Baan Wanglang Hotel (Wang-shang-a-lang dat thang!)

Joe met us at the door as planned and loaded us up in his 10 passenger van. Joe will be our guide for the next 4 days showing us around Bangkok and nearby sites. He speaks really good English and is pleasant, something we always worry about when making touring plans over the Internet.

The hotel is in a marginally accessible area of Bangkok, across the river from the Grand Palace and Temples. We chose this hotel based on the views from the rooms and the price, just at $100.00USD/night. Getting there, was a bit of a challenge, even for Bangkok Joe who has lived here all his life.

We stopped for directions a couple of times, then headed down this alley that wasn’t much bigger than Joe’s van. No street lights and lots of “stuff” in the alley so it made for an interesting drive. A couple of times we met a scooter or car coming the other way and watched as the negotiation played out. Looked pretty sketchy to me but if this is where we’re staying, so be it.

Amazingly, Joe found the hotel and even at 10pm it looked very nice. Tucked away into an alcove of the alley, the hotel was clean, spacious and welcoming. We were met at the door by an attendant that took our bags and offered us a cool glass of fruit juice while they sorted out our paperwork. The whole process took about 10 minutes and soon we were in our room. Actually this was going to be Justin’s room because our room wasn’t available until the next day so no butt scooches on the towels.

Our room is right under the sign, Justin’s room is third floor corner

Bedroom

Sitting room in our suite

View from sitting room

The next morning explained why this area looked sketchy. It’s actually a street market that comes alive every morning around 5am and shuts down around 11pm at night. With Besty, Jessie and Justin not arriving until 1-2pm, Collette and I decided to do a little exploring.

Looking out on the Chao Phraya river from our room

Chao Phraya river