Hotel and restaurant news

The Peninsula Hong Kong is inviting guests to step back into an age of elegance as the hotel reintroduces tea dances, once a famed afternoon ritual in the lobby.

As part of the celebration of its 85th anniversary, the Peninsula is reviving some of the customs that evolved during its history. Sunday afternoon tea dances once offered the Hong Kong community a prime spot to socialize, dance and listen to music.

The 2013 version features a 10-piece band and is to be held from 3-6 p.m. the first Sunday of every month through November. Cost is $127.

"To celebrate … Read the rest

Hungry for a change of pace? The World Street Food Jamboree in Singapore, May 31 to June 9, may be the place to find it.

The event, described as a "mega street food feast," will feature 35 master chefs. Entries will hail from Indonesia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, Malaysia, Copenhagen, Denmark, China and Singapore, one of the world's best-known street food cities.

In addition to offering unusual cuisines, ongoing events will include masterclass cooking demonstrations, an awards ceremony, discussions on street food opportunities, live music and other entertainment.

The jamboree is being held in conjunction with a … Read the rest

It was a big job, but somebody had to do it, said editors at the Daily Meal. So they set out to recognize Asia’s top 101 restaurants.

The list, which took six months to compile, includes restaurants in 25 cities. China topped the charts with 28 restaurants, 21 of them in Beijing.

“Tackling Asia was a tremendous challenge for all kinds of reasons,” said Colman Andrews, editorial director for the Daily Meal, “but we felt we had to do it.

‘‘The number of superlative restaurants in that whole vast region is just extraordinary — Japan, remember, has more Michelin … Read the rest

Catch a pricey wave this summer at one of the world’s most exclusive surfing events in the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean.

Four Seasons Maldives Surf Champions Trophy contest, scheduled Aug. 26-Sept. 2, will pit six internationally known surfers against one another in a $25,000 showdown. Travelers who can afford the tariff can hop on a wave and rub shoulders with the greats – in the water or on the beach in the evening drinking rum.

Called the world’s most luxurious surf contest, the event takes place near Four Seasons Maldives Resort at Kuda Huraa. The … Read the rest

MAE WANG, Thailand — As we sat together on a long, narrow raft of bamboo, Alexa Pham dipped her hand into the quickly moving river. "It's the really simple things," she said with a long breath, "that make it beautiful here in Mae Wang."

Two wiry boatmen, steering with long poles, navigated the raft beneath the branches of overhanging trees, around boulders and through bars of late-afternoon sunlight. The men are part of Pham's staff, hired from the hill tribes and Burmese refugee communities of northern Thailand. Though they knew the river, they greeted every bend and rapid with … Read the rest

Hti Tain Monastery, Myanmar — Our horses arrived in a cloud of dust, clattering on the gravel road. Their manes were a little shabby, their saddles worn, but they looked sturdy and lively, capable of the two-day trek that would take me and my sons, Dow, 8, and Orly, 5, out of Kalaw, Myanmar, and into the pale mauve mountains above.

We were nine months into a year-long trip around Southeast Asia and Australasia, just the three of us. Already, we'd taken risks we would never have taken at home. We had ridden motorbikes in Vietnam, all three squashed … Read the rest

NAGASAKI, Japan — On my first trip to Nagasaki, just out of college, I knew what most of the world knows: An atomic bomb fell here on Aug. 9, 1945, bringing World War II to a close. It wasn't until my second visit, more than 20 years later on a guidebook assignment, that I realized how much I had missed.

Although the A-bomb is rightfully front and center for overseas visitors, the Japanese concept of the city is very different. As Japan's westernmost major port, it was the nation's first landing spot for Catholic missionaries and martyrs; red-bearded, waistcoated, … Read the rest

China — I approached Nanjing on a bullet train from Shanghai, just 160 miles away, watching the weirdly empty countryside whip past my window.

The world's most populous nation seemed to be missing a billion or so people.

A digital panel inside the cabin showed our speed at nearly 190 mph. I couldn't feel a thing except keen disappointment that America seemed incapable of building a rail system this efficient and comfortable.

An attendant in a crisp blue uniform appeared, offering me coffee and a packet of dried peas. Overhead a soothing voice purred, "Welcome to Harmony Express. We … Read the rest