The St Regis hotels all have unique versions of the Bloody Mary, possibly created by Fernand Petiot at one of Ernest Hemingway’s favourite Paris bars, the New York Bar, in 1921. At The St Regis Bangkok, for instance, Siam Mary, served in a silver tankard, is vodka and tomato juice with the addition of lime, coriander, Thai chilli, and wasabi—drink one while admiring the nightly 7 pm sabrage of a bottle of Moët. Stay overnight on the 44th floor in the 800-square-metre Owner’s Residence, which has three bedrooms and sensational art.

The St Regis Bangkok is owned by Bill Heinecke, and he brought in that man of all talents, Bill Bensley, to design the hotel gardens. Floribunda and animals feature in many of Bensley’s paintings, and the best collection is displayed in the studio at his Bangkok home, Baan Botanica, which can be visited by appointment. Others are hung in hotels he has designed, and gardens, too.

And here’s an opportunity, Robb Report Hong Kong followers. Bill Bensley is personally leading a once-in-a-lifetime trip, taking in some of those properties. His Art Trail expedition kicks off at the InterContinental Khao Yai Resort, which somewhat crazily incorporates heritage rail carriages that were rescued—with intrusive undergrowth intact—from the jungle.

From there, the group travels to Rosewood Luang Prabang and Shinta Mani Angkor and Bensley Collection Pool Villas in Siem Reap. Follow this with Shinta Mani Wild, a Bensley Collection tented camp, and finish with a gala dinner and overnight on the banks of the Chao Phraya river at The Siam Bangkok.

Starting on 28 November and running till 10 December, the tour is limited to just 12 bedrooms at single or double occupancy. For each booking, a US$10,000 donation is given to the Shinta Mani Foundation to provide 32 full scholarships for hospitality students at the Shinta Mani Foundation’s Hospitality School.

Any glam event could be the ideal occasion to trip along with a Bulgari Serpenti Forever bag. Bulgari jewellery often features heads and intertwined bodies of the snake in a way that’s synonymous with metamorphosis, but these handled, patterned calf-leather handbags are new and gorgeous (slink out, Hermès et al). The LVMH-owned brand is working with three designers, two designs each, all six with snakehead clasps. Sophie Kitching and Sunwoo Kim both do Night and Day bags in different colour ways for Kitching’s flowers and Kim’s birds.

Dreamy abstract artist Zhou Li did bags with geometric brass handles to celebrate Forest and Ocean. All could well be a worthwhile investment. Keep all packaging and purchase paperwork and ideally store the bags professionally, taking them out briefly for such red-carpet events as MGM x RR1 Culinary Masters Macau at MGM Cotai.