JohnB1

I am still trying to put together the Thailand leg of our trip in July. We are a family with kids aged 11+9. We are having 4 nights in BKK most probably at the Royal Orchid Sheraton. We are still toying with going to Koh Samui as recommended by James, but the answers to our e-mails to the Peace Resort have been confusing.

An alternative might be to go to the River Kwai area for a couple of nights for rafting, elephant trips, hiking etc and then go on to Hua Hin for 3 or 4 nights. Does this sound like a good plan to anyone and what are the recommended hotels in the River Kwai area? Also would it be easy to organise a limo transfer from the River Kwai to Hua Hin or indeed in reverse or would we have to travel back to BKK?

Another question concerning Hua Hin - does anyone know if the sea water is clear there, or can you go on a trip from there for snorkeling.

Many thanks in advance for any help and advice you can offer

John

rhkkmk

i did not see any snorkeling in HH nor did i hear anyone speak of it...there is plenty of transportation available to and from hua hin....i suspect that whereever you decide to stay in kwai area could also arrange something for you...i'm sure james will have some suggestions....

what was the trouble with the peace reply?? i just reviewed my messages from them and they are quite straight forward...i do see that children under 12 are free but that an extra bed costs 600B per day....breakfast for kids is 150B each..it is unclear if children must pay the bed charge...

Sameera_Anand

In Kanchanaburi Felix Hotel is probably the most upmarket - has large lawns , a pool and walking distance from the bridge. I stayed at the kasem island resort - a 20 room hotel on an island, just a 5 min boat ride from the pier. Very nice.

JamesA

The water at Hua Hin is not clear, no snorekeling.
Please allow for language variations, and if you deal with a hotel direct you need to allow for that. Even within Thailand our company uses booking services purely for efficiency and getting answers/queries/billing sorted.
I think any queries would have been sorted already. You need it precise. I would still go for Samui with the kids. The River Kwai is a great idea, I love the whole area.

JohnB1

Thanks again for your excellent responses. The problem with the Peace Resort revolves around whether the 4 of us can share a bungalow or whether we should have two bungalows. In that case we would have to have a boys room and a girls room as you can't have interconnecting bungalows. I have now sent 3 e-mails asking about the bed configeration and whether we need 1 or 2 extra beds and whether they will fit. I understand that there will be language issues and unfortunately so far have not made much progress. Does anyone know how big or otherwise the bungalows are?

James - how much time would you recommend at the River Kwai? I see you can prebook tours from BKK, but my preference would be to book a hotel and organise tours locally. I assume this is feasable. Also can you get a car from River Kwai to Huan Hin or does it make more sense to go back to BKK.

JamesA

John, what rate are you being offered by them direct? I will then take a look on the local Samui sites and see if there is same or cheaper, if you can get a decent rate I would suggest you deal through the agent as they will handle all these questions for you. The ones we use are first class and even if they are a few bucks more they have never let us down and they are the biggest on Samui anyway.

Ok River Kwai, it is actually west of Bangkok and you would not need to go to Bangkok as ( if you can find a decent map, sorry, never needed one, maybe National geographic's site has some ) you go south east from River Kwai/Kanchanaburi to get to Hua Hin through Ratchaburi and Phetchburi(old palace on mountain top, nice stop). Straight through a car+driver(just ask conciege of River Kwai hotel to sort out for you day before) should be about $75, about 2 hrs 40-3 hrs. If you plan that route I would leave River Kwai at about 4 a.m and arrange for the driver to take you to the Floating Market on the way, then perhaps stop in Petchaburi to go on the cable railway to the top for the view, you'll be the only tourists! Then you are 50 mins into Hua Hin.
I wouldn't give up on Peace resort, let us know the rate you got and then it may be easier to hand it over to an English speaking/Thai speaking service that will sort those things for you.

JamesA

We had the kids with us but they are small, I will ask my other half if she rememvbers how big the beds were, you often actually get 2 double beds in some hotels/resorts, I just can't recall ( I only drink when I am away from work hence the recolection problem - through I will make an exception for anyone buying me one !). Get back with that rate and let's see what can be sorted.

JohnB1

Thanks James. I will check when I get home as that is on my home computer. I am in the UK so will post tonight. The River Kwai trip is sounding good though, especially the 4am start! Actually we were in Egypt touring last summer so we are used to early starts. How much time would you allow in the River Kwai area?

JamesA

Up before dawn on the Nile boats for the trips eh! Done that, brilliant..the River Kwai is brilliant if you are really into scenary and history, no boubt you would see the main sites of the infamous 'bridge' plus the museums, most people also take time to visit the war graves ( very sobbering experience indeed ) but the natural beuaty is found along the river. There are rafts that anchor in the river, some are real basic but others have a/con and operate like a hotel, they also do packages that include accommodation plus soft/gentle 'adventures', nice to do that and then head for the beach.

JaneB

In Hua Hin, we hired a car from a local tourist agency (on the main street)last January to drive us from Hua Hin to Kanchanaburi for about $50 US. We stayed at the Anantara in HH and the Filix in K and were pleased with them both. We only booked the hotels the day before arrival.
In K, we hired a "long boat" to take us to the sites along the river and also took a bamboo rafting (loved it), elephant-riding (hated it!) and train trip (loved it!)package tour. We also hired a car and driver to visit the Australian war memorial at Hell Fire Pass (about an hour-long hike up and down hills). It is not to be missed.

JohnB1

Thanks Jane for your response and transportation advice. I am not sure how I will take to elephant riding myself. Having ridden a donkey (uncomfotable) and a camel (very uncomfortable) last year, elephants must be better?!

James - thanks for your offer on the Peace Resort, but we have now decided to go with the River Kwai and Hua Hin option and also take in the floating market as you suggest. The Felix looks fine, but has anyone stayed at the River Kwai Jungle Rafts which look fun, although there is no pool?

Will probably book through sawadee.com or hauhin.20m.com - are these companies reliable?

Unfortunately Koh Samui will have to wait for another trip, or we could miss out Dubai and go there instead but I have a feeling my family would lynch me on this one, as sand dune surfing looks fun for all of us. Mind you it would be much lighter on the wallet.

Thanks for your help especially James and I would be happy to buy you that drink for all the work you do on this board.

Sameera_Anand

Kasem island Resort which I mentioned earlier is also quasi floating as it is on an island. I had a good experience there.

JamesA

Huahin.20m are are an affiliate of Sawadee and never a problem, they also seem to monitor bookings very well. I'm glad to pass my business thru them as they are young Thais trying hard in the computer and internet business so I give them our support, costs us nothing but helps them. Now if you are going to Hua instead of Samui I 'insist' that you take the kids on the 1 day trip to Bang Saphan and take the short boat ride to snorkel at Koh Talu, or maybe you could do a 1 night stop at Bang Sapahn, it's about 2.5 hrs south of Hua Hin. If you are interested I'll tell you about the place to stay there.
If you want 'hotel' at River Kwai the Felix is a godd 'safe bet' and of course everyone else there too is doing the sights so you will see rows of mini-vans etc outside every morning taking people on the various tours. Every hotel has a tour desk and you can read up on what you want to see and do, the concierge can also arrange a car+driver if you want to have your own trips around the area, everything is very well organised.
Are you going for the Marriott in Hua Hin?

Sameera - are you going to try that Cruise boat on the River kwai, saw it on UBC Channel 36 the other evening!

johhj_au

I would consider the kwai river village hotel about 70 km up river from Kanchanaburi.Near the end of the survivng death railway.

Much quieter and jungle like..with elephant stuff,bamboo rafting etc.
Kanchanaburi is overun with backpackers disco boats etc Get away from it up river.

I would highly recommend the hellfire pass museum and walk and also the new death railway museum near the war cemetery in kanchanaburi.

JohnB1

I will take a look at the Kasem Island Hotel, and I did see the Kwai River Village Hotel was highly recommended on another board. I however had dismissed it as I felt the building looked rather ugly, though the surroundings sounded neat.

Interesting James that you are insisting I go to Koh Talu, which I presume is an island? I thought it was just the wife who insisted on things but maybe I am wrong...A couple of hours by road , plus a ferry seems a long way to go for snorkeling, so an overnight makes more sense. Go on then and give me the hotel ideas so that I can add it to the melting pot. At this rate our time in Hua Hin is being further squeezed - does it make any sense to miss it out altogether and head for Koh Talu for say 3 nights?

johhj_au

I have stayed at the river kwai village hotel twice as part of visits to the "death railway" and found it excellent.the pic on their web site does it a disservice.

Kanchanaburi is hectic and hot imho.