The Journal
Notes from Bangkok.
Etiquette, planning notes and inside knowledge — written by Lara for the people who hire her. Read these before you brief us.
Closing the deal in Bangkok: 4 private dining rooms and the cigar lounge
Bangkok closes more cross-border deals than any other Southeast Asian capital, and almost none of them close in an office. Here's the room-by-room playbook.
Buriram and Marina Bay: the F1 weekend without queuing for anything
The Singapore Grand Prix and Thailand's Buriram round are 90 minutes apart by private jet. Here's how a small group of regulars treats them as a single five-day swing.
The 48-hour Bangkok weekender: Friday flight in, Monday boardroom
How a senior partner from Singapore turns a Friday-night arrival into a Monday-morning meeting that closes the deal — without the Sunday redeye regret.
A long weekend on a Phang Nga yacht: seaplane in, no marina at all
Most yacht charters in Thailand start with a two-hour drive to the marina. The good ones start with a 25-minute seaplane and end at a deck dinner under the Andaman stars.
Birthday in a Bangkok villa: the dinner-party rules I steal from Geneva
How to throw a 40th, 50th, or 60th in a private Bangkok villa that feels like a Swiss country house, with a guest list of eight and a chef's-table dinner that runs until 2am.
Hua Hin off-season: why May to October is actually the better window
The case for May-October in Hua Hin: half the rainfall of the Andaman, two short afternoon storms, a third off the rate, and a town that finally feels like itself — from Lara.
The drive to Hua Hin, and the first night nobody plans properly
The Bangkok-to-Hua Hin route, the only stop worth making, and why the first evening in town is the one most guests waste — a quiet primer from Lara.
A long weekend in Hua Hin, planned for a couple who've already done Phuket
The slower, more domestic Thailand — vineyard lunches, the night market with a host, the beach the locals actually use, dinner in a restored teak house.
Koh Samui vs Pha Ngan and Tao: when the smaller island is the call
An honest comparison of Samui, Pha Ngan and Tao — which island fits a leadership offsite, which fits a slow recovery week, which fits a stag.
Why Hua Hin is the offsite location no one in Singapore has thought of
The case for Hua Hin over the Phuket-or-Bali default — three hours from Bangkok, royal-grade discretion, the right villa stock for 8–14 person leadership offsites.
Three days on Koh Samui that don't involve a single beach club
The other Samui — inland waterfalls, fishermen's villages, a chef's table in a private home above Lipa Noi. For guests who've already done the islands.
Bangkok in 72 hours, the way we'd plan it for a friend
An honest three-day Bangkok itinerary — what's worth the queue, what to skip, and the rhythm the city actually rewards.
Phuket without the tourist trail — the west coast we actually book
Why we steer guests away from Patong and toward the Kamala–Surin–Layan corridor: which villas, which beaches, which restaurants survive scrutiny.
Choosing a Phuket villa: the seven questions we ask before we recommend one
The diligence behind a Phuket villa shortlist — staffing ratios, sound carry, kitchen capacity, sightlines. The honest checklist most agents skip.
The five Bangkok neighbourhoods we send guests to — and the three we don't
An honest map of where to base a Bangkok stay — Thonglor, Sathorn, Riverside, Ari, Charoenkrung — and the three areas we quietly avoid for our guests.
A Lara villa weekend, hour by hour
What a Friday-to-Sunday inside a private Thonglor villa actually looks like when Lara plans it — arrivals, the chef, the pool, the cars, the quiet bits.
Five mistakes that ruin a Bangkok stag
After a hundred stag weekends we know exactly where they go wrong. Here are the five mistakes we see most — and the small decisions that prevent each one.
Bangkok vs Singapore for an executive offsite
Singapore is the obvious choice. Bangkok is the better one — for the right team, the right week, and the right reasons. An honest comparison.
How we book the 6 Bangkok tables nobody else can
Three of Bangkok's best rooms don't take reservations from the public. Here is how we get a table — and why the answer is much less glamorous than it sounds.
On discretion in Bangkok: what the network means and what it doesn't
Discretion gets used as a marketing word. We mean something specific by it. Here is what discretion looks like in practice — and what it never includes.
The Bangkok lunch map for visiting principals
Where to take a senior guest for lunch in Bangkok depends entirely on what the lunch is for. A practical guide to the city, organised by intent rather than cuisine.
Bangkok after midnight: the rooms worth knowing
Most of the Bangkok worth seeing after midnight isn't on a guide. A discreet survey of the rooms we'd send a guest to, and the kind of evening each one carries.
On discretion in Bangkok: what we will and won't put in writing
Discretion is a working practice, not a marketing line. The specific rules we follow, internally, about what we document and what we never do.
Anatomy of a Bangkok VIP night: 7 movements from collection to last car
A complete VIP evening in Bangkok runs on choreography, not improvisation. The seven movements that turn a single night into one the guest remembers for years.
Choosing between Phuket and Samui for a small leadership group
Both islands have great villas. They are not, however, the same offsite. The honest comparison we give clients before they commit.
The 4-day executive offsite in Phuket as a working tool, not a reward
The best leadership offsites we host don't feel like rewards. They feel like the cleanest three days of work the team has done all year. The shape that makes that possible.
Why most stag weekends fail on day two — and how to fix it
Day one of a stag is easy. Day three is recovery. Day two is where the weekend is won or lost — and where almost every group makes the same three mistakes.
The 48-hour stag: what to keep, what to cut
Two nights is the most common stag length we run, and the hardest to get right. The ruthless edit that makes a 48-hour weekend feel like a real one.
Stag planning without the cliché: a Bangkok template
The stag weekends that are actually remembered are the ones the groom would happily have his wife hear about. The principles we use to plan them.
What 'private pool' really means in a Phuket west-coast villa
Every villa listing in Thailand says 'private pool.' Almost none of them mean the same thing. A short, honest guide to what to ask before you book.
Designing a villa menu the chef will actually enjoy cooking
A private chef in your villa is only as good as the brief you give. The simple, slightly counter-intuitive rules we use to make sure the food is the night's headline.
The quiet weekend: how a villa stay actually unfolds
What two nights in a private villa really look like — from the airport pickup to the second morning's coffee. The shape of a weekend that earns its name.