Sawadeeka!
Last week, i visited the Land of Smiles again!
It was a very impromptu trip and thus, we had quite little time to decide on which hotels we wanted to stay at and to plan our itinerary. However, because we were only visiting for 4 days, planning the itinerary was a breeze as I have visited Bangkok many times. My main aim was to shop and of course eat! I super love Thai food!
Bangkok has many many many hotels and sometimes when I see so many choices, i get very confused. For me, location is of utmost importance.
1) The hotel has to be situated in a place near the shopping and sight seeing areas. Having a BTS/MRT station nearby is a bonus because Bangkok's traffic jam can be really terrible and being on a holiday, you won't want to waste too much time in a taxi (and this situation is highly possible when in Bangkok).
2) Must have many restaurants/road side stalls selling street food within walking distance and opens till LATE because my mouth forever itchy and I get hungry almost every hour. So supper is very important to me!
3) Also must have massage parlours around the area so that the last thing I do before heading back to the hotel rest is a good foot or body massage.
But the thing is... Bangkok has many areas which I don't mind staying at... headache again.
Siam is a good location to stay cuz I love shopping around the night markets there.
Pratunum is good too because my favourite shopping mall Platinum Mall is there. Pratunum has many things to eat as well.
Silom is also good, it's very accessible to places of interest and near Patpong.
HOW TO CHOOSE????
One more thing I was worried about was that many of the hotels i shortlisted was already fully booked because my trip was so last minute.
After searching for a few hours, I came across PYOTravel (stands for Plan Your Own) and they actually had vacancies for some of the hotels i shortlisted!!! I was delighted and went straight away to book through this god-sent travel agency!!!
Booking hotels via PYOTravel was a breeze, I did it in less than 15 minutes with simply the click of the mouse. (I booked 2 hotels at 2 different locations because I really couldn't make up my mind). Their user friendly interface enables users to search and compare hotel and prices of holiday packages within a screen and this actually saved me a lot of time (I have limited time, lol)
What's more, they do not charge any booking fees and there are no hidden charges as well as credit card charges. I find this very attractive because many other booking agencies hide their final prices and you will ony get to see all the additional booking charges at the end of the booking process and I think this is totally wasting people's time.
So my final decision was to stay at I-Residence Silom and Eastin Makkasan.
I-Residence Silom Hotel
I-Residence is a boutique hotel situated just across Chong Nonsi BTS. It is very convenient taking the BTS around Bangkok, I could get to Siam and National Stadium (MBK) in less than 15 minutes. Patpong is very nearby too. AND THERE IS NARAYA at Patpong!!! This hotel is very reasonably priced, very affordable and value for money.
Was greeted by the very friendly front desk staff. Their lobby is lighted up by purple flourescents, very chic and modern.
My room was on the 8th level and to my surprise, IT WAS SO SPACIOUS! This is their Grand Deluxe Room. Can you see in my picture how spacious it is?
Toilet was also rather spacious with bath tub and complete toiletries.
Everything was in perfect order and rooms were very clean too. Their breakfast was also delicious, staff speaks good English and were very efficient, when I asked them for extra pillows, they appeared at my doorstep in less than 5 minutes!
And i must mention that i had one of the BEST tomyum soup in Bangkok at one of the stalls steps away from the I-Residence hotel. It was spicy enough and sour enough!! It's a very humble hawker that has seatings inside. You won't miss it, it's less than 50m from the hotel along the main road.
Interested in staying at I-Residence? You can book it here: http://bit.ly/1qosFIA
EASTIN MAKKASAN
The next hotel i stayed at in Bangkok was Eastin Makkasan located right smack at Pratunum. Pratunum is an extremely busy area with many shopping malls, wholesale markets around and it is rather near MBK shopping mall too.
It has MANY ROADSIDE STALLS and MANY MASSAGE PARLOURS scattered all over. Platinum Mall is also about 10 minutes walk away only.
Lobby area was very spacious with many sofas for guests to rest and wait for other guests.
This place spells luxurious, I knew it the moment I stepped in.
Recommended by Zoover, I knew I made the right choice staying here.
Passed by their dining area too.
Loved the contemporary design of the room! The bed and pillows were very very comfortable! Wish I could sleep here for a longer time but shopping awaits me!
Complete with full amneties and WIFI throughout the hotel!
Was greeted by the city's skyline once i drew the curtains open. How wonderful!
Luxurious bathroom has all toiletries as well.
Eastin Makkasan also provides free shuttle service to Soi Nana, Chidlom, Central World Department Store and Pratunam.
Discovered a good and decent massage place which is cheap too. It's called HAPPY, just cross the road from Eastin and you won't miss it.
Interested in booking a stay with Eastin? Click here for more info: http://bit.ly/1pbahDJ
My next post will be about the amazing restaurants and food I ate in Bangkok!!! OMG i miss the food sooooo much, they were really really EXCELLENT :) Stay tuned.
THANK YOU FOR READING =)
