Category: Thailand
What a whirlwind the past week has been: three cities (Kota Kinabalu, Sydney, and Melbourne) in two countries, catching up with friends and family in Malaysian Borneo and Australia, and spending the weekend getting reacquainted "Down Under" *boomchickawahwah*. I write this as I sit comfortably in my apartment 25 floors above Melbourne's CBD: taking the day off to do my laundry, have a moment (or several) to myself, and tend to my blog. On the topic of catching a breather, I only recently chanced upon these lost photos from almost 10 years ago. I had the pleasure of staying at The Dhara Dhevi in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2008 - an era before social media and Posh, Broke, & Bored existed. All I had from that trip were one: poorly-composed, badly-taken photos on a digital camera the size of a credit card which I lost when I reformatted my hard drive and two: a few battered polaroids whose already fragile existence were threatened by sun damage and fading, as if time had come to claim it from my memory. For the better part of a decade, that dreamy stay in came ever closer to vanishing from my memory as the polaroids began to discolour - that is, until I discovered that my mother had, without me knowing, backed up all my hard drives. Which is how I managed to blog about my pilgrimage to Beijing and also this post about a Sweet Escape that nearly escaped me. Won't you join me as I revisit the restorative calm of The Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai?
April 10, 2017
FINDING THAT WORK-PLAY BALANCE IN BANGKOK, THAILAND
Bangkok is to Malaysians what Paris is to Brits: that neighbouring city whose proximity (both Bangkok and Paris are only an hour’s time difference plus a hop, skip, 'n' Eurostar away from Kuala Lumpur and London) makes it oh-so-accessible. Yet both their cultural, gastronomical, and linguistic differences are so vast that the novelty never totally fades, no matter how many foie gras cronuts avec foam du mollusc** nor crispy fried grasshoppers pass your world-weary lips. It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a veteran to the Bangkok scene (hence my inbox blowing up with questions such as: “What’s that insane sky bar you went to?” Seriously guys, just read the blog) and that I’m on a never-ending quest to prove to non-bloggers that travel IS work, so it made sense for the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau to dispatch me to The Land Of Smiles that I may in my own inimitable way demonstrate how Bangkok is the city to mix business with pleasure. They say variety is the spice of life, I say: throw in a deep-tissue massage + one Siam Mary + 4 or 5 plates of pad thai (charge it to my room, garçon) and you’ve got yourself a business trip you wish was more than just touch & go...
*or business doing pleasure, if you live life on the ‘Gram. Those flatlays don’t compose themselves...
**is that a thing? Can we make it a thing?
#SPICEUPYOURBUSINESSAGENDA2016
Produced for and in collaboration with Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau and their partners
Thai Airways, Swissottel Nai Lert Park, Impact Muang Thong Thani, Siam Paragon, Asiatique, Flow House, and Haarn Heritage Spa
Photo credits: 3-11, 28, & 30; press images, 29 by Hotel Muse Bangkok
October 08, 2016
On Sunday, in Bangkok’s upscale Siam Kempinski Hotel, I had the privilege of experiencing the first ever example of molecular gastronomy in Thailand. In 2009 the excitement over Heston Blu’s bangs n’ whistles had started to fade in the West, and it was late that year that Henrik Yde Andersen introduced molecular gastronomy to Thailand - bringing the artistry, theatrical deconstruction, and boundary pushing of texture, temperature, and form to Bangkok with Sra Bua. Sra Bua is the baby sister of restaurant Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen, which was founded by Danish-born Yde-Andersen after a 'life-changing' visit to Thailand, and is currently the only restaurant representing Thai cuisine in the Michelin-star guide (as the Michelin guide does not operate in Thailand).
As to be expected, we were presented with avant-garde interpretations of classical Thai dishes - tom yam, pad thai, red curry. A lot of if goes back to the source, inspired by street food favourites like the Chiang Mai sausages deconstructed to reveal that familiar ‘street food smell’ of engine smoke that reveals itself when presented only to dissipate immediately, much like the coming and going of motorcycles and tuk tuks by a busy night market. Sra Bua was my first experience with Thai molecular gastronomy and I found it all terribly interesting and rather magical - I daresay you might, too, so take my hand and steady on, the show is starting...
February 06, 2015
February is my month of travel. By the end of it, the wheels of my adorably retro mint cabin bag will have rolled across airports in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hanoi, two cities in Borneo, and London. Last weekend I travelled across nine time zones in 24 hours alone - reaching Kuala Lumpur from London on Friday, before buzzing off to Bangkok the following morning. I know it all looks very shiny and jet set - maybe she's born with it, maybe it's an Instagram filter - but I assure you that there is nothing distinctly glamourous about the crippling jet lag that ensues the constant crossing of borders. Monday and Tuesday were public holidays in Malaysia so my family and I nipped over to Bangkok for a long weekend.
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Bangkok is a favourite destination for myself and Michiekins - we always pop over to do our shopping there; whether for cutting-edge labels from up-and-coming designers at Siam Centre, or the wholesale delights of the labyrinth-like Platinum Mall, enjoying the creative window displays of our favourite upscale labels in glossy Siam Paragon, or haggling for cheap kitsch at chaotic Chatuchak Market. I've said it before, I'll say it again: "I shouldn't be shopping, Baht Siam-one's gotta do it." Sadly, this time round I didn't see much of Bangkok - my body clock was too messed up. I spent everyday sleeping in my Grand Deluxe room and every evening working till seven in the morning, only to nap two hours before going down for breakfast, then going back to sleep again only to rise from my coffin at dusk for dinner (blood...blooood). Never leaving the hotel in the daytime except for one afternoon to sightsee and shop, only venturing out at night for dinner - does that sound like a wasted trip? I don't feel that way because I go to Bangkok fairly often and whenever I do I'm scurrying around all day, only ever being in the hotel to sleep. This time I actually got to enjoy the luxury of The St Regis Bangkok, which I now share with you!
The St Regis Bangkok boasts 'bespoke luxury' and located at a premier address in a prestigious location along Rajadamri Road is the perfect base to explore the more luxurious delights of the city, with many of the city’s finest restaurants and upscale boutiques nearby.
Sweet treats greeted me upon arrival in the hotel's first lobby, before butlers whisked us away to the second reception on the twelfth floor - home to the St Regis bar whose signature drink the 'Siam Mary' is a tribute to the hotel’s rich lineage (the Bloody Mary was invented at the St. Regis New York in 1934) with a distinct Bangkok twist of spicy Thai chili, wasabi, lime, coriander, Thai basil and lemongrass.
Some of my better writing was done in the balcony just outside the St Regis Bar, although my room was hardly a literal nor figurative cage...
...at 65 square metres, my Grand Deluxe room is nearly the same size as my first London flat. I would always receive deliveries from my butler at the landing area of my hallway, hasty to keep from his sight the horrific mess of my room lest it be too traumatising for the soft-spoken, demure, and refined nature of the Thais. Thankfully the long hallway, with the open plan bathroom beyond, acted as a buffer between mess and mind.
Two beds; one for sleeping in and one for napping in. The smart writing desk went unused except as a landing area for the contents of my handbag every time I switched my bags - I did most of my work from the sofa and of course the bar downstairs. From the floor-to-ceiling windows of my room I enjoyed the vast, verdant view of Royal Bangkok Sports Club (just outside the hotel), spying on golfers as their trotted across the endless green of the course.
Yellows, nude, and grey was the colour scheme for Bangkok and I daresay will be my sartorial palette for the month of February. For a pop of sunshiny goodness against a backdrop of grey I had my favourite Louis Vuitton WPM in pistachio (adorned with 'cat-puke hairballs' from Fendi, an addition by mummy); and my new Jeffrey Campbell sandals, a spiky purchase I made at Siam Centre as a precaution against oafish tourists stepping on my feet with their fat flip-flop clad feet. Louis Vuitton sunglasses spared the people of Bangkok the sight of my dark eye circles.
I wasn't always a recluse - I did venture out to sightsee and shop one afternoon (although I nearly collapsed from jet lag and heat exhaustion, our chauffeur had to whisk me back to St Regis where I spent all afternoon self-medicating with...Diet Coke), went out for dinner twice and shopped at Patpong market for trinkets including some gorgeous hand-woven bags I will show you!
Oh, and I also dutifully showed my face at breakfast every morning, at Viu.
'Fauxcialite party animal Jasiminne' would have had the Astor Champagne breakfast with a banana mascarpone french toast for breakfast, but sadly my fabulous doppelgänger was nowhere to be seen - I heard she missed her flight - so Neanderthal Jasiminne just grunted and jabbed at her breakfast plate of dim sum, bacon, sausages, and pastries while glugging on...more Diet Coke. Analogies aside, Viu really is a lovely place to dine in. Inspired by the traditional New York bistro and describing itself itself as a bright, sunny environment that recalls the grace and character of a stately home, by night Viu is the place for foodies and culinary connoisseurs to embark on a gorgeous gastronomical experience with signature dinner dishes like Japanese Kobe beef fillet marinated in duck and pink French garlic oil confit, seasoned with Japanese Aguni sea salt.
There is no shortage of dining destinations at St Regis Bangkok, with fashionable restaurants Viu, Zuma and Jojo, The Lounge and The Drawing Room for afternoon tea, Decanter for oenophiles (wine connoisseurs), St Regis Bar for their signature Siam Mary, and for those whose idea of being well travelled is artfuly Instagramming their sandwiches and cocktails by the swimming pool there is always Pool Bar.
The service at St Regis is top notch as you would come to expect from a 5* luxury hotel. With its stunning guest rooms including 51 suites, St Regis butler service, myriad of acclaimed restaurants and its prime position in one of Bangkok's most prestigious addresses, The St Regis Bangkok is the perfect base from which to explore this colourful city.
February 05, 2015
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