Just got back...
 

I just got back from 3 weeks in Thailand.....pinch me was it all an amazing dream?

tell all!! where'd you stay and what were high and low lights?

You've been hanging around this board long enough to know we want ALL the details -- or at least a lot of them.

I am a bit jet lagged and I admit I am not one that writes reports and diaries...but I will share anything that comes to mind and will answer many questions...=I have over 1000 pictures and movies..I will have to figure a way and a place to share them.

In regards to accomodations we stayed in order:
3 nights in Bangkok at Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa
2 nights in Bangkok at the Old Bangkok Inn
3 nights in Chiang Mai at the River View Lodge
2 nights in the Golden Triangle at the Anantara Resort
2 nights in Chiang Rai - at the Akka Village - 26 kms from Chiang Rai - stayed with the hill tribes
7 nights in Phuket at JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa
2 nights in Bangkok at the Ibrik Resort

more to come....
D

3 nights

I'd particularly like to hear your report of Old Bangkok Inn, Ibrik and Akha Village

i'd particularly like to hear top 3 favorites (locations/hotels). sounds like you had a nice long vacation..sad I only get 11 days :(
Good luck with getting over the jetlag!

and i want to hear about it all but especially about the hotels and what you liked and disliked about them....especially my favorites

bob

As much as glorialf, i'm dying to hear about Old Bangkok Inn and Ibrik Resort,
since i've booked for Old Bangkok Inn (Jasmine-room) for 5 days of Jan.'06!

Thailand is not about Hotels ! Ok, I guess you want to know where you will be sleeping.

Marriott Resort and Spa - Words are hard to describe it. Pictures are hard to describe it as well. You have to experience it. It's out of this world. I stayed in a Deluxe suite - river view. The grounds are beautiful. It's an OASIS away from the hussle and bussle. It feels to good to go back there after a busy day. It's like you are in a Tropical Jungle away from the city. The staff cators to you. If they could wash your feet - they would. Very nice touches in everything. The little things add up, like nice cold wet cloths to cool you down waiting for you everywhere you go whether it be in the hotel or on the boat. Would go back and would highly recommend it.

Old Bangkok Inn - If you are expecting a 5 star American Hotel and it's services - forget it. I stayed here after the Marriott and I was sheltered shocked for a few hours. BUT wants you settle in and you know this is home for the next few days it's an amazing little place. The Inn is very clean and quaint decorated in THAI style. The staff is out of this world. Super Friendly. Anything you want you got it. I stayed in the Jasmine room, it is a loft. The Jasmine room has stairs going to the bed. It's the biggest and most quiet room. The stairs are quiet narrow and steep. So be prepared for a fun climb and decent. Again it was nice staying here, you felt you stayed in someone's home. The breakfast is nice. The only bad points I have to say about this place is that it is not conveniently located as all the other river hotels are. So to all major attractions you need to take a cab. But cabs are cheap. For some reason there was not hot water after one shower. I wondered why...but did not complain since a cool shower felt good. We could have used more pillows than the 2 pillows provided for 2 people..but my fault I should have asked. Would I stay here again? Yes, if I wanted to stay in the area. Again if you want something like a 5 star resort, this is not the place. If you want an Inn- Thai style, family run and super amazing friendly people and you don't mind catching a cab to go to places. This is it. I enjoyed staying here because this added up to my wonderful vacation expience. Oh by the way it's close to KHO SAN Road so you are close to some night life and close to some local nice temples.

More to come...ask away

Tell me about your time in northern thailand -- especially with the Akha.

In regards to the Akha Village....

Arrived in Chiang Rai on November 19 and walked into the TAT office. After staying at the Anantara, we were looking for something more rustic. So from the
comprehensive list of nearby resorts and hotels, and other choices such as going to TAN. We decided to go with the Akha Village. A hill tribe village in Chiang Rai the
only one in Chiang Rai that is open to tourists and operated by the hill tribe. I was bit worried, as I am not so adventurous from a rustic sense. We decided to go with the
most expensive place, 700 baht. That's right 700 baht for a private cabin, with hot private shower and a fan. Later we found out that some people were paying for some rooms as low as 80 baht. But did not want to see them. So in a few minutes a pick up truck came to pick us up that had Akha Village written on it. The driver was actually the Akha Village Tribe chief. It took us to a little village 2 minutes away from the TAT office, also operated by the hill tribe. This village is in Chiang Rai. They also rent lodging. The lodging was made out of mud. At the Akha Village the lodging is made out mud, bamboo, and wood. We were told that we would depart at 4:30. We had 2:30 hours to kill. We walked around Chiang Rai and found out that Chiang Rai had not much stuff going on from a Tourist point of view. Just like we had read, Chiang Rai is a popular base destination for Trekking. So after our walk we grabbed something to eat at a local restaurant had fun with the locals, trying to speak the language and asking questions on the menu. We then returned to our meeting place at 4:30. Finally after being tired and restless and listening to a lot of talking going on between the chief and his family/workers we departed at 5 PM. We were asked to go behind the driver and the passenger seat. We got squished in there and on the floor was a bag with fish head, chicken, and potatoes. We wondered if this was our supper. Some young guy was the driver and some old man maybe in his eighties was in the passenger seat and a girl rode in the back of the pick up. We made a few stops on the way. They picked up beer, bread, and cement. I was actually getting tired of these stops and wondered why I was paying for this. I felt like I was paying for punishment. The driver and the old man barely spoke to us. At this point in time we were thinking this was a bad choice. But too late to turn around. The ride was bumpy and the scenery was beautiful as we drove up the mountains. We were actually lucky on our way there and back as we got to ride in the back/inside of the truck. Usually the tourists ride in the back outside and hold on to their dear lives and sit on their luggages amongst the locals that have hitched a ride to and from the village. We stopped at a couple of villages before our final destination as they looked rustic, country looking. Kids running around barefoot, chickens on the ground. People sitting at their door steps smoking...It was interesting. When we arrived out our village. The trunk was put on a 4 wheel drive and up it went on 60 degree incline....more on Akha to come

sorry, but i will meet you back at the marriott pool.....

was the suite at the marriott one of the corner ones??

anxiously awaiting more info

bob

which ibrik did you stay in and how was it?

We came to a sudden stop at the top and got off and we were met by this man who welcomed us and asked us to register and asked us what room we wanted. Local people came around us we felt awkward and did not know what to do. I think the locals were more excited that the truck arrived with some goods as oppose to the tourists arriving. We automatically said that we wanted the room that they said they had available for us. The room that was the most expensive. Private cabin with a private bathroom, king size bed and hot shower. We were given the key. They introduced us to the local eating area which was an outside restaurant. The kitchen, which I only looked once and promised myself I would not go in anymore or else I wouldn't be able to eat my meals. The system they had was an honour system, whatever you took from the outside fridge or your room fridge or anything you ordered to eat, you would write it down in the book designated for your room and at the end of your stay you would add it up. Our bill was 2000 Baht for 2 nights, tons of food, teas, and lots of beer. Super cheap. We were then shown our private cabin. Yup it was rustic. We saw little lizards in our ceiling in the room. We were told that they were harmless by some people we met later that evening. The bathroom was made out of mud and had a shower with pebbles on the ground and when you took a shower a few spiders would come out of the pebbles because they were wet and climb up the wall and wait for you to be done so they could go back. I guess this was routine for them. Lets just put it this was, this was not a very clean place. The toilet needed to be cleaned and the cabin needed dusting. But this was rustic. But once you stepped out of the cabin the views, the sound of the local village people, reminded us why we had come. The views were phenomenal, you were actually in the country side, on the side of the mountain overlooking a valley and you were among the hill tribe people. This is as close as you could get. The nature was beautiful the birds were flying around as they dove down into the valley that we were facing.

Sounds beautiful but the spiders killed it for me!

We then walked over to the open kitchen area. We were glad to meet an Australian middle age couple. They were wonderful people. It was their last night there. They stayed there for 2 nights. They told us that the place was rustic, food was good, and nobody had gotten sick. They had a mosquito net in their room, but their room was not as big as ours. We did not have a mosquito net. They were paying like 500 baht. We also met 2 Dutch girls. They actually hiked up to the village from another village and there hike was 4 hours. It was their first night and last night. They said the place was too rustic. They actually had a room with no mosquito net and no windows and the roof was partially open. They were paying like 250 baht....I guess you get what you pay for. We then met a New Zealander and a Japanese guy. Anyways, we had a good time, had some good cheap food and a few beers and shared our stories (tried to push the kitchen thought
away from my head). They told us about their day and what was there to do and some Trekking suggestions, they also shared with us their past experiences in other places. The local dogs gave us their paw asking for some food. Later in the night 2 ladies with messy hair and toothless asked us if we wanted a massage, we politely declined and said maybe tomorrow. It was like camping. Lots of bugs flying around the table , the lizards made funny sounds, but surprisingly no mosquitoes.
After a few hours of mingling we went to back to the cabin ready to go to bed. Took a shower, saw the spider. Decided to go to bed fully clothed, put the fan on, and crawled into bed. I then noticed an old blood stain on the nice white clean crisp sheets. A few blond hairs, wondered where they came from as we were not blond. Decided to forget about all the bad thoughts and focused on the good thoughts. This was an adventure. We went to sleep with the sheets over our head afraid what would crawl on top of us. Heard a couple of lizards calling oyt. We wondered how were going to get through the first night.

....more to come

We woke up the next day and looked outside and went out to the porch and saw the beautiful mist over the mountains. Heard the waterfalls from a distance. We went over
to have breakfast at the open restaurant and ate with our new friends that we had met the night before. We had some toast and plate a fresh fruit and nice coffee. Surprisingly all the food was delicious and looked nice. By 9:30 they were ready to leave. We said our goodbyes and best wishes and all of them were herded onto the outside back of the pickup trunk along with some local hill tribe village people. We waved goodbye and looked forward to the day ahead.

We gathered our nap sack and headed out for our trek. By the way, we were the only tourists walking around all day, which was nice. We went up and away from the village, after a 30 minute walk with spectacular views of the mountains, village, valley, and ponds we saw the water falls. The water fall was pretty spectacular. It was a 3 level waterfall. It was powerful, beautiful and refreshing. If you wanted to swim you could. We crossed over it over a bamboo bridge. We were at first afraid. But it was exciting. We continued to walk for another 30 minutes, passed some green tea plantations and ended up at a Chinese Village. We mingled with some locals. We spoke a bit of Thai and did a lot of hand gestures, Saw a beautiful butterfly and took some photographs of kids that gathered around us with beautiful smiles wanting to look at our camera. As we walked through the village, with a few barking dogs behind us we came to an outside party that had tons of balloons outside. It was a wedding. The people signaled us to enter. But we were too shy, a bit nervous what was waiting for us at the party, and wanted to continue our trek we politely hand waived and said no thank you. We then headed over to the elephant camp. The walk was about 1.5 hours. And it was a beautiful walk. We heard the river flowing which carried water from the water fall and walked along the mountain following the elephant footsteps and poo.

We finally came to the village that had the elephant camp. They had 3 elephants. There was some hot springs and a pool by the hot springs. The pool was big and looked clean. We had a couple of cokes and chips and talked with the shop owners in THAI and rested there for a few minutes. This was as simple life could get. We then fed the elephant and rode the elephant back to the village. Since we had rode elephants before on this trip we wanted to ride it only half way, about 1 hour. We were the only ones riding the elephant. We were both sitting on the seat the guide was sitting on the elephants head. At some point on the mountain a pick up truck drove by us. This was unusual as we never saw any cars/trucks the time we were there and the guide started doing something weird to the elephant with his feet behind his ears, as the truck approached us. He motioned the elephant to the edge off the rode and then showed him some sort of tool..basically saying if you don’t behave, you are getting this. The elephant roared and gently moved toward the edge of the road on the cliff side. We were getting nervous. His front was facing the cliff and all 3 of us we slightly looking down the mountain as the truck drove beside us. The elephant just stood there. We were nervous that the elephant would lose his footing and down we would go. But I guess the guide and the elephant knew what they were doing as they did not hesitate on their moves. That part was heart racing. After 30 minutes we got off. Said our goodbyes. The guide and the elephant posed for a picture. And we headed back to the village. We saw a huge centipede, about 12 inches long. We decided to visit the waterfalls once again and in 1:30 hrs we were back at the village. The hike all day took us about 5 hours. It was pretty spectacular. Coming here was worthwhile after all…..more to come.

By the way we stayed at the Ibrik resort by the river...can give you a detailed description if you would like...let me know

fabulous report. Sounds like the kind of thing I did when I first went to asia 20 years ago. Glad I did it then because I could never do it now but it is the way to really begin to understand the country.

Would love to hear the rest as well as your time in Chiang Mai and Ibrik.

The remaining afternoon, we rested on our porch facing the valley and drank some green tea, while we watched birds flying in every direction and diving down to the valley. I guess they were eating insects. After our shower and a rest we headed over to the open restaurant where we saw the New Zealander helping the local kids with their homework and saw someone from Israel who has been there for 2 months and spends his time meditating in the cabin. We decided to head up to the Bamboo Bar, a local bar, up the road, with spectacular views. We sat on some THAI style mats, pads, and pillows while admiring the view. We drank some beer and bought some local crafts from a lady and kid that was helping her. We then headed back to the open restaurant, came across kids playing ball and locals trying to greet you and talk to you, and of course trying to sell you something whether it be crafts or food.

We sat at the open restaurant and the lady who was part of the team running this place built us a fire. It was nice. It was like camping. We drank some more beer. We talked with the locals. An hour later, about 6 pm the pick up truck arrived with more guests. a Canadian couple and a British couple. After they were settled in, they came by and we met them and spoke to them. We could relate to them as we were new comers the night before. We sat around the fire, shared stories, drank beer, and had supper. We had pad thai, chicken fried riced, fried vegetables, and rice. It was good. Later that night the toothless ladies with messy hair came by to offer some massages, Akha massages, they called it. Again we politely refused, but the New Zealander, gladly took up on the offer. For 100 Baht for an hour. Again, you get what you pay for. He came back after an hour, he was satisfied. We bonded more with the locals around the fire. The local kids ripped some branches off a nearby tree and roasted some nuts or seeds that were on the branches. Apparently it tasted like sun flower seeds. It was a nice crowd. Nice to have the locals sitting next to us and teaching us their Akha language. It was not touristy at all. Most of them do not speak Thai. They speak Akha. The kids speak Akha, Thai and some English. One of the guys who was also running the place was there sitting with us. He spoke some English, French and bit of other languages. I thought to myself, although this was a far cry from a 5 star resort this is as close I could get to the locals. It was a really nice experience. We called it a night and slept more comfortably that night. Partially because it was our second night, and partially because we knew we were going home. That night, for most part of the night we slept without the sheets over our head. We felt safer, for some odd reason.

We woke up at 7 AM. We had informed the chief that we had to leave at 8:15 because our flight was at 10:15 and we have to be at the airport at 9:15. Actually this was a small white lie. I told them that our flight was 30 minutes earlier, because from what I observed they were not so worried about departure times. I am glad I did because we were at the airport 30 minutes before our flight departure which was tight.

We had some fruit and toast and coffee. Did our so called “check out”, not much of a process other than paying up and returning the keys. We said our goodbyes and thank you. Got into the truck and the school kids and some locals went onto the back of the truck on the outside, sat on our luggage. Again we were the only tourists in the trucks. We made a few stops to drop off some people. Again, the ride was beautiful but bumpy. We were glad we came for such a wonderful experience but glad we were leaving to the airport on our way to our next destination, Phuket – JW Marriott Resort and Spa.

Oh, they have a website as well.

http://www.akhahill.com/index.htm

One more thing

THE MAJORITY OF THE PROFITS FROM THE GUESTHOUSE ARE INVESTED INTO THE COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROJECT.

we've got a reservation for the ibrik in the city, but a report on the one by the river would be great as well!

can't wait to hear about phuket!! Did you go into town--did you feel isolated? Any day trips to the islands!
Your hand must be killing you with all the typing!

We flew from Phuket to Bangkok on business on the 9:45 AM flight on November 28.. Arrived in Bangkok at 10:45. We called Somphet Gunthon, our driver, the night before from Phuket to remind him that we would arrive in Bangkok the following day We had provided him all the flight info before we had left Bangkok on November 14. He confirmed that he was going to be at the airport to pick us up. We waited until 11:30 AM. After some unanswered cell phone calls and being pestered if we wanted a TAXI by everyone who owned a car, we decided to get Meter TAXI at the airport taxi desk outside the terminal. We were disappointed in Gunthon not showing up and found it was so out of character. He was so nice to us when he took us to the floating market and drove us to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai on Nov. 12 and Nov. 14. We tipped him well as well. For 350 BAHT flat rate we were on our way to the IBRIK resort. The ride through the city was interesting as usual. A lot of hussle and bussle and everyone going somewhere. As we approached the IBRIK we got off a main road, went passed a temple, all the way in, turned left on the street. The street was big enough for a TAXI to get by….no joke. And all of a sudden we eyed the IBRIK resort sign and told the driver to stop. There was the IBRIK resort. A little white flimsy sign by the a small white gate fence and another one on the wall that is lit up at night. The little white door fence led us along narrow walkway through 2 buildings. Both walls painted in white. One wall covered with some vines and miniature white lights that light up at night. The width wide enough for one person. Stepping stones on the gravel, lead you to a little open area with a fountain and a table for 2…more to come

i'll be getting out of the pool in about 30 minutes so can meet you to go to phuket....i enjoyed my two day swim...did really not miss meeting the spiders, locals, crawling things and i slept with the ironed sheet folded back properly....in fact there was a cover sheet over the bedding as well which was well pressed and monogramed...no blood stains either, except maybe some from my nose bleed as i thought about the truck ride and the rest of it...

i did miss the view and peace and quiet however...my shcedule for my thailand trip for next year is already full so i won't be able to make it to the village then either...

haha

did i miss the phuket post? seems to have jumped straight to BKK..this is better than a tv cliffhanger..

Iwould also like to hear about your experience in Phuket. I just got back from 4 days at the JW Marriot Resort. While it was absolutely beautiful, I wouldn't go back or reccommend it. What are your thoughts?

land...what did you not like about it?? the location?? cost of meals??

i personally liked it far better than the rest of phuket...and i generally like to get out into communities and spend little time at resorts per se...

landini--you'll have to fill us in, what about JW Marriott didn't suit you, the location?

DavRan,
I'm enjoying your report immensely!

Your account of your time at the Akha village was particularly fascinating; it's the sort of thing I <i>think</i> I 'd love to experience, but in reality, I probably enjoy it a lot more vicariously.

The spiders and stains on the sheets are a definite turn-off to me, too, I have to agree with Bob on that. But you were smart to get through it by thinking of it as being &quot;like camping.&quot;

Pleas tell more!

We found ourselves in front of two doors with clear glass windows that were opened we walked in. On the right hand side was counter that served as the bar/kitchen looking area and on the left hand side was another counter that was served for business purposes like checking in and checking out with a flimsy hotel bell. The floor was grey; more like painted cement and it had some dark hardwood stairs that led to the second floor, all in dark hardwood floors. Further ahead passed the stairs to the right was a living room space with couch and TV that was used by the hotel manager when there was nothing to do. At the end of the living space to the right it had a corridor that led to the back. The sun was shining in through the corridor and you could hear the hustle and bustle from the river. At the end of the corridor was a door that faced to a balcony that faced the river. There was nobody in sight. I decided to hit the hotel bell that was on top of the counter. In a matter of seconds we heard footsteps coming down the stairs and down came a young man dresses in THAI style clothing, to us North Americans, they look like pajamas. We presented ourselves and he pulled out our reservations that we had for 2 nights. I had already paid one as a deposit and he asked me to pay the remaining second night, which I found odd enough but I was going to question there process. So I went ahead and made my payment. I asked if the room was ready. He said it wasn’t. They were cleaning it. Since it was 12:30 and check in was only at 2 PM I did not make a fuss about that either. I asked him if we could leave the luggage there since we had to be at the Blue Elephant at 1:30 for our THAI cooking course. We asked for directions, and the gentleman was nice enough to pull a couple of maps and indicated that it was easier to walk down to the Wand Lang Pier N9 5 minute walk down the road and catch the river boat that would take me to the central pier and then I can take the BTS one stop down to Surasak. We thanked him and proceeded ahead to our cooking course. As we came out of the small walkway out of the hotel. we heard kids singing and screaming with joy. To the left across the street (the street was about 12 feet wide) was what it looked to be like a pre-school. I looked passed the wooden fence and there I saw all these small THAI kids dressed in white and lilac. They all looked so innocent and were so joyful. To the right of the pre-school was an interesting looking Theatre that was advertising Macbeth for Dec 1, and Dec. 2. And right beside the theatre was an open restaurant covered by a ceiling that looked pretty Trendy. Down the road to the right was a very popular THAI restaurant that is listed in many travel books and has extravagant THAI meals with entertainment. It has a river boat as well. (I forget the name. Next post I will have it). As we made ourselves down the road it got busier and busier, with local people buying and selling. We came to a small street that was congested with people buying and selling many THAI goods, both clothing and food. This small street led us down to the Pier. It was fascinating. Just a 1 minute walk out of our hotel, and there we were experiencing Thailaind. It was like we were actually living just next to the locals and the best part of it was that we never saw any tourists. As a matter of fact during our 2 day stay we never saw any tourists in the local area walking around. It was just us and Thailand. I hadn’t seen the room yet and I was already fascinated and excited where I was staying. In a matter of minutes we were on the river boat down to Central Pier and onto the BTS to Surasak.....more to come

great report....can't wait to hear abou the cooking and your room....

will you also describe for us exactly where the hotel is and on which side of the river?? thanks

DavRan,

For one that does not write reports and/or diaries, you are doing a darn good job discribing your trip!

Hurry and post more more MORE!!

This is great! :)

There it was, a cr&egrave;me yellow coloured building with white borders and moulding, clay tuscany tiles, and a white sign with blue writing Blue Elephant Cooking School and Blue Elephant Restaurant. Inside there was an ambience that you were somewhere in Africa or India in a british building. It did not feel like you were in Thailand. I guess it was the richness of the d&eacute;cor, the arched big windows, the wooded hardwood floors. We were asked to be seated on the second floorvas we waited and we were served lemon grass drinks as refreshment and a cold scented line towel to wipe or hands and face. A few minutes later a young girl showed up and escorted us to the third floor. She supplied us with Blue Elephant folder that contained the recipes and our white cooking aprons with Blue Elephant written on them. We entered what looked like a class room and at the front was a cooking demonstration counter. In the front of the class was our chef, and he nodded as we came in. He had guicha type make up on, which I found quite amusing and interesting. But in Thailand, everything goes. He was a very quiet, shy, and soft spoke chef. The girl got us organized and she was a bit tired because she had the flu. Hence, why she was wearing a mask. We started with the introduction to THAI basic spices and we proceeded with the demonstration on green curry paste. Once the demonstration was completed we went to a large room across the hall which help or individual cooking station with all the ingredients prepared for us. We had 3 young THAI sous-chefs helping us with our cooking. I actually found the interaction with them the best part of the cooking course since they found my THAI speaking attempts quite amusing and they wanted to interact with me more and more. Once we were done we would put our names on the dish and they were taken away and kept warm. We would walk back to demonstration class to learn the next recipe. We did this back to back for: Green Curry paste, Green curry chicken, Pad Thai, Green Papaya Salad, and Tom Yom soup. Once completed, we were escorted to the restaurant with our certificates and a gift. At the restaurant was where we sampled our THAI creations. We mingled a bit with the folks who took the cooking class with us. There were a total of 7 people, a nice number.

The river boat back to Wang Lang Pier N9 was packed with people. I guess it was because it was about 5 PM, rush hour on the river. There were boats, long tails, dinner cruise boats in every direction. Some times I wonder if there is a system to which they follow, but I doubt it because there are boats in every direction. Pier Wang Lang N9 was one after N8 the one to the Grand Palace and on the opposite side of the river, on the same side that the Marriott and The Peninsula was on. As we approached N9, there was the Ibrik resort on the river a small 2 storey building with 2 terraces, one on the second floor and one on the first floor, As we approached the Pier N9 to dock, the motors would go in reverse and the guy in the back of the boat who would give the ok to take off and the ok to go, would blow his whistle. It was quite interesting to hear all the chaos. The walk through the market back to the Ibrik resort was interesting as always with lots of locals selling food and clothing. As we approached the Ibrik resort there were a lot of kids coming out of school. All of them dressed in uniforms. And they were like any other kid in the world. They joked and played around with their friends. The girls held hands while the boys teased them.

Back at the Ibrik we walked to our room, called the Sunshine room. The young lad opened the door to our room. There it was a white crisp room, with white bedding on a 4 post bed. And a silk white material over the posts on the bed. The bed had a nice deorative silk pillows on the bed. He showed us to the bathroom, a nice simple white bathroom and a stand up shower on the side, big enough for 2 people. Showed us our safe and our bar fridge, The floors had rich dark wood. Hence why you were asked to leave you shoes at the bottom of the stairs. The room had French doors that opened to the terrace that was about 10 feet by 13 feet. On the terrace there were a couple of coffee tables and chairs where you could sit and simply watch the activity on the river. I enjoyed sitting back watching the intricate activity on the river while I sipped my cold beer or my coffee at breakfast. I thought to myself, far off from a 5 star resort, but this offers more than 5 star resort in many ways. Such as being close to the local people, being able to sit outside the room and watch the river action, and staying in a place that just felt like home. It was unique, a little THAI style Inn with lots of character. I hope nobody finds out about this place because this is a little gem that is unspoiled. A place I would definitely come back. It was home for the next 2 days, and we were glad we were here on our last 2 days in Bangkok.

did you find acceptable places to eat around the hotel?? how did you get back and forth when the boats were not running after 6PM??

great report

I'm enjoying this great report a lot! Everything about Ibrik on the River is really accurate in every way. Excellent description of the place and surrounding area.

I also enjoyed walking through the shopping street to get to the ferry and you're right, no tourists around at all. It's a really fun place to stay and the area is very interesting. I liked it.

The only negatives for me are: it's very hard to book (only 3 rooms), the manager requires a deposit beforehand of one full night, and requires payment in full for the rest when you check in. That's a little bit of a turn off for me considering it's otherwise such a charming and cozy place.

I'll be staying at the Old Bangkok Inn for the first time in late December. Will report back.

Based on my correspondence with both Ibrik and the Old Bangkok Inn, I would say that the owner at Ibrik is pretty much focused on money and business and the owners at the Old Bangkok Inn are friendlier and more welcoming. I think it's going to be a great place.

Thank for your report.

DavRan, this is one of the most fascinating reports I have ever read on this forum!

Good on ya for stating that Thailand isn't all about the hotels!

I sometimes wonder if people just go to Thailand to be pampered at their favorite hotels, only stepping out to eat at their favorite restaurants, never experiencing the local culture like you so obviously did!

I love your detailed account of the Akha village!

We will be staying in a remote place called Chiang Dao Nest north of Chiang Mai for a couple of nights during our trip in Feb. I think our bungalows are a bit more upscale. In order to get my boyfriend to stay in a bungalow I had to tell him to consider it like camping, which we both love to do any way!

Cheers!

In the evening we geat around by TAXI. A Taxi to the night bazarr is about 3 $ CDN. Which is relatively cheap.

Old Bangkok Inn had more character than IBRIK resort in terms of Decor and yes the people are amazing friendly. You will feel at home and safe. You Although Ibrik is quaint you don't get to know the owners like you do at Old Bangkok Inn. As I said I missed the convenience of staying by the river when I was at Old Bangkok Inn. You'll have to depend on TAXIs over there. It's a give and take situation.

DavRan - brilliant report and sounds like a fab trip. Many thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed account of your trip!