Sky View Hotel, Bagan Review

Sky View Hotel 

No.69, Shwe Knat Kaw Street, Zay Ya Waddy Quarter, Nyaung-U, Bagan, Myanmar 

Reservations: 1 Room, 2 Nights | Deluxe Room w/ 1 Double Bed

Check in: March 1, 2017 (after 02:00 PM)

Check out: March 3, 2017 (before )

Total price: USD 71.26

We arrived at Sky View Hotel around 6:30AM from Yangon. It was a very late check in though because our reservation was for the day before (March 1, 2017 2:00PM check in) but our trip via JJ Express lasted for 9 hours although my sister called the hotel up from the JJ Express Terminal in Yangon to let them know we will be arriving very late which is technically the next day. I’ve worked for the hotel industry in the past and all hotels are ok with very late arrival provided you still pay the nightly rate in full and it’s very rare for hotels to accommodate very early check in until 12NN which is by far the earliest. So as a guest, you’re left with no better choice than pay in full so won’t take your chance if they have availability the time of your arrival. Hotels don’t pro-rate as they charge on a nightly rate basis. 

Moving on, we took a cab from the JJ Express in Bagan to Sky View Hotel for 15,000 kyats which was a total rip off on my previous blog but that’s a different story. The hotel is about 10-20minutes from the bus terminal (I think) if we are to include the traffic. It’s very chilly in Bagan in the morning which is reminiscent of the weather where we’re from about 15-19ºC. But, wait until 10AM onwards as the temperature suddenly heats up to about 30-40ºC which was kind of weird. I guess this sets Myanmar apart from the Philippines because back home, especially in Manila, if it’s hot in the morning then it’s no different in the afternoon. The only difference is, at least we have the north where people would clamor to during the summer season to experience a cold climate. 

Sky View Hotel do not have lift neither but at least they only have three floors and thank God we were assigned a room on the second as it’s just a staircase away from the roof deck where the dining area is. We booked this hotel because they mentioned on their ads that you should see the hot air balloons from their rooftop which Bagan is eventually famous for. The hotel has its own website but it’s more convenient to make your reservation from a third party so we booked our stay through Agoda. The people at the front desk again have challenge speaking in English but at least they have more staff who are able to speak and understand English compared to other hotels in Myanmar based on our experience. We handed our passports for them to scan it, filled out some forms and again we were given our key, yes an actual key to open the door (the other keycard is for the electricity), wifi password and we were ushered by the bellboy to our room on the 2nd floor. The hallways were pretty quaint but the room is absolutely modern. We were assigned a room with a huge window, we can even see from our hotel room if there are any hot air balloons on sight (I spotted one when we arrived, around 7AM). The bellboy told us that breakfast is at 7:30AM upstairs. We did not change clothes anymore, just rest for a while, unpacked our stuff, took some photos and waited 7:30AM to grab breakfast. 

Breakfast

The hotel offered better breakfast options compared to the hotel we stayed at in Yangon. However, if you want to eat eggs, you need to request for the cook who’s right there to cook it for you so it’s hot and fresh. My sister and I suit ourselves with what’s there because we’re already starving and egg is not really something we cann’t live without in the morning lol. I had some fried rice, vermicelli or Pancit Bihon back home (everything’s pretty much deep fried anyways), some veggies, fried tofu with amazing sauce, red watermelon and coffee. This time around we had bigger breakfast to prepare us for whatever tour we could avail for the day. 

Amenities

We love our room at this hotel. We were assigned a deluxe room with one double bed, a mini fridge, a long table to place your laptops with tons of wall outlets, dental kits as usual, one bottle of shampoo and body wash and couple of small soaps and slippers. The toilet and bath is also equipped with heater as usual, a bath tub which I love and a hand-held bidet which I can’t live without. However, no coffee & tea making facilities/ no tea pot in short although everything’s pretty much complete except for that one thing we’re particular about because my sister and I love to drink tea in the evening and no in-room safe neither. The roof deck/dining are is pretty vast as well and is quite cozy whether it’s night or day because it’s open air. It’s also a plus that you really get to see the hot air balloons early in the morning while having breakfast along with the sunrise if you’re an early bird. They also serve dinner up there if you don’t want to eat out. We had some Burmese fried rice and sunny side up egg that night and some lukewarm pineapple juice though lol. We only spent a good 8,400 kyat for dinner which was not bad at all. Food is generally cheap in Myanmar. And oh btw, they have 3 ATM machines at the lobby. 

Tour

Few hours after our arrival, my sister decided to call the front desk to check if they offer any tour packages around 8AM. The receptionist then gave her couple of options: The Full Day Tour for 35,000 kyats, unlimited temple hopping from 9AM until sundown OR Half Day Tour for 25,000 kyat from 2PM to sundown, private car and driver included whichever package we choose. We decided to take their full day tour option simply because we want to scour the whole of Bagan as early and as much as possible since we really do not have much time (we’re only staying for couple of days). We immediately prepped up (less than an hour) and were both ready before 9AM. We headed downstairs right about that time, paid the hotel 35,000 kyat upfront while the driver wait outside. My sister clarified with the receptionist over the phone that it’ll be a private tour, just us and nobody else because the last time we had a private tour in Hanoi, we were surprised that it was yes a private car but we’re going to tour with bunch of others and even ate lunch together which we totally despised. We are private people really and it really feels awkward touring with a group as we’re used to tour on our own in all of our trips. It’s really awkward to tour around with strangers plus you have to wait for everyone before you move on to the next place on the list. We’re just the type of people who enjoys “anything goes” when it comes to our itinerary. The tour went well despite another language barrier with our driver because he barely understand and speak English. Nevertheless he took us to Moon Restaurant, a Vegan restaurant we read about online before we flew to Myanmar. We called it a day pretty early and did not wait for sundown anymore because it’s already too hot to walk barefoot in the Temples and we’re already running low on kyats. We asked our driver though to take us to the nearest money changer then back to the hotel but he did not understand so he took us back to our hotel before and not the money changer geez. He was very polite though so I gave him 1,000 kyat for tip and was very patient waiting for us under the scorching heat of the sun as we did some souvenir shopping and took roughly an hour in some of the Temples we visited to take pictures. 

Overall, we had a great stay at Sky View Hotel because communicating with the staff was not as difficult as it was with the other hotels in Myanmar since they have the most English speaking staff compared to the other hotels plus they have ATM machines right at the lobby which is so convenient if you ran out of cash. No, they do not have pool but they have in-room bath tubs anyways lol where you could soak after a long day visiting the Temples of Bagan.

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High Five Airport Hotel,Yangon: Yay or Nay?

High Five Airport Hotel 

No. 35, Thiri Kan Thar Street, North Okkalapa Township, Yangon, MM 

Check in Tuesday, February 28, 2017 (2 PM)

Check out Thursday, March 1, 2017 (noon)

Our stay 1 night, 1 room

Room  Budget Room (5th Floor, No Lift); 2 adults | Non Smoking, Double Bed

Total amount paid P1,902.76

High Five Hotel is located in Yangon's outskirts where the rest of other Airport hotels are. It’s not visible from the main road and you have to make a turn to get there but it is definitely accessible to cabs and other transportations. The hotel is located in a quiet neighborhood and is quite known to locals. From the airport it is roughly within 10-15 minutes to get there including traffic and cost us 6,000 kyats if you’re going to take an airport cab which is as usual always higher regardless of the country you go to as airport cabs charge a hefty. 

The main lobby is not as big as this is common with majority of small hotels we’ve been in Southeast Asia. We noticed as well that the front desk is right across the dining area which is quite odd in my opinion. I think they just tried to maximize whatever space they have to cater to guests’ needs although I noticed they have tons of meeting rooms in every floor which are not in use and could’ve been converted to a dining area. 

The staff at the front desk were very friendly though despite difficulty expressing themselves in English. They were very warm and accommodating and always wore a smile on their face. I even asked to break down my 10,000 kyat bill to so I could pay our cab (yes Myanmar has a 10,000 kyat note) which  the lady at the reception gladly did. We were asked to present our passports, fill out forms and in no time she handed us our key card, wifi password on a computerized small piece of paper and the bellboy carried our staff to our room. One of the bellboys btw handed us cold orange juice while we wait for our passports at the reception area plus couple of cold wet towels (I guess to wipe our hands with or I don’t know). We checked in early (around noontime although the usual check in time is at 2PM).

The hotel do not have any lift which my sister found out after we already made our reservation. It’s not the big of a deal though since we’ve been to other hotels in the past without any lift such as the one we stayed at in Hanoi last year. However, we made a big mistake in requesting for a room on the 5th floor so wtf right? The stairs were pretty steep and I mean REALLY steep plus they were also small so imagine how a huge person would walk on such small steps. The stairs have matting on them probably as cushion in case someone accidentally fall, lol.  No, seriously, I think that’s really the purpose of that plus the steps would be slippery without those rubber mattings. High Five Hotel is pretty quaint I guess that explains why they do not have a lift. The 5th floor is their highest floor and we were assigned a corner room since we requested a quiet room and I really appreciate hotels like that who listen to their guests’ requests as noted on their reservation. We booked this hotel through Hotels.com since most of the hotels in Myanmar do not have any direct website where you could book your stay thus must go to a third party booking site (Expedia, Hotels.com etc.) to make a reservation. Anyways, the bellboy told us what time the breakfast is served downstairs, etc. so I gave him 500kyat tip for bringing my luggage upstairs. I was catching my breath as soon as we reached our room. That was a good 30-40 steps though!

Amenities

We were happy with the room the we got as it was really spacious and everything that you need is their. The toiletries were complete, there’s a hair dryer, tea making facilities, flat screen TV with few channels but at least it has an English channel, soaps, toothpaste & toothbrush, a shower cap, mini fridge, in-room safe and of course they granted our request for an iron and ironing board even if we will just be staying for one night so kudos to High Five Hotel. They also have a toilet and bath equipped with pretty much everything that you need. I was just a little weirded out that the shampoo and shower gel were not stored on individual bottles but a dispenser attached to the wall like some hand wash although not the big of a deal neither. I love that they also have hand-held bidet (this is consistent with most asian hotels). The T&B was also very spacious which I was totally happy about. It does not have a bath tub which I could care less anyways but it was complete. 


The toothpaste though tasted really awful but this did not apply to this hotel alone as all hotels we’ve stayed at in Myanmar used the same brand of toothpaste so if you’re kind of finicky I would suggest you go bring your own toothpaste (which I should’ve done ‘cuz I am quite finicky when it comes to that sort of thing). I should’ve also brought my own shampoo and conditioner because the shampoo provided for by all the hotels we’ve been to in Myanmar made my hair really dry geez. Our beds were also huge because they adjoined couple of those double beds so it was good they granted one of our little request as well. 

Breakfast

I felt a little iffy with where the dining hall is situated as it was right across the front desk. Dining halls should give guests privacy because you wouldn’t like to eat where people see you right in your own homes neither right? A hotel is supposed to be your home away from home and a dining area is a private space. I could’ve cared less if I am eating in a public place like a restaurant or food chain as it is place where herds of people often eat anyways. The hotel had limited breakfast items but it was ok as it’s free anyways. We were asked upon arrival if we prefer Asian or European breakfast and we opted for Asian breakfast. We had breakfast at around 8AM (breakfast time 7-10AM I think) and they only had a cup of fried rice available and noodles. I took advantage of the only remaining cup of fried rice because my sister said she’ll eat something else, grabbed some of those small sausages, yellow watermelon, cold orange juice and that’s all for me whilst my sister had toasts with butter and jelly, an orange juice as well and we settled to our seats. We also had cereals with milk afterwards. The hotel staff at the breakfast bar was very helpful, he took the cup of fried rice out for me, poured in our juice, fixed us some spicy vegetable salads and gave us spoon and fork, Burmese hospitality at its finest. 

Some Issues
Moving on, my sister and I we’re really happy with High Five Hotel except for one minor thing and couple of major ones: 


the reflexology slippers: I understand they want comfort for their guests thus explains the reflexology slippers (the one with spikes on them), I totally appreciate the good intention and effort, however, the spikes were a little too hard on the feet so it was really uncomfortable to wear them and I’m hoping they would get rid of those someday, just saying. 

hmm..what's on the menu?

wifi access: 
My sissy and I are very internet savvy people since roaming could be very pricey in contacting your family when you’re abroad so we rely on Viber, Skype etcetera to get in touch with our family back home. The thing was, the wifi signal inside our room was really fucked up  that it would take you minutes just to upload a photo on Instagram. The only reliable app we were able to make use of was Viber because it does require high bandwidth I guess. We were so stressed out the whole time because we can’t even upload photos to Photobucket.com to back up our pictures in case something goes awry and the crappy internet access went on the entire duration of our stay. I think one way to resolve that is by simply placing separate routers to each and every floor or sort of a signal booster so it would be convenient to their guests who are mostly travelers. 

power blink: our last major concern was the frequent annoying short power outages. It’s just really weird to experience a power knock out when you’re checked in at a hotel. The short power blink is ok but a minute or so is just a little disconcerting while power back ups already exists nowadays. The short power outages happened six times or so for as far as I can remember. 

Our stay would’ve been a high five except for those things which (eventually) affected our experience/stay at the High Five Hotel. We checked out 1PM of March 1st (late check out granted by the hotel Manager) and the hotel arranged the cab for us bound to JJ Express Terminal so we could pay for our tickets for our 8PM trip to Bagan. 

Overall, I should rate High Five Hotel a 5 out of 10 (the wifi signal took so much points off and the power interruptions quite weirded us out). Nonetheless, when it comes to hospitality, a 10 out of 10, hats down. The hotel staff were very nice and I think the hotel owner even carried one of our luggages one our way out and spoke to the cab driver (who would drive us to JJ Express terminal) like a mother sending off her kids to make sure they have a safe travel ahead. I totally appreciate as well that they granted even our tiniest demands although I am fervently hoping they get these little blips addressed for a much better guests experience. 

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