Accommodations, Part 13: Evergreen Place, Bangkok

There are quite a few places to stay in the Ratchathewi area of Bangkok; some within a five minute walk from the Ratchathewi BTS sky train station, making getting around quite convenient. Some years back I used to stay at the Asia Hotel, but I've found myself much more content at the Evergreen Place serviced apartments, almost right next door. The Asia is more expensive, the rooms need some upgrading and you're liable to be swept away in a herd-like tourist group while going through the lobby, but it is the home of the Calypso Cabaret (posts here and here). I'll add a post about the Asia Hotel another time.

Evergreen Place is a far less hectic place, and that appeals to this old soul. They have around 120 one- and two-bedroom suites available; most with a nice view, as the rooms begin on the 9th floor of the building. The stitched-together photo up top shows the view from the bedroom of a corner suite, the photo directly below is from the living room balcony.

It's maybe a two minute walk from the BTS station to the little soi leading to the building where the hotel shares space with some business offices, and then less than another minute to the lobby entrance.

A portion of the lobby area. Computer stations are to my left

The staff are a pleasant bunch, and I've never felt as though I was being treated any differently as a single man staying there. Of course, I'm not much of a night owl so I wasn't bringing guests through the lobby after midnight and your experiences may be different. I do know that there's a live camera that shows the comings and goings past reception that you can watch any time on the TV in your room, though. I've noted that same sex couples at breakfast are far and few between, too.

Speaking of breakfast, the buffet opens at 06:30 (should memory serve) and is finished at 10:00, but as you can see by the photo to the left it's a well-stocked and well-maintained buffet. The fried eggs left a little to be desired some mornings, but it's not often I've found soft-cooked eggs in Thailand.

The breakfast area is set up in an open area outside the actual cafe itself, although you can sit in there to eat in the morning, too, and they have a few copies of the Nation and Bangkok Post available. Adjoining the dining area is the gym area, and it's reasonably spacious and well-equipped. Through the open dining area and up a few stairs takes you to the pool area that I photographed from above. It's usually pretty quiet, which is probably good for those of you who are looking to do laps. You can see there's only one young man in it in the picture below, taken around lunchtime one day.

The rooms themselves are kept spotless by an efficient housekeeping staff that seem to be there within minutes of a call if you need something out of the regular schedule. If I'm going to prop myself up in bed to read at night I usually need to call for an extra couple of pillows, but as you can see in the top photo I didn't need to: there were five on the bed when I arrived.

As you can see above the basics are all done well: electronic safe, good sized closet space, plenty of drawers for clothes, a larger than usual refrigerator, a 30" flat screen TV with a VCD/DVD/CD player for movies or music and a decent hot water pot. Amenities differ by type of room, so check the listings on their web site. There was good water pressure in the shower stall, and some rooms have bath tubs. WiFi was free and fast.

You're a ten minute walk from MBK, Siam Square and just a bit further to the other malls, and about a 15 minute walk to Pantip Plaza and the clothing area around Baiyoke Tower.

They run a fair amount of specials themselves, so check their web site as well as any other booking services you may usually check.