TRAVEL WATCH	MARCH 9, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 9
	Traveling in Style, When Money is No Object By STEPHEN SHORT s Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald famously agreed, the rich are different from the rest of us: they have more money. But if they want to lighten that burden a bit by vacationing lavishly in Asia, here are a few options: BY LAND: The Eastern & Oriental Express, which took to the tracks in 1993, represents train travel both refined and old-fashioned as it meanders on its two-night trip between Singapore and Bangkok. Royalty, heads of state, celebrities and fashion designers number among the clientele. The train makes its way over the River Kwai, and if the scenery isn't cinematic enough, the interior--modeled on Josef von Sternberg's 1932 film Shanghai Express--should satisfy the aesthetic appetite. But those dreaming of riding the rails may have to stand in line: folks have been known to charter the train and all 61 of its cabins for private journeys. Prices start at $1,460 a person for double occupancy and top out at $3,760 apiece for the presidential suite. If you want to travel like a king, the entire train can be chartered for $170,700. Tel: 65-392-3500. BY SEA: For a more languorous journey, nothing beats the Cunard Line's grand old Queen Elizabeth II, known as the QE2. Its annual Round-the-World trip arrives in Singapore March 15. Hop on for the South Asia leg: an 11-day Indian Ocean Odyssey Cruise will take you to Madras, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Kenya's Mombasa. If disembarking is too exhausting, ignore the ports and stay aboard. Prices start at $3,330 a person for double occupancy, while the grandest suite will set you back $35,000 each. Those craving more intimacy can try the Sea Goddess II, the QE2's sister ship, a "super-yacht" with only 58 suites (the QE2 has 779) and the atmosphere of a boutique hotel. The SG2 offers excursions around Vietnam and Thailand and leaves Singapore on a seven-night round-trip on March 28, docking in Port Kelang, Phuket, Penang, Belewan and Malacca. A double suite costs $7,770 a person. Can't make those dates? Charter the entire ship for $385,000. Tel: 852-2523-8022, or cruise the Website (www.cunardline.com). BY AIR: The sky's limit is that all the scenery tends to look alike when you're on a plane. But it goes by faster when you're on a Concorde. The supersonic planes, which can carry 100 passengers, are flown daily between the U.S. and Europe by Air France and British Airways. There is no scheduled service in Asia, but you can rent an entire Concorde by contacting the airlines in Paris or London. For environmental reasons, the ssts can't land in Tokyo, but Singapore and Hong Kong are good starting points. The jet's maximum range is only 6,400 km, so a flight to New York from Hong Kong has to stop for refueling at Guam, Honolulu and Oakland, Calif. You won't arrive any sooner than on a subsonic flight, but the service is lavish. And you'll have the thrill of breaking the sound barrier. All that for only $2.5 million. The rich are indeed different: they go faster. Tel: 44-181-513-0202 (Graham Butler at British Airways). --By Stephen Short KITSCH REPORT Asia's tourism slump has caused some hoteliers to get creative in attracting clients. Take the Hong Kong-based Regal Airport Hotel's "Farewell to Kai Tak" special. The Regal, near the soon-to-be-defunct Kai Tak Airport, is slashing room rates ($255 for a double, down from $290) from March 1 until this summer, when the new airport opens about 30 km away at Chek Lap Kok. The hotel is also offering "the last opportunity to follow every approach, landing and taking off with mesmerized fascination." The price includes breakfast, souvenirs, fruit basket and an "Airline First Class Dinner." On the menu? "Tropical Depression" soup, the "747 cockpit crew: Mr. Deer, Mr. Calf, Mr. Cow" main course and "Final approach: Control Tower to Gingerbread Souffle." Tel: 852-2718-0122. SHORT CUTS CHEAPER HONG KONG Good news for (the dwindling number of) tourists coming to the Pearl of the Orient: Hong Kong will reduce several pesky fees assessed on visitors. Starting April 1, the hotel tax will drop from 5% to 3%. Meanwhile a reduced travel tax will cut the cost of a boat ticket to nearby Macau or Zhuhai by about $1. And when the Chek Lap Kok airport opens later this year, Hong Kong's departure tax will be halved, from about $13 to $6.50. That saving alone should pay for an extra serving of dim sum or a pair of knockoff watches from Kowloon's Temple Street market. RAJ ART New Delhi's elegant Hotel Imperial was once the cultural center and gathering place of India's British ruling class, fading in importance only with the dawn of independence in 1947. Now, the newly restored hotel hearkens back to an earlier era with a collection of original engravings and lithographs on India by British artists from 1780 to 1870. On permanent display in the hotel corridors are 1,000 pieces done by lithographer William Simpson and Scottish trader James Fraser, among others. WEB CR@WLING EPICURIOUS TRAVEL (www.travel.epicure.com) FOOD FARE For those with a taste for epicurian adventure, Epicurious Travel has country-by-country breakdowns of characteristic dishes and recommended restaurants. The Website, run by the Conde Nast publishing group, also boasts a "Do's and Taboos" section for wining and dining in various Asian countries (gifts are not opened in front of the giver in South Korea, for example). Whether it's recipes for Chinese almond cakes, the best eateries in Shanghai or a food dossier to help choose between Madras and New Delhi, this site should whet the appetite for travelers who dig food. DETOURS Spared from both the bombs of World War II and Japan's headlong dash toward modernization, Kurashiki's Bikan District boasts the richest heritage of traditional architecture and style in the industrial lowlands between Kobe and Hiroshima. The stone exteriors of the old rice storehouses along the Kurashiki river and Historical Avenue have been preserved and now house rows of cafes, shops and restaurants. The cluster of family-run minshuku bed-and-breakfasts and picturesque ryokan inns near the canal make Kurashiki, which is two hours by train from Osaka's Kansai Airport, one of Western Japan's premiere towns for aesthetic accommodation. Room rates tend to range between $48 and $290 a night. Like most of Japan, the Bikan District has of course been subjected to a certain amount of Westernization. But the Ohara Museum of Art's Grecian facade--the gateway to a fine collection of works from such European masters as Picasso and Cezanne--makes for a stunningly graceful fusion of East and West.
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