We convene early, before the day’s humidity has fully taken hold, and set off on bicycles to explore the maze of streets surrounding the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok. Everywhere, the air is fragrant with incense and flowers as the city's inhabitants celebrate the Makha Bucha religious holiday before that night's full moon.

We pedal along alleyways barely wide enough for our handlebars – weaving around stray kittens, past hole-in-the-wall food vendors serving banana pancakes – and cut across a loud street lined with jewellers, silk merchants and cafes.