We left Bangkok a couple of days ago and we left our hotel the Royal Orchid Sheraton so it’s time to do a review. The hotel is in a good location across the river from ICONSIEM shopping complex and that’s good and bad in my opinion. It’s good because it’s so close but it’s bad because you have to take a ferry boat back and forth.

We ate quite a few meals at the ICONSIEM and spent the last day at the movie theater there because we had a massive rain storm that came through that day and got wet heading back to our hotel from ICONSIEM.

The hotel has fairly good amenities such as gym, two pools (one with swim up bar) and another deeper pool for lap swimming. We used both pools and thought they were good enough for intended use.

There are numerous shops inside this facility including a tailor and I had a couple of custom made shirts created while I was there. We also bought some gifts from one of the gift shops.

Food

While the Sheraton features an impressive buffet of options similar to the JW Marriot we stayed in Bangkok, the food didn’t seem as flavorful. I’m not sure why there was a difference in food taste but I certainly preferred the food over at JW Marriot over Sheraton. We ate breakfast every day at the Feast restaurant but only had one dinner there.

Executive Lounge

The main negative we experienced at the Sheraton was the huge volume of people in the executive lounge. On two occasions we walked in, saw every table taken up, and simply walked out. I’m not sure what was going on during our stay but I’ve never seen the executive club lounge anywhere so full at capacity.

The lounge itself has a great view of the river and city so it’s definitely worth a visit for a drink or two but the lounge, in my opinion, is usually a place to relax for a bit before dinner or to come to after dinner for desert.

We were able to use the lounge a few times without crowds by avoiding the 6 p.m. food opening times.

Recommend?

This is a tough call. I don’t plan on staying here again because if I had to do it all over again, I’d likely stay at the Hilton two blocks down from the ICONSIEM. If the Hilton were full, I’d likely stay at the Marriot but would seriously consider other hotels on the ICONSIEM side of the river.

I liked the Sheraton and it’s a great hotel with a great staff and excellent service but it will boil down to what you plan on doing while staying near the river. It was really a hassle to have to wait for the ferry and check the schedule to move back and forth. No matter which hotel you stay at you will need to take boat ferry as not all the tourist attractions are on one side of the river so you’ll need to go back and forth. We spent a great deal of time at ICONSIEM for its huge selection of restaurants and shopping that it would have been easier to say on that side of the river.

Where the Sheraton shines though is if you intend on using the train stop at Sathorn pier which is on the same side of the river as Sheraton. The Sathorn pier is steps away from the Saphan train station and makes it easy to get to different parts of Bangkok. The Sheraton boat ferry moves from the Sheraton pier to ICONSIEM then to Sathorn pier then back to Sheraton pier and repeats the cycle every 30 minutes but they do have a break around 11 or noon so check the schedule.

It’s only been a couple of days since we left Bangkok and I’ve already got the Bangkok blues longing to return…..

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The weekend was a whirlwind of activity and we’re only going to write about a few of the highlights. We visited the River City Bangkok which includes a wealth of art from local artists. There are many amazing things to view here and many are for sale and definitely worth a stop if you’re nearby.

Some samples of the great art from local artists featured below.

From the River City center, you can book a river tour so we booked a 90 minute tour through the Chao Phraya River. The river is huge and the largest in Thailand so it’s worth the trip to look at how the hidden parts of Bangkok exist. The cost of our 90m private boat was 2800 baht ($83 USD). There is an evening river cruise that includes dinner on a much larger vessel that costs 2400 baht for two.

Many homes on pillars to keep from flooding. Some sections seem to be abandoned as well.

But there are also amazing temples, parks, bars and restaurants and a market along some parts of the river.

After our River Tour, we asked the captain to drop us off at IKONSIEM which has become our go to place for dining. There are so many food options at this mall that we keep coming back for more. My heart skipped a beat when I found my favorite pastry shop in a hidden corner of the 5th floor. If you’re hungry for cars, there is a Porsche, Volvo and BMW dealership INSIDE the mall.

We also ate lunch at a hot pot place that was amazing. You’re given wooden crates of raw veggies and meats and you cook it yourself in the water pot or the soup mix for added flavor.

The local beer here is different, the image below is of a very sour beer.

The rest of Sunday was wind down time at the two pools at our hotel.

Monday

This post is going out Monday evening here in Thailand and today we spent the morning getting to know the train system. We took a train to the airport on the city link line and paid a whopping $1.35 for the ride. We also took the green line back to the river then waited over an hour for the Sheraton boat that never came, we ended up buying tickets on anther ferry to get us to lunch at IKONSIEM and then another Sheraton shuttle back to our hotel.

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An amazing day today visiting The Grand Palace but before we get to that a few words of caution. The taxi & tuk tuk drivers have been fairly aggressive in offering rides. Most of the time, we ignore them and use Grab (the “Uber” of Asia) to get moving but when we landed at the pier and headed to the Grand Palace, several tuk tuk drivers told us the palace would be closed until noon. They offered to take us sight seeing elsewhere to other tourist sites then bring us back to the palace at noon when the ticket office opens. It was all a lie, we kept walking toward the Grand Palace, bought tickets and entered without any problems whatsoever. It was clearly a scam to get us to buy long rides to other tourist areas.

It’s always best to check with a reputable travel agent or book tours through known services such as Viator before falling for these types of scams.

Depending on where you’re staying in Bangkok, it’s likely you will need to ride one of the many confusing boats to get to where you’re going. I say confusing because there are many different classes of boats. The big hotels here have their own boats that ferry people to certain piers. There are also boat taxis, boat tours, and other boats. Depending on where you want to go, you have to visit a specific pier and get on a certain type of boat. Most of the people at the piers are helpful to guide you on your way but it does get confusing.

Outside the Grand Palace (image below)

The Grand Palace (image below)

The detail around each structure is amazing. Some buildings are adorned in gold, others in green emerald colors and some are multi-colored.

Caution: The Grand Palace is mostly concrete or stone flooring and it gets very hot in the area so take plenty of water with you when you go. You can’t wear certain clothes such as short skirts and tank tops so be careful to check before you head out.

There is a ritual to cleanse and water the green emerald Buddha.

Amazing adornment of most of the structures in the Grand Palace.

After a half day spent at the Grand Palace, we headed to Wat Arun Ratchawararam (image below).

The ferry from Than Tien to Wat Arun Ratchawararam is about 20 baht although pricing seem to change and was confusing at times.

You can toll the bells…if you wonder who the bells toll for, they toll for thee…..

The image below shows how busy the boats can get during peak traffic times around noon. It was standing room only on this boat ferry.

After Wat Arun Ratchawararam, we wondered around looking for the right pier to head to Iconsiam which is a large multi-story high end shopping complex. Our goal there was to eat and buy some needed supplies for our aching feet. I picked up a new pair of sketchers sandals after wearing out my walking shoes. The image below shows Iconsiam from our hotel. There are public concerts, water sport games and other activities to celebrate the new year.

It was a long day, we arrived back around 3:30 p.m. so we’re off to get some rest then head for dinner later.

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It’s Friday and we wanted to do something fun so we took a Thai cooking class. It ended up being about 4 hours long but it was worth every minute.

Our chef, April, was amazing and walked us through creating four dishes but first we started our journey at a hidden grocery shop in the heart of Bangkok.

After shopping at the produce market, we took a wild ride on a tuk tuk to the cooking class.

Our Thai chef instructor had us make many of the ingredients from scratch. Below is an image of coconut shavings being mixed and squeezed with warm water to make coconut milk and then a filtering processes makes it into a thicker coconut cream.

Below is the final product of spicy basil chicken after putting all the elements together and cooking in a hot wok.

Papaya Salad

Red chicken curry

Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango

Muay Thai Boxing

After our Thai cooking class we headed out for a classic Thai boxing at Rajdamnern Stadium.

We managed to get ring side seats and be up and close to the action through the hotel concierge. We were seated by the stairs into and out of the ring so we high fived the boxers as they got out of the ring after their match. The seats cost 5000 baht total or about $150 for two seats.

The arena looked fairly high tech and modern. The arena has a dome and there are projections on the ceiling that look amazing. During the intermission, they played a video of the history of Muay Thai boxing and it’s origins and how it fits into Thai culture. There were two large TV screens playing the action in the ring as well.

There were seven matches total but only two ended in knockouts and the rest were judges decision.

Above last match, below first match.

There were a total of seven matches with plenty of entertainment in between. The arena offers typical arena food, beer and other snacks. The service was good and several rounds of cleaning took place in between matches to keep floors and trash out of the way.

An observation we’ve made about Thai culture is the attention to detail and pride in keeping areas clean. There are many parts of the city that have trash given the size and population but in general, concerted efforts seem to be made to deal with unsightliness as often and quickly as possible.

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We wanted to be close to Bumrungrad hospital for our medical visits so we decided to stay at the JW Marriott on Sukhumvit Road, Sol 2 and we’re glad we chose this top notch hotel.

Staff

The staff was always helpful, friendly and ready to take care of any issues we had. Fortunately, we didn’t have any issues with our stay. Our room was clean upon arrival and had our luggage promptly delivered to our room.

Food – Breakfast Buffet

The JW Marriott has a stomach gorging rich and endless buffet. The buffet costs around 990 baht ($30) but if you’re a Marriott Platinum member, it’s free. We ate here almost every morning during our 8 day stay so that saved us about $480.

The hotel does an excellent job catering to its wide array of guests so you’ll find western foods, middle eastern and Asian cuisine at various stations in the restaurant.

Arabic food (pictured above)

Pastries (picture above)

Seafood/Salmon (above)

Fresh squeezed juice bar

Food – Club Lounge

Marriott Bonvoy platinum members also get access to the executive lounge where we enjoyed tea time every day from 2:30 p.m. with various pastries. The club lounge also has breakfast and evening light meals which are also provided free to platinum members. We opted to eat out and try the many restaurants in the area but the meals here are hearty if you’re on a budget and a platinum member.

Facilities

We made use of the hotel’s spa, including the sauna, heated pool and the outdoor pool (photo below). We also received an excellent and amazing massage service at the spa. The only sour note here is the pool area is a bit dated and need of a cosmetic refresh but we did see surveyors on site so perhaps some upgrades will be coming soon!

Location

The hotel is situated in the heart of the city and the Bumrungrad hospital is a short 7 minute walk over a bridge crossing the major freeway.

There is plenty of shopping, restaurants, street food markets, banking, and bars all along the various areas. The area does have heavy traffic and there is a constant flow of vehicles and motorcycles in the area so be aware of loud noise. Our room was in a higher floor and we did not hear much of the noise from down below.

Recommend?

We highly recommend this hotel if you’re doing business in Bangkok, want access to the heart of the city and the medical center at Bumrungrad hospital and Edelweiss dentistry. Note that the tourist areas such as The Temple of the Buddha, The Grand Palace, Wat Phra Chetuphon, and Wat Arun Ratchawararam are further west in Bangkok by the river which is about a 30 minute drive from this hotel.

We did not wish to be stuck in traffic all day long so we switched hotels to be closer to the river and tourist attractions which is why we left the JW Marriott.

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We got an early start at 6:30 a.m. to head an hour and half drive to visit the salt farms and hop on a train to Amphoe Mueang Samut Sonkhram – Mae Klong train station.

Our guide, “Poppy” below and us on the train to Mae Klong.

The market at Mae Klong is famous for being situated inches from the train track so when the train comes, the vendors have to pull their umbrellas and other stuff off the tracks. You can read about it here.

The train ride itself, is fairly comfortable although there is no air conditioning.

After the train and market visit, we headed to a coconut sugar farm. I cook my own bread at home and I often bake with coconut sugar instead of refined sugar. I always wondered how it was made and now I know! We bought some to take back home too. In addition to coconut sugar they also make coconut syrup, oils, creams and gels that have many different uses.

The coconut “cooking” process to extract sugar.

After the coconut farm we headed to the River Market in Damnoen Saduak. I had no idea these river markets were as large as they were. I imagined a single line river stream with various “shops” anchored on the shore but there were many different river streams and shops were anchored or floating with various places to land and experience larger shops. There is one shop in particular that has secret passageways which I can’t get into here but you can always ask if you see us in person 😉

We ended the day with lunch at a nearby restaurant and ordered the grilled seafood pineapple. It was delicious.

It was a long exhausting day but nice to take a break from all the medical visits! We finished the day with another massage. The 1 hour body massage was 600 baht ($17.51).

Tomorrow we move to a different hotel so I’ll be writing our review of our current hotel.

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Today I went to see the dentist in Bangkok. I had my teeth checked out and did a cleaning. Total cost was 1500 baht or about $43 USD. The dentist didn’t need to do x-rays since my teeth had no cavities and there was no visible issues but if you want a holistic view of the offerings watch this Youtube video below.

Incidentally, I went to see the same dentist as the guy in this video. My appointment was at 1:30 p.m. and I was seen at 1:32 p.m. I was taken to the chair and asked if I wanted a blanket or head pillow much like you get in business class when flying.

The procedure was nearly identical to what I get in the United States. First the spinning tool working each tooth followed by manual scrapping then the polish. The process was over in about 30 minutes. I paid using my Visa credit card and headed out. It was one of the fastest and most efficient dental visits I’ve ever had.

Steak Dinner

Last night, we had dinner at New York Steak Restaurant. This restaurant has won Michelin awards the past few years so we were eager to try it and it did not disappoint.

I had an authentic Japanese Wagyu steak which I believe was rated at A4. The wife had an Australian 8 oz called “Little Joe Tenderloin” and both steaks were amazing. We complimented the meat with green beans, steak fries and broccoli.

A fancy dinner at a Michelin rated restaurant will run you about 9000 baht or $250 USD.

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The fastest type of growing tourism around the world is medical tourism. Healthcare in the United States has turned into a total nightmare on so many levels that even the recent assassination of United Health CEO has everyone asking questions on how to fix the healthcare mess.

I don’t have an answer for America’s healthcare mess but for me, the solution has been to travel to Thailand and get excellent affordable care and service in Thailand at Bumgrungrad hospital.

Today I started the day early to conduct a full detailed healthcare analysis to determine if there is anything wrong with my health.

I checked in this morning to start my testing and examinations. The check in area was impressive and it featured people from all over the world being check in. I clearly saw people from India, Middle East, Europe and even a few Americans checking in to get healthcare service here.

For a list of services and packages you can click here.

Check In

There are two check in areas, the first is on the 10th floor and that’s where you present your identification, do initial paperwork then move up to 11th floor where the medical check in takes place (image below).

Fast Service

The most impressive thing about the hospital is the speed of service. My appointment was at 8 am but I showed up at 7 am. I waited 10 minutes then answered a short questionnaire about family medical history. I was handed a numbered fob that vibrates the way some restaurants do when you wait for a table (see image below).

Conveyer “Belt” System

Room 1

The way the process works is you are taken from room to room and each station does some type of examination. The first room below is initial weight, height, blood pressure, temperature and blood withdrawal.

In this room I also did a quick eye test and a color blind test. They took five vials of blood here. By 7:43 I was heading to the locker room to change into a hospital smock.

Room 2

The second room is the EKG room which takes about 5 minutes then back to locker room to put running shoes on.

8:03 am

Room 3

The third room has a treadmill and a machine with wire spaghetti attached to it. The nurses hook me up to dozens of wires and I looked like a fully harnessed horse. I step on the treadmill. it starts slow but speeds up and ascends. The treadmill goes higher and faster but this horse can hold his own.

8:30 done with heart stress test and results are good.

Room 4

The nurses lead the horse to water and make him drink and drink, next up chest xray.  I walk into the room with a beast of a machine. The technician makes me hug the machine and positions me to take some chest x-rays. The process takes 3 minutes and I’m done.

I am told to drink more water, next up ultrasound.

Room 5

I lay down and am slathered with gel on my stomach area. The Doc spends lots of time moving the mouse looking device all over my abdominal cavity. Finally moves down to my bladder area and says she can’t scan it properly because I haven’t taken in enough fluids. I am told to go eat and drink and come back later.

Room 6 (Cafeteria)

9 am – breakfast

I am escorted to the breakfast area where I have two coffees, one glass of orange juice, two 6 oz bottles of water and some fried rice, three small pasties, and some chicken breast.

9:30 a.m. – Back to Room 4.

With a full bladder, the ultrasound takes 3 minutes but I had to wait 20 until the technician is finished with other patients. Remember this is a conveyor belt and there’s no slack time for bladder slackers like me.

10 am

Room 7

I sit down at an eye station, the one that puffs air into your eyes to check for the pressure. I then slide onto the station where the eye doc carefully looks at my eyes. Everything checks out (for my age).

Room 8 (waiting area)

After finishing the conveyor belt, I am finally taking to a large waiting area. Here you get to see the scale of the sheer volume of people being fed through the system. It is all fast, efficient and affordable and the U.S. healthcare system could learn a great deal from how they do things here. At no point did I have to wait for nurses to call insurance companies or their intermediaries to find out if something would be covered. The price of everything for this bundle of tests was fixed.

Room 9 (final boss)

It feels like a game and I’ve passed through all the bosses and now must meet my final match, the ultimate final boss, the main doctor with my results.

The doctor sits me down and he turns a large monitor screen and walks through dozens of screens with all my results. Everything is good except for a few minor deficiencies such as vitamin D3, B12, Folic Acid, Omega 3. The doc tells me to exercise more, don’t eat refined carbs and try to shed some pounds. Overall I am in very good health but could improve.

Recommendations:

1. Vitamin D3 – 5000 iu / day
2. Vitamin B12 – 500 mcg / day
3. Folic Acid – 500 mcg / day
4. Omega 3 – 1000 mg / day
5. Vitamin B3 – 500 mg / day
6. no refined carbs – rice, pasta, bread
7. eat lean proteins 3 to 4 oz.
8. do yoga 3 to 4 times per week
9. Exercise daily – avoid running (ruins knees).

If you want to see the process in more detail, I suggest you watch this YouTube which initially gave me the idea. While the hospital is different, the process was very similar.

Cost

The total cost for all these tests was about $1600 and it all took less than 4 hours. The same tests in the U.S. would have costs tens of thousands of dollars and taken months to schedule. There would be endless arguments with health insurance companies about the necessity of such tests and endless back and forth between doctor, nurse, insurance companies and intermediaries, no thanks, I’ll fly to Thailand instead.

Complimentary Bag of Rice

As an added bonus, I did receive a complimentary bag of rice but ironically, my doc said I should avoid carbs including rice.

After the hospital we went out to eat lunch at a Thai restaurant named Charlie’s Kitchen and the food was amazing.

Pad Thai and calamari featured above and stir fried chicken below.

The cost of each plate was about $5.00. Yes FIVE dollars for the entrees.

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We started our day today looking at an apartment to get an idea of the cost of living in Bangkok. We took a look at an apartment in the Asoke area. Below are shots of the facility.

The master bedroom below has a nice view of the city.

Second bedroom below.

Below is the guest bathroom.

Here is the kitchen area features a washer & dryer with fridge and cooking area.

This 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment with a sleeper sofa rents for 35000 baht and is about 65 sq meters. The internet will cost about 600 baht, electricity for moderate use is 2000 baht and water is 200 to 300 baht. The monthly living cost for housing will be 35000+600+2000+300 = 37,900 baht ($1100 USD/month).

This particular apartment is near the train station (see below) which provides access to many parts of Bangkok. An observation I made is that the train and stations are kept very clean. There isn’t a single piece of trash or plastic in the image below nor on the train.

The downside to the train in Bangkok were the huge crowds. The image below I was only able to take after a whole bunch of people exited at a particular stop as my arms weren’t free the minutes before this photo was taken.

Chinatown

We took the train to Chinatown in Bangkok and I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting a vibrant scene of vendors selling their wares, the area filled with the aromas of authentic street food but most of the shops were closed and there seem to be quite a few empty retail sites. We went on a Sunday so perhaps that was bad timing or perhaps Chinatown here is dying a slow death like most retail around the world.

After our visit to Chinatown we took a Grab back to our hotel area. Grab is the “Uber” of Thailand and most of South East Asia. We’ve had hit or miss success with Grab. Sometimes the drivers will randomly cancel our car request after they have accepted. Most of the time, the Grab app will tell you a car will arrive in 8 minutes which usually means 16 minutes. It was actually rare that the Grab car arrived within the estimated time. I don’t blame Grab or the drivers, the traffic here is terrible and I think the algorithm used to estimate time is using traffic free time distance instead of factoring in traffic.

We had lunch at “The QUAD” which appears to be a food court inside an office building. I had an amazing chicken curry and wife had river prawn pad Thai.

After lunch, we couldn’t resist getting another foot massage due to being on our feet all day. The cost in this higher end area though was 300 baht but it was also for 1 hour and we left the massage center feeling like butter.

Great food, great service and lots to do. Tomorrow will be an exciting day so stay tuned…

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After a butt busting 30 hours worth of flights and travel we made it to Bangkok, Thailand. First impression is that the land of smiles really deserves that moniker.

Thai Airways

We flew from the U.S. to Singapore on United and we don’t have many nice things to say about United so we’ll skip that part and move on to our flight from Singapore to Bangkok on Thai Airways.

Thai Airways had great service and great seating. Our plane was mostly empty so we had plenty of attention from the flight crew on our journey. Interestingly, the airplane seats here feature a foot rest that provides comfort for the shorter stature traveler.

Food on the plane was what you’d expect on an airplane but there were several options and the food was hot and tasty.

Bangkok

There is so much to Bangkok that writing anything feels like an injustice. We spent the first two days getting off of our 12 hour inverse jet lag. Night is day and day is night for us now and it’s been rough adjusting but we are almost there. We took the opportunity of our “down” time to get an amazing massage at our hotel spa. A 2 hours massage cost about $120 and included aroma and oil therapy and use of the sauna.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

We spent a good amount of time on Saturday visiting the Chatuchak weekend market. The flea style open market is huge and has all sorts of items for sale and very low prices. We picked up some silk scarves, elephant pants, bowls, pillow cases, spices, clothes and we ate some tasty food. Most items weren’t more than 100 baht. There are plenty of videos on YouTube about Chatuchak so check them out if you want to see more.

We took advantage of the endless massage services at the market and got an amazing foot and leg massage for our sore legs and feet. The cost was a whopping 100 baht ($3 USD). We tipped on generously.

MBK Shopping Mall Center

After Chatuchak we went over to MBK mall which is a multi-story mall featuring just about everything under the sun.

We ate lunch at a Michelin rated restaurant inside the mall and the food was quite good.

We bought a few items at the mall including some Korean face creams and I picked up a fake mini iPhone which is actually an Android phone cloned to look like an iPhone. As a gadget enthusiast, I just had to pick one up and experiment with it.

Traffic

The main drag about Bangkok so far is the traffic. Its bad – end of story.

Heat & Showers

It’s fairly hot and humid in Bangkok. Every time we go out we end up drenched in sweat so we return to our hotel and take a shower and change clothes. I’ve gone through 6 changes of clothes in 2 days but fortunately, the hotel offers laundry service and there are laundry service businesses all over our hotel. It’s fairly cheap to do the laundry and it’s only a 1 day turnaround.

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