Asia – Flung

The InterContinental Robertson Quay: Small Space, Big Impact

Sarah Stodola — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 21:02:44 +0000

I stayed in Singapore’s new InterContinental Hotel Robertson Quay just a few weeks after it opened last fall. Already, it felt like a well-oiled machine, in its brand new building, shiny in all the right places. It’s an InterContinental, so as one would expect, business needs are well taken care of. The surprise comes in how pleasant a place this is for leisure travelers. All the details below… The Location: The hotel overlooks the Singapore River in the Robertson Quay […]

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The Bon Ton Resort: Malay Tradition in Lieu of the Beach

Sarah Stodola — Thu, 03 May 2018 16:04:36 +0000

Heading to a Malaysian island known for its beach scene, one’s first inclination might not be to book a place inland, and understandably so. That would be a mistake on Langkawi, the popular island off of Malaysia’s western coast where the most interesting accommodation by far is on offer at the Bon Ton Resort, a marsh-side piece of land dotted with traditional stilted Malay houses relocated to the property and converted into guest villas. My boyfriend and I headed to […]

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When They Build It, But No One Comes

Sarah Stodola — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 18:16:07 +0000

On our second day on Nias, the Bali-sized island off the western coast of Sumatra, in Indonesia, my boyfriend and I took a long walk down the shore toward the spot where the bay meets the ocean, and then beyond it, just to see what we’d find. We’d chosen Nias for a few days of vacation after some time spent working in Singapore initially because it seemed like a convenient option, geographically speaking. It wasn’t. What might have been an […]

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Sixth Sense in Penang, Malaysia

Sarah Stodola — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 17:18:05 +0000

I was done for the day. Something about Penang, the current “It” city in Malaysia, had been exhausting me. As in most Southeast Asian cities, negotiating how to get across a busy street could take a lot out of a Westerner, and I’d been doing it all day. I’d just toured the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, and then had a slice of pie at the renowned China House. Now I was set to make my way back to my hotel via […]

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Choice Singapore: A Guide to the Offhand and Unexpected

Flung — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 14:00:41 +0000

Singapore’s global reputation generally lies on three pillars—an all-in embrace of the free market, government-imposed orderliness, and a sweltering climate. This reputation informed my expectations as I prepared to spend a few weeks there this past fall. I certainly wasn’t anticipating the swirl of Malay and Peranakan (aka Chinese) traditions, the pockets of history around one corner and space-age newness around the next. I happily discovered an emergent creative and arts scene alongside the capitalism–elements that are reflected in this […]

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In Search of a Decent Cup of Coffee in Sumatra

Sarah Stodola — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 19:26:47 +0000

Before I started researching a trip there last summer, the only thing I knew about Sumatra was that it produced a lot of coffee, or so I assumed after a thousand visits to third-wave coffee shops back home in Brooklyn and also Starbucks. As I poked around the internet, I learned that this Indonesian island just across the Straight of Malacca from Singapore is also a place of staggering beauty. This fact, plus its proximity to Singapore, where my fella […]

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The Warehouse Hotel: Hints of Spice on the Singapore River

Sarah Stodola — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 20:33:24 +0000

One of the best ways to gauge the quality of a hotel comes when it’s time to leave it. If you’re as stricken over the prospect as I was on my last night at the Warehouse Hotel in Singapore, chances are you’ve landed on something special. I’d grown accustomed, it turned out, to the many ways in which this hotel seduces you, and to the dependable comfort that made the sexiness all the easier to enjoy. The Warehouse opened in […]

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Aside Macau’s Casinos, a Thriving 16th Century City

Katrina Woznicki — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 14:28:07 +0000

Ask a resident of Macau where to buy the freshest egg tart or enjoy a phoenix egg roll, and you’ll likely get an answer you can’t plug into Google Maps. The response may begin with something along the lines of: “Turn left at the McDonald’s, walk a few blocks, make a right, maybe another block or two, look for that church, St. Dominic’s, there’s a street off that,” which might leave any visitor at a loss. That’s because the Macanese […]

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The Sofitel Singapore City Centre: Everything Wow

Sarah Stodola — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 17:36:20 +0000

Singapore is a place committed to convenience. Things here work, whether through technology or through service. Life’s little hiccups, like a dying phone battery or traffic jam or slow internet, aren’t a part of daily existence. All the better for getting work done in this, one of the world’s great business capitals. Nowhere encapsulates this mindset better than the Sofitel Singapore City Centre, a brand new 223-room hotel in which guests couldn’t be inconvenienced if they tried. I could hardly […]

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A Tale of Vegetarian Survival in Vietnam

Sarah Stodola — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:58:31 +0000

Eating was going terribly for me in Vietnam. The failures fell into two categories. One, I’m vegetarian, a lifestyle choice that isn’t catered to in this central part of the country around Da Nang and Hoi An, despite the widespread practice of a Buddhism that has followers going vegan on two days out of every month. Most adventurous eaters, in a place like this, simply point to what looks interesting at the food stall—an approach that’s impossible as a vegetarian. […]

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