Historic Hoi An, the Vietnamese town famed for its 300-plus tailor shops, had hovered on the fringes of my awareness for years. It’s been there for centuries, but was the type of secondary destination you’d tag on to a bigger one, like Ho Chi Minh City. So when direct flights between its sister city Danang…
Author: Chami Jotisalikorn
A Thai Island Escape Where Bigger is Better – Ritz Carlton Samui
As I’ve mentioned before, word of mouth is a powerful thing. At lunch recently a friend mentioned her stay at the Ritz Carlton Samui, and what I remember from her enthusiastic convo was Big! Big! Big! and New! New! New! Oooooh. Words that stuck like hooks and reeled me in. All this bigness and newness…
Where Singapore’s Old and New Chinatowns Meet – The Six Senses Maxwell
I’m just a visitor, but there seems to be two Chinatowns in Singapore – hip new Chinatown where curlicued old mom ’n pop shophouses have gentrified into trendy cafes, bars, shops, salons, and yoga studios on one side of the Maxwell Road intersection, while on the other side lies the majestic Kwan Im Goddess of…
Enchanted Rainy Day Hideaway – Keemala Phuket
Rain was lashing against the airplane window as we landed in Phuket and I was taken aback. It had never occurred to me that it might be raining during my island getaway at Keemala Phuket resort. It was June – still the soft launch of rainy season in Thailand, and not the real, heavy flood…
Feeling Hong Kong’s heart through art, cuisine & spa – The Cordis Hong Kong
Hong Kong is so exciting to visit. Such a throbbing place! Everything comes at you from all directions, all at once. It’s sensory overload 24/7. You stumble around in a semi-dazed state from trying to block it all out and take it all in at the same time. It keeps you on your toes,…
The most happiest vegan weight-loss fitness holiday in Asia – Phuket Cleanse, Thailand
Word-of-mouth is often the best way to hear about new places, especially from someone with firsthand experience. And that’s what led me to Phuket Cleanse, a boutique wellness retreat on the southernmost tip of Phuket. A couple of years earlier I’d seen promotional email flyers in my inbox from Phuket Cleanse, which to be honest,…
How to lose fat and gain muscle on holiday in Thailand – Thanyapura Phuket Health & Sports Resort
Thanyapura Phuket sports resort scared me big time when I first heard about it. All those website photos of triathlon and marathon training, Olympic pools and running tracks filled with teams vying for Olympic medals terrified someone like me, whose favourite activities are yoga and reading books, preferably while lying down. I’d rather stand on…
How holistic therapies helped me at 137 Pillars Bangkok’s Season of Wellness
I was suffering from chronic shoulder and neck pain when I walked into 137 Pillars Bangkok’s Nitra Spa to see one of the visiting wellness practitioners at their Season of Wellness, a three-month wellness festival featuring visiting holistic healing gurus from around Asia. The Season of Wellness was initiated to support the lifestyle needs of…
How I went from flab to fit in one week – Absolute Sanctuary, Koh Samui
It was May by the time I realized it had happened again. As usual, my new year’s health goal was to get fit and lose weight, starting from day one of January. Did that happen? No. Of course this sort of thing doesn’t happen by itself. I meant to go off to a fitness retreat…
Heritage Hip in China’s Panda City – Temple House Chengdu
It seems obvious to choose Shanghai or Beijing for a first visit to China. I would have done that too, but the minute I heard the words “panda city”, I was headed to Chengdu. I wasn’t even sure exactly where Chengdu was at first, but who cares, when the city is the official panda center…
10 Top Wellness, Detox, Yoga, Health & Fitness Destinations in Asia for 2018
Did your New Year’s resolutions include lose weight and get fit? The easiest way to do this is to go on a health holiday where the whole stay is devoted to improving your health, nutrition, and wellness in a relaxing, supportive environment. As a spa book author, wellness journalist and a judge for the regional AsiaSpa Awards, I’ve been…
Where to get the best sleep therapy – 137 Pillars Bangkok’s Nitra Spa
Forget Bangkok’s big, big night life scene for one night. This powerful new holistic spa treatment calms and rewires your whole body and brain for a refreshing, restorative, real night’s sleep. I’m the kind of person who can sleep anywhere – airplanes, desks, cars, restaurants. This is partly because I’m the size of a pocket monster and can easily curl into my own…
