Ban; Peninsula As ‘he ifos
The Peninsula, positioned right by the river, is also favourite spot for social gathering. Its Thiptara restaurant transports you to bygone era both dishes. Guests dine amid the outdoors, taking refuge in the ancient teak sala pavilions sourced from Ayutthaya and reassembled on-site. On cool night, the breeze from the river provides welcoming
reprieve from the heat of the day.
The diverse menu is an ode to Thai cuisines from all regions, while its home-style cooking provides authenticity to every dish. There are deep fried snow fish with spicy sweet and sour sauce, jumbo grilled prawns so fresh it added further dimension to the clean flavours of the pomelo salad, and red beef curry from the southern region whose layers of spice and nuance were carefully nurtured making the dish light instead of heavy. Chef Chamnan Thepcana, who himself is from the south, spoke about how he learnt to make the curry from his grandmother. “Thai cooking is not complex.
But, to really get the flavours going, you’ve got to blend the spices carefully with love. And patience. This is the same principle bring to the kitchen when cook.”
Guests at the hotel could never escape the romance
of the river. It is no secret that The Peninsula’s
uniquely W-shaped building was designed so every room had vista of the river. In some suites, even the guest toilets open up to the snaking Chao Phraya that bisects the city. Waking up to the sight of the locals’ morning commute, hypnotic crowd of workers, students and families, allows one glimpse of how the waterways remain intertwined with their daily lives. “We’re always fully booked during New Year’s, because that’s when lot of activities and celebrations are done by the river,” Patty continued.
At the hotel’s top most floor, the striking glassthe first aircraft to be built in Thailand, is popular venue for private soirees and marriage proposals
Connected to the helipad, the area becomes
private viewing platform where guests can admire spectacular fireworks display which the hotel can arrange to accompany their private function. Back on terra firma, more leisurely way to explore the river can be experienced on the hotel’s beautifully restored traditional rice barge. On this two-hour cruise, guests nibble on canapés and hors d’oeuvres as the barge meanders past historical landmarks and
iconic buildings at sunset.
Speen Bangkok Bangkok Peninsula Peninsula
P.Tendercool
David Robinson, Director of Bangkok River Partners, set up in 2015 to oversee the river revival project, weighs in, “Top of mind for us was how we improve the (river) area without gentrification. There is renewed interest in ‘old town’ Bangkok from developers. In the next couple of years the number of hotel rooms will grow to over 5,000 and luxury apartments to more that 5,700. The IlconSiam development will mean that people living west of the river no longer have to travel into Siam. It will of course be wonderful for those living in the area as well as travellers staying at one of the many riverside hotels.
“In our view, it’s about balance. More people living and
visiting the area will be good for people who have lived and worked in the area for generations, as long as we can remain community-centric. We hope to influence land and property owners to ensure these people are not squeezed out as new projects locate to the riverside. We want property owners to preserve and repurpose old buildings rather than replace them with new. good example of this is The Jam Factory. second development is about to be established in the east
bank, behind the Portuguese Embassy.”
Since Bangkok River Partners was established they have media pages, and hosted series of events designed to build the area around the river as major public gathering place for tourists and locals. Reaching out to local residents
Klongsan and Bangrak, which now is scene neighbourhood. Galleries such and P.Tendercool attract visitors both as well as their thought-provoking bespoke furniture maker like no other.
burgeoning arts as Speedy Grandma for their unique names pieces, the latter being
Robinson mulls over the changes that have come with the project. “This is an ongoing initiative with many challenges
and opportunities. We hope to work with the Thai
to the district. Greener streets, better transport and more artisans and craftsmen are all important to ensure the Chao Phraya River is great place to visit for Bangkokians, leisure and business travellers.”
Royal Brunei Airlines flies Bangkok 8x weekly. fae
Source: MUHIBAH, the Royal Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine, 2016 Sep-Oct, pages 15-19. Text recovered from the scanned page by OCR and lightly corrected; spelling may differ from the printed edition.
