Long live Bali’s cultural traditions, which endure with the help of forward-thinking hotels like The Ritz-Carlton, Bali and Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. Learn more about how these and similar resorts are helping preserve the island’s heritage amid a rising wave of tourism in “Staying Power,” a story I wrote for the August 2018 issue of Virtuoso Traveler. Looking for a quicker read? Check out my Bali photo essay on the Virtuoso Life blog.
The best way to keep my Bali memories going – especially in the midst of a mid-February cold spell – before I write my upcoming feature: two posts on The Virtuoso Life blog. The first, a photo essay on the country’s beauty; the second, a focus on the best breakfast I’ve ever had.
Just back from Bali (and, great stays at The Ritz-Carlton, Bali and Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve). Photos at every turn, but I was able to “narrow it down” to under 50 (yes, 49) for this new gallery.
Nightly symphonies of cicadas, picnics by thirteenth-century Lanna ruins, jaunts to Myanmar, hours exploring the Hall of Opium, dinners in the jungle accompanied by two-ton elephants – I had the fortune to experience it all during a recent stay at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort. Though elephant-based tourism is a contested and hugely complex issue – and, sadly, so often done wrong (read: good for profits, bad for animals) – Anantara provides one sound prescription for caring for Thailand’s captive pachyderms while also employing their mahout partners and working to preserve wild populations. Learn more about the camp and its efforts in my article, “Wildest Dreams,” written for December Virtuoso Traveler magazine.
The best travels teach us something, and today my lesson is this: It’s an absolute shame that I scheduled only a single day in Bangkok to conclude my week in Thailand. “Bangkok is no longer a bookend destination,” asserts Jason Friedman, GM of The Siam hotel where I’m staying, as I concede my misstep and hear his suggestions for exploring the surrounding Old Town. “It is the destination.”
So true, I’m quickly finding. Today, all before dinner, I’ve stepped into The Siam’s professional ring for an authentic Muay Thai lesson; wandered secret (read: tourist free, aside from me) alleys, temples, and street food markets in the historic Dusit district; and streamed up and down the Chao Phraya river in the hotel’s water shuttle en route to Bangkok’s night flower market and Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.
At roughly 150 feet long and 50 feet high, Wat Pho’s immense, gold plated statue portrays the passing of the Buddha into nirvana, or his release from suffering and the cycle of rebirth. The state sounds perfectly blissful, I confess, but not before I have the chance to return to this city – something I now hope to do as many times as I can.
For more photos of the Reclining Buddha, Bangkok’s Old Town, and my stay in the Golden Triangle, visit my Thailand gallery.
If achieving longstanding goals is truly good for the soul, then today I’m pleased to have realized two: 1) visiting Myanmar, and 2) arriving in a country by walking across its border – rather than simply “parachuting” in via its airport (see numerous criticisms in the Paul Theroux canon).
Thanks to a guided tour provided by the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in northern Thailand, I had the fortune – all in a single day – to visit thirteenth-century ruins in the surrounding town of Chiang Saen, take a long-tail boat ride along the Mekong for a stop on the Laos island of Don Sao, and cross a bridge spanning the Ruak River from Mae Sai on the Thai border to Tachileik for an exceptional – albeit brief – two-hour glimpse of eastern Myanmar.
So much bustle, chaos, and dust stirred from tuk-tuks and motorbikes in both border towns eventually led to some stillness and peace at Phra Jow La Keng (shown above), a 90-year-old Buddhist temple that doubles as an orphanage. I’ve posted a few more photos of the chaos and peace I experienced today – mostly as a reminder that I need to return for a more thorough stay – in my Myanmar gallery.
It’s been five years since my visit to Miyajima, but after dusting off this image for the VIP department of August Virtuoso Traveler, I was reminded of how powerful a place this is. Located in the Seto Inland Sea, Miyajima (or “shrine island”) specializes in spirituality, abounding in both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, all made more beautiful in autumn when the island blazes with brilliant maples.
Wading in the water on its long heron’s legs, Miyajima’s towering O-torri gate welcomes both living pilgrims and the spirits of the deceased. On the shoreline, seemingly floating on the sea, lies Itsukushima Shrine, a massive Shinto complex dating back to the sixth century. At Daisho-in Temple (shown here), visitors spin prayer wheels, light candles, then slip off to some other world during an intense meditation session where monks beat drums and chant sutras in Sanskrit. You can visit this realm more readily via my photo gallery.
The above VIP page was designed by my close friend and colleague, Jay Carskadden, an artist of many talents (among them: painting, web and graphic design, and metalsmithing – incidentally, she also designed this website and the engagement ring that I gave to my wife, Adrienne, on this same trip). Jay works tirelessly to help produce Virtuoso Traveler every other month, and has posted a collection of additional VIP pages on her own website. See these and some of her other design work at jaycarskadden.com. Her paintings and jewelry can be viewed at jaymetalsmith.com.