Bangkok Thailand named best city in the world ... again!

At this time every year, people rush to their mailboxes to check if the new issue of Travel + Leisure magazine has arrived. Because they want to check the magazine's annual 'World’s Best Awards'.


Well, at the risk of being a spoilsport, I'm going spoil the surprise for you by announcing the results now. Here. Today.

For the second time, Bangkok has clinched the No. 1 spot as World's Best City, jing jing.


Now, just in case you're not familiar with these awards, no, they're not run and sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand or the Bangkok Metropolitan whatever ... these are genuinely independent worldwide awards which take in ratings from readers of Travel + Leisure’s international editions including the USA, Southeast Asia, Turkey, China, South Asia and Mexico.


So as a result, they are highly coveted.


Hotels in Thailand scored highly on the list of Top 100 Hotels Overall (best hotel in the world), with the magic-kingdom-in-a-rice-paddy Mandarin Oriental Dhara Devi in Chiang Mai coming in at no. 7. The Peninsula Bangkok on the fabled Chao Phraya river also made the list. The Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi was also voted Asia's second favourite resort, while in the city hotels category for Asia, The Peninsula Bangkok came home at no. 4. 

The best city hotel in Asia was judged to be the legendary Mandarin Oriental Bangkok nestling on the banks of the river as it has done for over 135 years. We should assume then that it is also the best city hotel in Thailand?


Not to be outdone in the Best International Airline category, Thailand also scored highly with Thai Airways International flying smooth as silk at No. 9.


For full results, check your mailbox on August 1 for your subscription copy of T+L again. Better still, as I'm first with the news here anyway, just cancel your subscription and send me the money instead.

Chiang Mai -- Of Cold-Pressed Virgins and Hot Tempers

I thought I was just going for a massage here, but apparently I am about to get my doshas adjusted.

You see, in the ancient Indian practice of Ayurvedics, there are three major body types or doshas: Vata (air), Pitta (fire) and Kapha (water).

After filling out a rather probing questionnaire, and a discussion with the resident doctor (yes, she's a fully qualified medical doctor), I'm declared to be Pitta Vatta. "There is fire in your mind. Short temper, irritable when it's high. A fire person cannot wait in a queue." I suspect she's been talking to my ex-wife!

"I like to catch these three doshas and adjust them," she explains in the chilled manner that comes from working in one of the most serene environments imaginable for the past 6 years: the Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi. "The pace of life here in Chiang Mai is like nowhere on earth," says the Mumbai native.

"Ayurvedics is all science, but maybe they cannot explain to you how it is scientific she says," perhaps sensing my slight skepticism. It has been around in the order of 6000 years, used by seers to treat important people before becoming everyman's traditional practice.

In rural India, it's still a daily practice whereby oils, scrubs, and herbal concoctions are used to treat people instead of going to a hospital.

"I am soul, then I have body and mind to explore this world. How to balance actions and thoughts. Finally it comes to body. But here we start with body -- it's easier."

She continues with her verdict on my diagnosis. "Your body seems quite balanced," the doctor declares. I'm thinking she should have seen me on the dance floor at the Latin party the night before. A bit of Rumba and too much Margarita clearly had me off-balance. "And your mind is a little stressed."

Well, of course, I'm stressed, doctor -- I'm about to have my doshas readjusted by you and we've only just met. Jing jing!

"Stay warm and eat food that's healthy, nothing ice cold [damn, there go the margaritas!], oils for skin would be wonderful. Warm sesame oil, virgin cold pressed or sunflower oil -- of course not cooking oil, " she says for my degenerating knees.

She consults the list of solutions thoughtfully. "I'm recommending one hour Abhyang ayurvedic treatment and 30 minutes Shirobhyanga."

My assigned therapist, a delightful young Thai, leads me across the courtyard of the 3000m  spa, modelled on the ancient golden teak wood Royal Palace of Mandalay.

The room is cavernous, smelling of lemongrass; chiming music immediately centres me. The Abyhang is a light massage using herbs, oils, touch and friction. It helps purge toxins, and apparently promotes youthfulness and increases energy. I don't know about that -- I was doing an especially fine impression of a sun-basking seal! Then she started on the Shirobhaya ancient Indian head massage. Aaaaaaaaah.

Here the finest oils are used, as a remedy for insomnia, impaired vision (we're back to those icy-cold margaritas again!), circulation and concentration. The energy centres ('marmas') in the head, eyes, and neck are treated.

The experience is blissful, ethereal almost. A couple of hours in a parallel universe. I promise myself to control the fire within, starting NOW!  Oh, there I go again with my fiery Pitta impatience. Starting sometime soon, I mean.

Chiang Mai -- The MO Dhara Dhevi: A Balanced Piece of Travel Writing

I've travelled to 55 1/2 countries (the half was Guatamala, where I illegally left the plane and entered the airport only to be turned back by machine-gun toting guards). I've stayed in thousands of hotels, some of them voted the finest in the world. But nothing prepared me for something that is just 15 minutes from my house in Chiang Mai. Right under my rather considerable nose.

I'm talking, no raving, about the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi. Again.

You see, I've never had a hotel room with its own steam room before. Or its own piano. I couldn't believe it. A piano! I sat down and reeled off a few slightly rusty bars of Beethoven's Minuet in G while the bellhops battled with my baggage in the background. I was later told the owner, Khun Suchet, has a thing about pianos.

So this is no ordinary villa. A two-storey rich wooden affair with decking out the front which leads to a little sala and spa pool. Plug in the iPod speaker, enjoy a glass of wine, while the wind rustles through the terraced rice padi just beyond. Wow!

I lost count of how many bathrooms there were in villa 1025. And telephones. And next to each telephone a lovely little notepad.  Never mind hotels that boast a kettle in every room. This had a kitchen with its own coffee machine, and damn good coffee it was too. And a dozen flavours of herbal tea from the Siam highlands.

One of the bathrooms upstairs -- I think there was more than one, I'm not sure -- featured a circular jacuzzi bath that was clearly designed for end-of-football-season trips ... you could fit the whole cheer squad in there. If you wanted. Somehow it's perfect with just two.

But I do have a complaint. The white towels were so large and fluffy I could barely close my suitcase. (Er, if anyone from the hotel is reading this, that's just a joke. Jing jing! )

Little touches seal the deal. Like the blackout curtains in the bedroom. I am the world's lightest sleeper, and the littlest peek of daylight at the crack of dawn will awaken me. So I was amazed to look at the bedside clock and see 8:30 on the clock. It was pitch black. Maybe it was 8:30pm then??? No. The curtains kept all the daylight safely outside.

I am told the hotel has around 400 staff looking after its 123 units. That's a massive ratio by anyone's standards. And when we ordered a club sandwich from room service, half the kitchen arrived in a golf buggy. Or maybe it was a fleet of golf buggies. And Jamie Oliver. What I do remember with certainty was there were twice as many people setting up this sandwich than had helped us with our luggage.

Yet for all of that, it felt so homely.  Sunk so deep in the sofa watching a DVD. Pit-pat of large rain drops outside. I did the honourable thing and requested a late check-out. After consulting the reservations book, a slight extension was kindly granted.

I told the hotel's Sales and Marketing Director that I was afraid I might embarrass myself and  compromise my journalistic integrity (oh, hush down the back there) by gushing so openly about this experience.

So to balance up this story, and regain my journalistic credibility,  I'm going to end with a gripe. Not just a petty nitpick, but a genuine gripe. Someone told me some of the villas and penthouses have grand pianos in them. Yes, grand pianos, dear readers. And there I was stuck with an ordinary everyday run-of-the-mill upright piano ...

You see the hardships I have to endure to bring you these stories? That's just shabby treatment.

Chiang Mai -- Origins of the Star Goddess

This story really should start with 'Once upon a time ...', because I am entranced by the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi's magical fairy tale feel. More than that, I am amazed that this timeless and transcendental architectural extravaganza has been operating for less than four years.

I spend some time with Khun Niramol (or Bee as she's known casually) who has worked here since the opening in late 2006. She grew up in this area, and shares the history of the property with me.

Near the imposing front gate is an old wooden Lanna-style house. 'That used to be the house of Ajarn Julatata,' she says, 'a famous architect who started a restaurant.' That house was all that stood on this land, about 15 minutes outside the city walls of the ancient town of Chiang Mai, on the winding road leading to the renowned craft villages of Borsang and Sam Kampaeng where umbrellas, silver and Celadon pottery are produced.

'The monsoon trees, they are original, but otherwise it was just old rice fields here. I heard that there was going to be a project here and I said No way! I really doubt it. Then came big trucks, workers ...,' she reminsces as we walk down big wooded lanes lined with cotton trees.

'It was really amazing ... they transplanted these trees before there were any buildings. Big trees, big cranes, mud everywhere.' The lushly landscaped gardens look like they've been here since the beginning of time.

A pony harnessed to a carriage waits patiently by the side of the lane, lending a classic air to the scene. 'The horse knows it's working hours,' laughs Bee. 'He's supposed to finish at four but sometimes the kids want to ride him to their room later and he complains!' Jing jing!

To the left are ancient-looking Khmer stone ruins, like the remnants of something related to Angkor Wat. All built or brought in.  Detail, detail, detail. Like the massive decorative naga serpents that top some of the low walls. And the ornate frontispieces that decorate the main building's soaring wood-and-gold rooftops.

I ask who the designer was. 'It's interesting. The owner Khun Suchet is a finance person,' Bee says of the man behind this project whose family is a big name in the automotive business. 'But he loves culture and he's a big antique collector. So it's really what he wants. He found a team of young local architects and brought them to Burma, Laos, provinces in Thailand to experience it.'

The result really is a Magic Kingdom of sorts. Or a Lost Kingdom to be more precise, based on the Lanna idyll which flourished in this part of what is now Northern Thailand from the 13th century till the 16th century.

The inspiring Dhara Spa building was based on a palace in Mandalay. The Craft Centre is three village houses brought in from nearby Lamphun. The Fitness Centre is accessed via a tunnel, modelled on Wat Umong, one of Chiang Mai's more picturesque and intriguing temples.

'It's all based on Burma, Lanna, local here, and a bit of Chinese, Laos ...,' says Bee with pride at this instant -- but not kitsch, no way -- masterpiece. Asia's colonial period in the 19th century is also represented by the creamy and dreamy grandeur of the Colonial Suites, redolent of the Raffles, the E&O in Penang, or the former Railway Hotel (now Sofitel Centara) in Hua Hin.

It's magical alright. I ask Bee the meaning of Dhara Dhevi. 'It's old Thai language,' she says, thinking for a while. 'It means Star Goddess.' Perfect!

As the sun glints off a gilt spire above us, it creates a feeling of spiritual connectedness. Like this has always been here. Like it was meant to be here. 

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).