What's coming up in Amazing September ...

As usual, many amazing things are going on in Thailand ...

I was amazed to hear, for instance, that the Thailand stock market (SET) has grown by over 20% this year already. This doesn't sound like the same beleaguered country they feature on the international news.

I was also amazed to hear that the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2010, a two-month event which has just concluded, topped last year's sale in terms of amount spent ($624 million) as well as average spend per transaction, according to Visa Car. Americans, Brits and Aussies were the largest spenders in total.

Anecdotally, of late I've experienced hotels in Bangkok, Cha-Am and Chiang Mai running full houses: 100% occupancy on certain nights. And this is the low season! 

 So what's going on? Who said, or even thought, that Thailand was down and out after the Red Shirt nonsense in May? 


Lingering perceptions are a dangerous thing, jing jing!

Coming up in September, I'm going to be doing more of Bangkok for you, to prove that things really are back in full swing in the city recently voted as one of the best in the world by Travel + Leisure:

* Siam City Hotel - an 'old' favourite
* Siam Kempinksi - the new kid on the block
* Soi 31 Sukhumvit - restaurants, galleries, wine bars
* Soi 33 Sukhumvit - restaurants, music and spicy stuff
* Soi 53 Sukhumvit - cool area with lovely upmarket restaurants
* and then it's back for more of the best of Northern Thailand including Doi Tung, the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, and a lot more.

Cheers for now.