by Shane Mitchell

Manmade splendor. Natural wonders. The serenity of remote locations. These three vacation trips in Asia offer experiences that are anything but ordinary.

Bhutan: Trekking the Himalayas

Bordered by Tibet and India in the eastern Himalayas, the Land of the Thunder Dragon prefers isolation to globalization.This tiny kingdom, sheltered by some of Asia’s highest ranges, issues only 18,000 entry visas annually. The sole national airline has just six gateways, including Delhi, Bangkok and Katmandu. (No other carrier is permitted to fly here.)

Bhutan is prized among naturalists for its extraordinary biodiversity: The protected ecosystem harbors over 770 species of birds, as well as uncommon varieties of rhododendrons and orchids, which generally bloom during the “wet monsoon” season, from March through August. Most travelers venture here to explore unpopulated valleys and sacred Buddhist monasteries, attend cultural festivals and hunt for sightings of rare wildlife. (During the fall season, black-necked cranes migrate from China.)

The broad Bumthang valleys of Central Bhutan are famous for their monasteries, while the eastern region is lower in altitude, with a warmer climate and a superb silk-weaving tradition. Western Bhutan is best known for its alpine valleys, including Paro and Punakha, where most trekking companies tend to focus their itineraries.

Geographic Expeditions (geoex.com) has a rugged 17-day “Sacred Summits” journey to a base camp near Chomolhari, a venerated peak that rises 24,500 feet on the Tibet-Bhutan border near an ancient trade route from India. In 1939, F. Spencer Chapman, the mountain’s first climber, wrote, “Chomolhari gives a greater impression of sheer height and inaccessibility than any other mountain I know....It is thought by many to be the most beautiful mountain in the whole length of the Himalaya.”

Today, hikers can approach the peak through remote villages where prayer flags flap in the breeze and blue sheep graze in wild pastures. This trip includes a visit to Taktsang Lhakhang, or the Tiger’s Nest, a monastery that clings to a granite cliff 2,000 feet above the valley floor in Paro. The rigorous trek averages five hours daily, climbing slowly in elevation as GeoEx guides follow narrow trails along rivers and ridgelines. Each night, camp is set up in view of snow-capped peaks, yak herders’ tents and dzongs, or small temples.

For a finale, the itinerary includes a visit to the capital of Thimpu to shop at goldsmiths and handicraft emporiums.

Butterfield & Robinson (butterfield.com) offers a shorter, more leisurely 10-day trek through the Punakha and Phobjika valleys. This trip also visits Tiger’s Nest and Dzongdrakha, a delightful village of eight farmhouses and four temples sacred to Rimpoche, a 7th-century Buddhist guru. Unlike with Geographic Expeditions, B&R guests spend their nights in luxury guesthouses, including Aman hotels in Punakha and Gangtey. Outside Paro, the 45-room Zhiwa Ling is a new cultural landmark that includes a temple built with timbers from a 450-year-old monastery.

Thailand: Koh Samui beach resorts

Gracious hospitality and impeccable service are the essentials of Thai culture. Only an hour’s flight south from the crowded streets of Bangkok, Koh Samui is a popular beach escape that practices this affable existence wholeheartedly. Off the eastern coast, the country’s third largest island belongs to an archipelago stretching into the South China Sea. Koh Samui has swaying coconut palms, calm bays and golden sand beaches: Chaweng and Lamai are the most developed, with roaming sarong peddlers, crowded bars and rowdy nightclubs. But if you’re looking for a quieter retreat, don’t rule this out—deserted strands and tangled tropical jungles still exist as well.

Two recently opened resorts have established their own take on Thai-style comfort. One is sheltered from the more boisterous attractions of main towns, while the other is set on the island’s longest party beach. The Koh Samui Four Seasons (fourseasons.com) sits on a secluded bluff above the island’s tranquil northwest shore.
The 63 hillside suites and villas, designed by architect Bill Bensley, have teak floors, languorous daybeds and infinity pools overlooking the Gulf of Siam. The seafoam-green beach villas have rustic rosewood furnishings and unobstructed views of Laem Yai Bay. Lan Tania, which translates as blue palm, serves formal Thai cuisine; and Pla Pla, sited on the beach, offers local seafood dishes. The spa specializes in Thai massage in five salas (covered verandas) with outdoor soaking tubs and rain showers. A separate yoga pavilion offers individual hatha pose classes from sunrise to sunset.

Smack in the middle of flashy Chaweng Beach, The Library (thelibrary.name) is a minimalist haven with old-growth trees and art-filled gardens. This modernist resort eschews classical Thai charm for a “Bauhaus on the Beach” look, with a striking red swimming pool and a collection of coffee-table books, films and music in its high-tech entertainment center. It offers 26 duplex suites and studios with plasma TVs, broadband connections and enticing views of the ocean. Red and gray accents offset the pure white walls and floors.

The resort includes an excellent Italian restaurant, but Chaweng is also lined with casual cafés where beachcombers can lounge in flip-flops while drinking chilled Singha beers and sharing spicy pad Thai noodles.

Japan: Island of museums

Tokyo centrists occasionally abandon their sprawling metropolis for a regional backwater in the Kagawa Prefecture— but not because they crave rustic charm or a slower pace. Most climb aboard a high-speed ferry to reach Naoshima Island (www.naoshima-is.co.jp), about eight miles north of Takamatsu City, on the Seto Inland Sea. While most islets in this rural part of Japan are sparsely populated by anglers, three-square-mile Naoshima is the anomalous site of sleek architectural installations and an international collection of contemporary masterworks.

After walking off the ferry at the port villages of Miyanoura or Honmura, aficionados catch a courtesy bus headed for two neighboring museums on the southern coast. Winding through an Edo Period (1603–1868) castle town with narrow streets and wooden houses, the bus quickly arrives at the burgeoning cultural district in Seto Sea National Park.

Osaka-based designer Tadao Ando conceived Chichu Art Museum in 2004 as a series of sunken concrete geometrics embedded in a grassy point above the pebbled shore. (“Chichu” translates to “within the earth.”) Here, permanent installations by Claude Monet, Walter De Maria and James Turrell are displayed in self-contained galleries connected by passages intended to contrast light and dark, open and closed spaces. While this trio of artists may seem incongruous at first, especially when comparing Monet’s classic Water-Lily Pond oil-on-canvas diptych with Turrell’s Open Sky LED/xenon lamp program, the remote setting helps bridge their disparate interpretations of nature.

Ando is also the master planner behind Benesse House/ Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, a fusion of gallery and hotel that first opened in 1992. Only a half mile from Chichu, this complex displays more modern artists, including Jackson Pollock, Richard Long and Andy Warhol. Four small hotels are built on the museum grounds, too: Lacquer-red Oval has a sunset bar, while rooms in Museum feature original drawings from the Benesse collection. Last year, the museum added 41-room Park and the smaller Beach, with eight sparsely decorated suites overlooking the sea.

Of course, the best part about staying overnight is the freedom to wander the galleries once the day-tripping crowd has departed. A favorite after-hours spot for contemplating the artful setting is Cai Guo-Qiang’s Cultural Melting Bath, an installation disguised as a hot tub sheltered by volcanic rocks transported from China. Other related Benesse installations include the Art House Project in Honmura, where four village structures have been converted into design spaces. (Don’t miss the tranquil Go’o Shrine by Hiroshi Sugimoto.)

Save time before boarding the ferry again in Miyanoura for the oddest exhibit, 007 The Man with the Red Tattoo Museum, an obsessive fan homage to Raymond Benson’s derivative James Bond sequel, which takes place partly on Naoshima.
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SHANE MITCHELL is a freelance writer based in New York.