A hospitality brand in Bangkok delights guests with an impressive stable of local insightful experiences, writes Jade Tye
THE Peninsula Bangkok goes to great lengths to deliver an experiential holiday unlike any other.
As Asia’s oldest hotel company based in Hong Kong, dating from 1866, and with hotels in 10 major cities around the world, the Peninsula brand has a long tradition of enhancing a guest’s stay with timeless and thoughtful experiences, adding what it describes as “glamour, innovation and a true sense of place”.
While each guest room in the Bangkok property is endowed with luxurious amenities (including Oscar de la Renta toiletries) as well as possessing full frontage view of the Chao Phraya River, the hotel prides itself with maintaining its exceptional tradition and extending an authentic “taste” of the Land of Smiles.
The Peninsula Academy, far from academic, offers a range of immersive activities built around local experiences for both adults and children.
Programmes range from mangrove exploration, painting and cooking classes, vineyard visits and Thai boxing to becoming a “DJ for the day” at Bangkok’s Eazy FM radio station.
I select the three-hour Footprints From The Past, a walking tour of the historical Thonburi district where the hotel is situated.
A guide leads me through narrow alleys in the Portuguese-influenced Kudichin neighbourhood marked by a neo-classical Santa Cruz Church, emerging at a Muslim enclave of Bangluang, built around a Thai-style mosque. We end the tour at Wat Kalayanamit near the river bank.
In another programme, I learn about local herbs and partake in making the Thai herbal poultice.
Massage therapist Pimsupak Banlungpho shows me the more than 10 herbs and spices (from Thai ginger or plai, turmeric, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass to the exotic lotus flower pollen) and teaches me how to prepare them for use later in my hot compress massage therapy.
The Simply Peninsula Royal Thai Massage with Herbal Compress is a soothing 110-minute session in the River Suite treatment room, which opens out to the river.
This highly refined version of traditional Thai massage is curated in partnership with the renowned Wat Pho Temple Traditional Medical and Massage School and derives from treatments designed for royalty, with the therapist maintaining a fair body distance from the guest throughout the session.
It involves a pre-treatment steam bath and hydrotherapy session followed by a massage. Then the herbal poultice, which I made earlier, is heated and used on the back, neck and shoulders to relieve muscle tension.
Feeling rejuvenated the next day, I kick-start the morning with a sunrise yoga at 6am with other early-risers.
The hotel boat transports guests to a Chinese temple, on a calm river, rippling along with very few boats. At the temple’s riverside terrace, we start with breathing exercises followed by hatha yoga.
The biggest highlight of a Peninsula stay is its famed gastronomic experience. Mei Jiang restaurant is helmed by executive Chinese chef Jackie Ho from Hongkong.
His rendition of dim sum vegetables and shrimp are supremely smooth as with the double boiled fungus and chicken soup, astonishingly rich yet uncomplicated in taste.
Topping that is the steamed garoupa. Its feather-light taste and melt-in-the-mouth succulence combines beautifully with silky ginger-flavoured egg white custard.
In-between sips of refreshing summer tea, I am transported back to the 1920s era of Hong Kong and Shanghai grace and elegance, a hallmark of the Peninsula brand.
FAST FACTS
THE PENINSULA BANGKOK
333 Charoennakorn Road, Klongsan, Bangkok, Thailand
TEL + 66 2 020 2888
EMAIL pbk@peninsula.com
WEBSITE http://bangkok.peninsula.com
STAY 370 river-facing rooms and suites. Each guest room measures 46sqm, among the largest in Bangkok, includes distinctive features such as bedside control panels, electronic-controlled curtains, scanner-printer-fax machine and double-glazed windows.
EAT Mei Jiang serves fine Cantonese cuisine including dim sum, while Thiptara specialises in Thai. River Cafe and Terrace is an all-dining restaurant with al-fresco and indoor seating. The Lobby offers breakfast and light meals, including afternoon tea. River Bar, The Bar and Peninsula Pool Bar serve refreshments and snacks.
GO Savour Peninsula’s serene river atmosphere. Well-located to explore historic Thonburi and across the river from Chinatown and Bangrak.
DO Peninsula Academy programmes offer immersive tours and activities. Wide range of spa treatments.
HIGHS Fine Cantonese cuisine. Free and regular boat shuttles to the nearby Sathorn pier (for Saphan Thaksin BTS station) and two public jetties in Bangrak.
LOWS Apart from Mei Jiang the other dining outlets are very average.
PICTURES BY JADE TYE