ASIA BANGKOK DESTINATIONS


ABOVE LEFT: May’s Garden House


ABOVE: Park Hyatt Bangkok


ABOVE RIGHT: Eco-cultural destination Sampran Riverside


The giant water beetle ravioli with saffron sauce is delicious and I love the decor, which includes a giant Venus flytrap


are saddling up, and a great way to pedal off all that food is Asian Trails’ new night-time bike ride, during which you’ll enjoy a pedal-powered exploration of the capital’s oldest neighbourhoods. asiantrails.travel/thailand


 OUTSIDE THE CITY If Bangkok’s bustle gets too much, consider a day trip to the enormous Sampran Riverside, a 28-hectare eco- cultural destination opened in 1962. It’s located in Nakhon Pathom province, an hour’s drive from Bangkok. There are two accommodation types


to choose from: a 160-room hotel and traditional Thai houses made of teak.


The venue also houses six meeting rooms of varying sizes, a spa and a fitness centre. Visitors can tour the organic farm, cruise down the river, sign up for cookery classes and learn about local handicrafts. I visited at the weekend during the popular farmers’ market, when local farmers come to sell their wares – whether it’s handwoven baskets or the bananas, which are snaffled out of my hand by a curious water buffalo during a wander around the farm. The site will be extended early


next year with the opening of Patom Organic Village. Highlights will include workshops focusing on local crafts and herbal products, as well as a new village store. But don’t fritter away all your baht, because a certain Bangkok hotel recently brought out a very special souvenir. Licensed by Hasbro, ‘Monopoly – Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok Edition’ was released in August and is available to guests who book one of the hotel’s suites for two consecutive nights. My own dusty, moth-eaten Monopoly set suddenly looks rather boring.


Sample product


Travel 2 can offer three nights’ room-only in a four-star hotel in Bangkok, and eight nights at the four-star Patong Merlin Hotel in Phuket (B&B) from £949 including flights with Thai Airways. Valid May 7 to June 24, 2019. travel2.com


Premier Holidays offers a 14-night package with four nights at the Rembrandt Hotel in Bangkok, three at Elephant Hills and seven in Khao Lak from £1,499, based on two sharing and travelling in May or June. Transfers and flights included. trade.premierholidays.co.uk


Thai Airways flies twice a day from Heathrow to Bangkok, from £551 return for bookings between December 15 and February 28, travel between January and June (excluding April). thaiairways.com


13 December 2018travelweekly.co.uk61


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