walker26

Okay, so what has been everyone's favorite day with Tong, or any other guide in Bangkok. I know several people have used Ratt-any others?

rhkkmk

we have used ratt, cherry and tong....each has their own style...we found cherry's english to be the best and her vehicle to be the most comfortable....we loved our day with both ratt and tong also....

all are anxious for you to see and experience as much as you can of their country....tong and ratt jam the day with things which is fine, but it can be a bit of overload....but of course this is what you try to do as well....

cherry and tong are licensed guides, ratt is not....the licensed guides give a more in depth review of what and why...some like this, but some are more content with ratt's down to earth simplictic approach...i see value in both styles...

samples of what we did with each:

ratt: early AM p/u (6:30AM), drive to floating mkt, visit to pottery barn, visit to wood carving production and junk souveniers.....drive to river kwai, lunch, visit bridge, visit to remote railway pass....visit to khemer ruins in a park....visit to an ancient museum....visit to an elephant camp....see wild monkeys along the road in one spot.....visit to kantchburi museum and cemetary....long drive back to bkk---total 13 hours....
toyota corolla with ratt driving and talking at the same time....

cherry: 9AM p/u...drive to erwan museum outside of bkk, tour....drive to grand palace for in depth tour (our request as we had never had a guide there before)....visit to the amulet market....lunch at supatra on the river....sorry out of order...then visited the amulet market after the lunch....visit to monk bowl alleys.....searched out a flag company at my request.....looked at purchasing a spirit house (many of the shops were closed this day)....stop at the flower market at my request....back to hotel by 5....

cherry as guide with a driver in a large suv...allows full attention of the guide to be on guiding and safety while driving....

tong: early p/u about 6AM...drive to market to buy food for monks, give to monks on same street....drive nearby to a royal temple, make merit with monk and visit to the inside of the wat...drive to fish market near river...buy fish and tour market.....drive to river to release "souls" into the river---the live fish.....drive to the 'secret place' about 1 hour outside bkk...visit to fishing village....board small wooden boat....power out into ocean....stop to search for monkeys in first mangrove....move to another mangrove....spend maybe 45 minutes feeding hundereds of wild monkeys....tour out into bay to see fishing and weirs where shellfish is being "grown"....fabulous lunch of seafood on stilt bamboo built structure out in the middle of the bay....back to the car...
over one hour drive to other side of bkk to visit an orphanage....provided dinner for kids and other donations....back to hotel by 6....12 hour day....cancelled last activity of buying coffins as we were all spent...

tong drove and commented all along the way in medium sized station wagon...comfortable for 4 of us plus her...wonderful jam packed day

comment: i would prefer to have a driver for safety reasons, although this causes the expense to increase...with both tong and ratt i felt that explaining and driving at the same time was a bit of a safety issue...

crosscheck

You've piqued my interest - What was the coffin-buying activity you canceled?

rhkkmk

as a charity you can buy coffins for poor people in bangkok....they are about $12.50 each....we were so tired we felt that maybe we would buy coffins for ourselves...

tweety817

This may seem silly, but it is my understanding that remains are cremated, so why a coffin?

rhkkmk

in our state a coffin is required even if body is to be cremated....have no idea about thailand....maybe it is a scam against farang??

crosscheck

Just checked and it isn't a scam (though it would be an excellent one.) Turns out that the body stays in a coffin for three days before cremation.

From Buddhist Funeral Rites on buddhanet:

http://www.buddhanet.net/bfuneral.htm

After death a bathing ceremony takes place in which relatives and friends pour water over one hand of the deceased. The body is then placed in a coffin and surrounded with wreaths, candles and sticks of incense. If possible a photograph of the deceased is placed alongside, and coloured lights are suspended about the coffin: Sometimes the cremation is deferred for a week to allow distant relatives to attend or to show special honour to the dead.

sharon1306

We used one of tong's guides for a day trip to kanchanaburi and on another day for a bkk tour which included the grand palace, etc.

Btw, on the drive back from kanchanaburi, our guide pointed out the place where you can buy the coffins for the poor.

sharon1306

Bob - regarding your comment about using a driver for safety reasons - is that a valid concern? From my conversations with Tong, she specifically said she does sometimes use a driver if she feels the need for one, but depending on the route and itinerary, she sometimes prefers to drive herself. Also, if she does use a driver, she does not charge extra, the cost remains the same. I'm sure she wouldn't intentionally do anything that would be even remotely unsafe when it comes to serving her clients. Just my opinion.

rhkkmk

sharon---i agree....but think about it...how can you be safer with a guide/driver vs a guide and driver....the driver is destracted while driving and talking to you instead of concentrating 100% on their driving...

there were instances with both tong and ratt that i felt more attention should have been paid to the road rather than to driving and conversation at the same time...

i have never heard of anyone who charges the same for a car and a van, but it may be possible...not sure about tong as we only had her in her private car....same with ratt....no i do know ratt charges more for the van...

cruisinred

I recall that when we used Tong for a tour of the main BKK sights in May, she asked her husband to come along as the driver. She did not charge extra for this. She said it was because there would be a lot of traffic that day because it was the first day of school (or something like that).

sharon1306

Bob - what I said was she may or may not use a driver, but if she does, then the charges remain the same. That was in response to your earlier comment that using a driver causes the expense to increase, which isn't true in Tong's case. Her husband drove for us when we did a daytrip to Kanchanaburi with one of her guides (Nui - who was excellent), and she didn't charge us extra. We also used the car, but then we were only two of us.

Also, the cost for van and car (or sedan, as they call it) is obviously different, and its only a 500 baht difference, btw. Remember - they charge for the car/van, not the number of people touring. Tong said if she or any of her guides use a van, then there is a driver no matter what. But if the clients choose a car, and the number of people touring with her is four, then she doesn't even have the option of using a driver.

I guess the bottomline is - if anyone is concerned in anyway about safety, then use the van and pay a little more. But according to me, when it comes to Tong, it really is a non-issue.

glorialf

Bob-- your day with Tong sounds like something I'd love to do next trip. Did you plan it or did she suggest it or what?

rhkkmk

gloria---actually andy (gpanda) did all the interface with her...so it was a combo of her ideas and ours..

what he said to her and the same applies to you....we have done all the normal stuff tons of times so we want "different"....thus she came up with the "secret place" which she had already tested out on a couple of others before us....it is lots of fun..

plus i think you would love going to and providing for the orphanages north of bkk....they are many different levels of orphanage---we chose the lowest level as we did not think we could handle extreme cases...

glorialf

Thanks, Bob. I've visited many orphanages throughout thailand and always make some sort of donation. Haven't been to one in Bangkok for awhile so this might be the trip to do it. Thanks.

Gpanda

Gloria-Tong is a delight. She was very astute in putting together a day that B,B,K and I tremendously enjoyed. The first thing I did was toi reserve a day. Then I let her know (as Bob accurately relayed) that we had done all of the usual tourist activities and asked for her suggestions. She sent a list of possibilities. We culled through them and eventually arrived at our plan. It was unbelievable. In fact, we planned to do more, but she wore us out. I'm sure you and she can work out a delightful day. If, as I suspect, you don't want to mention Bob or me, Tong is a very good friend of Lori (Offwego) of PLF.Org fame. \

travelduo

We did basically the same thing as bob and andy, but we went to the deaf school instead of the orphanage. It is a very neat place to visit and the kids would love to see anyone that decides to go. The teachers are all hearing and speak good english, most were educated here in the US, and can sign to the kids for you. We bought a lot of stuff from them that they were selling to fix up the school. Its right in the middle of bkk and tong drove right to it. The funny part was when the word got out that there were americans @ the school, the kids started leaving classes to come see us and take pics with us. We kept getting asked, " are you really from america?" it was a highlight of our trip.

glorialf

Thanks -- Tong and her ideas sound great. Could you post or email me her contact information?

offwego

Tong's contact info

[email protected]

Gpanda

[email protected] will also work.
We knew Lori was lurking.