Metal

Best for: Monkey, Rooster

The Slate, Thailand

Need more metal to balance your qi? Pack your bags for Phuket. Long before the Thai island was a hotspot for sunseekers and honeymooners, it was home to a thriving tin mining industry that spurred economic development from the mid-1700s to the 1970s. ‘Black gold,’ as it was nicknamed, was so integral to the island that it was traded as legal currency until the 1930s. Though the industry has since declined, Phuket’s black-gold legacy has been embraced by The Slate (formerly Indigo Pearl), an avant-garde luxury hotel that’s run by the descendants of former mining magnates: Phuket’s ‘father of tourism’ Wichit Na-Ranong and his daughter Prakaikaew Na-Ranong. Brought to life by the ever-imaginative architect Bill Bensley, The Slate captures the concept through myriad design details, from industrial-chic steel pillars to cool concrete floors, hammered metal, mining lamps and charcoal-hued bathtubs.