My list of unique eating places

A chance question on Facebook recently asking about my favourite restaurant got me thinking - do I have a favourite eating place? On reflection I realised I don't as there are too many to choose from. There are many restaurants I've enjoyed for different reasons, depending on whether I was looking for relaxation, luxury or a fantastic view. So here are some of my favourites:

• Most 'desert island' - during one of my trips to the Maldives in 2005 I stayed on board the Four Seasons Explorer. One evening we were taken to a deserted island where the crew dug seating into the sand. When we arrived back on the ship later the remaining crew members played us music on local instruments. A truly magical evening.

• Most 'spiritual' - when we lived in South Korea we spent a weekend in a Buddhist temple, and on another occasion we also participated in a day of temple food cooking. Korean temple cuisine is vegetarian and generally avoids garlic, onions, leeks, wild chives or shallots due to their pungency.

Eating temple food at Gilsangsa, Seoul

• Most 'axis of evil' - any of the meals I had while visiting North Korea!

one of the dinners I had in North Korea

one of my lunches in North Korea

• Most northerly - lunch in the Icelandic town of Akureyri which is 65°N. We had spent the day diving in the nearby fjord.

• Highest altitude (on land) - any of the meals we had in Tibet which has an average elevation exceeding 4,500 metres (14,800 ft).

• Most 'chillax' - at a hammock restaurant in Cambodia somewhere on the road between Tonle Sap and Siem Reap.

hammock restaurant near Tonle Sap, Cambodia

• Highest above ground - in April 2011 we were lucky enough to spend two nights in what was then the world's tallest hotel above ground - the Shanghai Park Hyatt. Our room was on the 81st floor and meals were in the restaurants on the 87th and 91st floors - almost 400 metres above ground.

• Highest on a building roof - in 2009 we were in Bangkok on my birthday and to celebrate we had dinner at the open-air Vertigo restaurant of the Banyan Tree Hotel, located on the hotel's 61st floor.

a vertigo-inducing dinner?

• Favourite dessert - at the Bistrot de la Porte des Lilas here in Reunion Island they have my all-time favourite dessert: discs of chocolate interspersed with raspberries and fresh cream :-)

my favourite dessert

What about you? Do you have any unique eating places to share?

Birthday in Bangkok

We spent four days in Bangkok at the end of June because of my husband's work, and this trip coincided with my birthday.

I started exploring the city while he was working. First stop was Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson was an American former CIA operative who spent 22 years in Thailand rebuilding the silk industry, before mysteriously disappearing in the Cameron Highlands in 1967. His house has now been turned into a museum.

in the garden, Jim Thompson house

The house is beautifully and tastefully decorated.

On the night of my birthday we had dinner at the Banyan Tree hotel at their open air Vertigo restaurant on the 61st floor.

view from Vertigo

The next day my husband wasn't working, and we took the Chao Phraya express boat along the river of the same name:

Next we visited the spectacular Grand Palace. This has to be one of the most richly decorated royal palaces I've even seen.

The statues of mythological giants are known as yaksha.

The nearby Wat Pho temple houses Thailand's largest reclining Buddha :

The Giant Swing, known as Sao Ching Cha in Thai, is a religious structure originally constructed in 18th century.

Giant Swing, near Wat Suthat temple

candles on sale

Democracy monument

Lastly, to head back to our hotel we took one of the river taxis that ply the klorng (canals) of Bangkok. They go very fast and don't stop for very long, so you have to be ready to jump out or in as soon as they do stop.

In a four day visit we could only scratch the surface of Bangkok, but it gave us a good first-time view of the city, and we'd love to go back some time soon.  In any case, it was very different to our following trip, only a few days after we'd got back to Seoul : the Trans-Siberian train across Russia.

If you enjoyed this post you might also like:

• Thailand - the Andaman Coast - our second trip to Thailand

Suggested reading:

• Lonely Planet Thailand (Country Travel Guide)
• Bangkok: Lonely Planet Citiescape (Lonely Planet Citiescape Bangkok)