The place where I'm staying in Bangkok deserves to have a travel log entry dedicated to it.

While on the train trip from Hua Hin to Bangkok, I looked up accomodation in Bangkok in my guidebook. I was looking for somewhere fairly cheap, and figured I'd end up in the Banglamphu district, probably in Kao San Road, which is the main "tourist ghetto" in Bangkok. However, the guidebook has a write up on a place called the Atlanta Hotel, and from the description, it sounded really good, so I thought I'd check it out. From the moment I arrived, I loved it, and since I've been here for two weeks, I've seen a number of other travellers arrive and react the same way that I did.

The Atlanta was built in the 1950's, and has been owned and operated by the same man since that time. The management of the hotel seems to be based more on providing its patrons with a cultural experience rather than on turning a profit - in fact, the Thai's that I've told about the Atlanta are generally dubious that there is a hotel in Bangkok offering rooms for 350 baht per night. Above the main entrance to the Atlanta are the words "..."

Among the features of the hotel are it's lobby which has not been changed since the original construction in the 1950's. Walking through the front doors is like walking onto the set of a period film - in fact a number of period films have been produced at the Atlanta, including one called "Black Magic" which was filmed earlier this year and is due for release in 2002.

The menu that you are handed in the Atlanta's dining room is also very interesting - it was written by the owner of the hotel in the early 1990's as an academic paper on Thai cuisine. Originally there were 6 copies, but within a few weeks, 3 had been stolen. Not so long after this, a couple of Thai restaurants in London, and elsewhere in Europe began offering a menu that was strangely similar to the one from the Atlanta. Now there's only three copies left, and the waitresses are quite protective of them, understandably so. The menu is a very interesting read, and it goes into detail on Thai dining, with a detailed description of each dish. The menu features a number of special dishes designed by the hotel's owner. Not only is the menu good, but the meals are fantastic as well. I've tried about 8 different dishes, and they've all been among the best Thai food I've ever had. My favorites so far are "Seua Rong Hai" (Weeping Tiger), "Waterfall Beef", "Larb Muu" (Ground Pork Salad), and "Flaming Sabres", which I had tonight. As the name suggests, that one's painfully spicy.

Adding to the cultural experience of staying at the Atlanta, each night at 9pm they play a laser disc of a film related to East or South-East Asia. As I write this, I'm half watching "Beyond Rangoon" which is about the Burmese military junta's suppression of Ong Song Su Chi's pro-democracy movement. Last night I saw "Heaven and Earth" featuring Tommy Lee Jones, about an American Marine who marries a Vietnamese woman near the end of the American War in Vietnam (an awesome movie). Other films that I've seen all or part of here include "Bridge on the River Kwai", and "Chang", which was the first film ever made in Thailand.

The rooms are basic compared to the city's many International class hotels, like the Baiyoke Sky Hotel where I stayed when I was in Bangkok last year. They are, though, extremely clean and comfortable, and considering the amentites that are provided here, the rates could only be described as a bargain. So long as the hotel Atlanta doesn't change it's style, I'll never stay anywhere else in Bangkok.