Hajar
“Lying on a starlit terrace in Marrakech, beautiful and damned, (…) assembled as if for eternity where the curtain of the past seemed
to lift before an extraordinary future” – Yves Saint Laurent
Destination weddings talked about for many years(or generations) to come – from weddings in remote Bhutanese dzongs accessible by an hour-long trek
officiated by Bhutanese monks and attended by people from nearby villages to glorious weddings in Ottoman yalis and palaces with the picturesque Bosphorus
as a backdrop. Scouting for the most inspired settings- dramatic cliff-side chapels with glass bottoms, a hundred Maasai warriors serenading the
guests with the magical Ngorongoro Crater as a backdrop or the re-enactment of a courtship ritual on horseback in Kyrgyzstan. Every detail- from the food to the
wedding decorations, the photography to the entertainment, will be planned in consultation with the couple.
Friends and family who’d come to share in the joy of the couple will encounter a similarly meticulous attention to detail- from individual dietary preferences to
customized tours pre- and post-event, decadent parties and stylish cocktail receptions- Talitha Getty-inspired togs optional.
Our luxury honeymoons are every bit as spectacular and inspired- safaris featuring star beds where you’ll see the night stars, particularly brilliant due to your proximity
to the Equator, alternately waking up to views of the boundless Serengeti and Patagonia’s dramatic Paine Massif in lodges defining standards of luxury in remote
places or exploring the stunning juxtaposition of tropical forests and cool Himalayan climes of the Burmese Himalayas.
Image courtesy of &beyond.
Luxury adventure travel- as far as real estate go,( or rather, the lack of it), luxury adventure travel connotes a sense of displacement, a lack of possessions and the true luxury that does not hamper mobility. Luxury adventure travel in Mongolia with the distinctive Mongolian gers
Luxury adventure travel Mongolia
The themes of luxury and adventure travel aren’t as divergent as it’s been made out to be- whilst the true (and best, according to Chatwin), nomads, are able to withstand the most basic of living conditions- travel in the modern world is a temporary affair, couched against the comforting knowledge that no matter how bad things get, there’ll always be the luxury of home to return to at the end of the journey. The most famous adventurers of modern times are almost always financially well-off and Chatwin, despite his championing of the basic lifestyles of the nomads, found it fit to complain in his diaries:
“18th day of disasters. Wrecked my plans. (…) Feeling very hard done by. At least the sun is shining. It rained earlier. Difficulties of Patagonia. Want a salad. Cannot face any more meat. Dust in your eyes”- from the thesis of Jonathan Michael Chatwin, 2008.
Have not found any shit on Thesiger though…
A Standoff in Scotland Over Donald Trump’s Golf Resort Ambitions
Landowner and Local Officials Resist, But National Government Intervenes
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 7, 2007; Page A30
LONDON, Dec. 6 — When fisherman and farmer Michael Forbes looks at his 23 acres on the wind-scoured coastline of northeastern Scotland, he sees home, a humble jumble of a place where the salmon fishing is good and his 83-year-old mother lives in a cozy trailer.
When Donald Trump looks at Forbes’s land, he sees a sliver of his latest mega-development plan: Europe’s largest golf and housing resort, a 1,400-acre, $2 billion complex of two championship courses and hundreds of hotel rooms, houses and time-share villas a few miles north of Aberdeen.
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Michael Forbes says his 23 acres on the Scottish coast are not for sale. Developer Donald Trump wants the land as part of a $2 billion project. (By Angus Blackburn — Bloomberg News) TOOLBOX
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The vastly different views of the down-home Scotsman and the flamboyant New Yorker came to a head in October when Trump offered Forbes about $790,000 for his property — well above market value.
The Scot said no. “This place is not for sale,” Forbes, 55, said in a telephone interview. “He seems to think everything is for sale.”
The standoff is at the center of a controversy over Trump’s latest megaproject that is firing passions so deep that a British businessman this week offered to pay more than $1.5 million for the land just to stand in Trump’s way.
When local government officials rejected the project last week, Trump threatened to walk away — perhaps to go over to Northern Ireland, where government ministers said they would welcome his big-bucks development.
As Trump was meeting in New York this week with the Rev. Ian Paisley, head of the government of Northern Ireland, the Scottish government took control of Trump’s application. Scottish leader Alex Salmond, whose constituency includes the proposed development, issued a statement saying Trump’s plan “raises issues of importance” that require consideration at his level.
That move reflected the eagerness of much of the local Aberdeen business community to proceed with Trump’s economy-charging project.
More than 12,000 people have signed a petition on the Web site of 10 Downing Street, the British prime minister’s office, supporting Trump. And officials at Aberdeen’s Evening Express newspaper said they had received 5,000 online petition signatures and 1,000 handwritten letters of support, swamping opposition.
Full article can be found here:
Organized by 3rd year architectural students and in conjunction with the Singapore Design Festival, ArchiFest is orgniazing architectural tours of residential and commercial landmarks in Singapore.
There are two varieties of Day Tours(Day Tripping and Day Reeling- am leaning towards the latter), which offers guided tours through architectural landmarks like the recently controversial Pearlbank Apartments, Singapore SIT flats and Golden Mile Complex.
An M18 tour spans nightlife offerings of nightspots housed within conserved(Muse, St James, Chijmes, Alley Bar) or buildings that have been deemed architecturally interesting(Loof, Zouk).
More information on the festival and tours here:
Outside Singapore, architectural tours are being offered in Brazil, whilst being based in Sao Paulo’s most architecturally innovative hotels and Rio’s secret boutique hideaways. You’ll be looking at the works of Niemeyer, alternately based in hotels by Ruy Ohtake, browsing through books in bookstores designed by Isay Weinfeld and experiencing alternate takes to the traditional favela tour.
Architectural tours are also increasingly being offered in Sri Lanka with a focus on Geoffrey Bawa and a combination of Sri Lanka’s top boutique hotels.
Luxury travel to China also sees a possibility in architecturally-inclined tours. You could either visit or stay in villas designed by Kengo Kuma and other contemporary architecture greats close to the Great Wall, take a tour of the atmospheric hutongs of Beijing while being based in a sumptuously restored courtyard home or visit historic old Chinese mansions that provided the setting for Raise the Red Lantern.
Via sellsiusreal estate’s blog:
The internet has a way of making us crave more aggregated information, more statistics and instant data. The rent-o-meter, currently restricted to USA, Canada and London, claims to provide an estimate of the fair value of your rental apartment.