The travels of BBQboy

http://www.phranakorn-nornlen.com

This small “boutique” hotel is currently ranked 4th of 357 hotels on trip advisor and was where we stayed on our recent trip to Bangkok (February 2008).

We loved some features of this hotel but also found a few things very inconvenient – so much so that we ended up deciding not to come back on our return trip to Bangkok. This review is meant as much for fellow travellers as it is for the hotel.

The +’s:

Quaint little hotel with a lot of character; rooms are artsy-fartsy and cosy, painted in warm colours (they even have multi-coloured candles in the room which makes for romantic lighting).  Matresses are hard and were just perfect for us. Note however that the pictures on the site give the appearance that the rooms are bigger and more modern than they actually are – they are actually a bit on the small side (more on this later) and rustic (some could say worn). Given the rooms alone, the hotel is overpriced at $60/night. The public areas of the hotel however are superb; the breakfast area overlooks a fantastic courtyard with large trees and flowering bushes as well as a gazebo which includes a little meditation/yoga area as well as a section for free-internet access. There’s a little cafe, a reading area with guides and books,  and the reception area. It’s all beautiful and a relaxing spot to have breakfast or read or to laze around.

Service is great; the girls who work the reception desk are very friendly. Tea is brought to the rooms every day.

The vegetarian breakfast is fantastic. Coffee superb. Everything coming out of that kitchen was healthy and tasted great.

 The hotel is in a quiet residential area and is about a 10 minute walk from the Tha Thewet river express pier. A good base for exploring Old Bangkok. Note however that the river express boats stop at 7pm, after which the location becomes a disadvantage…There’s a 7-eleven (with an ATM) a 2 minute walk from the hotel which comes in handy.

The  -‘s;

There’s no storage space in the rooms, we didn’t unpack during our 3 days there; there’s nowhere to hang up or put stuff. Kept our things in the backpack and took out as needed – not the end of the world for us but travellers coming with a lot of bags or with higher expectations would be disappointed. As I said, rooms more rustic and small than expected (needless to say no tv, coffee machine etc that you expect in a fancy hotel – but that we knew coming in).

Location: hotel is hard to find for taxi drivers, even with the map supplied by the hotel (make sure you always keep one on you because no taxi driver will recognize the name of the hotel much less its location). Coming from the airport the driver passed by the hotel twice before I spotted the hotel sign. I would really suggest that the hotel enlarge the sign to make it clearer. The other problem with the location is that it’s not really close to any restaurant or entertainment districts – it’s a handy location during the day but at night it becomes a problem because you have to take a tuk tuk or taxi to get anywhere.

The biggest problem for us: “We serve organic breakfast only, lunch and dinner should be eaten outside for the concept of sharing to the community”. Most people visiting Bangkok spend the day walking and travelling around. Bangkok is a grueling city: hot and polluted. Getting places always seems to take longer than planned because of the crazy traffic. Most travellers are also recently off the plane and fatigued; at the end of a long day of travelling around the city you want to get back to the hotel, take a shower, change, and get something to eat either in the hotel or nearby.  We just wanted a snack, anything, but the only recommendation from the girl at reception was the 7-eleven which had pre-packed frozen sandwiches. A food stall on the nearby main road had very limited choice. In the 3 evenings at the hotel we twice ended up eating chips and cookies bought at 7-eleven; the other evening we took the taxi to nearby Khao San Road (which is ok during the day but not advisable at night unless you’re in your early 20’s). We found  a Subway and brought the submarines back to the hotel.

This hotel has been described as an “oasis”. In many ways it is, but it would have been so much more of an oasis if we could just have stayed in after a long, tiring day and just have had something to eat in the lovely dining area. This altruistic concept of not serving meals because of “the concept of sharing with the community” also upsets me – reminds me of a gorgeous, eco-friendly, very expensive place we went to in Colombia where all was fantastic until they purposely turned off the electricity at midnight (we woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, realizing the fan had gone off – turns out their eco-friendly policy was to turn the power off, never mind that the temperature was still in the mid 30’s at night or that there were no windows…just stupid). In the case of the Phranakorn Nornlen, they have a wonderful kitchen and a gorgeous eating area, why not take advantage? Serving supper (just something light would do) would have been wonderful for us and would also be a source of additional revenue for them. Instead we had to take a tuk-tuk or taxi to go eat elsewhere. Evening meals, after a long day out in Bangkok, became a source of stress. It upsets me because it is something that seems so logical – something as simple as a meal ended up as a constant problem which, compounded by the hotel’s location, ruined our otherwise perfect stay.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293916-d633694-Reviews-Phranakorn_Nornlen_Hotel-Bangkok.html

I’m giving the hotel a 3 out of 5 as is. I would give it a 4 out of 5 if they resolved the meal situation – it really was a special little place despite the few negatives listed above.

Other hotels:

We ended up spending a night at the Swiss Lodge Hotel http://www.swisslodge.com/ close to Silom road which was centrally located close to the skytrain – great service, great room, even their food was fantastic. More expensive however (about $120 night) and is a typical luxury hotel that you don’t necessarily have to come to Bangkok to experience.

Another recommendation in Old Bangkok is the Royal Hotel where I’ve previously stayed; basic but inexpensive and centrally located, also has a pool. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293916-d308996-Reviews-Royal_Hotel_Bangkok-Bangkok.html

Parc National du Mont-Tremblant: http://www.sepaq.com/pq/mot/en/ (above view is from the belvedere on the Sentier de la Roche)

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Bar Harbour is a nice little tourist town. And Acadia National Park is a nice park. But you know what? It’s not that special. Maybe we’re just spoiled with all the beautiful national parks we have in Quebec – but compared with some of the parks in the Charlevoix, Saguenay and Gaspesie, Acadia just doesn’t compare.

What IS nice about Acadia National Park is that Bar Harbour is RIGHT there, sitting outside the park. It probably saved my trip with Benjamin, because we were able to play tennis (in the town’s municipal tennis courts), watch sports on big screen-tvs (in its many family restaurants), and play mini-golf (they had amazing mini-golf courses all over the Bar Harbour area). It was ideal for travelling with a son who really doesn’t care much about seeing nature.

But as a park, Acadia is not that spectacular. It’s also packed full of tourists. I left looking forward to a visit to one of our quiet, more expansive and yes, more “rustic”, national parks.

We were a bit disappointed by this park: http://www.sepaq.com/pq/hgo/en/ . It has one of Quebec’s best hikes (the 5 hour Acropole des Draveurs hike) which warrants a visit to the park. Unlike other Quebec parks however, this park (which is the newest of the provincial parks) forbids the use of your car – once you get to the park they tell you that you have to park your car in the campground, which is close to the entrance of the park. Transport between the entrance of the park and the Le Draveur Services Center (which is 8 km away) is provided by a shuttle bus that passes every 15 minutes.

This might seem reasonable enough, but what if you want to do the Acropole des Draveurs hike early in the morning? The shuttle service only starts at 8am (ends at 7:30 pm). I got up at 6 and decided to walk the 7 km or so to where the trail starts.

Early morning picture (that’s fog coming off the river):

Finally got to the trailhead and started the 9km hike:

We also took a cruise down the Malbaie river. Again the logistics screwed us up: you can’t buy the tickets at the campground. You have to walk 1km from the campground to the main road, catch the shuttle bus to the Le Draveur Services Center where you can buy the tickets. We waited 2 hours for our boat (the alternative would have been to go back to the campground, rest up for 15 min, then do the whole shuttle bus thing again).

This explains the pissed off look below:

We had paid for 3 nights of camping at Parc des Haute-Gorges-de-la-Riviere-Malbaie – we did one night and decided we didn’t want to stick around and be trapped in our tents. I’m all for the environment – but if you want to attract tourists to a national park you have to make it accessible. Bad job on this one SEPAQ!

PS. They don’t give refunds either!

This park covers the Fjord of the Saguenay river from Tadoussac up to a little past the town of Riviere Eternite http://www.sepaq.com/pq/sag/en/

The Saguenay at its mouth:

Baie Saint Margarite sector (good place to see Beluga whales):

Baie Eternite sector (they have a 4 hour return hike to Cap Trinite – nothing that special though, views at L’Anse Saint-Jean (further down this post) much more impressive and accessible)

Views from the lookout at L’Anse Saint-Jean (Can drive up!):

Around L’Anse Saint-Jean (really pretty town):

Tadoussac is a small town on the north coast of the St. Lawrence, about 2 hours north of Quebec city. The Saguenay river flows into the St. Lawrence, the combination making it the perfect feeding ground for the different whale species that come here every year (only the Belugas stay year round). It is not just a beautiful spot, it is a very comfortable place for tourists with it’s bohemian cafes, nice terraces, and small B&B’s. It has a small town feel yet has an international flavour (being very popular with Europeans) – but the best thing is that it hasn’t been ruined by tourism the way a place like Percé has. Tadoussac is actually our favorite town in the whole province.

Whale watching:

views from the shore (you can see many whales close up at the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence)

The Hotel Tadoussac

http://www.sepaq.com/pq/mme/en/  This park has two peaks, both accessible by car. Mont St-Joseph (1065 m) has the more impressive views (above) while Mont Megantic (1105 m) has an astronomy center (Astrolab) open to the public. This area has the highest peaks in the Eastern Townships, the highest being Mont Gosford (1193 m) which is just a short drive away.

The Astrolab:

Parc du Mont-Megantic from a distance:

Mt. Pinacle near Coaticook (665 m). I love this hike because 1) it’s short (half an hour to get to the top) and 2) it has great views, the best I have seen in the Eastern Townships.

Mont du Lac-des-Cygnes Trail (summit 980 m); http://www.sepaq.com/pq/grj/en/

In good conditions this hike takes about an hour going up. We didn’t figure on the foot-deep snow however (12th of May !!) and ended up doing the hike in about 3 hours return.