When travelling, I tend to work myself into a lather with over-planning.
Some may enjoy the nitty gritty of organising an itinerary, and that is something I do most of the time – setting up a spreadsheet with dates, times and proposed stops at various restaurants, bars and cafes, meticulously colour-coded and subject to change.
I also understand the appeal of someone else taking the reins and organising my daily schedule. Perhaps even more so in a destination such as Bali, where I was invited to take part in one leg of the Luxury Group Dining Series by the Luxury Group of Marriott International.
The multi-city dining series has spanned major dining destinations over several months, from Tokyo to Melbourne, with each city curating its own grand itinerary; the final leg ends in Singapore this weekend, where Hong Kong’s own, chef Paul Lau Ping-Lui of Tin Lung Heen, will be collaborating with Pak Chee Yit from Madame Fan in Singapore, while bartender Marco Dognini from The Bar at The House on Sathorn in Bangkok will be shaking things up with tea-inspired cocktails.
At The St Regis Bali, the programme encompassed fresh ingredient workshops, fine-dining chef dinners, bartender crossovers, an outrageous free-flow brunch and a final beachside barbecue with fresh seafood fanned over flames. The appeal, of course, is that once you’ve checked in, there is very little incentive to leave (Bali’s traffic notwithstanding).
