All aboard! After a three-hour transfer from Bangkok to Pak Chong in Thailand’s north,I arrive at the check-in counter of InterContinental’s Khao Yai Resort,which opened in August 2022. A refreshing chai-spiced drink greets me at reception,which is decorated like a train station ticket office and features an assortment of vintage railway memorabilia,including a rescued locomotive control box from a disused train. After collecting my ticket (room key),a golf buggy whisks me and my luggage alongside a railway track to my room.
The look
Designed by award-winning architect and interior designer Bill Bensley,the new hotel is a love-letter to north-eastern Thailand’s railway history,when King Rama V laid the first train tracks in 1891 and opened the region to travel and trade. Striking locomotive architecture runs strong throughout the main building’s 45 rooms,which are designed to look like art deco-styled train carriages,however the star attractions are the 16 luxury suites upcycled from real train cars,including the one my golf buggy pulls up at.
The room