Last year I moved from my waterside condo in Prakanong to the center of downtown Bangkok. Even though Bangkok University most generously provided me with the condo, I felt sort of out in the sticks and tired of the 25-minute Skytrain ride to the foodie center of town. (It’s sort of like living at the end of the “A” train if you want to eat in TriBeCa every night.) So, I moved to Rajadamri—it was easier than trying to get used to the unidentifiable street food that still scares me. (I have a lot of people who depend on me to be “up” almost 24/7. Food poisoning is a risk I can’t take.)

I found a wonderful flat in what is known as “farang-land”—lots of towering condos owned by Thai multi-millionaires who rent to westerners like me—farangs. Everyone refers to us as farangs. I don’t mind, but the youth of Bangkok mistakenly see us as walking ATM machines. Quite frankly, to see our fellow countrymen—tourists on vacation—plying the bars and dance palaces of Silom, I can’t say I blame them.

I moved into Rajadamri Mansion. My flat had a huge terrace overlooking the Royal Bangkok Sporting Club. In the center of Bangkok, this green oasis embodies a golf course, driving range, football fields, and a real, live horse track!

We agreed a two-year lease, and I moved in, repainted everything Cinnabar red (the color of Thai lacquer ware) and filled the terrace with trees. A week later the lease was finally ready for my signature...with a few modified clauses: they could evict me with one month’s notice, and, as they planned to tear down the building to build a taller one but weren’t exactly sure when, they really couldn’t say how long I could stay. Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy—I’d already so fallen in love with the place, I’d hoped to be there until carried out feet first.

So once again I was house hunting. Once again I toured Rajadamri. There are many reasons for its popularity: one can walk to the Skytrain station in 3 minutes, to the biggest department stores in ten, and in the midst of it all is the Four Seasons Bangkok with the nicest people, a modern health club, lots of restaurants, and my favorite pool in the world.

This time I really lucked out. In the best building of them all, I found a flat of some 200 square meters (2000 square feet) with three bedrooms, five bathrooms, a living room bigger than I’ve ever had since the Docklands in London, and terraces on two sides. It’s on the 17th floor with a glorious view over the Four Seasons pool, the Royal Bangkok Sporting Club beyond, and the Chao Praya River on the hazy horizon. I’ve jooshed it up as usual: lacquered, mulberry, living room walls, a black-mirrored walk-in bar, Chinese-Imperial-yellow study, cinnabar dining room, a lemon-yellow master bedroom, and a neutral, interconnecting gallery for fine photographs (“natch”).

Oh yes, I also put in a new kitchen that looks out on a very handsome, rather classically designed building. An apartment house, I guessed.

Then, when I was at JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa in Phuket (you can read about it here), a brochure in my room revealed that the beautiful yellow building out my kitchen window was in fact the Mayfair, Marriott Executive Apartments! I had to have a look!

Well, I got much more than a look because I booked in for a two-night vacation, in my own hometown. It’s a fun idea; you should try it sometime, you get a whole new perspective on where you live.

The best news is that while 70% of the place is specifically intended for extended stays in excess of three months and is thus furnished, serviced, and managed to the high standards commensurate with its executive tenants, the management is willing to be lenient with those of us who may only be looking for a home away from home for a few days.

This means, kids, you can get a fully serviced, beautifully furnished, smooth-as-Thai-silk-managed, one, two, or three-bedroom apartment for considerably less than the equivalent accommodation in an hotel! Amazing Thailand, Marvelous Marriott!

It so happened that I checked in the afternoon of the one day a month that the management holds a poolside, barbeque buffet for the tenants.

I called two friends to join the festivities. The ex Australian High Commissioner to Canada, and the new business head of Reuters for Thailand and Vietnam did not know the Mayfair existed—I love to show residents valuable secrets! We helped ourselves to the delicious Thai dishes and admired the views.

The Sky Pool

The view east to The Conrad Hotel. A nice hotel enjoying a high occupancy rate, but not nearly as good a deal as staying here.

The view southwest: the bright lights of Silom left of center, a bit of the Royal Bangkok Sporting Club on the right, and the Skytrain in between.

After dinner I took my guests on a tour. I was feeling so proud to have “discovered” the Mayfair, I wanted to show it off. Here is the lobby:

How about this to come home to every evening?

In the morning, smiling lads appear from nowhere to fetch a cab; it’s only minutes from every center of Bangkok: financial, business, shopping, and all the greatest Thai landmarks and treasures.

Speaking of treasures, the General Manager of the Mayfair is Anne Sirikasem—the only Thai General Manager of an internationally managed, lodging establishment in the entire Kingdom. Her full first name is Suratsawadee. Sawadee is the traditional Thai form of greeting, and Anne is the absolute best greeter and meeter I have ever met. As I was showing my guests around, she introduced herself and welcomed the Ambassador, the businessman, and my native assistant with rare sophistication and charm. Diminutive in size, Anne (like the fabled school teacher of old) runs the Mayfair with an enormous heart and giant understanding, caring for her staff and her guests as though they were the King’s own children.

Here is my apartment:

The living room

The bedroom

The dining area

The fully equipped kitchen.

Is this all too good to be true? Not really but this would be a lousy letter if I didn’t have anything to bitch about. Actually I have three comments:

Too many hangers!

Now you know I’m crazy—no one ever complains about too many hangers. For years I’ve gone on about hangers, either they are not steal-able like the ones in cheap motels—I make my point by removing the closet rail, and sliding the hangers off and hiding them under the bed. Or they are so good, that one would really be a crook to even think about taking one—the hanger trouser rod of the ones in the Seiyo Hotel in Tokyo is wrapped in velvet to keep the trousers from falling off. But the Mayfair has me beat. The hangers are properly contoured wood, and steal-able, but there are so many of them on the closet rail, that I really had to make an effort to get one off. Eventually, I put six in the opposite closet so there would be enough clearance for my clothes. Unbelievable, too many hangers!

Too much water pressure!

Yes, I know the latest surveys say the one major complaint by business travelers around the world is the general inadequacy of water pressure in hotels. Well, taking a shower at the Mayfair is terrific! First of all the main showerhead is about a foot across—it rains like a typhoon. Actually, I had the same design at The Point. Glorious chrome, built in Brooklyn in 1930, but the shower was large enough that I could get out from under the rain. Not so at the Mayfair, but thinking back on it, I may have flooded the bathroom, but it was fun!

The Mayfair has a weird thing about towels.

I too have a thing about towels that many of you have read about in these letters for years. I like mine white and fluffy, but washed at least once. (Last week at the Four Seasons Singapore, I had absolutely brand new towels every change...and was covered in fluff after each bath! But I must say the quality is the best! As my late friend, Bruce Bolton, used to say, Christopher, "No good turn goes unpunished!" :-) Well, at the Mayfair, I think the maids are in some kind of a daily competition of towel sculpture....

Is this an Elephant or a Sphinx?

They actually do this to the bathmat in front of the shower on purpose!

This is what they do to the Kleenex!

But, I must admit, except for the slightly annoying artistic touches that cause me pause, the towels are white and fluffy and there are lots of them!

The Bottom Line:

The Mayfair comprises 164 apartments in a variety of configurations. Here are some choices. I was in Unit C.

Each apartment is completely equipped, has high-speed Internet connection, even three telephones (whatever they are—as I have my laptop and my pocket PC/phone/camera, I don’t even have a phone at home). Services include: round the clock staffing, business services, courier services, taxis and limos, grocery delivery (one of the best markets in Bangkok is right around the corner), laundry collection, housekeeping, room service from 6 am to 11 pm daily, and the Bistro Lounge with breakfast and full a la carte dining. There is also a health club that occupies the entire 26th floor, a covered, outdoor roof-top swimming pool on the 25th floor, and two saunas and a heated whirlpool on the same level. The basement has safe parking.

Situated in “farang-land," the Mayfair Executive Apartments are surrounded by terrific restaurants and great shopping. The BTS Skytrain is a few minutes walk, Lumpini Park is around the corner, and the dens of iniquity in Silom are one Skytrain stop or 4 minutes on the back of a motorcycle-taxi away. Here is the locator map:

Mayfair, Marriott Executive Apartments
60 Soi Langsuan, Lumpini, Pathumwan
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Phone: (66) 2 672 1234

Finally, let me know when you are planning to be here, and come for dinner, chez moi, next door. After years at The Point, I learned how to cook a dish or two. :-)

All the best,

Uncle Ted

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