Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort & Spa
From the Chao Phraya River, a maze of klongs (canals) branch off across the Thai capital, leading to traditional wooden villages stilted over the water, floating market gardens, and off-the-grid temples. Leading Anantara’s Klong Guru tours is Visanu Kidkarn, who grew up in a canal home and now takes guests on four-hour longtail-boat tours of Bangkok’s little-known waterways, to eateries and attractions that only locals go to. A lunch of Thai street-food specialties is enjoyed at The Artist’s House, a hard-to-find canalside gallery where guests can also participate in handicraft classes and watch traditional puppet shows (weekends only, from US$65 per person).

This article originally appeared in the April/May 2014 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“The Inside Scoop”).