Aloha and Mahalo!

My hubby and I will be celebrating our anniversary in Thailand for approx 2 wks (10-23 Jul). Neither one of us have been there. We plan to stay in BKK the first week and then to Chiang Mai.
Would love to get suggestions on:

1. Cooking class in BKK (where? all day or half day?)
2. Elephant camps (would it be too hot/muggy? too rainy? 1 day or 2 day trek?)

cooking class might be cheaper in chiang mai...

most hotels now offer something of this sort....but the private ones are nice also...

it would be hot in july and i would suggest a day or two outside of CM at the elephant conservation center that is often written about here...

I wouldn't really recommend an elephant trek, but you can visit one of the elephant camps and spend some time with the elephants a day or several days. (Read the reviews of elephant camps by doing a search here).

I'd also recommend doing the cooking class in CM rather than Bangkok. It's much less expensive and there are excellent classes at the Chaing Mai Cokking School and at a Lot of Thai.

You might take a look at www.ChiangMaiTours.com. Many on this board have had good experiences with Sergeant Kai. He is very responsive to E-mail.

To answer your question : good options for cooking classes in Bangkok range from the Oriental Hotel which is the most expensive - their website has details to the Blue Elephant restaurant, which is highly recoed. Also google classes at the Jim Thompson house as they occasionally run them. They normally end up being a long half day ie. morning till post lunch - do the morning one as the market visit is very interesting.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I've been reading Karen's (althom21) report and it has such great detail. I'm down in Maui for the weekend dreaming of Thailand...how funny.

Again, thank you.

Hi Brianna - glad you're enjoying my trip report! You'll see that we really enjoyed our cooking class with Yui at A Lot of Thai in Chiang Mai. Can't address cooking classes in Bangkok. And I agree with Kathie that you may not want a long elephant "trek." We loved just spending time with them at the Elephant Conservation Centre near Lampang. A half hour of riding in that basket was enough for me - and I think even my daughter was satisfied with that amount. I remember reading in one person's trip report (forget whose) that riding elephants across a river was a trip highlight, but it seems to me that was in Luang Prabang. Still, you might be able to find such a thing if you really want a longer elephant trek. And as already mentioned, Sergeant Kai is great. You'll have a great time - and yes, it will be hot! Just be prepared for it and take mid-day breaks (so hard for me!).
Karen

Karen--sorry I misspelled your screenname in an earlier post.

Question about packing/what to bring--did you and your daughter pack light with extra suitcase for your shopping goods? I noticed in one of your shopping excursions, you bought small lamps...did you mail it home? Any tips on what to bring, what not to bring? I have a tendency to pack more than enough clothes. I definitely plan to buy home decor items (i.e. pillow cases) so I want to make sure I have room for those.

Brianna, I always pack one suitacse with clothes and take an empty suitacse for my purchases. The cost of shipping anything home will be at least as much as it cost to buy it. Do make sure you know the weight limits your airline imposes, and note the weight limits on your domestic Thailand flights as well. If you fly any legs on one of the budget airlines, they have very low weight limits (15 kg) and charge a lot for overweight bags.

Hi, Briana,
I just took a rolling 22-inch suitcase and a very small daypack, so yes, I packed pretty light. Inside my luggage, I carried a Baggalini tote bag that folds up into its own pocket and then opens up to be a very large bag for bringing home sourvenirs! Here it is:

http://www.ebags.com/baggallini/zip_...NDA=N-20022638

It's quite large. Even with that, I didn't have quite enough space on the way home and stopped at a luggage place just down the street from our hotel and bought another day pack, a big one for about 5 or 6 dollars, to cram the rest of my stuff in!

The lamps we bought actually were quite small and folded flat. The two Buddha busts were more problematic.
But I wrapped clothing around them and stuffed them in the Baggalini, checked my suitcase, and carried on the Baggalini and the new backpack (my tiny daypack fit inside it). We bought a lot - more than I realized as we were doing it - handbags, scarves, clothing, the Buddha busts, pillow cases, prints from Jim Thompson (rolled up like posters for the trip home), jewelry (fortunately small!), and a few other things.

My daughter brought a large (Eddie Bauer) rolling duffle. It worked great for her - she brought it about half empty and filled it by the time we left for home. She didn't need to buy any luggage for the way home.

So yes, we packed light initially! But we acquired a LOT. The folding tote worked great. If you find yourself tight on space on the way home, luggage is very cheap.

Have fun!
Karen

Great--I'm going to pack light (a concerted effort) and bring an extra empty suitcase...thank you, Kathie and Karen!
Karen, I printed out your trip report in a Word doc and will be bringing that with me.
My husband is currently deployed right now and he laughed over the phone (warmly and lovingly, of course) as I told him I wanted to follow your itinerary from start to finish.

Thanks again!

Oh, a couple more questions...

Has anyone stayed at MTC @ Lanna Resort or the Royal Bella Vista Country Club? Both show that it is in Chiang Mai but I don't know how far from the heart of the city. I tried to map it but MapQuest shows map unavailable. Most of you suggested to stay closer. I know there's so many lodging choices but these two are part of the RCI directory and we could transfer our FairShare points.

Also, would you suggest renting a car in CM? My husband and I like to explore a lot, especially the "roads less travelled."

We'll be doing those trips with Sergeant Kai (thanks Gpanda for the website) and I know the company will pick us up at the hotel, but for other sightseeing, I thought about renting a car...let me know what you think?

parking in downtown CM is almost impossible...a car and driver are just as cheap...hire a taxi for the day also

I agree with Bob, let someone else do the driving! It really isn't any more money than self-drive and it's a lot less hassle. Searant Kai can get you places off the tourist track - but you must ask for what you want.

I don't know either of the hotels you are asking about. You might want to post a separate thread asking about them. I'm sure JamesA knows them. If you want to spend some time away from the city, there are lots of places to stay in the hills outside CM. But do stay in town for at least a couple of nights. In town, The Baan Orapin comes highly recommended. I chose the Yaang Come Village for my upcoming return to Chaing Mai.