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Posts Tagged ‘Cambodia’

Mango Meets… Varun Sharma

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

Varun Sharma at Angkor WatVarun Sharma is the host and executive producer of Inside Luxury Travel – a television show that focuses on high-end travel. The show airs in over 120 countries, in 21 languages and is beamed into 1.5 billion homes worldwide. Varun has now stayed in nearly 1000 luxury hotels and resorts… and has in the past year flown in a fighter jet, gone diving – without a cage – in Tiger Shark infested-waters, had dinner with a dingo and has cooked with over 75 Michelin-starred chefs!  www.insideluxurytravel.com

Varun Sharma stayed at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor whilst filming for the Cambodia episode of Inside Luxury Travel, airing from 13 February around the world – see dates below.

Mango Meets Varun off screen and finds out a bit more about him…

What’s best about now?

That David Bowie is releasing a new album! I have been waiting ten years for new music from him and boom – at the age of 66 – The Thin White Duke is back.

In 1993, I conducted a quirky, entertaining but serious interview with Bowie for my student rag at university – when “journalism” for me was really all about getting free concert tickets and meeting pretty girls! At the end of our session, Bowie turned to me and said,  “Mate, maybe you should do this for a living”…

How many journalists can say that David Bowie launched their careers?

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Not what … but who.  I have a 13 year old cocker spaniel named Gemima – aka Moo. When she was born the attending vet said she had contracted a rare disease and that she wouldn’t live more than a few months.  For a while she could not walk, her fur turned from a lovely tan to almost white – due to the treatment and she was always sick … but she refused to give up on life.  A couple of years ago she went totally blind as a result of glaucoma. She had both eyes removed and at the same time lost a few teeth due to her greedily chewing a rather tough bone… and still she refused to give up on life.  She is the reason I know that there is a “higher being”… spending time – even a few seconds – with her is… pure happiness.  She is my best friend.

What is your favourite journey?

It is ALWAYS the drive to a London airport from my home (deep in Thomas Hardy country) – 3 hours away.  I simply love my job… I love to travel… I love meeting new friends … and visiting old ones (another favourite journey but always precipitated by the main one!). Every journey to the airport marks the start of a new adventure.  I never get a chauffeur, I always drive myself… play extra load music and sing/shout (out of tune) before I have to get all serious when I meet the crew!

What is your favourite place?

I simply don’t have one. When I find it, I will never leave it.

I fall in love with an aspect of everywhere I visit – whether it be a beach, a monument, a hotel, a sunset or a person…  The single thing that keeps me going is my search for that “perfect place”.

What is your greatest fear?

A world without dogs (especially Moo)

A world without music (especially Bowie, Prince, Puccini and Jeff Lynne)

A world without cigars (especially the Davidoff culebra)

A world without red wine (especially Opus One)

A world without single malt whisky (especially the 1970 Glen Grant)

A world without the notion of true love

Who are your heroes in real life?

Just one … my father and the greatest compliment I am ever paid is when people say I am like him.

And in fiction or history?

Steve Biko, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Emily Davison, Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein … anyone who has had their life forcibly taken away from them because of their fight against bigotry.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I would like to be able to dance! I took lessons once but you just can’t train an “elephant” to move gracefully around a dance floor!  I think if I had a choice I would like to learn to tap… oh and John Travolta’s famous Saturday Night Fever routine… I would even wear the white suit!

What (are) is your greatest achievement(s)?

School Chess Champion – 1977, 78 & 79 and General Knowledge Champion 1979 & 80

Taking 5 wickets in an over in the local-derby village cricket match in 2012

Eating a jam doughnut without licking my lips

Travelling in 3rd class on an Indian train and surviving

Adopting two stray kittens and keeping them alive thus far!

What is your favourite pastime?

Escaping from reality! We were given an imagination and I love using it!  I have a Daily Diary that I have been writing for over four years which is an “honest” look at my life… my travels and some of the crazy things I do. Each entry encapsulates stories, photographs and also offers an insight into my favourite films and music… http://insideluxurytravel.blogspot.com/

My imagination stays where it should… in my whackadoodle brain… one day I may transfer it onto paper… now that will be a frightening read!

What is the quality you like most in a person?

I have never (personally) met a cigar smoker I didn’t like. So – superficially – if you smoke cigars, we are instant friends.

If you had one super-power, what would it be?

I should say “fly” so I can avoid airports etc… BUT if I had one super-power it would be the ability to turn water in fine wine! I would be the life and soul of every party… except the one for Alcoholics Anonymous of course!

What will we all be talking about in one year’s/five years’ time?

I would hope that we would be talking about world peace, end to famine, landing man on Mars, discovering a cure for cancer and the end to global warming BUT the news will be dominated by Royal babies, dim-witted z-list soap stars, who won the latest X-Factor and Justin Beiber.

Help!

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The Cambodia episode of Inside Luxury Travel with Varun Sharma will be broadcast on the following dates and times:

UK – Travel Channel

13 February 2013 –  14:00 and 22:00
17 February 2013 – 22:00
22 March 2013 – 03:00

EUROPE – Travel Channel

13 February 2013 –  14:00, 23:00, 03:00
17 February 2013 – 23:00, 03:00
22 March 2013 – 03:00

HD EUROPE

13 February 2013 –  23:00, 03:00
17 February 2013 – 23:00, 03:00
22 March 2013 – 23:00, 03:00

GERMANY – Travel Channel

13 February 2013 –  14:15, 23:15, 03:15
17 February 2013 – 23:15, 03:15
22 March 2013 – 03:15

HD ASIA

13 February 2013 – 23:00, 03:00
14 February 2013 – 15:00
17 February 2013 – 23:00, 03:00
22 March 2013 – 15:00, 23:00, 03:00

NEW ZEALAND – Travel Channel

13 February 2013 – 23:30, 03:30
14 February 2013 – 15:30
17 February 2013 – 23:30, 03:30
22 March 2013 – 15:30, 23:30, 03:30

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COOKING BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT IN CAMBODIA

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Chef Wade James bounds athletically across the huge garden at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor to where his fledgling Culinary Garden is growing beautifully in the humidity and heat of the morning.  The fruits of his planting would make any chef back in Blighty green with envy.  (Or should we say Australia, as Wade is from Sydney?)  Prolific basil, chilli, lemongrass, turmeric, kaffir lime and a million intriguing local herbs and spices are all growing impressively – larger, greener, happier versions of their sunshine-starved European cousins.  Even the air feels luxuriant.

Chef Wade James inspects the herb and vegetable garden Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor

We have gathered in the garden in Siem Reap at the start of a journey through Royal Khmer cuisine with Chef James and his team.  Why Royal?  Because Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor was given recipes from the Palace kitchen by none other than King Father Norodom Sihanouk (b.1922).  Grand hotel d’Angkor and its sister hotel Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh are the only hotels that are allowed to use these particular recipes.  Opened in the French Indochine colonial era in the early 20th century, these are the only luxury hotels in Cambodia that pre-date the civil war and the Khmer Rouge era.  At the Grand Hotel d’Angkor, staff feel they have a duty to keep traditional Khmer Cuisine alive and these classes are all part of that.

So we stand to attention dutifully as Chef James explains, “traditional Khmer Cuisine is all about detail – small amounts of ingredients with intriguing textures, complex aromas and amazing fresh flavours which create distinctly light, delicate and healthy cuisine.  Rice is almost a sacred component of Khmer culture, along with fish and shellfish, both fresh from Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers.”

First off, to the food market, surely the best entrée to local life one could hope for.  We plunge in, the only foreigners,  for a whirlwind tour.  All life is here, with a sea of baskets containing fruit and vegetables, some familiar and some weird and wonderful.  Here a woman mixes the ingredients for Khmer curry paste, here are baskets of fish, meat swaying from hooks, a baby sleeping, live chickens, machines full of luridly coloured drinks and four men playing an animated game of cards.  And everywhere smiles, lots of Cambodian smiles.

A local expert making curry paste in the market

We emerge into the sunshine, bamboozled, inspired and ready to cook.  Back at the hotel our stations have been laid out, each one with a chef’s hat, a crisp white apron, a mini gas stove and – heaven – all the ingredients have been prepped up for us.

Ready to cook!

First up, we are making Green Mango Salad (Nhoam Svay) with prawns.  Powdered smoked fish and dried shrimps give it a distinct taste and it looks brilliant.  So far so good.  Then we come to Sach Ko Loc Lak, the famous Wok-Fried Black Peppered Beef.  The beef is marinaded in black pepper, sugar, garlic, oyster sauce and soya sauce, before being blitzed in oil, then deglazed in warm Chinese wine.  We all agree that this is a dish we will make at home.  Chef James then races merrily along to the Red Chicken Curry (Kari Sach Moan) with sweet potato, coconut milk, chopped peanuts, galangal, lime, lemongrass… this mild but fragrant dish is an instant favourite.  This is definitely one to whip up after work on a winter’s evening,

bowls of ingredients at the ready

Finally it’s time for the piece de resistance, the Pumpkin Custard (Sang Khya L’Peowv).  This recipe uses 20 egg yolks and involves scooping out the seeds of the pumpkin to make a cavity into which the home-made custard is poured.  Strangely, by this time, we have all stepped aside, to watch Chef Ming Tyn do his stuff.  He expertly strains the custard into the pumpkin and puts it into a double steamer to cook.  Then it’s definitely a case of ‘here’s one I made earlier’ – and we marvel as he slices the chilled pumpkin with its perfectly set custard inside, to create what looks like slices of cassata.  Fabulous!

Pouring the custard into the pumpkin

At lunch we eat the dishes we have cooked (a little tidied up by the hotel’s chefs,  some more than others…) and we learn that Khmer Royalty favoured a cold rice dish that was prepared the night before and put outside so that dew infuses into the rice.  In the morning, jasmine flowers are added to make the dish fragrant.  We may not be able to do the languid heat, jasmine flowers or the colonial atmosphere of Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, but we are all enthusiastically planning our first Cambodian evening back in London.

Royal Khmer Culinary Classes at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, Siem Reap, are US$75 per person and include an introduction and tour of the Culinary Garden, a trip to the local market, the cooking class, all ingredients, lunch and a copy of Khmer cooking book by the hotel’s Executive Chef to take home, as well as a white apron and a Certificate of Participation. The price is subject to service charge and government tax.  Minimum 15 persons

For reservation, please call +855 63 963 888 | Or email: dining.grandhotel@raffles.com | www.raffles.com/siemreap

Cox & Kings offer tailor-made journeys to Cambodia featuring Raffles Hotel Le Royal and Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor.  For more information go to www.coxandkings.co.uk or call 0845 564 8926

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Cambodia – where the past is always present…

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

The best address in Phnom Penh is the graceful Raffles Hotel Le Royal.  It’s all you would expect of one of Asia’s great classic hotels.  An elegant French colonial building, with cool black and white tiled floors, a dark wood staircase – that responds satisfyingly to your step as you walk down – high ceilings, louvered shutters and overhead fans. This is the hotel where The New York Times’ Sydney Schanberg and the worlds’ reporters stayed during the war; there is a cocktail – Femme Fatale – named after Jackie O  – and beautiful, perfumed gardens.  It’s also very romantic and very now: ginger scented candles flicker in the lobby, there’s movies under the stars in the gardens in the dry season, the serene staterooms are being refurbished by young designers and a new generation of Cambodian artists have woven the fabrics and drawn the murals in the Elephant Bar (good for a Martini after a hot day’s exploring).

Outside, it’s the 1980s – there are so few high rise buildings, you notice them.  The National Museum is stuffed with centuries of artefacts from the Angkor period, and the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace  are big on bling and good fun.  There’s optimism in the air and the people are charming.  Get around on a tuk-tuk, dodging the awesome, anarchic traffic (how many people can you get on a motorbike?). 

And because this is Phnom Penh, you will visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Musuem – in the former S-21 centre, the school that was turned into a prison and torture centre by the Khmer Rouge.   Every prisoner was photographed and a confession wrested out of them.  Incredibly sad, but not to acknowledge the horror would be disrespectful.  Another necessary visit is to The Killing Fields memorial, a half hour drive out of town at Choeung Ek.  Hire a guide to get a full understanding of the atrocities that took place here.  In Cambodia, no-one is unaffected by the recent past. 

Phnom Penh is a brilliant, bustling city on the make, resilient and optimistic.  Top tips:  the US dollar is king,  so take wads of small notes.   Hold onto your bag – and go soon.  Is this the next Shanghai or Singapore?  We hope not. 

On to Siem Reap, home to Angkor – more than one hundred stunning temples and ruins, the remains of a city which covered more than  1,000 sq metres.  Angkor was the capital of the ancient Cambodian empire which dominated mainland South-East Asia from the 9th to the 14th century – the biggest pre-industrial metropolis on our planet.  Each new King of Angkor built a temple.  Dating from the 9th-13th century, these eye-popping monuments are feast of carving, murals, reliefs, that ooze atmosphere and awesomeness.  (How did they DO that?)  There’s the big daddy Angkor Wat itself;  Bayon, at the centre of Ankor Thom, known for its multiple faces, carved on the towers;  Ta Prohm, (don’t call it the Tomb Raiders one!)  with its massive banyan roots snaking over and around it.  The big ones can be done in a day (an opportunity to wear a serious hat and factor 50) but there are plenty of other sites and temples – check out the LUXE Guide to Cambodia and Laos. 

 

High Season is the Dry Season – November to February – but don’t dismiss the considerably cheaper wet season:  June to September.  It only rains for a couple of hours every afternoon.  The mornings are fresh and less hot (high 20s early 30s) it’s humid but do-able.  During the rain local life carries on.  For visitors this is a period of enforced inactivity – unless you fancy getting warmly drenched.  Hit the spa.  Read a book.  Take up yoga.  Have a fish pedicure in town.  Learn to meditate.  Or just take time out to think and be.  And come home quids in.   The hotel that ticks all the boxes – for atmosphere, colonial charm, spa, food – is Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor.  It’s all about the staff.  They really do care about you.   Try the delicious Khmer food  - small amounts of ingredients with intriguing textures, wonderful aromas and gorgeous fresh flavours – with fish and shellfish from the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers.  All the food is cooked to Buddhist guidelines.  Don’t miss the Banana Flower Salad with Grilled Prawn and Smoked Fish and the Steamed Elephant Fish with Ginger, Scallions and Shitake Mushrooms.   The hotel has a huge pool – the biggest in Cambodia, good for doing the laps in the morning.   The two incredibly private garden villas, with their big verandas, are being transformed by exciting designers and will finished this autumn.    And best of all, is where it is – opposite the King’s villa, surrounded by private gardens.  Very hard to leave.


Cambodia is a place of colour, vibrancy and beauty.  Of magical temples, mysterious music and fragrant flowers.  The people are graceful and kind.  There is sadness, inevitably, 1975 is not so far away.  But there’s an energy, a feeling that finally they are coming to terms with the past and looking towards the future.  Check out the exquisite silk clothes by Siem Reap-based designer Eric Raisina whose recent commissions include work for Christian Lacroix.  And then visit Artisans d’Angkor the fair trade company that reviving traditional Cambodian fine arts and crafts by giving young people from rural villages highly-skilled training in stone and wood carving, lacquering and gilding and silk weaving.  The workshops are in Siem Reap,  but if you don’t have time to visit them, you can pick up examples of their work at the airport at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.  The perfect memento of an extraordinary country.  Go now.

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