Meliá Chiang Mai has clinched a coveted spot in the well-respected Australian magazine Holidays with Kids Readers’ Choice Awards, recognised as among “Thailand’s Best Family Resorts”. Situated in the heart of Chiang Mai city in Thailand’s mountainous north, Meliá Chiang Mai rounded out the list of 12 Thailand hotels and resorts and was the only property in Chiang Mai to make the cut.

Nominations for the Holidays with Kids 2024 Best Family Resorts Awards were open for 12 months and came from the magazine’s vast readership of more than 600,000 parents.

“The competition has been fierce, with so many kid-friendly resorts not just meeting expectations but smashing them. From creative kids’ clubs and family focused dining, to kids-centric facilities and activities, the winning resorts and hotels are raising the bar for families,” the publication said.

Holidays with Kids described Meliá Chiang Mai as “beautiful”.

“YHI Spa pampers guests with massage therapy, scrubs, wraps and facials, while the gym ensures your fitness goals stay on track,” the magazine said. “There are three dining venues serving up culinary masterpieces, and the resort even facilitates the Meliá Farm 360 experience, immersing guests in the eco-farming program that fills their plates. The rooftop bar has fantastic views of the surrounding landscape, the pool is the perfect place to cool off after a day of exploring Chiang Mai, and the kids club will keep the little nippers safe and sound when parents need a romantic evening for two.”

Meliá Chiang Mai’s general manager Marc Selinger said he and his team were honoured that the hotel had been recognised as among Thailand’s leading family properties in the awards for the second year in a row.

“We’ve got so much to offer the young and the young at heart including our Family Rooms with puzzles and board games, children’s tent, toys and more, and our vast kids and teens club with a program packed with activities such as Thai boxing, umbrella painting, and arts and craft with recycled materials,” he said. “Our large outdoor swimming pool with a shallow pool area for kids replete with two water slides, a rain curtain, water fountains and a giant tipping bucket is popular with families, and our hotel is a great base to explore Chiang Mai’s many attractions ranging from famed temple Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep to the Chiang Mai Night Safari and novel Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park.”

View the full list of winners here: https://holidayswithkids.com.au/best-family-resorts-awards/ and the full list of the ‘Best Family Resorts in Thailand’ here: https://holidayswithkids.com.au/best-family-resorts-thailand/

To contact Meliá Chiang Mai or to make a booking, email reservation.chiangmai@melia.com, call +66 52 090 699 or visit https://www.melia.com/en/hotels/thailand/chiang-mai/melia-chiang-mai/index.htm

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The world’s first and largest luxury hotel brand, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, has officially re-opened InterContinental Bangkok, known as the city’s most iconic five-star luxury hotel located in the heart of Bangkok, after a multimillion-dollar renovation and spectacular makeover.

Located in Bangkok’s Central Business District directly adjacent to the BTS Chidlom Skytrain, InterContinental Bangkok is at walking distance to the capital’s main lifestyle shopping locations and major business addresses. For two decades, the hotel has been part of the city of angels’ landscape, and its recent multimillion-dollar renovation and an impressive makeover now positions the InterContinental Bangkok like never before, re-emerging as a modern grand hotel designed for contemporary living.

lobby

Stephen Gould, General Manager of InterContinental Bangkok said: “As part of IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Luxury and Lifestyle portfolio InterContinental Bangkok is one of Thailand’s most premium hotels. Welcoming guests back to the InterContinental Life marks a significant milestone for us. Over the course of our renovation, we have thoughtfully woven in a blend of modern sophistication and Thai heritage inspired by the traditions of Thai welcoming ceremonies backed by world-class service. Our elite network of concierges and colleagues combine local expertise and tradition with modernity to spark joy in our guests’ stay, creating truly exceptional experiences and moments that matter for our guests.”

Re-Introducing the InterContinental Life in Bangkok

The hotel re-emerges infused with artistic nods to the beauty of Bangkok’s magnificent palaces and cultural attractions as well as the city’s famous skyline, offering 381 all-new luxury guestrooms, including Club InterContinental rooms and a range of suites.

InterContinental Bangkok Oasis

Guests will experience a fresh aesthetic design at the newly renovated InterContinental Bangkok, inspired by Thailand’s humble culture and reputation as the “land of smiles.”

The lobby’s remarkable centrepiece, a chandelier inspired by the intricate Phuang Malai garland, elegantly welcomes guests with iconic Thai warmth and inspires guests to truly enjoy the InterContinental Life. Throughout the hotel, walls and ceilings showcase Thailand’s heritage and culture with traditional floating flowers and renowned Kranok patterns, which trace back to the Sukhothai Kingdom; while carefully placed modern abstract and local artisan artworks convey the spirit of the Thai welcoming ceremonies and immerse travellers in the country’s rich culture. Even the Grand Ballroom pays tribute to Thai traditions with a chandelier inspired by the elegant attire of traditional Thai dancers.

World-Class Dining

Humidor

Unique dining experiences will transport guests from west to east at InterContinental Bangkok’s seven dining and bar concepts teamed by some of the most highly skilled head chefs with Michelin-star restaurant leadership experiences.

• SoCal: the debut of the city’s first California-inspired restaurant which features over 50 California wine selections as well as a cuisine and mixology with a variety of fresh flavours, sustainable seasonal produce. Signature dishes include lobster tostada, grilled octopus, pork belly tacos, cioppino seafood stew and slow cooked lamb neck.
• Espresso: An authentic all-day dining with live cooking stations offering quality ingredients, inspired by the street markets of Bangkok where every meal is a journey and a well-travelled experience. 
• Fireplace Grill and Bar: Quality classic European dishes since 1966 such as perfectly grilled steaks and seafood, as well as finely crafted desserts. 
• Balcony Lounge: A sophisticated ambiance of light dining options, cool refreshments creative afternoon teas, and worldly cocktails made from the finest ingredients.
• Humidor: One of the city’s widest range of whiskies and cigars from around the world for all types of connoisseurs to appreciate.
• Summer Palace: Authentic Cantonese cuisine, exquisitely prepared dim sum and specialities of meals skilfully crafted by talented chefs in a live kitchen atmosphere.
• Butter: A speciality coffee menu, gourmet savouries, sandwiches and salads for eat-in or on the go with teas, coffees as well as patisseries, cakes and sweets.

Dominique Martinez, Food and Beverage Director of InterContinental Bangkok commented on the word-class dining offerings: “Guests should be prepared to indulge in a symphony of flavours as the InterContinental Bangkok reopens its doors. As the city’s iconic hotel, we are passionate about providing guests with a full sense of luxury, including a wide variety of gastronomic pleasures and experiences. Our locally and internationally inspired restaurant and bar concepts have something to offer to everyone, right in the heart of the city.”

Hotel facilities

InterContinental Bangkok Infinity Fitness

Guests have access to a wide range of facilities and on-site amenities, including:

• Oasis: A re-imagined rooftop pool delivering panoramic views of Bangkok’s skyline.
• Spa InterContinental: A full-service spa offering HARNN body treatments and Elemis facial treatments. A total of nine treatment rooms including three couple rooms and a traditional Thai massage room.
• Infinity Fitness: A 24-hour state-of-the-art fitness centre with an extensive team of private trainers.
• Meeting and Events: A variety of 19 function rooms, meeting and event spaces, including the Grand Ballroom which accommodates up to 1,000 guests. Onsite 4K LED screen: high-intensity LED lighting fixtures with advanced colour mixing technology, video streaming, conferencing, recording capabilities, satellite communications, mobile projection systems and centrally controlled LCD display screens.

Additionally, a full team of InterContinental colleagues, including the hotel concierge is available to support all guests’ needs and further enrichen their experience with in-depth knowledge and local insights.

InterContinental Bangkok Classic Room King

InterContinental Bangkok is part of the prestigious InterContinental brand, building on its longstanding heritage, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts continues to refine luxury hospitality and is poised to open more than 30 hotels in the next two years. Having recently celebrated its 75^th anniversary, InterContinental is continuing to evolve and redefine its ethos of discovery and modern luxury and this new hotel represents a perfect illustration of this evolution.

InterContinental Bangkok is one of 450 hotels in IHG’s luxury & lifestyle portfolio, one of the largest in the industry, and of the more than 6,000 hotels within the IHG One Rewards platform. Centered around guests, the best-in-class loyalty programme offers richer benefits at 18 leading hotel brands and more ways to be rewarded than ever before, all powered by leading technology on the new IHG One Rewards mobile app.

Room rates start from 9,000THB++ for a Classic Room and is available for stays from 1 June 2023. For reservations or enquiries, please visit intercontinental.com/bangkok email intercontinental.bkkhb@ihg.com  or call +66 2 6560444.

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One of Thailand’s most revered landscape architects, Wannaporn Pui Phornprapha, has declared her work at the new Hyatt Regency Koh Samui as one of her most “special” achievements.

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Wannaporn Pui Phornprapha has declared her work at the new Hyatt Regency Koh Samui as one of her most “special” achievements

Wannaporn, the managing director of Bangkok-based firm P Landscape (PLA), has steered numerous award-winning projects during her illustrious career. Under her lead, the landscape and design studio boasts a client portfolio that includes well-known developments including 137 Pillars House in Chiang Mai and the Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok.

Therefore, her ringing endorsement of the Hyatt Regency Koh Samui speaks volumes about her satisfaction at another job well done.

“Everything from the beginning was special,” she said. “The passion everyone poured into this project. I can’t say enough about how proud we are about Hyatt Regency Koh Samui.”

Sympathy with the existing nature of Koh Samui is a cornerstone of the landscape design at Hyatt Regency Koh Samui

A collaboration between three of Thailand’s biggest hotel design names — Office of Bangkok Architecture, August Design and P Landscape — the 140-room property occupies eight acres of private coastline in the far northeast corner of the paradise island. The beauty of Koh Samui is legendary. And the resort’s appeal leverages the visual appeal of the coastal landscape, a forest of protected trees and the proximity of the ocean.

Indeed, Wannaporn says that the dazzling scenery at the property was the first thing that struck her when she was enlisted by resort owner Ithichai Poolvaraluck to be a member of his design dream team.

P Landscape design director Sutisa Patanapanich played a leading role in bringing the landscape vision at the resort to life

“Our vision for Hyatt Regency Koh Samui started to come together after the initial site visit by a PLA team led by our design director Sutisa Patanapanich,” she said. “It really is a joint effort between us, the architecture team, the interior team and Khun Ithichai to convey this beautiful scenery into a unique experience that blends seamlessly with the guests’ lifestyle.”

Deploying a design-forward philosophy, the property, which is located in North Chaweng — and is less than ten minutes from the island’s international airport— bills itself as a “vacation gallery” due to its array of visual highlights.

These include a showpiece lobby, the longest lobby arrival point in Koh Samui, where numerous skylights allow for natural illumination by the sun and the moon. Other standout features span plush accommodations that showcase terrific ocean views to one of the largest pool zones on the island, where a series of pools cascade down from the main pool on the upper deck of the resort.

The latter feature is a particular source of pride for Wannaporn who singles it out as one of her favourite aspects of the resort.

“We are especially excited about the pool area,” she said. “Each terrace accommodates diverse types of guests and lifestyles. The top layer serves families with a kid’s pool adjacent to the main pool. The bottom layer near the beach is more colourful and reflects the party vibe at Sesun (the resort’s beach bar).

“The swirling of dark and light colour tiles mimics the gleaming effects of the waves reflecting off sunlight and the gradual change in tones resonates with the ever-changing colour of the ocean throughout the day.”

Sympathy with the existing nature of Koh Samui is a cornerstone of the landscape design at Hyatt Regency Koh Samui. Indeed, the resort incorporates around 80 native Yang Na trees (Dipterocarpus alatus) that were once used by sailors and fishermen as navigational landmarks. Wannaporn believes that such harmony with its surroundings bodes well for the resort.

“It is crucial to acknowledge that landscape and nature are not static, they are seasonal, temporal and dynamic,” she said. “Preservation of local trees gives this project a unique aesthetic that endures. At PLA we believe there  is nothing more sustainable than protecting the beauty that is meant to be there.”

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Giving alms to Bhikkhuni nuns

6am; the sun rose less than half an hour ago when, from a gate located in a small quiet street just off the main road, three shaved head figures, covered in saffron robes, looking peaceful, carrying a round metal bowl in their arms, come out in a single line walking towards the small village nearby.

It is a scene of everyday life here in Thailand, where every morning Buddhist monks venture out of their temples to go receive the food that people offer them, an act aimed at giving them sustenance as well as at acquiring merits to stock for the next life. Nothing particularly original then in an image repeated for centuries, day after day, in every country that embraces the Buddhist tradition.

A lady Bhikkhuni nun

Nothing original except that the three figures that left the Songdhammakalyani Temple, located a short drive from the city of Nakhon Pathom about sixty kilometers west of Bangkok, are actually Bhikkhuni (fully ordained Buddhist nuns – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhikkhuni). An extremely disciplined black dog walks in front of the nuns almost as if wanting to protect them, while behind walks a Brazilian nun from a different order in temporary visit to the temple, and a young Indian novice nun dressed in a white tunic and with long black hair tight to a tail who is booked to be ordained in a matter of days. She pushes a cart destined to collect the bulk of the offers.

The small procession proceeds silent, almost in meditation; the first rays of the sun gently pose on their orange tunics, illuminating them as if to give them a halo of spirituality; all around the nothingness. Empty streets where a scooter or a car occasionally pass and disturbs, with their noise, this early morning poetic scene. Then, in the near distance, suddenly a bit of entertainment: in front of a local shop, a couple of people are waiting. The Bhikkhunis approach the group, place themselves in front of the villagers who in the mean time have opened their containers, and wait that they fill their bowls with fresh food. More offerings are given to the monks, and the novice stores it neatly in the cart. The people kneel down hands-folded waiting for a blessing that soon comes in the form of singing, then the little procession continues their walk.

Bhikkhunis collecting alms

The scene is repeated several times, the containers increase their content, the cart is filled up; people kneel and the singing quietly raises towards the sky. For each offering, a smile lights up the Bhikkhunis’ faces, followed by a word of comfort to a man on his knees in spite of his handicap, encouragement and best wishes to a Chinese elderly with a wealthy appearance who donated a lot more than other people. In a few small word, is the local presence of these women who have sacrificed their femininity and their life to devote themselves to people and meditation.

The Venerable Dhammananda, founder of the temple’s daughter and present abbess, has a solar face and a friendly smile, and possesses the dedication of those who are accustomed to donate their time to others. In a short interview she tells us that the local population is very supportive towards the nuns, who have represented a very active presence in the area for more than one whole generation. They consider the temple as a reference point where to find comfort exactly in the same way as it happens for the males oriented temples.

We had already received confirmation of her words when the group had just returned from their morning alms and they were getting ready for their first of the two meals of the day (nuns, just like their male counterparts, can only eat two meals a day, and after midday only can take in liquids, though a light evening meal is allowed only for health reasons). At that time, the first devotees started arriving to the temple with more food, helped them to prepare meals, and only after having served lunch to the Bhikkhunis arranged in a row on one side of the refectory, sat down on the opposite side, chanted a prayer and ate their own food, washing all the dishes afterwards.

Meanwhile, other people continued to arrive and donated more food, this time for the midday meal, and attended a ceremony in memory of two women who had previously died.

Bhikkhunis’ lunch

There was an atmosphere of celebration and harmony which did manage to involve those who, like us, was just visiting, all in a frame that conveyed a sense of peace and spirituality. This in spite of the noise of the traffic that reached us, gradually louder and louder, from the main street adjacent to one side of the temple, as well as from the renovation works from the inside of the structure. This noise became mere background in that intense atmosphere that pervaded the intense activities of the temple.

The Songdhammakalyani temple this year celebrates 54 years of age if we calculate the birthdate from the date of purchase of the land that hosts it. It was founded by the venerable Voramai Kabilsingh, mother of the current abbess, a very interesting character considering that she was born in 1908. A writer, a poet, a teacher, married to a Thai member of parliament at the time of World War II, she lived for a short time in southern Thailand before moving back to Bangkok after the birth of her daughter. She started to get passionate about meditation, she then engaged in studies on Buddhism until, in 1955, she edited a Buddhist monthly journal that she would manage for 32 years. In 1956 she took the minor orders and 15 years later, in 1971, was ordained a Bhikkhuni, or nun, in Taiwan, when Thailand did not yet recognized the ordination of a woman. It was in 1960 that she purchased the land on which the temple would be later built. Nakhon Pathom was chosen as the location not by chance: this city is considered the gateway to the Theravada Buddhism in Thailand; Voramai wanted to give continuity to the tradition of the cradle of Buddhism in this province with the building of the first temple of the feminine realm.

Bhikkhunis at the temple

Her life also has some picturesque implications that complete the portrait of a person that I can only describe as extremely fascinating: in 1972, at the tender age of 64, she was the only female scout to travel by bicycle to Singapore in a trip that took 29 days, setting an unsurpassed record. What we do not find in the biographies we can only imagine: a life of dedication to what she believed in, spent drawing inspiration from the Buddha teachings, devoted to meditation, to others, and to the building of that project so utopian in other monotheistic religions, one that led the women to a monastic level equal to that of men.

The venerable Voramai Kabilsingh, known before as Bhiksuni in the Kingdom of Thailand, died in June 2003 at the age of 95; her binding legacy was picked up by her daughter, whom we had the pleasure and honour to meet during a morning spent to deepen our knowledge on a reality still little known, between visits and ceremonies. She now has the difficult task of educating a group of quality Bhikkhuni nuns, as she calls them.

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