rhkkmk

has anyone used the services of a private driver in chiang rai or the golden triangle...?? do you have contact info for this person?? what were the costs? thanks

Craig

Bob, don't know if this will be helpful or not. I know that you are staying at the new Anantara. We stayed in Chiang Rai and were pressed for time so we booked a "tour". Turns out we had a minivan to ourselves with driver and guide. The price was steep - $75 or so but we had a full day tour, including a couple of tribal towns, the opium museum, the border crossing at Mae Sa to Myanmar and a stop in Laos via boat to a "village". We especially appreciated our guide's support when immigration said they would hold our passports while visiting Myanmar. My gut is that you can book a similar tour through the Anantara. Since you are faily isolated, it is unlikely you will find a driver in that area.

rhkkmk

i have contacted the hotel...they offer a car with driver for $15 per hour, which seems steep...they offer tours which seem to be about $60-80 per person and they really don't do what we want to do in the way we want to do them....so i'm holding off for just a driver...hopefully i can find one from chiang rai....???

by any chance do you have contact info for the people that you used??? i made contact with one group that had been mentioned in kathie's posting on the anantara last fall, but am not too pleased with what they have said either....just hard to please...

craig---by the way i have just made contact with the new conrad hotel in bali -- new lux hotel near nusa dua, but not in the exact area... they are opening this week and they are offering great deals...we will stay there 2 nites at the beginning of our trip...
i also have made contact with your friends at bali discovery tours and they have re-booked the bali hyatt for me at a better deal...we may possibly use them for other things....

we are off to venice/florence on friday so the rest of my thailand/bali planning will have to wait a couple of weeks...

you should have joined us for the fodors get together in cambridge last month...it was fun....auntgrapes came from CT.....

bob

Kathie

Bob, the Anantara set us up with a car and driver. It was more expensive than I might have liked, but it was exactly what we wanted. One of the Anantara employees worked with us to set up an itinerary for the day, then we had the car and driver at our service for the day. I'm sure they can do something similar for you.

DavePitt

Ask Sergeant Kai at http://www.chiangmaitours.com/ for help. He was wonderful when we used him 3 years ago (was it that long ago?). He charged $30/day plus gas for car/driver to really do whatever you wanted, plus $10 for separate guide.

rhkkmk

got a curt answer back from him---no service in that area...???

Craig

Sounds like ChiangMaiTours is in Chiang Mai, not Chiang Rai. You might try asking one of the Anantara employees when you get there if they know someone (friend, relative not associated with the Anantara) who is a driver. Otherwise, go with Kathie's recommendation. I am glad bali discovery tours worked out for you. The Cambridge Fodors get-together sounded interesting - it is a two hour trip each way for me, though. Maybe next time.