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NEWS
259
November14
OFFSHORE
GEM
Twelve nautical miles from Phuket lies one of the Andaman Sea’s
most beautiful island destinations, Racha Yai – so near and yet so
far from the hustle and bustle of the mainland. Fronting the soft
white sand and azure waters of pristine Batok Bay is The Racha, a
collection of 85 luxurious eco-chic villas spread across 20 acres of
verdant tropical grounds. The resort also includes one of the world’s
most unusual living spaces, The Lighthouse; this five-storey villa has
an observation lounge with majestic 360-degree views of the island
and beyond.
SPECIAL OFFER:
Expat Living
readers can take advantage of The
Racha’s “early bird 30-day special” and get an additional discount
of five percent upon making payment at the Racha website only. To
enjoy these special rates, reservations have to be made at least 30
days in advance for villa stays during the period of 11 January to 30
April 2015.
theracha.com
The name Raffles might be synonymous
with Singapore, yet the hotel group extends
further than Beach Road – to Cambodia, for
one thing (see the Siem Reap story in our last
issue, for instance). Now Raffles has opened
in Istanbul, at the heart of the cutting-edge
Zorlu Center, where fashion, fine food and
the arts converge at a vantage point above
the Bosphorus. Raffles Istanbul features
132 guestrooms and 49 suites with Turkish
and contemporary design, floor-to-ceiling
windows, and private terraces and balconies.
The multiple wine-and-dine options include
a “Long Bar” like the one in Singapore, while
the Raffles Spa aptly incorporates hammams
along with treatment rooms, pools and
saunas. Rooms from
€
600 a night.
raffles.com/istanbul
SOLAR HOTEL
Vietnam’s La Residence Hotel & Spa recently
implemented the first phase of a green energy
initiative, when the riverfront property in Hue
turned the valve on a rooftop hot-water system that
continuously heats 4,000 litres of water, serving 39
rooms. The hotel expects to save around 60 percent
on electricity consumption by those rooms. Plans
are afoot to expand the system to all 122 rooms of
the 1930s Art Deco property. The solar panels are
manufactured by SolarBK in Ho Chi Minh City.
la-residence-hue.com