With gentrification sweeping through Bangkok’s Chinatown and Instagram-appropriate cocktail bars popping up like mushrooms, the opening of Ba Hao could’ve easily been dismissed as yet another one. However, there is something about this transformed shophouse on Soi Nana (the other Soi Nana, that is), that makes me believe it’s worth the hype. Founded by a…
Read More
Part vintage store, part photo studio and part museum, Papaya Studio is a place unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Grown from a collection of classic furniture and random oddities accumulated over the last 25 years by the eccentric shop owner, Mr. Tong, this massive depot now houses one of the largest vintage and antique collections in…
Read More
We sure do love ourselves a stay in a posh hotel or a well-designed boutique B&B, and luckily, Bangkok has no shortage of those. However, there’s something about these Airbnb’s that makes us forget about pool access and room service… Original Shophouse in Chinatown Located above a small tapas bar in a beautifully renovated Sino-Portuguese…
Read More
Discovering the 200-year Sol Heng Tai Mansion was like discovering a hidden treasure. Having walked past at least 20 times without ever noticing it, we were struck with awe at the moment we stepped into its courtyard for the first time. This historical mansion was built before ‘Bangkok’ as we know it even existed. Dating…
Read More
With metro tiles, bare lightbulbs and – dear god – iced coffees in mason jars being all the rage in Bangkok’s coffee shops these days, these old-style cafes found in Bangkok’s Old Town are a welcome change of scenery. Don’t expect Ethiopian beans, avocado toast or cold brew lattes, but good ‘ol Thai coffee and kaya toast…
Read More
Prepare to let go of your carefully planned Bali itinerary, because once you’ve checked in at Ubud’s Bisma Eight it will be nearly impossible to get any outside activities done. It is as if this hotel is meticulously designed to completely mess up sightseeing plans and capture guests for the duration of their stay. We…
Read More
The rugged landscape of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains National Park isn’t exactly the place where you’d expect a state-of-the-art boutique hotel to pop up, yet that is exactly what the fantastic team behind Limalimo Lodge managed to build. We took the hellish 14-hour bus ride from Addis Ababa to the Simien Mountains on our Eastern Africa trip…
Read More
Is “depressing, but in a good way” a thing? If it is, then I’d use that to describe my stay at TUVE in Hong Kong’s Tin Hau district. From the moment I opened the heavy, oxidized metal front gate and stepped inside the monolith-like building that houses TUVE, a sense of gloom fell over me. The result of…
Read More
I clearly remember my first time at Muslim Restaurant in Bangkok’s Bang Rak district – it was about a year ago, on my usual lunch-break-stroll in the area around my office, that I decided to finally give this place a try. I’ve passed by many times, but as I’ve never been a fan of places…
Read More
Ask us about our favorite hotel in Asia, and chances are high you’ll get “Katamama!” for an answer. It’s not often that you find a hotel where everything just… works. From the custom-made cocktail mugs at the hotel’s Akademi bar to the hand-woven bathrobes made by artisans from Bali’s Blahbatuh village, the obsessive attention to…
Read More