Bangkok / Krabi / Hua Hin - March 2011.

Firstly, the Flight - EVA Airways, premium economy (Elite). An excellent flight, on time departure, early arrival, seats very good, food fine, service good and baggage out early - a great start!

Transferred to the Shangri-La, normal deluxe room but with Golden Circle Jade benefits. From check-in to check out, the service and staff were great. An excellent room in the Shangri La wing, quite befitting the Shangri-La. An excellent evening meal with entertainment at their Sala Thip restaurant overlooking the river and a great breakfast in the main restaurant. I am one for a good breakfast and the selection, quality and service outstripped the last stay in the upmarket Kungthrep wing! We had started to relax!

Good Thai economy flights on the brief trip to Krabi, complete with snack. Once again landed early and was off the Sheraton Klong Muang. Speedy and efficient check in to a club room. The interior furnishing has been described elsewhere as sparse; to us it was spacious, stylish, in good condition and absolutely first-class with a good view to the sea from the balcony.

The weather was not kind for the whole of our 10 night stay with rain almost every day - fortunately mostly in the afternoon / evening. This did however prevent us from making plans for various outings and rather put a "dampener" (if that is not too much of a pun) on the experience.

The hotel is situated on one of the best parts of this beach and has ample restaurants and a few shops and massage places within easy reach, with a 7-11 next door. Our first experience of food at this hotel was breakfast. Oh dear what a poor selection of unappetising options, served in a chaotic buffet style by not too well trained staff. Sadly this first experience was repeated every day. There was no facility to take breakfast in the club area.

The club lounge had two PCs for internet access, (Wi-Fi, even in the club rooms, had to be paid for) offered soft drinks all day and afternoon tea and evening cocktails. A feature of the Sheraton appeared to be a shortage of staff in many areas - this was also true of the club lounge. On a particularly drizzly afternoon we decided to try the afternoon tea - managing to get a tea and coffee but the staff never managed to get to us with the cakes / snacks. Others were more fortunate however. The cocktail hour could be a similar story, with canapés being served by overstretched staff - the wait could be quite extensive. Fortunately, we were on holiday - so what the heck! I must point out that all staff were excellent - they were just too few in numbers.

This was always going to be the laid back part of our trip. We mainly chilled out by one of the pools, which were very good, lazed or walked on the beach or hired a long tail boat to visit the various hongs and Railay beach / Ao Nang. The hongs were quite spectacular and very pleasant early in the day or late in the afternoon, at other times (and especially Railay) they were overwhelmed with boats and tourists - many in large parties. Fortunately, by hiring a boat directly, we were able to find quiet or deserted beaches on the islands. Ao Nang did not really appeal so we spent no time there and I cannot offer an opinion. To be honest we were surprised by the numbers of people - Krabi was not the quiet, laid back area that we had imagined.

The best part was the peace and quiet of Klong Muang and its beach. The local restaurants served a variety of foods - Thai, European, Nepalese, Indian, pizza/pasta etc., all within easy reach (less than 100m) of the Sheraton. The location of the hotel, the hotel room and pools, the good beach, the availability of long tailed boats (or better ones if wanted) and the variety and quality of food in the local restaurants made this part of our holiday.

Our 10 day stay in Krabi was over very rapidly and we were off to Hua Hin (via Bangkok). Once again a good internal flight with Thai, a speedy transfer (about 2 ½ hrs) to Hua Hin and we were being welcomed at the Sofitel!
Our check in was speedy, most welcoming and was undertaken in the club lounge. We were then shown to a magnificent period styled room on the top floor with what must have been the largest balcony in the hotel. There were only 6 of these rooms, with magnificent views over the topiary, lawns and pool to the sea - stunning! The room and facilities were top notch - including free Wi-Fi..

Unfortunately, once again the weather was not too good - on one day the temperature struggled to get up to 19C (it's normally in the mid 30s at this time of year). Nevertheless we managed some pool time on most days; we wandered on the beach and in town and met up with an ex-colleague in the evenings.

The club facilities here were excellent. Plenty of staff - offering great service at breakfast, throughout the day and for afternoon tea and evening cocktails / canapés. Everything was plentiful and nothing too much trouble. We had one evening meal at the hotel which was very good. The restaurants did not seem to be busy, possibly because of the price and because the main town is almost on the doorstep. This was a shame because the only downside to the meal was the relative emptiness of the restaurant, perhaps less than ¼ full.

We ate out on the other evenings, returning to a great Thai restaurant slightly out of town and trying two other restaurants even further out - one on Soi 90 and the other a few miles down Soi 88. This restaurant was a great find. The Palm Bistro, with a UK chef, serving various Thai fusion dishes, through Indian specials to navarin of lamb - all at an affordable price and excellent quality.

All in all a good time in a great hotel, with great service and facilities. Hua Hin is changing rapidly, even the tuk tuks have gone up market, but was an enjoyable break. Even the check out at the Sofitel was painless.

The transfer back to Bangkok was spoiled only by the insistence of the tour company of a ridiculously early pick up. Despite being checked-in and needing only 1 hour at the airport we were deposited there almost an hour before check in opened and 4 hours before our flight (despite the driver taking the "scenic route" from the outskirts of Bangkok).

A great flight back with EVA - same good seats, service and food (I even managed to sleep - unheard of - or was it just the ridiculously early departure from the hotel).

Arrived back in the UK to temperatures similar to those in Hua Hin - somehow though it wasn't the same!

The above is a personal opinion of hotels and services experienced 3rd to 19th March 2011.

Peter