we have less than 3 weeks to go...i will be arriving in bangkok on oct 12...departing from honolulu on china air... connecting thru taipei...we chose this airline because we arrive in the middle of the day instead of 11pm on united....less travel time too...

i am travelling alone, initially...then meeting up with my daughter who arrives on united from sfo..
we will spend 2 nites at the asia hotel in bkk...then
we are travelling to hanoi on vietnam airlines (we booked the flights thru saveflights.com ....)

oct 14-21 in hanoi...we are planning to do a 3 day 2 nite halong bay junk trip...either with buffalo tours or handspan....both sound great but i want to check out the weather before i book... we are staying the carmellia 4 hotel...a 3 star in the old quarter..it is supposed to be quieter than most with a friendly staff and centrally located...

if the weather does not permit the halong bay trip, we may go to hoi an...fly in to hue then train to hoi an for 2 nites...again..we will wait and see...
i would love to do both but i dont think we have enough time...7 nites total for vietnam

next we fly back to bkk to meet up with our spouses who fly in ...staying 3 nites at the marriott on the river...2nd stay there...love it...
my new son-in-law's first trip to asia so we will visit the royal palace, wat pho...wat arun, weekend market and maybe the bed supper club..

we fly to chiang mai (thai discovery pass 3 leg ticket cost $196 with tax) for 3 nites at the baan
orapin....we have arranged for a day with poon to drive us around...to doi suthep and the village...
shopping for a chess set if anyone knows or has seen something really unique, let me know....

then chiang mai to phuket...staying initally at the old phuket hotel..(thanks james a) and if weather permits, 2 of us are going to koh phi phi for some diving and adventure....i think we will stay at the phi phi island village for 3 or 4 nites before going back to phuket to rejoin my daughter...

back to bkk nov 1 or 2nd...
ratt is going to have her husband and the very very comfortable mercedes van take us to ayuthuya and surrounds for a day trip. we did a whirlwind stop there last year (i am looking at my plate souvenier with us and the buddha head in the tree which sits on my desk) to show my soninlaw some of the cultural ancient ruins.

we donot have hotel reservations for our last 2 or3 nites in bkk...maybe back to the asia hotel, depends on how we like it...

back to hawaii on nov 4th...

i will report on baan orapin...and any other things that fodorites have questions about...let me know...

Sounds like a great trip. Say hi to Poon and Ratt from Gloria and tell them I'm looking forward to seeing them in January.

divediva; sounds like a fab trip. i leave the day you come back. i will try to read your post on baan orapin on the road. have a safe trip.

kuranosoke-- what's your itineray this trip?

dive---take the kids to the lady boy show at the aisa hotel....it is fun...go to the 8:15 show without dinner....can pre book and select your seats on line...lots of fun...

glorialf, my iti is like this:

11/4 using ua miles on ana from hnl to sin. using ana because of better food and service. even the club room of ana is much better than red carpet in hnl. but club room at nrt terrible. using ana also, because only 2 vs 6 hr layover in nrt, so i arr sin at 1015pm vs midnite.

11/5-11/18 slumming in sin. may take a trip to melaka or may try a 3n 4d star cruise from sin to phuket via penang. the pricing for this trip is rather strange. for dw and i, it cost $611 each. you can do a 7 day interisland cruise here in hi for about $700.

now, if a singaporean comes along, the fare reduces to $240 each. if another sing. comes along(2us+2sing), the fare will be reduced to $217. wierd huh? (maybe kmloke can verify this.) if i go to genting highlands in malaysia, then i would also go to kl.

11/19-11/21 bangkok. no set plan, except to eat alot of good food.

11/22-11/24 chiangmai. doi suthep, elephant camp, maybe craft shops, but still open.

11/25-26, bangkok, relax, then home on 11/27 via ta to nrt, then ua to hnl.

iti still wide open for chiangmai.

Kuranosuke...Don't forget to go to Sabai, in Singapore, and have some sticky rice and mango for me! And if you order that delicious fish dish with the peppercorns that look like the tails of a rattlesnake...absolutely don't bite into one of them or else we'll here you hollering all the way here! Have a great trip. Happy Travels!

Divediva...Have a great trip and hopefully we'll meet up at the second annual GTG in Honolulu! Happy Travels!

Divediva, have a great trip!

You, too Kuranosuke. The Star cruise pricing is very odd. JamesA has mentioned it before. Somehow, I thought the price would be more reasonable. I'll just miss you in Bangkok, unfortunately...

Have a wonderful family trip!
Would like to do that, too, get the grown up kids to meet us in Asia.

Kuranosuke: Miss you by a day.
Kathie: Hope our trails will meet.

you should defintely do hoi an. it looks a bit like disneyland, but it really is a unique city (village)? After hanoi, you probably would enjy less hectic, less cars.. you can walk to different restaurants.. also you can have clothes made, simple shift dresses for $20. I stayed at the victoria hotel, about 10 minutes outside the main city. nice pool..

Ching mai, you should check out the mandarin oriental Dhara Devi, have lunch or a drink.. The hotel is amazing, each villas is on stilts.. they have recreated an old thai village.. buffaloes grazing etc.. i stayed there for a week after evacuating from krabi last year's tsunami..

thanks joanne for the info on dhara devi and hoi an...we are staying at baan orapin in chiang mai...just outside the old city...how faraway is the devi? is it a place a tuk tuk driver would know how to get to easily?

i would love to go to hoi an...and we might but my daughter is pregnant and is now having concerns and reservations about vietnam and thailand ...i.e. bird flu and malaria issues...she just received the last issue of natl geographic and saw a dateline special where they discuss the almost certain pandemic of bird flu and the mistreatment of the elephants in thailand... last year we went to an elephant camp near tha ton and we saw first hand what the handlers do to train the younger elephants and it was sad and nearly brutal.

i have reserved the buffalo tour "jewel of the bay" for our 3day2nite halong bay trip...it should be the most deluxe junk trip out there and comes recommended

guenmai, kuranosuke and isis...i am looking forward to the next honolulu gtg ....kuran...i will do a baan orapin posting while in chiang mai...it looks beautiful and peaceful. for elephant camps..i would definately recommend the one in lampang...where they treat the animals much better...