Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall recently gave the UK’s Guardian newspaper his picks for the hot tickets of 2010 for young travelers looking for economical ways to navigate the region

INDONESIA: The Eastern Islands

Flying into Flores, though LP says go by boat (by Prilfish via Flickr Creative Commons License)

LONELY PLANET SAYS: “Flores is home to world-class diving, volcanic lakes and empty white-sand beaches. Start … from Bali via Komodo or Rinca on a Perama boat—you’ll pick up enough suggestions on the way to work out the rest for yourself!”

PHILIPPINES: El Nido

Volcanic beauty: El Nido (by Vanna GocaraRupa via Flickr Creative Commons License)

LONELY PLANET SAYS: “If you’re in search of stunning coastline and beaches, El Nido in northern Palawan is the place. This small, chilled-out town has plenty of amenities, but development remains slow meaning accommodation can be limited and the place never gets too busy.”

ASIA: The Andaman Islands

Not a lot in Havelot, I mean Havelock (by Kai Hendry via Flickr Creative Commons License)

LONELY PLANET SAYS: “Two and a half hours by ferry from Port Blair, the islands’ main town, Havelock, is a pretty good approximation of a backpacker paradise, with great snorkeling,  and cheap eating and lodging.”

ASIA: Bangladesh

Boating at dawn near the Bay of Bengal (By Joisey Showaa via Flickr Creative Commons License)

LONELY PLANET SAYS: “This underrated country might just be the world’s best-value country for travelers. Marvelous meals will cost less than US$1, and a midrange hotel room less than $10.”

ASIA: India’s Northeastern States

in Northeastern India (by Old Fashind via Flickr Creative Commons License)”]

Technicolor melting pot and spotting rhinos [inset

LONELY PLANET SAYS: “India’s final frontier—the “seven sister states” of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizaram, Nagaland, and Tripura—hides obscure tribal societies, forested hills and the feeling you’re breaking new ground.”

Increasingly, spas are offering holistic, multi-faceted options for clients that want much more that a good rub-down. Sure, the quick facial and massage has its place, and reputable spas with well-trained therapists will continue to prosper in this field (especially in urban centres). But, more and more, consumers are demanding that the spa offers more: The Ayurvedic and TCM philosophies of treating the person emotionally and spiritually as well as mentally and physically is taking root in modern, forward-thinking spas and wellness centres, especially in Asia. A host of new openings testify to this.

We have The Farm at San Benito in the Philippines, a host of medi-spas in Thailand, and Ananda in the Himalayas, as well as a number of Ayurvedic retreats in India. In the latter category Kalari Kovilakom — running all-encompassing programmes for a minimum of three weeks in a tremendously atmospheric palace estate in Kerala — is of particular note. Leading the field, however, is the wellness sanctuary and holistic spa resort of Kamalaya, on the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

Not only are the programmes far-reaching in design and execution, the site an ode to tranquility, the professionalism of staff is second to none. When John and Karina Stewart first envisioned Kamalaya, their dream was to create a place that would benefit the people who worked there as much as it would their guests. As a result, the Kamalaya team is so much more than people doing specific jobs; it is people connecting with other people and along the way deepening their own self awareness and enriching their lives. This then transfers on to guests.

I can’t recommend the place highly enough actually. A recent stay saw me detoxing and slowing down; I enjoyed my regimen of yoga and therapies along with the odd treat; I met some cool people; I ate well (food was fab even though I could only choose from the detox manu); and I came away with some ideas of how to improve some aspects of my life. It certainly beats having a scrub and a wrap — that’s for sure!

Movie star parade. Javier Bardem and some Pretty Woman wander a Balinese market

American writer and Travel + Leisure contributor Elizabeth Gilbert authored a bestselling 2006 “chick-lit” memoir of post-divorce globetrotting: Eat Pray Love. Her yarn was adapted into a movie and is now an international box-office sensation.

The original Pretty Woman, Oscar-winning Julia Roberts, plays “Liz” as desperate to escape her miserable existence in New York as a respected, profitable writer. So the 34-year-old hits the global byways seeking enlightenment (a journey outside her comfort zone, she never hesitates to tell everyone).

After attempting to eat Italy out of pasta and then go spiritual in India, Gilbert/Roberts lands on the Indonesian isle of Bali, which she thinks is “a fairly simple place to navigate … It’s not like I’ve landed in the middle of the Sudan with no idea of what to do next.”

However, this once-carefree paradise was shattered by terrorist bombs killing more than 200 young Australian tourists in 2002. The hangover of terrorism persists. New York Times movie desk don A.O. Scott, among others, criticized Gilbert’s, “Western fetishization of Eastern thought,” concluding the flick was, “unlikely to change anybody’s life or even to provoke emotions anywhere near as intense as those experienced … by its intrepid heroine.”

Not many cared, if 170 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List means anything. The book resonated with readers to the tune of more than 1.35 million copies, after 15 printings. Gilbert was on Oprah, and her book translated into 40 languages. Now the movie has given rise to a new customer for Balinese tour operators: spiritual seekers.

Not that Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika was complaining in 2009: “We have to be thankful, because the presence of the Hollywood movie star has given birth to Bali’s new title, ‘Island of Love,’” he said, “which will of course support our tourism.”

As for Elizabeth Gilbert, will Bali be forever in her heart? For those seeking a stretch, she recommends yoga tours of Bali with, “my sweet friend Mario at the Ubud Inn, at mariourip@yahoo.com.

UBUD-DING CREATIVE HUB

“It isn’t near any beaches, so the tourists who come to Ubud are a self-selecting and rather classy crowd; they would prefer to see an ancient temple ceremony than to drink piña coladas in the surf.”

A view over Ubud, Bali's cultural hub (by Brian via Flickr Creative Commons License)

“This could be a lovely place to live for a while,” wrote Elizabeth Gilbert of Ubud, Bali’s arty cultural hub, where traditional painting, dance, carving, and religious ceremonies still thrive. The author spent four months cycling through quiet villages on the slopes of Mount Batur, sampling Indonesian food, acquainting herself with locals, taking yoga classes—and writing a certain book.

Ubud is famous for holistic traditions; here lie foundations upon which Bali’s thriving spa industry are mounted. Even its very name derives from the word ubad, describing the abundance of medicinal plants indigenous here. Rock-cut temples tucked into layered rice terraces also grace the landscape. The Balinese worship a unique composite of Indian cosmology, Tantric Buddhism, local animist traditions and ancestor worship.

Local medicine man (in reality, as in the film) Ketut Liyer claims Ubud is a rare tap of the earth’s healing energy. That is tricky to confirm, but the place is demonstrably removed from Kuta’s surfer scene and Seminyak’s trendy shopping. This is Bali’s hippie chill-out zone, where alternative lifestyles are staples. Ubud has twice hosted the Bali Spirit Festival—an annual celebration of yoga, dance and music.

PENESTANAN FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

“The medicine man, as it turned out, was a small, merry-eyed, russet-colored old guy with a mostly toothless mouth, whose resemblance in every way to the Star Wars character Yoda cannot be exaggerated.”

Julia Roberts cycles Penestanan to study The Force with Ketut Liyer

Just outside Ubud lies quaint Penestanan where a signboard indicates the Hindu-style compound where the small, weathered seer from Eat, Pray, Love lives. Gilbert learned meditation with this local balian (shaman).

Gilbert describes Ketut Liyer as “a priestly figure, somewhat mystical.” Nobody knows Ketut’s age, but his business card offers health, meditation, palm reading, astrology, painting, woodcarving, homestay … Plus a map to his front porch.

Many Indonesian communities prefer traditional healing to science. Medicine men address spiritual as well as physical needs, blending massage and meditation with herbal recipes. Ketut hails from long line of mystics; his grandfather inducted him into the family trade—after he had died, incidentally. That’s right, the deceased man apparently mentored his grandson via the medium of dream.

After the movie’s release, Time said, “his bamboo mat is an almost necessary stop on Bali’s increasingly popular spiritual tourist circuit.” The Yoda-alike’s bank account is no longer empty. Ketut charges almost the average weekly wage, US$25, to read your palm. For that price, though, he will say you are smart—and live to be 110-years-old.

Traditional Balinese Healing

“Thank God my best friend in Bali is a healer,” and I ran into Wayan’s shop … She took one look at me and said, “You sick from making too much sex, Liz.’”

Wayan Nuriyasih (top left) in Traditional Balinese Healing: a clinic, home and restaurant

To Gilbert, Wayan Nuriyasih is a “strikingly attractive Balinese woman with a wide smile and shiny black hair down to her waist.” She can be found in Traditional Balinese Healing—“a very small medical clinic and home and restaurant all at the same time.”

The gentle herbalist speaks proficient English, although, “because she is Balinese, she immediately asked me the three standard introductory questions,” according to the writer. “Where are you going today? Where are you coming from? Are you married?” (Despite this stock-standard patter, Gilbert lingered five hours on her first visit and later raised $18,000 to build Wayan a better house.)

Wayan treated the author’s urinary tract infection with strange noxious potions. “In less than two hours I was fine, totally healed.” After that, Gilbert “would trust Wayan with any illness whatsoever,” reckoning her “one of the most successful businesswomen in Ubud.” (In fairness, bloggers also rave online about Wayan’s miraculous abilities.)

Gilbert had previously noticed Wayan’s shop’s blackboard with a curious handwritten advertisement for the Multivitamin Lunch Special outside a nondescript building behind a restaurant garden of ginseng, aloe vera and jasmine. The “delicious and nutritious” concoction of water spinach, ginseng, salty seaweed and spicy tempeh comes with each ingredient carefully labeled with its healing properties:

Red rice: for a healthy heart
Grilled coconut: relieves rheumatitis
Tomato chutney: healthy for gums
Mutabilis leaf: relieves stomach gas
Bean sprouts: strengthens weak muscles

Maya Ubud Resort & Spa

The grand Maya Ubud - where Elizabeth Gilbert wrote sections of 'Eat, Pray, Love' in 2006

Where better to base a pilgrimage than the very hideaway where Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the Balinese section of her memoirs back in 2006? (Maybe you can even reserve the exact room occupied by the author in her moments of literary inspiration.)

Set amid 10 hectares of landscaped garden enveloped by steep valleys, the layout of Maya Ubud Resort & Spa flows from its hilltop vantage point down to rice paddies besides the Petanu River 30 meters below. Pitching itself as a “spacious, stylish, luxurious environment in which to enjoy some of life’s better moments,” the resort has won loads of awards. VIP International Traveller readers voted it Most Beautiful Wellness Resort Worldwide in 2006.

“The task in Indonesia was to search for balance,” wrote Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love—a balance between pleasure and devotion, specifically. Well, Devotion To Pleasure Leaving One Balanced is probably the mandate of the therapists at Maya Ubud’s riverside spa, who cater to romancers in customized couples’ thatched treatment pavilions.

The resort’s website convincingly essays its spa’s sensual wares: “soothing hands … aromatic herbs, oils and lotions … flower-filled baths … treatments that smooth, stimulate, and pamper … private treatment pavilions provide individual oasis in which refreshing and aromatic oils sooth and relax.”

Thank you to all respondents for entering our competition in the August newsletter. Find out the correct answer and the winner who bagged a voucher for a two-night stay at the One World Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, on www.TravelandLeisureAsia.com.

QUESTION: How many Asian hotels are placed in the top 100 hotels in the world?
ANSWER: 10

SHARON DAS from Malaysia was picked as the winner! She will be given a voucher for two nights in One World Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. CONGRATULATIONS!

Baby orangutan at the Nature Reserve Rasa Ria

In the jungle:
For those with the will to experience the orangutan’s habitat – not to mention less-enticing creatures like leeches − Malaysian Sabah has several jungle hubs (all require overnight stays).

1. Kinabatangan River basin is most popular with tourists. This region contains endangered animals like pygmy elephants and orangutans (and freshwater sharks in the river!)  Accommodation includes an award-winning eco resort and several home-stay options. Night tours are definitely recommended!

Baby croc swims in the Kinabatangan River

2. Danum Valley Conservation area is a protected area in a remote location with limited accommodation options (though less tourists).

3. Tabin Wildlife Reserve, located nearer Kinabatangan and run by the Forestry and Wildlife Department, has privately-owned visitor facilities and lots of wildlife.

Outside the jungle:

4.  Sepilok Rehabilitation Center is more accessible than the reserves but still requires a flight from the capital Kota Kinabalu (KK) to the city of Sandakan.  The Sepilok Center rehabilitates around 60-80 orphaned orangutans who swing from ropes above the visitor platforms during feeding times.  The antics of these playful juveniles are a dream for photographers.

Camera…action at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

7.  Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. While the majority of orangutan ‘sights’ are in Sabah, Borneo’s other Malaysian state, Sarawak, has a low-key rehabilitation center 45 minutes drive from the capital, Kuching.  It lacks the facilities of Sabah’s center but is still pleasant and easy to access.

6. Nature Reserve at the Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort. It seems strange I know but this initiative between the Shangri La hotel group and Sabah State Wildlife Department offers visitors with less time an opportunity to experience orangutans in their own environment.  Affiliated with the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center and set up in a similar way − at feeding times the orphans swing on ropes above visitors platforms and there is an education center on site.  Outside visitors welcome by arrangement.

5. Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, 30 minutes drive from KK (Sabah’s main tourist hub), contains an orangutan enclosure as well as other native Borneo animals.  If you’re worried about tiny cages you might be relieved, like I was, to find the animals adequately cared for.

Borneo pygmy elephants at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park KK

Street design Kuching

I’m surprised Kuching doesn’t generate more buzz in traveler circles given its laid back, multicultural style and ease as a travel destination.  Fusing tribal, Chinese and Malay cultures with its ‘White Rajah’ history, the city is peppered with arts and crafts, eateries and interesting architecture.

You can feel the creative pulse can on Main Bazaar, a row of old Chinese shops, where murals dot the exterior surfaces.  Borneo antique and craft shops are cheek by jowl here selling massed-produced and unique items.  The burgeoning contemporary art scene is represented by celebrated local artist Rayond Ong (his gallery is called ARTrageously).

Longhouse Sarawak Cultural Village

Kuching has a distinct tribal vibe and locals sport tattoos with Sarawak motifs.  A good place for a bit of people watching is the waterfront, especially in the early evening when the food vendors come out.  A few historical landmarks are visible from here too.  Across the river, over views of sampans and jungle, is the Astana (palace) and the castle-like walls of Fort Margherita.

Sanpan on the River, Kuching

Like it’s tradition of tribal and cultural intermarriage, when it comes to food, Kuching likes to mix it up.  There are hip eateries like The Junk and its sister establishment The Living Room, Bla Bla Bla and Jambu.  Jalan Padugan is a microcosm of eateries as sleek as the city’s cat sculptures.  Fusion fare is popular and includes local dishes like ‘Sarawak Laksa’, the pride of the city.

Indigenous dishes are worth trying too.  Manok Pansoh is an Iban tribe dish of chicken scented with bamboo and lemongrass. Umai is a sour raw fish salad, originating from the Melanau tribe.  Midin, a jungle fern – which I highly recommend – is eaten all over Borneo.  It is crunchy and usually cooked with shrimp paste or garlic.  Along with Kuching’s arty vibe, hawker fare and great seafood abounds.

weaving

The new Kampong Ayer Gallery

A recent addition to Brunei’s tourist scene is a ‘living’ museum on stilts above the water.  The purpose of the museum is to highlight the water village life that sprawls all around it.

Brunei’s water village has several claims to fame.  First, it is the largest stilt water village in the world containing around 30,000 thousand residents.  Second, archeological evidence suggests it is more than a thousand years old. And third it was at Kampong Ayer that the first European, Magellan, made contact with the Brunei (though the village was a little further along the river back then).

The boardwalk, Kampong Ayer

Having guided a number of visitors there, a tour around Kampong Ayer is definitely one of the highlights of Brunei travels, if not ‘the’ highlight.  Zipping about aboard a ‘flying coffin’ (aka water taxi) is unlike other traveller experience.

Up on the boardwalks locals wander past. Electrical poles and TV satellite dishes punctuate the landscape. Residents fish from boats in the river.  Back on dry land the enormous gold dome of the town’s great mosque rises behind the jetty.  And, if you’re lucky, your driver will take you past the Sultan’s palace and under the boardwalks at a speed that will keep your interest up.

Water taxi taking a break

The Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourist Gallery has many draw-cards − aside from its interesting archives.  It is a cheap and fast water taxi-ride from the town center (around $2); it has an observation tower with 360 degree views over the water village and it is situated inside the water village (meaning if you fancy walking about the boardwalks a little then you are already there).

View from observation tower

Can Myanmar's Tiger Girls really hope to uphold Spice Girls-style "Girl Power?"

Isolated Myanmar can seem like the land that time forgot. Forget digital baubles and the trappings of modern life. As the controversial Lonely Planet Myanmar (Burma) relates, visiting the “time-warped country” is to “turn back the clock … with creaking buses, potholed roads … and not a 7-Eleven in sight.” In other words, just about the last place on earth you would expect to find a gyrating girl band.

But, 15 years after The Spice Girls stormed the world, “Girl Power” has landed in crumbling Yangon. Tricky, Chilli, Electro, Missy and Baby hope to emulate what Posh, Scary, Sporty, Ginger and Baby foisted upon the world almost a generation ago.

The band is the brainchild of Australian dancer Nicole May. “There is so much natural music flowing through people’s veins here, but the music industry is undeveloped,” she told The Guardian.

At their first gigs in February 2010, audiences were apparently stunned into silence. “On the first day, people were quiet, they did not know what to think about us, they hadn’t seen anything like us before,” said Htike Htike (Electro Tiger). “But by the second day, they really liked us, they were clapping and cheering and calling for more.”

Giving “more” may not be so straightforward in a country ruled by a military junta resistant to Western influence; where all song lyrics must be approved by a capricious military censorship board.

“The country is hungry for something new, but whether it is ready for the Tiger Girls, I don’t know,” May told The Guardian.

ASIA’S ‘PRETTY’ SYNDROME

"I want nobody - but the world's second-biggest record industry": The Wonder Girls

Asia loves its pretty-girl presenters and dancing “coyote girls” as much as karaoke, so Western-style girl groups are big business. In the late 90’s and early 00’s, Asia was swept up in the “Korean Wave”—a seismic, multimedia cultural surge with bubblegum pop as its Technicolor undertow.

Fashionable youths from Phnom Penh to Taipei via Bangkok and back are sporting gelled, layered mullets and dancing to a “K-Pop” beat.  However, like much of Korean culture, “K-Pop” absorbed tropes from neighboring Japan, home of the world’s second-largest music market and the loosely defined “J-Pop” genre, rooted in The Beatles and the Swinging Sixties.

SOUTH KOREA

South Korea's leading girl group, Girls' Generation (note the use of grammatical punctuation!)

“The local pop scene is sizzling with an array of girl groups, both old and new, and the competition is expected to heat up,” frothed Han Sang-hee of The Korea Times in 2009 (conveniently ignoring the Korean entertainment industry’s well-publicized backdrop of backroom sleaze and suicides).

Girls’ Generation is a nine-member troupe of professionally trained showbiz babes, often referred to outside Korea as SNSD, an acronym of the group’s Korean name “So Nyeo Shi Dae”. The group sold over 100,000 copies each of their first three albums, a first for female groups in South Korea.

Their main rivals are The Wonder Girls, whose English version of their 2009 single “Nobody” was the first Korean song to enter the US Billboard Chart—it also topped playlists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The five-piece unit announced a 20-show tour of the US and Canada in 2010—“The Wonder World Tour”(natch)—after supporting hot-to-trot virgins, the Jonas Brothers.

JAPAN

Here today gone tomorrow: members of Japan's Morning Musume

Eight-piece Morning Musume is Japan’s biggest-selling girl group. They formed in 1997 via reality TV series Asayan, which tasked them with selling 50,000 copies of demo single “Ai no Tane” in five days. The girls managed it in four.

Peering beyond the shiny surface offers a glimpse of a baffling subculture, somewhat echoing hierarchical Japanese society. Morning Musume is the lead group of The Hello! Project—a monopolistic network of dozens of bands populated by members whose average age is 15. These performers are interchangeable, so routinely form new bands.

Unsurprisingly, Morning Musume has an ever-fluctuating lineup, forever staging “auditions” and “graduations” (read: retirements, complete with farewell ceremonies). There are already 17 former members. Perhaps the current crop can take hope from the fact that the group’s line-up remained unchanged in 2008. Or maybe not.

THAILAND

Thailand's controversy courting quintet: Girly Berry

In Thailand, a quintet called Girly Berry often enrage traditionalists and moral conservatives with their skimpy attire and provocative choreography. Therefore, it came as a surprise when the Thai government selected the girls to front a national campaign calling for women to dress modestly during the Songkran water-throwing fight festival.

Girly Berry gladly accepted—only to appear plastered over tabloid front pages on the first day of the festival soaking wet and scantily clad. The band posed in pink polo shirts wai-ing their apology to the country’s Ministry of Culture. “We want to say that we have more than one role,” said Piay “Giftza” Pongkullapa. “As everybody knows, Girly Berry s a girl group whose image, singing and dancing are influenced by Western culture. That day we were Girly Berry.”

“Play with matches, you get burned,” would seem to be the moral of this story.

THE FUTURE…
The star-maker behind the Spice Girls, FarWest Entertainment, is now setting out to form an Asian counterpart. The pan-Asian girl band launched an initiative called Project Lotus, to find, train, and groom the five “Asian Spice Girls” from China, Japan, Korea, Philippines and India. Online auditions have closed—so listen out for the “Asian Spice Girls” bothering the airwaves soon. Their management team is also responsible for the likes of Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, S Club 7, Five, Ronan Keating, and Blue, by the way. Be afraid. Be very afraid…

Asia is producing more beer than Europe for the first time since records began, says Japanese brewing giant Kirin Holdings. It sounds like a bar trawl is in order…. But where does the well-intentioned novice drinker start? Here’s a rundown of experts’ handpicked favorites.

A picher says a thousand burps, at an Asian beer festival (By Graham Hills via Flickr Creative Commons License)

Economists say Asia bounced back from the financial crisis quicker than in the West, while its beer production also surged 5.5 percent from the volume produced in 2008, according to researchers from the Kirin Institute of Food and Lifestyle.

“The guzzlers of Munich’s beer halls are the stuff of bacchanalian legend: now they have to contend with rivals hailing from the bars and street stalls of Hanoi and New Delhi,” claimed the BBC.

While Asian drinkers still consume less on average than Europeans, Vietnam led the region’s boozy surge, followed by India then China. The popularity of Vietnamese labels like 333 (pronounced “ba ba ba” locally) leaped 24.3 percent. Two other labels—Hanoi Beer and Saigon Beer—were official beverages at this year’s Berlin International Beer festival.

Joe Tucker, president of RateBeer.com, recently hand picked his recommendations for Men’s Health magazine. Here are his top picks—plus the mandatory inclusion of an honorary member: a perennial, trusted golden elixir—from a relatively unexpected font of beery wisdom.

Asahi Kuronama Black

Dusky jewel: Asahi Black (by James Cridland via Flickr Creative Commons License)

“Crack this open for a rich, roasted accompaniment” to meaty dishes, says Tucker. Never mind the likes of Guinness, Asahi Kuronama Black is billed as Japan’s favorite dark beer. Brewed in Osaka, this silky textured and shadowy toned brew blends three different roasted malts. This wanton mix-and-match approach apparently gives Asahi Black a unique nutty flavor and warming, smooth-drinking characteristics.

Baird Rising Sun Pale Ale

"Today's the day when teddy-bears get utterly paralytic": Baird Beer (main pic: Jeremy Deades via Flickr Creative Commons License; insets from BairdBeer.com)

“Infused with a citrus aroma, this brew will balance the tartness” of acidic, pickled foods, apparently, according to the expert. “This hoppy, brisk and refreshing Pale Ale is indescribably complex,” exclaims the website of Baird Beer, founded in 2000 in Numazu, Japan, by the husband-and-wife team of Bryan and Sayuri Baird. RateBeer.com, meanwhile, says the 5.2% percent “quenching brew” fits the “American west-coast style.”

Kiuchi Hitachino Nest Beers

Hitachi Nest beers, as clinically presented on Kiuchi Brewery's website

Tucker vouches for the Belgian White Ale, but “load up the fridge with Hitachino’s crisp, clean Real Ginger Ale and Japanese Classic Ale, too.” Kiuchi Brewery (est.1823) in Naka, Ibaraki Prefecture, produces beer, sake, and shochu. The Nest Beer brand—with its distinctive owl logo—started producing “top-fermented ales” in 1996, blending European beer-making technology with some traditional sake brewing methods (its XH Hitachino Nest Beer is matured in wooden shochu casks, for example). The quaff became available in the US in 2000 and has won numerous international awards.

A century old and still going strong: San Miguel, the result of Spanish-Filipino brewing smarts

San Miguel Premium Lager

Filipinos love a beer: it is the most commonly consumed alcoholic drink in the country. The San Miguel varietal is “easy to drink and a good palate cleanser,” says Tucker. The first such beer was produced in Manila in 1890 via a royal grant from colonialists Spain—hence it being named after a brewery in Barcelona. A hundred years later, San Miguel Corporation is one of the country’s few global conglomerates.

Honorary Mention: Bia Lao

Bottled since 1973 on the outskirts of Vientiane by the Lao Brewery Co., Bia Lao has drawn plaudits from the esteemed likes of Time magazine—which described it as “foaming magic” in its Best of Asia Awards 2004—and The New York Times. Perhaps those ancient stone jars were actually ancient beer kegs. Time describes the pilsner as “an arrestingly crisp brew and also the universal accompaniment to the local cuisine.

“There’s no stinting on quality,” its plaudits continued. “Bia Lao is made from Pilsen malt imported from France, Hallertauer Magnum hops and dry yeast from Germany, and local rice and spring water.”

Time reckons that these factors “propelled Bia Lao to the top of Asia’s beer league. So have the brew’s emotional connotations. For wherever you are in the world, one sip of Bia Lao and you are instantly transported to a riverside bistro in Vientiane. The long lunches, the French-colonial streets, the wats [temples] and murmuring monks: it all comes back with exquisite precision.”

"Mmmm...Bia Lao" (by garycycles via Flickr Creative Commons License)

Growing up in the 1970s watching repeats of The Twilight Zone I have always associated this time when day melts into night with mystery and magic; a brief gap where it’s neither one thing nor another, where it’s betwixt and between. Ambiguity of every kind is more pronounced in Thailand than anywhere else in the world. It’s as though Thailand is forever plunged into a magical twilight zone where there really is a third sex, where tomorrow could mean next week, next week could mean next year and to have the most is also to have the least.

This ambiguous time of day, or is it night, the whole of Chiang Mai is at it’s most active. The heat of the day has gone but the light of the day still lingering. Parks and odd bits of waste land are packed with thousands of games of Tak Kraw, joggers and other assorted fitness fanatics. Food vendors swarm the streets, markets buzz into life and a million fairy lights begin to twinkle outside thousands of bars as hundreds of bar girls put on their lip stick. There is a dizzy aroma of incense and fried chicken as the traffic cops fight a loosing battle to maintain order over an entire city on the move.

During this magical time, unnoticed by the day time people and the night time people, a small group of twilight people come out. Their work can only take place between the end of day and the beginning of night, between the time the sun sets,  and as they say in Ireland, “the time when the green goes out of the grass”.

Fishermen the world over from Bangkok to Balham will know that during this time fish are at their most active and what’s more, the reflections from the surface of the water suddenly vanish. It’s as though a stage magician has suddenly whisked away the silk curtain exposing a dark watery world beneath.

As the traffic whirls around the moats, all within becomes still and transparent. This is what the fishermen have been waiting for all day. The reflective veil has lifted exposing large old catfish dozing just beneath the surface.

As the fishermen congregate around the moats they lash murderous looking spear guns and harpoons to their backs. Most of these are standard under water spear guns used for marine fish hunting,  but some are wonderful home made contraptions made out of bits of iron rod resembling huge cross bows,  the needle sharp tip of the spear protected by a bit of dirty polystyrene. Each gun is attached to its spear by a coiled length of strong nylon cord. To the uninitiated eye it’s all quite an arresting sight that wouldn’t look out of place in a fantasy battle scene from Lord of the Rings.

It’s what happens next that is really unusual. Instead of the fishermen slipping undetected into the water, as would be normal in spear gun fishing, they climb up into the huge old trees that overhang the water. They climb as high as they can so they have an excellent view down into the clear dark water. From these tree top eyries they sit motionless with spear gun at the ready focusing intently on the water, cutting an arresting silhouette against the darkening skies above.     

Then suddenly, the still evening air is filled with movement … zooooom. The trigger is pulled and a flash of silver darts through the air at incredible speed with incredible power slicing into the water towards a poor unsuspecting catfish. All is action. Down on the ground the fishermen’s young accomplice dashes out from beneath the tree to retrieve the spear and the harpooned fish. The fish is despatched quickly and hidden in an old plastic bag and the nylon cord wound in and the spear re set ready for the next victim.

I have explained this story to several guests that have come to stay with us here in Chiang Mai. I can see them looking at me rather uncertainly wondering if it’s the heat or the Thai whisky that has got to me. I don’t mind if you don’t believe me either, but all I do ask is that if you find yourself in Chiang Mai walking along by the cool waters of the moat at the end of the day, even if you feel over come with heat, don’t, and I repeat don’t be tempted for an evening dip, especially under the big old overhanging trees.