“You should visit the our ‘ozone.” It’s our hotel within the hotel, only it is for the employees,” said Susie Hansirisawasdi, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok’s Director of Public Relations. ”We’re pioneering this program, a first of its kind within the Mandarin Oriental Group,” she added.

After days of discovering new paths, chasing after tuktuks, navigating the vehicle-filled roads, enriching the mind with culture and diving in a sea of culinary flavors, it was time to slow down. I know just the place, no need to stray from home.

Alongside the Chao Phraya River just across the Mandarin Oreintal Bangkok stands an oasis of wellness- The Oriental Spa. It is the first spa to open within a hotel property in Bangkok. From the time it opened in 1993, the award-winning Spa has been widely recognized as a pioneer in the Thai spa industry. Its initiative to provide an all-encompassing spa experience that couples traditional 2,000 year-old Thai holistic teachings with contemporary philosophies creates a harmonic ambience that is both nurturing and rejuvenating.

Countless trips to Bangkok and more plans are piling up by the bucketful with each visit. There is no end in sight to my must-do list with surprises popping every time I find myself in this Asian capital city. To say Thailand is amazing is an understatement. Maybe this is how a wanderlust-stricken person feels when in love with a place- he never can get enough of it and always have a reason to head back. Or maybe, it’s fated.

It is hot and humid in Bangkok, crowded and perennially busy, traffic is unbelievable, but I love it. It is a charming place, culturally rich and exciting. If there is one country in the Asian region where they have mastered the art of tourism, Thailand is it. Of course, it helps that they have numerous ancient temples, sunny, white sand beaches, a diverse offering of entertainment and a cuisine to thrill the palate.

Thai food is titillating, which your taste buds can credit to the spices or its fresh ingredients. From thinly sliced vegetables that make up a refreshing salad to the sweat-inducing savories, the food of Thailand is uniquely flavorful.




One of the most exhilarating experiences to have in Bangkok is to savor the Thai cuisine along the busy streets or over dinner by the river Chao Phraya. The latter is romantic as it is calming with the starlit waterway offering a panorama totally the opposite of the daytime bustle on the other thoroughfare of the city. This was on my bucket list.





Dining with myself in a tres chic restaurant of a fancy hotel by the famed river of Bangkok was a plan conceived while window-shopping along New Road on a lazy Sunday morning. It would a story to tell, another adventure. The entry was finally ticked off my list recently. A dining episode, I am happy to share, from “home”- at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok. One thing on the list changed though, I was not alone.

Dining in Thailand is best with the locals. The evening’s culinary journey was in the company of the Puntuhong siblings, Karn, the Public relations secretary of the Mandarin Oriental and his brother Gun, from the International Public Relations Division of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the perfect company with inspiring stories of Bangkok’s cuisine, culture, lifestyle and tourism, then and now.





Our banquet hall was on the opposite bank of the Chao Phraya River from where the Mandarin Oriental sits, the Rim Naam, the hotel’s Thai restaurant. It is one of the most popular dining places in Bangkok attracting both the locals and foreigners. The restaurant’s delectable spread can be enjoyed at the Sala Rim Naam, the ornately decorated Thai pavilion reminiscent of Northern Thai architecture with a nightly classical Thai performance, or al fresco at the Terrace Rim Naam.





It was a riverside feast for us over a bottle of the house Shiraz....






.... the Naam Prig Makham, dip of chili, young tamarind, minced chicken and shrimp accompanied by deep-fried Siamese sardines; Nuea Yaang Naam Tok, grilled beef sirloin salad with dried chili powder and ground toasted rice; Tom Som Pla Grabog, sweet and sour soup with grey mullet and ginger; Gaeng Phed Goong Bai Chapu, prawn curry with betel leaves; Pla Hima Phad Prig Daeng, fried snow fish with garlic and red chili sauce; Bua Loy Sam See, warm sticky rice flour dumplings in sweet and salty coconut milk; Nuea Kua Kling, southern-style fried beef tossed with yellow curry paste, white turmeric and kaffir lime leaves; Ped Yaang Naam Makham, roasted duck with tamarind sauce and grilled pineapple; Khow Soy Gai, northern-style egg noodles with chicken in curry sauce and condiments.




Good company, fabulous view and great food, how can dining in a fancy hotel I can call home by Bangkok’s renowned river not be memorable?

For more information about Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, visit their website: www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/


For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in Sun.Star Davao on May 17, 2012.

....on a day like this.

Photo courtesy of Ferdinand Tambungui

This is Boracay Summer 2012.

The Philippine summer, most especially the Holy Week, is not a good time to head to Boracay. I am speaking for myself. How can you really enjoy the island with a crowd like this?

But if you're into the a-scorching hot-Sunday-in-the-mall-thing, rubbing elbows and people watching, then go ahead.

If you ask me, go during habagat. The sand screens will be up and there is the occasional rain pour but you will have the space and tranquility you want and need.

Just saying.

Some writers are just destined for greatness. To be recognized as one must be awesome. I am waiting for the day I receive an accolade, perhaps like “The best writer in the East.” If the council of whatever skip the pertinent details, like East is the street of the village I live in and I’m the only journalist in the 15-household area, I’m good with that. I won’t mind the flowers, the trophy, a monument, a building, or perhaps a room named after me in this “home” I discovered in one of my favourite destinations- the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok.

Knowing that Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok’s historical and traditional association with several world-renowned authors has inspired the hotel to name its suites after the authors who have resided with them made me hopeful. I can dream, can’t I? Nothing is impossible (who coined this motivational phrase, by the way?).
“The Authors’ Wing, built in 1876, is comprised of four famous suites: Joseph Conrad, Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward and James Michener. These are the most in demand suites. The other name suites in the River Wing are Barbara Cartland, Gore Vidal, Graham Greene, Wilbur Smith, John le Carré, Jim Thompson, Norman Mailer, Captain Anderson, Kukrit Pramoj, and the iconic S.E.A Write Suite aptly named after the Southeast Asian Writers’ Award Ceremony held annually at the hotel to celebrate the literary aspirations of writers in the ASEAN nations,” said Susie Hansirisawasdi, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok’s Director of Public Relations, and further shares, “Each suite is designed according to the authors’ personality within the written page or in real life. For example the Barbara Cartland Suite reflects the femininity of the romance novelist, while the Wilbur Smith Suite is dominated by the African prairies with animal prints decorating the walls.”


In 1998, Norman Mailer, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award recipient, was the guest speaker in the 20th anniversary of the Southeast Asian Writers’ Award, an annual literary festival. In his honour, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok decided to name a new suite after him.

While the hotel suites are named after famous personalities, there are others inspired by the nautical theme, maybe because the hotel is located along the famous waterway of Bangkok. The Otago Suite was named after Joseph Conrad’s ship that sought shelter on the river by the hotel a century ago.


The grandest of the suites is not named after anyone but a title- the Royal Oriental Suite. Like the name implies, the design and appointments of the “colonial summer mansion” is fit for royalty, in real and reel life – the Princes of Wales, Queen of Sweden, the Sultan of Brunei, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, are just some of the renowned personalities who have stayed in this suite presenting a magnificent panorama of the Chao Phraya River.

For more information about Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, visit their website: www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

The garden path to the hotel's famous Author's Wing, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel by the famous river & the hotel lobby

The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, is unlike any other hotel I’ve stayed in. Everything reminds me of a home- well appointed, warmly decorated, polite staff and a “house” rich with history.

The Executive Suite

The Deluxe Room

The Selandia Suite

With Somsri Hansirisawasdi, Director of Public Relations & Karn Puntuhong, Public Relations Secretary