Just arrived back from our 10th trip to Thailand and we have already started planning for next year. I suppose you cant get enough of a good thing. We flew Jetstar from Melbourne to Bangkok, spent 3 nights at the Centre point Silom, Flew to Krabi on Air Asia and stayed one night at the Somkiet Buri,unpacked our shopping and threw a few shorts and t-shirts into a couple of light packs leaving our suitcases behind and caught the ferry to Phi Phi for 6 nights at the Bayview, then back to Ao Nang for 7 nights again at the Somkiet. Loved it all , but for us Ao Nang was the surprise packet, loved every bit of it. We had a lot of bad reviews about Ao Nang but we found it to be just perfect for what we wanted. I will try and give you as much detail of our journey using my eight year old boys journal as a guide, but it will be spaced out over the next few weeks as my typing skills have only just extended to 2 fingers and my time is limited.
DAY 1...Left Melbourne at 2.30pm on a direct Jetstar flight to Bangkok. We had bought the seats during a sale time and only paid $2300 AUS for the four of us (myself,Kerry and the 2 boys...5 and 8). We normally fly Thai and take the midnight flight out so we can sleep most of the way so the timing of this fight was a challenge and the 9 hours felt like 20. We had paid $10 each extra for their in flight video on demand systems. THe audio quality using the supplied headphones was very poor to the point of being almost inaudible but using Kerrys IPOD headphones it was just passable. THe movie selection was limited to 6, only one was a recent release and I had seen 5 of them with the 6th being a B grade Japanese family movie that bored me to tears so most of the trip was spent trying to read or watching half hour travel documentaries on the same, hard to hear, video screen. We didn't pre-purhase the comfort packs for $8 which include a blanket,neck pillow,eye mask and ear plugs and really should have as they had the air conditioning set at minus 5 and sleep was near impossible.
Apart from that, the seating was reasonably comfortable and the leg room was acceptable, so the loss of a few creature comforts was worthwhile for a saving of at least $300 per ticket ( x4 ) for the next cheapest alternative. WE had packed nibbles and sandwiches and bought a few soft drinks for $2 each and could have bought domestic beer for $5 a can which was reasonable. I would fly with them again if they offered a similar deal but would pay a few dollars more and Fly Thai rather than pay their normal fares.
Arrived in Bangkok at about 7.30 local time, flew through customs, had all the right intentions of heading straight for the taxi rank and ordering a metered cab and not getting scammed for once but being our first time to the new airport I was sufficiently disorientated to fall pray to a lovely guy who told me he had a yellow and green metered cab wating in the car park. He took our baggage trolley up the escalator for us with us following and escorted us to a brand new Camry and had our luggage packed in his boot and the kids buckled up before he offerd us the heavily dicounted rate of 700 baht including tolls. I was tempted to just say yes but saw the wry grin on Kerry's face telling me that I was being scammed again and after a bit of a haggle ended up loading the baggage and kids back on the trolley and heading back to the taxi rank as previously planned. This managed to waste about half and hour but I was determined to catch a metered cab and spoke to the girls who wrote the nane of the hotel down for me and got me a cab with a boot so small that we had to use straps to hold our luggage in place and we thought we were travelling light this time. Anyway, after 65 baht in tolls and our can driver getting lost about 500 meters from the hotel we ended up paying about 500baht including tip for our cab so I felt like I had achieved something.(meter was about 285 by the time we hit Silom road)
By the time we reached the hotel (Centre point Silom) checked in and got to our room it was about 10.30pm and I had to hit the streets alone in search of a Pad THai as room service had finished....to be continued

i would call your taxi ride no bargain....

did you find the phad thai??

No Bob, it certainly wasn't a bargain ride and after spending 20 minutes looking for our hotel that wasn't exactly hidden away, I was proberbly foolhardy to pay as much as I did, but she was very nice and offered to discount the fare and seemed to be confused by the fact that centrepoint silom is not on silom road. I would think that 350 inc tolls and airport service fee would be the right price but at least it was better than the 700 baht we were originally going to pay.
Anyhow, off I went at 11pm in search of a Pad Thai. At that time of night, there was not much open around the hotel so I walked to Silom rd near the Holiday Inn and found a place called the Silom Village. I must have got asked by 10 different taxi drivers if I wanted a girl, ping pong show , body on body massage etc etc. I suppose that being male and alone would make me a look like a potential client. The Silom Village was a group of 5-6 seafood and Thai food restaraunts in a court yard behind a group of shops . I ordered 2 Pad THai to go without looking at a menu and had to wait about 25 minutes for them. At 130baht each they wern't exactly cheap. I picked up a couple of bottles of Chang from 7-11 and walked back to the hotel to find the family asleep. The food was cold by the time I got back so it ended up in the microwave. Unfortunately my first meal of the trip was a little less than satisfactory but at least I was here with another 16 nights ahead of me.
Our first impressions of Centrepoint was very positive. The new lobby was fantastic, our one bedroom suite was big and clean with areasonable river view. The bathroom was bigger than some rooms I have stayed in and we had a large fridge, washing machine/dryer combo and fully equipped kitchen. The only dissapointing thing was a notice in our room stating that the pool was closed for renovations for 3 days. Fortunately this turned out not to be the case and the pool area was quite adequate for a city hotel.....tbc

Day 2 and 3..

The next few days it was up early for a quick run, buffet breakfast..not quite up to the standards of the Marriott where we last stayed but more than satisfactory, and then shopping.
We had done most of the sights on the last few trips so our limited time in Bangkok was spent at the MBK and Suan Lum night market. The market seemed to be at about 50 % of its previous capacity as far as stalls were concerned but it looked a long way from closing down, in fact, some of the stall owners were busy putting in new fittings and fixtures so maybe there has been some official delay. I had the best foot massage of my life at the market even though it was a real pleasure and pain experience while it was happening. I felt like I was walking on clouds afterwards. The food court was also in full swing though they now have an annoying habit of following you to the table with 20 different menus brandished by touts rather than waiters. I resisted all their efforts to sell me overpriced food and drink and used the tried and tested coupon system. 3 pad thai, a green curry, papaya salad and a stir fry with basil, including 3 large changs and a mango sticky rice for 480 baht..great value.
I have read a few reports of people suggesting that prices were going up an the MBK, I found it to be the opposite.DEsigner jeans...600 baht, gameboy games...200baht...Volcom shorts (looked like the real thing)...500 baht, Billabong bathers..250-400 depending on quality. Kerry bought a few great knock-off handbags that were real leather (they did the burn with lighter trick) for 1500-2000 baht. If anybody has kids with a nintendo DS like one of ours has, they have a new thing called an R4 which is basically a micro sd card with an adaptor that fits the DS. THey load up to 20 gamesof your choice onto this thing that cost between $50-70aus each at home for 2200baht and they give a web address that you can download more for free when you get home and elete the ones that you are sick off. The real surprise was that they all work..
The other highlight of Bangkok was dinner at Harmonique. Grat atmosphere fantastic food and amazing value for the quality. We spent 1200 baht there for the 4 of us and waddled out. It was easy to find with the help of Bobs directions and it will be a place that we visit every time we go to Bangkok.

harmonique remains at the top of our list...quality and price...

Day 4.. Leaving Bangkok today which is a real shame as I love this city and could easily spend a week there, but Kerry and the kids prefer to get to the beach as soon as possible so 3 nights was all I could wrangle. Check out time was 12 which was great timing as our air asia flight to Krabi was leaving at 2.30pm so we could go to the Gym, which also has a table tennis room to keep the kids busy while we had a bit of a work-out, have a leisurely breakfast, do some washing, have a swim and not have to rush around anywhere.
The hotel staff arranged a metered taxi which needed to put one of our suitcases in the front seat and we all squeezed into the back. The driver made me an offer of 450 baht including tolls if we left the meter off and I accepted, so we had a swift, incident free trip to the magnificent new air-port.
Check in was very swift but if you do fly air asia on a discount fare, the checked baggage allowance is 15kg per person. We were under, but there was a long line at the excess baggage counter. I enquired about the cost per kilo and it was something like 85 baht so it wasn't a huge problem for the return leg. THe flight was fine. We only paid just over 1700 baht per return ticket including taxes so we wern't expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised by how new and comfortable the planes were. Cheap snacks are available on-board. One of the kids ordered 2 donuts and an ovaltine for 60 baht. THe flight was only about 10 minutes late taking off so I would have no hesitation flying with them again.
WE got to Krabi just before 4pm and paid for a taxi at the counter at the airport as there didn't seem to have a visable taxi rank out the front. WE paid 600 Baht. THere was a shuttle bus available that charged 150 baht per person, so if you are travelling alone, this would be the way to go.
THe trip to Ao Nang is very scenic and takes about 40 minutes. We arrived at the Somkiet Buri and we were welcomed very warmly by the reception staff. I had read some reviews saying the staff were indifferent there but I would have to say that they were as pleasant as any staff I have encountered anywhere in the world. THe deluxe triple room we had booked was just fabulous and immaculately clean.
WE had arranged with the staff to keep the bulk of our luggage at the hotel while we went to Phi Phi so we packed a few light packs and then went out to book the ferry for the morning. THe hotel was charging the same rate for the ferry as what was being offered on the street so we booked it with them. It was 380 baht per adult and 280 for one of the kids. We told them our younger one was 4, only a minor stretching of the truth, and we wern't charged for him.
We had a very nice dinner about 50 metres from the entrance to the hotel and then went in search of a massage. The going rate at Ao nang was 200 baht per person and the first place we went to offered to massage the kids for half price, they loved it and it kept them ammused so we could relax and not have to take turns. We returned to this same place many times on our return to Aonang and we were only charged 150 baht for one hour as regular customers. THe massage there was deep and very good....tbc