Lebua State Tower Hotel Bangkok: Hotel Review

I was looking at my Thailand picture folder due to missing it very much. I don't know, there's something about Thailand that's really captivating, well, personal truth be told, Southeast Asian countries in general. I just got back from the Philippines and actually kind of missing it (already) mostly when I remember how polite the people I met, how smily-ish they were and how they were generally nice. I literally didn't even meet one annoying person on my trip, that's the least freaking thing that I want to deal with on my joyous days!
There's something that I can't explain about the hospitality of Southeast Asian people, but I do know it feels heartwarming <3.

In this particular post, I am going to be talking about this hotel that I stayed at during my trip to Thailand back in May, OMG now you know how tardy I am with my blog posts, but you should know and MUST CARE that I have so many things on my plate sometimes sorting out travel photos and edited them could be very tiring and time consuming.

If you're wondering why I post the Garuda Indonesia plane as the first picture it's because the airplane ticket was sponsored by Garuda Indonesia, but to make everything clear, this is not an advertorial post because they only wanted me to mention them on Instagram and for one post only <3. How nicer can they be?!

As usual, flights with Garuda Indonesia are always comfortable and pleasing, not to mention, they just won this year's Skytrax's Best Cabin Crew awards and yes, they deserve it!

I love how their headphone fit my head shape perfectly, hence it amplifies the sound nicely while I was enjoying the in flight entertainment.

 In flight meals! I highly suggest choosing their chicken courses for the in-flight meals (if they have it at that moment), I've been flying with Garuda Indonesia so many times but their chicken courses comparing to the other proteins are more decent!

3,5 hours flight to Bangkok and finally arrived at Suvarnabhumi International Airport

The first thing that came to my mind was that I needed a freaking glass of milk tea no matter what it takes because as soon as I landed, Bangkok was probably on its hottest! Found this store called Mr. Cup T and this ain't bad at all, I think it's around 55 baht (IDR 18k).

I took cab to reach my destination, spent around 500 baht (IDR 175k) for the cab fare. I spent three nights in this gorgeous hotel called Lebua State Hotel located not very far from the Siam and Pratunam area. I was searching for hotels to stay in BKK and got recommended by my cousin (who I went with) to stay at this hotel and once I stalked this on the internet, I got hooked then booked!

Lebua State Tower was made famous by the movie Hangover 2 (yes that Bradley Cooper movie) where there was a scene shot on top of this hotel at their very own Sirocco Bar (keep reading).

Lebua State Hotel is a five-star establishment and along my stay, I experienced the classiness along the way. Frankly speaking, I found the hotel to be smaller than what I expected and imagined, the lobby was not this grand and large venue, nothing complicated but proper, aside from that, the ambiance was comforting and relaxing.

Check in was smooth and easy, a 1500 baht (IDR 5 mil) deposit was secured by them, since it's a deposit and if you don't take anything from the mini bar or make international phone calls, nothing will be charged.

I booked the "Tower Club Riverview Suite" and I personally asked for the high ones so that I could enjoy the facing city view, and one night cost me around $250 (IDR 2,7 mil), the advantage of booking the Tower Club was the complimentaries given by the hotels which consist of: daily breakfast for two, unlimited internet access, mini bar complimentary (soft-drinks) and access to the club lounge! All of the rooms in Lebua State Tower are basically suites, what makes each other different was the size of the area and the package you're taking. Mine was around 66 sqm in area and it's wide enough.

The living room area, you could request for the smoking/non-smoking suite.

The room was completed with kitchen area, completed with microwave, fridge, sink, coffee maker (plus point) and some other basics. I adore how clean the space was!

The toilet/bathroom area was not large, more like medium but proportional, but I loved the size of the bathtub, large enough for myself and for some (with smaller bodies) could fit for two. I must say I was quite impressed with the range of the bath amenities, technically basics but they also provided the guests with bath salts, hair brush and toothbrush (both the good quality ones, not some shitty regulars), and for the soap, shampoo and body lotion, they're using Acca Kappa.

The bedroom area was not big not very comfortable and that king size bed was just nice! Firm, but in the most comfortable way! You could request the pillow depending on your current need but as for me, the default one was good enough.

Bedroom area

 LED TV with wide range of channel options!

Peeking light

Okay the view gets promising...

I love those roman like balcony design and the view of Bangkok from the 53rd floor. Amusement!

It's not a bad view right here. Bangkok surely has something to offer.

The Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok is located just in front of Lebua and no offense but waaay shorter.

Oh ow Lipton alert!

I didn't do much on the first day as I just recovered from a very hectic schedule the previous day. I shot for some clients that week and I got so so so tired that I slept so hard on the plane. On the first day, I just wanted to spend everything in the hotel! Luckily, my cousin wasn't that hangout type of boy and he also wanted to spend the whole day in the hotel. We ended up booking a dinner reservation at The Breeze, that's even few levels above! We had dinner for two and bet people looked at us like a couple whatever don't care -.-".

Not until I arrived that I abused the scene. I couldn't stop taking pictures because this pattern was gorgeous!

...and not only that, the view of Bangkok's golden hour and the city. Couldn't think of a better spot to enjoy the view.

Dinner started around 7.30 and by the time it was so dark already it's impossible for me to take pictures and show you guys, but I ordered their set tasting menu and that cost me around 9.000 baht (almost IDR 4 mil) for one head, I don't know if the price is going to be the same, but we just chose this because they were promoting this set. The food was generally really-really good, I got around 6 courses. The dinner kicked off with amazing Amuse Bouche: Baby Tomatoes and this Zest pickle thingy...they were unique and fresh but certainly not bad. I was really impressed with their Barramundi, Black Fried Rice and their Choco Lava Cake with green tea foam and mousse! OMG seriously one of the best muthafuckin Choco Lava Cake I've had in life! If you want to have dinner here in the future make sure to order those I mentioned above. Guaranteed you won't regret.

The next day, I had breakfast at the hotel, the breakfast menu was good in general, and quite decent range of options as well, but I was so devastated because most of the times when I travel, I brought two cameras with me and I happened to insert my stupid old memory card on my mirrorless camera and for some unknown reasons, after I finished my breakfast and wanted to transfer the breakfast photos, they're all gone and the card got formatted suddenly! As much as I got mad of that, I was still very grateful that I proceed to transfer all the photos on the previous day! Fiuh...

Hence, I couldn't show you the pictures of the restaurant and the pool, but click here for the hotel photo gallery, at least I still put in a little effort to reimburse that!

And that's the only time that I had breakfast in the hotel because the next days, I just want to wake up super duper late! Talk about lazy holiday. The second day, I wanted to go shopping for I don't know what I wanted to shop but I just wanted to take a little romantic walk at the Pratunam area. There's this mall called Platinum Shopping Mall where they sell clothes, bags and fashion items, most of them were ridiculously cheaaaapppp! If you want to shop for food, you're on the right place, I must admit Thai food is on my top 3 list and their street food were just charming in the yummiest way! They had amazing crepes, Thai tea (Chaa Yen), fried chickens, fried tofu and more to dig!

For some reasons this looked like ITC Roxy Mas.

Also on the same day, I went to Siam Paragon. You might think of me as this Divo but seriously, Bangkok was on its very-very hot state and I couldn't think of a better place than air-conditioned place my skin was going to melt. Now this is where the shopping begun!

I super duper love the LG level of Siam Paragon, it's like my very own playground filled with so many exciting dining spots and snacks outlets. If you're not into fashion shopping, then the LG is where you should must be!

Siam Center located just across Siam Paragon. This is the more humble and youthful type of mall.

The night was just the perfect time to bond with the locals in Chinatown as it's one of the most famous spot for local cuisine, this area man, it literally had what I had in mind at that moment: I tried some of the food here but not that much due to all the eating I've done the whole day! I tried the very delicious crab fried rice, the mango sticky rice - must try with big sweet mango chunks -, this ginger drink with rice balls filled with red beans (not sure what Thai people call it), the lovely Pomegranate drink and bought back some snacks like Tao Kae Noi (fried seaweed) and more!

Brought back home some goodies!

The next day, I spent the whole day in Chocolate Ville - read HERE for the post - and it was a pleasant experience, right after that, had another so-called farewell dinner at Dome then continue it with few sips at Sirocco, the photo below was the Dome, it's actually indoor part of the restaurant if you prefer having your dinner inside rather than being friends with the night air. This is where that famous Hangover 2 scene was shot.

OMG MY VISIT TO THAILAND WAS SPLENDID!!! As I am typing this and think about the memories, I wanna go back to Thailand, but unfortunately maybe not this year as I have so many things on my plate right now and upcoming exciting trips I can't share to spoil, but I have to keep the secret momentum warmed up.

One thing that I love this hotel was the simplicity, as I experienced it myself, it's not exactly grand grand after I was actually there, but there's something simple, to the point and proper about this hotel and the room which were adorable to stay at, or even longer (if I have unlimited amount of money to spend). The nice view and the service were plus points, but I do put heavier emphasis on the room and I was quite impressed with what they had in store, and of course I would happily recommend you guys to stay here when you're in Bangkok. I like to travel for comfort, so I guess this hotel was more me and I don't know about you.

Special thanks to Garuda Indonesia for flying me here and once again, congrats for the win!

Lebua State Tower Hotel

1055 Silom Road

Bangrak, Bangkok 10500

Thailand

+ 66 2624 9999

Email: resvn@lebua.com

Price: $$$

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Map for Lebua State Tower

Chatuchak Weekend Market Bangkok

I feel so lucky that I get to travel a lot this year and indeed travelling is eye-opening or something you buy that will make you richer, it's like seeing sides of what a country needs to offer, either it's bad or good, again, it's eye-opening and you decide where you want to take it.

I was so lucky to be able to travel to Thailand this year! It's been the second time for me going to Thailand and I never get bored to keep on coming back here because this country, especially Bangkok, has so much to offer it's almost unstoppable. I have so many things to blog about my recent Thailand trip but I'm going to start with a visit to the biggest market in Thailand, Chatuchak Weekend Market (also known as JJ Market)! This was my first experience to visit Chatuchak Weekend Market and the story begins... now!

I stayed at the gorgeous Lebua State Tower throughout the trip and I took cab to go here, first, it's easier, second, I didn't have time to actually looked online for the public transportation route and thirdly, Bangkok was hot as fuck back then, seriously steaming hot I could melt! The cab fare was around 100 baht (IDR 30k) for around 20 minutes ride and that's relatively cheap!

First impression of Chatuchak was that it looked pretty much the same with the markets in Jakarta, stalls with umbrellas as the cover selling handcrafts, cold-fruits, flowers, but the gorge moment started as I went all the way 'deeper' because in fact, so many gorgeous things to choose, it's almost like you're spoiled with options! Food, fashion - for both men and women, kids and adults -, housewares, fragrances, leather goods, books, handmade crafts, unique but quirky items, even... pets! Just so you know the whole market was estimated to be around 110.000 square m or around 35 acres and spread around 27 sections (map available below this post).

The street food in Thailand was just uh-mazing! Cheap but so fingerlickin' good!

I found it odd that so many stalls actually sold Buddha accessories when I noticed so many written warnings NOT to buy the Buddha statues -.-".

The ultimate thirst quencher, Thai Tea (Chaa Yen) for 30 freaking baht (IDR 10.5k) only! I got so addicted to this beverage I had this literally every single day of my stay in Thailand, even few hours before the flight back, I bought one in the airport at this canteen (forgot what's the name) but NOT RECOMMENDED, so yucky! The street ones were way better!

Not far from the entrance, there was this one spot that sold coconut ice cream and the queue was hideously long, which then brought me to my personal formula: Traditional Market Stalls + Long Queue = MUST BE GOOD!

For those of you who underestimated Market street food, SHAME ON YOU this one was rocking good! The coconut ice cream was creamy and light with rich coconut flavor, presentation also awesome! Best thing of all, cheap!!! I spent only 50 baht (IDR 15k) for this! Best 50 baht ever spent!

FASHION ZONE! No, actually you can find fashion items almost everywhere! I wouldn't say that everything's cheap just because it's market, some items I found to be cheaper in Pratunam, but most of them looked like they were decent in quality and pattern, in a sense, Korean and Japanese like.

Forgot the name of this store but I actually bought some clothes for my little cousins, I guessed it was around 400 baht a piece.

I was glad that the market was clean and organized, Indonesia should learn about this.

Snacks alert! You can find these kinds of snacks all around in Bangkok, but if you think it's too far, you can go to Glodok in Kota (Jakarta), there are tons of it.

Artifical flowers looking real.

This was squid and quail eggs, truth be told not my favorite, besides high in cholesterol, the texture was a little tough and not chewy when I expected it the most.

PETS SECTION! It was heartwarming to see those cute puppies but for some reasons, heartbreaking... Anyway this was the cutest dog, everyone took pictures of this adorable creature <3.

In real life, this was also cute but in this picture it looked kinda scary actually -.-.

ANOTHER CUTESY! This dog wasn't for sale, it just happened to be there with the owner by the time, and again, so many people asked the owner to take pictures of and with this cute animal because those shoes were just too cute it melt my heart.

That "AAAAWW" moment T.T

More food shots! To be honest, I freaking love quail eggs but for health reasons, I tried NOT to consume it because the dose of cholesterol it brings is so high! It's unfair how things that small are in fact dangerous!

Right when I was about to walk out (took back the entrance to go out), I found this crepe stall located not far from it, I chose the ham and egg crepe for only 60 baht (IDR 20k)!!! The crepe was so fragrant, gooey, chewy with perfectly cooked ham and egg and lettuce, the mayonnaise and ketchup sauce were also generously given, this was good!

Accidentally found the cats during my way out, only this one actually looked at my camera!

Right after having a great time while dealing with the sun at Chatuchak, I continued by having lunch at this place called Steve Cafe, the food was really good I'm so going to write a separate post about this!

You can find this pomegranate drink almost every-freaking-where in Bangkok and for 10 baht only (IDR 3,5k)! Took away five of this back to the hotel, put 'em in the fridge, BEST SERVED COLD. Happiness is so cheap :D.

I must admit I was kinda disappointed that I couldn't find the stall that sold the fried bugs and insects, I had the urge to eat them and actually looking out, but Chatuchak was too huge, to be honest, all I did was walk, stop, shop and walk again I didn't even know where to go, but next time I am so going to have those insects!!! Okay it sounds creepy.

Overall, I had a good time in Chatuchak, the range of products sold were impressive, you just need to have the will to dig and bargain, I noticed there weren't so many shops that were actually selling the exact same items twice. I visited this store accidentally and it sold the most amazing leather bag ever, but since I didn't bring enough cash (FYI the leather bag was 20.000 baht) and I didn't have any credit card with me, I kinda regret it actually, so I guess if you like something at a particular store, just bargain and buy, sometimes shopping is always about feeling guilty, feeling guilty that you bought something (that sometimes you don't need), but it's always better than feeling guilty not buying things, regret comes later.

I also suggest you guys to wear the most comfortable clothing and by comfortable I mean something that's not too heavy, relaxing fabric and avoid using BLACK! I noticed some people actually went shirtless but I wouldn't recommend going shirtless in public. Bringing umbrella was also a good idea but for me, the most important me would be simple tees with shorts, camera, cash and water! Nuff.

I recommend Chatuchak for you who wanted to actually experience the ambiance, fun and excitement of coming to one of the biggest traditional markets in the world, certain items you can find for cheaper deals in Pratunam or Platinum but it's just the feeling of bonding with the environment that counts. I ended up purchasing not so many items, just some clothes for my cousins, some cute books, and having some scrumptious street food there, they were AMAZING!

How to get to Chatuchak Market
SkyTrain BTS get off at Sapan Khwai Station or Mochit Station MRT get off at Kamphaenpetch Station
Bus No. 3,826,27,28,29,34,38,39,44,52,59,63,77,90,96,104,408,112,122, 134,136,138,153,159
Aircondition Bus No. 2,3,9,18,19,28,34,39,44,134,145,153,510,512,513

Where to Park

• Park & Ride more than 1,500 parking space, opposite Chatuchak Market on Kamphaengpetch 3 Rd. Rate : 40 baht all day Long.
• BTS Parking Space open from 5 am-midnighr. Rate: no parking fee.
• The Marketing Organization for Farmers (M.O.F. Market). Rate: parking fee is charged by hour.

Chatuchak Market Map

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Direction map to Chatuchak Weekend Market