Ep – 41 – Hong Kong is an experience like nowhere else – Sophie Toh
Hello and welcome to a brand new season of Travel Stories with Mosh. Before we kick off season 5, I just want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you. Your support has helped the podcast grow, win accolades, and climb the charts time and again. Please do continue to support and subscribe to the podcast because that is the only way we can continue doing what we are doing and bring you these incredible travel stories from around the globe. [Music] Hello and welcome to another episode of Travel Stories with Mosh. On the episode today, I’m joined by the dynamic Sophie Toe, managing director of DNA Middle East. Sophie has worked with some of the most iconic luxury travel brands in the world and brings with her a rare behindthe-scenes understanding of how destinations and brands bring their stories to the world. Sophie Toe, welcome to the episode. It’s a pleasure to have you with us here today and I’m really excited to go on this journey with you around the world. Fantastic. Well, thank you for having me. I’m very very happy to be here. Okay. So, you know what? Let’s dive straight in. Okay. Let’s begin. I know you’ve you’ve moved countries. You’ve been in Dubai for many many years. You’ve obviously moved around the world with work and for pleasure. You travel. So, let’s begin with the very first question of the podcast. Where are you taking us on a journey today? Okay. Well, today I’m going to take you to Hong Kong. Okay. Throughout my very early years, my dad were bringing me these amazing treasures, right? So, like a little jade monkey, a mahjong set, you know, a book on Chinese horoscopes, and I was fascinated. And then if you fast forward 20 or so years, I’m there on my own in Hong Kong, and I’m signing my first big hotel client. Oh. And I’m excited. So, I think any trip to Hong Kong starts by the moment you get on the plane because they’re serving you jasmine tea. they’re speaking in a different language. And for me, flying east is very romantic because flying west is more going home. So, you’re flying into the future and you land in this city and Hong Kong is just this most mesmerizing place. I mean, it’s built around a harbor. It’s got mountains. It’s got bays. It’s got forests. It’s got everything you might want. And so, the moment you land, it’s sensory overload in the most incredible way, beginning with the way that it looks. So you have this beautiful kind of harbor which is very serene and then you have this amazing peak rising out behind it and all up you’ve got these houses that honestly look like they might fall down on top of you at any moment. So it’s just this kind of crazy this place is just like a higgledy piggledy mess and then it’s just the smells, you’ve got the humidity, you’ve got the smoke, you’ve got street food, you’ve got everything going on in kind of smells and then the sounds. You’ve got this very foreign language as well. So you’ve got the sounds and it’s just so busy. There’s so much chatter. There’s so many little taxis zipping around, scooters zipping around. So by the time you go in Hong Kong, you are just absolutely overwhelmed and you can’t quite place it. I think for me, Hong Kong is like, am I in the future? Am I in the past? Am I, you know, in east? Am I in west? And you just kind of remain in this beautiful jet-lagged orbit. I think for your time in Hong Kong, I love the story, the way you narrated it because when you say Hong Kong, most people will say, “Oh, it’s a concrete jungle.” You know, people wouldn’t necessarily describe it the way you described it. You know, the the houses feel like it’ll almost fall off and the fact that it’s in a harbor that’s not really highlighted most of the times. And I’m sure the food is spectacular. Yeah. The language is different for you. Again, when you say going to the east is kind of very exotic for you. Yeah. For me, for a girl from London, it’s like as far east as you can get. So, you’re like on the edge of the world. The thing about Hong Kong, if you live there, you’re living in this kind of high-rise. The houses are tiny, right? The apartments are tiny. Real estate is just so expensive. But on the weekends, you go on the boats or you go to um Repulse Bay or you go out. So, or you fly to Thailand. So there is actually this very nice balance of living in Hong Kong even though it’s just so intense dayto-day. Yeah, that was a fascinating ride and journey into Hong Kong. You know, if you had to pick one place and you know you’d want to say that this is that one place that everyone must go to once in their lifetime. Which place would that be for you? There are so many honestly like you just got the travel bug, right? But I would have to say it would be Taj Lake Palace in Udipur. Absolutely beautiful. So, this hotel was where they filmed um one of the James Bond films called Octopusy. Mhm. And it’s just a hotel. All it is is a hotel in the middle of this lake and you arrive by boat and you step off onto the kind of hotel jetty and they throw rose petals over the wall at you. So, you arrive into like a shower of roses. Yeah. It’s and it’s a surprise. You don’t know they’re going to do it. And and it just sets the scene for another world. So you you’re picking a hotel and you think that that that hotel itself is such a spectacular destination that you know one must definitely experience it once in their lifetime. Yeah, I think so. I mean ud but you can go I mean you could pick Udaur and you could say right okay they we’re going to spend two nights on the lake at the palace but then there’s a beautiful oberoy hotel there are hotels on on the land you can go and see the maharajas palace you can go to temples I mean there’s a lot to do but for you definitely it’s the Taj lake pal I would like to go back I keep meaning to go back but so I’m sure it has some really special memories for you and has really left a very beautiful place in your heart Yeah. Well, I think I think travel is sometimes about making meaning of your childhood experiences, right? No. And I also find it interesting that you know all these places that you mentioned like whether it be Hong Kong or now UDUR and Taj Lake Palace and these were your solo trips and I actually wanted to talk about solo trips as a woman around the world and you’ve obviously you know you’ve been a publicity veteran in Dubai for a very long time. you’ve worked with some really iconic travel brands uh around the world. That’s where you know travel al traveling alone as a woman kind of comes in for me and I wanted to ask you this question because I thought it was so relevant. How do you think uh you know solo travel has kind of progressed in the world today? Solo travel allows you to be transformed right because you are far from home you’re on your own. You’re really kind of getting lost in a place. So I think the more the more we actually understand travel as you know we’re going to kind of immerse ourselves learn the more it makes sense that would you would travel on your own. I think it’s wonderful that the world has opened up in a way that women are able to travel on their own and not I remember at certain point I would probably look down on a woman who is traveling on her own be like do you not have any friends you know do you not have anyone a family or any friends to go with you that you’re a bit of a kind of loner now it’s very much like good for you you’re going to kind of recharge renew re-energize learn something self-care you know focus on yourself so I think it’s now it’s more kind of to be celebrated yeah no that’s True. And you know because you have solo traveled yourself so much, which destinations do you think are kind of perfect? Perfect is probably not the right word, but which destinations around the world do you think are great for women to solo travel? I probably think um amazing places to go on your own would be somewhere like Oman, close to home. You know, it’s so safe and it’s just incredible. I mean, I love I love it’s great. I think also somewhere like Italy where you can just do sightseeing from sunrise to sunset and walk around, you know, somewhere like Florence, Venice. I think that’s fantastic. And the Italians are so charming, you know, Indians procco time or, you know, somewhere like Japan again because it’s just so kind of rich and there’s so much and safe and something to do. So, but that said, I mean, I’ve traveled around Saudi Arabia on my own. You know, I’ve been Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam. So, I mean, within reason, you can go anywhere, but I think the best places are ones where you go, this is my itinerary. This is why I’m there. I’m going to focus on one theme and really kind of just get the most out. And also like you said, safe, you know, safety is such a big deal when uh when you travel alone as a woman cuz you just need to feel that, you know, like you have to feel like you’re safe. Like I was in Barcelona very recently and you know, Barcelona has a reputation. So I was so careful uh to stay in a very good area and then I know even if I walk around at a particular time, I know I’m safe, you know. Um, of course, you know, Dubai, coming from Dubai also, we’re so used to being safe, we kind of don’t even know, you know, that we sometimes like you leave your bag uh at different places in Dubai, you know, you come back and it’s still there and we get into that habit, right? And so when you travel I am so extra cautious so that you know I hope I haven’t left my bag somewhere or my phone somewhere you know but also you know you came to Dubai I mean Dubai has also changed over time and I know you came to Dubai back in 2009 you know a time when the great recession of our time happened not the best time not the best time and not many people will kind of make a decision like that to re relocate to a different country but you did that and you did whatever you did. I mean, you know, you you established the fabulous TOPR that you did at the time and it was so so successful. But, you know, it’s been many years now and you’ve seen this city evolve and become what it’s become. It’s one of the most sought after destinations in the world today, you know, and so many people come here all the time. You know, it’s crowded. It’s crazy traffic. We know that. But for all those people who are coming and still want to come to Dubai, which would be your top recommendations to do, to experience, to eat, what I love to do, here’s a top tip. If you come out of Dubai airport, which is horrendously busy, I always make a stop on the way home to the Irish village. You do? I do. I’m from the Great Britain. I always But that’s the original Irish village. It’s the original pub. It’s kind of a nice um kind of entryway into into Dubai because it’s kind of Irish and it’s a pub. So everyone knows a pub and then you know we’ll have a few drinks at there and then everyone’s kind of acclimatized settled in and then we’ll go home. I think you absolutely must go to the beach in Dubai because otherwise you just don’t get any sense of where you are. You’re just in this kind of city and the amazing 24-hour beaches here I think are fantastic. I think the beaches are beaches are massively underrated here. So definitely do the beach. And then I think you do have to go it’s a cliche but you have to see the old Dubai. You have to go up to the creek. Have to. But I would re strongly recommend you go to the creek, go to the gold souk, go to the spice souk, really understand that kind of Iranian trading, you know, heritage of Dubai. You understand where it came from. And then I think once you’ve done that, I love the Park Hayatt. Again, maybe it’s a cliche, but it’s such a beautiful hotel. And then I think once you’ve done that, you can then jump into kind of what I call New Dubai. So I think when you’ve seen that, I always start in that order and then you go, “Right, okay. Now let’s go to Dubai Mall. Let’s see the fountains. to see the Burj Khalifa because it’s I I get chills when I see those fountains. But I love your recommendations. You know, the beach, Irish village, nobody spoke about that. Well, isn’t isn’t it I’ll pick you up from the airport because I want to go to Irish Village on the way. Sorry. Um yeah, but I think you’ve got to help your guest because I think there Dubai is one of the most famous destinations in the world, right, for tourism. Full credit to Shake Muhammad, you know, Dubai tourism, full full credit destination marketing excellence. Dubai has done such a fabulous job of uh destination marketing of just putting it out there to the world and today Dubai is kind of one of the most famous destinations in the world but then there are places around the world which deserve the attention but they don’t get it right. So which places around the world do you think you know deserve much more attention in the travel world? I think I don’t know about attention, but I I went to Colombia. I went to Colombia and I think that Colombia from and I’m talking as a PR person. I think Colombia could do with a bit of a kind of PR upgrade because honestly I went to Colombia. It was a retreat. So I wasn’t choosing to go to Colombia. The retreat happened to be in Cartahena, right? So I just and I flew into Bogotaa expecting, you know, to be held at gunpoint and like and I’m quite a kind of savvy traveler, you know, traveled the world, but I still for Bogotaa for me hadn’t managed to kind of capture my imagination any other way of like, you know, that there’s going to be some sort of like cartel, you know, picking you up. And maybe it’s because of the kind of Netflix shows that have come out, but I was blown away by the Caribbean coast of Colombia. and I was there for 2 weeks and I felt I didn’t even scratch the surface of Colombia, let alone that kind of, you know, like Latin America. So, I I do think that um you know, you’ve got all those beautiful Caribbean islands, but you’ve got, you know, countries like Colombia and Venezuela who have their own islands like that off their coast and they’re just not I like the fact they’re hidden gems cuz it’s great, but I felt like I’d really kind of had to discover it in a country that I think wasn’t necessarily getting that recognition. Yeah. like they could possibly do without the bad press that they have. would you say because you know what you’re saying is kind of resonating with me uh when I went to Brazil and everybody said why are you going to Brazil like what’s wrong with you it’s unsafe and I had the most it is one of the best trips of my life you know so again you know I think what you said is like they could do better with publicity yeah and I think just because there’s one famous you know guy in their history called Pablo Escobar right just because you got one guy I think the world slightly kind of judges the entire country on on that which you wouldn’t do I think for France or UK or I think it’s quite a generic understanding. So anyway, my top tip is the Col go to Colombia. Go to Colombia. Prepare to be amazed. It’s you’ll feel I felt so safe. Mhm. I don’t know if I’d do a solo trip there as a woman, but I felt so so safe. I had the best time and it’s absolutely beautiful. Beautiful. I like that. I’m already very intrigued. But you also are a new mom. Yes. Right. And that’s something I wanted to discuss with you. I haven’t really spoken much about it on the podcast is, you know, traveling as a new parent as a mom of a young toddler and the fact that you also travel so much. Um, how are you navigating this? What would you say to people who want to travel with kids? I mean, it it but it has to slow you down a little bit, right? There are some trips I think you just have to say that not now maybe in you know a year or so. That said my top tip to parents would be just book the ticket and get on the plane and I do apologize to anyone sitting next to me but I felt it was necessary not to stop because you know if you I felt if you kind of stopped you lose confidence in in taking those trips. We all went as a family to Rome and I don’t think Rome is kind of on the top list of familyfriendly destinations, but we had the best time. You know, we made it work. But do you know what? The memories so outweigh the inconvenience. And yes, it looks different. Yes, you’re not sitting on the plane with your glass of champagne and the flight might not be the funnest part of the trip cuz you just get to kind of chill and watch a film. But I absolutely promise you the memories that are made will outlive that 7 8 hours of discomfort cuz it’s not easy traveling. No. No. No. I totally agree because people kind of really stop lives. Stop, you know, especially I’m talking about travelers cuz obviously this is a travel podcast and people just do not want to travel. So I mean I have been saying this for the longest time and it’s so nice to be hearing it from someone else who’s experiencing it now. I mean obviously you make little adjustments here and there. Come on, you have a baby. You can’t be doing you can’t be partying or you know like going going dancing out in the night. You don’t do those things. So there are those limitations but you can still travel with a child. Okay. So we spoke traveling with children. Now something I’m very excited to talk about always on the podcast is food. You know food is a big part of this podcast. I mean all our listeners love to uh hear about the best places to go to for food. Um you know which the culinary destinations around the world. So you know of course the question to you would be which are the pl best places uh in the world for food according to you? According to me it has to be south of France. Mhm. just has to be for me. I think food for me is very much it’s a sensory thing. Mhm. And there is my greatest my last meal on earth put it this way would be eating a salad niss in on the coat des somewhere somewhere between like captain t and monaco. I can pin it down. It’s that accurate that accurate. It would be about 9:30 at night. The sky would be a color that you only see in the south of France, which is kind of that very turquoise navy, I would call it. Absolutely beautiful. You’re sitting there. You can smell the pavement. The pavement is that kind of mixture of hot day, but it’s cooling down. You can smell it. You have a glass of white wine and you have just the simple meal, but made so freshly like the tomatoes will taste of a tomato. The fennel will come from over there. the fish. I mean, you know, the tuna will be kind of like not a kind of canned tuna, but it will be a real tuna. And then the egg will be kind of organic and yellow and cooked perfectly. And that kind of food and that kind of dish just brings me joy. Yeah. Growing up in the UK, France is always buil as your kind of competitive sibling that is just so much more cultured than you Brits with your roast beef and your pies and your, you know, French food is is a thing. But I just think for me it’s just the setting. Um, I worked for many years with um the Monte Carlo Tourism Board and I had so many beautiful meals in their restaurants, similar settings and I’ve holidayed there over the years and I just think it’s all about the ingredients but the setting. The produce, the produce and the setting. The south of France is fabulous pick. I love it. And and French food is also so delicate and can be rich at the same time. So, it’s just u it’s perfection. They do dessert. For example, they’ll bring around that kind of trolley, but it’s all quite kind of considered and delicate and you know there’s there’s not an excess in France. You know, the service style can be a bit brisk. Yeah. You know, I come from Dubai and sometimes I’m like, “Oh, have I upset the waiter?” No, no, no. You’re in France now. You know, like, okay, the bill. Ah. Um, but I think everything is quite considered. You know, that again, you know, we need to have a moment for, you know, kind of local fish. you know, salt baked sea bass in somewhere like, you know, club sank or on the back of a boat. Oh my god. Can we go now? Yeah. Oh, just heaven with like Okay, before we go off to south of France now because I’m almost like heading to the door and going to south of France with you, let’s also talk about your hidden gem. Do you have a hidden gem that you want to tell us today? A hidden gem is also a kind of tribute to a phenomenal woman because I think you know there are so many amazing women in the industry. So my hidden gem, I don’t know if it’s been done before, but would be the XVA Gallery and Hotel in Bastia in Dubai run by a woman called Mona. Just a woman we all just want to be. We just all want to be Mona. And it’s I mean it’s also a recommendation if you come to Dubai, you know, if we have a moment, you’re up at the creek, you go to this hotel. And for anyone that hasn’t been there, it’s a kind of it’s got about just a small handful of rooms on the top floor. It’s built like a kind of old Iranian um is it like a kind of house wind with the wind with the kind of vents in a courtyard. So, it’s built in this kind of traditional style and it’s got a cafe in the middle and then an art gallery and it’s just I think for anyone who might say Dubai is very superficial. Dubai is very expensive. Dubai is very shiny. Go to the XVA gallery, start there and then work your way towards the kind of um other side of Dubai. But I hope it’s not hidden because I want you know everyone should go. But I feel it is it’s hidden just by the location. It’s hidden because none and I’m very very happy that you spoke about it because that hotel like you said it’s it’s so pretty, so beautiful. They’ve done such a spectacular job of refurbishing it and you know making this old building. Um still still maintain the whole the entire traditional uh you know look and feel to it but then have a modern kind of um you know situation inside with the court with the tea that they serve. Everything is so pretty, so beautiful. So yeah, I mean I Yeah, it’s a hidden gem in a way because not very many people know about it. So I’m glad you spoke about it, but I wish it wasn’t. Yeah, it shouldn’t be. I mean, there should be lots of XVA galleries, but I think it would lose its kind of charm. Yeah, perhaps. Yeah, but and right next to it is also the Arabian Tea House, which is beautiful also. Okay. Well, that was a fabulous journey that we went on. I I think it was just went on to so many different parts, spoke about so many things. um Hong Kong and um France to end with our culinary journey and then XVA. Almost come to the end of the podcast now, but I still want to know what is on your bucket list. What’s next in travel for you? My admittedly, having had my daughter, my bucket list is quite long because I’m not checking things off. I’m just adding to my bucket. But my my original bucket list and I still haven’t been and I really want to go is Bora Bora in the French Polynesia. Yeah. Just because it’s just in the middle of nowhere. It’s on my bucket list. I just really want to go there. Yeah. It’s just such a trek to get there. I know, right? I don’t know what the right time in my life will be, but I just really need to go to Bora Bora. Yeah. I love that that because that’s like on top of my bucket list. Yeah. I wanted to go to Bora Bora in 2020 cuz it was my 20th anniversary. Yes. But of course it was 2020. So I went to Russell KA. So yeah, same same. You did that as well? Oh my god. Yeah, but I’ve got a list. I’ve got Taj Lake Palace. I want to go to Japan. Bora Bur is a beautiful pick. Yeah, it’s it’s a trick to get there, but I hope you get there sooner than later. And uh thank you so much for this beautiful journey and for your travel stories and taking us to this fabulous places around the world and I wish you all the best and I hope to hope you get to tick off all that there is on your bucket list. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Thank you everyone for tuning in today. I hope our conversations have fueled your wonder lust and inspired you to explore the world in new and exciting ways. Please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already and let us know what you thought of today’s episode. Until the next time, safe travels and keep adventuring. [Music]
On the episode today, we’re joined by the dynamic Sophie Toh – Managing Director of DNA Middle East Sophie has worked with some of the most iconic names in luxury travel and brings with her a rare, behind-the-scenes understanding of how destinations and brands tell their stories to the world.
Episode Highlights:
Hong Kong – A city buzzing with life, energy and contrasts.
Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur, India – A hotel everyone should experience once in their lifetime.
https://www.tajhotels.com/en-in/hotels/taj-lake-palace-udaipur
Oman – Great for solo travel as a woman because of the safety, hospitality and gentle authenticity.
Japan – Ideal for women traveling alone for its grace, precision and respect for travellers.
Italy – Everyone is warm here. Great for solo women travellers.
Australia
New Zealand
Thailand
Vietnam
Irish Village, Dubai – The original British pub. Must go for every visitor.
https://www.theirishvillage.com/
Park Hyatt, Dubai – Ideal to chill when in Old Dubai.
https://www.instagram.com/parkhyattdubai/
Old Souk, Dubai – Fascinating to explore to understand the Iranian trading heritage that Dubai has.
Burj Khalifa Fountains, Dubai Mall, Dubai – Must see.
https://thedubaimall.com/
XVA Art Hotel, Dubai – A hidden oasis that feels worlds away from Dubai’s glittering skyline. Proof that true luxury often lies in simplicity and soul.
https://www.xvahotel.com/
South of France – Culinary journey.
Colombia – A destination that changes how you see color, culture and connection
Bora Bora – An ultimate dream destination.
Connect with Sophie on:
https://www.instagram.com/sophietoh/
Thank you all for tuning in today!
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