The much-maligned shopping mall makes sense in steamy Bangkok, especially during monsoon season – just as it does in the oppressive heat of Dubai. Whereas the gritty streets of both cities offer few opportunities to escape the elements, air-conditioned shopping centres provide a respite from the humidity and, in Bangkok’s case in particular at this … Read more
Some call Saigon, Vietnam, the city of millions of motorbikes. Some say that there are 10 million bikes. We’re not entirely sure there are ten million motorcycles – estimates vary from 2.5 to five to ten and more – so let’s just settle on millions. Either way, for a small city, that’s a lot of … Read more
Saigon’s leafy streets, art deco delights and elegant colonial-era villas mean the city is easy on the eyes. But after dark, when splendid old buildings such as the Opera House and City Hall are spectacularly illuminated, the city is stunning in parts and atmospheric everywhere else. Saigon after dark is a treat. While it’s fun … Read more
Perhaps for the same nostalgic reasons that Mumbai’s locals prefer to call their city Bombay, Ho Chi Minh City, as it was renamed in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, is, we quickly discovered, still fondly referred to as Saigon by the locals. We don’t care what it’s called – we loved it. Although I’m not … Read more
It may be the end of an era at El Bulli, the world’s best restaurant, but it’s not the end of the world’s best chef Ferran Adrià’s influence on global cuisine, as Gaggan Anand’s Progressive Indian cuisine in Bangkok testifies. Last Saturday saw the closing of Spanish superstar chef Ferran Adrià’s restaurant El Bulli – … Read more