61luv2travel

Sunday, Dec 27 - ...in case you were wondering about the "Loi Kratong"

We had another big breakfast at the hotel and then hung out and waited for our pick-up for the John Gray Sea Canoe trip. The van picked us up around 11:30 and it was very clean. We picked up one other couple and drove for a while to the port where we boarded the boat. I thought it would only be a few people, but it ended up being about 30 people total. The boat was big enough and they kept it to a ratio of 2 people/guide + raft. The entire trip was really well done. The boat takes you out into Phang Na Bay which is really beautiful. We sat toward the back with our legs over the railings. We could see jellyfish in the water which was a little anxiety provoking. The guides started to throw chicken to the eagles and we could see them swooping and diving. They gave us lunch and dinner. The food was pretty good (though in the end, Stephanie and I were sick the next day which we think we got from the dragonfruit).

Over the course of the trip (we went on the “Hongs by Starlight” trip) we visited 3 different caves. They would pull the rafts out, then steady them as you got into the raft, then the guide would paddle over to the cave. The first one was “Bat Cave.” “Please keep your mouth closed!” We had a flashlight to see all of them sleeping above us. Creepy, but fascinating. After you go through the cave, you come out into a central lagoon in the middle of the island. These hongs are so cool – somehow they have been hollowed out and you would never imagine when you go through the sea cave that you would come out into the center of the island. The second island had a mangrove swamp. Both of them were so peaceful. Then we had some time to either swim or kayak on our own. Stephanie and I swam and DH and Spencer each went kayaking.

Then we worked with our guide to make an offering to use for the “loi kratong” ceremony that we would perform in the last cave that we would visit after sunset. We used a piece of banana tree trunk for the base, banana leaves, orchids, incense sticks, candles, etc. Every guide’s kratong was a little different. They were really beautiful. Once we finished them, we ate dinner as we waited for the sun to set. Then suddenly it started to rain/pour just as we were getting back into the rafts. But then as soon as it started, it stopped. DH discovered to his dismay that his new “underwater” camera battery had run out – so no pictures of the loi kratong, or the night-time rafting.
This last cave we went into, our guide said in his very soft voice, “Now, we have very exciting!” Stephanie started to moan as she knew that meant that we would have to lay down flat and that we would be floating pretty close to the ceiling of the cave as we went through. Our guide was very young looking and when we were first assigned to him, Stephanie was worried that he looked younger than her. He was fine. Stephanie even admitted that even though she was a little scared, she also enjoyed the “danger” of it all. Once inside, we lit the candles on the kratong and let it float. In the end, we all had to collect them, as they would clutter up the cave if they did this night after night without picking them up. At least this way, we could take them home and take a picture of them. After that we went to a dark corner of the cave and played with the water which had bioluminescent plankton. It was really magical – like playing with fairy water. I really loved it. When we were coming back out, DH and Spencer and Steph and I got stuck because a relatively inexperienced guide was trying to come through and kind of got stuck. Our guide was able to back out while waiting for the incoming guide to get through. But DH and Spencer got stuck in a kind of claustrophobic space and had to remain laying down flat for a few minutes. Spencer was watching a jutting piece of rock pointed straight at his crotch as the raft floated up and down and up and down. It made him kind of nervous. When we got back on the boat, we had a relatively long trip back to port. We saw flying fish.

Though this was a pretty expensive trip, we thought it was worth it. Not only was it well organized, but it was a fun and unique experience. Despite a larger group than what I had expected, it never reeally felt crowded. We were pretty tired by the time we got back to the hotel after 9PM.

Hanuman

I haven't read all of your report but why do you say that the "Loi Krathong" festival is on Dec 27th?

Hanuman

Just in case anyone is curious the Loi Krathong date in Thailand:

2009 = 2 Nov
2010 = 21 Nov
2011 = 10 Nov
2012 = 28 Nov

rhkkmk

thanks pook, we will be in bkk that day in 2010... its always a fun evening...

rhkkmk

how was the sofitel?

Hanuman

I've just read the whole report - interesting.

1/. The paper lantern are made of thin tissue like paper with 1 circular wire acting as the main base. 2 more wires are use to hold the burner which contain those alcohol like blocks that you use for fondue pots. No plastic nothing non biodegradable. Cost about 15 Baht a piece.

http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/Holiday...67_LH7rK-M.jpg

2/. I'm still very curious about you describing Loi Krathong as being on December 27th. I hope your guide did not try to pull a fast one and charge you for something that happened over a month earlier.

61luv2travel

Hanuman - thanks for the info about the paper lanterns. and oh sorry - no. With regards to the Loi Krathong - they were just trying to show us in a small way how the ceremony goes and explain a little bit about its meaning. They told us that it takes place in Nov. It was just fun to make the offerings and to float them. We knew that it was just a demonstration. Sorry - I guess I didn't explain it very well.

Hanuman

Thanks for the explanation 61. Traditionally the Loy Krathong ceremony is conducted on rivers and lakes but now it has "evolved" to the sea as well. Just watch the tide when you do it!

61luv2travel

So back to the trip report. My suggestion is that you actually skip or skim this as it is the most boring part of the trip. But in the interest of full disclosure.

Monday, Dec 28
I got up early with DH to have breakfast with him before he was picked up to go golfing at Blue Canyon. Since he is an avid golfer, he had made the reservation before we got to Thailand. I think he enjoyed it, though it was really hot and humid and he had to walk the course. He ended up playing with 3 other Koreans – a couple and their friend (whose husband couldn’t come). Tom said the women were actually the better players- very competitive with each other and really good. They also were going to play another round when he finished up. He was kind of bummed with the caddy he got- an older women who I guess wasn’t that helpful with advice. Anyway, when we first got back to the room after finishing breakfast, Stephanie left a note to come see her as she thought she was getting sick. In the end, I started having the same symptoms, though lagging her by about 12-24 hours. Poor Spencer, he never got sick, but he did get bored. I had thought that while DH was golfing we could go do an elephant excursion, but Steph and I ended up laying around in the room, taking a nap and watching TV. We did eventually make it out to the pool.

The Kata Beach Resort was nice, but it’s main attraction was that it was right on the beach, and like many of the large beach resorts that we have visited, the pool chair saving was the usual pain in the you know where. We managed to find enough chairs in the afternoon. Spencer swam a little in the ocean. After DH got back, he and Spencer went to dinner at a jazz restaurant. Steph and I weren’t really hungry and didn’t think we could manage leaving the hotel anyway. Poor DH and Spencer – they walked straight uphill and when they got to the restaurant, there was no jazz that night. They waited quite a while I think and the food was only okay. The only upside of this day is that we finally actually rested and Stephanie’s swollen ankles finally normalized.

Tues & Wed, Dec 29 & 30-
We got ready to depart and our van picked us up around noon to take us to the area around Krabi. It was about a 3 ½ hour drive. It was actually a pretty comfortable trip. We checked into the AoNang Villa. It was a very pretty hotel which was also right next to the beach. The rooms were comfortable with a great view of both the pool and the ocean. Unfortunately, the next day I still was having some chills and fatigue. We had a nice breakfast, but Steph and I couldn’t really eat everything. We ended up spending the entire day in the room watching dumb movies. The only comfort I could take was that I didn’t feel like we were missing out on that much since being at the beach is supposed to be for relaxing anyway, right?

Thursday, Dec. 31
Finally, felt okay enough to go out. We got our snorkel gear together and went to the beach and hired a longtail boat. It took us to Chicken Island (though my friends back home thought that the island looked more like an anatomical part!)We snorkeled for about an hour and had a great time. As soon as you put your face in the water there were tons of fish – so many in number and so many different types (different than what I have seen in Hawaii or the Caribbean). We went to one other island where I saw a crab going about its business and DH watched an eel capture a fish and in turn get attacked by another fish. We could have gone to Railey Beach, but by mid-afternoon I was pretty tired. So we went back to the hotel, swam a little in the pool and then took a nap before the New Year’s Eve dinner.

The buffet was decent and Spencer loved the crepes (as did the rest of the hotel guests). The entertainment was a little more interesting. They had some cultural dances from the different provinces of Thailand. They also ran a little contest which a bunch of pre-teens ended up volunteering for. They had a string tied around their waist which was attached to a carrot. Then they had to swing their hips and get the carrot (which was between their legs) to swing back and forth and aim it at a golf ball to hit it off the stage. It was pretty funny. After a while we left to take a nap in our room and then came back down at 11:30. We did the countdown and then the fireworks started going off. It was pretty cool. They were intense and all around us. All we had to do was look straight up into the air and they were all around us – 360 degrees. Spencer wanted to call his friends back in the US to tell them it was already 2010 even though they still had another 15 hours to go. Well, back to Bangkok tomorrow.

61luv2travel

Friday, Jan 1, 2010
Checked out of the AoNang Villa, hired a van to take us to the airport – much smaller than Phuket’s. Boarded Air Asia and arrived in Bangkok . Then they faked us out! We thought we were deplaning through a jetway into the airport, but no… lo and behold, through the jetway we emerged outside and had to go down steps to get on a bus again! The kids started right up with complaining about how much they hate AirAsia.

Had to take 2 cabs to the Sofitel Centara. One cab driver had to confer with the other to make sure about the directions. The Sofitel Centara is out of the downtown area, northwest and near where the Chatuchak Market takes place. So it's location is not as convenient for sightseeing.

When we arrived, they checked us in as VIP guests which was nice. Our rooms were quite nice, up high with big picture windows - we had a great view looking south towards downtown Bangkok. You could see the combination of mist and smog in the air. At night, the lights from the city and traffic made another great view. Once we were settled in, we went next door to the huge mall. We went down to the food court which was quite interesting with the variety of food that you could get. I had noodles with broth. It's fun to watch them make it in front of you. It's almost like choosing amongst street vendors that just happen to all be stuffed into the basement of a mall!

Afterward, we went downtown to the tailors to try the clothes on again. Most of the clothes were completed, but some more work needed to be done on some pieces. Afterwards, we went to the mall where the kids did some shopping. Then we stopped at a 7-11 (they were everywhere in Thailand – I am not sure why this is such a big franchise in Asia) and bought packaged noodles for our dinner! It was kind of a shame as this was probably our best opportunity for a nice dinner in Bangkok. The problem was that Steph and I still weren't completely recovered from being sick.

We took a cab back to the hotel (thank goodness, DH had the Sofitel’s address in Thai on a card as most cabbies weren’t sure how to get there). When we first go in the cab, I was paranoid and I demanded that the cabbie put on the meter. He did, but I realized that he didn’t put it on at the beginning because he wasn’t going to charge us for the time it took for him to get to a taxi stand to confirm the directions. Got back to the room okay and we boiled water and had our noodles for dinner – it was cheap and not bad. I called Tong to confirm pickup time for the next day for our Bangkok tour. She told me that it would be Lily and I told her that we were happy with that since we already knew her from before.

Sat, Jan 2
Again, we had a great buffet breakfast - with tons of excellent and varied choices. Then got ready for our Bangkok tour. Lily was right on time and she told us that she had done a lot of research to make sure how we would get around from place to place. We were initially going to use a van for transportation, but changed at the last minute. I’m really glad we did as we got to try all different kinds of transportation throughout the day. We left the hotel on foot to walk to the subway station. Kind of smelly as we passed the garbage truck making a pickup. The subway was very clean. We took it all the way down to Chinatown. We saw a newly opened temple which has the largest solid golden (24K) Buddha. There was also a small historical museum about Chinatown which was interesting and well done. Then we walked around Chinatown, almost bought a gold bracelet for DH's mom. The only problem is that they make the length so short that we were concerned that it wouldn’t fit her once we got it home. Then we walked around in the flower and fruit and vegetable markets. It was so beautiful with all of the vivid colors and interesting textures from the huge variety of produce and flowers. It was also interesting to watch the vendors make wreaths that customers would purchase to then bring to the temples as an offering.

Then Lily announced that we would take a tuk-tuk to the river. I just assumed that we would have to get 2 tuk-tuks (we aren't obese, but we are not exactly tiny Asians either). But no - Lily was able to fit all of us in - including herself up front with the driver. I could not believe it. She reassured us it would only be a short ride. It was kind of nerve-wracking, but in a fun way, as the driver can squeeze in between a bus and a truck and you need to keep your elbows in! We bought an eel, a fish and a turtle to release into the Chao Phraya River. Then we took a klong tour via a longtail boat. The homes on the water are so variable – from modern, beautiful homes right next door to shacks. It was relaxing and all of us managed to grab a little nap at some point in the ride.

Then we stayed on the other side of the river to go to Wat Arun. Again a beautiful temple with a climb from “hell” to “earth” to “heaven”. The towers have a more Cambodian style. It was also interesting that they had used smashed up pottery (which came over as ballast in ships from China) to make intricate mosaic decorations for the entire exterior of these towers.

Next stop was Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha. This statue is HUGE! It was incredibly crowded. The "guards" at the door kept constantly calling out to "watch your bags for pickpockets". Because of the New Year Holiday, I think it was even more crowded than usual. We literally squeezed ourselves like toothpaste through the crowd as we walked down the length of the Reclining Buddha. Somehow, Lily was able to position DH at the foot of the statue to take a great picture down the entire length of the Reclining Buddha. When you look at the picture, you would swear that the temple is empty. Even though I knew the statue was large, I was somehow very shocked by how enormous it was - from the humongous head which you can stand almost directy beneath to the intricately inscribed feet.

My one regret is that we didn't make it to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha (but makes a good excuse for coming back!). We just couldn't fit it in and Lily pointed out that the crowds would have been even worse than Wat Pho. I definitely did not miss the sensation of being in a crowded steam bath with what feels like the entire population of Bangkok crowded in with you. Stephanie ended up buying a Thai costume to take home. We also took some pictures of her while they showed her how to do some of the Thai formal poses. Finally, we took the ferry back across the river and said “good-bye” to Lily after she dropped us off at a local restaurant. I think we tired her out as we asked if she wanted to have dinner with us, but she said in a pretty exhausted voice that she was going home to rest. So a good 8 hours of pretty much non-stop sightseeing -whew! We had a good dinner, relatively cheap. Then we managed to find a cab to take us back to the tailors.

At the tailors, we became pretty unhappy campers. They didn’t have everything ready as the shirt tailors in particular weren’t working the New Year’s holiday. We took what we could and expressed our displeasure that they hadn’t been straightforward about getting our order done in time (even though I had laid out our concerns right from the beginning and they assured us that it would not be a problem). Basically, at the end of a long day of sightseeing, we wasted our time on this last visit as we could have taken care of everything the day before. We finally received the last pieces in the mail, 3 weeks after we arrived home.

Afterward, we took a cab back to the hotel carrying our bags of completed clothes. At least Spencer was happy about getting a personally tailored tuxedo.

Once we got back to the hotel, we decided that we wanted to go to the movies. We had thought about trying to see Muy Thai boxing, but decided that it would be too difficult and too violent. DH scouted out the mall nexst door and came back with the suggestion that we try “First Class” tickets. I just wanted to make sure that the movie was in English. We had no idea what “First Class” meant. It turns out that “First Class” means that you get to pick food from a buffet, they take your plate on a tray and you enter this smaller theater which only has about 20 recliner seats. You are in a totally separate theater, not just a section as part of a larger theater. They set your food down on the tray which is in between your 2 recliners. They take your drink order and bring you popcorn with your drink. You have these little electronic controls that will recline you as much as you want. To top it off, they bring you blankies also. It was so-o-o-o nice. We were all very happy. We watched “Sherlock Holmes” which we all enjoyed. The only problem I had was it took me a while to figure out how to activate the chair control and I couldn’t get it upright and had to hop out of it at the beginning when they play the Thai National Anthem while they a show a brief video highlighting the King’s accomplishments. Other than that, it was like having a private screening with the only thing you couldn’t do was to pause the movie if you needed to use the bathroom. When the movie was over, it was perfect as we just went down to the 2nd floor, walked across the parking garage and were back in our room in about 10 minutes. The movie was definitely a good idea - a great end to a very fun and interesting day. I really loved traveling around and seeing Bangkok - it is such a fascinating city.

Going home tomorrow - but shopping at JJ Market first!

rhkkmk

sounds like you had fun even though you were not feeling up to par for a few days...

i'm so sorry you stayed way outside town....this also happens on many organized tours....it makes all the difference to stay in town... but then you will know that for when you return for your trip to the GP....

61luv2travel

(Sadly) the end of the trip: Sun, Jan 3- After an early breakfast, we grabbed a cab to get to Chatuchak Market. It was a lot of fun. We got there early as they were first opening. We made sure to get a suitcase since we needed to pack all the stuff we had. Then the kids bought a bunch of Converse tennis shoes. We bought some t-shirts and scarves. It was fun just walking around, though we didn’t get to see even half the place. The kids have a number of really hilarious photos of both interesting T-shirt slogans and signs (which I cannot print on this forum!)

At checkout, the hotel rep said that we probably didn’t need to go so early despite EVA’s recommendations to be there 3 hours early. They were right as we waited around for almost an hour before the counter opened. But we were one of the first to checkin. Afterward, because we had so much time and some bhat that we needed to use up, we bought lunch and then Steph and I had an hour long foot massage. I liked mine, but Stephanie said her massage was kind of painful. It was funny to look around at this little day spa – the masseuses (sp?) were all young women who would gossip with each other as they worked. A young woman in the chair next to me seemed to be almost unconscious while she received her foot massage. Another older gentleman was seated and then “draped” over a stand so that he could get his neck and shoulder massage. It was kind of a weird oasis in the middle of this very busy airport.

With regards to seat assignment, I was really bummed out at first, because we got the last 2 rows – at least they were 2 and 2 so I sat with Steph and Spencer and DH sat together. In the end, those seats were perfect. They reclined. We were right next to the bathroom, but you had to go around the corner so we weren’t bothered by lights or smells or flushing sounds from the other passengers. I actually loved those seats. Everyone else slept more I think. Anyway, the BKK to TPE and TPE to SFO were all without excitement. It was great to get back to SFO. Luggage came out, the shuttle picked us up right away and we were soon on our way home.

Regrets?
Didn’t get to eat as much as I would have liked - mostly because of getting sick – but what can you do? I am grateful that I didn’t get deathly ill. At least we were definitely well prepared from the medical supply standpoint.

Didn’t get to see the Grand Palace – again, not that bad as it was really crowded in Bangkok with the holidays. Again – just something to come back to next time.

Definitely didn’t get enough massages.

I didn’t think the beach areas were that great. We probably should have tried harder to go somewhere not as developed. I think that I prefer Hawaii. DH and I definitely want to see Chang Mai next time.

In Cambodia – would have liked to tour the Land Mine Museum, the Children’s Hospital and maybe made more effort to tour in the very early AM to avoid crowds/heat.

All of those buffet dinners/cultural shows. I think we have learned our lesson that they are usually not really worth it – too expensive, the food is not that good and usually very touristy.

Highlights
I really loved Bangkok – I was actually surprised by how much I liked it. After reading the posts from others I was a little apprehensive, but this is a city I definitely want to visit again – it just has a unique combination of both the modern and the traditional, exotic and yes, a little seedy, with exciting smells, tastes, and sounds.

For us, private guides (and here I am specifically referring to Tong and Lily) were definitely the way to go. For all of the money you spend on transportation and hotels, you might as well get the most that you can from the sightseeing experiences. I know that others might want a more relaxed pace, but we were very happy to pack as much in as possible.

Angkor Wat and all of the temples in Cambodia.

THE FOOD – obviously not the buffets – but the street food and both Thai and Cambodian cuisine – yum, yum!

John Gray Sea Canoe trip – even though DH was hoping to do more kayaking, I really enjoyed being able to explore the hongs this way. We are not expert outdoors people and probably would have gotten into trouble if we tried to do this ourselves. To me this was a unique experience that was fascinating and fun.

First Class Movie tickets – what a great way to end a busy day of sightseeing . Luxury for a bargain. I saw an article in my local newspaper that they are starting to bring this concept to NY and LA. Only they are talking about $75 tickets!

Anyway – though this trip report is too long – I enjoyed writing it as it gave me a chance to re-live the trip. Hope it provides some useful info for others in the way that other Fodor posters have given me so much help through their advice and their postings.

rhkkmk

a perfect report.... trip reports are never too long and always provide new info for newbies and veterans alike...

book your return trip now to include the GP!!! skip CM....

try khoa lak or krabi for the beach areas... a lux hotel right on the beach, or even hua hin at the hyatt or sheraton---both right on the beach

61luv2travel

rhkkmk -

Is Krabi that much more different than Ao Nang? Because my daughter and I were still getting over being sick, we didn't get to explore that much. We did get out and go snorkeling, but didn't get to Railey Beach. While Ao Nang was fine, it too seemed pretty developed.

And really - you would say to skip CM??? My husband was particularly disappointed that we didn't get to go. I am not sure what he thought he was missing - my sense is that you can do the trekking to see the hill tribes or see elephants or just beautiful mountain scenery. We have already agreed that when we go back we will swing up there and then check out Bali instead of heading back to the south beach area.

Surie

Hi-- I have been enjoying your report as my husband and I were there at about the same time with our 2 children, and pretty much doing your itinerary-- Bangkok, Siem Reap, Bangkok, islands and back to Bangkok. There was a lot more travelling around than I usually like to do, but we felt we had to see Siem Reap if we were so close.

Our kids are in their 20's and our son has been living in Bangkok since April, teaching English in a kindergarten, so we came to spend Christmas with him. He loves living there, and it was really fun to see the city with him. He lives in the north-east part of the city near your last hotel, I think.

We had a wonderful island experience that you all might like. We spent 6 nights in the Trang province which is south of the Phuket area, and not touristed at all. Very beautiful islands and lovely people. I lined this up on my own (which always makes the kids nervous!), and it turned out to be our favorite part of the trip-- very relaxing and fun. I haven't been to the popular islands, but from what I read, I felt we wouldn't like it. Farther south, there is very little, really no, tourist development and you really get to see Thai island life.

I'm curious about your tailored clothes! We did the same thing, went to an Indian tailor that a Thai friend of our son recommended, and it was great. We only had time for one fitting unfortunately, so I've had to take a couple of things for minor alterations at home. Are you happy with your stuff now that you have it?

Thanks for your report!

rhkkmk

here is my take---everyone loves CM, except kathie and us.... everyone raves about it... i have been there 3 times trying to figure out why... i am unable to determine why?? i like the shopping, but find bkk is better.... i loved our day in the national park, but it was nothing special.... i like doi sutep but other temples are nicer... CM is huge and not particularily attractive and very spread out..... it holds nothing for me.... you may be different...

btw, the hill tribes i have seen around CM are way over exposed and tainted...

krabi town is just a non-descript town.... ao nang is a tourist beachside town way over done, imo... the area around the sheraton, sofitel and amari vogue are rural and pleasant with decent beaches and a few good local restaurants, especially the terrace just across from the sheraton...