Accommodation near Ubon Cancer Centre

[Issangeorge]

Starting next week I am going to have to get 5 radiation treatments a week for about 6 weeks. Does anyone have any information on short term accommodation near the Ubon Cancer Centre for one to two months. Thank you.

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[Michael Hare]

All the best George. I know what you have to go through.

Will you have someone with you to drive to and from the Cancer centre? If so, there is plenty of accommmodation available in the area between Home Mart on Chaengsanit road and the Little Mun River before one gets to Central. Accommodation ranges from single room apartments to 1 bedroom and living room apartments to small hotels like Raapeepun and Pen Ta Hug.

Within walking distance of the Cancer Centre I am not sure.

[Issangeorge]

My wife will be with me and can drive, but if the side effects of the treatment aren't too bad I will let my wife stay home and drive myself, at least part of the time. My wife has a lot to do at home so it would be hard for her to be away for the full 6 weeks, but she will if I need her

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[Mike45]

George

Keeping a positive outlook is very important. My father is like that and I swear its his big secret to get through difficult times. I wish you best of luck and great success.

Mike

[lockman]

Good luck George. I've stayed at the ??mansion across from wrong way cafe. it was OK, and good car parking.

[SantiSuk]

Lockman is talking about "Phadaeng Mansion". Probably the no 1 value choice in central Ubon and I highly recommend if you want to be located close to central facilities, with the Ubon falang bar, Wrong Way cafe, across the road and other mainstream restaurants nearby. Typical clean basic value Ubon mansion. Hard beds but large and good size room. Very clean. Free WiFi (works well) and TV has a few English language programmes (fewer than a year ago I regret to report - no point using it to watch football now). Aim off a daily room rate of 500 baht (includes instant coffee and Chinese donuts only for breakfast). Used often by us Hash House Harriers.

So that's your basic marker value hotel in central Ubon. It would be a 15 minute drive from the Cancer Centre out of main rush hour (2 to 3 times that in rush hour). Ubon Cancer Centre is on Line 2 songthaew route which passes down Chayangkul and therefore passes within 5 minute walk of many central Ubon mansions and hotels.

Other choices in central Ubon (just a selection)

"Phatumrat Hotel". You are probably not going to want to pay "Sunnee Hotel" 5 star prices but Pathumrat on Chayangkul is a good value hotel rather than mansion. Slightly faded but OK and probably better facilities (more TV, restaurant, bar, soapie-as-famously-used-by-Pol-Pot etc). Aim off daily rate of 900 ish baht. I have not stayed there for 3 years mind. 10 minute drive out of rush hour. Also on Line 2.

"OutsideInn". Probably too far for you - east side of Ubon and a 20 minute drive from UCC. Brand new run by young American guy ("Brett") and his engaging wife. Nice atmosphere boutique hotel/ mini-mansion fusion. Quiet (nice quiet!) but plenty to walk to including TC Kitchen falang bar (10 mins). Clean good sized rooms with imported soft beds and satellite TV (I'm guessing it has better English language coverage than anything in this price range). Better bathrooms than the average Ubon Mansion. Have not stayed yet but have looked into rooms and spent a nice evening there with the Hash. Aim off 600 baht dailyrate or 850 for a bit more luxe. Incs falang or Thai breakfast which most mansions do not. Recommend you at least try it.

Other standard good value Mansions around the 400 to 600 baht daily rate: "Fundee Mansion" off Chayangkul. 10 minute drive - walkable to Big C and many cheap eateries: "Wangthai Great Hotel" (sic - read 'Mansion'!). Near Fundee. Recommended by one of our hashing crowd who stayed in Ubon for 2 months as good value; think he paid 300ish a night on a weekly contract. Both are a 3 minute walk from Line 2 Songthaew route.

There are at least another 3 Phadaeng look-alike centrally located Mansions I could come up with if need-be. Probably another one has been completed by the time I get to the end of this post.

Nearer By UCC

Might be worth checking "Debua Villa Hotel" - 5 minute drive in/out of rush hour. On corner of Ring Road and Yasothon (ChaengSanit Road). Newish. Have not been but looks real nice and is well reviewed. Proper hotel. Probably in the 1,000 baht a night aim-off though. Your feedback please if you do road-test it

Yes there is a hotel within walking distance of UCC - 5 minutes walk. A cheap out of town Mansion "Nantanakan" - probably great value but zilch by way of facilities (wifi yes but English channels on TV? Doubt it. No restaurants but bound to be a bamboo hut down the road jobbie). So close it is probably full of symptom-discussing outpatients! Maybe that's why they don't want to sell any rooms on the internet (not in the English language at least).

Other pointers

All named are accessible through Agoda. Outside Inn - google "Outside Inn ThaiVisa.com" to find my hash thread for website

I expect all these have free wifi.

Expect cheaper weekly rates to be available at all these and negotiate. Ubon is well-stocked for accom and you are unlikely to be squeezed on price except during the recently passed Candle Festival. Daily rates are typically non-negotiable

Parking will be no problem at any of these

All comments free of conflict-of-interest, and hopefully bias/axe-grinding

Ubon now has a very good cheap call-up taxi service. Bye bye rip-off tuk tuks

Other falang bar/cafes "Njoy" - out on the West side - quiet but good choice for food: "TC Kitchen" - reasonably central next to "Laithong Hotel" (Four star and the only hotel I would avoid in central Ubon. "Tho Sang" is much better if you want to pay 4 star prices (Laithong's paid-for wi-fi did not work and we-don't-give-a-monkeys was the response; to be fair my comments are 3 years out of date .... probably)

Must go watch the England v Scotland football friendly now. Very best of luck. PM me your phone if you want to get more soundings. I'm off to the UK for 15 days otherwise I'd help you tour the possibilities.

[bergen]

Best of luck to you George, and you've got some very good info from SantiSuk in the above post!

[Michael Hare]

When undergoes radiation treatment at the cancer hospital one has to get there early, 6 am, to get a queue ticket. Many outpatients sleep in the rooms provided at the Cancer hospital and so they just walk along the corridors to get their queue ticket. Then one must wait 3,4,5 hours to get the radiation treatment which I think only takes 15-20 minutes. I may be wrong. A lot of waiting and waiting. So George you will have to be very patient. I doubt very much you will feel like popping into farang bars or even going shopping.

I have seen apartments in and around the Cancer hospital but I could not vouch for their standards. There are fairly decent apartments around the Huai Muang Lake which is 10 minutes drive from the cancer hospital.

[Issangeorge]

Thanks a lot for all your replys. I go on Tuesday to get all measured up etc. and hopefully will find out more information then. English TV is not important to me, since I dont

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[elwood]

George, I think maybe Michael Hare has made the most important point; that is to get there early, so you need accommodation within a 10-minute drive or so, and none of it involving early morning Ubon town traffic.

I would suggest that you and your wife take a drive around the area; there are many places of varying price levels within 4 or 5 kms of the Cancer Centre and without any traffic problems but some won't be found on hotel booking sites. Keep your eyes open and ask locals and you should find several choices.

You haven't stated the type or price level that you aim for, so I took a quick shufty at different ends of the market this morning. The first two are both in Khlang Awut Road, which is the rather busy road from which you turn off to get to the Cancer Centre (sorry if I am telling you the bleedin' obvious mate, I am just assuming that you don't know our area well!), and just 2 or 3 kms to travel.

Feung Fa Mansion - typical Thai apartment block; room with air, TV and fridge they would do a 6-weeks deal for 4,400.

Room I saw was clean, that's all I know about the place or whether it is the sort of accommodation you want.

Tel: 0812654198

Chatsuree Boutique Resort - neat, clean room, 650 per night with breakfast and free wifi; looks a nice place.

www.chatsuree.com - telephone 082 3613666 and 045 285001-2

Five minutes on the bus to the hospital from these places.

The Debua Villa that Santisuk mentioned looks nice too; again not far to travel, no traffic problems; 650 per night, free wifi, no discount for long stay but you never know, could be persuaded maybe?

(For Santisuk; friends had UK relatives stay there for a couple of nights, thought it was comfortable and good value).

If you do take a drive around, you could try Ban Tabor/Jaaramaa area also; we lived there until recently and last year had a friend stay with us while she did the daily Cancer Centre trip; walked to the bus stop every day, no problem, just about 4 kms house to hospital, and there are many accommodation buildings (used by uni kids and staff at new ring road stores).

Very best of luck, with accommodation and treatment.

[Issangeorge]

Thanks a lot Elwood and everybody else. I am making a list now and when I arrive on the 19th I will stay in one and then spend some time driving around looking. I like the long stay option best, but am willing to pay around 20,000 for 6 weeks for a nice place, but would like to keep it at 10,000 or under. English TV means nothing to me, since I don't watch TV, but good Thai TV is important for my wife. Wifi is quite important, but I think now a days just about everybody has that. If I have to get up early to get to the centre a breakfast is not important, because I would probably be gone before it was served.

[elwood]

Thanks a lot Elwood and everybody else. I am making a list now and when I arrive on the 19th I will stay in one and then spend some time driving around looking. I like the long stay option best, but am willing to pay around 20,000 for 6 weeks for a nice place, but would like to keep it at 10,000 or under. English TV means nothing to me, since I don't watch TV, but good Thai TV is important for my wife. Wifi is quite important, but I think now a days just about everybody has that. If I have to get up early to get to the centre a breakfast is not important, because I would probably be gone before it was served.

TV for the wife shouldn't be a problem at all George, as I should imagine that all the newer buildings that have sprung up in the past 4-5 years have Thai cable TV installed; she can watch it 24 hours mate!

For a 6-weeks stay, there must be a fair chance that you can negotiate a decent deal with one of the studio apartment buildings.

[Michael Hare]

I have been at work all day upcountry and just got in to read the above posts.

There are many types of accommodation within very close proximity to the Cancer centre (5 minutes driving), ranging from apartment type one bedroom rooms to more stand-alone resort bungalows. I suggest you ask at the Cancer hospital. They will know the best.

Regarding the radiation treatment. Treatment times depends on what part of your body will be treated. For example, bowel cancers may get treated in the morning, upper body cancers in the afternoon and some types in the evening.

You will be informed of this next week when you check in.

The Cancer hospital is not good on preventive practices like what one should eat and drink. They are all for chemical treatments.

If I may suggest from experience, try to eat as many vegetables as possible, go off meats for at least 6 months, no more beer, avoid all soft drinks, do not eat fried food or grilled food, instead eat boiled and steamed food. Sounds boring but in the long run you will come out feeling great.

Anyway good luck George.

[Issangeorge]

Thanks Michael. The treatment will be on my ankle (top of my foot) and it is radiation not chemo I need.

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[elwood]

"Yes there is a hotel within walking distance of UCC - 5 minutes walk. A cheap out of town Mansion "Nantanakan" - probably great value but zilch by way of facilities (wifi yes but English channels on TV? Doubt it. No restaurants but bound to be a bamboo hut down the road jobbie). So close it is probably full of symptom-discussing outpatients! Maybe that's why they don't want to sell any rooms on the internet (not in the English language at least)."

(The above came from SantiSuk's earlier list of possibles, post, #6)

My wife took a look; a/c room, plus fridge and bed linen - 3,600 per month and add 200 per person water and you pay electric.

They have cable installed but you either rent a TV from them or provide your own to use it.

Tel: 045 285863 - 081 9662599 - 081 7601731

[sirchai]

Hi George,

I'd reckon the Tokyo hotel, located at Chayaghoon rd. Coming from the Sapphasit hospital on same road, turn left at the traffic light. It's right on the left hand side.

Parking places, WIFI and affordable rates for rooms. You could take a Songtaew to get to your clinic and get back by taxi.

Guess they'll make you a good price for staying there a couple of weeks.

Should you decide to stay there, please page me, as i live right behind the hotel on a school's campus from Monday to Friday and plenty of time to have a chat.

Got a car too. Please do not hesitate to page me.

Please see:

http://www.travelfish.org/accommodation_profile/thailand/northeast_thailand/ubon_ratchathani/ubon_ratchathani/all/1709

Good luck and health!

Cheers-

Edited August 20, 2013 by sirchai

[Issangeorge]

Thanks Sirichai, I will put it on my list. Driving down Thursday, appointment is Friday to set everything up

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N my

[sirchai]

Thanks Sirichai, I will put it on my list. Driving down Thursday, appointment is Friday to set everything up

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N my

You're welcome. Got plenty of good movies to kill some time. Stay well/-

[SantiSuk]

"Yes there is a hotel within walking distance of UCC - 5 minutes walk. A cheap out of town Mansion "Nantanakan" - probably great value but zilch by way of facilities (wifi yes but English channels on TV? Doubt it. No restaurants but bound to be a bamboo hut down the road jobbie). So close it is probably full of symptom-discussing outpatients! Maybe that's why they don't want to sell any rooms on the internet (not in the English language at least)."

(The above came from SantiSuk's earlier list of possibles, post, #6)

My wife took a look; a/c room, plus fridge and bed linen - 3,600 per month and add 200 per person water and you pay electric.

They have cable installed but you either rent a TV from them or provide your own to use it.

Tel: 045 285863 - 081 9662599 - 081 7601731

Worth parking that one for others looking for short/medium lets in Ubon, when they arrive looking for a longer term set-up

[SantiSuk]

Yes Sirchai, Tokyo is fine - I have used it several times as back-up for Phadaeng but it put its daily rates up this year (from 500 to 600 for a big double) whereas Phadaeng is still 500. Phadaeng (only 200m away) is better IMO, but maybe IssanG would get a better monthly rate at Tokyo, as it always has rooms when Phadeang has sold out on popular weekends.

I see Lonely Planet has stopped referring to the voracious double boom salesman, masquerading as car park attendant at Tokyo - he on the other hand has not stopped

Further down Chayangkhun just before you get to Candle Park and on the West side of the road is the hotel that used to be called the Montana (new name anyone?) - has a huge vacuous karaoke in the front (and equally vacuous hostesses)! Rooms were exceptional value at 350 baht 3 years ago but slightly faded, so personally, having stayed there once, I always preferred the bit extra for Phadaeng.

Edited August 22, 2013 by SantiSuk

[Issangeorge]

Thanks guys for all your comnents. My treatment has been delayed so if anybody knows of a house that might be available for a couple of months (probably from mid October) let me know.

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[my friend I]

Montana Hotel is now called Bua Boutique. It would be about bt500. They have their own transport.

[cvs04]

All the best with the treatment George.

There's a resort on the same soi as the cancer centre but further down towards Chayangkun end, It's about halfway along the soi (which is quite long) on the right hand side if you're coming from the hospital. It looks nice from the outside with Isaan style buildings that are relatively new by the looks of things but I couldn't tell you anymore about it than that.

Hope this helps!