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THE MAGAZINE FOR CORPORATE AND LEISURE TRAVELLERS
Let’s Travel
ISSUE 44 OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2016
$9.95 inc GST
CHINA’S
Great Wall
Sojourn in
SAMOA
Events time in
QUEENSLAND
NEW ORLEANS
Food experience

2. 10 www.letstravelmag.com Asia, Great Rides
Ensuring Journeys are Destinations
No hotel ever wants its guests to leave, but if you must, and of course you should, they’d
just as soon you come back. In Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, hotels are investing in
boomerangs -- transporting experiences that range from the highly dramatic (microlight
aircraft) to the gritty but essential. It’s time to strap yourself in and take a journey on some of
Asia’s great rides.
Anantara Hoi An Resort

3. Asia, Great Rides www.letstravelmag.com 11
1 Anantara Hoi An Resort:
Aboard Anantara Hoi An
Resort’s quaint, lantern-decorated
sampan, fashioned by talented local
carpenters, guests putter down
the beautiful Thu Bon River and
soak up a picturesque new cruise.
The daily one-hour journey on the
33.0 CV-powered boat almost 13
metres in length and more than
three metres in width opens up one
of Asia’s most storied waterways in
a whole new way. The cruise offers
glimpses into the locals’ fascinating
way of life on the river ranging from
fishermen in sampans and coracles
snaring a catch to fishmongers
touting their wares at the bustling
riverside markets.
2 Galle Face Hotel:
Sri Lanka’s most iconic property
The Galle Face Hotel has been the
place to stay in the capital Colombo
for over 150 years. Now a ride in its
1954 Cadillac is just as coveted. Once
used by Lord Louis Mountbatten,
during the 1954 Commonwealth
tour by Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip, the classic car came
out of retirement earlier this year.
The journey is at the whim of the
driver--who happens to be the hotel’s
British general manager--but will
no doubt involve a cruise alongside
the Galle Face Green, the capital’s
popular seaside park. Not bookable
in advance, the experience itself is
offered on a case-by-case basis.
3 Sofitel Legend Metropole
Hanoi:
The two vintage Citroens parked
in front of the Sofitel Legend
Metropole Hanoi may not be as
‘suped up’ as Doc’s DeLorean in
Back to the Future, but the brace
of vehicles are time-transporting
nevertheless. Since 1953 and 1956,
these two old timepieces have plied
the streets of Vietnam’s storied
capital, as private cars initially, and
more recently as the Metropole’s
premier means of taking in the town.
For anywhere between an hour and
all-day, a white-gloved driver motors
guests on plush, white cordovan
bench seats to stops as varied as
the August Temple of Literature to
the monolithic immensity of Ho Chi
Minh’s tomb.
4 The Sanchaya Bintan:
The Sanchaya likens its
pristine and secluded beachfront
at Lagoi Bay to the powder white
sands at The Maldives, and from
the open cockpit of a seaplane, it’s
tough to argue the otherwise. The
20-minute microlight ride with Air
Adventures Flying Club begins with
the thrill of taking off on the water
before buzzing the bay, banking
over mangrove forests and zipping
over dense tropical rainforest
blanketing Indonesia’s Bintan island,
only a 45-minute ferry ride from
Singapore.
Galle Face Hotel's 1954 Cadillac
©MartinSasse

4. 12 www.letstravelmag.com Asia, Great Rides
5 La Residence Hue Hotel &
Spa:
You haven’t really travelled through
a Vietnamese city unless you’ve
sat in the berth of a cyclo (xich lo),
pedalled by a local driver perched
up high on a seat behind you. Other
countries in SE Asia do traffic in
three-wheeled pedicabs, but no
place compares with Vietnam, and
nothing compares to a languorous
ride on sweltering day with a
canopy shielding the sun. In Hue, the
one-time imperial capital of Vietnam,
La Residence Hue Hotel & Spa
dispatches guests on half-day food
tours with stops at the market and
at food stalls for such singular Hue
dishes as banh beo, banh nam and
banh loc.
6 The Reverie Saigon:
As far as arrivals go, it doesn’t
get more auspicious than pulling up
to Saigon’s hottest new address, The
Reverie Saigon, in the hotel’s Rolls
Royce Phantom Dragon - one of
only eight in the world. The special
edition car, a 2012 model to honor
the legendary creature from the
Chinese zodiac, has a price tag of
over one million US dollars. Whether
you’re travelling to or from the
airport or being escorted between
the city’s art galleries, museums, and
cafes, passersby are sure to stare as
you watch Saigon from the best seat
in town.
Hotel Metropole Hanoi - Facade with Citroen
The Sanchaya BintanLa Residence Hue Hotel & Spa