CheapThaiTravel's Asia Travel Blog

Had dinner at the Le Beaulieu restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 19.   I decided on the fried frogs legs for an appetizer, the Australian Wagyu beef (this steak was excellent and that’s saying something – as it’s almost impossible to find a decent steak in Bangkok!) and a small chocolate cake with ice cream for dinner.

The food was awesome although the staff seemed a little hurried they checked back often to make sure everything was OK (also a rarity in Bangkok).

Le Beaulieu Bangkok

Complements of the Chef

Wagyu Beef

I just read in the Bangkok Post that Marriott yesterday, opened another MEA on Sukhumvit Soi 24.  In my opinion a much better location for access to shopping, eating and the MRT.  The article went on to state that Marriott planned to manage an additional 14 hotels in Thailand – That is great news for future Marriott Rewards redemptions since just a very few years ago you had only two choices – the JW Marriott and the Marriott Resort and Spa.

After I spent a couple of free nights in the Plaza Athenee I checked into the Marriott Executive Apartments Sathorn Vista over on Sathorn Road near the Banyan Tree hotel and just next to the Australian Embassy.   You’ll find some pictures of my room below.  Besides a full set of kitchen and dining room amenities this property also includes a clothes washer and dryer, separate bedroom (suite style), separate shower and tub and two flat panel Samsung televisions.  You won’t get the impressive lobby and impeccable service of a five star hotel but in my opinion you won’t get a better living space while you are here.

Entertainment/Work Area

Kitchen Area

Bedroom, MEA Sathorn Vista

Dining area, Living Room

Marriott Sathorn Vista - Bangkok

View from MEA Sathorn Vista

Just to prove that not everything is cheap in Bangkok,  I decided to try the Sunday brunch special at the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok – this was definitely not your typical 250 baht lunch set.   I was able to eat a few things that I’d never had the opportunity to try before among them, Frogs Legs in a mushroom sauce and Duck sausage.  That and the sweet and sour scallops and roast beef shown in the first picture below.

Brunch at the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok

My second plate included lobster and salmon skewers.

Lobster and Salmon

And lastly dessert!

Dessert

Dessert Part II

Now that I am finally here, I can report without a doubt that flying across the Pacific in economy class is a really bad idea. I don’t know how people do it – there absolutely no way to sleep. In all it was around 20 hours flight time with a bit of time on the ground in New York and Hong Kong in between.

I arrived in Bangkok around 6pm last night to light rain. The temperature was pleasingly only hot as opposed to ‘blast furnace’ that I get in June, when I typically arrive. The Immigration lines were surprisingly light and I was through in minutes. I hit the ATM but before I hopped into a Taxi, I needed to stop down at the AIS counter to pickup a SIM card – AIS’s Prepaid 1-2-Call Freedom Planet service offers a SIM that works internationally in 117 other countries – at higher rates outside of Thailand of course. With my wallet 300 baht lighter, I was out the door.

Plaza Athenee Bangkok

I arrived at my two night temporary hotel, the Plaza Athenee on Wireless Road. I picked up a couple of free nights using Starwood points. It has an impressive lobby a nice pool and a great location. While I was expecting a bit more, the room wasn’t anything to write home about.

While not directly related to my upcoming trip,  I always travel with a laptop so I don’t have to rely on those dank, virus infected internet cafe’s to check my email and keep in touch with the office.   In the past, I’ve tried to cut back and travel with only a web enabled phone which wasn’t cutting it.

As I am preparing to leave for my trip next week,  I’ve  discovered that my trusty,  old Compaq N610 laptop is dying a slow death, along with it’s well worn,  very loose power receptacle forces me to purchase a new machine.   I found some nice refurbished machines at TigerDirect.com that are well within my price range – some of the newer “netbooks” and a couple of laptops.

I ended up going for an hp laptop because I wanted an integrated DVD drive and the ability to add more than 2gb of ram.   I’ve got a few days to get all of my software re-installed and configured,  now where were those backups…

Alex Smith (the other Alex that runs this site) suggested that perhaps I should chronicle my entire trip in November – I’m no writer but I’ll give it a shot.  Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

I spent the last few days looking for a new place to stay during my annual two week stint in Bangkok.   As I said before,  I really like the JW Marriott on Sukhumvit Soi 2, but have grown tired of having to fight traffic, the crowds, tailors, vendors, beggars, whistle blowing cops and broken pavement that saturate the entire lower Suk area.

I’m a once  a year visitor.   I spend my entire two week allocation of hard earned vacation time in the Kingdom.  While I know there are plenty of $22 fan cooled, shared wet bathroom hovels that I could spend my time sweating in,  I’ve done my time in the sketchy places.   I’m on vacation and I’m going to stay somewhere comfortable.

Some of the better places I’ve spent time in have included the Chin House (Apparently known now as Bandara Suites Silom),  JW Marriott,  Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Banyan Tree Sathorn, Royal Orchid Sheraton, Courtyard Marriott – Very nice places.

As I was searching for potential candidates on TripAdvisor I ran across a new Marriott Executive Apartment Sathorn Vista on Sathorn road just opposite the Banyan Tree hotel.   Opened in July ’09, they had a special pre-paid rate that was exactly half of their going rate – this 1 bedroom suite style apartment costs less than the usual western hotels, but includes daily maid service, kitchen etc and had great reviews.

This location isn’t exactly ‘in the thick of it’ – that’s what I was looking for but not super convenient for dropping into a couple of my favorite watering holes like the Big Mango Bar but they are only a short BTS or cab ride away.

I’ve been asked to guest post here at CheapThaiTravel so the admins could finally get some Thailand related travel content in to this blog of theirs.   I’m currently stateside at the moment and counting the days until my November arrival, so I thought I would try to chronicle my trip from the beginning.

This is the first time since 2001 that I will actually have to spend  hard earned cash on my annual two week trip to Thailand (yeah I know boohoo).   In the past I’ve been able to take advantage of the massive amount of frequent flier miles that had accumulated over the years.  I knew the end was near in 2008 when a “free” business class ticket went from 90,000 to 185,000 miles on my main airline – that was the last of my uber cheap, business class trips to Bangkok.

I started investigating travel scenarios back in the beginning of August.  Emirates, Northwest and Delta had coach flights in the $875-$977 range through much of August and still do as of this posting.  After agonizing over airlines, layovers and flight schedules I settled on a Cathay Pacific flight to BKK via HKG from JFK for a grand total of $1130.  Having flown Cathay Pacific a few times before on business trips, I found them to be both proficient and professional – we’ll see what I have to say after 20 hours in coach… Now for the hotels…

While I am very fond of the JW Marriott, I have to say I’ve grown increasingly tired of the area around the hotel.  I’m going to be looking for a little something different this time, I’ll report back in a few days to report my choice.