Paul and Reisa George told us many, many years ago about the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. They raved about it and of course Ken and I had to try it. Now called the Mandarin Oriental, the hotel has ranked in the top lists of hotels in the world in just about every travel and lodging list there is.

If there is a better place to stay, I’d love to find it.

Ken and I have fallen in love with this place and now Kelly is a raving fan, too! We have stayed here on every visit — except for once when the Peninsula hotel was brand new and was offering some crazy cheap rates. Ken will be sure to tell you that the phones were so new they rang all night long. We haven’t been back to the Peninsula.

Why is this hotel number one?

It starts when you walk in the door. The doorman bows to you and offers you a flower as he escorts you to your greeter.

You don’t check in at a counter. A beautiful lady in a pink Thai silk suit takes you directly to your room and fills out all the necessary paper work for you. She shows you around your room and introduces you to your butler.

Every floor has its own bulter, who brings you a welc0me drink and asks if you would like him to unpack for you. I’ve never had the nerve to ask him to unpack for me, but how decadent is it to be asked?

The rooms are not large but elegantly decorated with Thai silks, of course. Every detail of the room and bathroom is carefully designed. Oh, how I love a good design! The hallway to the room has a knee-high shelf that is roomy enough to open two large suitcases. There is a compartment to put your shoes at night so they will be shined in the morning and another compartment where a newspaper is delivered to you every morning.

There are orchids everywhere. On the desk (which has lots of plugs for your electronics), in the entranceway, by your bed and in the bathroom.

Every day you get a different fresh fruit with a little card explaining what the fruit is (sometimes exotic), plates, forks, knives and napkins.

When you leave your room, the butler rushes to the elevator to push the button for you! Whew.

There is ice in your ice bucket all the time. Fresh. Perfect and never melted.

Lights are easily controlled from your beside. There is even a night light so you don’t trip when you are getting up in the middle of the night.

One wall of your room is glass from ceiling to floor so you can see the incredible view of the Chao Phraya river below.

Everyone smiles and asks you how your day is. And they are sincere and happy to see you!

If you have laundry done, it comes back looking better than when you bought it. Here’s the beautiful box, lined with linen with your clothes.

When you use the pool, you have your own little cabana. The pool attendant brings you a cool cloth, fresh towels, ice water and mango sushi to refresh you.

It is a bit of a splurge to stay here, but not crazy expensive. On this trip, I rationalized by saying, “this could be my last time in Thailand and Kelly needs to stay here at least once.”

Besides this wonderful hotel, the people here are the sweetest and kindest anywhere. They smile, bow and are all around happy and accommodating. Taxies are much less expensive than in Tokyo and pretty much everything else is less expensive than Japan.

The food is incredible, beautifully presented and flavorful beyond description.

And of course the shopping is world class. Suffice to say we bought a new suitcase to take home our treasures.