Your First Bangkok Hotel

The replies to the Bangkok Hotel and Ambassador threads got me to thinking about the first hotel I ever stayed at in Bangkok. The year was 1977. The hotel was the Thai Song Greet. The rate was, I think, 20 baht.

I wrote this about the place some years back:

The Thai Song Greet hotel was just one of many similar places you

could find around Bangkok (and much of Asia) right through the 70's.

This one became popular with budget travelers primarily because Tony

Wheeler gave it prominent mention in "South-East Asia on a

Shoestring"; probably because it was so close to Hualamphong, just a

few steps away on the north side of Rama IV. It closed years ago, a

victim of urban renewal in the vicinity of the train station.

The ground floor had a restaurant that always looked like a jumbled

mess, dominated by a great wok with a roaring fire underneath. The

cook was a tall and large Chinese man who wore massive grey walking

shorts and a wrinkled white singlet. He cooked up a variety of foods,

including eggs and toast for travelers who couldn't stomach noodles

for breakfast. I have fond memories of watching him make coffee using

that long filter that looks like an old gym sock.

Up one flight of stairs was the hotel's reception desk. On the wall

behind the desk was a board full of padlocks and keys. After you'd

paid in advance you were given a padlock and matching keys along with

your room number. You used the padlock to secure your room; on the

inside at night and the outside when you were out.

Most of the rooms were up more flights of stairs. Each room had a wash

basin and mirror just outside the door, in the corridor. Inside the

room was a bed covered by a single sheet and a thin blanket. Above was

a noisy ceiling fan. A door in the back opened up on a bathroom with a

toilet and cold water shower.

The ceilings in the place were very high, three or four meters. The

walls were concrete, but the concrete part only went up two or three

meters. Above this was a chain link partition. I suppose this allowed

for better air circulation, but it also allowed for terrific noise circulation;

the disadvantage of which soon became clear.

I first arrived in Bangkok on a hot Summer night in 1977 on a flight

from Rangoon. I made my way to the Thai Song Greet and by the time I

arrived I just wanted some sleep. I stepped out of my room to brush my

teeth and wash my face in the basin when a spidery "lady of the evening" jumped up on

my back, locking her arms around my neck, her legs around my chest,

her mouth parroting in bad English all the wonderful things she was

prepared to do for me that evening. I finally pried her off my back and sent her

back to her cackling colleagues who spent the entire night telling

jokes and giggling out loud.

I never again stayed at the Thai Song Greet.

It's interesting to note that time (1977), Tony Wheeler's first choice

for budget accommodation was the Malaysia, famous for it's traveler's

bulletin board.