Innholdsfortegnelse for 5/2019 i ASIAN Geographic

ESTABLISHED 1876 JAPAN Sapporo With a keen mind and bold spirit, Seibei Nakagawa, the founder of Sapporo Breweries, left Japan when he was 17 years old in search of adventure. He landed in Germany, where he learned the craft of brewing, and the rest is history. In Asia, everyone knows Sapporo for its crisp flavour and clean finish. When Sapporo expanded into the American market in 1964, it established its position as the number one selling Asian beer in the US, and the brand continues to hold the ranking to this day. Experience counts in this business, and with some 143 years of history, Sapporo beer is definitely among the best! FOUNDER: SEIBEI NAKAGAWA 1889 JAPAN Asahi Founded as the Osaka Beer Company, Asahi Breweries adopted German brewing techniques to…

TEHRAN, IRAN The Iran Mall If you thought the biggest shopping mall in the world was in America, think again! It’s actually located in Tehran and it’s called the Iran Mall. In the first of two phases, a 1.4-million-square-metre area was unveiled in 2018, encompassing a 20,000-square-metre hypermarket, a fashion avenue, a diamond and crystal atrium, three food courts with more than 200 restaurants, a 3,300-square-metre book garden with 67,000 books, a cinema complex with 12 IMAX cinemas, a family entertainment centre with a roofed amusement park, a museum, art galleries, a permanent car showroom, an Iranian bazaar, and three hotels, including a five-star luxury hotel with 450 rooms, a 3,000-seat conference hall, a convention centre, several galleries, and meeting and banquet facilities. The roof of the mall serves as…

You cannot talk about epics without mentioning the longest epic poem ever written! The Mahabharata is an important component of Hinduism, and was written between the 8th and 9th centuries BC. It is the story of the struggle between two branches of one family – the Kauravas and the Pandavas – in the Kurukshetra War to win the throne of Hastinapura. There are also philosophical discourses and several other stories embedded in this main narrative. Penned in Sanskrit, the Mahabharata consists of 1.8 million words distributed through more than 100,000 shloka, or over 200,000 verses. Of these verses, about 24,000 make up its central idea, and are referred to as the Bharata. The Mahabharata is organised into 18 specific books, also known as parvas.…

FOUNDED 1996 MADE IN THE USA Expedia Expedia is one of the fastest-growing travel booking websites and mobile applications in Asia. It was formed in 1996 as a division of Microsoft, but broke away as a public company under the name of Expedia Group in 1999. Today, the application is widely used to compare travel rates and book flight tickets, rent cars, reserve hotel stays, and purchase holiday packages. 1999 MADE IN CHINA Alibaba As of 2018, Alibaba has the ninth highest global brand value and is currently in the top 10 biggest and most valuable companies in the world with its monthly number of users hitting 104 million across Asia and beyond. The app offers consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer, and business-to-business services, making it a platform suited to all, whether buying…

RANGALI ISLAND, MALDIVES Conrad Maldives Rangali Island With its pristine beaches and gin-clear waters, the Maldives is a true island paradise, and Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is a resort that combines this extraordinary location with exemplary architecture and charm. Applauded by Time magazine as one of the “World’s Top 100 Greatest Destinations in 2018”, the resort offers two accommodation options on two separate islands: Rangalifinolhu Island and Rangali Island. The former hosts beach villas, while the latter houses water villas that have their own private spa treatment rooms. It’s impossible to pick, but whichever you choose, you get to enjoy an underwater dining experience in the world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant! GETTING THERE This exclusive island is only accessible by seaplane, which takes 30-minutes from Male International Airport. HOI AN,…

Cleaning Our Planet Up , Our Versova Life: Beach Text Shreya Acharya Instead of revelling in a much sought-after public holiday by having breakfast in bed or catching up on daytime TV, about 4,800 Indians gathered at Mumbai’s Versova Beach on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 to pick up trash. ASIAN Geographic joined the efforts led by the UN Environment’s Champion of the Earth Adv. Afroz Shah. https://bit.ly/2MIKo2s More Protests Cause HK Government HQ to Close Text Shreya Acharya Clad in black, close to 1,000 protesters, including prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong, gathered at the Hong Kong Central Government Offices in the early morning of June 21, 2019 in a peaceful protest to demand for Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s resignation as well as the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill that…

ESTABLISHED 1949 JAPAN Onitsuka Tiger With hopes of raising post-war youth self-esteem through athletics, former military officer Kihachiro Onitsuka established Onitsuka Tiger in 1949. The company’s breakthrough product was a basketball shoe, released in 1951, that was inspired by the tentacles of an octopus, since its suction cup soles allowed players to acquire a better grip as they manoeuvred. In 1953, the company worked with Japanese marathon runner Toru Teresawa in developing a shoe that would prevent long-distance runners from developing blisters. Ahead of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Onitsuka Tiger introduced its distinctive crossed stripes design on the “Mexico 66” shoe. The design became the signature element of the ASICS brand, which was formed when Onitsuka Tiger merged with Japanese sporting goods makers GTO and Jelenk…

SOUTH KOREA Jeju Island Jeju has all the elements of the world’s natural landscape – islands, volcanoes, waterfalls, beaches, national parks, caves and forests. The volcanic island and its stunning lava tube system are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The surrounding ocean attracts divers from around the world, and the haenyeo, Jeju’s female divers, harvest oysters, abalone, clams, seaweed and other marine life. Their history is showcased at the island’s Haenyeo Museum, a must-visit attraction in itself. JAPAN Okinawa Surrounded by the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Okinawa is comprised of over 160 islands, of which 49 are inhabited. The major inhabited islands include the Okinawa Islands, Miyako Islands, Yaeyama Islands, Senkaku Islands and Daito Islands. Okinawa is known for its beautiful coral reefs and colourful schools…

FOUNDED 1958 JAPAN Tokyo Tower Behold Asia’s very own Eiffel Tower, designed by Tachu Naito. At 333 metres, it is the world’s tallest self-supported steel tower, besting its European cousin by just 13 metres. The main deck is 150 metres high and is accessible by an elevator or, if you’re the adventurous type, climbing 600 steps. The top deck is 100 metres higher and offers an exemplary view of Mount Fuji. 2004 TAIWAN Taipei 101 CY Lee designed Taipei 101 as a green building, and it is also built to withstand typhoons and earthquake tremors, which are common to the area. At the time of its completion in 2004, it was the first building to break the 500-metre mark in height, standing at 508 metres. Its postmodern style fuses with…

MYANMAR Sanchaung Insein Harvard Ma Thida, the noteworthy Burmese writer and human rights activist, is recognised as a leading intellectual whose writings dealt with Myanmar’s political turmoil. As a supporter of the pro-democracy movement, she was sentenced to prison for 20 years in 1993 for “endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature”. Following her early release in 1999, she published her first novel, The Sunflower, and has gone on to author more thought-provoking books in Burmese and English, including a prison memoir.…

NORWAY Royal Caribbean International Notable as the largest cruise line by revenue and the second-largest by passenger count, Royal Carribean International dates back to its founding in Norway in 1968. Its Asia cruises depart from Singapore, Shanghai and Tianjin and visit the biggest cities of China and Japan, and the beautiful beaches and rainforests of Thailand and Malaysia. HONG KONG Star Cruises Only operating in the Asia-Pacific market, Star Cruises traces its founding by Malaysian Chinese billionaire businessman Lim Kok Thay to 1993. Owned by Genting Hong Kong, it operates in the waters of Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. The cruise line also organises special events such as the Oktoberfest at Sea, which runs between September and October. HONG KONG Dream Cruises Another cruise line owned by Genting Hong…

SINGAPORE Banyan Tree Scheduled to open in 2023, this resort will be nestled in Mandai, an area still largely untouched, and currently home to the Singapore Zoo. It will be Singapore’s first eco-resort and will run on 40 percent less energy than the average consumption in hotels of the same size. Atop a treehouse concept villa, there will be five wildlife parks to overlook, which, in turn, will also protect the natural habitat of the resident animals. Banyan Tree also plans to host recycling workshops, themed movie screenings, and guided Nature walks. Finally, a jungle experience in an urban one!…

FOUNDED 1933 ISTANBUL, TURKEY Turkish Airlines With Turkey’s position at the crossroads between East and West, the country’s national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, flies to more countries as well as provides more non-stop flights than any other airline. While it isn’t considered large in terms of number of passengers, it is the largest carrier in the world by number of passenger destinations – some 315 in August 2019. The airline has sponsored several football clubs and athletes, and even partnered with Warner Bros in 2016 to sponsor the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. 1946 HONG KONG Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific was born when American and Australian ex-Air Force pilots Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow obtained a licence to transport goods from Australia into post-war China…

HONG KONG Lee Kum Kee Chinese cuisine is known for the marriage of sweet and savoury, and oyster, soy, hoisin, and XO sauces amongst many others carry these flavours through. Founded in 1888, Lee Kum Kee is a prominent brand in the condiment aisle and trusted around the globe for their range of over 200 different products. This family business has expanded not only in Southeast Asia, but also to North America, Europe, and Australia. In 2017, the company purchased the “Walkie-Talkie” skyscraper in London for nearly USD1.7 billion – one of the highest amounts ever paid for a single building. Saucy stuff! FOUNDER: LEE KUM SHEUNG INDONESIA Indomie Well known in Asia and beyond, Indomie brings the taste of Indonesian cuisine to you in barely two minutes, from the…

“He came a far road, was weary, found peace.”- The Epic of Gilgamesh, Prologue, Tablet I. Translated from Sumerian. Mesopotamia comes from ancient Greek words μέσος (mesos), “middle”, and ποτбμός (potamos), “river”, and as such, translates to “(land) between two/the rivers”. Sure enough, Sumer, the site of one of the earliest known civilisations, located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, was between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This later became Babylonia, and is now southern Iraq. Sumer was first settled by humans from 4500 to 4000 BC, and its official language, Sumerian, was a language isolate, meaning it had no common ancestral roots with any other language. By 3100BC, Sumerian also became the earliest known written language – evidenced by archaeological records of marked clay tablets, having invented a writing…

FOUNDED 1938 SOUTH KOREA Samsung Samsung is the world’s largest phone manufacturer today, but it only sold its first electrical product in 1970 – a 12-inch black-and-white TV. Made up of the Korean words sam (“three”) and sung (“stars”), the company name is, according to its founder, an allusion to something “big, numerous, and powerful”. And that is certainly what they have achieved, making not just hugely popular mobile devices but also the batteries and semiconductors for its rivals. FOUNDER: LEE BYUNG-CHUL 1958 SOUTH KOREA LG If you think the iPhone was the first smartphone with a “capacitive” touchscreen, think again. That honour belongs to LG’s iconic KE850, better known as the LG Prada, which was announced in 2006, shortly before the iPhone. Created in collaboration with Italian luxury designer…

FOUNDED 1854 UTTARAKHAND, INDIA Woodstock School Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, Woodstock School is in a truly exceptional location overlooking valleys and hills either dusted with snow in the winter or lusciously green in the summer. Initially established as a Protestant girls’ school, it is also one of the oldest residential schools in Asia, with 165 years of history. The school began enrolling boys from 1928, providing an American curriculum to prepare students for US colleges and universities. In 1959, it became the first school in Asia to receive US accreditation. 1957 BANGKOK, THAILAND Ruamrudee International School Ruamrudee is Thai for “union of hearts”, which encapsulates the school’s goal of welcoming all students into an atmosphere of compassion and learning. Founded by the Redemptorist priests of Holy Redeemer…

THAILAND Siren Fleet One of the brands under the Worldwide Dive and Sail umbrella, Siren Fleet offers a trio of world-class liveaboards cruising to the best dive sites in Indonesia, Palau and the Philippines. With professional, highly experienced crews, Siren Fleet’s yachts offer a wide variety of itineraries and provide exemplary service to underwater shooters as well as divers. INDONESIA Mola Mola Liveaboard Mola Mola Liveaboard offers tradition and comfort at its finest. Newly built in 2018 of traditional wooden Phinisi, Mola Mola Liveaboard offers explorations to the best of Indonesian waters, from Komodo Islands to Cendrawasih Bay, where thousands of underwater creatures and fantastic views can be seen. Accommodating up to 16 guests, everyone is catered with delicious international and traditional cuisine cooked fresh every day with locally sourced…