Calling all Thailand Experts!!! (Itinerary and 3 Questions)
 

Hello!

I'm just at the planning stages of my first trip to Thailand/Cambodia in August, 2008. Here's my working itinerary:

Bangkok - 3 days (Old Bangkok Inn)
Kanchanaburi - 4 days (Oriental Kwai Resort)
Chiang Mai - 4 days (Baan Orapin)
Lampang - 3 days (Elephant Conservation Center)
Siem Reap - 4 days (Shina Mani)
Koh Samui - 7 days (Zazen Resort)
Bangkok - 1 day (Royal Orchid Sheraton)

Any thoughts? Does that look do-able?


A few more questions:

1) What's the best way to get from Kanchanaburi to Chiang Mai? Should I back-pedal by bus to Bangkok and then fly from there, or take the train, presuming there is one?

2) Is it possible to fly from Chiang Mai to Siem Reap?

3) I'll be flying from Toronto. My travel agent has suggested flying into Hong Kong (15 hrs), doing two hour layover and then on to Bangkok. Would it not be less exhausting to break up the flight with, say, doing a one night stopover in Europe? I haven't read any trip reports of people who have done this....

If you can answer any of the above questions, I'd be really grateful.

tania

My first thought is why are you spending 4 days in Kanchanburi? For most people this is a day trip from Bangkok or an overnight. Perhaps you have something special you're doing there. Otherwise, the itinerary looks fine, though personally, I'd put more time in Bangkok.

I'll leave others to answer #1 and #2. I think there is now a flight a couple of days a week, but MichaelBKK or another regular can answer that.

As far as flying is concerned, my experience is I'd rather get it over with in one go. So I'd fly to Hong Kong, have the short layover then on to Bangkok. That will give you the least amount of time in transit. Bob (a regular here) did fly from Bosoton to Paris, spent a day there then on to Bangkok. If you have lots of time and you'd like to spend a day on a stopver in Europe, then do it. But it won't necessarily help you make the time shift to Bangkok.

Hi Kathie,

I'm still flexible at this point, but I'd read about many interesting day trips that can be done from the center of Kanchanaburi (ie-Erewan Falls, Tiger Temple, etc) However, I can still change Kanchanaburi from 4 days to 3 and add an extra day to Bangkok at the end?

Is a total of 5 days, then, in Bangkok not too much if I'm not into shopping?

My first thought is that you should reduce your time in Kanchanaburi to 2 or 3 days and reduce your time in Koh Samui to 4 or 5 days and add the time either to bangkok or to northern thailand -- go to Ananatara in Golden Triangle area or Fern Resort on MHS area.

Bangkok has lots to do in addition to shopping. My first trip to Thailand some 20 years ago consisted of 9 days in Bangkok... and I became totally hooked. There are amazing wats, fascinating house museums, the pulse of the city on the streets and on the river, the fabulous Thai food and the wonderful, warm Thai people.

I think if I'm going to cut a day or two off of Kanchanaburi and, say, a day or two off of Ko Samui, I'm more inclined to want to see more of the north, rather than extend my time in the city (I live in a big city, so when I travel, I tend to be more attracted to rural settings).

I've just bookmarked the Fern Resort. It looks sublime!! How's 3 days there?

Any other suggestions for a destination for 3 days in the north?

The other option in the north would be Anantara in the Golden Triangle. A different atmosphere but highly thought of. Three days at the Fern Resort would be great.

On flights as you are in Toronto you can fly eastbound with Etihad via Abu Dhabi to Bangkok or Emirates who I think started their Toronto - Dubai non stop flight just this week. The Etihad 'may' stop on the way but the Emirates is certainly non stop Toronto to Dubai and vv.

Both continue onwards to Bangkok, Etihad has twice daily Abu Dhabi to Bangkok and Emirates has 3 a day, it is only about 5 hrs 45 from either of those to Bangkok so not so long, both are OK for a stop if you wanted. Both should be reasonable price.

Zazen is nice, you will enjoy, there are lots of others but if you have already looked through and like what Zazen offers then i would stick with it. B1 Villa is worth looking at also, much smaller though.

From Kanchanaburi you can either go back to Bangkok and fly, you 'opculd' make your way by road ( car and driver or bus ) say to Sukhothai and then perhaps have a day and night there and then take bangkok Airways to CM, if you wanted to keep outside of Bangkok and see more of the country areas.

Bangkok Airways has flights from CM to Siem Reap I think now - but check their website. As you need to use them for Samui it makes sense to use their pass deals.

I support Katie and others that 4 or 5 full days in BK is not too much. I went to Kanchanaburi on a day trip (12 hrs. as I remember) and surrounding area and felt satisfied rather than pack and unpack and do it again. In CM 1 day for temples and Karen tribe visit (use driver, maybe Poon through Ratt in BK)and you must really want a long eleohant trek for many people find a 4-5 hour trek after the morning demonstration quite enough. While in CM you moght go to Hong Dong (30-40 minutes outside CM). It is a series of antique shops with 50% genuine 16-19th century and the rest 20th century. So, you need know-how to buy the genuine ones, but interesting non-the less. The town is also the furniture center of Northern Thailand to see if not buying which is not practical because of shipping costs and wood can crack in US temps outside warm climates.I would link that 3 full days/4 nights is just right for CM not 4.
Koh Samui is a 5 day maximum stay, in my opinion that includes a day trip to Koh Tao if you snorkel. If you go make sure you arrange to go on the speed boat at Koh Tao not the big boat with the buffet luncheon. The speed boat is a little cramped but you do some awesome snorkewling (good to make 1-2 day advanved arrangements to get on speed boat). We spent 2 days in Siem Reap and could have used maybe another 1/2 a day but not much more and we are fast look-see travelers.
I realize I have cut the trip down by 8-9 days and if you really wanted to go to one of the most beautiful places we have been in Asia you might consider 5 days in Bali and stay at the Four Seasons-Sayan in Ubad (only 45 minutes from the airport). It is heaven on earth, in our opinion. It's an extra cost but what a way to end the trip.

Another northern Thai destination you may want tp consider is Pai. A regular here, Hanuman, reviewed a great place to stay there just recently. Do a search on Pai and I expect you'll find it.

I think your plan to move at a moderate pace though Thailand is a good one. I know Stan loves Bali (many of us do) but to add another destination will only detract from your trip, IMO.

I absolutely think that you should stick to a leisurely plan. I would reduce your time in Kanchanaburi and Koh Samui and add it to northern thailand. The amoung of time you have in Chiang Mai is fine.

Pai is lovely. If you drive from Chiang Mai to MHS you can go via Pai -- maybe staying there one night.

Here's my report on the new hotel in Pai that Kathie had mentioned - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35040519

Although it's only about 140 km from CM there are a lot sharp curves on a mountainous road(good condition most of the way) and when I drove there in a sport car I was pushing it with the max speed possible and it still took us 2 hours. My wife was not too please with my driving but if you do it at a more leisurely speed figure on 3 and 1/2 hours. MHS is a further 100+ km from Pai and that will take you around another 2 hours.

For the non winter months, Pai and MHS will not be that lively but still good places to visit and see a different pace of life. Lots of Burmese influence for the architectures and very reasonable in prices for food and accommodation.

Hai Tania- I'm not a regular, but I do live in Chiang Mai, so I may be a bit prejudiced about northern Thailand. All the advice so far is quite good and I can only add that if you don't want to shop there are lots of wonderful, special places hidden in these hills. A good guide who is willing to take you off the beaten tracks can show you places you wouldn't know about any other way. There are many day trips out of Chiang Mai, in all directions, that can be very interesting. One example is up into the hills to the east where there are villages growing various specialties including coffee, orchids, etc. and then along the mountain ridge down into Lampang.

If you are interested in textiles, this area is heaven. One can spend days visiting weaving villages and famous master weavers. The variety of crafts produced in this area is quite astounding and one can learn a lot just seeing them being made, even without shopping.

Any visit to Thailand should also include some local markets, so do ask your guide about that. For instance, outside of Lampang there is a 'forest market' where the tribal people bring foods they find in their hunting and gathering.

I do, however, wonder why you are in Lampang at the Elephant Conservation Centre for three days, unless you are doing their mahout training class...

The only other thing I would add is that by August there can be flooding if the rainy season has been heavy, so it would pay to keep tabs on the weather and be prepared to be flexible in your plans. Visits to Mae Hong Son, if by car, can be ill-advised perhaps, or the less accessible hilltribe villages. Again, a good guide will be aware of conditions.

Happy Trails!

I'm positively overwhelmed with how thorough, thoughtful and helpful your replies are. If I were to respond to each person's comments, I'd be typing all night! So suffice it to say, I've cut and pasted the thread into my Thailand WP file, as there is a LOT of valuable info there.

I'm looking into a lot of your suggestions. Thank you all SO much.....I'll be posting more questions as I get closer to the date.

ps- Glorialf: I think the Fern Resort is going to happen. Thank you SO much for the heads up.

pss-James A: B1 Villa looks FABULOUS for the price. And what it has going for it too is that it's such a close walk to fisherman's village. (I don't know how close a walk Zazen is). I'm going to consider it as well.

B1 is a great deal smaller than Zazen, i have not been but my wife knows it as she does fabrics / drapes as a business, it is a small set-up, very Feng Shui, aromatherapy style, if that makes sense ! Note there is no pool, the beach isn't brilliant but apparently you can walk along a bit to better , it si Managed by the owners so very personal service.August for about $105 is pretty good.
The Amber suite has a seaview deck, bedroom and living room, again, for about $105 it is very good value, about half the price of Zazen.
http://www.phuket-luxury-hotels.com/...koh-samui.html has some real nice places.

Pavilion is another good place.

1.You should drastically redeuce the Kachanburi time. If you do so, you will be travelliong from BKK to CM and the easiest way to do this is to fly. You can also take a train.

2. You fly CM-BKK and BKK to SR.

3. The 2 hour layover is standard. Don't mess around with a Europe layover. Asia first.

JamesA: Pavillion DOES look nice, but I don't want to stay in Lamai. Nope, it's a toss up between Zazen and B1. I love the size, decor and price of B1's rooms, though the lack of a pool is a bit of a drag...I see that B1 is in conveniently close walking distance to Fisherman's Village. Would you know if Zazen is in close walking distance as well?

GPanda: I'm now thinking I might just do Kanchanaburi as a long day trip from Bangkok (so I'd be extending my Bangkok stay by one day) and then, as you say, flying north.

Because I want to go to Mae Hong Son RIGHT after Bangkok, Lonely Planet claims PB Air has direct flights there, yet at their web site, there's no indication of it. Anyone know if any airline flies from BKK to Mae Hong Son?

Alternatively, I could go to Chiang Mai followed by the 3 day mahout course in Lampang right after Bangkok and THEN easily fly to Mae Hong Son from Chiang Mai, but then getting to Siem Reap from there might be problematic.

Any suggestions?
(my head is starting to spin with the logistics of this thing!)

Thai Air flies to Mae Hong Son via Chiang Mai.

Bangkok Airways has just introduced flights from Chiang Mai to Siem Reap, 3 days a week I think. Not sure if it's a high season only offering though. You will need to check that.

Look into the Bangkok Airways Discovery Airpass. Be careful, though, about flights that are not eligible, like REP - USM. Still, even without that flight, you might be able to save by getting the pass.

PB Air has a bad reputation. Use Air Asia and Nok Air for discount carriers, and Thai Air and Bangkok Airways for regular carriers. Bangkok Airways Discovery Pass would be a good idea for you. I would add the extra time you have to visit Siem Reap for 3 nights. Bangkok Air flies there.

Oh, I see you already have Siem Reap in your original itinerary. Sorry. Just go to BA website and check out the routes for the discovery pass. You have to book it outside of thailand by phone at home. Have fun!

I have not used the discount airlines but Bankok airways took us to 5 destinations in Thailand in our last 2 trips and all went smoothly. Any delays were clogged air traffic at the old airport. The service was very good though smple. When we were spending so much money for a 3 or 4 week trip an extra $300 tops can take some strss out of your travels. On this Board and Lonely Planet I have read about some major issues with Asia Air.

Tania-resist the urge to do everything. Asia is best seen at a leisurely pace. I suggest that you priortize the things you want to do, block out the time for them (be realistic, travel is at least 1/2 day between locations) and then see whether you have any time left. You may not. You may have to skip something or somewhere. Don't worry, you are likely to be drawn back to Asia very soon. By my count, you have 26 days on the ground. This is enough time to see BKK, CM, MHS, Elephant Center and KS if you're doing K as a day trip.

Take a look at weatherbase.com for likely rainfall. August will be rainy in several of your destinations. However, many of the posters have gone then and reported having a wonderful time.

GPanda,

I'm reconfiguring my itinerary (cutting the 4 days in Kanchanaburi, making it an added one day trip from BKK.) So as I see it, if I follow my schedule, allowing for half a day travel from point to point, then (apart from the mahout course at The Elephant Conservation Center) I'll have an evening, three full days and a morning in Bangkok, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Siem Reap, followed by 6 full days in Koh Samui.

That's KIND of liesurely, no? Or is that amount of time at each place, in your judgement, rushed? PLEASE ADVISE!!

I do not think that you're schedule will be too hectic. It seems to have enough time in each location.

As an aside, you might give some thought to reducing the beach time in KS. The beaches are wonderful and beautiful, but they are just beaches. The other locations are really special. For instance, if you're an urban person, BKK might have an added day. If you're a ruins person SR might get an extra day. These places can be magical. They pull us back, year after year.

I would reduce your time at Koh Samui by one more day and add it to Bangkok since you will be spending one day out of the city doing a day trip to Kanchanaburi.

I'm completely open to cutting my Koh Samui time, but my inclination is to take GPanda's advice and rethink this--and prioritize the things I want to do. And one of my priorities is getting out of the city, the crowds and the smog.
This trip is going to be very much about photography for me (I sell some of my work).
That said, I think for both the experience and the images, my best bet is to extend Siem Reap to 5 days. My gut tells me I'd be way happier there than in BKK.

This thread, by the way, has been SO helpful to me in that it's allowed me to (with all of your collective wisdom) rethink and begin structuring the timelines of what I know will be the trip of a lifetime.

So as it stands, I think this is as close to a final itinerary as I'm gonna get!

Arrive night of Aug 2
Aug 3,4,5 - Bangkok w/day in Kanchanaburi
Aug 6 - Fly to Mae Hong Son via Chiang Mai
Aug 7,8,9 - Mae Hong Son
Aug 10 - Fly to Chiang Mai
Aug 11,12,13 - Chiang Mai
Aug 14,15,16 - Elephant conservation Center
Aug 17 - Fly to Siem Reap
Aug 18,19,20,21,22 - Siem Reap
Aug 23 - Fly to Ko Samui
Aug 24,25,26,27,28 - Ko Samui
Aug 29 - Bangkok
Aug 30 - Fly back to Toronto

I think this is WAY better than my first itinerary....

If you want to avoid cities, don't extend your time in bangkok. However, I would only extend your time in Siem reap if you are very interested in archeology and temples. If you are you will find plenty to do; if you aren't -- are more into markets, people and scenery-- I would limit your time to the 4 days you now have and add the day to Fern Resort in MHS or someplace else in northern thailand.

You might want to have Tong take you to her secret place, a fishing village with lunch on a house in the bay. She can be reached at TourwithTong.com . There will be many opportunities for pictures.

Glorialf,
I might just fly straight home from Koh Samui, and bypass Bangkok all together. Apparently, there are direct flights from Koh Samui to Hong Kong,so it would be totally do-able.

GPanda,
I'd already looked up tourwithtong.com after seeing mention of her in another post, but noted that the site was under construction. I'd bookmarked it, and will check its status as I get closer to summer.

Tong's website has been under construction for ages now, but she's fully booked months and months in advance. If you are interested in her being your guide, you had better contact her sooner rather than later. tourwithtong at yahoo dot com.

Thanks, Kim. I'm on it!

When you're in Ko Samui, you may want to visit Koh Phangnan. Thong Pan Noi beach there is considered one of the best in the country. I think you will get lots of great photo opportunities on the north side of that island.

I thought I had finalized my idea for the perfect Thailand vacation - and now I hear about Kanchanaburi. How far is that from Bangkok (how long to drive there?) and what is there to see and do there? Is that where I could go to the tiger temple and fishing village - I think I am getting myself confused.

I currently have 4 days in Bangkok - 3 days Golden Triangle and 3 days in Chiang Mai. Final destination is Hong Kong for 3 days, from where I will fly home. I have one full travel day between each destination so I don't think I'll be rushed.

Finally, I was planning on Four Seasons Golden Triangle, but have been reading a lot about Anantara. Does anybody know how those two compare?

Any comments about Kanchanaburi would be appreciated. Is a day trip there ok or do I need to stay overnight? Any comments about Anantar compared to 4 Seasons GT would be appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tania,

Fly direct from Toronto to SF or LAX, so that you can take Thai Air's nonstop flight to BKK (it's 18 hours west & 14.5 hours east)... forget about stopping in Hong Kong. You can put the miles on United Mileage Plus. Thai Air International is one of the best carriers in the world, lovely service & decent food. If you have the $ upgrade to Premium Economy, the outbound is only $198pp. Their flight leaves LAX @ 9:30 PM which gets you into BKK @ 6:40 AM... and if you want to fly immediately up north or a beach resort on Thai Air, you can check our bags in LAX through to HKT (Phuket).

I agree with cutting down Kanchan. to a day visit (with Tong or one of her associate guides) from BKK.

I'd caution you to consider a different beach resort island than Koh Samui... because it's so overbuilt with hotels & many beaches are polluted. It's also a terrible time of the year, diving/snorkel-wise to visit the Gulf of Thailand... the water is not clear due to storms. If you are set on the Gulf of Thailand, think about Koh Tao instead. If you're interested in the west coast of Thailand... think about Khao Lak (Posiden Bungalows) or even to the much less visited southern provinces.

There are other things to do in the Siem Reap area besides view temples; the landmine museum, teaching English at a school or helping one of the local charities that guide Ponheary Ly, guide Leng Tek (Little Angeles near temple Preah Ko) or one that the owners of (terrific boutique hotel) Journeys-Within is aligned with. Taking a day's excursion out to the Preak Toal Bird Sanctuary (it's a 1.5 hour each way boat ride in the dry season, so the wet season is probably 2 hours each way) to see birds that are found nowhere else in the world... there is also another bird sanctuary that is reached via car that involves climbing trees to sit in blinds to watch birds... and of course driving out into the countryside to see the remote temple of Koh Ker (which may not be accessible in Aug. due to the rains) which takes 3 hours each way or Beng Melea which takes 2 hours each way. So, your wish to spend more time in REP is a good idea. Artisan's d'Angkor is the school where they learn traditional carving & handicrafts.

If you have extra days, why not visit the Isaan Region? It's in NE Thailand... and probably the least touristed area. In wet season you can fly to Udon Thani from BKK or Chiang Mai, get a shuttle to the Mutmee Guest House, which is on the Mekong River, near the Friendship Bridge that leads into Laos & then rent a car & drive to the surrounding national parks, which will have beautiful waterfalls that time of year. The Isaan region was once conquered by the Khmer, so there are many temples, also cave paintings & interesting geological formations.

NE Thailand is very different from northern Thailand... there are different ethnic groups, different food (very spicy) & you will be in an area that very few tourists visit.