My hotel
I knew one thing about the hotel I need to stay at: Elephant nature park offers free shuttle pick up within old city Chiang Mai. That was my only criteria when I started planning.
Literally, this is how I picked my hotel. Google Maps. Randomly clicking on hotel icons and checking out websites... trying to find something affordable. I stumbled across
Bodhi Serene; marked it down as a maybe, continued clicking. Eventually I kept coming back to it. Ultimately, I booked it.
If the first best decision was to go to Elephant Nature Park, the second best decision was booking this hotel.
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| They picked me up from Chiang Mai airport. |
I didn't fully appreciate the location of the hotel until I got there. For starters There is a 7-11 right across the street with ATM's. And, a short walk to the end of the block there is a western union currency exchange booth. Both of these came in very handy during my stay.
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| Yellow building on the left is a currency exchange booth, just a short walk to the end of the block from the hotel. |
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| Having a 7-11 just across the street was really convenient. |
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| gives an idea of just how excellent of a location this hotel turned out to be. I didn't know about the McDonald's though |
Also this hotel is walking distance from the Saturday and Sunday night street markets and so many Temples. I'll get to that in the next post.
From the road, Bodhi Serene doesn't look like much. It's very easy to miss, perhaps more like the back service entrance with the exception of some potted flowers near the door. Once inside though you are transported to a most wonderful place. It's not just quiet here... but peaceful.
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| open air hotel; main lobby |
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| view of the courtyard from my balcony |
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| seating area by pool and bar/restaurant |
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| breakfast area. |
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| Breakfast was included, it was a full buffet style with omelet station. Food was excellent! |
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| relaxing poolside with a bottle of Chang beer. |
The staff was very friendly and helpful. From housekeeping, to front desk to the wait staff. Everyone went above and beyond to help this fish-out-of-water American out. I expect a certain level of service and attentiveness when it comes to the hospitality industry. It was how I was trained working in restaurants. If you are going to represent the hospitality service, I expect you to meet those standards. But within that expectation I'm pretty easy; certainly I'm not an elitist or high end snob. Bodhi Serene easily checked off all of my expectation boxes.They watched my bags after check out so I could run out for a bit. Kept an eye out for my shuttle. I loved this hotel.
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| Lunch: BLT and fries with an ice cold Leo beer. My personal fav while in Thailand |
The exchange rate is very good from Baht to US dollar.
A large bottle of Leo beer was 86 Baht... or less than $3!
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| Coconut ice cream served in a coconut refreshing on a hot day! |
How were the rooms?
As you can see from the pictures, the room is quite spacious. The bed is a little firm. The bathroom could use a touch up. They give complimentary bottles of water. The room is stocked with complimentary coffee and tea, and there a few cold beers and other bottle water and even a kit-kat bar in the mini fridge (for an additional charge mind you) Wifi was great the entire time. Do your research on bathroom etiquette in Thailand. unlike in the states, toilet paper is not flushed down the toilet, instead it is deposited in the small white basket next to the toilet to deposit any used TP.... also there's a bidet if you need. FWIW the shower had hot water and good pressure.
Next Up: my first night in Chiang Mai
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