Please critique this itinerary (Thailand - our second visit, Laos- first time)
Jan 23rd, 2009, 12:27 PM
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Please critique this itinerary (Thailand - our second visit, Laos- first time)
I’m planning a 3 week trip to Thailand and Laos for my husband (for next late Dec/early Jan time frame).
Here’s some background info about us…I’m in my late 40’s and my husband is in his early 60’s. We’re both in pretty good shape, and tend to select moderately active trips, many of them involving scuba diving. We’ve traveled around Asia quite a bit (S. Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand) and love it. We were in Thailand for 2-3 weeks about eight years or so ago, with our time spent between Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket (where we went on a liveaboard dive boat trip). We saw the usual tourist sites in Bangkok, and Chiang Mai, and did some one day trips – one to Ayutthaya out of Bangkok, and another one involving an elephant ride/tribal village visit out of Chiang Mai. We’ve never been to Laos.
While we’ll do the “touristy” things, we also really like “off the beaten” path experiences. We like staying at luxury hotels or very nice hotels (depends on the value). We’re not big “foodies - not that we don’t like to eat well, because we do (especially on special occasions). We tend to prefer less expensive to moderately priced restaurants that have really good food and that are frequented by locals.
I’ve spent a lot of time on this forum – this is such a great resource for trip planning – and have come up with this itinerary. Please critique it - I really appreciate any suggestions or recommendations you might have that will make it better! Thank you!
Day 1 (Sat): Depart home
Day 2 (Sun): Arrive Bangkok, 10:30 PM.
Day 2-5: Bangkok
Hotel: Shangri-la (or maybe the towers at Royal Orchid Sheraton - we stayed at both of these hotels during our last visit to Bangkok and loved them)
Day 3: After breakfast, check out the Bangrak wet market behind Shangri-la, on the way to Tha Sathorn pier. At pier, hire long tail boat for 1 hour around Thornburi (we did this on our last trip and I thought it might be fun to do again) with drop off at Tha Tien pier. Walk (or tuk tuk) to Wat Ratchanadda, Amulet market, Wat Saket, walk back through Chinatown, late lunch at Chote Chitr, walk through Pak Klong Talad flower market, ? massage at Wat Po (may be too soon after lunch). Take public boat back to hotel and relax. Maybe get a massage later at place near hotel.
Any suggestions for good, reasonably priced massage place near Shangri-la?
Day 4: Full day tour with “Tong” (probably floating market/lunch at fishing village tour).
Dinner at Tongue Thai.
Day 5: Fly from Bangkok to Luang Prabang, Laos.
Flight: Loas Airline - depart BKK 10:40 AM, arrive LPQ 12:30 PM.
Day 5-8: Luang Prabang
Hotel: Apsara.
Day 6: Luang Prabang (? day tour with Ta to Pak Ou caves and Kuang Si waterfalls – not sure if his tour cost is value added though)
Day 7: Luang Prabang - relax
Day 8: AM - hire boat for upriver trip to Nong Kiau (approx 5-6 hours by boat). Take pillows for extra seat cushioning on the boat! Leave extra bags at Apsara.
Day 8-10: Nong Kiau
Hotel: Nong Kiau Riverside Resort
Day 9: Nong Kiau - relax
Dec 10: take bus or hire driver from Nong Kiau to Luang Prabang (?approx. 3-4 hour drive).
Day 10-11: Luang Prabang
Hotel: Apsara.
Day 11: fly from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Flight: Thai Airlines – depart LPQ 1310, arrive CHX 1410.
Day 11-12: Chiang Mai
Hotel: Yaang Come Village (can leave extra bags at hotel)
Day 12: AM transfer to Layang’s Thailand Elephant Conservation Center for 2 ½ day mahout training course.
Day 12-14: TECC, Layang
Hotel: ? (prob. arranged through TECC)
Day 14: TECC course ends @ 12:30. Transfer to Chiang Mai. (New Year’s Eve!). Get a massage (will probably need it after the TECC course)!
Any suggestions for good, reasonably priced massage place near night market?
Any suggestions on how to spend New Year’s Eve in Chiang Mai?
Day 14-15: Chiang Mai
Hotel: Yaang Come Village
Day 15: fly (non-stop) from Chiang Mai to Phuket. Transfer to hotel in Kata Beach.
Flight: Thai Airlines – depart CHX 12:35 PM, arrive Phuket 2:30 PM.
Day 15-17: Kata Beach
Hotel: Kata Palm Resort and Spa
Day 16: Afternoon/evening boat trip to Phang Nga Bay with John Gray’s “Hong by Starlight” tour
Day 17: Relax until embark on Black Manta liveaboard dive boat after 5:30 PM. Boat leaves Phuket sometime after 7 PM for Similan Islands/Richelieu Rock (Andaman Sea)
Day 17-20: Black Manta liveaboard dive boat
Day 18-19 diving, diving, diving
Day 20: Last dive @ 12 N (I think). Debark boat @ 3 PM. Transfer to hotel in Kata
Beach.
Day 20-21: Kata Beach
Hotel: Kata Palm Resort and Spa
Day 21 (Sat): fly from Phuket to Bangkok (can safely fly 24 hours after last dive).
Flight: Thai Airlines – depart Phuket 12:35 PM, arrive BKK 2 PM (we want to get back to BKK today so that we can do the Chatuchak market tomorrow morning).
Depending on flight arrival time, consider going to Khon Masked Dance at Chalerm Krung Royal Theatre this evening (near Chinatown).
Any recommendations for dinner near Chinatown?
Day 21-24: Bangkok
Hotel: Shangri-la (for very convenient access to skytrain)
Day 22 (Sun): AM Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Dim Sum lunch at Liu restaurant.
Late afternoon: take skytrain to Sala Daeng, ? massage at Ruen-Nuad, walk through Lumpini Park, go to Suan Lum night market, dinner, then go to 8 PM Joe Louis Puppet Theater show.
Any recommendations for dinner in/near Suan Lum market?
Day 23: Take sky train to Phaya Thai and visit Suan Pakkad Palace, then tour Jim Thompson House, and possibly check out Paragon mall (and eat lunch there if ready). Visit Erawan shrine, walk through lobby of Four Seasons, and take a break. Keep shopping (if for crafts, can try street vendors on Sukhumvit road, or Naryaphand store in Intercontinental hotel) or if done shopping, head back to hotel. May get in one last massage before our travel day tomorrow.
Dinner: Harmonique (if restaurant is open in early Jan)
Day 24: Depart Bangkok, arrive home.
---------------------------------
There are 1 or 2 days that can be moved around in the itinerary. Basically, instead of getting to Phuket two days before our boat leaves, we could arrive one day earlier, or the same day. This would free up one to two days that could be used somewhere earlier in the itinerary. The only potential downside is that if we fly to Phuket the same day our boat leaves, we chance missing the boat if the flight is cancelled (on our last dive trip out of Phuket, we actually flew in the same day the boat left and had no problems - maybe we were lucky, and honestly I would probably be OK with doing it again). Also, it’s really not a big deal, but if we arrive in Phuket one day earlier or the same day our boat leaves, we wouldn’t be able to go on John Gray’s Phang Nga Bay trip because of the timing of his tour. I’d like to see this bay. Instead of John Gray’s trip, we could do a morning boat tour/kayak trip to Phang Nga Bay (and expect it to be crowded with a lot of other tour groups!) the day after our boat returns to Phuket and then just take a later flight back to Bangkok.
Thanks again for any suggestions or recommendations!
Here’s some background info about us…I’m in my late 40’s and my husband is in his early 60’s. We’re both in pretty good shape, and tend to select moderately active trips, many of them involving scuba diving. We’ve traveled around Asia quite a bit (S. Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand) and love it. We were in Thailand for 2-3 weeks about eight years or so ago, with our time spent between Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket (where we went on a liveaboard dive boat trip). We saw the usual tourist sites in Bangkok, and Chiang Mai, and did some one day trips – one to Ayutthaya out of Bangkok, and another one involving an elephant ride/tribal village visit out of Chiang Mai. We’ve never been to Laos.
While we’ll do the “touristy” things, we also really like “off the beaten” path experiences. We like staying at luxury hotels or very nice hotels (depends on the value). We’re not big “foodies - not that we don’t like to eat well, because we do (especially on special occasions). We tend to prefer less expensive to moderately priced restaurants that have really good food and that are frequented by locals.
I’ve spent a lot of time on this forum – this is such a great resource for trip planning – and have come up with this itinerary. Please critique it - I really appreciate any suggestions or recommendations you might have that will make it better! Thank you!
Day 1 (Sat): Depart home
Day 2 (Sun): Arrive Bangkok, 10:30 PM.
Day 2-5: Bangkok
Hotel: Shangri-la (or maybe the towers at Royal Orchid Sheraton - we stayed at both of these hotels during our last visit to Bangkok and loved them)
Day 3: After breakfast, check out the Bangrak wet market behind Shangri-la, on the way to Tha Sathorn pier. At pier, hire long tail boat for 1 hour around Thornburi (we did this on our last trip and I thought it might be fun to do again) with drop off at Tha Tien pier. Walk (or tuk tuk) to Wat Ratchanadda, Amulet market, Wat Saket, walk back through Chinatown, late lunch at Chote Chitr, walk through Pak Klong Talad flower market, ? massage at Wat Po (may be too soon after lunch). Take public boat back to hotel and relax. Maybe get a massage later at place near hotel.
Any suggestions for good, reasonably priced massage place near Shangri-la?
Day 4: Full day tour with “Tong” (probably floating market/lunch at fishing village tour).
Dinner at Tongue Thai.
Day 5: Fly from Bangkok to Luang Prabang, Laos.
Flight: Loas Airline - depart BKK 10:40 AM, arrive LPQ 12:30 PM.
Day 5-8: Luang Prabang
Hotel: Apsara.
Day 6: Luang Prabang (? day tour with Ta to Pak Ou caves and Kuang Si waterfalls – not sure if his tour cost is value added though)
Day 7: Luang Prabang - relax
Day 8: AM - hire boat for upriver trip to Nong Kiau (approx 5-6 hours by boat). Take pillows for extra seat cushioning on the boat! Leave extra bags at Apsara.
Day 8-10: Nong Kiau
Hotel: Nong Kiau Riverside Resort
Day 9: Nong Kiau - relax
Dec 10: take bus or hire driver from Nong Kiau to Luang Prabang (?approx. 3-4 hour drive).
Day 10-11: Luang Prabang
Hotel: Apsara.
Day 11: fly from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Flight: Thai Airlines – depart LPQ 1310, arrive CHX 1410.
Day 11-12: Chiang Mai
Hotel: Yaang Come Village (can leave extra bags at hotel)
Day 12: AM transfer to Layang’s Thailand Elephant Conservation Center for 2 ½ day mahout training course.
Day 12-14: TECC, Layang
Hotel: ? (prob. arranged through TECC)
Day 14: TECC course ends @ 12:30. Transfer to Chiang Mai. (New Year’s Eve!). Get a massage (will probably need it after the TECC course)!
Any suggestions for good, reasonably priced massage place near night market?
Any suggestions on how to spend New Year’s Eve in Chiang Mai?
Day 14-15: Chiang Mai
Hotel: Yaang Come Village
Day 15: fly (non-stop) from Chiang Mai to Phuket. Transfer to hotel in Kata Beach.
Flight: Thai Airlines – depart CHX 12:35 PM, arrive Phuket 2:30 PM.
Day 15-17: Kata Beach
Hotel: Kata Palm Resort and Spa
Day 16: Afternoon/evening boat trip to Phang Nga Bay with John Gray’s “Hong by Starlight” tour
Day 17: Relax until embark on Black Manta liveaboard dive boat after 5:30 PM. Boat leaves Phuket sometime after 7 PM for Similan Islands/Richelieu Rock (Andaman Sea)
Day 17-20: Black Manta liveaboard dive boat
Day 18-19 diving, diving, diving
Day 20: Last dive @ 12 N (I think). Debark boat @ 3 PM. Transfer to hotel in Kata
Beach.
Day 20-21: Kata Beach
Hotel: Kata Palm Resort and Spa
Day 21 (Sat): fly from Phuket to Bangkok (can safely fly 24 hours after last dive).
Flight: Thai Airlines – depart Phuket 12:35 PM, arrive BKK 2 PM (we want to get back to BKK today so that we can do the Chatuchak market tomorrow morning).
Depending on flight arrival time, consider going to Khon Masked Dance at Chalerm Krung Royal Theatre this evening (near Chinatown).
Any recommendations for dinner near Chinatown?
Day 21-24: Bangkok
Hotel: Shangri-la (for very convenient access to skytrain)
Day 22 (Sun): AM Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Dim Sum lunch at Liu restaurant.
Late afternoon: take skytrain to Sala Daeng, ? massage at Ruen-Nuad, walk through Lumpini Park, go to Suan Lum night market, dinner, then go to 8 PM Joe Louis Puppet Theater show.
Any recommendations for dinner in/near Suan Lum market?
Day 23: Take sky train to Phaya Thai and visit Suan Pakkad Palace, then tour Jim Thompson House, and possibly check out Paragon mall (and eat lunch there if ready). Visit Erawan shrine, walk through lobby of Four Seasons, and take a break. Keep shopping (if for crafts, can try street vendors on Sukhumvit road, or Naryaphand store in Intercontinental hotel) or if done shopping, head back to hotel. May get in one last massage before our travel day tomorrow.
Dinner: Harmonique (if restaurant is open in early Jan)
Day 24: Depart Bangkok, arrive home.
---------------------------------
There are 1 or 2 days that can be moved around in the itinerary. Basically, instead of getting to Phuket two days before our boat leaves, we could arrive one day earlier, or the same day. This would free up one to two days that could be used somewhere earlier in the itinerary. The only potential downside is that if we fly to Phuket the same day our boat leaves, we chance missing the boat if the flight is cancelled (on our last dive trip out of Phuket, we actually flew in the same day the boat left and had no problems - maybe we were lucky, and honestly I would probably be OK with doing it again). Also, it’s really not a big deal, but if we arrive in Phuket one day earlier or the same day our boat leaves, we wouldn’t be able to go on John Gray’s Phang Nga Bay trip because of the timing of his tour. I’d like to see this bay. Instead of John Gray’s trip, we could do a morning boat tour/kayak trip to Phang Nga Bay (and expect it to be crowded with a lot of other tour groups!) the day after our boat returns to Phuket and then just take a later flight back to Bangkok.
Thanks again for any suggestions or recommendations!
Jan 23rd, 2009, 01:04 PM
#2
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1. harmonique was closed this year the first week of january, so I would not count on eating there at that time next year
2. I am sure you mean Lampang for TECC. you mention you like to stay in nice places- please note the accommodations there are extremely basic- a hut, mattress on the floor etc. having said that we had a lovely time there this xmas. however, we did the 2 day (1 1/2 day actually) mahout course, and we all felt it was enough, and more would have been repetitious. staying overnight was great though, and a highlight was riding our elephants out into the forest at night to put them to bed, and waking at dawn to walk out carrying food for our elephants, and riding back into camp in the early morning. I would suggest taking an extra day and moving it elsewhere
2. I am sure you mean Lampang for TECC. you mention you like to stay in nice places- please note the accommodations there are extremely basic- a hut, mattress on the floor etc. having said that we had a lovely time there this xmas. however, we did the 2 day (1 1/2 day actually) mahout course, and we all felt it was enough, and more would have been repetitious. staying overnight was great though, and a highlight was riding our elephants out into the forest at night to put them to bed, and waking at dawn to walk out carrying food for our elephants, and riding back into camp in the early morning. I would suggest taking an extra day and moving it elsewhere
Jan 23rd, 2009, 01:11 PM
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What a great trip!
I have a couple of thoughts for you to consider:
Add a day to Luang Prabang (by the way, your flight from Bangkok to LP is on Bangkok Air, I believe). You might also consider going to northern Thailand after Bangkok, then take the LuangSay to LP. It's a two day trip with an overnight at a lodge.
The TECC at Lampang has VERY basic accommodations. You might be fine with that, if not consider staying somewhere else while you do the mahout training. Another options would be to go to the Anantara at the Golden Triangle (lovely place) and take their mahout training - they have a branch of the TECC on their grounds.
I have a couple of thoughts for you to consider:
Add a day to Luang Prabang (by the way, your flight from Bangkok to LP is on Bangkok Air, I believe). You might also consider going to northern Thailand after Bangkok, then take the LuangSay to LP. It's a two day trip with an overnight at a lodge.
The TECC at Lampang has VERY basic accommodations. You might be fine with that, if not consider staying somewhere else while you do the mahout training. Another options would be to go to the Anantara at the Golden Triangle (lovely place) and take their mahout training - they have a branch of the TECC on their grounds.
Jan 23rd, 2009, 03:54 PM
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Just one thing about the Bangrak wet market if you are staying at the Shangri-la get up and go to the market before breakfast. Its an early market so much could be over before you get there if you are at all late leaving breakfast.
Jan 24th, 2009, 03:22 AM
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Everyone, thank you for your comments!
4bams - oops, yes I mean't Lampang. Great suggestion about the two day course. I had completely missed the two day course when I was looking at TECC's website. That would be perfect for us, and I could move that extra day to Luang Prabang. Thank you! I had read about the straw mats, but figured that the wonderful experience with the elephants would make up for the, ummm, sleep loss. 4brams, how soon before your trip did you make reservations with TECC (and did you contact them through their website)?
Kathie, I was hoping that you would respond so that I could thank you personally for all of your helpful posts to these forums! I've used alot of your information in planning my trip. I initially worked on a trip from BKK - Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai-LP-Phuket, with a 2 day river trip from Chiang Rai to LP, but it just didn't flow as well for us as the trip from BKK-LP-Chiang Mai-Phuket. Also the two days on the river to LP plus the river trip to Nong Kaui was for us just a little too much time spent on the water.
Oh, for all of you who are interested in doing the Naga of Mekong's one day trip from Huay Xai to LP, they emailed me that they are no longer doing that trip because of safety reasons (not just during the summer because of lower water levels, but all year long). They are still offering a two day trip though, so they're an alternative to LungSay's pricier trip.
Thanks again everyone!
4bams - oops, yes I mean't Lampang. Great suggestion about the two day course. I had completely missed the two day course when I was looking at TECC's website. That would be perfect for us, and I could move that extra day to Luang Prabang. Thank you! I had read about the straw mats, but figured that the wonderful experience with the elephants would make up for the, ummm, sleep loss. 4brams, how soon before your trip did you make reservations with TECC (and did you contact them through their website)?
Kathie, I was hoping that you would respond so that I could thank you personally for all of your helpful posts to these forums! I've used alot of your information in planning my trip. I initially worked on a trip from BKK - Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai-LP-Phuket, with a 2 day river trip from Chiang Rai to LP, but it just didn't flow as well for us as the trip from BKK-LP-Chiang Mai-Phuket. Also the two days on the river to LP plus the river trip to Nong Kaui was for us just a little too much time spent on the water.
Oh, for all of you who are interested in doing the Naga of Mekong's one day trip from Huay Xai to LP, they emailed me that they are no longer doing that trip because of safety reasons (not just during the summer because of lower water levels, but all year long). They are still offering a two day trip though, so they're an alternative to LungSay's pricier trip.
Thanks again everyone!
