Thailand Tuttle Travel Pack - Jim Algie Tuttle Travel Guide & Map

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Author’s Lounge, full of period furniture and gingerbread fretwork, with all the delectable trimmings like fresh strawberries and scones.

      The long list of celebrity guests, such as Nicholas Cage, Mick Jagger and Sir Peter Ustinov, are proof of its ascendancy into the stratosphere of hotels which, given its humble origins, makes it seem all the more remarkable.

      Back in the 19th century, the hotel provided lodgings and a bar for seamen at a time when Bangkok had no other such facilities and only one decent thoroughfare (the nearby New Road), where gas street lamps were finally installed in 1866. Less than two decades later, Joseph Conrad, still a sailor and not yet the author of famous works like Heart of Darkness, hung out at the bar.

      In subsequent decades, the hotel’s poetic décor and riverside setting shanghaied the imaginations and livers of other celebrity writers of the likes of Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward, who have suites named after them in the Author’s Wing—the oldest part of the hotel—where high tea is served with crisp linen amidst white rattan furniture and a library of classics.

      Before the end of the 19th century, the Oriental had become the first luxury hotel in the country. Opulence still reigns at the hotel, and many visitors stop by for a glimpse, a cup of tea or a meal at one of the seven superb restaurants, such as the seafood specialist Lord Jim’s (named after Conrad’s novel).

      Across the river at the hotel’s Sala Rim Naam, guests can savor classical Thai dances and performances, while gorging themselves on a set menu of local staples, or get a spa treatment at the Oriental Ayurvedic Penthouse. For a double shot of jazz with a chaser of blues, the hotel’s legendary Bamboo Bar is just the place for thirsty ears.

      Opening Times Daily noon–6 pm

      Address 48 Oriental Avenue

      Getting There Catch skytrain to Saphan Taksin Station and five-minute taxi ride from there

      Contact +66 (0)2 659 9000; [email protected]

      7 Phang-nga Bay, Phuket

      The ninth wonder of the water world

      Take a survey of any 10 wayfarers cruising around the coasts of Krabi and Phuket on what their favorite day-trip is and the smart money is on sea canoeing in Phang-nga Bay. One of the world’s most incredibly natural marvels, the bay is studded with some 40 sheer limestone karsts that rise vertically out of the sea for hundreds of meters. It’s like a tropical seascape envisioned by Salvador Dali.

      Nature’s exclamation marks, the limestone cliffs are pocked with sea caves, collapsed cave systems open to the sky and surrounded by limestone walls, that are only accessible during daylight’s low tide. The local “paddle guides” have to navigate their rubber canoes through chinks in the cliffs so narrow that both navigator and daytripper have to lie flat on their backs.

      Miraculously, the caves open into lagoons with water that looks like melted-down emeralds surrounded by ramparts of limestone. Equally as photogenic are the looks of awe on the faces of the other visitors as they catch their first glimpses of these Jurassic flashbacks.

      Monitor lizards, monkeys, sea eagles and black kingfishers are known to make cameos. Some lagoons are fringed with mangrove forests. The roots of these trees grow right out of the water.

      Another passageway through the rocks is known as the “Bat Cave”. When the guide shines a pocket torch on the ceiling of the cave, where thousands and thousands of bats hang as if in suspended animation, the name is a dead giveaway.

      Many daytrips include a stopover at the overrated and underwhelming James Bond Island (Ko Ta-pu or “Nail Island”)—a tourist trap full of tacky souvenirs—lunch on board the boat, as well as some sessions of swimming and sun-basking on uninhabited islands.

      Opening Times 24/7 but daylight visits and guides recommended

      Address East coast of the island

      Getting There Take a full-day tour from Phuket for US$40–100, including lunch, water, snacks, etc. For a pricier alternative, try John Gray’s Sea Canoe. The veteran tour operator offers the “Hong by Starlight” package—‘hong is sea cave'—priced at around US$130 per person

      8 The Elephant Conservation Center

      On the shoulders of giants

      As the former mascot of Siam’s flag, and revered by many Thais as the most regal of beasts, the elephant still occupies a prominent place in local history and folklore, even as the herds thin and the mythology wanes. On most of the major islands, like Ko Samui, Phuket and Ko Chang, and especially in the northern part of the country, riding an elephant is a rite of passage for first-time visitors to the kingdom.

      For festivals, the Elephant Roundup, where they reenact famous battles fought from the backs of pachyderms, lumbers into action every November in Surin (the province that is home to the most creatures and mahouts).

      For those animal lovers who really want to experience the life of an elephant handler and learn how to “drive” the world’s largest land animal, the Elephant Conservation Center in the province of Lampang is a good choice. Many visitors opt for the three-day course. Expect to go “rustic” and live, eat and hang out with the real mahouts. Also expect to have your own elephant assigned to you for the duration of the course. Come sundown, when the elephants are taken to bathe in the river, it turns into a free-for-all water fight as the tuskers use their trunks like fire hoses.

      Most guests at the center wax rhapsodic about the authentic Thai fare served at the homestay, though they also grumble about the roosters crowing all night and the necessity of bringing a good pair of earplugs.

      Originally set up as a hospital for wounded pachyderms back in 1992—when a young female had her leg blown off by a landmine along the Thai–Burma border where she was illegally employed to haul logs—the Elephant Conservation Center is helping to bestow some dignity upon a vanishing breed rapidly being reduced to a clown show and circus act.

      Opening Times Daily 8 am–6 pm

      Address 28-29 Lampang-Chiang Mai Highway

      Getting There From Bangkok catch the train at Hualamphong Station bound for Chiang Mai and get off in Lampang. The trip takes 10–12 hours. Bangkok Airways has one flight per day from Suvannabhumi International Airport to Lampang.

      Contact +66 (0)5 424 7875, www.changthai.com

      Admission Fee Various programmes from oneday visits to 10-day-long mahout training programmes. See website for prices.

      9 Wat Phrathai Doi Suthep

      Holy mountain stands tall

      Wat Phrathai Doi Suthep is the pinnacle of northern spirituality: a mountaintop temple outside Chiang Mai with a cornerstone erected on fantastical tales about a monk and a Buddha relic and a white elephant who died up here. Whatever one believes, the golden chedi gilded with sunlight, the shrine to the sacred tusker, and the balustrades made from the snake-like body and crested head of Phaya Nak (“The Serpent King”) certainly do look otherworldly.

      The view of the city from on high, some 1,066 meters above sea level, is also fit for a deity. From the road, the not so fleet of foot can skip the 300 steps by riding the cable car up to the temple.

      The complex is a fanciful confection of Buddhist and Hindu elements, with the fairytale whimsy and those brightly hued colors that appeal to Thai aesthetics. With a history dating back more than six centuries, the temple is hugely popular with both locals and tourists. For all that, Doi Suthep (it’s often referred to by the name of the mountain it crowns) is a real temple with genuine supplicants and monks. There is also a model of the “Emerald Buddha”

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