Free luxury boat rides in Bangkok Thailand

The Mandarin Oriental comes in to ram the Hilton's boat.

I stumbled on a little secret recently, which I'll share with you ... come closer as I'm going to have to whisper.

Recently I had to attend a wedding at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. Hard to get to in peak hour traffic on a Sunday evening. So my partner devised a route which got us to Saphan Thaksin Skytrain station which delivered us right to the waterfront.

The area is the millionaire's Golden Mile of hotels on the fabled Chao Phraya River: the Shangri-La, the Sheraton, the Mandarin Oriental, the Hilton Millenium, etc. And -- here's the best part -- all of them offer a free shuttle boat service for their guests. And, um, you. Jing jing.

Prefer something in leather? Try the Sheraton's boat.

All you do is turn up, wait at the jetty and roughly every half hour each hotel's boat turns up. Just hop on, quick smile and wave to the skipper, and you're on your way, always remembering to look as though you own the place, of course.

Enjoy a 10-15 minute cruise, take some photos, hop off at the hotel. Wander around looking at how the other half live on your way to wherever you have to get to. Of course, you could always be nice and stop for a drink at their bar, or a meal at one of the fabulous riverside restaurants. Then, repeat the process on the way home. Down to the jetty, on the boat, back to the BTS station.

On the other hand, you can also take public speed boat ferries from Saphan Thaksin up and down the river for an extortionate 15 baht ... that's 50 cents. A fast and fin way to get your bearings in the incredible city of Bangkok in Amazing Thailand.

Hope this is useful advice for those still waiting for their ship to come in.

Know any other good 'free' options in and around Bangkok you want to share? Leave a comment here.

Shangri-la's Kad cafe: cheapest 5-star buffet in the world?

Shangri-la's Kad Kafé in Chiang Mai features Thai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, European and Mediterranean specialities. It has three different buffets: the weekday quick lunch, dinner, and Sunday BBQ.

Now here's the thing. Don't be frightened by the 5-star tag. As a relatively new hotel it's got to make itself known and accessible to the local community, so its pricing at Kad is VERY aggressive (read; CHEAP). The lunch spread, featuring 5 different stations of pizzas, pastas, soups, Thai specialties, etc, will run you about $6-7 Aussie dollars. Jing jing! You can eat your heart out for that measly sum -- plate after plate after plate after yummy plate till they kick you out (well, the Shang wouldn't do that, but you get what I mean).

The choice at dinner is bigger, ie including seafood, and a few dollars more, and the Sunday BBQ a little more again, but you do get access to swim in their gorgeous pool the rest of the day and get to feel how the other half live!

So, treat yourself without trashing your travel budget.

Favorite Dish: The pizzas and pastas are great, but try the northern Thai local delicacies such as Khao Soi curry noodles.