Caroline Phillips

Journalism

Caroline Phillips
“Caroline Phillips is a tenacious and skilful writer with a flair for high quality interviewing and a knack for making things work.”

Caroline Phillips

Journalism

All Travel: Asia/ Oceania articles

Bribing elephants with pumpkin seeds and spotting monks with iPads in Thailand

Country & Town House | 24 Feb 2015

The monk in saffron robes clutches a mobile phone and iPad. It’s an incongruous sight. Normally these holy men are holding alms bowls for donations of sticky rice. ‘It’s wrong to use Buddha as decoration or tattoo,’ reads a notice nearby. Across the forecourt I hear the strains of musicians playing instruments with names like Krong, Krap and Pia. Maybe a dignitary has landed. Maybe I’ve got culture shock.

Ananda Spa

Globalista | 5 Mar 2014

I’m throwing up like an elephant, puking saline water in one enormous wave. I’ve just swallowed a litre and a half of tepid, salty water – drinking several glasses very fast under the unwavering watch of my yoga teacher, Sandeep Aggarwal. At his instruction, I’ve tickled the back of my throat with my fingers, before belching more liquid into the sink. As I do this, an elegant woman in a sari walks past the open door of the therapy room and smiles encouragingly.

View transcript

Out of this world

Scotland on Sunday | 5 Jan 2014

People say one of two things when I tell them I’m going to Bhutan. Either: “Where the hell’s that?” Or: “oooh, you’re so lucky, I’ve aways wanted to go there.” To the first, the answer is: it’s a kingdom in the Himalayas between India and the Tibetan plateau. To the second: yes, very lucky – it is one of the most magical and beautful places on Earth where truly you travel back in time.


View cutting image View PDF

I was a Four Seasons virgin

Lusso | 1 Jul 2013

After just a day off booze or cigarettes – or even after a serious detox – there can be few better places for a retox than the Four Seasons in Koh Samui, Thailand. It’s a luxury resort that deserves a squillion stars (and stripes.) They offer torpedo-sized cigars, burgers so big and fresh that they almost moo, and chips to love more than life itself. And the place is full of Eastern promise and Asiatic charm with an American twist – a perfect retox ambience.


View cutting image View PDF View Web page View transcript

The iPad restaurant

Lusso | 30 Jun 2013

The Sukhotai may be surrounded by the noisy concrete jungle of Bangkok. Yet it’s that rare thing – a resort hotel in the centre of the city. It boasts landscaped gardens with water features and even an Olympic-sized pool. The décor is stylish and contemporary Thai, with miles of sage and copper silks, vases of lotus flowers and jasmine-garlanded statues of Buddha and friends. But there are other details that are more Silicone Valley than Siam: bedrooms with adaptor sockets to fit iAnything; and iPad restaurant menus.


View cutting image View PDF View Web page View transcript

You can get into intensive detoxes

Lusso | 30 Jun 2013

It’s time for me to rejuvenate a body more burnt-out than an old firework. Maybe have the opportunity to live on air alone. Or perhaps do the sort of intensive detox that leads, above all, to dreams of meringues and ice cream. You know, a kind of Victoria Beckham diet.


View cutting image View PDF View Web page View transcript

Pucker lips now

Lusso | 6 Feb 2013

Our tuk-tuk driver goes the wrong way down streets, against the oncoming traffic of entire families on motorbikes and cycle rickshaws taking ladies to work. “Quicker?,” he grins. Our first stop is the 19th-century Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. “Must wear,” insists the guide, handing me a sarong to cover my bare legs. And it’s worth the sortorial indignity to see the ochre palace with turquoise roof, silver floor tiles and Emerald Buddha. Welcome to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.


View cutting image View PDF

Sukotai, Bangkok

Country & Town House | 24 Oct 2012

Although Sukotai is aurrounded by the high-rise buildings of Bangkok, on of the noisiest and most traffic-choked cities in the world, the 210-room hotel is an exercise in Zen. It’s also that rare thing – a resort hotel in the centre of the city. It boasts a stonking six-acre landscaped garden full of Eastern promise, water features, bougainvillaea and even an Olympic-sized pool.


View cutting image View PDF

Kamalaya: is this Thailand’s best spa?

High50 | 8 Aug 2012

Everyone leaves there having made at least one change in their lives. That’s what I’m told about Kamalaya health spa in Koh Samui, Thailand. Guests rid themselves of multiple pounds (in weight and currency), have a turn of direction in their heart-attack-headed lives, and rejuvenate bodies more burnt out than a forest fire.


View cutting image View PDF View transcript

Caroline's favourite Travel: Asia/ Oceania articles

View all

Topics

Publications

Archive