Floating on the Chao Praya River

On Sunday, I left the beloved Tenface boutique hotel and moved to a different hotel.  I had wanted to try Loy La Long, a guesthouse converted from a traditional teak house that was located directly on the Chao Praya river, because I was sure it'd be an interesting experience.  To add to the intrigue, the house is situated within a wat(!)  Yes, Wat Pathum Khongka.  The first night I walked in to the compound, a bunch of monks were cleaning the wat in their orange robes.  A bit odd, that -- but, bonus points for authenticity!

It was not easy finding this place on Sunday night, after a long day - the ordeal involved being dropped off on the side of the highway by a reluctant taxi driver, rejected by three taxi drivers, slogging my bag on foot to a BTS station, haggling (rather unsuccessfully) with a tuk tuk driver, wandering lost and clueless around the wat at night, and last but not least, being nearly bitten by a stray dog.  Or maybe I just thought the dog was a stray and was going to eat me.  Are you supposed to make eye contact or not make eye contact in these situations?  I hustled as quickly as possible, but all the while hoping that I showed the dog that I was innocent (not going to steal any construction materials) but also the boss (so please don't come don't you dare come near me).

Here are some snaps of Loy La Long:

Shoes come off at entrance

Stairwell - no banister

Door to my room

View from the downstairs kitchen window

Cozy, darling spot above the stairs.  You can see how far out the house extends from the bank

 Sweet views from the upstairs deck:

My room - the French balcony doors opened onto the deck

My room was really tiny but the decorations were quite fun.

I really want an accessories ladder now...

I picked the the place based on overwhelming positive reviews on tripadvisor, but I think this was an instance where the opinion of the masses failed me.  While the guesthouse was very unique and decorated in a fun, funky way, and the opportunity to stay in an authentic teak house perched on stilts on the Chao Praya river is quite "cool," for the cost and the convenience, next time I am going to a modern hotel.

It's nice to have experienced it, but at midnight with disco beats reverberating across the river from the party boats, and the squeals of kittens nearly choking each other while "playing" on the roof, and the dogs growling at each other in some kind of a show down, and the mosquitoes snacking juicily on my limbs, and at 7 a.m. with my neighbors chopping/pounding meat, I decided too much of an authenticity thing was just...well, a bit too much.