Trip report BKK, Samui and Chiang Mai
Apr 16th, 2006, 01:25 PM
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Trip report BKK, Samui and Chiang Mai
We had a three week holiday in Thailand (first time) from march 20th until april 9th. We did a classical tour from Bangkok (5 days, Marriott at the river), to Ko Samui (8 days, Saboey Resort) and then up north to Chiang Mai (where we stayed three days in Tamarind Village and then four days at the nicest place we visited during our trip: the Baan Rai Lanna, a 45 drive north from Chiang Mai).
Bangkok
Our flight from A’dam to BKK was with China Airlines. Nothing special, we like Singapore Airlines better but more expensive also. In BKK we stayed at the Marriott Resort & Spa at the river, which I can really recommend when you are in staying in BKK for the first time and you have enough time to do the sightseeing and also relax. We arrived early in the morning, and they only had a room available in a separate wing of the hotel, with view on the river but also on a bridge with a lot of traffic and not to nice buildings with dark brown roofs. Not very nice or romantic, so we decided to wait until another room was available. And it was worth waiting (which was not bad at all, a short sleep at the pool after our 11-hour flight). We now had a room in the main building with view at the river but also on the beautifull tropical garden and lovely pool. Much better and in my opinion a huge difference.
In the afternoon we went with hotelboat (free) and rivertaxi to Wat Arun. We had some trouble with the watertaxi during rush-hour, as there where so many boats which came and went away very quickly, and not all of them would stop at the Wat Arun. Finally we understood the system with the coloured flags and went with the right one (white flag, stops everywhere, while the yellow and orange flag-boats don’t). Liked the mosaic/porcelain at the Wat Arun very much, walked around for more than an hour and went back to hotel by boat. We had dinner at the river terrace restaurant of our hotel (we don’t know why but we had one free dinner included). We don’t like buffets very much, but I must say it was more then oké. The Thai show was a bit touristic, but the food tasted very good, lot’s ans lot’s to choose from and staff at the restaurant was very nice.
Next day we got up late, had a swim, breakfast and went for shopping at the Emporium, Paragon and Discovery (using sky train). We did not buy much but had great sushi-lunch at a place called Figi (to much green tea which they kept pooring in). After that we went to Lumphini park, nice place to wander around at the end or beginning of the day and look at people doing sport in all kinds of ways, alone or in (big) groups. We also went to the night market there. Very nice stuff, not only all the fake-stuff, t-shirts etc. but really nice things. Nice to walk around the narrow lanes with so much to look at. We were very tired at the end of the evening. We had a beer and went back to the hotel by taxi. Had a quick green curry at the hotel terrace and went to bed as our eyes were closing down on the terrace already.
Got up early next morning. Nice swim at 07.15 at the quit pool in the morning sun (always like the quitness of the morning very much with the sun coming up). After breakfast we went for a day of sightseeing with Wat Pho and Grand Palace/Wat Phra Kaew on our program. Both great places which you should not miss when you are in BKK, but we liked Wat Pho (with the big reclining Buddha) the most. The grounds are nicer and it was not as busy as at the Grand Palace. It was a really hot day and with the crowds at the grand palace it is even hotter. Grand Palace was impressive because of all the shining gold over there, but we liked the porcelain at Wat Pho more (same as Wat Arun). Unbelievable that there are still so many people around the grand palace who try to convince you that the grand palace is closed and want to take you elsewhere….. Are in despite of all the warnings (even signs in the palace area) still people falling for that? Must be, otherwise those people would not still be standing there doing their business.
After these wats we walked from the Palace, Sanam Luang and Ratchadamoen Klang (Democracy Monument) to the Wat Saket and Golden Mount. On top it was really quit, there was a nice wind and we enjoyed the view and a little rest here. At the nearby Khlong Taxi Pear we took the klong-taxi downtown to visit the Jim Thompson House (the taxi seemed to stop just nearby the JT-house). The Klong Taxi was a nice BKK-experience, but there were not any signs and only Thai on board so we could not tell where to get off. So we got off where everyone did and we knew we were in the central part of BKK but got a bit lost here. Walked around which was nice because off all the food stalls and the market, with all the smells, noice and crowds. But it went late and when we finally found out were we where, it was after five and closing time for the JT-house. So decided to do this the next day and took the Skytrain to Taksin station from where we took the hotel boat with nice free cold water an towel to the hotel. Afer freshening up and a swim, we went to the Oriental Hotel for diner at the China House. Nice apetizer (jellyfish, crab, sping rolls) en of course we had the famous Peking Duck which was very tasty. Did’t had much peking duck before so can’t compare really, but we had a lovely diner with very good food and good service.
Next day we went to Taksin station and got ourselves a two hour boat trip to visit the klongs of Thonburi, which is recommended at the Nancy Chandler Map. It was nice but the boat driver went very, very slow. Al the other boats passed us and it made the two hour trip a bit boring. With a boat a bit quicker you should be able to do the tour in one hour which would have been enough for us. I tried to explain to our “captain” that he could go a bit quicker, but he did not speak English and as he was payed be the hour, he did’t want to get back at the pier to early I presume. So nice, took a lot of pictures of locals doing their domestic things and children playing in the water, but a bit to long. After that we went to the JT-house. Loved the grounds here and bought some t-shirts. The tour is not very special I think (although the tour guide is very nice and smiles all the time), but you have to do it to get around the place (you can’t get in without the tour guide). Had very nice lunch at the JT-café. Went to MBK and Siam Square after that, very crowded places and so much happening around you! Went to hotel for swimming and resting a bit and then went to the Sirocco restaurant for our last night in BKK, really special! Discovered the Mango Margarita at the sky bar which I liked very much and drank a few more times during our holiday. Fabulous views, lovely live jazz/soul music with wonderfull singer that night and of course very good dining (my partner is a chef in a restaurant and we have diner at special places a lot, and Sirocco really impressed us). I highly recommend this place for a special evening in BKK. Make reservations in time, we could only have diner at ten o’clock in the evening because the whole week, the earlier hours where fully booked.
Next day we stayed at the hotel and relaxed at the pool before we were picked up for our flight to Samui.
Samui
We had a good flight with Bangkok Airways, better food and service then China Airlines (A’dam) and Thai Airlines (Chiang Mai), even though it was only 45 minutes flight. We liked the little airport at Ko Samui. We were picked up by the hotel (Saboey Resort), which was only a five minute drive away from the airport.
Saboey Resort is located at Big Buddha Beach. Not the nicest beach of Koh Samui I think but the resort grounds are so nice and directly in front of the beach, that this did not bother us. Nice infinity edge pool, beautifull garden and not to many guests in this small resort with two beach bungalows, four pool-villa’s, a few garden villa’s and a couple of hotel rooms/penthouses. Breakfast and diner at the small pool-restaurant, although they were building a new restaurant were diner should be served in the future. The first five nights we slept in the beach bungalow, which is more private then the other bungalows (you have your own little private garden/beach in front of you with your own beach chairs) and this bungalow is bigger than the others with a large bathroom and with big bath tub and hughe shower. The last three nights the beach bungalow was already booked so we moved to one of the pool villa’s. Cheaper, and we did not really miss the bath tub as we did not use it that much and this villa was only one step from the pool, which was nice with the very hot weather during our stay. As it’s not a big resort, the pool villas is just a few steps further from the beach then the beach villa and the view is (almost) the same. I think the price difference is not really worth the beach villa (7500 bath a night), I would recommend one of the pool villa’s (5000 bath a night) to anyone who considers a stay at Saboey. The place is very good value for money, not as expensive as all the big resort with same kind of beach and pool villas. Staff is very nice and the food was very good. Before you make reservations however, you must be sure that you are not gonna mind the sound of planes coming by and the ferry boats which leave very close to the resort. Did not bother us but you can’t ignore it. When we look at our pictures, we realize they look to good to be true, a real paradise. But it was reality over there.
We had some lovely diners on Ko Samui. We especially loved our diner at the Five Islands Restaurant, which we had during our Five Islands Experience. The restaurant and the five islands are located at a quiet part of Ko Samui, in the south-west. The restaurant-driver can pick you up in the afternoon from any hotel and take you to this restaurant where you leave for a romantic two/three hour boat-trip on a small fishing boat to the five islands and to a place where you can have a swim and snorkel. Everything is provided, cool drinks, coconut, snorkel equipment (you should only bring your own towels)….back at the restaurant you can have a nice shower and get yourselve dressed for sunset-cocktails and dinner on the beach. We had the luxery diner with several appetizers and great seafood, really nice and relaxed. It was the best and most romantic experience we had during our stay on the island.
Another nice and impressive diner we had was at Dining on the Rocks, at the Sila Evason Hideaway, at the north-east part of the island. Be sure to book your table at the wooden terrace, which is on the rocks overlooking the sea. Very special and great menu! There are more great restaurants, which you can find easy in the Samui Dining Guide from which you can get a free copy at any hotel I think. Or you can take a look at www.siamdiningguide.com.
We also went on a trip with the Seatran boat to the Marine Park (they advertise throughout the island with billboards) which was definitly not worth the money. We paid like 2700 bath a person and they took us snorkling to an area with no fish at all, there where not enough kayaks for everyone, to many people on one boat/excursion, food was not special, boat not clean (toilet area) and they booked my credit card four times (which they are going to refund, but don't like the trouble). Nature was wonderfull over there, just don’t take this big boat (I understand lot’s off hotels recommend this Seatrang experience, they must get commission) but a speedboat or something, must be better.
We went to Chaweng a couple of nights for restaurant and a little shopping. It has got some nice places but it’s very crowded. We hired a scooter for two days and did a tour around the island. Nice, especially the south part were it’s lovely to drive around (quiet roads) and stop at the great beaches. We discovered the five islands restaurant by doing this. Lamai looked rather nice but I think the best place to stay is the BoPhut area, near Fisherman’s village. Nice and quit and not to far from other places where you can go by taxi (the red taxi’s are very easy and cheap). Taxi’s are much more expensive in Ko Samui then in BKK, no meter here, only fixed prices starting with 50 or 100 bath.
Well, after lot’s of relaxing, nice diners and some ear-damage from all the swimming and snorkling (a dokter was nice enough to come to the resort and helped me with that, but the quick visit costs me 6000 bath) we went to the Chiang Mai area in the north of Thailand.
Chiang Mai
Thai airways does have a direct flight from CM to KS but not from KS to CM. So I should have planned our trip the other way around, but found this out only after we made the reservations. So we first flew from Ko Samui to BKK with Bangkok Airways, waited a couple of hours and then flew to Chiang Mai with Thai Airways. Short flights but it takes almost a day this way. We arrived at the Tamarind Village Sunday late in the afternoon, with the Sunday walking market just on our doorstep. This was the nicest market we went during our Thailand trip. Nice atmosphere and not all the fake stuff but really nice shoppings and very cheap. We had dinner at the hotel which was nice, but they did not have their best night, because preparing our diner took long and it was clear that the staff had some problems with several things that night. On the forum I’ve red that the rooms at the Tamarind Village can be a bit dark and that there could be some musquito’s. And it was/there were. Our room also needed some re-doing. They are rebuilding the place and I understand that they have three kinds of rooms now, a superior/more luxerious room, a lanna style room and standard room. We had the last one because there was no other available. Maybe the other rooms are better. The grounds a lovely and I like the location in the old town and the boutique style much better then the modern hotels in the night market area. Overall the Tamarind village was oké but a next time I would pay some more and stay at the Rachamanka.
In Chiang Mai we mostly travelled by tuktuk. We went to the Doi Suthep (by red taxi) and a local food market the next morning. In the afternoon we visited some temples in the old city. After that we went to the night market for a short time (did not like it here very much, all the same stuff) and had sushi at a restaurant there. Next morning we had to buy some things (we had to buy sunscreen over and over in Thailand) so we took a tuktuk to Airport Plaza. Nice mall. After spending there a few hours we went to the swimming pool at our hotel (not to much sun-loungers, people were lying on the ground, a nice staff member tried to make them comfortable with some kind of pillow), visited some more temples in the old town and the Warorot day-market and went to Oasis Spa for a massage. In the evening we had diner at the Mahanaga, at the river in the north of Chiang Mai. It was very nice and romatic but also very quiet (they just opened the place).
Next morning we left Chiang Mai city to spend our last four days in Thailand at a more quit place to make sure we would not return home tired from our trip but completely relaxed and fresh! At the Thailand travel forum I found Scott’s place: The Baan Rai Lanna, 45 minutes north from Chiang Mai. The brochure calls it “Heaven in the Jungle” and I must say that I did experience our stay like that. Scott, the owner of the brandnew BRL (he runs it with his wife Lorna and a very nice local staff), picked us up at the Tamarind Village and after we arrived at the small resort, the first hours we just walked around and were really amazed by the lovely grounds, the great views, the pool and our nice decorated room (we did not stop take pictures during our stay). When we had lunch at “the rice barn”, an australian group returned from a morning at the elephant camp and adviced us to take this trip also. They had spend the night before at the BRL, had to leave in the afternoon and told us they really would have stayed longer if they would have known how nice it was up here (and how great the food was). So we were looking forward to our three day stay even more, based on this information! The afternoon we just relaxed at the pool, had a great massage combined with a face treatment of almost two hours, had lovely diner and we slept like angels in the comfy bed. Next morning the sun got up around seven on which I had a great view sitting very comfortable in our room-window with nice sounds of birds and some animals, reading my book. Really relaxing. After breakfast a few hours latter, we took the owners mountain bikes and went for an easy ride with a map which the BRL provided. Rest of the day only pool-loungers, great view, lunch, swedish massage this time and at night more great food. Third day we took the excursion to the elephant camp, looked at the bathing, fed them bananas (loved the baby-elephant), watched the show and took the elephant-ride through the jungle up to a hilltribe market. After that we took a one hour easy bamboo-rafting trip down the river where our driver was waiting for us. A bit touristic day, but a must do when you are in Thailand for the first time I think. We liked it very much! My “personal” masseuse, Tiw, was waiting for me at the BRL to give me another great massage, this time a Thai one. She really gave me the best massages ever, I wish I could have taken her home with me, but Scott would not allow that I think ;-). Our last day we went for a short trip to the Mokfa waterfall. Really liked the place and took a swim. Nice and cool! After that we also went to the hot springs, a 40 minutes drive from the waterfalls, we drove through beautifull scenery. After arriving we took a nice walk but we found the hot-spring-pools to be closed. I don’t know if I understood it well, but it seemed that the hot spring was to hot for bathing…….I touched the water down by the pool, and it was rather hot indead…. We went back to the Baan Rai Lanna for for some more relaxing and a last nice meal before our departure. After such a great last couple of days we were sad when we had to pack our bags for returning to Holland. And the staff of the BRL was sad as well! We had to say goodbye off course and promised to come back. Really a great place which is not discovered yet by a lot of people. All the hotels we stayed in during our trip were great, but the BRL was the most special one, our best experience in Thailand for sure.
We had a good flight home and now, as so many people after their first visit to Thailand, we are planning to go back and see some more, like the Krabi area, some more of the north. We will ask for advice on the forum again before we leave…….In the meanwhile…..we have to work here and save up some money for our next trip.
Bangkok
Our flight from A’dam to BKK was with China Airlines. Nothing special, we like Singapore Airlines better but more expensive also. In BKK we stayed at the Marriott Resort & Spa at the river, which I can really recommend when you are in staying in BKK for the first time and you have enough time to do the sightseeing and also relax. We arrived early in the morning, and they only had a room available in a separate wing of the hotel, with view on the river but also on a bridge with a lot of traffic and not to nice buildings with dark brown roofs. Not very nice or romantic, so we decided to wait until another room was available. And it was worth waiting (which was not bad at all, a short sleep at the pool after our 11-hour flight). We now had a room in the main building with view at the river but also on the beautifull tropical garden and lovely pool. Much better and in my opinion a huge difference.
In the afternoon we went with hotelboat (free) and rivertaxi to Wat Arun. We had some trouble with the watertaxi during rush-hour, as there where so many boats which came and went away very quickly, and not all of them would stop at the Wat Arun. Finally we understood the system with the coloured flags and went with the right one (white flag, stops everywhere, while the yellow and orange flag-boats don’t). Liked the mosaic/porcelain at the Wat Arun very much, walked around for more than an hour and went back to hotel by boat. We had dinner at the river terrace restaurant of our hotel (we don’t know why but we had one free dinner included). We don’t like buffets very much, but I must say it was more then oké. The Thai show was a bit touristic, but the food tasted very good, lot’s ans lot’s to choose from and staff at the restaurant was very nice.
Next day we got up late, had a swim, breakfast and went for shopping at the Emporium, Paragon and Discovery (using sky train). We did not buy much but had great sushi-lunch at a place called Figi (to much green tea which they kept pooring in). After that we went to Lumphini park, nice place to wander around at the end or beginning of the day and look at people doing sport in all kinds of ways, alone or in (big) groups. We also went to the night market there. Very nice stuff, not only all the fake-stuff, t-shirts etc. but really nice things. Nice to walk around the narrow lanes with so much to look at. We were very tired at the end of the evening. We had a beer and went back to the hotel by taxi. Had a quick green curry at the hotel terrace and went to bed as our eyes were closing down on the terrace already.
Got up early next morning. Nice swim at 07.15 at the quit pool in the morning sun (always like the quitness of the morning very much with the sun coming up). After breakfast we went for a day of sightseeing with Wat Pho and Grand Palace/Wat Phra Kaew on our program. Both great places which you should not miss when you are in BKK, but we liked Wat Pho (with the big reclining Buddha) the most. The grounds are nicer and it was not as busy as at the Grand Palace. It was a really hot day and with the crowds at the grand palace it is even hotter. Grand Palace was impressive because of all the shining gold over there, but we liked the porcelain at Wat Pho more (same as Wat Arun). Unbelievable that there are still so many people around the grand palace who try to convince you that the grand palace is closed and want to take you elsewhere….. Are in despite of all the warnings (even signs in the palace area) still people falling for that? Must be, otherwise those people would not still be standing there doing their business.
After these wats we walked from the Palace, Sanam Luang and Ratchadamoen Klang (Democracy Monument) to the Wat Saket and Golden Mount. On top it was really quit, there was a nice wind and we enjoyed the view and a little rest here. At the nearby Khlong Taxi Pear we took the klong-taxi downtown to visit the Jim Thompson House (the taxi seemed to stop just nearby the JT-house). The Klong Taxi was a nice BKK-experience, but there were not any signs and only Thai on board so we could not tell where to get off. So we got off where everyone did and we knew we were in the central part of BKK but got a bit lost here. Walked around which was nice because off all the food stalls and the market, with all the smells, noice and crowds. But it went late and when we finally found out were we where, it was after five and closing time for the JT-house. So decided to do this the next day and took the Skytrain to Taksin station from where we took the hotel boat with nice free cold water an towel to the hotel. Afer freshening up and a swim, we went to the Oriental Hotel for diner at the China House. Nice apetizer (jellyfish, crab, sping rolls) en of course we had the famous Peking Duck which was very tasty. Did’t had much peking duck before so can’t compare really, but we had a lovely diner with very good food and good service.
Next day we went to Taksin station and got ourselves a two hour boat trip to visit the klongs of Thonburi, which is recommended at the Nancy Chandler Map. It was nice but the boat driver went very, very slow. Al the other boats passed us and it made the two hour trip a bit boring. With a boat a bit quicker you should be able to do the tour in one hour which would have been enough for us. I tried to explain to our “captain” that he could go a bit quicker, but he did not speak English and as he was payed be the hour, he did’t want to get back at the pier to early I presume. So nice, took a lot of pictures of locals doing their domestic things and children playing in the water, but a bit to long. After that we went to the JT-house. Loved the grounds here and bought some t-shirts. The tour is not very special I think (although the tour guide is very nice and smiles all the time), but you have to do it to get around the place (you can’t get in without the tour guide). Had very nice lunch at the JT-café. Went to MBK and Siam Square after that, very crowded places and so much happening around you! Went to hotel for swimming and resting a bit and then went to the Sirocco restaurant for our last night in BKK, really special! Discovered the Mango Margarita at the sky bar which I liked very much and drank a few more times during our holiday. Fabulous views, lovely live jazz/soul music with wonderfull singer that night and of course very good dining (my partner is a chef in a restaurant and we have diner at special places a lot, and Sirocco really impressed us). I highly recommend this place for a special evening in BKK. Make reservations in time, we could only have diner at ten o’clock in the evening because the whole week, the earlier hours where fully booked.
Next day we stayed at the hotel and relaxed at the pool before we were picked up for our flight to Samui.
Samui
We had a good flight with Bangkok Airways, better food and service then China Airlines (A’dam) and Thai Airlines (Chiang Mai), even though it was only 45 minutes flight. We liked the little airport at Ko Samui. We were picked up by the hotel (Saboey Resort), which was only a five minute drive away from the airport.
Saboey Resort is located at Big Buddha Beach. Not the nicest beach of Koh Samui I think but the resort grounds are so nice and directly in front of the beach, that this did not bother us. Nice infinity edge pool, beautifull garden and not to many guests in this small resort with two beach bungalows, four pool-villa’s, a few garden villa’s and a couple of hotel rooms/penthouses. Breakfast and diner at the small pool-restaurant, although they were building a new restaurant were diner should be served in the future. The first five nights we slept in the beach bungalow, which is more private then the other bungalows (you have your own little private garden/beach in front of you with your own beach chairs) and this bungalow is bigger than the others with a large bathroom and with big bath tub and hughe shower. The last three nights the beach bungalow was already booked so we moved to one of the pool villa’s. Cheaper, and we did not really miss the bath tub as we did not use it that much and this villa was only one step from the pool, which was nice with the very hot weather during our stay. As it’s not a big resort, the pool villas is just a few steps further from the beach then the beach villa and the view is (almost) the same. I think the price difference is not really worth the beach villa (7500 bath a night), I would recommend one of the pool villa’s (5000 bath a night) to anyone who considers a stay at Saboey. The place is very good value for money, not as expensive as all the big resort with same kind of beach and pool villas. Staff is very nice and the food was very good. Before you make reservations however, you must be sure that you are not gonna mind the sound of planes coming by and the ferry boats which leave very close to the resort. Did not bother us but you can’t ignore it. When we look at our pictures, we realize they look to good to be true, a real paradise. But it was reality over there.
We had some lovely diners on Ko Samui. We especially loved our diner at the Five Islands Restaurant, which we had during our Five Islands Experience. The restaurant and the five islands are located at a quiet part of Ko Samui, in the south-west. The restaurant-driver can pick you up in the afternoon from any hotel and take you to this restaurant where you leave for a romantic two/three hour boat-trip on a small fishing boat to the five islands and to a place where you can have a swim and snorkel. Everything is provided, cool drinks, coconut, snorkel equipment (you should only bring your own towels)….back at the restaurant you can have a nice shower and get yourselve dressed for sunset-cocktails and dinner on the beach. We had the luxery diner with several appetizers and great seafood, really nice and relaxed. It was the best and most romantic experience we had during our stay on the island.
Another nice and impressive diner we had was at Dining on the Rocks, at the Sila Evason Hideaway, at the north-east part of the island. Be sure to book your table at the wooden terrace, which is on the rocks overlooking the sea. Very special and great menu! There are more great restaurants, which you can find easy in the Samui Dining Guide from which you can get a free copy at any hotel I think. Or you can take a look at www.siamdiningguide.com.
We also went on a trip with the Seatran boat to the Marine Park (they advertise throughout the island with billboards) which was definitly not worth the money. We paid like 2700 bath a person and they took us snorkling to an area with no fish at all, there where not enough kayaks for everyone, to many people on one boat/excursion, food was not special, boat not clean (toilet area) and they booked my credit card four times (which they are going to refund, but don't like the trouble). Nature was wonderfull over there, just don’t take this big boat (I understand lot’s off hotels recommend this Seatrang experience, they must get commission) but a speedboat or something, must be better.
We went to Chaweng a couple of nights for restaurant and a little shopping. It has got some nice places but it’s very crowded. We hired a scooter for two days and did a tour around the island. Nice, especially the south part were it’s lovely to drive around (quiet roads) and stop at the great beaches. We discovered the five islands restaurant by doing this. Lamai looked rather nice but I think the best place to stay is the BoPhut area, near Fisherman’s village. Nice and quit and not to far from other places where you can go by taxi (the red taxi’s are very easy and cheap). Taxi’s are much more expensive in Ko Samui then in BKK, no meter here, only fixed prices starting with 50 or 100 bath.
Well, after lot’s of relaxing, nice diners and some ear-damage from all the swimming and snorkling (a dokter was nice enough to come to the resort and helped me with that, but the quick visit costs me 6000 bath) we went to the Chiang Mai area in the north of Thailand.
Chiang Mai
Thai airways does have a direct flight from CM to KS but not from KS to CM. So I should have planned our trip the other way around, but found this out only after we made the reservations. So we first flew from Ko Samui to BKK with Bangkok Airways, waited a couple of hours and then flew to Chiang Mai with Thai Airways. Short flights but it takes almost a day this way. We arrived at the Tamarind Village Sunday late in the afternoon, with the Sunday walking market just on our doorstep. This was the nicest market we went during our Thailand trip. Nice atmosphere and not all the fake stuff but really nice shoppings and very cheap. We had dinner at the hotel which was nice, but they did not have their best night, because preparing our diner took long and it was clear that the staff had some problems with several things that night. On the forum I’ve red that the rooms at the Tamarind Village can be a bit dark and that there could be some musquito’s. And it was/there were. Our room also needed some re-doing. They are rebuilding the place and I understand that they have three kinds of rooms now, a superior/more luxerious room, a lanna style room and standard room. We had the last one because there was no other available. Maybe the other rooms are better. The grounds a lovely and I like the location in the old town and the boutique style much better then the modern hotels in the night market area. Overall the Tamarind village was oké but a next time I would pay some more and stay at the Rachamanka.
In Chiang Mai we mostly travelled by tuktuk. We went to the Doi Suthep (by red taxi) and a local food market the next morning. In the afternoon we visited some temples in the old city. After that we went to the night market for a short time (did not like it here very much, all the same stuff) and had sushi at a restaurant there. Next morning we had to buy some things (we had to buy sunscreen over and over in Thailand) so we took a tuktuk to Airport Plaza. Nice mall. After spending there a few hours we went to the swimming pool at our hotel (not to much sun-loungers, people were lying on the ground, a nice staff member tried to make them comfortable with some kind of pillow), visited some more temples in the old town and the Warorot day-market and went to Oasis Spa for a massage. In the evening we had diner at the Mahanaga, at the river in the north of Chiang Mai. It was very nice and romatic but also very quiet (they just opened the place).
Next morning we left Chiang Mai city to spend our last four days in Thailand at a more quit place to make sure we would not return home tired from our trip but completely relaxed and fresh! At the Thailand travel forum I found Scott’s place: The Baan Rai Lanna, 45 minutes north from Chiang Mai. The brochure calls it “Heaven in the Jungle” and I must say that I did experience our stay like that. Scott, the owner of the brandnew BRL (he runs it with his wife Lorna and a very nice local staff), picked us up at the Tamarind Village and after we arrived at the small resort, the first hours we just walked around and were really amazed by the lovely grounds, the great views, the pool and our nice decorated room (we did not stop take pictures during our stay). When we had lunch at “the rice barn”, an australian group returned from a morning at the elephant camp and adviced us to take this trip also. They had spend the night before at the BRL, had to leave in the afternoon and told us they really would have stayed longer if they would have known how nice it was up here (and how great the food was). So we were looking forward to our three day stay even more, based on this information! The afternoon we just relaxed at the pool, had a great massage combined with a face treatment of almost two hours, had lovely diner and we slept like angels in the comfy bed. Next morning the sun got up around seven on which I had a great view sitting very comfortable in our room-window with nice sounds of birds and some animals, reading my book. Really relaxing. After breakfast a few hours latter, we took the owners mountain bikes and went for an easy ride with a map which the BRL provided. Rest of the day only pool-loungers, great view, lunch, swedish massage this time and at night more great food. Third day we took the excursion to the elephant camp, looked at the bathing, fed them bananas (loved the baby-elephant), watched the show and took the elephant-ride through the jungle up to a hilltribe market. After that we took a one hour easy bamboo-rafting trip down the river where our driver was waiting for us. A bit touristic day, but a must do when you are in Thailand for the first time I think. We liked it very much! My “personal” masseuse, Tiw, was waiting for me at the BRL to give me another great massage, this time a Thai one. She really gave me the best massages ever, I wish I could have taken her home with me, but Scott would not allow that I think ;-). Our last day we went for a short trip to the Mokfa waterfall. Really liked the place and took a swim. Nice and cool! After that we also went to the hot springs, a 40 minutes drive from the waterfalls, we drove through beautifull scenery. After arriving we took a nice walk but we found the hot-spring-pools to be closed. I don’t know if I understood it well, but it seemed that the hot spring was to hot for bathing…….I touched the water down by the pool, and it was rather hot indead…. We went back to the Baan Rai Lanna for for some more relaxing and a last nice meal before our departure. After such a great last couple of days we were sad when we had to pack our bags for returning to Holland. And the staff of the BRL was sad as well! We had to say goodbye off course and promised to come back. Really a great place which is not discovered yet by a lot of people. All the hotels we stayed in during our trip were great, but the BRL was the most special one, our best experience in Thailand for sure.
We had a good flight home and now, as so many people after their first visit to Thailand, we are planning to go back and see some more, like the Krabi area, some more of the north. We will ask for advice on the forum again before we leave…….In the meanwhile…..we have to work here and save up some money for our next trip.
Apr 16th, 2006, 02:10 PM
#3
I think that's what most of us do - work so we can save up some money for the next trip! 
Thanks, dorendan, for the great trip report - thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't make it to southern Thailand on my recent trip - but next time! Sounds like you had a great trip.
Thanks, dorendan, for the great trip report - thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't make it to southern Thailand on my recent trip - but next time! Sounds like you had a great trip.
Apr 19th, 2006, 09:54 AM
#6
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I like advice for our next trip off course (can't wait). Does anyone know small exclusive resorts in the krabi area? And would you advice the golden triangle area more the west side of the north? We like to combine our trip to the north with flying back from chiang mai again, so we can do some shopping there and visit the Baan Rai Lanna again. Thanx! Dorenda
