For my recent trip to Bangkok, we decided to shack up at Novotel Bangkok Platinum because we’ve heard good things about it from friends. Also, because it is just above Platinum Mall, it is really so convenient when your sole agenda is to shop.

Getting there
If you’re not into taking cabs from the airport, you could be adventurous and take the train from the airport and stop at Ratchaprarop station. However, unlike Baiyoke Sky, you’d need to walk a fair 15 minutes to the hotel (which involves going up an overhead bridge and crossing roads) but it isn’t all that bad!

One tip: when checking-in, try to request for a non-corner room. I’ll show you why. We’ve had the pleasure of staying in both a corner and non-corner room, and it makes all the difference in the world!

We first got a corner room but due to a fault with the air-conditioning, we got shifted to a non-corner room at a higher floor! All amenities are the same so I’ll get to that later, but I’m just gonna show the rooms first!

Corner Room

This was our first room. Despite the comfy king-sized bed, it was rather small. The bathroom was hidden in behind a door.

Also, there’s this arm chair, which was also cozy – but you’d prefer the one in the non-corner room.

Non-corner Room

By the time we got a new room, it was already night time, so no more natural light when snapping these photos (boo!) But check out how much more space a non-corner room has!

And a glass-wndowed bathroom! Those of you who have read my previous hotel reviews would know I’m deeply in love with glass windowed / open concept bathrooms so this was a real PLUS. So much love for this room.

One more thing to love: these lights at each side of the bed are so convenient for a late night reader like me

Also, check this out. What was only an arm chair in the previous room, is now a sofa in this room:

(Mini desk can be rotated to be a coffee table. How versatile!)

Other side of the room:

View when I wake up on our third morning there:

Bathroom

There wasn’t a tub, but with the glass windows, it was enough to make me happy. There was a rain shower and a normal shower:

And a sink + mirror:

Toiletries (love the packaging!):

And towels that can be replaced daily if you’d like it that way:

And if you require anything else related to personal care, you can always call the Housekeeping for it:

Where’s the toilet you ask? Well, it’s tastefully hidden behind a close door in the bathroom!

Room Amenities

Amenities in the room were pretty satisfactory. Bottled water is replenished daily and there are also other chargeable drinks/snacks in the pantry area.

Beer anyone?

Condoms sitting comfortably with packets of food, heh.

There are also “practical” amenities such as the safe:

Slippers, iron and ironing board:

p/s: the bathrobes are so comfy and are a must when the AC gets too cold!

Room Service Menu
It’s a rare occasion where we didn’t have the need to order room service in the middle of the night (because in Bangkok you don’t really go hungry) but here’s the full room service menu for your reference:

Breakfast Area

Here’s where we had our breakfast during our stay: at The Square

Here’s our table and the decor at our side of the restaurant:

So sorry but we didn’t take any food photos, but rest assured the breakfast buffet is more than satisfactory. Worth waking up early for

In conclusion
What draws me most about staying at Novotel is the hotel staff. I haven’t seen hotel staff so friendly and genuinely kind and oh-so-smiley since our stay at Metadee Resort in Phuket. And I think the staff at Novotel took the phrase “service with a smile” to another level. They are always making small talk with us whenever we get back to the hotel. It felt like coming home

Novotel Platinum isn’t perfect, but the genuinely friendly staff makes up for it.

With that, I give it..

Just came back from my third Bangkok trip (in two years) and would just like to share snippets of the trip. This is something new for me as I typically blog about a specific topic at any one time, so here goes!

1) Red Head Alert

For the first time ever, I ‘got my hair did’ while travelling. I get nervous each time I do something to my hair even with my usual stylist, so you can imagine what I must have been feeling getting my hair done in Bangkok. To make it worse, I was extremely busy that week before leaving for my trip, so I didn’t really have time to decide what I wanted to do. So colouring it a shade of red is something completely impromptu.

I got it done at Moga Hair Salon at Siam Paragon (they also have a branches at Terminal 21 and Central World) and am pretty happy with the result!

p/s: Do ask for this stylist named J. He did my hair and I’m pleased with it!

2) Foot Massage

Another first in Bangkok: a foot massage! This was done on our final evening there, and it was such a sweet, sweet relief after days of hardcore walking. 90% of whatever discomfort there was previously were gone! Well-worth the 200 Baht for the hour

An embarrassing incident happened towards the end of the session. I was told by my masseuse to turn around and sit on the foot stool so she can massage my neck and shoulders. Somehow over the hour that I was seated, the back of my dress had somehow folded up and rode itself up. So when I stood, I was exposed to at least 6 people, to which I said a loud “whoops!” to and quickly sat my butt down on the foot stool. So that was.. embarrassing huh?

(Aside from this massage, we also went for a Spa session on our second day. Let me decide if I’m gonna do a separate blog post on that)

3) Failed Ombre Nails
I’ve known exactly what nail design to have way, way before this Bangkok trip. But alas, I was too ambitious (and hopeful). It should have been a sign when there were whispers on how to do it after I showed them this photo:

It should also have been a deterrent for me to change my mind and switch to another design when they didnt have the pastel blue I wanted. But I gave the girls a benefit of my doubt. And that, my friends, is how I ended up with these nails:

While these, at a glance may seem like nice funky nails, it is not really. Once you know what I was really going for. But oh well, at least I tried!

4) Shopping

Needless to say, a trip to Bangkok = shopping paradise. And these are my hauls:

And here’s me wearing two more additions to my weird headgear collection:

Which do you prefer: the quirky cat hat or the pretty flower crown?

5) Food!

Apart from shopping, Bangkok is also a synonym for food central. Too many photos of food to be posted up here, but here’s a few:

Coconut ice cream with toppings – a MUST when shopping in Chatuchak.

The food court at Platinum serves really, really decent pad thai.

Mango sticky rice. What’s not to love?

And to end it all, on our final night, this was the finale of finales: a massive street food feast!

You can read more on Bangkok street food in one of my older blog posts!

That’s it for now! Perhaps I could do bite-sized snippets on my previous travels too!