/ beyond/DISPATCH
30 MAY 2017 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
It is too early for breakfast so I wander
down the bamboo spiral staircase and go for a
swim. I hang over the side of the infinity pool
and just absorb the sky, blushing pink and
rose, and the island-dotted ocean sprawling
across the horizon. My internal clock slows
down a notch, and it feels like there is nothing
separating me from the scenery. I’m just as
much a part of the sunrise as the clouds
carrying its colors across the expanse.
At Cempedak, a new private-island retreat
in Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago, just 91
kilometers from Singapore, luxury takes on a
new meaning. Yes, every room is a two-story
150-square-meter villa, with an indoor and an
outdoor shower, a sitting area, a walk-in closet,
a plush canopy bed and a private pool.
Noticeably missing though are televisions, air
conditioners, and walls. When a space is
designed to usher in the sea breeze, rather than
trap in cold air, walls only get in the way.
Of course this au naturel style isn’t for
everybody. “One of our mantras is not to try to
suit everyone,” says Cempedak’s cofounder
Andrew Dixon. “Too many hotels try to please
everyone, and that is a mistake because you
lose authenticity. You become a bit bland.”
Dixon and I are chatting over a breakfast
spread of fresh fruit, Indonesian pastries
including pisang molen (banana wrapped in
flour dough), and eggs served in a skillet with
savory tomato sauce. Every meal I’ve had here
has been an elegant take on regional
specialties. “Try this,” Dixon says, handing me
a piping hot cup of jamu, a ginger-heavy local
elixir. “It will cure what ails you.” After staying
up to the wee hours the previous night,
drinking 12-year-old Venezualan Diplomatico
rum with Dixon at the resort’s Dodo Bar—
complete with a hideous stuffed replica of a
Dodo, whose closest living relative, the Nicobar
pigeon, is found in this region—I have my
share of ails to cure.
I WA K E UP COLD, a surprise since I’m
just one degree north of the equator
at a resort without air conditioning.
The mosquito net billows around
the bamboo fan above my bed, and
I fumble to find the remote that will
still its powerful wooden blades.
The bedroom is wide open, facing
the sea, and as the stars fade to a
golden dawn, I crawl out of bed.
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: The villa’s breezy canopy
bed; a blessing ceremony to appease the spirits and
usher in an era of prosperity; the leafy landscape
provides built-in dividers between the rooms; a
beachfront villa on sunny Cempedak.