text: [{"text_idx": "#000011", "text": "Aranyaprathet to BangkokAranyaprathet to Nakhon Sawan"}, {"text_idx": "#000036", "text": "Nakhon Pathom to Hua Hin"}, {"text_idx": "#000041", "text": "Nan to BangkokNan to Chiang Mai"}, {"text_idx": "#000042", "text": "Nong Bua Lamphu to Bangkok"}, {"text_idx": "#000046", "text": "Phrae to BangkokPhrae to Chiang Mai"}, {"text_idx": "#000048", "text": "Ranong to BangkokRanong to Phuket"}, {"text_idx": "#000057", "text": "Trang to BangkokTrang to Phuket"}, {"text_idx": "#000077", "text": "Koh Yao Yai to Langkawi"}, {"text_idx": "#000079", "text": "Pak Bara Pier to Koh Lipe"}, {"text_idx": "#000080", "text": "Pattaya to Hua Hin Ferry"}, {"text_idx": "#000089", "text": "Nakhon Si Thammarat to Bangkok"}, {"text_idx": "#000091", "text": "Phitsanulok to BangkokPhitsanulok to Chiang Mai"}, {"text_idx": "#000092", "text": "Prachuap Khiri Khan to Bangkok"}, {"text_idx": "#000094", "text": "Trang to BangkokTrang to Hua Hin"}, {"text_idx": "#000102", "text": "Hua Hin to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)"}, {"text_idx": "#000112", "text": "Singapore Airlines and Bangkok Airways operate direct flights from Koh Samui to Singapore. You can also travel by ferry, then bus or train, from Koh Samui to Singapore but the journey will take you two days."}, {"text_idx": "#000114", "text": "Click on the Koh Samui \u2013 Singapore link in the timetable below for more information and to buy tickets."}, {"text_idx": "#000117", "text": "About the Raffles Hotel in Singapore"}, {"text_idx": "#000118", "text": "The Raffles Hotel in Singapore is one of the world\u2019s most famous hotels and the building was declared a National Monument by the Government of Singapore in 1987. The Raffles Hotel opened in 1887 as a ten room hotel on the site of an existing hotel, the Emerson\u2019s Hotel, which was created by converting a private beach house built in the 1830s. The entrepreneurs behind the creation of the iconic Raffles Hotel were the Sarkies Brothers, who were Iranian nationals who also established the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang and the Strand Hotel in Yangon. Unfortunately, by the early 1930s the three Sarkies Brothers, pioneers in developing South East Asia\u2019s earliest luxury hotels, has gone bankrupt and the ownership of Raffles Hotels has subsequently changed hands more than a few times since and is currently owned by Accor Hotels Group."}, {"text_idx": "#000119", "text": "Being part of a hotel chain, and before that owned by a middle eastern sovereign fund, has not meant that hotel has been turned into a bland facsimile of its former self. Quite the opposite in fact. The Raffles Hotels has undergone three phases of renovation, the most recent one due to be completed in August 2019 has restored many of the original features of the hotel, including returning the famous Long Bar to its original position in the main hotel building. The Raffles Hotel is a great place to stay and an architectural record of Singapore\u2019s history over the last century, particularly the period when it was a British colony and briefly under Japanese occupation."}]