Khon Kaen

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Saen Samran

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  • Klang Muang Rd. 55-9
     Khon Kaen, Thailand
    043-239611
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On Teakwood and an Arbitrary Guesthouse

  • November 8, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
On Teakwood and an Arbitrary Guesthouse

Location, Location, and Location

In MBA courses is taught that the three most important conditions for a business success are: Location, Location, and Location. Accordingly, Klang Muang Road, the second street eastern from Khon Kaen’s bus terminal hosts several guesthouses. Due to the large number of people crossing this transport hub usually it is difficult to find a place if arriving during the late afternoon.

Yet, there are a number of worthy options. The popular Saen Samran Hotel is at Klang Muang 55-9, and offers fan single rooms from 150 to 200B. The renovated Roma hotel asks for 230 to 400B, the Khon Kaen Hotel 500B, and the Pongin Mantion 200 to 350B, all of them are along Klang Muang. The Rossukond Hotel is at the Glang Muang and Prachasamosorn junction and asks for 550B.

Saen Samran

Always seeking for points of historical interest, I approached Saen Samran, the oldest guesthouse in town. Accordingly, it occupies a traditional Thai teak house. Thai towns are characterized by low rows of shophouses many of them built of teakwood. Shophouses are two or three storey structures, where the entrance level is dedicated to commercial activity, while the upper floors are used as the living quarters of the owners.

Many of the older buildings in town that are not dedicated to administrative or religious tasks enter this category. Nowadays forbidden of being logged in Thailand, teak was a popular building material in the past. Many buildings have survived and many are being built with trees brought from Myanmar. Teak is popular not only due to being native of the area. It can be worked easily and its oils provide protection from weather and termites. Saen Samran occupies a modified shophouse in which the ground floor became a reception area and lobby while the upper ones house the guest rooms.

The lobby hosts the reception, a television set, a few coaches and a noticeboard; the staff is somewhat unhelpful, but that is a secondary issue: it is very easy to wander around Khon Kaen.

Most rooms are in the second floor, away from the noise by the entrance, and they have been arbitrarily divided into big and small rooms, the small ones cost 150B while the others 200B per night. Despite that, all the rooms are roughly the same size and include a bed, a fan and a big but basic bathroom with a cold-water shower; the corner rooms have two windows instead of the regular one. Not all of them have electric sockets available, thus if in need of charging electronic gadgets then check that out before signing for the room. Since it is the best-known place among the inexpensive guesthouses, try to check-in early; otherwise, it would be probably full.

As mentioned above, beyond being in a beautiful house, another advantage of the Saen Samran is its location: Klang Muang is one of the main avenues in the city. It hosts a lively Night Market offering the best of Isaan and a day market is located nearby. If all these weren’t enough, there is a Seven Eleven branch practically across the road as well as several internet kiosks.

From journal The Land of Orphan Toasters

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