dashing into the lobby of the Rex Hotel, I find myself in a marble-walled sanctuary illuminated by recessed lights and glowing aquaria of coloured fish. Many of the women working in the reception area are clad in purple-and-white silk pyjama outfits, adding to the impression that I’ve stepped onto the set of an Indochinese movie.

The venerable Rex Hotel, where I’ve come to talk to managers and check out the facilities, has served as a haven for travellers for decades. It remains one of the best-loved five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, still referred to as Saigon by many of its 8.4 million residents.

The Rex been expanded and renewed several times since it started life as a French garage complex in 1927. From 1959 to 1975 a Vietnamese couple renovated the building and it became the 100-room “Rex Complex” hotel.

Five o’clock follies

During the Vietnam war the American Information Service made its base here. The Rex became a favoured haunt of US officers and was the scene of daily press briefings to foreign correspondents, wryly known by them as the “five o’clock follies”. That’s because, inevitably, the soldiers and hacks would meet in the bar upstairs.

Now the Rex has 286 individually designed guest rooms, a range of function and meeting facilities, a spa, and four in-house restaurants. Located in the prettiest part of Saigon among boulevards and French colonial buildings, it’s within an easy walk of attractions like the vast Ben Thanh undercover bazaar – which expands at nights to become a bustling street market – the main cathedral, opera house, galleries and a variety of interesting museums.

These include the moving Vietnam War Remnants Museum and Reunification Palace, formerly the Norodom Palace. (The palace is the former home of the South Vietnamese President, through whose front gate a tank crashed during the fall of the city to the North Vietnamese army.) The Rex is also 200 metres away from the Saigon river with its teeming restaurants and river cruise dinner boats.

For MICE visitors, one of the most remarkable attributes of the Rex Hotel, as young Director of Sales and Marketing Nick Tran (below) observes, is how cheap it is. For USD150-200 per day you get luxury five-star accommodation, all your food and your meeting package thrown in, he says. “By any standard that’s pretty good, and there’s so much to do for people coming here for events.”

Tunnels are worth visiting

Some 40 kilometres, about an hour’s drive, from the city are the Cu Chi tunnels. These were part of the vast underground network in which the Viet Cong hid during the war, and which served as their base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The tunnels make for a great incentive trip, says Nick. You can reach them from the city by road or fast speedboats along the Saigon river.

Within a day post-conference you can play golf, loaf on tropical beaches and tour the Mekong Delta with its rural attractions and floating markets, fish and prawn farms, (catch your own for lunch), bee farms and orchards (pick your own fruit), all within easy reach by road. “It’ll cost you less than a hundred dollars a day, including your transport, tour guide, food and drinks,” says Nick.

Around 65 percent of the Rex Hotel guests are business travellers, and much of the Asian MICE business is currently shifting from Hong Kong and Singapore to Beijing and Saigon, Nick says. Many global companies are getting established and doing business in Vietnam, which is politically stable and welcomes visitors. “The corporate sector is really opening up for us.”

From USD150 a day

That includes five-star accommodation, all meals as well as a full meeting package. Rooms-only via web bookings currently start from $104.

Visit www.rexhotelvietnam.com, call 848 38292185 or email rexhotel@rex.com.vn.

Outdoor jacuzzi at Holiday Inn Resort, Batam

Frank Schoenherr is an old-school hotel manager. His counterparts in some hotels are ivory-tower bureaucrats who are seldom seen. Not so Frank, a German speaker born in Prague.

When I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manila while he was general manager there, Frank’s beaming face could be seen in public spaces several times a day. He would pop up unexpectedly in corridors, meeting rooms or bars, and he’d occasionally join guests at the breakfast table for a chat. He led his staff by example. I commended him one day on his attitude to glad-handing, and he agreed wryly that it’s not hard to make people feel welcome. It’s just that many folks in his position tend to forget. Frank hasn’t, which explains why he’s doing so well in his current role as general manager of the Holiday Inn Resort on the Indonesian island of Batam, a 45-minute ferry ride from Singapore. This 275-room property, with ten multi-purpose conference and meetings facilities, is targeting events as a market with untapped potential thanks to its nearness to its industrially developed neighbour. “Batam is increasingly seen as a destination for corporate events and incentive destinations, and perfect for inclusion in corporate incentive programs,” explains Frank, whose hotelkeeping career has spanned Austria, Uzbekistan, Slovakia and the Philippines. “We create a home away from home and see guests more as friends than customers.” And he and his colleagues understand the importance of saving clients money. Batam is a short hop from Singapore, so visitors can take advantage of cheaper direct flights to the island state from Australian and other cities. The resort has lush grounds, a vast lagoon pool and a spa, and its meetings specialists provide one-on-one advice.

Frank Schoenherr

Package from AUD68 a day Full-day meeting packages start at SGD 79 (AUD 68, USD 63) per person, and come with two coffee breaks, lunch and complimentary WiFi access in the meeting room. A complimentary return ferry trip from Singapore, and transfers from the ferry terminal to the resort, are included. The offer is valid for stay period until 31 August 2014 with a minimum booking of 50 rooms. See www.ihg.com/holidayinnresorts/hotels/us/en/batam/btaid/hoteldetail. Email reservation@holidayinn-batam.com.