Hotel Review

Hi guys, new poster here.

I'm in the Prajaktra hotel right now. I don't know that I've ever had as mixed feelings about a hotel as I do this one.

Booked it via Agoda. $100US for two nights for a standard room. Ouch.

We started out on the wrong foot. Sent an email asking them to pick me up at the airport. Nobody showed. They provide the service, or at least, there is a Prajaktra sign at the airport that you can tell has been used before, but nothing. Ended up paying 200 baht for a cab ride to the hotel.

I walk up to the front desk and ask if their email is working. They smile and enthusiastically say "Yes sir!" I then ask why they didn't bother sending somebody to pick me up at the airport, and the three of them start laughing! So I'm not happy, but they give me a wai, I return it, it was a crappy flight, and I'm just glad to get to my room.

It is a nice room. Those artist illustrations at the top of the thread are no joke... it's like something out of Architecture Digest. Got roosters outside my window, but I'm not new to SE Asia, so no big deal there. I go to check and see if they have a safe, sure enough they do, but two problems: it's located in a cabinet about three inches off the floor, so I've got to get down on my hands and knees to use the thing. And get this: it isn't attached to anything! What a great feature for a thief, all you need to do is grab the safe, go out the door and you've got all my loot! Sigh.

Also, the safe won't accommodate my 17" laptop. True, most won't, but together with the safe's portability it pretty much moots its value to me, and that's no small item there.

Anyways, it's my first night in Udon Thani, so I go for a walk. Yes, it isn't close to downtown, but you're right there on the lake, and it is a very nice park. For this kind of hotel it's a good fit. I walked to the night market, had a bit of dinner, then took a three-wheeled trike thing back to the hotel. The driver wanted 60. Got him down to 50. Then he takes me to the Centara! This is my first night here and I know more about the town than he does, but whatever... the doorman at the Centara straightens him out, now he wants 100. I say 60. He laughs, and off we go.

Here comes the best part: I get back into my room and immediately go to take a shower. The shower in this place is MAGNIFICENT. Good water pressure, and it's the first time in Asia where I've stayed in a hotel and go to turn the water on hot and it's actually too hot! And they give you this great big shower head that, I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it's just glorious. A quality water stream is the only way I can put it. They've also got a detachable shower head that you can switch too, you know, the one that lets you choose settings, so if you need the massage setting or you want to wash your crotch you're good to go. It's been years since I've had a shower this good.

Now they do the thing that you see so often in Asia where they put the towels in the shower compartment, which for the longest time I hated. Screw up working the shower head and you end up with wet towels. However, after experiencing a couple of bathroom falls this year, I get it now... you don't want to be reaching for a towel that's somewhere else in the bathroom while you're on a wet floor. The thing is, in this shower, you really don't need to worry about that because they've got some kind of non-slip flooring which I've never experienced before and though it's not 100% slip-proof, it does a good job at keeping you on your feet. I can wash the sole of one foot while standing on the other with confidence. That's nice.

Great lighting in the room. It's like the ceiling drops down and there are lights beneath/above it so you can't see the bulbs and you get good, even, soft lighting with no glare. Great if you're using a laptop. I'm not going to stay in Udon Thani and pay $50US every night for a room, but if I were, in this place at least I'd feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

Nice big Samsung LCD TV, but the reception is kind of crappy. Maybe that's a Udon thing? But they have the SyFy Channel! And there's no wrestling on it, just scifi shows! Way to go Thailand! Actually the reception for this channel and some of the nearby channels isn't so bad. I'm guessing a lot of the image quality issues are due to their showing standard def programming on a HD display.

They screw up and leave a bucket of cookies on the counter. 45 baht they want for this. OK, maybe that's a good price (it's about what I spent for dinner at the night market), but I just don't need the temptation. Put that **** in a cabinet somewhere. I know it's there, I just don't need to be reminded that are munchies to be had every time I look across the room, you know? I'm trying to lose weight here.

Also, they need to stock shampoo that doesn't embarrass a guy. I smell like rose petals that have been soaked in perfume. I'm ready for the Boy Boy Club, and I'm not even gay (not that there's anything wrong with that.) They give you three bottles of the stuff so why not a plain shampoo for the guys and this fruity stuff for the ladies?

Bandwidth so far is a mixed experience too. This afternoon it was non-existant. Non-existant as in, I couldn't even get speedtest.net to load. Now I'm getting 2Mbps down, 600Kbps up. So I don't know, maybe somebody in the hotel was running a torrent earlier? If it's one of you guys, cut that **** out, some of us need to do email and download maps and stuff. Thanks.

So... part of me wants to stay, because there is value here, but I've got the impression that there's the potential for some serious goofiness ahead of me (haven't done breakfast yet, for instance, and what I wonder will check-out be like?)

Nice review.Some parts of it sound ok.But I think i'll still go where the action is ,Top Mansion.

You are too far out of town, check out and book into the Irish Clock, City Lodge, Top Mansion, and the Ruy Suk.
Thats if you can get a room.

A good review of the Prajaktra, post on Trip Advisor.

Great and very very funny review. I stayed there in July and as far as Udon goes its the best hotel by a mile. Try staying at centara and you will know what i mean!

Breakfast was very nice in July and Ill be interested to hear your review on that. By the way I didnt pay anywhere near as much as you, about 25 or 30 bucks a night if memory serves. They had a special on though at the time. As thrilled above says Top Mansion is closer to the action but lets just say there is no comparison to Prajaktra. Sure your a tiny bit outside the action but I guarantee you that you will have a better nights sleep.

I really enjoyed the place and your right the 50 a night is a bit steep but if your on holidays I say go for it and enjoy yourself. IMHO there is no better place to stay of this quality in Udon. Enjoy your stay

Dermot

Hands down, Irish Clock is the best place to stay in Udon. Close to everything, good price, and good rooms. Wouldn't think about staying anyplace else.

presume you have stayed at the Prajactra then rayc?

Prajaktra is easily the most luxurious place to stay in Udon.
It is a bit far out of town but if you can afford 50$ per night then surely you can afford an 80 baht saamlaw ride.
Its still a bit "work in progress" (swimming pool etc) but as well as the lovely rooftop restaurant overlooking Nong Prajak they do an excellent lunchtime buffet for just 129 baht.....excellent value.
Incidentally they are doing a Xmas Day buffet meal...."all you can eat and drink(including unlimited wine and beer) for 999 baht" including smoked salmon,turkey etc.but as the wife only drinks mineral water and the son Pepsi,I'd have to drink about 20 large Changs or 3 bottles of wine to get my moneys worth !
But for you more affluent,alcoholic Udon farangs this could be the place for you on Xmas Day

I have seen it and know it's location. It is a very nice hotel but not very convenient for my taste to get around town. I am not knocking Prajactra, but the Irish Clock is very convenient and has all the ameneties for half the price.

I have not stayed in the clock myself although I know its location also. Ive only heard good things. Its just the Prajaktra, as far as Udon goes, is in a class all on its own. The guy that travelled with me last time stayed at the clock and loved it but when he stayed at the Prajaktra, he said its just a cut above and worth every penny. Thats my experience also. I stayed at the centara and well, i hated it but im sure some people like it and suits them because of the location also. As was said above its worth the taxi ride back if your out on the prowl! IMHO

OK, I'm out of the Prajaktra, having spent two nights there, and in the Centara, having spent one.

Check-out at the Prajaktra was a breeze by the way. I forgot, they don't ask for a deposit at check-in, so you give them the keycard, they ask you what you consumed from the bar, you reply truthfully, pay up, and you're on your way. They didn't even call up to the maid to see what condition the room was in. It was odd because the hotel was really busy at this point, I was expecting one of those thirty minute deals when you're sitting in the lobby for what seems like forever, but I was out in under a minute.

My second night I spent by the lake. Had a great fish meal at one of those shops across the street near the open-air massage places, with a strawberry milk shake for dessert. Fantastic. Then went for a two-hour body massage on the sidewalk nearby which was easily the best I've ever had. I actually had trouble walking back to the hotel after this, it was like I was drunk or something, pretty amazing. This is my second trip to Thailand, I've had maybe a couple of dozen massages here at this point, so I was rather surprised that this one was so good. One cautionary note though, the next day I had a few pimples on my face where my face was resting on the cushion they provide. They seem to be going away now, but next time I'll bring my own towel to rest my face upon (I'd like to restrict the diseases I get to those below the waistline, thanks.)

The Centara is a trip. Obviously, the location is great for your girlie action venues, as well as the night market. You're right next to that big mall too which is pretty impressive (a Sizzler! More on that later.) But where the Prajaktra succeeds, the Centara fails, and vice versa.

For instance, the TV in the Centara totally rocks. A big Panasonic HD LCD and with outstanding reception. In fact, this is my first experience with over-the-air HDTV, and the picture for some of these channels is just incredible. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put the Centara TV at a 9, with the Prajaktra at maybe a 2. The channel selection seems to be about the same though. I basically bounce between BBC News and the SyFy Channel, and then cruise sequentially through the dial to check out the Thai stations.

My initial enthusiasm for the SyFy Channel is now officially over though. A lot of silly stuff on there, maybe not as bad as wrestling, but I am sick to death of this whole vampire thing that's going on in America. At some point these things need to die and we need to move on to something new... maybe werewolves (and what the hell happened to Frankenstein, I liked him!) Still we get Star Trek reruns and I like the new Stargate show so there is at least something I can watch.

Internet in the Centara sucks. First off, it costs around 500 baht to get 24 hours of it. By itself I don't mind paying that because generally free Internet is crappy and it's worth it to have a nice, crisp, responsive connection. But that isn't what you get at the Centara. When it's working, it's slow and sluggish, that is, low throughput and high latency. Half the time though it isn't working. You've got to deal with this portal page and log in and it gets confused or something, so you need to log out to log back in and if you don't do it exactly right it just shuts down on you before it lets you try again.

Talking to the front desk about it is an exercise in frustration. They're running through a checklist of questions like, is your wifi on, did you enter the correct password, what room number are you in, and so on. It doesn't matter what they do, the Internet simply stops working periodically, and it can take anywhere from five minutes to a half hour to get back up. Luckily I don't have to use it for anything important.

The room safe in the Centara couldn't even accommodate a 13" laptop, let alone the behemoth I lug around. It is however attached to the wall and more or less accessible from a standing position.

You've got good hot water at sufficient pressure so the showers are good. Not great, but good enough. You're showering in a bathtub, which after the glorious experience at the Prajaktra just seems wrong, but whatever. They do give you complementary bubble bath, so maybe I should be taking a bath instead.

The breakfast at the Centara totally destroys what they give you at the Prajaktra. First off, this whole business where you fry eggs and then put them over a hot plate is just wrong. The Thais are so brilliant at food that it really surprises me to see this, but four hotels in a row are doing this so I guess I just have to deal with it. The Centara at least properly cooks the eggs, and then actually puts them on a hot plate that's hot. At the Prajaktra, you're dealing with runny sunny-side up eggs that are cold. So I mostly stuck with the toast there.

But you don't need to resort to pre-fried eggs at the Centara because they have the guy who will whip up omelettes for you. I did this and the result was very, very good. Maybe the best omelette I've ever had. Ham and peppers and onions and other stuff too. Delicious.

Add to that a large selection of breads, along with a toasting conveyor belt gizmo, multiple kinds of juice, and fruit, and jams and so on.. it's just all very good. Coffee everywhere in Thailand has been excellent, but the Centara goes the extra mile and has the guy running around topping off everyone's cup so when you're up and running around the buffet you can concentrate on the edibles.

All of Thailand seems to be laboring under a misconception as to what constitutes "sausage". They give you hotdogs, which though of high quality, are nevertheless hotdogs. It's just odd. I get it, we're in Thailand, and the offerings for Thais do indeed look intriguing, lots of noodles and veggies and stuff, but I'm never going to be able to do that for breakfast. My loss I guess.

The room furnishings at the Centara are a little worn, but everything is very clean and well maintained. They've got a kind of control panel at bedside that is interesting. You can control the whole room using this one box. Light, aircon, alarms. Once you figure it all out it's nice. The aircon has only four settings however: high, medium, low and off. The thermostat in the room appears to be inoperative. This concerned me initially since the aircon at the hotel I was staying at in Bangkok gave me a nasty head cold, the night before I took the plane to Udon Thani. Couldn't quite equalize the ear pressure on descent, so I was worried I'd be in agony the entire trip, but I'm lucky and everything seems to be clearing up nicely.

Maybe the most interesting thing about the Centara is the way the hotel is designed. All of the rooms open up into this vast open common area, so you can see the door for every room in the hotel by just stepping outside your own room. An eerie quiet results from all of this open space which is at once relaxing, and yet a little disconcerting too. There's this lounge area at the bottom with tables and chairs, but it's fenced off! It'd be a great place to kick back with the laptop and struggle with your Internet connection, but I wasn't about to take the chance. They've got two kinds of security guys here, one that looks like your standard police guys, and another that looks like they're marines or something. Do not want to mess with the latter.

You're near a big mall. Centerville or something I think is what they call it. After running around outside in the insane heat (yeah, I know it's December, but still) the classic aircon mall is truly to be appreciated. A nice assortment of restaurants and stores, but some misses too. For instance, the supermarket they have there has a pretty poor produce section (I refuse to believe that Thailand doesn't have onions, garlic or cilantro, for instance).

And trying to get a pair of swim trunks at Robinson's so I can check out the pool at the Centara (hey Prajaktra, swimming?) was an exercise in futility. I go to ask a clerk when I can get swim trunks. He doesn't understand me. So I make a diving kind of gesture by putting my hands together. He thinks I'm doing a wai, poorly. When he finally gets it, he points in a direction that, as it turns out, does not have swimming gear, but does have another salesperson who can misinterpret my diving gesture anew. So I give up after five minutes.

Turns out there's a sporting goods store near the top floor. But they want 1400 baht for a pair of swim trunks! **** that! So later I went to the night market and got a pair for 100 baht. Well, they're sort of like swimming trunks. I will try them out later today.

A Sizzler on the top floor! And you can eat while ogling Thai babes learning how to bowl with florescent balls through the plate glass divider separating the restaurant from the bowling alley!

The problem is, while the salad bad is indeed excellent, and the service very satisfactory, my 700 baht sirloin steak was mediocre at best. Yes, this is Thailand, so you can't really expect good steak like back home, but still a man cannot live on fish and rice alone. Once paid $120US for an amazing 500 gram steak at a TGIF in Manila and it was worth every penny since it had been years since I had a good steak, so I was hoping for something like that here. I don't mind paying more; this is something I'd like to treat myself to from time to time and you'd figure a Sizzler steakhouse in Thailand would be incredible. Maybe I was just unlucky this one time out.

It looks like Udon Thani is fully booked for the next few days, so I'm going to check out the rest of the country. I really do like it here, and am looking for a place to hang out for a good long time and stop the traveling, which is getting tiring (and it's only been a couple of weeks.) The city is clean, transportation is everywhere, the people are very friendly, food is (generally) awesome, and I could see making a habit of alternating between downtown and the lake, they complement each other nicely.

Glad you are enjoying Udon udoff & thanks for the hotel reviews.
Centra is not an especially good value for money place I think & is certainly in need of some care & attention. I am not sure if they are planning to upgrade it, as you can plainly see they are rather busy with construction work on the new shopping mall which will take them a while to complete.
If you stay again then try the Thai 'cooked breakfast' that is produced from fresh by the chef next to the one making the omelettes. I am not sure what the name is, but it is basically eggs, chopped pork, onion & herbs that is all cooked together in one metal dish. Very tasty, although it does repeat a bit...
I will agree that the Tops supermarket fails badly on its fresh vegetable selection, not sure why, it has always been a very Thai based selection whereas the other markets & supermarkets all carry a far larger selection. The rest of the products they sell has a very international flavour, but not the fruit & veg...
I think you will struggle to find a decent beef steak in Udon. I think The Irish Clock do a 'steak & chips' special sometimes with imported Australian beef on some occasions. I must admit I usually stick to pork if wanting a large chunk of meat as that is usually very good quality.
To be honest I think the large chain food outlets in Udon all leave a bit to be desired (with the exception of Swensons for an ice cream fix ). There are at least 5 great quality local restaurants within walking distance of the Centra though where a quality meal can be had for a few hundred baht. They all do cooked breakfast with real sausages as well...

Enjoyed your reviews