REWARDED WITH AWARDS

Siem Reap’s Soria Moria boutique hotel, run by Norwegian, Kristin Holdo Hansen, has been nominated for a Tourism of Tomorrow Award from the World Travel and Tourism Council.

The Soria Moria is nominated in the ‘Community Benefit Entrants’ category, which is awarded to a hotel that directly benefits local people, supports community development, and enhances cultural heritage.

Winners will be announced at the council’s annual Global Summit, held this year in Tokyo from April 16-19.

Meanwhile, Adam Robertson, manager of the Angkor Golf Resort is still celebrating the course being selected as one of the in the Top 10 Best Maintained Courses in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Top Ten listing was published in the December issue of Asian Golf Monthly magazine, and the Siem Reap course was featured alongside more established golf courses such as Kota Permai in Selangor, Malaysia; The Montgomerie Links in Danang, Vietnam; and the unique Plantation Course in Hawaii.

ANCIENT SCULPTURE AUCTION

A fine Khmer bronze sculpture has made it all the way from its ancient and sacred source in Siem Reap to the swanky Sydney suburb of Double Bay.

On April 1, otherwise known as April Fools’ Day, the sculpture will be auctioned off at Guy Earl Smith’s East Australian Trading Consolidated Auction House.

The estimated price of said sculpture is AU$4,100 (US$4,400) to AU$6,100.

The auction house describes the sculpture as: “c.13th Century, in the form of Muchalinda Buddha with Avalokiteshvara and Prajuaparamita, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 19x15cm.”

Provenance is listed as, “From an Australian collection, previously from a collection of a Thai gentleman acquired during the 1960s.”

ELEGANCE BY DEMAND

Bloody hell: attendees at Emotional, tonight’s special evening kicking off at 7:45pm at Hotel de la Paix featuring Eric Riasina’s latest fashion creations are expected to dress fashionably. Or to be more precise, the dress code is, “Elegant and Chic”. And, you have been warned, strict dress code will be applied.

Indeed, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, Christian de Boer, lashes out with exclamation marks on his Facebook page, emphasising that,  “HdlPaix appreciates the fact that attendees will adhere to the dress code requested and the stipulated starting times.  Out of respect for the designer no exceptions will be made. Ladies - this is YOUR time to dress-up!!!”

But hey, what about the blokes?  Presumably it’s their time to dress up too?

The fashion edict has many Reapers in a tizz. Who is defining “elegant and chic,” and how is it defined?  And who will be vetting the dress code at the door? And does this mean that Reapers deemed not sufficiently elegant and chic will be sent reeling from the venue, to be shamed and left to stumble home through the dark lonely streets marked for life as Not Elegant Enough?

But Man About asks a more important and fundamental question: will the pre-show cocktails that have been promised be free?