Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group extended a warm welcome to key Australian media, including LATTE, at an intimate sit-down dinner held at the renowned Quay restaurant on Monday evening.

Thailand’s major river, the 372-kilometre Chao Phraya, flows through Bangkok and on to the Gulf of Thailand. There will be new hotels springing up along the east bank of the river in Bangkok, namely Steigenberger, between Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and Shangri-La Bangkok and, only a little further south, Capella Bangkok and, in the same complex, Four Seasons Bangkok (all these future hotels are much more convenient than the further-out The Siam, which was so glorious in the days when it was run by the charismatic Jason Friedman).

River Café always fascinates me. It has a gorgeous outdoor terrace, ideal for watching evening processions of gaudy tourist boats, each more luridly lit than the last, serving set dinners as they ply up and down the river.