Great start! I'm so glad you had a wonderful time. As many times as I've ben to Thailand, there is nothing like reading the report of a first-timer to bring back what it felt like to go to Thailand that first time!

So glad to hear the that the trip went well. Can't wait to read your report.

Super start. The travel bug has bit you bad. It's really great to see your pre-trip planning. It's fun to see how others approach things. I'm afraid you're correct, the report is very timely and no penalty applies.

Keep it coming...

Welcome Back!

Since we leave at the end of May and are a very similar family of 4, can't wait to read every detail!

Loving your report!! Get that laundry done.

jgg,

looking forward to hearing about your adventures.

i'm loving what i have read thus far...keep it coming...don't leave out one detail...we all learn that way

bob

Terrific start and will be hugely helpful to those planning their first trip as well as those planning their 20th! Keep it coming.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement!

One more thing about clothing - I wasn’t expecting people to be as dressy as they were for the hotel restaurants (atleast in BKK). I was thinking more Hawaii like, but people were definitely dressier. Thank goodness we were never refused service anywhere (LOL!!) and even ate at Lord Jim’s one night, but I wished I had brought a nicer pair of sandals and a pair of khaki pants for my son as the only ones he had were his zip off pants.

THE HOTELS

The Peninsula (Bangkok) - This is one of the highest rated hotels in the world and we could see why. We had two lovely rooms that had a little foyer and front door that we could close so we could keep the doors open to our rooms but still have privacy from the rest of the hotel. The rooms are large with nice closet space and I loved the luggage bench they had across from the closet to keep your suitcases on. Both or our rooms had beautiful views of the river.

Controversy #2 – Should you book a deluxe room (on the lower floors) or Grand Deluxe Room ( on the higher floors)? I had originally booked Grand Deluxe rooms as that seemed to be the consensus on fodors, then someone mentioned that they liked being on the lower floors so they could see the river traffic. Well, that instantly reminded me of our canal view room in Venice and I immediately changed our reservation to Deluxe rooms (which are also cheaper!). Our first stay we were on the 9th floor and upon our return to BKK we were on the 8th floor – both were great, and we loved to see the river traffic.

The breakfast buffet was incredible with wonderful American as well as Thai dishes. Fabulous pastries, delicious fruit. I loved the mini-french toast and small chocolate croissants. Just enough for my taste, but if you want more you can get it. The only thing that was missing was oatmeal, which I love, but we never found it served anywhere on our trip.

The service here was just incredible. From housekeeping, to room service, to concierge, to food staff everyone was so nice, helpful and genuine. We broke down and used the laundry service a few times, and they even sewed on a button on a pair of pants without us mentioning it (the button was in the pocket). The night before we had to leave the zipper of DS’s zip off pants broke. We called them at 9:30pm. We told them we were leaving about 9am the next morning, they fixed them in about a half an hour.

Controversy #3 – Is the Peninsula on the “wrong” side of the river? We would answer a resounding “NO”. We loved being on that side of the river, and really enjoyed our short boat rides across. After the hustle bustle of Bangkok, just stepping on to the Peninsula boat made you immediately relax.

Anantara Golden Triangle (Chiang Rai)- We had originally thought we would spend time at the beach but chose to skip it and do Siem Reap instead. So my hope was that the Anantara would allow us to have some nice relaxation time – it did not disappoint. For me, our whole time at the Anantara was my favorite part of the trip. While the rooms and service were not quite up to par with the Peninsula, they really weren’t far behind. This is a beautiful resort with great restaurants, beautiful pool area, nice rooms and another fabulous staff.

We stayed in one of the suites which allowed the 4 of us to be in one room. They had a large sort of daybed type thing that they converted into a bed and then we also had a twin rollaway in the room. There was still plenty of room. There is a nice walk in closet with a lot of space that allowed us to keep our suitcase outside of the main room. My only complaint was, that the shower was more open so privacy was more of an issue, but not too difficult.

I just enjoyed the extra property at the Anantara that you can’t get in a city hotel, and appreciated the relaxing peaceful atmosphere. The staff was really wonderful. We really appreciated when the guy offered to clean our shoes after our mahout training. DH said his Keens hadn’t looked that color since the day he bought them.

Hotel de la Paix (Siem Reap) - It was really great, but our least favorite hotel of the 3 we stayed in (but the others were fabulous so hard to compete). The service was great but not quite up to par of the other two; I think that maybe just Siem Reap in general. Nice breakfast buffet but hot items needed to be ordered off the menu (though incl.). Just takes a bit more time then getting everything off the buffet so need to plan time accordingly in the morning.

The rooms were very nice but we did find the beds very hard (even I noticed it as soon as I layed down, and I usually don't notice those types of things, though my hubby does). Some of the nicest hallways I've seen. A computer on every floor which we often found available. Here we had two rooms which had a similar set up to the Peninsula where we were able to keep our room doors open to each other, but there was another door to close off to the hallway.

It is in an excellent location right in the heart of town just a few blocks walk to Pub St. and Old Market. For the record, despite the traffic noise in the town, we never noticed it anywhere in the hotel.

We did encounter some mosquitoes in the room.

The architecture is very cool and hip, done quite nicely although I didn't really get the large art gallery in the middle of the lobby. The pool is nice with some of the most relaxing pool chairs as they are nicely padded and quite wide. They also have some bed type things but they are covered and kind of dark. My one complaint was just that this was definitely more of a city hotel when it came to the pool area, not a lot of room and no view to look out on.

For the record, when we travel to Europe we usually do not stay in 5* hotels/resorts like we did here, but prefer to stay in smaller boutique hotels or b&b's and really enjoyed our stays in the riads in Morocco. However, for this trip, due to the heat and so much touring that we had planned we decided to splurge a bit on the hotels so we knew we would be coming back to some place where we could relax and be a bit pampered. These all did the job famously and we couldn't have been happier with our decisions!!

Sounds like you had a really good trip.

I'm so glad you had such a wonderful time! I'm a fan of the Anantara. What a wonderful place to relax!

Yipee!!! Welcome home J. Glad the trip went well am looking forward to the rest of what I know will be a great report!

Thanks for the great report. We're traveling to Thailand (BKK and Chiang Mai), Siem Reap and Hanoi in August with our two kids (ages 13 and 16), so your experiences are very interesting. How long were you in SR and what kind of touring did you do? We had considered the Hotel de la Paix, but have focused in on the Raffles and a small property called the Heritage Suites. Did you have occasion to visit either of those properties? Thanks.

What a great report so far. Bringing back so many memories of my first trip to Bangkok and Cambodia just a few months ago. I'm surprised to hear the heat is so much worse than it was in February. Can't wait for the rest!!

you rate 100%---you came to all the right conclusions, i.e. "wrong side of river", etc....bravo

loving the report

laartista - glad you found it!

rhkmk - stay tuned...more controversies to come

mandelieu - I will give more details about our time in SR in the trip report, but to give you some basics to answer your question - We were there for 4 nights and 4 full days. The last day our flight left at 7:30pm. We hired Ponheary to be our guide. We went to the temples (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom/Bayon, Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei). We also took a boat ride on Tonle Sap Lake, visited Artisans D'Angkor and visited a school where we played with the kids and served lunch. In addition we spent some time shopping in the Old Market.

There are obviously a lot more temples then what we saw, but we felt that was the right amount for us. Particularly our 12 yo son - he was definitely done with the temples!! We actually did all that in 3 days, which included resting a bit in the afternoons - well hubby rested a bit more than the kids and I, as we did the shopping. We actually tried to change our flight out the 4th day to be a bit earlier in the day the 7:30pm but they were all booked. We ended up using that day to really rest and take things slow.

I did not have a chance to see the other properties you mentioned, however the one thing I regret about Hotel de la Paix was that it was more of a city hotel, and I think I would have preferred something that felt a bit more resorty simply because there was a lot of time to rest and I would have appreciated a hotel with more grounds and larger pool area. We did go to a restaurant a Victoria Angkor Resort one night, and I really liked the feel of that place and the pool area. However, the rest of the fam said they preferred HDLP!

Sra Artista,
What have you been up to? Got a LOT of great buys here in Tokyo's Zara on clearance this past winter & thought about you..........

Thanks for the extra information about your time in SR. it's always helpful to get perspectives from others who travel with their teens. Looking forward to further installments of your report.

details and pictures, want them all come on now J.

Sorry to hijack BMT- been busy, moving to BCN soon so a lot of work to finish here first. And there is a Zara practically on every corner, can't wait for the summer sales! Glad you scored some good stuff.

laar...moving to barcelona??

Laartista-You never finished your trip report to BCN, so you are moving there after all??

jgg-I'm very much enjoying your report, keep it coming! Can't wait to hear about your time with two of my favorite ladies, Tong and Ponheary.

Looking forward to reading the rest...

Thanks for your patience!!

We live in Southern Oregon so were leaving here at 4pm to fly to LAX and then spend the night there and leave the next day at 9:30pm for BKK. We had decided to spend our day in LA looking at some colleges for DD.

The day before we left DH decided that he might have a sinus infection or something and needed to go to the dr. before we left town. The dr. confirmed that he had an ear infection and gave him some antibiotics.

Our flight the next day to LAX was on a turboprop plane. As we started to descend DH starting holding his ears, as we continued to descend the pain got worse and worse, he got really pale and we honestly both thought he might pass out. When we finally landed he was just drained and in pain. He said he thought he needed to go to the emergency room tonight and that he was wary of having to fly again tomorrow, as it had been so painful.

We had made plans to meet friends for dinner near LAX so we went ahead with those plans and had a nice dinner. We were staying that night in Claremont, DH decided he wanted to go to ER at Huntington Memorial in Pasadena as we used to live there and he knew where it was and the area. It was only slightly out of the way for the final Claremont destination.

We arrived at the ER about 9:30pm and unfortunately it was packed! It took almost 1.5 hours for him to even get called by the nurse just to be triaged. As we sit there and wait, he says "This is so painful, I may not be able to go tomorrow." Hmmmmmm.......now, I had been contemplating that he may say that, and I really am a loving wife, but my first response was to say "Well, the kids and I can go. When you feel better in a day or two you can catch up with us."

Well, he wasn't too thrilled with that and frankly neither were the kids. However, it just seemed at the time that it was easier for just him to wait a day or two than for all 4 of us, and honestly after 9 months of planning the thought of renting a car and driving home just didn't seem possible!!

After a few tears by all, we agreed to just relax and wait and see what the doctor had to say. Well, the dr. did say that it was probably best not to fly, however, he said the worst that could happen is that he could pop his ear drum which would mean a loss of hearing in that ear for about 30 days. In addition, you couldn’t go into water, even need to be careful when showering because it is important not to get any water in your ears because you are at a great risk of infection. Since I knew that both ears were hurting, I asked “what would happen if both eardrums broke?” I’m thinking that being completely deaf for 30 days was not a risk DH would want to take. The dr. said that it would be highly unlikely for both to pop. He prescribed numbing ear drops and a narcotic pain medication and said “Good luck if you go!” So, 3 hours later at 12:30am we are finally done and head out to our hotel in Claremont. DH just says it will be a “Game Time” decision.

We visited the colleges the next day and DH got his prescriptions filled at Walgreens. While there he found these little plastic things (they almost look like screws) that you put in your ear prior to take off and descent. They are supposed to help equalize the pressure in your ears. All day we kept asking “Do your ears feel better?” but he kept saying “no”. However, armed with his medication and plastic ear thingies he got on the plane!! Now, when I first booked the flight it was nonstop LAX-BKK, but a month or two earlier they had switched the flight to a different plane and so it was going to have to stop and refuel in Osaka – not good news for DH. Well, the good news is he made it. He did have some pressure and pain, but nothing like the first flight. It definitely helped that we were on a jet as opposed to a turboprop, plus he thought the plastic ear thingies really worked!!

A few words about the flight. We had economy tickets. They were free using a FF mile plan that allows you to get tickets on any airline. However, they have to be the lowest fare so I was not able to use more miles or pay additional cost for premium economy. I was really worried as the flight changed from 17.5 hours to 19.5 hours when they added the stopover in Osaka. Plus, with all the comments on fodors about how great premium economy was and worth the extra cost I was a bit wary. However, I am here to report that if you end up taking regular economy it is not that bad!! The seats are wider and have more leg room then the majority of carriers in economy class and in addition there is a foot rest, plus the individual, on demand movies/tv/etc. are great!! I usually can’t fall asleep for very long on a plane and was a bit concerned about being on there so long with no sleep. I contemplated sleeping pills (which I never take) and did get a prescription for ambien, but I appreciated the comments a lot of people said on this board about why they don’t take sleeping pills, and if your tired your body will sleep. Well, that is exactly what happened. I think I slept for about 5 hours on the plane (I don’t think I’ve ever slept more than 30 minutes at a time before!) The food wasn’t bad (but it is still airplane food) and the service was great!!

DAY ONE

We were set to arrive at 8:00am. We actually arrived about 45 minutes early. Immigration was a breeze and our bags came out quickly once we got to the carousels. I had booked with AAC Limousine for a car to pick us up as when arriving in a new country like this after a long flight, I like to see someone holding up a little sign with my name!! Well, we walked out and no sign with our name!! I started asking for AAC Limousine, someone pointed me to her and she said, your flight must have come in early. Well, it did, but there was a big board with flight info. right in front of them I figured they would check. She loaded up our bags on a cart but said the driver wasn’t here yet. We had to wait about 15-20 minutes which was a bit of an annoyance considering what they charge.

Well, he finally arrived and whisked us off to the Peninsula. The drive took about 45 minutes. We arrived at the Peninsula about 9:15am and luckily our rooms were ready. We were on the 9th floor with fabulous views of the river. We settle in and then head down to the breakfast buffet. It is an incredible buffet, with just about anything you might want. DS is ecstatic that he can have fried rice and pork buns for breakfast.

We go back to our rooms and shower and clean up. We have a 1:00pm appt. at FACE Spa for 1 hr. Thai massages. We head across the river to the skytrain, get our tickets for (I think) 30 rides, whatever was the minimum and head to Face. By the way, they do have student prices for the skytrain cards. We find Face Spa easily as the street it is on is just at the skytrain exit. They only have two massage rooms so the kids are in one and DH and I are in another. They start outside with a relaxing foot bath and massage and some really delicious fruit juice. They have clothes for you to change into and mats on the floor. This was our first Thai massage and I really liked it. I actually usually don’t enjoy massage because it just tickles me – but no tickling here!! I really liked when they did the stretching.

Back at the hotel, kids and I head down to the pool. We probably weren’t there for more than an hour but while we were there had people come by with ice water, cool washcloths, fruit and a special eye moisturizing application. What service!!

We want to eat dinner early so we can get to bed early as we are beginning to fade. We have a 5:30pm dinner reservation at Tongue Thai (which we picked since it looked the closest and easy to get to – this is called foreshadowing!). We take the boat across to the Oriental Pier and start looking for the restaurant. Now, I do all the planning for the trip but DH has to do the navigation on the ground (I stink at reading a map). He is usually very good at it, A combination, of not feeling well, jet lag and the fact that the restaurant is not actually on the street it says but behind it, means we eventually got lost. (I know those of you who know where Tongue Thai is are laughing now – since it is so close to the pier).

We had several tuk tuk drivers stop and ask if we needed help but we kept saying no. Then it was getting past our reservation time so we agreed to have a tuk tuk take us there. Well, he definitely “took us”. The street we were on was one way so we knew he would have to turn up a street to go back the other way which he did, but when we got to the other street it was packed with traffic – we definitely could have walked faster, but then we realized he was going way to far with out turning in the right direction. We could just tell we were going further and further away from the river – we were livid. He finally stopped at a restaurant and said “this one?” We said “NO - and just take us back to the Oriental Hotel” which we knew was near the restaurant. He did, and the sad thing was is that he just gave us an awful impression of all tuk tuk drivers, which luckily was reverersed in Siem Reap.

This time we realized what our mistake was and found the restaurant right away. The food was good, but nothing spectacular, but we were so beat I’m not sure we could have appreciated too much more. We were back at the hotel by 7:45pm and went straight to bed to be ready for meeting with Tong at 6:30am the next morning!!

Those Nutty Tuk-Tuk's. Keep it coming.

sharon---could you send me your e address??

bob

rhkonthailand@msn.com

great start....did you have chicken cashew at tongue thai?? my fav there...

anxious to read more

bob - that meal was a bit of a blur so I don't quite remember what we ordered, but I specifically remember ordering cashew chicken at Khmer Kitchen in Siem Reap!

it took us a dogs age to find TT as well.. couldn't believe it when it was right before our eyes!!!

Smeagol - thanks so much for saying that. We felt really dumb when we realized how close we had been to it!!

I'm one of those that thought tt was just ok. Not a bad meal but nothing I would return for either in terms of food, service or atmosphere. It's not a restaurant I will return to.

HI jgg!

Yea- I am glad I found your report. Sounds like an amazing trip so far.

As you know, we travel with our teen boys, ages 14 and 17, and Thailand/SE Asia is on my short list for next year. We have decided that we are ready for a bit more adventure and want to expand out to a new area of the world. After lots of great U.S., Caribbean/Central America, and Europe trips, we want to do something different and special next summer (end of June, July or early August of 2009) for DS1's high school graduation. I am not sure that time of year is ideal for Thailand or is it ok?

Anyway, I always love your reports and this one is off to a great start! Welcome Home.

Fun4all4-June would be a good month for your trip. Check weatherbase.com for precipitation levels. Make sure you look at different locations in Thailand.

Thanks, Gpanda. On my initial "peeks" at the Asia board, it is clear that you and many others on this board are very knowlegeable and generous with your assistance. I haven't really started proper research at all, but my initial concern about summer, even June, was that precipitation levels look pretty high and that perhaps we should wait until we can go during more "prime" season. Hmmm.

For now, I will just follow along and start to learn, whether for now or later.

J-

I am of course following your report!

Tim has chronic ear issues (from when he was a child), and any sort of head cold, stuffiness, any time within a week of a flight causes major anxiety. I am glad your husband was ok.

Here is a link to the Earplanes for anyone interested!
http://tinyurl.com/52hgg8

We also had a difficult time finding TT. Tim thought I was crazy... walking around the block following my instincts. I knew we were really close, and it was just a matter of stumbling into it, which we eventually did.

Looking forward to reading more.

Liz

bookmarking

Excitedly planning my first trip to Thailand, hopefully in November this year. I'm really enjoying your trip report so far! I'm particularly looking forward to hearing about your 4 nights in Siem Reap.

tagging on a great report. Looking forward to the rest.

Lori

Sorry for the delay. Real life just tends to get in the way sometimes!!!


DAY 2 – Tonging!!

We came up with this term “Tonging” to describe anything we did with Tong. As the trip progressed we would ask, “What was your favorite part so fa?r” and the answer was usually “what we did with Tong.” One day when asked this question DH just said “Tonging!!”

We get up early and make it to breakfast by 6am. It is great to see the morning river traffic as the sun rises. Tong had called me the night before to say she wasn’t feeling that well, but would still be picking us up in the morning. For those who are new to the Asia boards, Tong is a highly rated and sought after guide from her many recommendations on Fodors and TripAdvisor. Her website is www.tourwithtong.com and e-mail address is tourwithtong@yahoo.com. You definitely need to contact her way in advance if you want to actually have her guiding you, although she does have several other guides on her team that come highly recommended. We had one for a day and he was excellent (more details to come). She really trains her team well. Just be patient and persistent when trying to reach her by e-mail – but trust me your work will pay off!! She is fabulous. She does everything to make your day fascinating and comfortable. She knows where all the good “Happy Rooms” aka bathrooms are a long the route, has a big cooler of cold water and towels in her car/van and basically will do ANYTHING to make you happy. Plus, she is just hilarious!!!

So, back to the trip report. We meet Tong in the lobby at 6:30am. She really isn’t feeling well and has a terrible cough, but says she actually feels much better than yesterday since she is now on medication. (went to the hospital the night before after touring with others all day). She says, “sorry I have a sexy voice – I sound like a Ladyboy!” We knew we were in for some fun!! We were originally just going to use her car, but she was worried the medicine might make her sleepy so she got us a van and driver for the day (personally can’t picture her sleeping – but we all agreed it was a wise decision).

Our first stop is “fast food” as we stop in the middle of the road as she stops at one of her favorite vendors for coconut puffs. OMG!! These were delicious!! Flour, cocomut milk, chives (families debating now whether there was rice in there or not). Anyway, they were fabulous. Next, we stop at a beautiful temple with intricate wooden carved walls.

We are now on our way to the Floating Market. Controversy #4 – Is the floating market just a tourist trap?? NO, NO, and NO!! ( Perhaps this is like asking if you should take a gondola ride in Venice – which of course the answer is YES!!). Anyway, from what I’ve read on the boards, many who go here by themselves hate it, but those who go with Tong love it! Well, we LOVED it. Probably one of our favorite things from the trip. We would normally never eat street food, but we felt in good hands with Tong, and all the food we ate with her was fabulous – actually, the best food on the trip!! We had chicken wings on a stick, satay, two different kinds of noodle soup/dishes and some other stuff I can’t remember. Just a tip, do NOT eat a big breakfast before you leave the hotel to go to the floating market, atleast with Tong. If you leave about 6:30am you’ll get there around 8:00 and have plenty to eat. DH asked her if she could get coffee and she said of course. So we floated by a place that made ice coffee and served it in a plastic bag with a handle (kind of like an i.v. bag in the hospital) with a straw. The coffee is strong which is just the way he likes it!!

We enjoyed seeing them cook the food on the boats, and watching them sell their wares. Then our boatman takes us down some quieter klongs and we see a small slice of daily life and living on the klongs.

After the FM we stop at a Thai handicraft site where they are making incredible handcarved wood items. However, we mostly stop here for a much needed happy room break.

From here we drive another 1.5 hours to the Tiger Temple in Kanchanburi. We hurry to see the tiger cubs playing. Okay, the Tiger Temple is where Tong really shines. She has the whole system dialed in. Figure there are about 50-60 other people there. Despite that Tong manages to get us first in line to walk the tigers, first in line to take pictures with the tigers, first in line to take the “special” pictures with the tigers AND when you are down in the canyon waiting for these things to happen she gets us seats on the front row benches (when there aren’t even enough seats for everyone) – she is truly amazing. We did pay the extra 1000 baht to have pictures with the tiger’s head in your lap. DS was the one who did it, and then we all got in the picture as well.

Controversy #5 – Are the tigers drugged? Basically, I don’t feel in anyway qualified to weigh in on this one. Suffice it to say it was an incredible experience for all of us. I will just say that spending time with Tong, one is well aware that she is a huge lover of animals and spends quite a bit of time at the Tiger Temple (she goes there several days a week). If she felt the animals were being mistreated she would not take people there.

Next Tong took us over to see BamBam the bear, Tong’s second daughter!! She has brought fruit and milk for us to feed her. DD and DS both enjoy feeding her milk from a bottle. They think playing with BamBam is one of their favorite parts of the day.

We leave the Tiger Temple and Tong takes us for a late lunch at a restaurant not far away. Tong has preordered for us and we sit in our own little thatched roof hut enjoy a wonderful, relaxing lunch. Before we leave we buy ice cream cones, the perfect treat and ice cream for all four of us only $1.20!!

We decide to drive to the Bridge Over the River Kwai since it is not really out of the way on the drive home. Just as we arrive the train is starting to come. People are walking on the tracks and as the train comes people just walk over to these little platforms that jut our from the tracks to be safe. Not something we would normally see. Tong tells us all the history of the bridge as we drive home.

We arrive at the Peninsula at 6:30pm. We are beat, head upstairs and order room service for dinner and go to sleep!!

Here is a link to pictures of Day 1 and Day 2: http://www.shutterfly.com/view/slideshow.jsp?auto=1&aid=67b0de21b218e208b48b&js=1208056471957

jgg,

Thanks for allowing us to relive one of our fantastic days with Tong. I am still trying to remember why we missed out on the late lunch after the TT. I guess we were just too full from the FM but eventually got hungry. By then we ended up going to a 7/11 where the kids pick up snacks, I offer to get Tong something- she says no thanks but buys her 11 BHT bread. Boy, was I upset with her.

Can't access your photos though. I always end up in my own shutterfly BKK photos.

Oops!! I made a mistake. Try this:

http://www.family4travels.shutterfly.com/ and go to Thailand Day 1 & 2

This one works= thanks !

Lovely photos !!!

AWESOME J! Iced coffee in a bag! Love that. Your pix are fab. The tigers are so cute, I wish I would have gone there and the floating market looks amazing. Definitely a good call going Tonging! That was probably our mistake with BKK, not getting a guide. As usual, kids are adorable, looks like it was a great vacation so far.

great pics....thanks.....

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to write it.

I totally just revisited my Tonging---

Coconut puffs, noodle soup at the FM, lunch in the thatched hut near the TT-- yum!

And Bam-Bam!

oh I'm glad I found this!

I've read your other Europe trip reports in the past - I'm usually over there, but I came here to the Asia forum this evening because my 18yo daughter is currently backpacking around Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam for 3 months.(Actually she's 19 today but I don't feel it counts because she's not home LOL!!)

Anyway, I felt I wanted to read a bit about where she is because she is having such a great time her emails are rushed and sketchy, and as for keeping a blog - don't make me laugh!

She's been in Hong Kong and Bangkok for 3 weeks, and is currently celebrating Thai New Year and her birthday in Chaing Mai. In the next day or so she is off to Laos, then Cambodia. She is teaching English in an orphanage in Hanoi for the month of May, and she spends her last few weeks in southern Thailand before flying home the third week in June.

So I've really enjoyed reading this, it's given me more insight into what my DD is seeing than her few little snippets have. You write very well and your descriptions are most evocative. Thank you, and I await more with bated breath!

I'm going to look at your photos now!

julia - glad you found this and can "experience" some of the things your daughter may be doing.

Day 3 – More Tonging! Tong’s “Secret Place”

We are up early again to meet Tong at 7am. Today we are going to Tong’s “Special Place” aka the fishing village. A few years ago, through a mutual friend, Tong met Reed who is a fisherman. He was trying to find a way to get visitors to come see the fishing village and learn more about life on the sea. They met and the rest is history. Now, we visitors have the pleasure of spending a day with Reed and his boat.

Our first stop is the Railway Market. This place is truly amazing. The market is setup right on the railroad tracks. When the train comes by the stallkeepers just move everything over until the train goes by,. After the train goes by they just put everything back out. The amazing thing is this happens 8 times a day!! As the train starts to come a whistle blows and everyone starts moving their things over and rolling up their tarps. Tong asks one vendor if we can use their space to stand in. The amazing thing is they keep the food right up to the track. I kept thinking they needed to move it or it would get squashed, but Tong said it was low enough – and so it was, the train went right over it!

We drive on to the fishing village but not before stopping at a small market for a TON of monkey food – huge bags of bananas, tangerines and cut up watermelon. We stop at first for a “Happy Room” break. There is a toilet but you have to pour water into the bowl to make it “flush”.

We get into Reed’s boat and he first takes us along the riverbank by the mangrove trees to feed the monkeys. Reed starts calling for them and so do we. First one or two start to appear. Then tons of monkeys show up on both sides of the riverbank. We start throwing them food and they can’t wait!! A lot of babies on their mother’s back or stomach. At first it was a lot of fun, but then one monkey jumped on the front of the boat right in front of DH. He got it to jump off by throwing it food into the water. Tong said they almost never jump on the boat – lucky us.

Then several of the monkeys started to fight over the food, making that “EEAAHH” noise and even drawing blood from one another. Tong said, they usually don’t fight this much – again, lucky us. It was a great experience – a real “jungle cruise” but so many screaming monkeys fighting right by you on both sides of the riverbank was a bit freaky!!

We left there and headed to another part of the river with more monkeys – however they were not so skinny and didn’t fight as much.

From here we head out to where the river and the sea meet. Out here are many stilt homes in the water and many stakes on the ground collecting mollusks. They are fairly well organized out in the sea. We also see some fishermen swimming in the sea catching shrimp with nets or catfish with bamboo spears.

We head over to Reed’s stilt house where an incredible seafood lunch is waiting for us. Prawns, crab, chicken, soup, fish. Everything is wonderful. Then they lay out beds for us to take a nap on – how great is that? DS does a little pole fishing with Reed while the rest of us nap.

We get back to the Peninsula about 3:30 or 4:00pm. We shower and rest up a bit before walking to Harmonique for dinner. I had read so many comments about the rude service there that I was a bit leery, but we had no problems with it. We had a delicious meal, my favorite being some sort of small soup that was on an appetizer tray. DH thought they had the best fresh spring rolls of the trip.

DD and I wanted to go to Suan Luam Night Market. We wanted to take a taxi, but the street we were on was a one way street going the wrong direction. With the awful traffic we decided it would be quicker to take the skytrain. So we hit the skytrain and got off at Dala Saeng exit. Now, on the map it just looks like you walk by a park (Lumpini Park ) and then hit the night market. Well, who knew how long of a park this was??!!!! By the time we arrived at the Night Market we were all hot and sweaty and DH was not feeling great. We quickly bought a few things and then took a taxi back to the Oriental Pier and took the boat back to the Pen.

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Go to "Thailand Day 3"

Great photo set! Love the monkeys, train practically going over the food---not so much. I swear that photo just gave me a stomach ache. Keep up the great report.

The pictures of the train running through the market are incredible! Not an inch to spare.

Superb report - Thanks for the memories........

Day 4 – Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Wat Po, Reclining Buddha

DH decided that he just wasn’t feeling that well. He thought he needed to rest that day, especially since we were headed back on a plane the next day for Chiang Rai. So, he slept in, rested and had a 2 hour thai massage – the best one of the trip!! I was disappointed that he wasn’t going to get to see some of the treasures of Bangkok but the rest seemed to do him good and he was ready to go the next day.

I had originally thought we would do Grand Palace, Wat Arun, etc. on our own, but about 6 weeks before we left I decided I would rather have a guide. I contacted Tong knowing that she probably wouldn’t be available herself, but hoping one of her team would be. DD, DS and I met Q in the lobby at 8:30am. Q is a young man, very sweet, very knowledgeable and eager to help. We thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with him. We started out seeing the Golden Buddha, Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha. From there we had planned to do a klong tour. We went up to the counter and Q did all the communicating. It appeared they were having some work done on one of the klongs so we couldn’t do the route that he normally likes to take. We agreed to do a shorter version, but when we actually did it, it was REALLY short. We all thought it was going to be an hour, but we were lucky if it was 30 minutes. I was a bit annoyed since we had paid for an hour, but I just let it go. Tong would have never stood for that, but I don’t think Q was quite as tough as Tong can be. We stopped at Wat Arun, but the steps looked daunting to us with the heat, so we did not climb up.

Q took us to Coconut Palm for lunch, across the street from Wat Po. It was almost all locals and the 3 of us had a great lunch for about $7.

Next we went to Wat Po and the Reclining Buddha. This was definitely our favorite of the day. No matter how many pictures you have seen of the RB it does not prepare you for actually seeing it in person – definitely a big WOW!! Especially for DS who really didn’t know what he was going to see! While we were there a very large group of young novice monks came through, some of them as young as 5 or 6. Later on we enjoyed hearing them being lectured and chanting in the chapel.

One of the buildings in the complex was being remodeled and you could pick a roof tile and write your name, etc. on it for a donation. It was interesting to see all the other tiles as they were signed by people from all over the world. We donated tiles for the kids.

Q took us back to the hotel about 3pm. DH had left a note that he would be back from the spa about 4pm. DS wants to sit in the bathtub and watch ESPN (there are flat panel tv’s right at the end of the tub). DD and I decide to get some quick shopping in before dinner, so we hop on the skytrain and head to Siam Paragon. Now, we live in a smaller town in Southern Oregon where “retail therapy” is limited. The closest Nordstrom to us is a 4 hour drive away, so shopping is always of major importance to us when we travel!! Siam Paragon is incredible. Just about every designer is there. For those of us from Medford, OR this is quite a treat! We particularly enjoyed shopping in Exothique Thai on, I think the 4th floor, as well as some of the shops of the Paragon Passage. We didn’t have enough time to do it justice so will need to come back when we return to BKK at the end of our trip.

We rush back to the hotel just in time to quickly change for our 7pm reservation at China House. Ever since we passed it on the way to find Tongue Thai DS had been begging us to go there since he LOVES Chinese food. DD and I were a bit hesitant due to the controversy over it’s apparent decline since a recent remodel, but since it was close and we knew where it was (no risk of getting lost) we decided to go for it.
Controversy #6 – Did the China House get worse after it’s remodel? Well, since we were never there before the remodel we obviously can’t compare but we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. Some have complained about how they cut up the inside into smaller sections. We found the décor to be beautiful and very nice, and found the smaller areas to afford you privacy. We ordered dumplings, DS and I won ton soup and DD & DH a spicy noodle soup and we all shared the Peking Duck. We thought everything was fabulous. Our only disappointment was that since the Peking Duck was so much food the waiter cautioned against ordering anymore dishes, which was excellent advice, but we would have liked the opportunity to try more things.

Tommorrow we leave BKK and fly to Chiang Rai.

BANGKOK – a few impressions

Before we move onto Chiang Rai, I just wanted to list our observations about Bangkok. Now, I realize we didn’t spend that much time in Bangkok, but I have to admit it wasn’t one of my favorite cities in the world, and I love big cities. However, I think we felt it lacked any sort of charm, and was a bit grimy (not really dirty, just grimy, if that makes sense) , and basically just a large, big crowded city. We absolutely LOVED the Peninsula and staying on the river and thoroughly enjoyed our visits with Tong outside of the city. Since our return I have had several people ask me if people were constantly trying to get you to buy stuff and beg, etc. We actually did not encounter that much. Aside from one lady who was set at the Skytrain station by the Oriental Pier we rarely saw any beggars. We were rarely bothered by people trying to sell us stuff. Actually our only negative experience was with the tuk tuk driver, although our first day there when headed to Face Spa a lady did stop us at the skytrain and try to get us to go to some large market that was “only open for one more day.” Other than that we found most people to be extremely nice and hospitable.

I was also surprised by how few American tourists we saw. Most of the tourists we saw were Northern European or Australian. We were also surprised at how few foreigners took the skytrain. With how many tourists were obviously in the city few of them seemed to use the skytrain. We found it extremely easy to use and the best way to get around the city. My only complaint would be that the skytrain doesn’t get that close to some parts of the city. However, we weren’t there long enough to make it a real issue for us.

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Go to Thailand Day 4

glad you enjoyed your meal at china house....i must have been in a bad mood that nite....its gpanda's fault...

My DD (who reads all the fodor's posts when we are planning a trip) was adamant about not going because rhkmk and gpanda said it wasn't good. I had to go on TripAdvisor and find some recent reviews of it by others to convince her it would be okay!! Did you realize you have such a strong influence on a 15 yo????

LOL about your DD jgg!

It reminds me of a trip report in which a woman's son thought she was having an affair, as she was always mentioning a mysterious "Bob" during their trip to Bangkok...as in "well, Bob loves the Marriott" and "Bob loves Harmonique".

I share your sentiments about BKK, wasn't my favorite either, but that grand palace is something!

Loving the report....keep it coming. The pictures are amazing.

cruisinred,

I had told someone that KT thought my Fodor Pals were my "imaginary friends". He kept on wondering where I got all the great tips about our trips & kept telling him about Fodor's.

He was also amused that Tong & I were talking about the Folks at Fodor's. He finally got convinced about w3ho you all were after he read some of the exchanges on the board.

So glad you enjoyed the Peking Duck at China House. I love their Peking Duck, and thought it was just as good after the remodel, but I hate the remodel itself (okay, the little booths are sweet, but the mirrored ceilings make it look like a bordello). They really didn't think it through. I was there the day they re-opened, and the carts they used to carve the duck on wouldn't fit in the very narrow aisles. So they carved the duck on a portable table, and staff came in and mopped the floor afterwards (while we were eating). Not what I wold expect from the China House.

Kathie - They must have worked out all the logistics of carving Peking Duck by now as we had none of those mishaps. Also, never even noticed those mirrors on the ceiling!!LOL!

Day 5 Anantara Golden Triangle

Today we have an 11:40am flight to Chiang Rai. We are flying Air Asia, a low cost airline. We had never flown a low cost airline here or in Europe so weren’t exactly sure what to expect. We splurged (just a few extra dollars) for the Xpress boarding. Since there is no reserved seating, Xpress boarding allows you to board first and they save you seats in the first 3 rows. We found it nice, but not really necessary, unless you are trying to make a tight connection on the way back and then you could be the first one off the plane. We thought the plane was fine and the service was great. No complaints.

We arrive at Chiang Rai airport about 1pm and our driver and guest services representative are waiting for us. We get into our air conditioned van with cool towels and water, however we notice right away that while it is still hot, it is not quite as bad as Bangkok.

It takes about an hour to drive to the Anantara. We check into our suite, quickly change into swimsuits and get a quick (but good) lunch at the pool bar and then relax by the pool. It is a beautiful big pool with nice padded chairs and views of Laos and Burma. When we first got there, it was practically empty, but as the afternoon wore on the chairs did fill up a bit. By the way, can’t believe no one on Fodors ever mentioned the gargantuan red tile roofed casino in Burma that stares at you from the Anantara. Seemed a bit strange, but then we live in Oregon where the tribes have casinos popping up all over the state, so I can appreciate the economic advantage. However, it just seemed strange to have that as my view of Burma!!

For dinner we ate at the Italian restaurant there. Despite what others have said we thought the food at all the Anantara restaurants was quite good. I have to admit, I couldn’t eat Thai and Khmer food every day for two weeks so we were very pleased to have some alternatives throughout the trip.

For those who are unaware, the Anantara is a bit secluded so unless you have a car it is a bit difficult to go off the grounds for dinner without paying for a car and driver. There is a free shuttle into Chiang Saen and Golden Triangle during the day, but not in the evening. There are two restaurants at the resort, Italian and Thai as well as the pool/bar area which essentially takes parts of both menus. We were there for 4 nights and did not mind at all staying on the premises. Perhaps more time than that a dinner offsite would have been nice.

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Click on Thailand Day 5

These are mostly pictures of the Anantara. As I mentioned earlier, I just loved this place. Beautiful lobby, grounds and suite, without being over the top or pretentious!!

"Tonging" is a great addition to our past tense "Tonged"!!

Great trip report - keep it coming!

I'm glad that you enjoyed your dinner at China House. They have clearly worked on the logistics and smoothed things out.

Bob should never be quoted. While he is an expert on restaurants, his grasp of the English language is tenuous at best.

So glad I found this report, jgg. After you replied to my Bavaria post, I clicked on your name to see where y'all have been since Barcelona. Thailand and Cambodia-I'm impressed by your adventurousness! This spring break, my two older kids went on a choir trip to Italy, so no big trip for us. I'm planning a July trip to Germany now. You're way ahead of us on the adventure scale!

Although I have not been to the new china house it has long been my absolute favorite restaurant in bangkok. I'm glad they worked out some of the kinks after the reopening. Looking forward to getting there for at least one dinner and one lunch (love the dim sum).

Jeane and I will give it another try...

i see some possible 'christmas card' pictures in that group....


why do the kids look so relaxed and the parents seem to be saying "been there ,done that..."

missypie- glad you found the report. I've been debating whether to post a short thread on the Europe board with a link to the report, thinking maybe others might be interested in branching out.
In addition to trying to finish up this report, I am working out the details for a 2 week trip to Munich/Prague/Salzburg in June - we will be going with my parents to celebrate their 50th anniversary!

rhkmk - yes, I'm thinking Christmas cards as well. Last year we had a great picture of the 4 of us on camels in the Sahara desert (Morocco), so I'm thinking elephants this year!!

That's a great shot of the 4 of you on the elephants

I love the "Look Ma, No hands" shot !!!

sounding like a theme is developing....whale back next year in south africa??

rhkmk - Haven't decided yet where we are headed next year. Part of me is ready for something a little less adventurous, although our list of potential places is a mixture of adventure and more sedate. However, can't think of any more animals I want to ride!!

Just realized I put the pictures on the shutterfly site but hadn't yet posted the trip report installment to go with it.
Here goes:

Day 6 – Mahouts and massages

Today we were up early to start our mahout training at 7am. There are 3 other people doing it with us. First, we walk out to where the elephants have spent the night. The mahouts ride them into the river and give them a bath. One note before I go on, despite what I had read here, they do provide mahout pants for you to wear. We had all brought sweats to wear, but that turned out to be unnecessary.

After their bath it is our first lesson on how to get onto a elephant. It isn’t easy, although later on we will learn multiple ways to get on or off an elephant and some are a lot easier than others!! We ride them over to the elephant camp. Once there we feed them a ton of bananas, which the kids really enjoy. You can come down and feed them bananas anytime they are there without doing the mahout training. The elephant camp appears to be a little village where the mahouts and their families live. They have a little shop where they sell items and they were weaving while we were there. We hadn’t brought any money there which I regret because the wood carved elephants they had at their little shop were the nicest ones I’d seen, and I just never got back down there.

We are taught several mahout commands and get back on the elephants and take them through a little obstacle course. Then we go on and off the elephants learning all the different ways to get on or off. As I mentioned, some are a lot easier than others.

From here we rode the elephants back to the front of the hotel, where we got off and had breakfast. It was about 9am. We had only signed up for the half day, which was perfect for us as we were looking forward to some relaxation and exploration. If you sign up for the full day you would go back out with the elephants from 1-3:30pm and I believe get a chance to bath them in the river.

We had made spa appts. for early afternoon. Stephen and I had 1.5 hr. thai massages and DS had a 1 hr. foot massage. He convinced us that all great soccer players get their feet massaged (and it seems to have worked for him – he scored a goal on his first game back from vacation). DD preferred to soak up the sun by the pool.

The spa is beautiful and we had wonderful massages. It is truly amazing how those petite women can exert such pressure on you. They provide loose cotton pamamas to change into, delicious ginger tea and a foot rub/wash before they start.

After the massages we all enjoy a nice lunch by the pool. Lauren and I decide to go to the small town of Sop Ruak about 1 km away. The guys want to stay at the Anantara and rest. There is a shuttle bus but the times don’t really correspond with when we want to go. I reconfirm with the concierge that it is just 1km away and we decide to walk. As we walk along we start wondering why we decided to do this. There is, of course, no sidewalk, and once you are past another small resort on the other side of the road there really is nothing until you start to reach the town, plus it is quite hot. Then we came upon a group of men working on an electrical pole (with the wire hanging down) that was a bit disconcerting. When we first arrived in the town we hit “restaurant row”, a line of open air thatched roof eateries. We noticed that many of the shops on the other side of the street were closed. DD said “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Well, I said, let’s just keep going. This tiny little town has a GIANT, and I mean GIANT golden Buddha in the main square sitting on a GIANT golden boat. So, I said let’s just wait until we get the to the golden Buddha. As we got closer to the golden Buddha more stores were open. We stopped and bought ice cream cones and then worked our way through the open shops. We bought tons of stuff (a bag, skirts, tops, embroidered mahout pants). We ended up having a nice time, and needless to say the walk back seemed a lot shorter than on the way there. The hardest part was walking back up the Anantara’s long steep driveway. It was fun to note the Chiang Saen Immigration Center in Sop Ruak as this is where you can rent longtail boats to take you to Burma or Laos.

We had dinner that night in the Anantara’s Thai restaurant. Everything was excellent we shared coconut soup, duck curry, beef with oyster sauce and a snowbass.

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Go to Thailand Day 6

How about ostrich riding in South Africa for next year's trip?

http://www.sa-venues.com/activities/ostrich-rides.htm

It will be tough to top the elephant Christmas card!

cruisin red - who knew???!!!

Day 7 – Anantara cooking class


We start out this morning at 7:30am meeting our chef for our cooking class, Nan, in the lobby. It will just be the 4 of us in the class today. He takes us into Chiang Saen to visit the food market. He said the market actually opens around 1-2am!! He shows us a lot of different items, particularly those we will be using to cook with. We don’t actually purchase anything, which is just fine with me as there are so many flies buzzing around the food. Not sure where he did get the food from, but it’s better that I don’t know. One stall had a twirly-gig contraption that was meant to blow the flies away. We notice a lot of interesting things for sale such as frogs, eels and turtles.

DH asks if there is a good place for coffee so he takes us to a coffee cart and DH and the kids enjoy iced coffees.

Next, we drive to a 750 year old ancient temple with ancient walls around it. The hotel has packed us a simple breakfast of oj, croissants, and fruit. This is a relaxing place to take a break. Before leaving, Nan has us give flowers and burn incense and candles at the Buddhist shrine.

We get back to the Anantara a little after 9am, and Nan tells us to return at 10am when we will start cooking. The day we had arrived here we were asked to choose what we wanted to cook. We were given a list of nine items, 3 appetizers/soup, 3 entrees and 3 desserts. We had never cooked Thai food before so we chose to learn to cook some of our favorites – Tom Yum soup, Phad Thai with prawns and fried banana with coconuts.

They have a beautiful cooking class kitchen (sorry I really don’t think my pictures do it justice) with a big station up front and 4 smaller stations in the room. In addition to Nan there were two other people there to help us. First, we sat up at his station on stools and watched him make the dish as he explained things to us. Then we would all go to our individual stations to make the dish, next, we would all sit at the table to enjoy them. Then go back and watch Nan for the next dish, and so on. Nan was great and extremely helpful when we all had questions. The helpers would organize your station with the necessary ingredients, pots, pants, utensils, etc. for each item and take them away to be cleaned when you were done – if only cooking at home was this easy!!

We got to keep our aprons, hats and recipe books, which included many additional recipes. We all thoroughly enjoyed this, and learned a lot. We were done about 1pm – a fabulous way to spend the morning!!

From here we all relaxed by the pool or napped in the room. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant again. Very good meal, although my duck was a bit overcooked.

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Click on Thailand Day 7

Sounds like you enjoyed the elephants. It really is cool to ride one bareback like that, but it's so tall! The mahout pants are a new thing, for sure, because they did not have them when we were there for anyone, nor did anyone in the many photos I've seen have them either. I had specifically asked about them before going, and was told they did not provide mahout suits to guests, but those who completed a three day course would receive a certificate and a mahout should with your name embroidered on it. We received the shirt at the end of day 3, very nice. It is VERY good that they have mahout pants now.

isn't nan fantastic....we had so much fun that day.....did they also take you to the wat overlooking the golden triangle above CS?? it was a fantastic vantage point...

interestingly, just yesterday i had an e mail from the canadian guy, who lives in moscow, who sharred the cooking class with us....he will be in boston next week and we are going to meet up with him...such a small world...

Kim - definitely an improvement for them to provide the pants!

rhkmk - no we didn't go to the wat overlooking the Golden Triangle - bummer! Enjoy your visit with your friend and let him no Nan is still cooking up a storm!

Day 7 – Doi Tung and Doi Mae Salong

I had contacted Sgt. Kai about guiding in Chiang Rai. He is a highly rated guide. He is based in Chiang Mai but often takes people to the Golden Triangle and Chiang Rai so thought I would contact him about a Chiang Rai only trip. He said he could do it, although it might be one of his other guides.

We met our guide, Sutthi, and our driver at 8:30am. Our first stop was at a favorite temple of Sutthis where there were several wild monkeys around. They appeared much healthier and happier than the monkeys we saw with Tong in the fishing village. It appears that people come regularly to the temple and buy food there to feed the monkeys.

Next we stopped at Doi Tung, the King’s mother’s villa. She spent much of her later years in Switzerland and you can definitely see that influence in her house. Here is the second thing that we never read on Fodors. At Doi Tung you need to be dressed with long pants or skirt and short sleeves. They gave DD and I mahout tops and pants and the guys mahout pants to wear. You don’t need to wear them in the garden just as you walk around the house. The villa is very beautiful, made out of a lot of teak and pine. Her furnishings were actually quite modest and reminded me of my own grandmother’s furniture. We then meandered through the garden which was truly stunning, with flowers from all over the world.

We then drove up to Doi Mae Salong a Chinese village and a tea factory. Unfortunately, the tea factory was not in operation as it was the dry season so not enough leaves at the moment. We were able to sit and enjoy tasting some tea, and we purchased tea and honey. We then drove back down into the Chinese Village where we stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Sutthi ordered for us and we had an excellent meal of soup, pork, chicken with ginger and a mushroom dish. I got a kick out of the sign in front of the restaurant that said “Clean Food, Good Taste.”

We walked down the street and did some shopping in the small market area. DS and I bought some jewelry. We really enjoyed this little village.

Next we drove to an Akhbar Village. Luckily it wasn’t too far out of the way because frankly it wasn’t that interesting, Not to be rude, but it was mostly just some people lying around. Sutthi showed us the inside of one house, but that was basically it. In the future, I would just skip a stop like this. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Sgt. Kai had just included the stop in the itinerary.

We really enjoyed our day with Sutthi. He was a very kind who was always laughing at his own jokes!!! He seemed the most open to talking about Thai politics, etc. which we really enjoyed.

We headed back to the Anantara and got there about 4:30pm. Just relaxed before another nice dinner.

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Click on Thailand Day 8

Day 9 – Travel to Siem Reap

Today is another travel day. Our flight out of Chiang Rai doesn’t leave until 1:30pm so we sleep in a bit. We have scheduled a hotel van to take us at 11:00am for the one hour drive to the airport. On our way there we drive on this road that has pineapple stand after pineapple stand. Each the same, each with one woman in front. Not sure if they are all from the same plantation or not, but it seems difficult for them to differentiate themselves.

We arrived at the airport and founnd out our flight was delayed 1 hour. We will still have 2 hours at BKK to retrieve luggage and get rechecked in on Bangkok Airways to Siem Reap, so we were hoping that the flight wouldnt be further delayed. By the way, on the way to CR on Air Asia we were not charged for overweight baggage, but on our way back we were. I know we did purchase some things but not enough for all the bags to go up. I think they were just nice on the flight in. We got treats at the DQ in the airport.

There is an area in the airport set up with comfy Lazy-Boy type recliners with a sign saying “Reserved for monks”. Our flight left just one hour late which gave us the full 2hrs. in BKK to get from one flight to the other. However, we were a bit surprised by the long line in BKK to go through immigration to leave the country. It took us over half and hour.

The Bangkok Airways flight was fine, only about 55 minutes, and they even served a meal (sandwich). However, with all the forms you have to fill out to enter Cambodia I spent the whole time filling out 4 copies of each form. I had tried to do e-visas on line before we left, but kept having problems so just decided to get it upon arrival. We did not have to wait long at all and it was fun to watch the row of important looking people look at and stamp our passports. Picked up our luggage and there was Ponheary and her driver waiting to pick us up. The Siem Reap is a fairly new airport and extremely nice – we were quite impressed. They dropped us off at Hotel de la Paix and we were set to meet her at 8am the next morning. We were tired and hungry, but it was late, so we decided to eat at Meric the hotel restaurant and we had a nice dinner.

loving every detail....

i have to tell you that your kids look like really nice kids...DON'T TELL THEM!!!!

Thanks Bob, although they do have their moments!!

Day 10 – Angkor Wat

At Hotel de la Paix for breakfast, the cold items are in a buffet and then you order hot items from the menu (still included in the room rate). This was actually nice, except if you are in a hurry and have to wait for your food.

We head out to Angkor Wat and get our first glimpse of Siem Reap in the day. We immediately liked it. It was much more charming than any other town/city we had been to on this trip.

Lucky for us we arrive at Angkor Wat early enough that there are not too many people. We enjoy walking around and particularly listening to Ponheary’s stories of the Khmer Rouge – fascinating. DS did get a little bored, but was anxious to get his picture taken in the exact same spot as a picture he has in his Ancient World History textbook – a picture of two monks in front of Angkor Wat. We saw a few brides preparing for wedding ceremonies, which was interesting to see their colorful dress. There was also an interesting spot where people had started piling small stones atop each other to make small temples. Ponheary said that this was to encourage people to leave the small relics in the complex rather than take them home with them.

We arrive back at the hotel about 11:00am and plan to meet up again with Ponheary at 4pm. Mid-day showers for all, then I bring my little list of restaurant recommendations to the concierge and ask her which one she thinks we should go to for lunch. She recommends Viroth’s. We take a tuk tuk there as it is located across the river. Our driver drops us off and then says if we like he will be back in an hour to pick us up. As soon as we drive up we instantly think we are going to like this place. We just loved the décor and we also found the food fabulous. The glass noodle salad with shrimp was the best dish I had had so far on the trip, and the lemon granitas were fabulous. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we decided to order dessert. Our tuk tuk driver waited patiently as we took longer than the appointed hour.

We go back and rest a bit before having to meet up with Ponheary at 4:00. At 3:45pm the sky started to get very dark, by 3:50pm it is raining. By the time Ponheary picked us up it was pouring!! This is what my BIL would call a “frog strangler”!! Our plan was to go to Angkor Tom and Ta Phrom, but Ponheary says it is raining so hard that we may not be able to get out of the car but just drive around. It continues to absolutely pour. It is amazing to see the people riding their bikes in the rain. I kept thinking it would be great if it stopped raining while we were out there because then we would be there and everyone else would be gone. Unfortunately, it continued raining for about an hour. The roads were flooding and becoming little rivers. Actually, it was kind of neat to be driving around the temple area when it was raining so hard. We will just have to come back tomorrow to walk around the temples.

We head back to town and decide to go to Artisan’s D’Angkor. By the time we get there it has stopped raining. We really enjoy watching the craftsmen/women at work. At the gift shop we purchased several things and they gave us a great woven basket to carry everything in. Ponheary takes us back to HDLP. We freshen up for dinner and walk down the street to Café Indochine. The food was good, I particularly liked the fried squid with black kepong pepper, however, the service was a bit spotty when a 2 busloads of people arrived. For dessert we stopped at Café de la Paix attached to the hotel.

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more great pics....

Bookmarking this for future trip........ Now I really want to go. Your kids remind me so much of my 2 older ones. They look real nice & yes, please tell them I said so ;-D

Let me know when you get to Tokyo, OK?

Thanks bmt! Actually your pictures to Thailand were great and helped me make my decision to go to the Tiger Temple!

Japan is on our potential list for next year, just not sure that the weather would be so great in late March. What do you think??

Although March weather can be unsettled, late March early April is perfect for cherry blossoms.

I totally agree with Kim.

Thanks guys, we'll keep it on the list for now.

Day 11- Angkor Thom/Bayon, Ta Prohm & Tonle Sap Lake

We had decided to start at 7am this morning to try and beat the heat. We explored Angkor Thom/Bayon and Ta Prohm. We really enjoyed both of these, particularly Bayon and preferred them both to Angkor Wat. DS enjoyed doing any climbing that Ponheary would let him. We were back at the hotel about 10am and planned to meet up with Ponheary again at 4pm to go to Tonle Sap lake. After a short rest and showers we headed to The Old Market and Pub Street area. We checked out all the restaurants and decided on the Blue Pumpkin. We went upstairs and enjoyed relaxing on the bed/couch dining tables in the air conditioned space. We had a lunch of a mixture of khmer and western food.

DH went to the hotel as he had a massage appointment. The kids and I shopped at the Old Market. We found this to be our favorite market as we found some things we had not seen elsewhere. There were also several nice shops along the same side of the road that Blue Pumpkin is on, across from the Old Market.

Ponheary picked us up at 4pm and had brought along her adorable nephew, PhiPhi. Our drive to Tonle Sap lake is about 45 minutes with very interesting fields, houses and markets along the way. At some point we stopped at a small outpost with about 5-6 people in official uniforms sitting at a table under a thatched roof. Ponheary jumped out to tell them that 4 tourists will be going on the boat. You can pay these guys for the boat ride, but Ponheary says she told them we will pay the boat driver directly.

We drove a bit more and began to notice that the people were looking poorer and poorer. Ponheary explained that this is one of the poorest places in Cambodia. We got to our longtail boat, which is actually one of the most comfortable boats we had been on this trip, as we each have our own nicely padded chair. This was definitely a “wow” for us, seeing these people just living on these small boats or houseboats. We were just riding along when all of a sudden a young girl is standing next to me offering me “Coke for $1”. We didn’t have any idea where she came from, then turned around and realized she had quietly rowed her boat up next to ours and jumped onto the boat to sell her soda. We declined and she jumped off and rowed away.

We stopped in the middle of the lake and listened to Ponheary tell Khmer Rouge stories and talk about the war. Soon a small boy, I don’t think more than 4 or 5 was on our boat selling bananas for $1, then his sister hopped on selling more soda for $1. Dad is in his boat right next to ours. However, when the girl with the giant snake tried to get on the boat I told Ponheary to please make sure she doesn’t get on the boat!! YIKES!!

We drifted by a floating Catholic Church then decided to go to the floating fish and crocodile farm. I was expecting to see crocodiles in some sort of cage but as I got off the boat, the man who helped me was holding a small crocodile in his other hand!!! I can laugh about it now, but was a bit alarmed at the time!! We walked on the deck for a bit, DS was diligent about making sure another girl with a snake was always far away from me. We watched them feed a catfish to one of the crocodiles – “SNAP” – that was loud!

Time to get back to the boat. As we started to float away we notice a woman having a man put fire and hot rocks on her back. Ponheary explained that they do that to get any sickness out. I just want to note that at the time of day that we went we did not notice very many other tourist boats. As we were leaving the dock another one was coming in, and we also noticed a lot of vans/buses driving away from the lake as we were driving towards it, but while we were on the lake there were very few other tourist boats. I think going later in the day was a good idea – also a bit cooler.

We had such a great lunch at Viroths the day before that we decided to go there for dinner tonight, and had another lovely meal. By the way, I noticed a brochure they had for a new hotel they opened. I checked out their website and it looks pretty nice. The website says the rooms start at 60USD/night. It is on the other side of the river from Old Market/Pub Street, but nothing a $2 tuk tuk ride couldn’t handle. (http://www.viroth-hotel.com/). We went back to the hotel and enjoyed dessert on the swings at Meric restaurant. One word of warning – the swings are not great if you have a bad back as they provide limited back support.

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Click on Thailand Day 11

more fantastic pics...

I have been so enjoying your trip report. We will be with Ponheary in Siem Reap so this is great to see what you did with her. And your pictures are great! Keep it coming!

jen - glad you are enjoying it. I peeked over at the Latin America board yesterday as Argentina is a possible location for our next trip and see that you were just there, so I may be asking you for advice!

Day 12 – School visit and Banteay Srei

Today was my birthday, and I was lucky enough to be spending the morning with 450 schoolchildren! I had sent money to Ponheary before we left so she could purchase vegetable, meat and drinks for the kids at Knar Primary School. She picked us up at 8:30am with the van filled with food and drinks. The drive out to the school was 45 minutes. As soon as we arrive the older kids start unloading the supplies from the van and the older girls begin preparing the vegetables immediately We meet the teachers and principal and see the library and classrooms. All the desks are outside at the moment so the kids can eat lunch on them.

Today is their last day of school before their spring holiday, so they are just having a big party. There is a DJ and very large speakers playing dance music. The favorite of the boys is definitely the Macarena!! The music slows down a bit and the girls start doing a simple aspara dance. Someone invites DD and I to join in. After a few minutes I get the hang of it. Soon a young man of 19 asks me to dance. I ask him what he wants to do after school and he says something with music.

The girls are making little flower necklaces and periodically coming up to DD and I and putting them around our necks. I think we each had atleast 10. Ponheary says it is time to go to Banteay Srei so we take a break while the older students and several adults finish cooking the meal. It is only another 10 min. drive to Banteay Srei temples. This is a very small temple but with extremely intricate carvings. There is not as much left standing at this temple as the others,

We head back to the school where the lunch was just about ready. Two boys cary a GIANT tub of rice an d large bucket of beef and vegetables. DS serves the rice and DD and I serve the meat and vegetables. (DH is having a bit of a green tummy – when we first arrived they cut up coconut and gave us each one to drink. He thought his tasted a bit sour and may have been what caused the tummy ache.) Before serving, the kids sing Happy Birthday, then they all start crowding around us with their small plastic or tin bowls. This is really quite an experience. After the food is gone we serve them all juice or soybean milk.

We head back to the hotel, and get there around 1pm. Ponheary asks about meeting again in the afternoon, but we say we think it is time to rest!! So we have lunch at Khmer Kitchen and then back to the hotel to rest by the pool.

Since it was my birthday dinner we made reservations at Le Bistro, a nice French restaurant at the Victoria Angkor Resort. Our dinner was very good, particularly the endive, apple and cheese salad. The service was very attentive, although we did have some brief communication problems when ordering desert, which made us all laugh, including the waiters.

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Click on Thailand Day 12

Day 13

Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 7:30pm. We actually tried to change to an earlier flight, but even with 3-4 earlier flights they were all booked. So, we decided to have a much needed day of rest. We were able to get a late checkout at 3pm which I thought was very generous of them. So, we slept in late, had a leisurely breakfast and then started packing. At 2pm we called to have our bags picked up and checked out. We were set to have a hotel driver pick us up at 5:30pm to take us to the airport. We walked over to the Blue Pumpkin and hopped on one of the beds for lunch. This definitely is a popular place for foreigners to hang out, rest, enjoy the air conditioning and use the wi-fi. There was one Japanese family next to us whose baby was asleep in the stroller and Mom & Dad were asleep on the couch/bed!!

BTW the Siem Reap airport is one of the nicest small airports I have ever been to and there is a nice Artisans D’Angkor Store if you missed something the first time. We had a nice flight back to BKK. We had decided to book AAC Limo again to take us back to the Peninsula just so we wouldn’t have to wait since it would be later in the evening. When we arrived no one was there waiting for us. I asked someone else where AAC Limo was. She didn’t know but she found their paperwork and called them (this was after 5-10 minutes). Then she said “Come,” and I said “Are they here already?” and she said “yes.” Needless to say they weren’t there and we had to wait outside in the heat for another 10 min. or so. I was pretty annoyed since that was exactly what I was paying to avoid. I gave them a second chance after not being ready on our original arrival in BKK, but after the second time I would definitely not recommend them.

Day 14
We have one more full day/night in BKK before flying out tomorrow at 7:20pm. We really wanted to see the Jim Thompson house so took the skytrain there. This is an absolute oasis in the city. Beautiful architecture and priceless antiques. Tours start every 20 minutes in English, French, Japanese and Thai. The tour lasted about 35 minutes and took us through the gardens and home. After the tour we did some shopping in the store and then had a very nice lunch at the lovely Jim Thompson restaurant.

After lunch we went to the Central World Plaza and shopped! DD really enjoyed looking through the small boutiques on the bottom floor. I t appears as though they maybef or budding designers. She found her prom dress at one of these boutiques. DH left early to return to the hotel for his last Thai massage.

For dinner we had the concierge make us dinner reservations at Lord Jim’s at the Oriental Hotel. We did not have a window seat, but enjoyed our dinner and setting just the same. The food was fantastic, but unfortunately, we ordered a bit too much food, which filled our stomachs and emptied our wallets!! Warning – they have a seafood appetizer which they say is for 2. We ordered it, thinking the 4 of us would share it as an appetizer. Well, it is enough food to feed four people for dinner!!

Day 15

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 7:20pm. We get up pack and head out for more shopping. Back to Siam Paragon as I definitely didn’t get enough time at Exothique Thai the last time. DH enjoyed perusing the electronics and cars.

We decided to skip the food court downstairs as it just seemed like a zoo, and we had lunch at a restaurant on Floor 1 called “Another Hound”. It was a mixture of Italian and Thai and had very good food.

When we were back at the Peninsula we head to the bell captain to call a taxi. When he sees all our bags he says we will either need two taxis or we could take one of the Peninsula’s cars. I ask him about getting a van taxi but he says you need to call an hour in advance for that. We decide to just go ahead and take the Peninsula car service despite the steep price (our last Peninsula splurge!!) Just so everyone knows, this does include more than just a drive to the airport. When we arrived at the airport two Peninsula employees greeted us, and immediately took all our bags, helped us check in and even took care of the customs portion or our VAT refund. Now, of course we could have easily done all this ourselves, but if we were paying more money, it was very nice to have some extra service. I’m sure if we had hired them to pick us up at the airport they would have been there on time, waiting with their sign!!

Our flight home to LAX was nonstop, uneventful and arrived over an hour early. AFTER we had gone through customs and were about to head out we realized we had left our bag with all our Jim Thompson purchases on the plane!! We saw some Thai Airways flight attendants and told them the situation. They said someone found the bag and was waiting by the luggage carousel hoping to find the owner. DH ran back there and got it and got back through customs.

Our flight to Oregon was leaving the next morning so we stayed at the Renaissance Montura (a Marriott). It turns out that was where the Thai Airways crew stays as well. One of the flight attendants recognized us from when we were looking for our bag and asked if we had found it. Just another example of the great service.

Well, that is it!! THE END Now I can officially start planning our trip for next spring break!!

By all means ask me about Argentina. We had a fabulous trip! And thanks to all of the advice on this forum, I am sure our Thailand/Cambodia trip will be amazing also.

I probably missed it on an earlier thread, but how did your sending money to the school come about?

I have a spring berak birthday also...sort of takes the sting out of growing older to spend your birthday in a neat location.

missypie - I don't think I fully explained it earlier. Our guide, Ponheary, works with several schools to encourage kids to stay in school. She learned through her years under the Khmer Rouge how important education can be. A few years ago one of her clients, Lori Carlson, was so moved by what she was trying to do that she set up the Ponheary Ly Foundation (www.theplf.org). It is a non-profit organization that collects money to help Ponheary in her efforts. Lori Carlson has spent many weeks in Siem Reap, and it is my understanding that she is packing up and selling/storing her belongings and moving to Siem Reap sometime this year, to help Ponheary full time. I believe right now Ponheary works with about 5 schools in some of the most impoverished neighborhoods. So, we organized all this with Ponheary and sent the money through the Ponheary Ly Foundation. (Lori is a fellow Texan).

This school visit was a very memorable experience, and my daughter says it was the highlight of our whole trip.

By the way, I forgot to mention that if anyone is headed to Siem Reap, and particularly being guided by Ponheary she is looking for pencil sharpeners for the classrooms. Not the small individual handheld ones, but the kind that you can bolt to a desk or wall. No electrical ones - as no electricity in the schools. We brought 4 (for Knar School) but she would like to have enough for each classroom in each school she works with. I told her I would spread the word here on Fodors!!

Actually, usually my birthday is either our travel day home or 1-2 days after we come home, when everyone is too tired to pay much attention, so it was definitely nice to celebrate in such a special way!!

Great report and great photos. Makes us want to do a trip with our nieces and nephews - tiger temple, "secret" place, Anantara elephants and cooking class, Siem Reap school visit especially. We were one of the first (back in February 2006) to visit a school with Ponheary. We are happy whenever we hear about posters having new experiences with her and the school children.

One question, those very, very steep steps at Angkor Wat that were closed (in your photo) - we climbed those (a bit scary) - did you hear any reason why they are closed?

Fantastic report! Many thanks for taking the time to share.

Craig - What we heard (and not sure if it is true or not) was that a Korean tourist had fallen from them. Don't recall if it had been a fatality or not.

simply fantastic....sorry AAC was a disappointment....i had one such incident several years ago when i came into the domestic terminal and they were waiting for me at the international....

Another Big Thank you for your time, thoughts and information from your new bigest Fan. It was great and gotta say I'm sorry the great read is now finished.
Great Job!

Thanks for taking us along jgg. This is a trip report I can easily digest without getting choked by "too" much detail. A very enjoyable read indeed !!! Much to learn from your observations & what your children enjoyed. Really happy you enjoyed your Tonging experience !

BTW, Tokyo awaits you & yours........

sounds like a great trip. we are also interested in Anantara for 2 A and 2 teens. How do you go about booking the suite? I also saw it on sawadee.com with stay 3 nights and pay for 2. How did you book it?

Thanks all. I am glad you enjoyed it. I think we all do this as much for ourselves, as a chance to relive the trip, as we do to help others.

belly - I booked the suite by just e-mailing them directly, as I wanted to be sure they knew there would be 4 of us staying in the room, and also to confirm whether it incl. breakfast for all four of us, which it did.

I believe others on this board have used sawadee.com so you may try posting a question. Just check and see whether or not they require you to prepay. I didn't have to do that through the hotel directly, not sure if sawadee requires that or not. One night free sounds like a great deal!

Great, great report J! What an amazing trip especially for your kids. That day at the school a special experience. How fortunate they are they have parents like yourself and hubby who can take them to far away places and open their eyes to how other children live in the world. I really think travel makes people more aware. Where to next?

jgg- I really enjoyed reading your trip report and seeing the pictures. We are going in July with our son and daughter(11 & 8)and will also be going to Siem Reap. You gave some great information on restaurants and places to go. I especially liked the idea of taking showers mid morning after touring the temples-that will help us get ready faster in the early mornings.We will bring some pencil sharpeners to Ponheary too. Did you use the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass to fly to SR?

We also have a day scheduled with Tong to go to the floating market and possibly the tiger temple. I'm still a bit undecided about the tigers- were you glad that you went there?

laartista - thanks for the kind words.
"Where to next?" - Well as I mentioned we have a trip in June to Munich/Prague/Salzburg for two weeks to celebrate my parents 50th anniv. For next spring break we are pretty much all over the map, but at the moment the front runners are Argentina (Buenos Aries & Patagonia) or Israel. Have you been to either one?

tnnc2 - " especially liked the idea of taking showers mid morning after touring the temples-that will help us get ready faster in the early mornings" - Not great for how you look in some pictures (Ha!ha!) but did seem to make sense sometimes.

"Did you use the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass to fly to SR? " Since our third location was Chiang Rai and Bangkok Air doesn't fly there we did not have 3 segments on Bangkok Air so unfortunately were not able to take advantage of their Discovery Pass. We flew Air Asia to CR - very inexpensive.

"I'm still a bit undecided about the tigers- were you glad that you went there?" I felt the same way when planning the details of the trip, but I would have to say I was glad we went. As I said, I am certainly no expert and we were only there for a short time, but it was a great experience, particularly for the kids. They are in the process of building some really wonderful new areas for the tigers to roam. There were also several other interesting animals just roaming around that were fun to see.

I loved reading your trip report. It was great! I also love your travel spirit...your kids are so lucky to have parents who take them to amazing places. What a great way to learn about the world and meet different people.

We just returned from our first trip to Thailand and I agree with you on so many of your observations and opinions (we thought the Peninsula boats were a refreshing and enjoyable part of the trip too and we agree it's not on the "wrong" side of the river.)

Have fun planning the next trip!

i just saw this post and pored thru the pictures. wow. you all had an amazing trip! what a great experience for you & your kids!

thanks for taking me on your trip... i am thinking of cambodia next year, not sure if it will be cambodia & laos or cambodia & thailand. ah decisions!

great report and happy travels!

What a beautiful family and interesting and fascinating report! Thank you for posting. Our trip is planned for Oct. 2008 and you gave a lot of info we will use.

Glad it was helpful. I hope you both have wonderful trips!!

Bookmarking for future plans.
I found this via your Morocco trip info and now I need to go to Thailand, too! Maybe I'll just follow in your footsteps around the world You're an excellent planner & trip report writer!

Hi jgg - I haven't been on Fodor's for several months (because I've been compulsively planning college tours) and just discovered this thread. As you know, we went to the exact same places for the same amt. of time. Will read and comment soon!

crosscheck - I definitely remember!! Your's was the first trip report I read when I started to plan our trip, and the only one I got my hubby to read!! LOL!

Hope you write a trip report on the college trip. My daughter will be a junior next year and I think we will be doing that trip next summer!! BTW, a friend just told me about this blog www.theneuroticparent.com. I suspect you will find things to relate to and laugh your head off. In all honesty, as I recall your style of writing, you could very well be the author!!!

jgg,

A is also entering Jr year in the Fall & I am already starting to plan on the Campus tours but am a little disadvantaged being in TKY. Will do my best to do what we can from here.

Will read the neuroticparent in good time.
Thanks for the tip !!!

Just be sure you do THEneuroticparent and not just neurotic parent, or you will be on the blog of the parent of a toddler, rather than reading about the trials and tribulations of the parent of a junior in highschool!!

Wow, jgg. You deserve a PhD in Comparative Blogature.

And I thought the web was supposed to be a fairly large place. My 14-year just said that this is "too insane a coincidence" and told me to make sure the doors are locked.

I guess it is time to confess to my fellow Fodorites: I, crosscheck, am the Neurotic Parent. I left the world of ancient ruins and spicy food for the world of beer pong and a cappella groups.

The first part of the blog is my quasi trip report (though, sadly not as exotic as the one posted here). And yes, there will be more college visits to come - as soon as the SAT IIs are over.

jgg and crosscheck-that has to me one of the strangest examples of "small world" I have seen in a long time! How funny...

You 2 are so funny !!! Bring it on. I have much to learn from this land afar. Need all the help I can get.

Many thanks.
bmt2

OMG!!!!!! I cannot believe this! Are you kidding me?? The other small world part about this, is a friend of mine just told me about your blog just this week. The amazing thing is she is a friend who I met here on Fodors!! We met here about 2 1/2 years ago when we were both planning trips to Paris. I live in Oregon and she lives in NYC. We have since met in New York and keep in regular contact. What a truly amazing world Fodors is.

Cannot wait to sit down and read your whole blog!!

I, too, am sitting here in shock.

You are an internet psychic!

The fact that you found the blog to begin with is astonishing. It has gained a following among the college-obsessed, but it has only been "public" for a week and has a modest readership compared to a site like Fodors. (And I don't live in NY or Oregon.)

But the truly amazing part of this is that you linked my two anonymous personas, although I'm much more satiric on the blog. My son says maybe it's because I use dashes and parentheses excessively - (but surely I'm not the only one!)

And, get this: I just started reading your trip report and we both started our Asian travels with ear infections in our families.

This is so freaky that I think we need to contact the author of the Tipping Point!

Do you think that if we tell the Fodors people about this we can win a free guidebook?

I need to weigh in here as another astounded person. I am jgg's "link" noted above.
Having just been through this process with my son, a senior in high school here in Manhattan, the discovery of your blog (forwarded to me by a close friend and another senior's parent)was absolutely perfectly timed. I loved every second of it- it absolutely hit home in every possible way-- particularly because the son in question was truly a C.P. --Cerebral Procrastinator.
I immediately forwarded the blog to the immediate, now delighted world.
Note: am still suffering from P.A.S.S-- Post-Application Stress Syndrome a.k.a.-- If Only I knew Then.....
Will likely recover just in time to start all over again with my second son -CP2(now 14). However-- must note that we are already working on an early decision application.
THANK YOU for brightening my week!!

The neurotic parent is great! I am a high school guidance counselor and we are always trying to get parents to "chill" about the college process, but that's tough in a high pressure, high achieving suburban school. Thanks for a bit of humor and insight into the parent's mind at the end of the year! It's amazing what you can learn on this site!

Hi jgg - thanks again for this great report!

I know it is off-topic, but I have to chime in to comment on the college/neurotic parent thing. First, thanks for the link to the blog as it is hilarious! And, what a wild coincidence that crosscheck is the neurotic parent.

crosscheck - you replied to a couple of my threads requesting ideas and suggestions for our next family trip. Your thoughts were helpful and I loved your trip report from Thailand.

I am really writing, though, because I can so relate to everything in your blog as I have my own 17-year son who is an excellent student and soccer player who aspires to learn and study amazing and interesting things in college.... well, as long as he can fit that in between his loftier goals of becoming a discerning and expert pizza and beer connoisseur, painting his body in his school colors to attend major athletic contests, and playing sports and his guitar.

He is actually taking his SAT's as I write this. Upon our return from our family trip to Greece, I will be planning out a number of college visits for this summer. All of this is stressful, to say the least - so, THANKS, for the laughs as it helps put it back in perspective (at least for the moment).

Thanks, everyone, for the extremely kind words. The college process is so absurd that it's easy to make fun of it. Wish we were planning a trip to Asia instead!

jgg - Your trip report is fantastic. (Sorry to taint it with college anxiety.) I will return with comments when I finish. FYI -Your incredible deductive powers will be featured on my blog.

lbrawer - Major congratulations for getting through the process! I'm wondering how many degrees of separation there are between us. Maybe we'll meet on a college tour when CP2 and my younger son are applying.

jcasale - Without a doubt, you have the most difficult job on the planet. You definitely need a vacation - Are you going to Asia?

fun4all4 - Sounds like our sons might end up being best friends in college! Wish I could say they might meet in Greece, but sadly for me, we're going on a baseball tour for our summer vacation.

My son just returned from his SAT IIs and can now celebrate the beginning of summer. Unfortunately the euphoria will only last for a few days because he has to start working on those apps.

"Your incredible deductive powers will be featured on my blog." - Oh goodie!! I can't wait!

Just finished your report. Loved it. Thanks for letting me relive the experience. So many of our impressions were similar - BKK, cooking school, the walk to Sop Ruak, Ponheary...and we too had trouble finding Tongue Thai, especially when the people we asked for directions said it had gone out of business.

Your photos are also terrific. Since we went to the same places, I'm tempted to send our friends to your site and tell them they're ours.