It was an eye-opening feast for my
proletariatian eyes to see spread after spread of luxury hotel rooms from the
likes of St. Regis, Regent Phucket and countless other spa hotels in Seminyak
(Bali, Indonesia). If the hotel
advertisements were angled to target the Magazine’s target readers, spas
costing USD 400 and villas with attached pools are the way to truly enjoy one’s
vacation. One hotel had a tub in the
middle of a room that opened out to beautiful sunset! And to think it only
costs fabulously wealthy people only a very economical USD 12 every quarter to
know where the best hotels are.
To think that my bourgeois aspirations for
a hotel room was one that had room for me to walk with a suitcase lying open on
the floor, and with free breakfast thrown in, all for, at a very preferable
price of less than USD 150. No wonder my
vacations are usually a struggle to find floor space to walk in my hotel room
without tripping over furniture or my suitcase and bags on the floor, instead
of sipping cocktails by my own private pool attached to a roomy five-room villa
with my personal butler and chef.
Surprisingly, from the Magazine, it seems
that wealthy people also retained vestiges of bourgeois-like behavior of
wanting to stay/own/eat at places/things that other famous and wealthy people
have. Hotels recommended in the Magazine
counted Hollywood celebrities as their customers. So did Baldi, an Italian company that came
into possession of three huge crystals from the Amazon which were carved into
bathtubs, one of which was sold for USD 1 Million to the daughter of the man
who owns F1. Wow. USD 1 Million must really be small change to
really wealthy people for them to spend it on a bathtub. I wonder if soaking in an Amazon crystal tub
makes the skin smoother. Apparently,
Hollywood celebrities would fork out USD 2000 for shoes by Charlotte
Olympia. The Birds of Paradise from
Charlotte Olympia had, instead of a normal heel, a golden cage trapping a
brightly coloured tiny parrot, which “lend (sic) evening look an exotic twist”. How appropriate for the red carpet and for
camera lens to zoom in at the feet! I
feel so at ease now, knowing that my starving myself to save up for the Hermes
Birkins bag is not a sign of my superficiality, as my mother constantly
believes.
There were beautiful spreads of the Igazu
Falls in Brazil, Santorini Island in Greece and of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. A 10-day experience offered by
Quintessentially of Cambodia costs about USD 22,142 per couple. However, I was a little confused by the
write-ups on those. How do they belong
to the Magazine’s category of “best kept destination secrets”? Santorini Island is overrun by tourists every
summer, and Angkor Wat isn’t exactly off the beaten path either. Igazu Falls is not exactly accessible to most
people from the northern hemisphere, but when one has access to private jets,
or owns private jets, no destination is theoretically inaccessible. The 10-day experience in Cambodia must be
totally unforgettable. It set my Hermes
Birkins dream back by USD 600 for a 5-day trip in Cambodia, and my experience
must have been one-nineteenth time of that offered by Quintessentially. I wonder, if I return to Cambodia 19 times,
would I eventually have the same one-time 10-day experience?
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