hi everyone...we just spent 3 nights at the Baan orapin bed & breakfast. we arrived at the chiang mai airport...easy 140 baht taxi ride to the b&b..i printed out a map from the website so it was very easy for the taxi drivers to find it.
when we arrived, we were greeted by the owners...and quickly escorted to our units.
we had to rooms, both rooms had a sitting room with couch, tables and chairs, t.v., small kitchen without stove, bedrooms and bathrooms (showers only). the place looks like jim thompsons estate in bkk...the main house where the owners have lived forever is a large teak mansion...and the rental units resemble the main house. lots of teak, teak floors and walls, but the buildings are constructed with concrete, even between the upstairs and downstairs units. the place was very clean and comfortable. even the beds are comfortable and they have mosquito nets ( just a few bugs...not too bad).
the grounds have mature tropical foliage, little waterfalls and streams run throughout the property. the office area has many books and maps (they will loan you the nancy chandler map if you need it). they serve a breakfast every morning and you have 4 set menus to choose from. the food was acceptable, nothing fancy. the staff were wonderful and very helpful.
it is an easy walk to the main riverside restaurants...good view, riverside, gallary.
we ate at most and all had live music at nite, decent food and good prices. you can take a dinner cruise boat from the riverside.

the footbridge that crosses the river is only minutes away, and you exit at main local market...lots of food, fruits and local wares. it is a short 15 minute walk to the night market and every night we walked there and after hours of shopping, bags of goodies...we had our roti for dessert...and took a tuk tuk back to the b&b.
all we had to tell the driver was goodview and then we could find our place...no problem.
we had excellent meals at the whole earth restaurant...everything from thai, indian, vegetarian & smoothies...goodview and riverside are large restaurants on the river..live music, good food.

overall...baan orapin and chiang mai exceeded our expectations...we even had good weather.
p.s. we liked the baan orapin much more than tamarind village where we stayed last year. baan orapin is cheaper, convienient and much more friendly. they are building
additional units and a pool in the back.
if you want the quieter rooms...stay downstairs or in the new units in the back.
upstairs you can hear the street traffic.

If I'm not mistaken, I think I'm one of the first posters to have mentioned Baan Orapin on this board, I do know I first talked about it a year ago, (and the owners were wondering why I didn't show up last year, oh well...). This year will be different. I have told Anuchana that I do plan to visit and am very much looking forward to staying in this lovely, peaceful place!

divediva - thanks for the review, lovely to hear that you enjoyed Baan Orapin. I have a couple of questions - did the owners tell you when the pool might be finished and do you think there is any reason why the place would not be suitable for a 2 year old?

Thanks! Enjoy the rest of your travels

they said the pool and back units are not scheduled to be ready until end of 2006. i think the flood damage has set their plans back because now they are making areas to park, new walkways and are bricking in the driveway.

i dont think having kids there would be a problem...they are very family oriented and i heard some of the owners kids/nieces or nephews playing after school in the yard.

yes, there are safes in the room.
sorry ...forgot to answer this question.

Spygirl-- yes you were the first one to post about it. I think I was the first person to actually make a reservation (did it last Feb) although I have yet to stay there since my trip isn't until this January. But that's what is so fabulous about this site. We can find out about some of these gems.

dive, mahalo for the excellent report. i am anxiously waiting for our visit there next month.

spygirl, like i said, you do have good info.

Divediva, what type of room did you stay in? Was it a standard? A deluxe, a mini suite?

We are staying there in Feb. so I will also post my reviews.

Cheers!

Tamara

Divediva, what is the reservation policy at B.O.? We'll be there in January for 4 nights. When we reserved about 1-2 mos ago Anuchana reassured us that she didn't need any deposit/payment. I just want to make sure. Thanks!

I've booked two rooms for 11 days in Jan and she hasn't asked for a deposit.

Thanks Gloria, I won't worry then.

I wasn't asked for a deposit either for our stay in Feb.

we stayed in rooms one and two...ground floor units on the left when you arrive on the property. room one was the larger more deluxe but all the rooms are very nice.

i called baan orapin directly...talked to the owner...he did not require a credit card and i was initially alittle skeptical without a paper confirmation.
he will email you a confirmation if you really need one.
they really treat you like ohana (family) and take your word that you will arrive as planned.
if you look on their website...you can see the different categories of rooms.
i believe my room was deluxe, my daughters standard but not that much difference...just alittle larger.

kurasoke...please say hi from hawaii...

dive, will do. you blazed the way for us hawaiians, i'm next, then hawaiiantravler.

maybe one beeg luau should be planned at baan orapin as part of a thailand gtg.

we did it once in penang a long time ago, and i'm sure we can do it in cm.

Another Hawaiian here at Baan Orapin for 3 days in Dec. In between the sets of Kuranosuke and HawaiianTraveler.

Thanks for the report on Baan Orapin.
I booked through their website and was advised they would request a deposit in October and would let me know; but in late October had not heard from them so I e-mailed and asked that they let me know how much deposit to pay as I wanted to confirm the booking before we departed to Thailand.

howzit isis, forgot about you. anuchana never mentioned a deposit to secure my reservation. i just confirm by res. last week, and after reading dives report, really looking forward to the visit.

We won't make it to Baan Orapin this time around...we opted for the Anantara Golden Triangle this trip. Decided to slum it lol. Maybe next trip though.
Aloha!

hawaiian traveller...have you seen anantara?//it is very beautiful...kinda like slumming it at the moana surfrider...

enjoy your stay ....we loved the golden triangle area...is this your first trip there??

dive:
this will be our first trip up north, any suggestions? really looking forward to unwinding at anantara.
Aloha!

there are lots of little villages with tribesfolk working the fields...we like mae salong and mae sai....the mekong is unbelievably large...and we did a boat trip to laos...the stopover at lao was not exciting but it was cool to be on the mekong.
the opium museum is right across the road from the anantara... definately hire a car & driver to see the sites in the area.

we also went to the burmese border town of taechilak (sp). that was interesting...i coulda shoulda woulda bought this incredible jade buddha there...it was $75 US and weighted about 25 lbs...i didnt buy it and have always wished i had but it was just too heavy to carry home.
we also visited coffee and tea farms...no invitation...just went there (with poon) and they showed us the processing.
chiang rai was interesting...not as big or busy as chiang mai...
you will love it