So, it’s Khum Khantoke versus Sala Rim Naam, a big popular open air show in a business estate on the outskirts of Chiang Mai versus an expensive traditional show in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, perhaps Bangkok’s most traditional and reputable hotel (W. Somerset Maugham, Noël Coward, Graham Greene, John Le Carré, James Michener and… Pierce Brosnan… have all stayed here, to name just a few). Here’s what I think:
[Khum Khantoke = KK; Sala Rim Naam = SRM; Scale of 1 to 10, 1 being awful, 10 being outstanding]
Food: KK 5/10 (average food, edible but you won’t go back for the food); SRM 8/10 (high standard authentic Thai food)
Ambience: KK 6/10 (big open air area, you take off your shoes as you come in to sit on the floor for dinner and the show; nice surroundings with replica temple-like buildings); SRM 9/10 (from arrival at the Mandarin Oriental with its great lobby, walking through the garden to take the ferry across to SRM, which is located on the other river bank, to the plush large dining room with its center stage: this is top notch stuff. You can chose whether to sit on the floor or at a normal table. One point reduced due to a fair number of mosquitos giving us a hard time – at least as many as in the open air KK!)
Show: KK 8/10 (a good mix of tradition and entertainment, the show does combine beauty, tradition and some silly fun – the show is mostly fast paced and manages to capture ones attention. Also good fun for kids. Good production value with surround sound system, professional light show and – very eighties – a cheap laser show.); SRM 6/10 (very traditional show with absolutely no humorous elements – kids would probably lose interest after a couple of minutes. Long musical intervals between show elements.)
Other stuff: KK 8/10 (in line with the popular nature of the show, there is a lot of stuff adding to the experience: at the end of the show, the dancers will ask the audience to join them for a quick dance and you can take pictures with the dancers, you will get a Jasmine flower chain shortly after you arrived and your picture will be taken, which you can buy later for 100 Baht, after the show there are some souvenirs sold outside and the dancers will launch some paper fire balloons – launch your own for luck for only 100 Baht. KK also provides transport from and to your hotel.); SRM 3/10 (at the end of the show you can snap a few quick pictures with the dancers. That’s it.)
Value for Money: KK 10/10 (at 420 Baht per head plus reasonably priced drinks and souvenirs, transport there and back included, this is a real bargain – we spent about 1,500 Baht or so for the whole evening, including tips and some wooden snakes we bought for the grandkids); SRM 3/10 (at 2,250 Baht per head plus rather expensive drinks, plus 10% Service, plus 7% VAT, we spent just under 7,300 Baht incl. tip, which translates to £150. That’s good value for money in London, but too expensive in Thailand.)
Total score: KK 37, SRM 29 – clear victory for Khum Khantoke, and this is my recommendation, too – when given the choice and unless you like to show off a little, KK is the best choice! If you do want to impress you’re new girlfriend or treat your wife for your anniversary of her birthday or just to make up for your guilty consciousness, you may want to push the boat out at SRM – if you do, I think you should book into the Mandarin Oriental at the same time and go the Full Nine Yards!
For completeness sake: We travelled from Chiang Mai to Bangkok today, almost managed to miss the flight since I confused the arrival time with the departure time (I noticed just in time to rush to the airport) and we are now checked in to the Lebua State Tower hotel. The hotel is a bit further north from the Chatrium we stayed at before and within walking distance from the same Skytrain station (Saphan Taksin) and – how convenient – the Manadarin Oriental. I booked a „Tower Club Suite“ which means you can use the Tower Club Lounge all day for snacks, drinks and in the morning for a quieter breakfast and gives you a few more perks (free non-alcoholic minibar, etc.). The room is the least appealing from all the hotels we stayed in, but the view from the balcony is stunning (see pictures below) and some of the hotel architecture could be appearing in a Batman, Spiderman or Matrix film (have a look here: Scirocco Restaurant, Breeze Restaurant and Lounge). Even better though – there are plenty of street eateries just outside the hotel and as we walked back from the Oriental and took a whiff off some of these stands we already decided where we are going to lunch and dine over the next couple of days before we leave Bangkok…
