My husband came home the other day and said he wanted to visit Thailand (out of the blue). He had heard very limited infomation from a co-worker. I know nothing of visiting Thailand (am looking up on internet), my husband heard the word "cheap" in the his co-worker's conversation about the trip to Thailand and it got his attention. I would appreciate ANY information on visiting Thailand, best places and times of year to go. Is it indeed inexpensive to visit? And how is shopping?

We've been to Thailand for holidays several times. The people are very pleasant, the culture interesting, and it is reasonably cheap. I'd suggest some days in Bangkok (see the Royal Palace, Rose Gardens cultural show, floating markets and do a day trip to Ayutthua). Chiang Mai is in northern Thailand and worth a visit. For beach resorts, try Phuket or Hua Hin. <BR>We have found the weather in December and January the best - about 30 degrees C each day and dry. <BR>Shopping is good but I don't recommend having clothing made unless you have a very good recommendation to a tailor. The markets are full of copy clothing at very cheap prices.

do check out www.lonelyplanet.com <BR>good info there

You might want to take a look at this website http://www.tat.or.th/visitor/index.htm Don't forget to click on the do's and don'ts regarding shopping for jewelry (one store to especially avoid Siam Gems Mining).

We went to Thailand (out of the blue) a few years back. Check out asiatravel.com for hotels. I booked all out hotels this way and we were pleasantly surprised. We paid no more than $65 a night for nice hotels including breakfast and airport transfers. This way, however, just after their markets crashed, so things were very cheap. Get some travel books and check out the internet. We saw Bangkok and Phuket and enjoyed both. We wished we had gone to Chiang Mai as well. Go late or very early in the year. Their summer starts in March (we were there in May and nearly melted), then the rainy season starts and lasts into fall. I think if we returned we would go between December and February. Have a great trip.

Cheap in Thailand depends on how you like to travel. We went this past January for 3 weeks and stayed in everything from a $5US bungalow on Koh Tao (in the Gulf) to $150US 3 star Holiday Inn (in my opinion, no need to go higher here) in Phuket. The deep sea fishing is cheap at around $75 a day, and scuba liveaboards in the Andaman Sea a great deal. I bought a few clothes off-the rack - ranging from $8US-$30US for outfits...I wish I bought more! My hubby also bought a tux, 2 sports jackets, 2 pants, 3 ties, and 2 dress shirts custom-made (in 12 hours!) in Bangkok for only $400US. Bangkok is more expensive than Phuket, which is more expensive than Koh Samui and the other Gulf islands. It's definitely worth a trip...we want to go back! Feel free to e-mail me for more specifics.