Stay Cool, Stay Aloft

If ever there was a hotel for its time and place, it’s the new Aloft Bangkok. Officially opened in February, this stylish and affordable ‘baby W’ has already made a dent in Bangkok’s overcrowded hotel market, immediately finding a niche amongst cool, budget conscious travellers.

A major part of the appeal is its location – smack in the heart of Sukhumvit 11, a major entertainment hub oozing with restaurants, cafes and night clubs, including the very popular Bed Supperclub right across the road. It’s also an easy walk (or free tuk-tuk shuttle) to Nana BTS Skytrain, as well as a short stroll to Bangkok’s newest shopping mall, Terminal 21.

The Aloft brand has been ‘infused with the DNA of W Hotels’, its Starwood sister brand – think fresh contemporary design, the latest technology and bold use of colour. It’s even adopted W’s use of street jargon to label its public spaces: re:mix lounge, w xyz bar, re:fuel (its lobby café), re:charge (fitness centre) and splash, its pool. For all intents and purposes, it could be a W hotel … just pared back a little. It reminds me a little of Chiang Mai’s D2, and its obviously targeting the same market – young at heart, trendy and fashion-conscious, but not necessarily super wealthy.

Like D2, Aloft’s guest rooms are smallish, but functional; there’s a comfy platform bed, a corner office with free wi-fi access (a big plus!) and a plug n’play connectivity station (for recharging electronics), and a combined bathroom/dressing area with a walk-in shower. A coffee maker is a nice touch, and the Bliss Spa products (also a feature in W hotels) go down well.

Taking the hi-tech angle a step further, Aloft Bangkok is also the first hotel in Asia to trial Fingi touch-pad control for all room amenities such as the guestroom doors, lights and in-room temperature. I didn’t actually get to stay in one of the 50 Urban rooms using this system, but I was given a run-through by the hotel PR staff, and it goes something like this: on check in, you are given a mobile phone which is programmed to control everything in your room – door entry, lights, air conditioning and entertainment. This phone is yours to use for the duration of your stay – you can use it for local calls, plus it has full internet connectivity, both on and off the property. 

Other techy touches throughout the hotel include complimentary Facebook and Youtube on the fitness centre treadmills (in case you get bored during your workout) and a wine list presented on an iPad. These wines, incidentally, are sold at a wholesale cost, making it arguably the cheapest restaurant wine list in Bangkok. Mind you, I think both the restaurant and bar need all the selling points they can get – located off ground level, it will be hard to attract punters off the street, particularly when things are buzzing just outside the door.

Speaking of, Aloft guests are also given free entry into Bed Supperclub and Q Bar, just around the corner – yet another lure for Bangkok’s beautiful people.

All in all, it’s a pretty cool statement – and an awesome location to boot. But the real surprise is Aloft Bangkok’s price. Visit in the next few weeks and you’ll be blown away, with its opening rates starting at just 2,111++ baht a room (A$64), with an extra 450 baht (A$13) per night for the Fingi touch phone. After April 1, the rates will rise, but rooms will still come in under $100, which is amazing value for a really fun, perfectly located and extremely comfortable four-star city hotel experience.

                                          (The w xyz bar at Aloft)

www.starwoodhotels.com

Full Moon Survival Guide

It isn’t a promising start: the longtail boat taxi we’ve booked to take us to Koh Phangan’s legendary Full Moon Party is cancelled. The reason? The captain is drunk.

So instead we’re herded into the back of a pick-up, sitting on god knows what, totally cramped with knees under our chins, squealing with mock (and real) terror as we bump along the perilous road from Thong Nai Pan Noi. Even before we reach Haad Rin, I’m having severe reservations about the night: why have I committed to a night of debauchery at the most famous outdoor party on earth? Surely no sane 40-something-year-old woman would do this without good reason!

That reason is sitting next to me, my 21-year-old daughter. She’s totally pumped, and is already loving the adventure. As my travelling companion on this visit to Koh Phangan, we’d come to an agreement – she’d stay with me at one of the quieter, more remote beaches on the island, venturing into the madness of Haad Rin only for the Full Moon Party. I’d get my tranquil beach holiday, she’d get her party on. Deal.

Quite frankly, I was dreading it. Since its conception as an intimate druggie rave back in the ‘80s, Koh Phangan’s Full Moon Party, held on the divine crescent-shaped beach at Haad Rin, now attracts up to 30,000 revellers and subsequently a lot of bad press. Tales of uncontrolled drinking, horrible injuries, even death has plagued the event; it’s the event that every teenager wants to attend and every mother fears. Even the Tourism of Authority of Thailand cannot endorse the event, despite it being a huge money-spinner – it’s just too controversial.

But now I’m here. With my kid. Who’s heading straight to that stall to buy a ‘F***-ing Cheap Bucket’ of vodka, red bull and lemonade. I’m in for quite a ride.

                             (buckets, regular and extra-large! Pic: Julie Miller)

On first impressions, Koh Phangan’s Full Moon Party resembles a carnival, or some sort of dance theme park. Everyone under 30 is wearing uniform – cut-off shorts, fluoro singlets and flashing head gear, with fluorescent body paint smeared on every available patch of sweaty skin. The streets of Haad Rin are abuzz, with revellers buying 300 baht buckets of alcohol or snacking on street food. The locals are making a killing, but unlike similar events in Australia, there are no exorbitant overheads or wildly inflated prices. Even the taxis are operating under fixed prices; you may have to wait for a full load before heading home, but at least there are plenty of transport options.

Despite the fact that there are around 20,000 people here, I’m also impressed to discover there is no agro, no shoving or pushing and no queues, even at the bars or toilets. And even in the thick of the crowd, I don’t feel claustrophobic or have a desperate desire to escape – I’m happy to wander the length of the beach, simply observing the insanity rather than being part of it.

Every strip of beach has its own atmosphere, with each bar throwing its own individual party. If you don’t like the music at one bar, move on. And if you want to chill, there are plenty of quiet places to put your feet up, with no pressure to fork out for further drinks. Can you imagine the outroar if you attempted to take your own drink into a bar in Australia? Or sat for an hour at a venue without spending a cent? It’s this relaxed, chilled vibe, this “do what you want” attitude that makes this event so appealing and so easy. I can’t imagine it happening anywhere else in the world, accompanied by the indefatigable Thai smile and ‘sabai’ way of life.

Did I have fun? Yes I did. For a couple of hours at least. By 3am, I was a bit over it – I’d reached my alcoholic threshold, things were starting to get messy on the beach, and it was raining. Even the unabashed joy of watching idiots burn themselves at the flaming jump rope was wearing off. Time to head home. With one very messed-up daughter....

                                    (Flaming jump rope. Pic: Joana Miller)

Everything they say about the Full Moon Party is true. It’s wild. It’s uncontrolled. There are no ID checks, drinks (and probably drugs) are readily available to anyone with cash, and there are no safety regulations. Injuries are rife; most of them cuts or burns, from the aforementioned flaming jump rope. And I can’t begin to imagine the state of the beach in the morning.

But is it a good party? Damn straight. Like any major event, it needs to be treated with caution and self-control. Be sensible, and you’ll have a great night. I know I did.

Bangkok's Food Culture with David Thompson

There’s a saying, “never come between the Thais and their food”. Having just spent a week on the road with eight Thai journalists, I can certainly vouch for that – they are enthusiast, voracious eaters, with meals the focus of every day and a perpetual snack mentality. Seriously, they never stop, from breakfast to dinner and beyond, it’s eat eat eat ... with such gusto and relish, it makes fascinating viewing.

It’s also been terrible for my waistline – I’ve put on two kilos in a week, and that’s after refusing half the food I was offered. It’s simply not fair that the Thais can consume such quantities and remain so slender and beautiful!

For the Thais, life is a moveable feast. Their culture is not like the western “three meals a day” concept. As David Thompson, the famed Australian chef who helms Nahm restaurant in the stylish Metropolitan Hotel tells me, Bangkok doesn’t have a restaurant culture per se – it’s all about street food and home cooking.

And if anyone knows street food, it’s David Thompson. This is the man who controversially brought traditional Thai cooking back to the Thais, a Michelin-starred chef who is every bit as passionate about original Thai tastes and flavours as the locals. I was privileged enough to wander the streets of Bangkok’s Chinatown with him recently, gaining insight into the food culture and learning about the importance of eating in the Thai way of life.

I was curious why David chose Chinatown for his impromptu tour – it didn’t seem like an obvious place to begin exploring Thai cuisine. But as David points out,  Bangkok’s population was once 50 percent Chinese, a reflection of the city’s importance as a world trading hub; and this influx obviously had a huge impact on local food, contributing to its flavours, textures and ingredients.

                (fresh crab for sale on the streets of Chinatown. Pic: Julie Miller)

Wandering through the alleyways of Chinatown is an intriguing experience. “You can find everything here,  food in every form,” David tells me. “Fresh, dried, alive, cooked – it’s all here. This is the most entrepreneurial part of Bangkok – where anything goes.”

In the dim, narrow passageways, we pass stalls selling dried fish, squid crackers, smoked baby pigs, fruit and herbs. Look up and we see original teak houses, humble dwellings with exquisite architecture dating back over 100 years. Every corner, every wrong turn reveals something new, hidden treasures that reveal so much about Thailand, its history and its culture.

We pause for a half hour at Nai Mong Hoi Thod, a hole-in-the-wall eatery which David claims makes the best oyster omelettes in Bangkok. David has been a regular at this family business for several years; when he first discovered it, the family matriarch cooked up the eggy snacks over hot coals. Now her grandson is behind the wok, whipping up these delicious treats to a queues of hungry patrons.

                   (David Thompson in a back alley in Chinatown. Pic: Julie Miller)

With full stomachs (“im, aroi!), we continue our meandering, discovering an old Arabic graveyard behind a mosque, and crumbling walls devoured by banyan trees.

Wandering these streets, David says, is the key to unlocking Bangkok’s culinary and cultural secrets. For anyone who wants to find the real pulse of the city, David’s advice is to “get lost.”

 “This is a safe city, so the only inconvenience from going off the beaten track is that you might have to jump into a taxi to get home. It’s the best way to discover the real Bangkok.”

Later that day, David introduces me to one of his favourite local restaurants, Krua Apsorn, in the northern district of Dusit. Lauded by the New York Times and the Observer, this is, David claims, one of Bangkok’s superior eateries, and a great influence on his own culinary offerings.

“It’s difficult to find a good restaurant above the level of street food in Bangkok,” David tells me. “This is definitely one of the best.”

“Anywhere there are tourists, you’ll never find food with this clarity of taste or poised seasonings. It will ever be cooked with the same integrity and care.”

Of course, David’s own restaurant, Nahm, goes against this trend, offering superior Thai cuisine in a tourist hotspot. Of course, being located in a five-star hotel, there are overheads which are reflected in the price – 1700 baht for a set course, or mains around 400-600 baht. But it’s worth every penny – each bite offers an explosion of taste, wonderful flavours, purity of palette and divine aural combinations, all served share-style in traditional Thai manner.

Even my Thai companions gave it their seal of approval. And coming from these experts (who would never be afraid of bagging out second-rate food), that’s really saying something.

www.metropolitan.bangkok.como.bz/eat-and-drink/nahm

Beating Bangkok's Traffic - the Airport Link

If ever there was a misnomer, it’s “rush hour” in Bangkok: no one is ‘rushing’ anywhere, with traffic gridlocked and a 15 minute trip becoming a 45-minute epic. Even out of peak times, major thoroughfares such as Sukhumvit slow to a crawl, making any taxi journey a frustrating stop-start meter-ticking exercise.

Fortunately, cabs are relatively cheap in this city; and with luggage involved, it’s always been the easiest option for transportation from the airport into the city. But now there’s an alternative, and slowly but surely, visitors to Bangkok are realising that the simplest and least stressful way to travel to and from Suvarnabhumi Airport is on the new Airport Link train.

In just 22 minutes, the express non-stop train will whisk you from the air terminal to Phaya Thai BTS station, where you interchange with the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit) Skytrain. Alternatively, you can take the Makkasan line, which links to the MRT line. Heading back to the airport, travellers on Thai Airways can check their luggage in at Makkasan (a la Hong Kong's awesome metro system).

Single tickets to both Phaya Thai and Makkasan cost 90 baht; a return is 150 baht, with a 14 day validity. Express trains leave on the half hour and the hour, with the 28.6 kilometre journey smooth, fast and hassle free. Alternatively, you can take the ‘city line’ train, which stops at all six stations into the city and costs just 45 baht one way.

A taxi, on the other hand, will cost you around 400 baht, plus 70 baht for tolls en route. Doing the maths, the train trip adds up to pretty good value, especially for solo travellers.

The most frustrating oversight in the Airport Link system is that Makkasan station – where you can check in your luggage – doesn’t link up with the BTS, which accesses most of the tourist hotspots. Someone wasn’t thinking straight in the planning stages, and as a consequence, Makkasan is somewhat of a white elephant.

However, the Airport Link is ideal if you are travelling light, or staying at a hotel within walking distance from a BTS station. If you have a lot of luggage, are travelling with a family, or don’t know where your hotel is located, it still may be more convenient to jump in a cab – just make sure you factor in the horrendous traffic and be prepared to sit ... and wait ... and wait...

Paper Giants

I may be a fairly forgettable person, but no one forgets my business cards. They are, quite simply, beautiful – made from handmade mulberry paper, a rich burgundy colour with a rustic, tactile texture and embossed in gold. Every time I pass one to a business colleague, it elicits the same response – “Oh, what a lovely card!” And I proudly say, yes, I had them made in Thailand.

My cards come from a remote little village in the north of Thailand, deep in the heart of the Golden Triangle near Mae Sai. I was visiting this area last year when I happened to admire the business cards of the General Manager of the Serene Hotel in the Golden Triangle; the lovely Khun Ginny then offered to take me to the factory where the paper was made, so I could order some for myself.

Jinnaluck (also known as Asian Design Concepts) is a burgeoning family-run cottage industry that produces and exports sublime paper products for the local and international market. Starting as a backyard venture over 20 years ago, it now employs 160 local people in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly and culturally rich small business, incorporating all aspects of paper production from growing raw materials, to making the paper, design and sales.

From humble beginnings, the company is now one of the largest mulberry, or saa paper producers in Thailand. More than 3000 handmade paper products are available at the Jinnaluck sales room, from beautiful handmade wrapping paper to cards, photo albums, carry bags, lamps and diaries. It also has a range of divine wallpaper which is sought after by Asian interior designers and boutique hotels.

                              (pics: Jinnaluck's colourful sales outlet, by Julie Miller)

Paper making workshops are available for school groups or even tourists interested in finding out more about the process, while the company has recently expanded into bamboo flooring and furnishings.

Ordering my business cards was a simple, yet nerve-racking experience: since I was leaving the northern region, I arranged to have the cards delivered to my hotel in Bangkok two weeks later. But first, I had to pay up front and provide a draft design for the card, with the artwork sent to me via email for confirmation (a necessary step, since the first version I received was a curious mishmash of Thai-lish!) But as promised, the cards arrived on time and with everything spelled correctly!

If you’re in the region, make sure you check out the lovely range of products available; or order online if you can’t make it up there.

www.asiandesignconcept.com

Buddhas and Mermaids at Koh Chang

My feet are dangling a metre above the water, twinkling with darting fish and a mermaid. She’s a little weathered from years submerged, but the Khmer Apsana dancer staring up at me is still an intriguing companion.

This is the last place I expected to be having such a cool dining experience – the Thai island of Koh Chang, in the north-east corner of the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border. But the Buddha View Restaurant has raised the bar for fabulousness in the region, combining European chic with relaxed Thai charm, great food and a seductive ambience.

                                      (the entrance to Buddha View. Pic: Julie Miller)

Owned by three Belgian friends, Buddha View perches on stilts above the waters of Bang Bao Bay, in the south of Thailand’s second largest island. Bang Bao is a working pier, trawlers docked alongside and women pounding shrimp heads into paste. Seafaring cats wander along the planks squeaking for handouts, and there’s always a fishy whiff in the air.

In the past few years, however, Bang Bao has also become a tourist mecca, with the narrow half-kilometre pier jammed with souvenir sellers, dive shops and restaurants. Guesthouses and private homes have also sprung up, with real estate prices exploding as society folk from Bangkok establish weekender accommodation.

Originally a sprawling Thai restaurant, the Belgians took over Buddha View five years ago, determined to upgrade, modernise and attract a different clientele – namely Europeans. First on the agenda was to convert half of the space to guest accommodation – there are now eight rooms available, simple yet stylish, all with king beds and four with spacious en suite bathrooms.

During the day, guests are welcome to soak up the sun on day beds strategically positioned on the pier; in the evening, these are the perfect place to sip on cocktails (the strawberry margaritas are to die for!), soaking up sunset views and watching the twinkling lights on the bay.

The coolest place to dine, however, is on colourful cushions alongside two large glass-top tables, hovering over holes cut into the original decking. The addition of the mermaid sculptures below, visible only at low tide, make for a mesmerising dining experience.

Matching the chill-out lounge ambience at the Buddha View is the quality of the food – exceptional flavours and presentation, with seafood barbecues and delicious jungle curries a specialty. And of course, you couldn’t get much fresher seafood, straight off the boat and direct to your plate.

                                      (glass-top table at Buddha View. Pic: Julie Miller)

Buddha View: 28 Moo 1 Bang Bao Pier, Koh Chang.

www.thebuddhaview.com

Rooms with ensuite bathroom cost from 1400 baht per night in peak season (Dec-Jan), less at other times of the year.

Adopt an Elephant!

This year for Christmas I gave my brother and his family a rather special gift – an elephant. That’s a large and extravagant present, I hear you say. After all, where do you keep an elephant, and doesn’t it cost a fortune to feed? Not exactly a kitten, is it?!

Which is actually the point – elephants are expensive animals to maintain. They eat a lot, around 200 kilos of food a day; they need space to roam if they are to remain happy and well adjusted; and vet bills alone can cost up to $1000 a month.

Most elephant owners, however, are not millionaires – they are normal Thai families, struggling to make a living and keep their families and animals off the streets. Many of Thailand’s mahouts are ethnic Kui people from Surin province, who have traditionally held the role of elephant carers since the Ayutthaya kingdom. Their battle to maintain this heritage and their unique livelihood inevitably comes down to employment and money – an issue which has become even more pertinent since the cessation of the logging industry in the 1980s.

These days, tourism is the major employer of elephants and their mahouts, with many mahouts giving up the relatively lucrative option of begging on city streets to relocate their elephants to more natural and healthy havens such as the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) camp in Chiang Saen, northern Thailand. But even with the backing of a high-profile hospitality player and charity events such as the annual elephant polo tournament to help raise funds, GTAEF struggle with the daily expenses of maintaining the 35 elephants they support, not to mention their human mahout families that come as part of a package deal.

Recognising this ongoing struggle for survival, world renowned elephant photographer Carol Stevenson has recently launched Adopt an Elephant, giving pachyderm lovers around the world the opportunity to do their bit for Thailand’s domestic elephant population. The first lucky elephant to be sponsored from the GTAEF is Pumpui, a gentle rescued street elephant with a pink spotted trunk who most recently was working with autistic children at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang. Since the campaign was launched in November 2010, 70 percent of Pumpui’s monthly food and vet bill of $1000 has been met by over 200 sponsors, with the aim to have her fully stocked up with bananas and sugar cane before shifting the focus to two other elephants, Charlie and Ploy.

                                                     (Pic: Carol Stevenson)

Sponsors are invited to donate as much as they like, or as little as $5 a month, with one off sponsorships of $35 also available (and making great Christmas or birthday gifts!) In return, you’ll receive a printable portrait of Pumpui taken by Carol Stevenson, receive regular updates, and have your name added to the website. Best of all, however, is the satisfaction that your money is securing Pumpui’s future at the GTAEF, helping her to lead a more idyllic life befitting to such a gorgeous creature.

www.adoptingelephants.org