With all the partisan bickering in Washington, D.C. these days, you have to ask: Can't we all just get along? Well, one chef is forcing politicos to do just that, over the dinner hour at least. Behold Little Serow, a new family-style restaurant from star chef Jonny Monis of Komi.

The spare, mint-colored dining room includes communal seating and a set seven-course menu of shareable plates. The northern Thai dishes might include deep-fried pork skins with green chile sauce or sausages with Kaffir lime and basil. Everything about the place is done in a spirit of equality, from the seating policy (first come, first served) to the china (fashioned to look like paper plates) to the price tag (a cool $45 for the prix fixe). Democracy never tasted so good.

Photo: Courtesy of Dakota Fine for Brightestyoungthings.com

Edgy movies served on the rocks? That's what's on the menu this December at luxury Thai hideaway Six Senses Yao Noi's inaugural film festival, curated by indie darling Tilda Swinton and writer/director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, winner of the 2010 Palme d'Or.

Movies by emerging filmmakers will be screened at night among the limestone cliffs of dramatic Phang Nga Bay. And if the stars overhead aren't enough for you, Swinton and Weerasethakul will be joined by art and fashion-world luminaries such as Waris Ahluwalia, Jefferson Hack, and Olympia Le-Tan. Book one of the 56 villas with private pools, fresh from a refurb, and prepare to bask in the glow.

Film on the Rocks at Six Senses Yao Noi, December 16-20, 2011

Photo: Courtesy of Basil Childers

 
Lots of hotels try to up the luxury ante with amenities you never knew you needed, but the decadence of having a private place to float and chill still tops our list of favorite perks. And few hotels do plunge pools with as much style as the new Casa de La Flora in mellow little Khao Lak, Thailand.

Each of the property's 36 cubelike villas opens onto a private ebony-bottomed plunge pool, obscured from view by lush hedges or stone walls. The angular structures, with minimal mod interiors and Apple in-room technology, pay homage to midcentury Brutalist architecture. But we fail to see anything brutal in those floor-to-ceiling Andaman Sea views.

Photo: Courtesy of Design Hotels

Now that air travel has officially lost its glamour, we've found ourselves romanticizing its predecessor, the train. Thankfully, the fine folks at Orient-Express have kept railway luxury alive, with burnished cherry interiors, crystal and china in the dining cars, and fawning butlers.

Starting this month, the company is bringing that vintage opulence to Thailand. On this week-long trip, you'll glide past rice paddies, hill villages, and Buddhist temples, and stop to track elephants in Khao Yai National Park, sample local wines, or shop for silks in Chiang Mai. End each day with martinis in the bar car, watching the sun set over the lush jungle landscape. That's what we call a moving view.

Orient-Express Epic Thailand departs on February 20 and October 30, 2011.