Today at Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel we go back to Thailand to tell you about one of the most important persons in this country: Queen Sirikit Rajini, wife and consort of Bhumibol Adulyadej.

She was born the 12 of August of 1932 and her real name is Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara, which means “glory and splendor of the Kitiyakara family”. Given the fact that her father was a diplomat, she was born and raised in different countries, like Switzerland, where she met the King of Thailand. In 1950, Bhumibol went back to Thailand to exercise his functions as King. She came back with him and they got married one month later at the Pathumwan Palace.

Every Buddhist man in Thailand has to live for some months as a Buddhist monk in a temple, and while the King accomplished this habit, Sirikit took over as Queen. She was so good at it and people lover her so much that she received the title of Regent Queen and her birthday became national holiday as well as mother’s day in Thailand.

In 2003, the Queen asked for permission for using an empty space of the Palace and to build a textile museum. It was completely remodeled and now it has a lobby, galleries, a storehouse, a library, a place to read and the first laboratory in Thailand for textile preservation. In this museum you can find all the important dresses the Queen has wore and also the incredible jewels she has, such as the fringe tiara, the pearl necklaces, the diamond tiara or the ruby and emerald sets of earrings and necklaces.

Apart from this, the Queen of Thailand is President of the Red Cross of Thailand since 1956 and some years ago, she created the Cancer Research Center that investigates every day. She is always involved in actions to help the social outcasts and to assist refugees of Burma and Cambodia. After the tsunami in 2004, she was in charge of rebuilding the country.

Last but not least, Queen Sirikit has a big interest in promoting Thai culture and history all around the world, which is why she motivated the realization of the most expensive movie made in Thailand, “the Legend of Suriyothai”, so the history of the country is known everywhere.

As you can see every week we bring to you new countries, personalities or traditions from the Asian continent, which won’t stop surprising us. We expect to see you soon at Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel to enjoy all our luxuries.

Today at Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel in Spain we travel again to India to tell you a bit more about the city of Jaipur and its wonderful palace.

Jaipur is the capital of the state of Rajasthan in India and it is known as the “pink city”. It was built in pink stucco, but it started to lose its colour as time went by. But in 1905, the Prince of Wales visited Jaipur and, in order to welcome him warmly, they repainted the houses in pink. From that moment on, pink colour has been considered a symbol of hospitality there.

Jaipur is one of the cities with more history in India. It was founded in 1728 by the maharajah Sawai Jai Singh, who was a governor in Amber, the former capital of India. After some alliances and diplomatic actions, they changed the capital to the new city of Jaipur.

Right now, the maharajah is Bhawani Singh, who usually lives in London, although he keeps his residence in a private pavilion in Jaipur’s Palace.

The Chandra Mahal or City Palace is a group of buildings, gardens and patios where the actual Palace locates. Jai Singh II had it built in 1729 and it has suffered some remodelling. Nowadays, the Chandra Mahal is reserved for the Royal Family and the rest is used for museums and tour visits. In 1959, the Royal Family decided to open up this wonder for the world to see.

The architectural style of the Palace is very particular, because the architecture of Rajasthan merges with the Mongolian one. There is a great variety of colours, where pink and ivory stand out.

The main building is the Chandra Mahal, which has a pyramid form, six floors and can only be seen from the outside, because the Royal Family lives there.

The parts that can be visited have all kind of elements and memories. Among them is the museum dedicated to all the maharajahs, where the picture of Sawai Masho Singh I really stands out. He was 2 meters tall and 250 kilos heavy and was remembered because of his more than 100 wives.

Another part of the Palace is the weapons room where they show unique daggers and swords. The ceilings have gold inlaid works in very striking colours, an ostentation that contrasts the humbleness of the Jaipur citizens.

In the Palace entrance there are 5 guards with white uniforms, red turbans, black shoes and a funny thing: they must all have a moustache.

We hope that you learned as much as we did. We are waiting for you at Asia Gardens to bring you closer to the Asiatic luxury.

Today at Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel we are travelling to a part of Asia we still hadn’t visited with you: Philippines. More concretely we are telling you about the city of Davao, which has been organizing the “Kadayawan Festival” for more than 20 years.

The name of this attractive festival comes from the greeting “Madayaw”, which also comes from the word “dayaw”, that means beautiful, valuable or good. The festival is a celebration of life and an appreciation of nature.

The tradition that has evolved into the annual festival began when the ethnic tribes in Davao started to celebrate a good harvest with songs and dances, giving thanks to the God Manama. Apart from this, the farmers put out flowers, fruits and vegetables on a blanket and the town people presented their respect and thanked the abundance of the harvest.

This “thanksgiving” is still on top, although they carry it out in a different way. It is considered the festival of festivals, because they don’t just celebrate a good harvest, but they also pay homage to the cultural, artistic and historical heritage they have. The dances are made by the “Lumad” and the celebration focuses on 3 aspects: tribal, industrial and art/entertainment.

In spite of existing 10 different tribes in Davao, all of them are connected and they join to celebrate this festival. They come from different places and have various lifestyles, but when the festival is due, they become one. This has led to the creation of the first Women’s Development Code: their rights are recognized; they live in a equal way with men and carry out the same activities, which is a novelty in this part of the world.

Davao has a very abundant flora and fauna throughout the year, giving its inhabitants food, water and sustenance constantly. The World Health Organization recognized some time ago Davao’s tap water as one of the best in the world.

We hope that you have learned a bit more about this zone of Asia. From Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel in Spain we invite you to keep on learning about this fascinating continent and to visit us whenever you want to.