As my adventure started in BANGKOK Nov. 8-13, this report is sort of late. Better late than never….

Whenever I go to Bangkok, It seems that I spend most of time taking taxis, getting caught in horrendous traffic jams and climbing up and down a flight of stairs to board the BTS Skytrain, Bangkok’s acclaimed mass transit system. Fares on the Skytrain start at 10 baht (about 30 cents USD). One caveat, meter taxis in Bangkok are very inexpensive, so even if takes you one hour to travel 2 KM by taxi, the fare will be pittance. Fares start at 35B (approx 1.00USD). Make sure that the driver turns on the meter- just say meter taxi and wait for the driver to acknowledge with a shake of the head. Also be prepared to endure Bangkok’s famous traffic jams while traveling in the congested metropolitan area. Try to enjoy the ride and smile!

My Hotel in Bangkok - President Park Serviced Apartments

For the 2nd consecutive year, I stayed at the President Park Hotel, on Sukhumvit Soi 22. As discussed in a prior report, having a minibar in the room is more of a hassle than it is really worth as it can only lead to disputes over usage and delays in departure. When I checked in this time around, I requested that they remove everything from the minibar and the hotel graciously complied. After waiting for about one hour for my room, the hotel assigned me one near the elevator on the 4th floor. After I unpacked all my clothes and accessories, I sensed a familiar and somewhat noxious smell in the room - cigarette smoke. If there is one thing I cannot stand is cigarette smoke. Only two floors - 5 and 9- of the nine-story hotel tower are dedicated nonsmoking floors and even though I requested in advance a nonsmoking room, the hotel inadvertently placed me in one of the seven floors where smokers are accommodated. As it took me over an hour get myself unpacked properly, I figured it would be too much of a hassle to change rooms. Wrong - By the end of my 6-day stay, I started developing a smoker’s cough.

The Fitness Center
One of the reasons I like to stay at The President Park Hotel is that they have a decent fitness center and swimming pool. As a fitness enthusiast, that is real plus for me. When I stayed at this high rise serviced apartments complex on four occasions last year, getting to the fitness center was a real adventure- like navigating a rat’s maze. Let’s see - take elevator down one level, go across bridge into parking garage, go up one flight of stairs, take elevator up one level, turn right, turn left - it was very easy to get lost. One of the distinct improvements that the hotel made is to make it easier to navigate to the fitness center - all one has to do follow the yellow tape that they laid down on the floor to mark the somewhat circuitous route and you’re there. Sort of reminds of the song -Yellow Brick Road by Elton John.

Return to the Orthodontic Clinic…
I made a return trip to see Dr Viboon at the dental clinic near the Ploenchit BTS station to have some dental work done. As soon as I arrived at his office, Dr. Viboon quickly got down to business. I got a thorough cleaning of my teeth, which were heavily stained from drinking copious amounts of green tea in addition to having three cavities filled and the gumline filled in over one exposed tooth in my left upper jaw. Dr Viboon was smooth as silk and I didn’t feel a thing. He had me out of his clinic in about 75 minutes. Total damage was 2800 baht (about $78USD).

Orthodontic Center - 888/54-55 Ploenchit Road Tel: 02-2526630-1

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 25th, 2006 at 8:50 am and is filed under Thailand, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.