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Hotels That Are Gone.


unit731

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Thailand.

 

What hotels have you stayed at in the past that are gone now?

 

I stayed at the Imperial Hotel on an early trip. That was a neat expensive hotel. Large open paved space in front. And this beautiful Thai gal in a white generals uniform would open door and salute everyone who walked in.

 

The Imperial Hotel is long gone.

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The "little Siam" on New Petchburi Road, so called to distinguish it from the Siam Intercontinental. The Siam was an R&R hotel, later to become notorious as a pick up place. Torn down a few years ago, as was the Siam Intercontinental, with its beautiful grounds now covered with concrete.

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My first trip to Bangkok was too many years ago that I cared to remember. I stayed at the Siam Intercontinental hotel, (the land underneath is owned by Chulalongkorn University) with its spacious grounds, including a very nice pool. I recall the rooms were regularly sprayed with insect repellant.

 

I was by the pool one weekend, when a bellboy dressed in white with a matching white cap walked around holding a white board with my name on it with a message that there was a phone call for me. The bellboy reminded me of old movies where you see similar scenes.

 

I took a lady back from the "no hands" restaurant to my hotel room at the Intercontinental where I got many phone calls and knocks on my door which I did not answer. The phone calls and knocks were for the girl to sign in as my guest. A few days later on checking out, I found an extra charge for having a guest in my room. I protested and got no satisfaction. I demanded to talk to the hotel mgr. He explained to me about the phone calls and knocking on my door but I said that phone calls and knocking scared the girl away. The mgr apologized and removed the extra charge from my bill.

 

In actuality, the girl stayed and we had a very good time. It pays to complain.

 

To this day, I regret not giving the girl money; she did not ask for money but I should have given her something in appreciation. It was my first business trip to Asia/Thailand and I did not know better since I was a "handsome" man....LOL Days later, I saw the girl again at the no hands restaurant where she joined us for dinner and she never asked me for money from the hotel stay.

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That was the old days! I wonder if there even are "no hands" restaurants now. First gal I picked up at the old Thermae was a freelancing waitress from Ubon. She took me to her home, which was in a virtual "Issan village" in Ekamai. Wooden buildings, bathed outside at the well ... I saw a dead cobra in a street, run over by a car. It was 100 baht "aw nigh" in those days, but I liked her and gave her 200. She was delighted. Went with her 4 times, before I had to go to work upcountry. That was nearly 40 years ago! :surprised:

 

p.s. Remember the dining room in the Siam intercontinental? It had padded Thai silk on the walls.

 

http://www.bangkok.c...ntercontinental

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Unfortunately, we never ate at the dining room at the Intercontinental but we had a driver who took us to an outdoor restaurant and after we finished our meal, we would walk to the curb and the driver would take us wherever we wanted to go. That was my first taste of life in the orient. I have dined at the restaurant at the Oriental hotel. Fine food, with cognac and cuban cigars afterwards. It was nice to be on expenses where the company picks up the tab! Back in the day, I met

the son of the CEO of Bangkok bank who succeeded his father as CEO and his pretty assistant at a meeting at the Erawan hotel.

 

My first experience at Thermae was late 90s or 2000s, prices were in the 1000 baht range. I recall the girl worked as a salesgirl in a dept store in the then World Trade Center and went to Thermae for extra income. Today, the ladies at Thermae are asking 2,000 or more. I also met a nice girl at Thermae who i saw a few times. She was from Issan.

 

I also wanted to meet regular girls and I got to know two, one a graduate of Chulalongkorn and the other a graduate of Thomasat. I am not in communication with the Chulalongkorn girl but I still communicate with the one from Thomasat.

 

Another interesting story is every time I come to Bangkok, I have been going to a local dentist to have my teeth cleaned. I have been doing this for more than 10 years. About two years ago, the dentist asked me, "you have lived in Bangkok for so long, how come you can not speak Thai?" I had to break the news to him

that I do not live in Bangkok. He then asked," how come you come so often? My reply was I love Thailand. lol

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My first trip to Bangkok was too many years ago that I cared to remember. I stayed at the Siam Intercontinental hotel, (the land underneath is owned by Chulalongkorn University) with its spacious grounds, including a very nice pool. .

 

Is this the one that had pretty huge grounds right next to Skytrain at Siam Square? I wandered around there a few times back in 2000 and 2001, one memorable time with a date. We sat by the pool and talked a long time. It never occurred to me then that the whole thing might be gone the next time I visited.

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My first experience at Thermae was late 90s or 2000s, prices were in the 1000 baht range. I recall the girl worked as a salesgirl in a dept store in the then World Trade Center and went to Thermae for extra income. Today, the ladies at Thermae are asking 2,000 or more. I also met a nice girl at Thermae who i saw a few times. She was from Issan.

 

That would have been "The New Thermae" then not the Old (original) one that Flash was referring to.

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Is this the one that had pretty huge grounds right next to Skytrain at Siam Square? I wandered around there a few times back in 2000 and 2001, one memorable time with a date. We sat by the pool and talked a long time. It never occurred to me then that the whole thing might be gone the next time I visited.

 

 

That was it, the Siam Intercontinental. It had beautiful grounds with several ponds. It had evening shows of Thai classical dance and martial arts (guys whacking at each other with a sword in each hand).

 

It's 30-year lease ran out and it was torn down to make way for a much needed new shopping centre. A lot of people were not happy about that!

 

http://2bangkok.com/...t-intercon.html

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I remember my first "viist" to Thailand back in '91 I think - just after a coup? Beer was cheap....very cheap :beer: I stayed the Intercontinental for 3 weeks whilst delivering an education course :sleeping: . We couldnt start "educating" until about 1:30PM and worked thru to midnite. Our students would always negoiate a taxi back from Ari (no BTS then) to the Siam - 60B was our cheapest fare :hubbahubba: . That nite we sat thru THREE red lights before we could move thru Victory Monument :surprised: . The poor driver was beside himself for taking such a low fare :dunno: .

We never told our students that we always gave 100B :santa: . The dismay on his face when he turned around for his "negotiated" fare gave way to sheer delight when we said keep the change :hug: . Priceless.

The other memory I have is coming back from Patpong in a somewhat drunken state and kicking off my favourite 10 year old runners. Inadverntly they landed in the "Please Clean My Shoes" basket :o. I noticed a slight difference in colour the next day and realized my error :nono: . Now that shoe cleaner deserved a 200B tip but I could never find him :shocked:

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February 1991 coup - the military overthrew the openly corrupt government of Chatichai Choonavan. The military appointed a civilian PM, Anand Panyarachun, whose anti-corruption campaign made the government very popular. However, after an election the next year, the new coalition government appointed one of the coup generals as PM. This touched off huge protests.

 

As to tipping, I usually do - and even a 10 or 20 baht tip is still greeted with surprise and a wai. Thai passengers must really be cheap charlies.

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