En route to Bangkok

Bangkok airport.

The soundtrack: Terry Oldfield on the chimes and meditation bowl, churning out a Healing Sounds journey – to get that pre-Bhutan Buddhist feelin’.

The book: Norman Lewis’s ‘The World, The World’ – going old school, back to my early love, where travel writing all began.

The scene: it’s like a cheerful cocktail party around me, with Campari and Singha beer going down with handfuls of salty nuts.

The airline: Thai Airways – thank goodness, the attendants don’t look like overplayed drag queens and neither are they so beautiful that it turns me into Insta-Frump.

The destination: Bangkok and the Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport – “try the breakfast buffet, try the pool, try the beds!” urges the hotel’s PR, Cyn Dammerer. With less 10 hours on the ground (thanks to a 6.50am onward flight to Paro), I’ll see what I can do, Cyn.