Originally Posted by Pausanias

Carrying on with my line of thought, the exemplar is Phuket. We first went there in 1984 when there were very few hotels. We stayed at the Pansea Resort which looked a bit like David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai or Tarzan's camp. It was all bamboo walkways, bamboo rooms, rickety, immensely characterful. Our room in the trees creaked all the time and there were lots of insects eating the room and wanting to take a shower with you. It was wonderful. And then there was the food. Down on that great beach was a bunch of kids who grilled lobsters and giant prawns. They would take a live lobster, split it in two, throw it on the fire and slather it with garlic or chilli butter. A salad and fries were added. All for about £1. Plus £25 for a bottle of Chablis. I don't care what ***Michelin restaurant you've been to, that was the best restaurant in the world.

We went back the next year and it was still great. We would take long walks through a big palm plantation on the headland. A few years later all that was swept away for Amanpuri. That hotel changed the luxury hotel scene across the world. We stayed there a couple of times and looked wistfully down to the old Pansea and wondered which was better. You know the answer.