Bangkok and Chiang Mai voted Best Cities in the World

In Travel + Leisure magazine's World's Best Awards announced today, Bangkok regains the top spot it last won in 2008 as the world's best city.

And Chiang Mai is snapping at its heels in the number two spot. Jing Jing!

No surprises there for me. (Of course if you asked me, I'd say the order was back to front but I don't want Chiang Mai to be spoiled by the fame.)

 To clarify, the voting was done before the recent upheavals, but now that things are normalised again, Bangkok is back to its usual bubbling brilliance anyway.

 Meanwhile, the Peninsula Bangkok was named as Asia’s number 1 city hotel (number 7 globally), with strong showings by the Four Seasons Resort in Chiang Mai (27), and the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Devi in Chiang Mai (45).