What 11003 DialAFlight clients thought of Asia

Fantastic service from Elliott from start to finish. Would definitely book with you again in the future

The staff at DialAFlight are always helpful and supportive

Excellent customer support and great recommendations for restaurants at my resort

Good service all the way

Brilliant trip - superbly organised. Great value for money. Ticked all our boxes. Highly recommend.

Excellent service from start to finish and the aftersales is second to none. I have used them for a number of years and can't find a better service and value for money provider

Thanks for providing up to date information

Very good professional service.

Your service with Warren is simply fantastic. Just a shame that Heathrow is a disgrace. Thank you for your great service. We had an awesome holiday.

Excellent service - great app and all backed with the security and comfort of a direct number to call in case of any emergency while away

We would like to thank Stacey - a big thank you again for another great holiday

Jonathan never lets us down with our trips, excellent service, thanks again

Shelley Dimes is a superstar. My trip was organised to perfection and could not be more pleased with her help, advice and planning

Marshall as always was fantastic dealing with my family's booking. On this occasion the Emirates flight from Bangkok to Dubai was less than satisfactory but that is no reflection on DialAFlight's masterful booking admin

Spencer Ormerod was brilliant and kept us informed throughout the booking process.

Marshall is always on the ball. Looks after his customers very well.

Alan is brilliant. I have been booking through him for over 5 years and I love having someone to talk to at the other end of the phone.

Zoe delivers as always!

Fabulous company - efficient and highly professional

Will use DialAFlight again.

Tristan Chatburn was extremely helpful and professional. Highly recommended

This was the best holiday ever - thank you for everyone who helped us.

Calvin is always there for my travel plans, he is great!

Oliver and the other members of the team were really helpful and accommodating. They were very informative about the country we were travelling to. If I was unable to speak to Oliver someone else was ready to step in and deal with me

Callum was extremely helpful and efficient in every way. I will definitely be booking future holidays with him

Everyone very helpful, can’t wait for my next flight

Excellent trip both ways. We were worried about having to wait until a day later for our connecting flights but The Novotel Hotel at Bangkok Airport was a super experience. The free shuttle on both occasions took us directly to the booking hall for the airline we had to book with, so no problems at all.

Thanks for your all your support. Your service is the best.

Good service all round.

Will definitely use again and recommend. Excellent dialogue with Charlie Miles - it wasn't just a case of taking the money and that was it. He kept me informed throughout, well done..5 star service

Colourful Bangkok

A taste for Bangkok

Bangkok is more than just a stopover, as Isabelle King discovers on a culinary tour...

Bangkok is known as a stopover – somewhere to spend a few hedonistic hours before going on to the coast. Well, that may have been true 20 years ago. Now it's a place to linger.

Zoom up Silom road - through the commercial district - towards the shopping centres of Siam Square to see how the city has flourished.

The Skytrain monorail moves silently overhead. Designer labels abound. The shiny Siam Paragon shopping centre has a car park just for supercars.

Then there's Asiatique, a bustling night market of 1,500 shops on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.

Handicrafts and trinkets sit alongside fashion boutiques and gadgets and nothing closes before midnight. If you are laden with goodies, as I am, a fleet of tuk-tuks is waiting outside.

Racing away, we fly over holes in the road. A dramatic swerve and a loud judder tell me we've arrived back at the swanky Mandarin Oriental. They've seen it all here.

From writer Somerset Maugham, bedridden with malaria, to Mick Jagger insisting the windows in the royal suite be blacked out and Billy Idol wrecking his room completely.

Dining on the riverfront at the Mandarin Oriental

Celebs aside, the hotel has a cooking school and I take a class with chef Narain. A kaleidoscope of ingredients is laid out before us. Those we know: ginger, lime leaves; fish sauce, lemongrass. And those we don't, the tiny butterfly pea – a flower from which a brilliant blue dye can be used to colour desserts.

We watch, ask questions and taste. Then attempt Siamese baked desserts (small, dome-shaped pancakes); braised pork; fiery tom yum soup and a salad of grapefruit-like pomelo.

I slice, chop, juice and pummel. Chef Narain chats away. Chillies, it turns out, are a matchmaking tool. 'Mothers looking for a suitable wife for their sons spy on the neighbour's daughters to assess the speed with which they grind the spice,' he laughs. 'The faster the grinding, the better wife she will make.'

Food is a big deal in Bangkok. Take the Skytrain to Thong Lor and Sukhumvit Soi 38, a line of steamy, noisy, kitchens-on-wheels. There can be no better initiation to Thai street food.

Grab a wobbly table and gobble sticky rice with mango, curries, pad Thai, squid and duck. Delicious.

First published in the Daily Mail - June 2016

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