Modern Bangkok hotel near the subway - Kitzio House

OYO 137 Kitzio House offers a very reasonable price and location for a modern Bangkok hotel. It's located a short walk away from Huai Khwang MRT (subway) station. I booked it for under 800 baht in October 2019.

This hotel is part of the OYO hotel chain from India that has expanded their business to several other countries. The chain has their own booking site and app but I booked my room through Agoda because of great reviews, location and price.

To reach the hotel from Huai Khwang subway station you need to take exit 2. There's a narrow alley very near the exit to the south, so just "make a u-turn" after getting up the stairs and you will see it. It's a 200 meter walk using this shortcut. The hotel is located in a residential neighborhood with some cheap local restaurants between the hotel and the nearest 7-Eleven (250 m).

The shortcut

My room was clean, comfortable and spacious enough. I had no complaints about it whatsoever. Everything was working and the service was quick. I think this will be my go-to hotel in Bangkok in the future, especially if I'm flying to or from Don Mueang. There's an airport bus (30 baht) from Don Mueang to Chatuchak Park MRT (or Mo Chit BTS) - no need to queue for a taxi and pay more. Just switch to the subway and travel a few stops to the hotel. After checking in a few more stops to reach Sukhumvit MRT station.

Hotel website: OYO 137 Kitzio House

Modern Bangkok hotel for 500 baht - no way?

B2 Bangkok Hotel Srinakarin (or Srinakharin) can be just that. The downside is its location. The location is not great but not that bad either.

Photo from B2 website

This hotel is a part of the B2 budget hotel chain. Just like in the other B2 branded hotels, the rooms are modern and clean and the beds and showers are great. Just don't expect a breakfast.

The hotel is located in Hua Mak district near Srinakarin Road. It's mostly a residential neighborhood. There's a 7-Eleven store within walking distance (300 meters, Soi Sahakon 2 or Soi Ramkhamhaeng 52) and some simple and cheap local restaurants on the way there.

The nearest skytrain or subway station is Hua Mak airport link about 2.5 kilometers away. If you feel adventurous, you could also walk around 2 km (and cross a walking bridge) to The Mall Bangkapi pier of the canal boat service. Be warned though - the boats can be packed full in the mornings towards central Bangkok and in the afternoons/evenings the opposite direction. The mall itself is huge and a great place for shopping and eating in chain restaurants. Distance to the lower Sukhumvit area would be around 15 km.

If you're traveling to Bangkok for the first time, I wouldn't really recommend this location for you, but if you know your way around a bit, it's quite ok.

The prices for minibar were very reasonable

I think the regular weekday rate for walk-ins or on the B2 website would be 650 baht and a bit more for Fridays and Saturdays. However, you could get some great deals on booking websites. I got a room for Sunday night on Agoda for only 508 baht (May 2018), booked on the same morning, taxes and everything included. That surely felt like a steal!

Hotel website: B2 Bangkok Srinakharin Boutique & Budget Hotel

Budget accommodation and cheap restaurants near Ao Nang, Krabi

Ao Nang Beach in Krabi is one of the busiest tourist traps in Thailand, but just one or two kilometers away you can find a completely different experience.

The next beach towards west, Noppharat Thara Beach, has a different mood. The east side is developing into a tourist resort that's not very much different from Ao Nang Beach. The west side can seem almost deserted. And the part in the middle has lovely local style restaurants with prices almost as low as anywhere else in Thailand outside tourist traps and central Bangkok. Meals start at 50 baht with a relaxing atmosphere and seaview.

Chicken with cashew nuts 60 baht and Thai iced tea 30 baht

There's kind of a circular road (road number 4203 and Khlong Hang Rd from the mosque to the beach) following Noppharat Thara Beach and going about one kilometer inland. Along the inland part of road 4203 there are some decent family run budget accommodation options and more cheap local style restaurants. There are many hotels in the price range of 700 - 800 baht near the FamilyMart I marked on the map.

Nemo2 Resort, Aireen Hotel and Loma Place are almost new. Pornthep Mansion and J Boutique Hotel across the road, renamed to Pornthep Hotel 2, are older but well maintained. I have stayed in all of these places except Loma Place, and since Loma Place has excellent reviews (and it was always full) I can recommend them all. Some photos and a map are included below.

Nemo2 Resort

Nemo2 Resort

Pornthep Hotel 2

These places are located less than one kilometer from the west side of Noppharat Thara Beach and about three kilometers from Ao Nang Beach. If you don't enjoy walking too much, you can rent a motorbike for 200 baht per day or take the local songthaew (shared taxi, a white pickup) for 20 baht per trip. If you travel with a bigger group, a tuktuk won't be too expensive.

Naris Phu View Resort, Satun

There seems to be a lack of modern mid-range accommodation in Satun town, but I did find one great offering a bit out of town.

Naris Phu View Resort (sometimes spelled Phuview) is situated 17 km north of the center of Satun town, right next to the main highway to Hat Yai. The location is not ideal if you don't have your own car or motorbike, but on the other hand you can probably catch some buses or songthaews on the highway.

The resort has modern bungalows in two rows, two rooms each, with spacious bathrooms. There's also a small swimming pool, a rarity for this price. The bungalows overlooking the pool cost a bit more. The resort has very good online reviews and I had a good experience as well. The room was clean, everything was working as expected and the service was friendly.

There's a small inexpensive restaurant next door and they can deliver to the rooms. The food was great for the price but the service was a bit slow. You can also find a big Tesco Lotus shopping center 2 km to the south.

We paid around 750 baht for a double room (October 2017) directly to the resort without advance booking. Current prices on booking websites apprear to be slightly higher but still well under 1000 baht. I would definitely stay there again if driving to Satun.

Hotel website: Naris Phu View Resort

Unlimited mobile data in Thailand (really!)

Until recently there weren't any unlimited mobile data packages in Thailand. After you used your fixed amount of data the connection speed dropped to sub-3G speeds. Luckily that has changed now.

Photo: David Erickson / flickr

All of the three big operators with their own nerworks, AIS, Dtac and True, have packages with both unlimited data and unlimited or very good connection speeds. It's practically impossible to maintain an always-up-to-date list of their offerings, but I will provide here a list of prices for monthly packages at the time of writing this article (and some updates later) and links to find the packages.

AIS

300 Mbps -  1,500 baht
4 Mbps - 450 baht
1 Mbps - 300 baht

Links: Packages ; Front page

Dtac

4 Mbps - 649 baht
1 Mbps - 449 baht

(Unlimited speed currently not available for prepaid customers.)

Links: Packages ; Front page

True

300 Mbps - 1,500 baht
4 Mbps - 500 baht
1 Mbps - 300 baht

Links: Packages ; Front page to packages ; Front page

These packages should be available for prepaid customers. Postpaid customers may have different packages. A VAT of 7 % will be added to all prices. Operators also offer cheaper weekly or daily packages. To activate a package, you usually have to add credit to your sim card and dial in a code.

The highest speeds unfortunately cost more than 1000 baht per month, but that may change in the future. 4 Mbps is still quite useful for HD video and other bandwidth-intensive content.

Broken links? Incorrect prices? Other feedback? Feel free to leave a comment below and help fellow mobile phone users.

Get Google Assistant on your phone in Thailand

Google Assistant for smartphones hasn't officially rolled out in Thailand yet, but here's how you can already get it working on your Android smartphone.

You may not need one of these to use Google Assistant anymore.
Photo: NextDayBlinds.com / flickr

Google Assistant is Google's virtual personal assistant found in its Google Home smart speaker. It can answer questions, help you with daily tasks and control Chromecast and other smart home devices hands free via voice commands.

Let's start with the requirements for your phone. You should have Android 6 (Marshmallow) or newer, at least 1.5 gigs of memory, a 720p or higher resolution screen and Google Play Services installed. Supported languages are English and German, but you might get lucky with French of Japanese quite soon. You should probably change the main language of your Android if you're using another one.

If your phone meets the requirements, follow these steps to enable Google Assistant:

1. Become a beta tester of "Google Play Services" by going to Settings, Google, three dot menu, "Help & feedback", three dot menu again and "View in Google Play Store". Now scroll down and you will find the option to become a beta tester.

2. Become a beta tester of the "Google" app as well. Find it on Play Store, scroll down and you will find the same option.

3. Wait for a few minutes for the beta sign-up processes to finish.

4. Go back to "Google Play Services" (now Beta) in Play Store (through Settings, like in step 1) and update it. Or if you prefer to wait, it will probably update automatically later.

5. Find "Google" (now also Beta) in Play store and update it too (or wait).

6. Then clear all data of both "Google" and "Google Play Services" by going to Settings and Apps. Choose each app and tap Storage, "Manage space" and "Clear all data".

7. You should be finished now. Long press your home button, and the phone should open your new Google Assistant instead of the old Google (search). If not, try to open the settings in the Google app and enable Google Assistant. If that setting is not available, I guess you're out of luck then.

These instruction are not country specific. They may work in other countries as well.

I don't guarantee that these instructions work for you but they did work for me. (My phone model is Huawei Y6 II.) Follow these instructions at your own risk. It's unlikely that anything bad will happen and you can leave the beta programs later if you wish, but you may have to through the settings of your Google app again.

And lastly, this update is completely free!

Siritrang Boutique Hotel, Trang

Siritrang Boutique is a new good value budget hotel in the town of Trang worth checking out on your way to the islands of the province.

I believe this hotel was opened just a few months ago (at the time of writing). It's a budget style hotel with smallish rooms, comfortable high quality beds and bedsheets and modern bathrooms with the addition of some creative decoration.

The hotel is located near the bus station and a big Robinson shopping mall. The center of the town, on the other hand, is not very near. The distance to the train station is more than 4 kilometers.

There's a small buffet breakfast for two persons included in the room price, served in a separate small building. They served at least fried eggs, sausages, ham, Thai style breakfast rice soup or porridge, toast, fruit, juice and coffee or tea. I wouldn't expect any more for this price.

I found the hotel to be good value for money and I would definitely go there again. There's also another good budget hotel - Hop Inn - in the town with a slightly better location opposite to Robinson. It's a bit cheaper (I believe 650 baht) but a breakfast is not included.

I checked in at the hotel quite late and I was too tired to take photos of my own. All the photos I used are from the hotel's Facebook page but I can confirm that the actual rooms look as nice as the photos.

Facebook page of the hotel: Siritrang Boutique

Price: 790 baht for standard room (checked 19 May 2017)