Just got back...
Dec 2nd, 2005, 08:58 AM
#21
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Dec 2nd, 2005, 09:37 AM
#25
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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
Dec 2nd, 2005, 09:38 AM
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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
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
Dec 2nd, 2005, 04:49 PM
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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?
Dec 2nd, 2005, 05:25 PM
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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...
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...
Dec 3rd, 2005, 05:56 AM
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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 "like camping."
Pleas tell more!
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 "like camping."
Pleas tell more!
Dec 3rd, 2005, 10:15 AM
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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
Dec 4th, 2005, 02:54 PM
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There it was, a crème 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 décor, 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.
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.
Dec 5th, 2005, 03:57 AM
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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.
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.
Dec 5th, 2005, 04:58 AM
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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!
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!
Dec 5th, 2005, 05:40 AM
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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.
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.
