Back to my place after spending 8 days at Giotto's
I am really sorry for writing mmy report late Giotto as after coming back to my homeland lots of pending works were in line to be sorted out so I thought that as i have to do some brain storming for writing some reports and have to re-arrange my memories so I preferred taking some time so that I can write my experiences with peace of mind and I will like to touch on different topics of interest with time .
I met a few ISG members during my stay there as well and really had good time of my life there and I hope that Giotto and his staff also did enjoy my stay too as i did.
Take care
Paranormal, Supernatural, Superexcellent: Livingstone's Lodge on Suk 33!
Gentlemen:
Having just returned home from a four-night stay in BKK, all four nights of which were spent at Livingstone's, I am happy to provide you with a full account of my experiences and impressions.
Overall, the Lodge truly does deliver all that it claims, and is rumored, to do. Quite simply, the ambiance is idyllic, the service outstandingly good, the location excellent. I'd been to Thailand six or seven times over the past four or five years (if arithmetic serves), and never once derived as much enjoyment from my holiday as on this, my first time at the Lodge.
Most impressionably, it was Guido's civility and grace that set the tone for my stay. An unexpected delay in my flight plans didn't fluster him a bit: all my emails regarding reservation dates were answered promptly, personally (not by form letter), and in an eminently civilized, decent way. Other hotels (yes, I did explore other options before settling on Livingstone's for this stay) either answered my emailed booking requests with what amounted to form letters, or (in one case) failed to respond at all. Small a thing as it may seem, the difference in attitude betokened by personalized, timely responses to a customer's emails is quite something, really.
In person, Guido and staff were no less welcoming. The very warmly offered welcome, the handshake, the offer of any desired help, all these things could not have been improved upon. Is Guido perhaps the world's greatest hotel manager? I certainly wouldn't bet against it!
(And by the way, to a poster who was inquiring here whether Livingstone's allows outside guests: I was initially a bit baffled by the fine print at the bottom of my check-in form prohibiting visitors. But before I could even get round to asking, Guido himself explained to me that "If you should accidentally find yourself not alone one night . . . it's no problem . . . there are no joiner's fees . . .")
"Accidentally," then, might very well emerge as a leitmotif of your Livingstone's visit, as it did of mine. "Up to you," as the BG's say.
If all this sounds perhaps a bit too "gushing," consider if you will that I did not (and will not!) ask for a discount on the basis of this submission. I wanted to be able to write about the Lodge honestly, forthrightly, with an unbiased (unbought, if you like) account of my first, brief stay there. Asking for money back on my bill would have skewed the attempt in my conscience.
In that same spirit of candor, I will, with some hesitation (if only because it seems ungenerous), point out a few minor flaws. There was no soap in my bathroom when I checked in. Shampoo, yes; and even conditioner (in small bottles), but no bar soap at the sink. A quick run down to the corner convenience shop took care of that, but it does seem an unfortunate oversight, still, for a hotel billing itself as above the ordinary not to provide something so essential.
My room safe proved impossible to operate according to the instructions provided (which is the red key? they all look the same! or do I simply need new glasses?), but this small problem proved equally unimportant in the end.
Also (and I add this half tongue-in-cheek, half seriously), there seemed to be a ghost in my room.
Lest I be mistaken for a loon, no--I do not normally encounter ghosts. I'm not that sort of fellow.
But immediately upon checking in, when the bellboy flipped on the bathroom light for me, I registered the presence of a young woman standing just to the right of the mirror. Just as suddenly, she was gone. It didn't scare me. If anything, I was baffled. Because this can't be, doesn't make sense. There was a woman standing there, for a fraction of a second, I felt her presence, half saw her, and just as suddenly, she was gone.
Had I been drinking too much? Too little? God alone knows, I suspect.
Two nights later, as I approached the bathroom, I was suddenly startled, just as though someone had unexpectedly been standing there, waiting for me. You know that "sixth sense," that feeling you get, when someone is watching you? And unmistakably, it was a woman, a young woman, Thai, I think, who was just as suddenly NOT there. Rather an odd sort of thing to happen.
Happily, I'd packed a crucifix in my shoulder-bag (no, this is not a joke; I really did; the Catholic past dies hard) and so . . . well, who knows?
In summary:
Livingstone's ranks
A+ for atmosphere
A+ for location (I would have preferred a lower-numbered soi, initially, but had the best few meals of my life at the Robin Hood--lamb chops to die for!--right round the corner from the Lodge, and then discovered the superexcellent Villa Market, where you can get pate de fois gras, Russian vodka, Vegemite, and a thousand other imported goodies)
A+ for service, with a special nod to Guido
with a few points subtracted, candidly, for
1) the absence of soap
2) the presence of a ghost, though this second point must remain essentially subjective, and cannot legitimately be blamed on the ownership, management, or staff (I suppose).
Final grade: A+/A.
Do stay at Livingstone's! It's very much worth it!
Sukhumvit Sam
