2025 – Thailand

Ali and I were discussing our personal ‘been there, done that’ lists one day, and Ali admitted that she’d never visited Thailand. I’ve visited five times, two of those to Hua Hin, so that formed the basis of a plan.

Ali had also commented that one of the dangers of visiting ‘all inclusive’ resorts is that you’re tempted to not leave the resort, so I figured we should spend a couple of days in Bangkok before hitting a resort.

Back in 1996, as part of ‘The Secret Seven’s Trip to Asia’ we’d stayed at the Holiday Inn on Silom Road in Bangkok; it was sufficiently central for our needs. So, when we decided to return to Bangkok, I figured it to be an obvious choice.

The fact that I still had a bucketload of Holiday Inn loyalty points was – literally – a bonus.

Then a week at the Anantara Resort, just outside Hua Hin,

Val and I had stayed at the ‘Evason’ at Pranburi, outside Hua Hin, back in 2002. The Evason was now a Wyndham Hotel, and not listed by any British tour companies, so I figured the Anantara was worth a try.

And, while I have always tried to celebrate wedding anniversaries ‘away’, this was just seven weeks after our return from Malta.

I also learned – shortly before we took our trip – that November 5^th, (Ali’s birthday and our anniversary) would be Loy Krathong.

Loy Krathong is celebrated on the tenth full moon of the year; it’s the ‘River Festival’ when Thai people take to the waters to release small, illuminated boat offerings made of banana stalks and leaves. I’d experienced it with my parents back in 1990, and it was a magical evening.

I’d booked the night before our arrival, as our flight wasn’t due in until six fifteen in the morning and I figured we wouldn’t want to hang around all morning to check in.

Our car arrived promptly on Sunday morning, leaving home at seven fifteen, arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal Two at nine; traffic around the airport was heavy, despite it being a Sunday morning. We were swiftly through the bag drop/ check-in and provided a link to complete an online arrivals form. The security checks were swift and unusually polite; we then headed down to the lounge I had pre-booked.

The lounge – the No.1 Lounge – was, frankly, dreadful, they didn’t acknowledge that we’d pre-booked, and when we finally managed to pay (again) and get in the lounge, the tables were not being cleared and the breakfast selection lacklustre. We cleared a table for ourselves and settled in to ‘enjoy’ cheese and bacon croissants alongside our – now traditional – pre-flight Bloody Marys.

We left the lounge promptly and headed over to our aircraft’s gate, a fifteen-minute trek, and were soon on board.

Our seats were comfortable, in the middle of the aircraft, and the service – while a far cry from my experiences back when I flew ‘Thai’ with my parents back in the eighties – welcoming and efficient. The food was okay; they delivered a packaged BLT sandwich and bottle of water for the long hours between dinner and breakfast.

We neither of us slept, each watching three or four films.

We arrived at Bangkok airport on time on Monday morning, went through passport control and baggage collection promptly, and were in our pre-booked taxi within an hour of landing.

We were then caught up in Monday’s rush-hour traffic, the journey to our hotel taking just over two hours, rather than the one hour that Google Maps suggested.

Check-in at the Holiday Inn was efficient and very welcoming, the check-in clerk spotted Ali’s birthday from her passport and offered her a celebration cake on Tuesday, as we would be heading off to Hua Hin on Wednesday. I’d booked a room on the executive floor, which provided lounge access (the check-in clerk suggested that my premium status would have granted that anyway) but, having booked the room for the Sunday night, we were able to get access to our room promptly, and enjoy Monday breakfast.

The room itself – 2337 – was well equipped, with an eight-foot-wide bed, sofa, desk and a bathroom with both bath and generous shower.

I hadn’t eaten in the hotel on my previous visit, so breakfast was a revelation; there was an extensive bakery selection, cold-cuts, fruits and yoghurts, grill and egg stations, then Indian, Chinese and Japanese selections. Very impressive.

After breakfast we took a short stroll down to where “Maria’s Restaurant” used to be – they’ve gone – but an alley close to the hotel now hosts a market with about twenty street-food stalls. We then checked out the pool, on the roof of one of the hotel’s blocks, and then back to our room where we caught up with a few hours’ sleep.

Ali went for a swim in the hotel pool in the afternoon, while I started on one of the books I’d brought then, at six, we headed down to the ‘Executive Lounge’ where, between six and eight they serve drinks and nibbles. Very nice nibbles including satay sticks and samosas. The drinks were okay too, Ali enjoyed a ‘Vodka Collins’ while had a Caiparinha (or three).

We chatted about heading out to the nearby ‘Pat Pong’ night market and, despite both feeling blasted after only a few hours’ sleep, I booked a taxi.

Unfortunately, as we left the hotel to wait for the car, the heavens opened, the rain was torrential; the edge of typhoon Kalmegi. Ali dashed back to our room and collected our showerproof jackets; we wrestled to put them on as we drove the ten minutes to the market.

It was still bucketing down as we arrived at the market, the puddles were already several inches deep.

I’d visited Pat Pong on a previous trip, it’s a well-known night market that’s notorious for its ‘girlie’ bars, and Ali was propositioned within seconds of our arrival. She declined, and we explored the various stalls selling fake designer bags, watches, pens, sunglasses, and so on. I bought a couple of bits. There were several stalls selling ‘street food’ but we resisted, I’ve never risked it, and we didn’t want to take chances on our first night. We’d booked to do a boat trip on Tuesday morning and didn’t fancy the thought of being stuck on a long-tailed speedboat with stomach problems.

It probably took twenty minutes or so to wander up and down the market, as I recall the market has several streets, but one was enough. The rain continued to pour, and I suggested that we take shelter in a bar while waited for a car back to the hotel. There was an Irish bar on the corner – there’s always an Irish bar – in this case the appropriately named ‘Shenanigans’, where we enjoyed our first Thai beers of the trip.

We grabbed a Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel and retired to the hotel bar for a final drink. On my previous trip the bar was called ‘Cheers’, these days it’s the cleverly named “Hari’s Bar”. A final beer and then off to bed, it was about eleven PM (about four PM back home) and we’d survived nearly forty hours with just a few hours’ sleep.

Needless to say, we slept soundly although I woke at about five, giving me time to update this journal.

I’d booked us a river trip on Tuesday morning so, after breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we booked another ‘Grab’ car. Our experiences with Bangkok traffic on Monday led us to leave plenty of time for the journey to the pickup point at a coffee shop near the Grand Palace complex. We weren’t alone, we arrived a full half hour before we needed to and found half a dozen people in the coffee shop doing the same thing; the coffee was good though.

The excursion set off just after eleven, there were seven of us in our group. We walked the hundred yards or so to the pier and clambered into our long-tail speedboat – these are about thirty feet long, brightly painted and powered by massive truck engines that pivot a propeller shaft into the river.

We crossed the Chaopraya river and headed into one of the side canals; I’d done a similar trip on a previous visit to Bangkok, but since that visit, the side canals have been protected by massive watergates, capable of accommodating six long-tail speedboats at a time.

Once through the watergate we whizzed along the canals, passing houses and factories on stilts above the waterline. We spotted monitor lizards, Ibis birds and, at the Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen temple complex, we stopped to see the massive golden Buddha statue that towers benignly over its host temple. It stands (or rather sits meditatively) 69 metres tall and was completed in 2021.

From there we sped to the ‘artist house’ complex, where we spent half an hour stretching our legs, feeding the fish that thrive in the canal, and avoiding the inevitable tourist tat on sale.

Then back to the watergates, across the Chaopraya river and to the dock where we’d boarded. The whole trip took a little over two hours and was really enjoyable, despite the somewhat overcast and threatening weather.

I booked another car and we headed over to the Hard Rock Café for a light lunch – boneless chicken ‘wings’ in buffalo sauce and their spicy shrimp ‘One Night in Bangkok’ dish, which really had to be done. I’d visited the previous Bangkok Hard Rock Café in Siam Square, but a waiter explained that it didn’t reopen after the Covid shutdowns, closing in March ‘21 while the new café only opened in November’23.

That still counts as my forty seventh!

It was only as we left the café that I spotted some signs that identified the area as Erewan; the café was pretty much on the site of the fancy ‘Gaysorn’ mall that I’d visited twenty years earlier. The area was unrecognisable; there were huge, glossy skyscrapers and looming overhead railways that gave a surreal futuristic feel to the place.

Back at the hotel, the events the day, combined with the travelling and time zone changes caught up with us and we both crashed for a couple of hours, waking in time to enjoy the complementary evening drinks and snacks in the Executive Lounge.

Then, a final drink in “Hari’s Bar” and an early night.

I woke early again on Wednesday, Ali’s birthday and our fourth wedding anniversary. We exchanged cards and opened cards from family ‘back home’ over a cup of tea, then down for breakfast.

The birthday cake promised by the concierge at check-in never materialised.

After breakfast we took a short stroll along Silom Road, I still couldn’t see where “Maria’s” restaurant used to be, but there are so many new buildings in the area. I asked the hotel concierge who suggested that many restaurants failed to survive the Covid lockdowns.

I’d booked a car for our trip down to Hua Hin, from the same company we’d used for our airport transfer. It arrived promptly just after two, a Toyota ‘Fortuner’ SUV. We had misgivings about the Bangkok traffic but were on a clear expressway within five minutes.

The road down to Hua Hin was clear and we arrived at the Anantara Resort at about four thirty.

One nice touch on the journey, the driver used a translation app on his ‘phone to check whether we needed a toilet stop; we didn’t but he did!

The check-in at the hotel was interesting, they sounded a gong as we arrived and were led to the check-in desk. I handed over our passports when the check-in girl spotted that we’d booked a suite. She then led us over to the Kasara Club Lounge where we were warmly greeted with sweets, cold towels and a cold drink.

The Kasara Club check-in girl explained that we had access to the club from ten in the morning until ten at night, and that there were drinks and canapés each afternoon from four until six. Well, it was four thirty, so we availed ourselves of the canapés, Ali enjoying a somewhat larger beer than she was expecting, while I enjoyed a couple of Mojitos.

We were presented with plaited cotton bracelets to denote our ‘suite club’ status, so much more civilised than plastic wristbands. I suspect that very few guests have an ‘All Inclusive’ package, but the staff soon recognise us.

From there we were led to our room/suite – 811 – on the ground floor, overlooking the lagoon. It had a huge stone bath – accessible from both the bedroom and the bathroom and another eight-foot-wide bed. Where the Holiday Inn had a kettle and teabags, this also had a coffee machine, milk in the minibar, umbrellas and a chic pool/beach bag.

The ‘Suite Life’ also entitles us to four items of laundry per day, and sparkling wine with breakfast.

I’d pre-warned the hotel about our anniversary and Ali’s birthday, and they’d decorated the bed to welcome us, along with a birthday cake and fruit basket.

As I mentioned earlier, as well as our celebrations, November 5th marked Loy Krathong, Thailand’s biggest celebration.

The hotel was celebrating by holding a gala buffet, so we went along, this was our first evening meal of our trip and we feasted on huge prawns, both cold and cooked in spicy sauce, crab, ‘Babylon’ snails and a wonderful – if challenging – Thai Green Chicken curry.

There was a saxophone player playing lounge music and a couple of interludes of traditional Thai dancing, after which the hotel guests were invited to take their own Krathongs (there was one on each table) and float it on the hotel pool. It was enchanting and, while it might have seemed false, the hotel staff floated their own Krathongs, which was lovely.

We were among the last to leave, at about ten, and returned to our room where we both suffered a fitful night’s sleep. I was awake and writing at three AM. We both finally managed to crash for a couple of hours, waking on Thursday morning to a bright, sunny day. We wandered down for breakfast, another eclectic selection.

After breakfast we explored the hotel grounds, around the main pool and down to the seafront – not really a beach – and then back to a second, lagoon pool near to our room. We settled there for a few hours, Ali enjoying a few dips in the pool while I continued reading my book. We enjoyed some lunch and I arranged a trip into town; one of the front of house staff knew a good local tailor, so we booked to go and see her.

The tailor – Mali – arranged for a taxi to pick us up and deliver us to her shop instead of relying on the hotel’s minibus. She had a large selection of fabrics and, after explaining what we were hoping to achieve, we selected some fabrics and left some of Ali’s clothes as the basis of her outfits. She said that we would probably have a fitting session in a couple of days an that everything would be ready in good time before our departure on Wednesday evening.

From the tailor we strolled into Hua Hin, past several restaurants that I recognised from earlier visits. The town looked grubbier and seedier than I recalled, several blank-faced local girls sitting in bars with western men who were, frankly, old enough to know better.

Our destination was the Hard Rock Café, which is located in the Hilton hotel in the centre of town but, when we arrived, it transpired that the souvenir shop had opened, but the café wouldn’t open until later in the year. I guess that doesn’t count as my 48th café (maybe next time, we’ll have to come back) but we saved on the price of a round of drinks.

I summoned a cab using another online app, and we were back at the hotel by six thirty, enjoying drinks and canapés in the Kasara Club. Then down to the ‘Sea, Fire, Salt’ restaurant for dinner; during the day their menu includes burgers and stuff, but in the evenings it’s almost exclusively fish and seafood. Ali enjoyed a smoked salmon starter, while I had a strange dish of sous-vide prawns, then Ali had ‘giant squid’ for her main, while I had tiger prawns (at a supplemental price).

Again, we both slept poorly, and Friday dawned overcast and humid. After breakfast we returned to the ‘lagoon pool’, I had a dip but spent most of the morning with my head buried in my book. At lunchtime we returned to ‘Sea, Fire, Salt’; Ali enjoyed a truffle pasta dish with a green salad while I tried the Wagyu burger, all delicious.  ‘Sea, Fire, Salt’ is close to the waterfront, the sea was as calm as a millpond although Typhoon Kalmegi was causing disruption in Northern Thailand.

We both had a doze in the afternoon before taking the hotel’s shuttle bus into Hua Hin for a brief wander round the local Night Market, much more civilised than Bangkok’s Pat Pong. We bought a few souvenirs and then headed back for dinner in the hotel, again we ducked the plentiful selections of street food.

Dinner was in Rim Nam, the hotel’s Thai restaurant, overlooking the pool. I enjoyed a Tom Yam soup, followed by Khan Pad Pu – a crab and fried rice dish. The waitress asked how spicy I wanted my food, I ordered ‘medium spice’ and she later explained that that is the spice level enjoyed by most locals. Ali had Pad Ka Prow – a spicy pork dish. The waitresses came round with a large bucket of brown and jasmine rice to accompany her pork. All were delicious.

Once again, we were the last to leave the restaurant, just before ten. The hotel is busy, but we figured that most of the guests must eat really early.

I slept better than Ali on Friday night, waking more refreshed than her on Saturday morning.

After breakfast we returned to the ‘Lagoon Pool’; it is really tranquil and we only saw three or four other couples all day.

The main pool, while not busy – and to be fair it does have a swim-up bar – just didn’t appeal. There are a couple of girls at the ‘Lagoon Pool’, and a bar, so there are never any problems getting food or drink, and they come round with glasses of iced water throughout the day. We had a light lunch and returned to our room.

Thursday’s tailor pinged me to suggest we visit her early evening for Ali’s fitting for her suit, so I booked a taxi online, it’s only about ten minutes into town and the app-based taxis are affordable. Although this evening’s managed to get lost, turning right off the main drag instead of left and stopping in a dark alley. We told him the error of his ways and called the tailor who gave him directions, he still managed to drive past again!

The fitting was successful, the suit looking good, so far, and the chiffon blouse matching nicely. We agreed to return at lunchtime on Tuesday before booking another car back to the hotel. Then back in the ‘club lounge’ for a couple of drinks and back to the Thai restaurant – Rim Nam – for dinner. Ali had fishcakes to start, followed by a duck red curry, while I enjoyed a “Fisherman’s Soup” and a soft-shell crab yellow curry. Again, we were the only people in the restaurant, the waitress explained that most people had eaten early, at about six.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny with clear blue skies, it was noticeably warmer. After breakfast, we headed back over to the lagoon pool, again it was deserted, we were the only people there for much of the day. A nice relaxing day by the pool, sometimes it doesn’t get better than that.

We enjoyed a few drinks in the Kasara Lounge, seemingly the only bar that serves draught beer, while chatting with ‘Lula’ – a French management trainee and one of only three Europeans on the payroll, one of whom is the General Manager. Then down to ‘Sea, Smoke, Salt’ for dinner; we both chose the Salmon Tonnato starter, while Ali enjoyed a huge grilled sea bass main; the kitchen prepared me a cheeseburger from their lunch menu.

I slept better than Ali, who woke on Monday with an upset stomach, she skipped breakfast, I explained her absence to the waiting staff by saying she was still sleeping. We then headed over to the lagoon pool, which was busier than in previous days, at one point there were a full dozen people there, still a marked contrast to the main pool which was heaving. Ali had a club sandwich for lunch, while I enjoyed the summer rolls.

In the evening, we popped back to the night market to get a couple of bits.

The hotel shuttle bus was booked for our outward journey so I booked a taxi for the princely sum of ninety-eight baht- about two pounds thirty. The shuttle bus was overloaded on the return journey with several Polish hotel guests that hadn’t booked. They managed to squeeze in, with one woman sitting on her partner’s lap!

Back at the hotel we had a couple of drinks in the Kasara lounge and confirmed our late checkout – four PM – on Wednesday. This enabled me to book a car for our journey back to the airport. Ali decided to skip dinner, so I returned to Rim Nam where I enjoyed a starter of shrimp patties followed by Tom Yam soup, again medium spiced.

We both slept well, and woke refreshed on Tuesday morning, another bright, sunny day. After breakfast we took a car back to Mali – the tailor – to collect Ali’s order. She wasn’t happy with the sleeves on one of the blouses and Mali offered to deliver it to the hotel on Wednesday morning. From there we strolled through the streets of Hua Hin, there are more bars and ‘massage’ establishments than I recall from earlier trips, they seem to be swamping the more general stores that used to exist alongside them.

I took a photo of the ‘Brasserie de Paris’ French restaurant that I’d visited with Jon & Jan many years earlier, it’s nice to see some things remain.

Then back to the hotel and over to the Lagoon pool, still fewer than ten people there. We swam, relaxed and enjoyed a quiet lunch, Ali a seafood pasta and me a spicy pizza. Later in the afternoon we popped into the club lounge, and again before dinner, which we enjoyed in Rim Nam. Ali having her first Tom Yam soup, while I tried the green papaya salad so beloved of Rick Stein on his culinary tours. We both had Chicken curry; mine a green curry, Ali’s a massaman curry. We were also joined by a praying mantis, on our table, and a small lizard, on the ceiling.

A mixed night’s sleep for both of us, and an early online airline check-in and start to pack on Wednesday morning. Then down for a final breakfast by the main pool; from there we migrated to the lagoon pool, which still hosted only seven sunbathers. The waiting staff were all aware that it was our last morning and wished us a pleasant journey home.

We both enjoyed pizza for lunch by the pool and then headed back to our room to change, and finish packing.

Our car was due at four, so at three we headed over to the club lounge; Lula – the French management trainee – explained that the lounge was her project, and that it had only been open for about a month but was being well received by hotel guests.

The car arrived a little early, about three forty-five, and we hit the road. We skirted Bangkok on a peripheral motorway, arriving at the airport at seven. We were checked in, and our bags dispatched by seven fifteen and by seven forty-five we were in the Koh Hop bar, not bothering with an airport lounge this time.

We both enjoyed a plate of Pad Thai – our first on this trip – and another beer before heading down to the gate for our flight.

Departure was delayed slightly due to Heathrow Airport not allowing flight arrivals before six AM; at home I am often aware of the succession of aircraft flying over and into Heathrow. We took off just before one but were still expecting to land by six fifteen. I had reserved us seats near the back of the aircraft but, on check-in, the clerk offered us seats 32B & 32C which turned out to be in a tiny, slightly roomier cabin of just two rows between economy and premium economy. We were even more pleasantly surprised with 32A was not allocated, giving us a spare seat between us. In fact, the flight appeared only about a quarter full.

Dinner was mixed, I enjoyed a very tasty spaghetti with prawns and Thai basil, while Ali declared her chicken dish to be one of the worst airline meals she’d ever attempted. We both managed a couple of hours sleep on the journey, otherwise catching up on movies.

As predicted, we landed at Heathrow ahead of schedule at about six twenty and, despite our baggage being the last to be unloaded, we were in our car by seven fifteen and home just before eight forty-five.

A great, and memorable trip, after much consideration I think the Anantara is the best hotel I have ever stayed at (and in all modesty, we’ve both stayed at a few) but here we are.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.