A streaming success

It’s more expensive, more crowded. But Thailand has upped its game. And along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya, the good life is getting its starry due

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The Four Seasons hotel in Bangkok (top and bottom inset) is situated on the banks of the Chao Phraya river. Thomas and Mathias Suhring's restaurant, Suhring, recently won three Michelin stars (inset, below). There's no shortage of tourist arrivals at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport (bottom left). FOUR SEASONS HOTEL BANGKOK, INSTAGRAM/@RESTAURANT_SUHRING

Sometimes, I think of the rupee as an old friend you could once count on, but who has now fallen on such hard times that you wonder if there is any recovery in sight.

When I first started going to Bangkok in the late 1980s, the rupee was worth nearly two Thai baht. This made Bangkok incredible value, and hotels and restaurants seemed ridiculously inexpensive. Since then, alas, the rupee has slipped into terminal decline, and when I visited last week, I realised to my horror that you now need nearly three rupees to buy a single baht.

This has deterred some visitors. Vietnam, which is much cheaper, has become a new favourite for Indians, and good hotels in Malaysia are cheaper and better value than their counterparts in Thailand.

It hasn’t affected the Thais, of course. The world is rushing to Thailand, and every winter brings the same kind of crowds. Hotels up their rates and immigration queues at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport are so long that they spill out of the arrivals hall and into the corridors. Tourism is at such high levels that the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which once used to encourage Indians to visit, now sits back and does very little; because it doesn’t need to. Flights and hotels are full, anyway.

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