As you already know, at the Asia Gardens we are true lovers of all Asian, and today we are going to tell you a lot of interesting things regarding something not a lot of people know about… Asian desserts, you will love them…

Varied and extensive, that is how we can describe Asian cuisine. Within the diversity of all the different regions, there are several factors they have in common; Asian cuisine is colourful, aromatic, fresh and tasty.

In Japan, there is a large variety of desserts. The Hanami Dango is highly popular, and it is made with flour and colorants. This dessert is most common during Sakura, the start of the spring we previously told you about in our blog.

Another traditional recipe in this country is the Daifuku Mochi, consisting of a small round glutinous rice cake stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly Anko, a Himalayan sweetened red bean paste made from Azuqui beans. Traditionally, Mochi is eaten in the Japanese New Year, although it is available all year around.

But, do you know which dessert the Japanese themselves prefer?

It is called Matcha Parfait, typical of Kioto and it is mainly made with Matcha, a type of green tea served during the Japanese tea ceremony, but it is also used to make desserts.

As it is their favourite dessert, there are different Matcha Parfait varieties, ice-cream, jelly, sponge, boiled-bean sweet paste, chestnuts or cream-based among others. It is delicious and “perfect”, hence its French name, Parfait.

Other distinctive features of these desserts are that milk is not a main ingredient, and they are not served at the end of a meal, instead they are considered small rewards.

One of the most common desserts you will find all around Asia, is the fruit salad with almond jelly. Its taste is unique! But they are mainly experts in making desserts using rice as a main ingredient like Tom Yuen and rice balls filled with mango and covered with fruit juice.

To finish off, would you like to see the desserts made by the best chef in Asia?

By the name of Chan Yan Tak, this dessert is made by the only Chinese chef who has been awarded 3 Michelin stars. Here is a picture of this spectacular confection.

We hope you have enjoyed a few sweet minutes reading our post. As always, we would like you to come and share our great passion, Asia in the Mediterranean, where you can live Asian culture and experience the luxurious lifestyle of Asia Gardens, our 5-star hotel in Spain.

We hope to see you soon!

Who wouldn’t like to “sleep on cotton”?

In our fantastic luxury hotel Asia Gardens you can, and we are going to tell you how….

There is nothing as necessary and pleasurable as getting a good night’s sleep… it is essential in order to face the day ahead with a sense of harmony… this is why we deem so absolutely necessary to offer you a luxury rest…

Every one of our rooms is unique, inspired by the exquisite Eastern style, they are each designed and conceived for comfort of body and mind…

What is essential in a good room for a good rest? The bed.

This is why we pay full attention to every detail son we can look after you even while you sleep. We use the best Eastern fabrics for your bed linen, wonderful 100% Egyptian cotton especially for you. Our sheets and quilts made of 300 threads, feel soft to the touch, fresh and warm.

Egyptian cotton is one of the finest, exclusive and most luxurious in the world.

Its secret lies in its purity. It is made the same way it used to be made thousands of years ago. The raw materials are grown in the valley of the Nile and are then brought to the craftsmen. Then, the craftsmen put it all together either by hand or with a very ancient machine, and that is how they can include so many cotton threads in one fabric. The weather and soil in the region promote better growth for high-quality cotton famous all over the world.

All garments made of this type of cotton tend to be extremely soft and have great quality, resembling silk. Egyptian cotton is of such high quality that it is always the first option of the best designers for their most costly and elegant pieces of clothing.

How often have you imagined what it would be like to sleep on a cloud?

Dream no longer… At the luxurious Asia Gardens 5-star hotel, we make it come true for you. Come visit us to our luxury corner in Alicante and rest, you deserve it…

We look forward to welcoming you.

Today, from our blog at Asia Gardens we would like you to know a little bit more about our fantastic 5-star luxury hotel and about how we have thoroughly worked to make its layout suitable for the best possible comfort and relaxation according to the traditional Feng Shui philosophy.

Feng Shui is a thousand-year-old art developed in China 5,000 years ago with influences from India and Tibet, and using elements that are at our reach to favour the energy that surrounds  us. It makes use of ying-yang to reach the perfect balance in the universe. It uses 5 elements that are present in nature and our own environment; fire, earth, metal, water and wood.

The place where our house is located, our office, or even the objects that surround us, may seriously affect our existence. According to ancient Chinese wise men, intuition, virtue we all possess to a higher or lesser degree, plays an important role too.

We are going to tell you one of the most famous cases ever heard about how Feng Shui influences architecture, the Central Bank of China in Hong Kong and the repercussion it had on its competitors, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building, created by the renowned architect Norman Foster.

Hong Kong is known as the most Feng Shui city in the world.

The building in the picture is the Central Bank of China in Hong Kong, considered the most obviously aggressive Feng Shui building in the world. The triangles that form it face forward, staring into the competitors’ buildings. This is what the Chinese call in Feng Shui language, “direct attack”.

As we can see, in Asia, this type of “attack” is not taken lightly.  The adjoining buildings also followed Feng Shui practises for protection. The best- known case was the response of one of its direct competitors, the Hong Kong & Shangai Bank, placing two cannons on the roof facing back at the “attacking” building.

Funny experience, that of the most famous architect Norman Foster with Feng Shui!

You must be wondering… Do I lead my life according to Feng Shui?

At our Asia Gardens hotel we take this very much into account in every one of our fabulous rooms, in order to make them harmonious and full of positive energy…

And what about you? We are about to tell you how to do it!

The most important room in any home is the main bedroom as it is where we spend most of our time when at home, therefore it  must be harmonious… the bed must not be placed facing the door to avoid Chi getting in contact with it. It would be ideal to be able to see the entrance to the room from the bed, mainly for peace of mind from a safety point of view.

We must remember that doors and windows should not face each other in order to prevent the energy of Chi from getting out.

It is also essential to have the possibility to switch all electronic devices off, in order to prevent excessive emissions of Sha energy.

There is no time to waste; we must start to “activate” our dreams of wealth so we can enjoy this luxury. We look forward to welcoming you at our fantastic Asian hotel in the Mediterranean so you can enjoy the most pleasurable rest and walk around our wonderful Asian gardens as you take in the perfume of our aromatic and plants, another factor that Feng Shui does not leave out of its great energetic powers…

We are waiting for you…

Did you know that at the Asia Gardens you can avail of free classes of this traditional Chinese discipline?

You can indeed, and today from our blog we are going to tell you more about these highly healthy exercises that you may practise at the en Asia Gardens, our luxury hotel in Alicante.

Nowadays, this is the most Zen discipline based on mild fitness techniques, a fantastic alternative to the gym which tones up your body and keeps your mind active, eastern-style.

Celebrities show us how well this works, Jennifer López has become an unconditional Chi Kung follower. Do you know why? It is based on mild poses and relaxing exercises that help you control your breathing, increase your focus, help you lose weight and moderate your stress.

You must know that… Chi Kung is the art of developing your vital energy to benefit your health and spirit and it is based on ancient Chinese Traditional Medicine. It is known as “Needleless acupuncture”

Chi Kung (also spelt Qigong), literally “the art of energy”, is, next to Kung Fu and Zen meditation, one of the “three treasures of Shaolin“. According to a popular Chinese saying, he who possesses one of the three, dominates a type of art which is more valuable than that of touching stones and turning them into gold.

Basically, practising Chi Kung, provides you with the necessary relaxation and harmony, ideal to beat stress, worries and other everyay problems. It also develops intelligence and memory.

In China, it is used as an everyday way of exercising and relaxing. It brings back flexibility to your joints and it regenerates the flow of energy, without breaking a sweat or getting tired. Soft moves make it the ideal discipline to be practised at any age.

Visit us at the Asia Gardens and try out this fantastic discipline that will help you fully improve your quality of life and harmony, factors which bring back a much-desired youth and freshness to our bodies…

You cannot miss out on this wonderful Chinese cultural treasure, result of the experience and knowledge of great maestros to promote our happiness…

This is one of the assets at our luxurious Asian corner in the Mediterranean that we would like to share it with you…

Today, in our 5-star Hotel Asia Gardens blog, we are going to tell you about the flavours of some of the faboulous dishes you can taste in Koh Samui, our Asian restaurant.

Spices, most of them brought from Asia, have been a true treasure for thousands of years, due to their healing properties and their culinary significance.

They were so highly valued that they used to be used as valuable currency. Many people found wealth thanks to trading with it, and even though this seems unreal nowadays, they were as highly valued as gold which brought on serious conflicts among numerous villages which intented to monopolize the market.

Old tales talk about traders of spices on the way to Egypt in caravans bringing to the west cloves and pepper from India, cinammon and nutmeg from the Molucca Islands (Indonesia) and ginger from China.

A good example of it was the called “route of spices”, created to avoid paying the high tax charged for passing through Arabian territory. In the 13^th and 14^th Centuries, Italian sailors led by Marco Polo, reached the far east, remote Asian coastal areas like the Sunda Islands (Indonesia), or the Malabar coast (southwestern coast of India), to purchase shipments of spices that would subsequently be brought to Venice, Florence, Marseille and Barcelona, and be distributed along the Mediterranean.

As far as its cooking use, Asian food, although it is a hundred-year-old cuisine, has recently become fashionable. Chefs from all over the world include in their cuisine delicious Asian ingredients, spices, herbs and cooking techniques.

Seasoning is a type of art, just remember how Cleopatra seduced Ceasar even though he was not all that interested in women, after a cleverly seasoned feast using abundant saffron…

Do you know which our favourite spices are?  Saffron, cardamom and vanilla.

Saffron is, without a doubt, the most expensive one. It is taken from a plant that comes from Minor Asia called Crocus Sativus, popularly known as the Saffron Rose.

Its intense colouring and scent are some of the main attractions of a spice whose popularity crosses all borders. A very exclusive plant due to the fact that in order to get a gramme of this red gold, as some call it, 140 Saffron Roses are needed… Can you imagine how valuable it is?

We will give you more details about these and many other Asian spices, like Indian curry, in our Asia Gardens luxury resort blog, our wonderful Asian corner in the Mediterranean… Come and try our Asian dishes, seasoned to seduce you.

We dare you…

Can you guess where the excellent Thai massage experts at our Asia Gardens Thai Spa trained

At Wat Pho, one of the oldest temples and the most prestigious traditional Thai massage school in Bangkok, city full of Buddhist temples and golden roofs.

As an interesting fact, we would like to tell you that Wat Pho, holds the largest Buddha in the world: the Reclined Buddha, a more than forty-six-metre-long and fifteen-metre-tall Buddha with gold decorations in his body and pearls in his eyes.

Wat Pho is the place of origin of traditional Thai massage. It is said that it was there where the ancestral massage techniques started. The temple holds the Traditional Medicine Association which gathers Nuad Bo-Rarn experts. This is the traditional name of medicinal Thai massage, a holistic technique, preventive and therapeutic, crucial in order to achieve not only physical balance but also emotional, mental and spiritual.

What do you know about Thai massage?

Thai massage is fantastic, and it consists of deep body work which helps restore vital energy and balance our physical, mental and emotional aspects, with the use of pressure and stretching.

Fingers, hands, feet, elbows and knees are used to apply pressure following the energy lines on our body. Passive stretching allows us to restore flexibility and reach deep relaxation.

The different postures and stretching remind us of yoga poses. It is also influenced by Chinese traditional medicine and played a significant part in the beginning of acupuncture using energy points and pressure in different key areas of the body.

As you already know, at the Asia Gardens we are committed to bringing the best of Asia to the Mediterranean. In our Thai Spa, you shall enjoy luxurious massages given by fantastically skilled Thai masseuses trained at the best Thai Massage school in the world, Wat Pho. They will help you regain the harmony between your body and mind.

This is true luxury that you cannot miss out on…

We look forward to seeing you.

The spring brings a wide range of colours, and today, from our 5-star hotel in Alicante we would like to tell you about the most impressive and significant colour festival in the world, Holi, a religious festival which is held in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other countries with a high Hindu population.

The festival marks the beginning of spring, the blooming, fresh harvest and the arrival of the spring after a long winter. During the Holi festival, which means “hello”, the country comes to a halt for the duration of the first full moon of March. In 2013, the Holi festival was held on 27^th March, and it was as impressive as it is always is.

Its origins are not clear. Some people say that the festival marks the celebration of the triumph of Vishnú over a female demon called Holika. Others say that it all started when Krishna told his mother that he didn’t like the contrast of his dark skin compared to the golden complexion of his girlfriend Radha. His mother came up with an idea to solve this problem: to apply dye to the face of her future daughter in law.

But what everyone seems to agree upon is their wish to commemorate the arrival of the good weather and to scare away all bad spirits.

During this colourful festival, thousands of people go out on the streets of Mumbai and Delhi and they burn the Holika in huge bonfires. On the second day, there are plenty of drums, there is singing, dancing and colours leading the most visually impressive festival in the country.

Have you heard about the main Holi colours?

The Holi colours, called ‘gulal’, come from the ‘tesu’ or ‘palash’ tree, also known as ‘flame of the forest’. These deep red or bright orange flowers, came from the forest and were laid out to be dried by the sun, they were then blended until a very fine dust was obtained. Mixing this dust with water resulted in a beautiful red or saffron red.  This dye is also ‘aabir’, made with natural coloured talcum powder, used as Holi colours and good as a skin treatment, unlike other chemical coulours, so comon nowadays.

Holi is also held in cities all around the world where there is a large Hindu population, like London or the the USA. One of the main festivals is held in the Krishna Temple (Lotus Temple) located on the mountains of Utah. They annually organize a mass festival following the Eastern tradition which is becoming more and more popular.

Bloggers, reporters and photographers from all around the world never miss out on this bright and colourful festival. Many famous people go to this event, people such as  Salvador Aznar, Thomas Hawk and Poras Chaudhary,  born in a small city in the north of India. In the following link, you can see the magnificent work of this country: http://www.poraschaudhary.com/

This very graphic and impressive festival represents the colour and spirit of a colourful India, seen in the current marketing campaign of the Sony Xperia Z. They have chosen this Holi festival as symbol of their new ad.

The ad includes David Bowie’s music and it’s directed by Indian director Tarsem Singh, who recently directed the popular version of Snow White, “Mirror, Mirror”. The ad focuses on this Indian colour festival, looking back at Sony’s technology since the 70’s.

Here you can see it… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYWBCd78EI.

We hope you have enjoyed the Holi festival information. If you love the colours of Asia, come to our luxury resort, Asia awaits you, only three hours away.

Feel like coming?

As you must already know if you read our post about the Asia Gardens fragrances, in our luxury hotel in Alicante we look after every last detail and we consider our scent essential, that is the reason why we are about to tell you the secrets behind incense and its origin, a topic we feel very passionately about.

The term incense comes from the Latin word “incensum” and it means to brighten or enlighten. Did you know that it dates back thousands of years? It is also believed to have magical properties…

It all started when humans learnt to light fires and realised that some types of wood, resin and herbs let out a pleasant fragrance when being burnt. “It’s a God’s thing”.

The use of incense goes back to biblical times and it could have started in Egypt, where they imported aromatic trees from Arabia to use them in religious rites.

Ancient Egyptians prepared Kifi, a type of incense they believed had magical properties and supposedly provided wellbeing and a peaceful sensation as well as happy dreams to those who inhaled it. Perfumes and incenses played a very significant part in their lives and a large number of medical therapies used them.

Aware of it or not, human beings have always wanted to enhance their own appearance and their surroundings using pleasant scents.

The scent of incense denotes harmony and peace, its soft fragrance is absorbed by the skin and this has a strong influence in our aura, invisibly and subtly. Incense helps us cross barriers, it opens our minds, brings harmony to our homes, it’s revitalizing and it creates a clean and warm atmosphere.

Its worth is so high that one of the 10 most expensive perfumes in the world is made with incense and myrrh. It’s called,“Les Larmes Sacrées de Thebes”, by Baccarat, known as one of the most prestigious brands of pure glass.

In our luxury hotel in Alicante, we are very keen on this valuable scent and we have made it one of the essential elements of our fragrances that we mentioned earlier….

Now that we know more about incense, we would like to share the ten virtues of “koh” with you, a list of benefits derived from incense. This list has been passed on generation after generation, unchanged, since the 15^th Century (Muromachi period), it was gathered by a Zen monk from the 16^th Century.

In our luxury hotel, Asia Gardens, we look forward to welcoming you so you can share all these magical benefits with us. Guaranteed relaxation and wellbeing.

We are waiting for you..

Today, in our blog, we would like to take a few minutes to transport you to our luxury resort, Asia Gardens, through your sense of smell…

There is no exact formula to create a perfume, its importance lies in how its limitless variants can have a powerful effect on our senses. Making a perfume does not only consist of mixing several scents, but it must also include sensitivity and good taste in order to provide each area with the appropriate fragrance.

In Asia Gardens we consider this a true form of art and we have found our own fragrance, after a long an interesting search, the scent of Asia in the Mediterranean. Our fragrance is unique and as soon as you come in contact with it, it brings you right to the furthest majestic corners of Asia.

In Pharaonic Egypt, the trade of perfume-making was considered an art and it was only carried out by masters who managed to learn the secret of their delicate and thorough skills.

Without a doubt, the Arabs mastered the art of perfume-making. They used it to intoxicate their senses and get in contact with the universe. Incense, for instance, was a must in every Asian temple.

Fragrances remind us of different feelings and emotions. They can bring us to faraway places and also back in time, reminding us of our childhood, our experiences and can make us feel sad or happy.

At the Asia Gardens Hotel, we have created a scent that stimulates the connection between body and mind and transmits peace, harmony and a sense of luxury. The exquisite Asian personality of our 5-sstar resort becomes clear when you smell the fragrances of our fantastic perfume Asia Gardens Essence, which you will find upon arrival at the lobby of our hotel.

The essence of Asia Gardens consists of a delicate combination of the scents of incense, athlantone, caryophyllene, cedrol and cadinene. Our best kept secret lies in the measurements used.

Did you know that how much we reject a place and how it appeals to us is closely linked to its scent?

This can perhaps be one of the reasons why those who visit us always come back…

Feel like joining us? We are waiting for you…