Only 24-Hours in Bangkok - You can Still Have Fun!
Back in Bangkok after 20 years!
Philippines to Thailand
We were half-way through our 5-week Asian Adventure and had reached the end of our stay in The Philippines. What we hadn’t expected was to stay the night in one of the world’s wacky hotels!
We were heading to a small group of islands in the far eastern part of Thailand that are almost in Cambodia – indeed, the departure pier is close to the narrowest part of Thailand.
Getting There
Getting there was a logistical challenge, as we were in El Nido, Palawan; there are no direct flights to Thailand from here. With a little planning, it was possible to get a connecting flight via Manila, although we had to book this several months in advance.
We left our Airbnb in the dark, caught the Air Swift turbo prop flight as planned and hung around Manila Airport for 4 hours waiting for our connection.
We finally got to Bangkok airport around 4pm and decided to catch a Grab taxi in to the hotel, rather than flog halfway into town using the metro as we had planned.
It's Christmas!
What we didn’t expect, having opened the doors of this small boutique hotel, was to find the place absolutely stuffed with Christmas Decorations! The hotel was absolutely overflowing with them. And it was almost March!
We thought it was funny and charming. As was our host. Who, despite the hour we arrived, wanted to be sure that we had a packed breakfast for us to take away the following morning – at 4:30am!
Unique Rooms
We had seen some room pictures prior to arrival, but we were still impressed with the level of detail the management had made when it came to the room décor.
Our room was styled on Mr. Simpson’s The Tailor. Not only were there display cabinets showing off ancient sewing machines, threads, wing collars and cufflinks. They also had an open shelf containing a raft of cotton fabric, already to be fashioned into tunics.
The room was absolutely stunning. And more than adequate for the few hours that we would be using it.
Without any, er, reservation, we would highly recommend the De Phanakron Boutique Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
Street Food
We both love Thai food and this hotel was perfect in terms of location. We needed to be within walking distance of the Boonsiri Ferry pickup point near Khaosan Road. Which just happens to be full of amazing places to eat to.
As it happens, our host suggested we eat NOT in Khaosan Road, but closer to the hotel – anywhere down Samsen Road would be good.
Our choice for the evening turned out to be Momo Samsen, which served an eclectic mix of Asian specialties.
We drew the line at the Squid Curry though… something just put me off!
