My love affair with Bangkok

(Conclusion)

Here’s the continuation of my rendezvous in Bangkok, where our stay at the Dusit Hotel in the City of Angels brought back many good memories to me and my siblings.

On my way back up to the room, I pass the lobby to introduce Mark to my dear friend Anthony Thadungsak to give him his pasalubong. I must tell you, the secret weapon of every hotel is the concierge. Let me tell you about Anthony. Two years ago, I purchased a pair of huge North Face luggage at the World Trade Center, and had them delivered to the Dusit Hotel room 1401. Anthony found the bags at the concierge cubicle, but with neither name of owner nor room number indicated. Unfazed, the ever resourceful Anthony did a systematic research. He took down the phone numbers of all North Face dealer stores within a 30-minute distance from the hotel and called them one by one. His resourcefulness yielded results and, of course, that sealed our friendship for life.

For our first dinner, we took Mark to the Benjarong restaurant where my late mom loved to have her favorite curried dishes. I still recall that while having a Thai meal in such regal ambience while I was nursing a cold, I let out a big sneeze. Lo and behold, a box of Kleenex showed up by my side courtesy of the most attentive waiters.

Indeed, one can never get bored in this hotel. And, importantly, for foodies like us, we were kept happy. My favorites begin with the Pavilion for the powerful buffet breakfasts and sumptuous afternoon dessert buffets. Il Cielo for Italian, D’Sens for romantic French. My Dad loved the Mayflower for Cantonese cuisine. My sisters raved about Thien Duong for Vietnamese. A fave hangout of our kids is the Dusit Gourmet where the delicious fragrance of freshly baked goodies tempts them no end. Next time I go back I am looking forward to the wagyu steaks at the Hamilton Steak house and the Japanese at Shogun. Mark, who went to a bartending school in Boston, was impressed with the chic new Champagne Bar on the upper lobby.

At the end of the day we came home from discovering the city, our aching feet and bodies ready to be pampered at the world-class Devarana Spa, helmed by lovely PR Juraruk Cholharn. (Devarana Spa will soon open in Dusit Hotel Nikko, Manila.) Here, we chose from 12 different cocktail scrubs and yielded to the soothing expertise of well-known traditional Thai massage in luxurious surroundings. After our treatments, Mark gratefully said: "You girls are spoiling me."

I revealed to Mark, an avid golfer, the secret of our sister Christine’s improvement in her game. When she came here to join the Volvo Golf Invitational Tournament two summers ago, she took me with her. The day before, she found a great golf pro and took lessons right here in the hotel’s own driving range. He was so surprised to find a city hotel with a driving range and a pro.

The hotel is centrally located in the heart of the city. That made it so easy for us to go about town, with the Skytrain, the MTR just a few steps away, commuting was a breeze. To my delight, there was a sudden proliferation of friendly cabbies driving the cutest taxi cabs in my favorite color — hot pink!

On our flight back to Manila, Mark made a recap of our sojourn which he termed as a "perfect trip on all counts."

We smiled at Mark. In my mind, another Bangkok love affair had just begun.

(Would love to hear from you. E-mail me at miladayjewels@yahoo.com)