We (3 women) will be touring with Tong for 2 days in March. Have gotten lots of great ideas from all of your posts. Here are some of the things I suggested to Tong and her response. What are your thoughts, improvements, etc.

Grand Palace, Wat Po, Wat Arun
Khlong Tour/cruise
Royal Barges
Jim Thompson house
Gifts to monks
"Secret place" with monkeys
Tiger temple-but not really River Kwai
Not really interested in orphanages because it would be very upsetting to one of us.

Tong's plan
Day1 - Bangkok tour & Fishing village.
- Merit making.
- The Grand Palace & The Royal Temple of The Emerald Buddha. If you do it with me, you need not to hire or rent any guide in there since I am a licensed one.
- Canal Tour.
- Wat Pho if time allows.
- Lunch.
- Fishing village & early dinner there if you want.
- Back to Bangkok.

Day2 - Kanchanaburi.
- The Bridge Over the River Kwai. (You should go there no matter what, it's on the way)
- The orphanage in Kanchanaburi. This place is in the forest. Peaceful and really in need. You can buy lunch for them, they would be appreciated very much. The cost for lunch for 120 children is 1,200 baht.
- Lunch at thai restaurant or yummy pad thai.
- Tiger Temple.
- Krasae Cave.
- Back to Bangkok.

On your unplanned day, you can just go to JT House Museum and do shopping on your own.
What do you think??

I'm not sure about Tong's schedule since it included some things we don't really want to do. Bob and Gpanda, you had a tour that sounded great! What about Wat Pho? And, what is Krasae Cave? Would Jim Thompson's house be better with Tong.
Thanks all of you for your help and suggestions.

I would eliminate the canal tour from the first day. You can easily do this on your own. Tong is right, the Jim Thompson House can be done just as well without her. They have their own guides who will take you arouns. They're not very lively, but it's part of the deal. By skipping the canal, you can fit in Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha.

These days are very full. Tong is tireless. You will enjoy her immensely.

I agree with Gpanda, save the klong (canal) tour for another day. Wat Po is the Reclining Buddha and is next door to the Grand Palace/Emerald Buddha complex. Don't miss it! If you have time, cross the river to Wat Arun as well.

On day one, merit making, is that the feeding of the monks or going to the temple and giving gifts?

I agree with andy and kathie about the klong tours.

If the orphanages would be too upsetting, but you 3 would still like to do something good for the children, you might want to consider a visit to the deaf school in bangkok. they dont get visitors like the orphanages do and LOVE to have people come! You can buy cookies and treats from their school bakery. The ladies that run the school all speak very good english and its not depressing at all. The kids would LOVE it!

jeffrey

i agree with the others that you can do the klong tour on your own and also the jim thompson house...

tong tends to force lots of things into one day...i would prefer to spread them out a bit...

going grand palace and the monkeys/fishing village in one day is too much...the GP takes a lot out of you as it is so hot...

i would think a visit to the floating market and the monkey/fishing village and the tigers on the same day would be a great day and that could take up a whole day...

the other day could be in bkk for the whole day...

Hi, I met tong last week and she seemed really nice. We didn't actually tour with her but she arranged one of her guides for us (who was excellent). I agree with the others that you can do Jim Thompsons house on your own. They have their own guides that take you around the place for about 35 mins. There's a lost in the city exhibit upstairs that you can check out, admission to that is free. You can do that while you wait for the tour to start.

Also agree that you can do the klong tour on your own, which would allow you to fit wat pho in (definitely worth seeing). Since the klong tour takes about an hour.

If you're going to the tiger temple then the bridge on the river kwai is on the way, so its definitely worth stopping for a little while. We had lunch at the floating restaurant on the river kwai, which was good.

The merit making that we did consisted of both giving food to monks in the street and providing first aid supplies and toiletries to a monk at a Wat.

I disagree with Bob. Assuming you are energetic, I think you could do merit making, the Grand Palace and the seaside village in one day. Our trip to the Seaside village/monkeys was followed by a visit to a Nochanburi orphanage. Your plan has the seaside village at the end of the day (ours was in the middle). I think it will work.