63 Bangkok Boutique Bed & Breakfast

 
Hello again, everyone! If you've been following my whirlwind 2 week trip to Bangkok where I learned a bit about daily life in Bangkok then you'll know that I didn't mention where I stayed before I managed to rent a place for 5 months. Yup, the place I stayed at is the title of this post and here I'll tell you all about it. If you haven't read my previous post about my trying to rent a place in Bangkok, it's in this post, Bangkok Dangerous - a temporary relocation experience.
 
My trip was on such short notice (I was on the plane within 12 hours) meant I couldn't be so stringent with choosing a place to stay. After a really quick search on Expedia, I chose the 63 Bangkok Boutique Bed & Breakfast. Please keep in mind that I chose the cheapest, single occupant room I could find which set me back about $29 Sgd per night.
So, what do you get for $29? Anything you wa... Just kidding.
 
The hotel is right on Sukumvit Road, which is a main road and a very busy one at that. Right at the entrance of the hotel, maybe about 6 steps away is the up escalator to Ekkamai BTS station. Having said that, I didn't hear any traffic noise even though I was on the 3rd floor, which should be right about train level but I couldn't tell since my room didn't have a window which is probably why I couldn't hear the traffic. When I booked the hotel, I knew the station was close, but I had no idea it was this close.
 
 
The lobby is quite roomy, clean and has a nice comfy vibe to it. The hotel has an elevator just beside the stairs and because of the decor (is my excuse) I didn't notice there was an elevator until the receptionist told me as I headed to the stairs with my luggage. Towards the back, past the stairs is the seating area for the free breakfast and what looks like a coffee shop but I've never seen anyone eating or having coffee over there. I've seen people just hanging out, though. There's also a couple of beauty shops (nails and hair I think) back there. Half a floor up there is a shared office type setup as well as another beauty salon. The hallways and elevator lobby areas are actually quite spacious and from what I could tell each floor has a huge fan to help with air cooling and circulation. I was not expecting that at all.
 
 

Since I was on the third floor I chose to use the stairs and noticed that the steps are not of uniform height and the ceiling seems a bit low so watch your step and mind your head if you're over 5 feet 10 inches tall.
 

 

Into the room I go. Really not much to talk about as far as rooms go. It's four walls with a wall mounted shelf and clothes rod, a wall mounted tv, a single bed, a mini fridge, small bedside table, a desk with a chair and a washroom. It's small but I've been in smaller.
 
The room was clean and there weren't any weird smells. The sheets were clean but I did find a hole in them. I didn't watch tv but there was power to the cable box and the standby lights were on so I guess they work. The power outlets were easy enough to find and access which was nice. The aircon worked but the funny thing was, when it got too cold and I turn the cooling off but kept the fan on, I felt it getting hard to breathe so I turned the cooling back on and that feeling went away. The fridge doesn't work too well but better than nothing. As for room security, well, the door locks when you close it but there isn't a double lock or security lock. No safe either so I did what I usually do, find something wall mounted and loop my laptop cable lock through it and secure the other end in my padlocked suitcase. Not great but better than nothing.
 

 
Now for the washroom. At first glance it looks fine maybe a bit gloomy because of the gray colored walls but when you look closer you'll find that it's actually more like an unfinished wall because the sections of wall making up shower area are tiled the rest is not. Originally the shower "stall" had a glass door but it's gone, replaced by a spring loaded curtain rod holding up a plastic shower curtain. No big deal right? Well it wouldn't be but somehow a lot of water escapes and pools around the toilet and the water doesn't go down the drain that is located between the shower and the toilet because the water pools mostly on the other side. For the most part the walls and floor of the washroom are clean but there are noticeable mold/mildew patches at the bottom corners of the shower stall. If you're opposed to this you can wear slippers. I used a pair of $2 slippers from Daiso (for the wet floor not the shower stall). They're really light and make good padding for soft "carry on" duffel bags. Although there were the usual hotel amenities like shower soap an stuff, I never use them, especially if they are in a bulk dispenser mounted on the wall. Housekeeping doesn't come around unless you ask them to and when you do they may not have enough clean towels to give you. In my case it was only a hand towel. Not too big of a deal unless you want your bottle of free water per day. Like many Asian countries, flushing toilet paper is not "allowed" so you dispose of your used toilet paper in the little uncovered trash can beside the toilet. OK, maybe the no daily housekeeping is a big deal.
 

 

What's around the hotel? Well, beside the hotel there's a coffee shop and on the other, a temple. At night the street food vendors come out and as will the occasional less fortunate people with their "tip jars." On the opposite side of the street is a "Mediplex" and the Gateway mall with the usual shops and food outlets but outside they have like a sidewalk sale setup with local crafts and on weekends you can get some farm fresh produce. Being right at Ekkamai BTS station means most of the touristy shopping places are close by like Terminal 21, Paragon, Siam and MBK which are all just a few train stops away, as is the station to transfer to the airport train (Phaya Thai station). I would highly recommend not crossing the street unless you are fond of playing live action Frogger (I think these days they call it Crossy Roads). Instead just go up the escalator and walk through the station to the other side where you'll end up right at the entrance of the mall. Don't worry you won't have to enter or exit the gantry.
 
For what it's worth, the room was just what I needed it to be and at a cost I was willing to pay. The hotel is nice enough for me to stay in again if I ever needed to and I'm pretty sure there are nicer rooms available if you're so inclined to check them out.
 
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