hpeabody

Hi All, I have just returned (April 18th) from Bangkok. I spent all day Friday, April 17th with Tong, I chose to have her take me to the Floating Market and the Fisherman's Village. Tong was in the hotel lobby on her Blackberry when I came down (about 5 minutes before 7:00 am) I learned that she lives an hour an a half away from Bangkok, so her day starts really early. We traveled in her Toyota SUV. We first went to the floating market. On the way we stopped at the train market. OMG, it is truly something to behold. Then on to the floating market. She requests a row boat in lieu of a motorized one that actually goes a little farther than the usual tour. On the way she asks about allergies and food likes/dislikes. Tong definitely knows what foods are good and which people to go to, The different foods were delicious. I especially like the fried bananas, which I had never had anything like that before, we also had a pork and rice dish, pork and chicken on sticks, thai style noodles and coconut pancakes ............. So much food, Yummmmmmm. We visited a wood carving factory to see the artists at work. She asks you how much you want to spend for monkey food and she calls ahead to have the monkey food prepared. Now, on to the fisherman's village. Our host was one of the workers ( I think Reid was hosting a family that was with Jerry, one of Tong's team (more on that later) We started out in our boat and soon found ourselves in the monkey zone. Feeding the monkeys with Tong is sooooooooo much fun. We fed them bananas and mangos. She absolutly loves and adores them and calls the "my monkeys". We had so much food, I thought we could never feed it all to them. She tells me we will, this is only the first group. There were maybe 4 or 5 groups. We continued out to where the river meets the sea and the farms making our way through hundreds and hundreds of birds that were feeding on the fish. I really had no prior idea how these farms worked, so it was new and interesting for me. Then we stopped at our special little house to eat. I chose a boxed rice meal which was really good. (you can also chose a seafood meal) But since we ate so much at the floating market I think I made a good choice. The seafood meal would have been far too much food. Then it was time to make our way to the boat dock and back to Bangkok. Some things to know: Really be careful what type of vehicle you request when making reservations...The family that was with Jerry of Tong's team requested a sedan to cut costs and should have requested a Van and were complaining all day (among other complaints and cost cutting tactics they tried) Jerry was in communication with Tong about this all day. We looked at each other said "Poor Jerry" Be prepared with BHAT to pay as you go for things like the boats and monkey food. Tong has a cooler chest with water and beverages and cool wipes and offers them often, It was 99 degrees my day with her and we sure needed the water. It was just plain HOT!!!! My day with Tong was totally awesome and will rank high among my top most memorable travel experiences. Tong has a huge heart, she is delightful, charming and funny and truly wants to please her clients. She lives for touring with her clients, which is why she continues to go out every day herself. She laughs at herself and says she has the brain of a goldfish .....Sorry Tong, I Think Not! She seeks the best for her clients and is really very well prepared (much is behing the scenes, I sense, that we may not even realize) If you are lucky enough to get to spend a day with Tong, you will be completely blown away.

She asked me to post these messages:
If you do not get a response to your email right away, be patient, but keep trying. She says it helps if you put something eye catching in the title and it is OK to say 2nd or 3rd time email . (Don't forget, she is out touring with clients 10 or more hours a day and then has to go home and deal with all the email. which she will ONLY do herself. She says she does not trust anyone else)

Lastly: she wants to say Hi and she loves you to all her Fodor's friends like Bob, Andy, Karen, Beth, Erika, Laurie (Offwego) Bill (filmwill) and many others whose names I can't remember

filmwill

glad you had such a great time with Tong, Holly. now you know what we're all talking about!

we miss her so much--and count our days touring with her as some of the best in our travel experiences, not even for the tours themselves, but for the opportunity to get to know her infectious spirit and to now be able to call her a friend.

Smeagol

Totally agree. we had a day with Tong in Nov06 and were due a day with her last Nov but alas due to the Bangkok airport closure it wasn't to be. I didnt stop her sorting things out for us though. She truly is a lovely person and makes any day with her wonderful.

Gpanda

Thanks for the report on your day with Tong. I agree that a day with her ranks among my favorite travel days of all time. She really is a treasure. She has created wonderful days for most of her clients. There are a few that did not enjoy the experience, but such is life. Cost cutting is definitely not the way to go.

rhkkmk

please note that my name is before andy´s...there must be a reason for this....

I TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD LOVER HER.... so glad that you had fun

bob

hello from asuncion paraguay

Kathie

Welcome home! It sounds like you had a great time. I look forward to all of the details.

funnetbabe

Before my trip to Bangkok, I emailed Tong twice & never got a reply back. So, you're the lucky one, I think she's so popular now that it's hard to book with her at time? I ended up booking w/another great tour guide who was her classmate.