Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition April 2019

Welcome to the April 2019 edition of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific. Technology has always played a major role in business travel, but we’ve come a long way since the days of carting around huge “portable” typewriters and brick-sized mobile phones. Nowadays, its hard to keep up with all the latest smartphone models that are being released, let alone the plethora of other tech products that are coming to market with the frequent business traveller as customer in mind. On page 52 of this tech-focused issue, Mat Gallagher introduces 10 innovative new travel gadgets from January’s Consumer Electronic’s Show in Las Vegas, including a suitcase that follows you around without your having to move a muscle, and a wallet outfitted with GPS tracking. On the hotel front, on page 38, I have been looking…

BEATING THE BETEL We go to Taiwan’s rural east and ask why the habitual chewing of betel nut has been ingrained in the local culture for centuries 4 HOURS IN SHOREDITCH From grungy pubs to top notch street art, London’s hub of hipsterism has a lot to offer the curious business traveller BEYOND BORDERS Mexico often gets a bad press, but the country is a powerhouse of literature, the arts, architecture and gastronomy CRYPTOCURRENCY Bitcoin investor and journalist Ethan Lou argues why we would all do well to ditch our credit cards and use Bitcoin…

ETHAN LOU Ethan Lou invested in Bitcoin in 2013. Four years later, he founded Ocuis, a start-up for mining cryptocurrency in Calgary, Canada. Author of the firm’s popular industry newsletter, Ethan also writes regularly in media on cryptocurrency and other issues ranging from geopolitics to energy policy. His work has appeared in The Walrus, Maclean’s and The Guardian. He is a former journalist with Reuters and the Toronto Star. On page 57, he argues why we should ditch our credit cards when travelling in favour of Bitcoin. CHRIS MOSS Chris has been writing about Latin America for more than 25 years. He spent the 1990s in Argentina; then, on returning home to the UK, he wrote a book about Patagonia, edited guidebooks to Buenos Aires and other parts of Argentina, and compiled Latin…

THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER – Changi Airport’s much vaunted mixed-use development, Jewel, is due to open to the public this month, giving visitors more than 280 new retail and dining outlets to choose from when they fly to the Lion City. Encompassing some 134,000 sqm, the development has a number of key attractions, including Southeast Asia’s largest Nike store, an IMAX cinema, a Yotel short-stay hotel and a 40-metre-high Rain Vortex – the tallest indoor waterfall in the world. Much of the new facility will be open from April 17 onwards, though unfortunately travellers will still need to wait until mid-2019 for the opening of the development’s rainforest-style Canopy Park, which features elevated walkways suspended 25 metres above the ground. changiairport.com…

LAST MONTH saw Rosewood Hotels and Resorts make two notable debuts in Asia-Pacific with the opening of the Rosewood Hong Kong and the Rosewood Bangkok – the company’s first properties in each city. At the Hong Kong hotel, guests can look forward to generously sized rooms (starting size is 53 sqm), 80 per cent of which offer views of the city’s harbour and famed skyline on Hong Kong Island. In the Thai capital, meanwhile, guests will find themselves in the heart of the city’s Lumpini business and retail district with a choice of regular guestrooms, suites, or its large “House” accommodations, the latter all offering private terraces and outdoor plunge pools. rosewoodhotels.com…

FIRST CLASS travellers flying with British Airways can expect to see a new range of in-flight services and features starting this month as the airline introduces new menus, bedding and amenities. Key will be the introduction of a new afternoon tea service offering sandwiches, pastries, scones and tea infusions, along with a refreshed à la carte menu served on William Edwards-designed bone china crockery and Dartington glassware. Meanwhile, on the amenities side, passengers will be given new loungewear and amenity bags by British brand Temperley London, with the latter featuring Elemis toiletries. Travellers can also look forward to new 400-threadcount bedding, a foam fibre mattress topper, day blanket and bolster cushion. ba.com…