We returned yesterday from our family trip to Phuket and Bangkok. We were very fortunate in that we missed the tsunami by 2 days.

Thought I would share some of the highlights of our trip - might be slightly jumpy as I am still a big jet lagged.

Phuket - stayed there from the 18th of Dec until the 24th at the Laguna Beach Resort. Lovely resort and the beach was/is great. Did 3 day tours from there - 1)Phi Phi Island - we hope the Thais are able and willing to rebuild this beautiful island - great for snorkelling. 2) John Gray sea canoe Starlight trip - started at noon and finished around 10PM - lunch and dinner included. Great trip to see caves by kayak with a guide. 3) White water rafting and elephant trekking adventure tour - again good tour for those wanting active sport - fell out of the raft on one of the rapids but suffered only brusing. Elephant ride was great - a definite must in Thailand.
Also rented a jeep and drove to Patong for a day - I don't recommend this as the locals on their mopeds don't seem to follow any 'road rules.'

Bangkok - from the 24th to the 29th of December. Stayed at the Royal Orchid Sheraton - again, another great hotel - we didn't upgrade to the Tower service as it didn't seem worth it for our family. We had laundry done close to the hotel for a very reasonable rate. Used Ratt as a driver for the 24th - she picked us up at the airport and then we went to the old capital city - forget how to spell it - this was only ok for us as it was a long way to get there and other than a few temples not alot for us to see. On the 25th we got a sky rail pass - very reasonable and we used it for the whole day - saw alot of the city that way - went to the weekend market - very crowded, but amazing - lots of great deals and our kids loved the bargaining. Also visited the night Patong market - again, an eye opened but amazing. Took an infamous Tuk Tuk ride home - loved it. The 26th we went to the floating market - about 1,5 hours outside of the city - again amazing to see and definitely worth the drive. Rented a boat there and toured the canals by boat - good to have Ratt with us though. She then took us to a government approved jewellery shop - wonderful deals on silver and sapphire jewellery - again, much cheaper than here in Canada. Unfortunately it was in this store that we heard of the earthquake and tsunami and were then glued to CNN for the rest of the night - we were very lucky and certainly felt the horror along with the rest of the world - I guess just being there brought it closer to home though. On the 26th Ratt took us to the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha and Emerald Buddha - only did a half day touring as the kids were starting to revolt on all the touring. Did a family Thai massage at the King and I Spa - would recommend going there. Dec. 28th was spent doing a long tail boat ride around the canals of Bangkok - definitely recommend this and then crashed by the pool in the afternoon. Final day in Bangkok on the 29th we did a tour of the teak mansion - it was only ok - then off to the airport. The only thing we regretted not seeing was the Jim Thompson house - saving this for our next visit to Bangkok.

For those just going to Bangkok - you will love it. Keep reading this forum as we certainly planned the majority of our trip using the tips listed here.

Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks for the trip report and I'm really happy to hear that you and your family are safe.

looks like it was a successful trip....would you stay on the river for future trips to bkk?? its my favorite and always interested in other's view....you and i are on the same wave length as it relates to the ancient capital...ratt pushes it and others love it, but for me i could not wait to get out of there!!!!

jim thompsom is waiting for your return..

we really liked staying on the river, but did spend alot of time going 'into the city' - although it was really quite easy to get in on the sky train. Ratt was a great guide and I would certainly would recommend using her, but I would definitely stress that you tell her where you want to go - we never mentioned a trip to the ancient capital at all and didn't really know we were going there until we were about 30 minutes outside of Bangkok - we learned very quickly for our next couple of days with her to just tell her what we wanted to see and when we wanted to get back to the hotel.

Yes Ratt is like Burger King- have it your way!!! I also would agree the ancient capital is not our cup of tea- too much time to get there and back and not enought to see to warrant consuming a full day.

In Nov Ratt wanted to take us to Ayuthaya as well. We refused for lack of time, but would actually have liked to go there. How long does it take then by car to get there? And is there no way of combining this visit with something else, in order to make it a nice full day excursion from BKK?

it takes over an hour of straight boring driving...the summer palace in not far and is very worthwhile...i have seen that ratt often suggests going there directly from the airport as you are quite a ways along to it as the airport is way outside bkk, so in her mind you are nearly there....i think that adding that to your days travel on top of a flight is just too much....especially if it is a trans-pacific flight you are coming off from....that is wack-ko....i think she has never been on one of those flights and thus can not comprehend how tough it is...

kirby - we're getting ready for (my) first trip to Thailand in 4 weeks. I've been devouring everything on this site since we decided to go last September. Travelogues like yours makes everything seem nearer and clearer. Thank you so much your story....I'll be posting mine mid-Feb!

Kirby, I am curious about the ages of your children and how they did on the flights, and how they liked the massages???? Did they adjust to the food ok?

travelduo - I have two boys who are 11 and 13. We flew from Toronto to Vancouver (5hours) then to Seoul, Korea (I think about 11 hours) and then to Bangkok (maybe another 3 hours). Needless to say we were all pretty bagged by the time we arrived as we then stayed overnight at the airport hotel and flew to Phuket in the morning. Kids were great on the flight - slept some and I gave them Tylenol PM - helped them sleep for a bit. We also flew in business class using our points - that was a huge bonus.
As far as the massages, probably one of the highlights of our trip - we booked the family room and all four of us had a Thail massage at the same time. They give you cute little pajamas to put on which barely covered my husband who is 6'1" and 220 lbs. As the Thai girls were giving us the massage and trying to bend us over the buttons on my husband's shirt ripped and the kids and I were laughing so loud that I think we startled the Thai girls - it was a riot.
Food was also interesting - I will admit that they ate at McDonald's a couple of times, but Ratt was also great in getting us some authentic Thai treats from street stalls and vendors at markets - kids tried it and while I wouldn't say they loved it, they certainly ate it - none of got sick at all during the trip either.