If you are looking for a decent and affordable hotel to stay in Bangkok, you can consider the Citadines Bangkok located at Sukhumvit Soi 23. It is an apartment hotel (owned by the Ascott group) that makes a very comfortable stay within the heart of the city. Since it is meant to be more for the business traveller, this hotel is a little off the main roads of Sukhumvit and therefore a little away from the hustle and bustle of the busy street, so that it provides a little more quiet and calm for those who need it.

Being a 4-star rated hotel, it is not that expensive to stay in Citadines Sukhumvit Bangkok. Of course, the rate varies from season to season, and when I was there in April/May period, we paid about 1,700 Baht a night, with complimentary breakfast for 2 included.

The hotel is within walking distance to the BTS SkyTrain Asok Station and the MRT Sukhumvit Station (I would say less than 5 minutes easy walk). So it’s very convenient to have access to transportation. It is also right next to the Exchange Tower which houses True Fitness and True Spa. You will also find a Starbucks in the building as well as a small Boots Pharmacy store. You can also access the BTS Skytrain from the tower’s second floor bridge link.

When I first arrived at the hotel, it reminded me of the setting of a boutique hotel. It has a small lobby area with a reception desk, a seating area with the use of a computer with internet connection and a TV. The porter is always ready and on standby the moment our cab arrived and we got help right away with our luggages.

We stayed on the 8th floor of the hotel, which is the top floor. It is a non-smoking floor and also where the hotel’s pool is located. A small cafeteria is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel where complimentary breakfasts are served every morning. The breakfast spread is not much, I have to say, mainly comprising a main dish of either fried rice or noodle, congee and condiments, hams and sausages, a small selection of bread and a salad spread that consists about 3 to 4 cold dishes, fruits and fruit juices too. You can also place an order for eggs to be cooked in whatever way you wish at the counter.

The room itself is quite spacious. We booked a regular room that came with a queen sized bed, and it came with everything that you will expect of a service apartment. See pictures below for more description of what you can expect of this apartment hotel, which by the way, is ideal when you’re traveling with kids.

Our room came with a queen size bed and comfortable pillows. I don’t recall seeing any extra pillows in the closet, but none were needed anyway. The bedding and closet area are separated from a small living room area by a sliding door that can be pushed back all the way. Below is the picture of the small living area that’s furnished with a two-seater sofa and a coffee table.

It proved to be the more ideal spot to watch TV in the room as opposed to the bed as the TV is mounted on the wall facing the sofa. The flat screen TV comes with selected cable TV channels and there’s also a DVD player (see picture below).

Next to the entertainment unit is a working table where you can use the broadband internet service for free. We didn’t bring our computers and enquired how much it costs to use the internet service at the lobby’s computer and we found it to be expensive, at about 100 Baht for half an hour’s use! So if you need to be connected online, do bring along your own notebook and get connected for free in the comforts of your own room.

The wash room comes with a shower and no bath tub, but I have no qualms about that. I especially enjoyed their rainmaker shower head! Shower gels and shampoos are provided, but do keep in mind that they do not replenish them even when they are finished. I think you are expected to purchase your own once you run out, or you can ask the hotel for more but it is chargeable. Thank goodness though that they do change your towels daily to give you fresh and clean ones.

I like the fact that the room also comes with an iron and an ironing board. Sometimes it can be quite hard to get hold of housekeeping in a hotel just to get them to send you an iron. At least with this as a permanent fixture in the room, you don’t need to request for it when you need it.

The kitchen in the room is no doubt a small one in the corner of the room, but it comes fully prepared for you to cook up a storm. You will find all that you need in those cabinets and kitchen counters, from pots and pans and even one for steaming food, to dish washing liquid and a dish strainer. Apart from using the stove, you also have the use of a microwave, bread toaster and sufficient cookware and utensils.

There’s also a mini refridgerator and you are given 2 complimentary bottles of mineral water each day.

The kitchen comes complete with everything that you will need in a home!

The only thing is that if you want some night life and experience the hustle and bustle of Bangkok city in the night time, you won’t find any nearby. But you can take a walk for about 10 to 15 minutes where you will find a Robinsons to shop at, and the many bars and massage centers available on Sukhumvit Road itself.

Speaking of massages, the hotel does provide some very affordable massage packages too. It is an outsourced massage service where you can either request it to be a room service or you can take a 5 minute walk down the road to the actual massage center itself. A 90-minute full body massage only costs 400 Baht. I find this rate a lot cheaper than many of the massage centers in town. I didn’t get to experience the massages though, because they close by 10pm and I was never back in time before they closed.

In terms of ease of getting about Bangkok, it’s really quite a central place to be at. From the BTS SkyTrain Asok station, you can take the train to many places like the Siam Paragon, MBK Center, Pratunam area and even to Chatuchak market. If you want to go to the Suan Lum night market, then just hop on to the MRT station at Sukhumvit station.

I would personally recommend this hotel to others and if we do visit Bangkok again, I wouldn’t mind staying there again. Especially if we’re bringing my son, this place would be ideal for the family. It will provide a larger space for my little boy to run about rather than just being confined to a normal hotel room.

If you want more information, do leave me your comments and I’ll try to answer them as best I can. But bear in mind these are just my personal opinions and recommendations.

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A review of Citadines Sukhumvit in Bangkok

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Yes, finally my shopping trip to Bangkok was back on track after the postponement due to the unrest, and I have been away the last couple of days shopping in Bangkok city. Actually, I did a lot more walking than shopping, which resulted in me buying 2 pairs of slippers because I couldn’t stand walking in my own shoes anymore.

So how was my shopping trip in Bangkok? I surprised myself by not really buying much for myself. Before, each destination that I go to, I would shop, shop and shop for my own stuff. But this time, I didn’t really buy much for myself. I only bought 2 pairs of cheap slippers and some body butter, shampoo and conditioner from Boots pharmacy. How uninteresting for a shopping queen, huh?

But I did buy lots for my son. He’s got some new clothes (some of which I so, so, so love!) and swimming suit, accessories like shoes and cap, lots of toys and even some hard to find Disney Playhouse program DVDs! All the time when I was shopping for his stuff, I was happiest.

Food wise, I also ate to my heart’s content. But this time I’m less adventurous than before, sticking only to food served at trusted food court in shopping malls and restaurants. Gone are the times when we would just buy food off the street although they still tempted us. If we did go for all that street food that we were interested in, I would’ve insisted that by the time we got back, we should go for some sort of a herbal colon cleanse program or something. Those food stuff by the roadside are actually rather dirty.

Anyway, it’s getting late and I still have to get back to work tomorrow. What a dread…but I am looking forward to writing more about this trip. Do look out for a review of the hotel I stayed in, some thoughts on an interesting shampoo I picked up from Boots pharmacy there, as well as some wonderful Thai food recommendations and pictures to feast on. For those who have not been to Bangkok and planning to do so, do look forward to some tips on going about Bangkok and where to shop too.

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We bought our air tickets for a trip to Bangkok from Air Asia. Yeah, yeah, I know you’re asking why since Air Asia really sucks. MAS tickets for the period we wanted weren’t cheap and we would rather spend the money on shopping so we decided to go low cost with the flight and chose Air Asia. But since the trip is now cancelled due to the unrest in Bangkok, we were looking at options of what to do with the flight.

I read that MAS is offering its passangers who bought flights to Bangkok during this period to cancel their flights without incurring any fees. I thought it was very nice of MAS, and if I were a customer, I would be happy with this option. After all it is not because of my fickle mindedness that is causing the cancellation.

Upon a check on Air Asia, I found that they aren’t offering any free cancellations. Instead, it says that the flights will continue, but customers can choose to do 2 things should they want to cancel their trips. They can either postpone and choose another flight of a later date, or they can get credit for the flight and choose to fly to some other destination with those credits given.

While that is also quite a good option, in the sense that you don’t completely lose out on the money paid, it is rather limiting compared to what MAS is offering. I would imagine that for holiday makers like us, it is possible to plan another holiday to some other destination. But what if someone booked the flight for a business trip and won’t need any trip anywhere else?

It does seem like once you book with Air Asia, they aren’t willing to let you go no matter what the circumstance. They’d rather you be forced to make use of the credit than to make you a happy customer by letting you cancel.

Anyway, now that we have this credit and it’s valid for the next 3 months, we will have to start looking for some destinations that Air Asia flies to just so that we don’t burn the credit.

How does Bandung sound? Anyone been there and would recommend it? I hear it doesn’t have that much to offer other than some 20-something factory outlet stores! But that alone sounds like good shopping for me.

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Bangkok is a shopping paradise for many people. I haven’t been there for about 3 years now. The last time I was there, I shopped for very different reasons, more for wedding stuff than anything else. But this time, we’re headed there and free to shop for anything and everything. As I’m not too familiar with Bangkok, I’ve only made a list of some common places that I’ve heard of to go shop in.

I would like to visit the famous Chatuchak Weekend Market again, the Suam Lum Night Bazaar which is new to me, the wholesale shops in Pratunam and possibly a couple of malls like Siam Paragon and MBK. Last time we visited Patpong, but I don’t think it’s a must for us this time round. Having been there once to see what it has to offer, I don’t think it’s quite worth our time back there this trip around.

What other good shopping places in Bangkok should I visit? Any thoughts and suggestions, anyone? Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t intend to shop the whole of Bangkok back…I was just wondering if I’m getting the best deals from where I mentioned above because those are the common touristy spots to shop in, right? So if you have any great places to share, I would definitely welcome and appreciate it.

The flights are booked and the accommodation settled (I would’ve loved to get some free hotel stay from some contests I spotted recently, but the timing for those just aren’t right). The bags aren’t quite packed yet, because it’s not for aother 3 weeks to go. Actually, I don’t think we will be packing that much…we should be going with empty bags and coming home with fully loaded bags, right?

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This post hasn’t got much to do with shopping and sales but I just needed some space to let off steam as well as to chase my Monday Blues away. You know the day doesn’t get off to a good start when the boss acts up. This is one of those days. Sigh, I do wish I could go shopping and grab some sales to improve my mood!

Speaking of shopping and good bargains, I’m thrilled to be going to Bangkok in a couple of weeks to take a break and shop! It’ something I look forward to because it’s been a long while since I took a break. The last time I was in Bangkok was some 3 years ago when we shopped like crazy and tailor made some nice suits and work clothes. I really need to recharge, and to do so via going out of the country for a few days coupled with some retail therapy and massages is just priceless to me. I’m counting down the days…but at the same time I know I’ll be missing my little boy so very much because we won’t be bringing him along. I really ought to learn to let go a little bit.

Anyway, I just want to ramble about how I just can’t handle our new car too. It’s not funny! I’m not the greatest driver around, but I would say that I’m not bad. I don’t hog the roads and I don’t get in people’s way (or at least that’s what I think!). So far I even consider myself to be a rather careful and good driver. But for some reason, whenever I get behind the wheels of our new car of just one year, I seem to go wrong with it!

Thank God I don’t get into major accidents with it, only small knocks here and there and near misses. Maybe it’s got to do with the height and length of the car that I’m not quite used to. I often have knocks on the front, side and back bumper. My most recent miss was on the back. A simple act of reversing the car to get out of a slot saw me hitting the lamp post at the back which I didn’t even see! A loud bang made me realise there was indeed something behind me 

Luckily, we didn’t have to repair the damages for much. And luckily there weren’t any parts that needed replacing. Just a knock up here and a little knock up there, then spray with the colour and it was as good as new 

Now if I were to ever ask for a car like Ferrari, I don’t think my better half would readily agree. Imagine what he would have to pay for Ferrari parts if I am again as unlucky with the car! But then again, I’m talking as if we could afford a Ferrari anytime. Of course I can’t…

I could go on and on rambling other more but I think I need to get back to work. My mood has improved a little with just some rambling. It’s funny how blogging has become somewhat calming for me. Amazing, huh? That’s why I love blogging! I hope you all are having a better day ahead…

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