My wife and I just returned from 2 weeks in Thailand. I would like to add our appreciation to that of Ingrid concerning all of the valuable information obtained through the posts on this forum. Here are just a few impessions in no particular order:<BR><BR>3 nights at the Royal Orchid Sheraton. Great. Staying on the river is ideal. The ability to travel by boat as opposed to car was nice. <BR><BR>We arranged our trip through Innovasian.com. Gregg was great. No worries at all. He took care of all internal flights, accomodations and tours. He used East-West Siam as the local tour company. Their guides and drivers were very helpful. We had previously always used a more independent mode of travel, but having someone else take charge of the logistical details was relaxing.<BR><BR>I got 8 Thai massages in 12 days. Can't be beat. Best was at the Royal Princess in Chiang Mai. Beach massages on Phuket were the least satisfying.<BR><BR>Kayak trip to Phang Nga bay is super. Used Seacanoe. Guide was very helpfula nd accomodatiing to claustrophobia issues. Trip was stunning.<BR><BR>The Wats are very powerful. The beauty was comforting in the middle of Bangkok. A guide was very helpful to provide a brief primer on Buddhism. The Grand Palace in Bangkok and Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai were the best. <BR><BR>When seeing the Emeald Buddha, go see the replica in the nearby building first. You could get much closer and appreciate what you were about to see. You could also see replicas of the seasonal cloaks worn by the emerald Buddha.<BR><BR>We were there for the King's birthaday and got to sing Happy Birthday with millions of others.<BR><BR>The buffet dinner at the Dusit Island in Chiang Rai should be avoided. Mediocre. The hotel however was nice.<BR><BR>The Thai usage of the key as the electric activator for the lights, i.e., key must be inserted into slot to keep lights on in room, caused consternation when I went for a massage while my wife tried to shower. The provisional flashlight was not overly helpful.<BR><BR>Lunch at the Oriental was superb.<BR><BR>Advice for spouses who have been trapped into lengthy shopping ventures is to practice bargaining to maintain your attention. My shopping was significantly curtailed by my XXL-tall needs. <BR><BR>MBK shopping center in Bangkok was throbbing with activity. Raw commerce. The food court requiring coupons made us forget the mall.<BR><BR>Advice from this forum to wear &quot;Ex Officio&quot; shirts was dead on. Somehow the heat and humidity was not overwhelming. Washing in sinks was easy.<BR><BR>Bought a gong from Akha tribeswoman. Has a very deep resonant sound. Intend upon striking every time the N.E. Patriots score.<BR><BR>Stayed at the Chedi in Phuket. Very relaxing and isolated. The Thai restaurant is very good. Great lily pond with deep-voiced frogs.<BR><BR>Took ride through klongs in Bangkok. well worth it. Made us wish the other klongs on the BKK side had not been paved over. How is it that Thonburi klongs are so much lower than the Chao Phraya river?<BR><BR>Took a trip to floating market and Nakon Pathon (sp?) outside BKK. Actually thought floating market was too touristy and time travelling was not worth it.<BR><BR>Visited the Queen Mother's villa outside Chiang Rai. This is well worth it. Garden is beautiful. Combined with a trip to Golden triangle. <BR><BR>Thai people were not overly aggressive in their sales pitch. While they were very open about approach, not pushy when we said &quot;no thanks&quot;. <BR><BR>Got to hear monks chanting at a funeral. Very haunting. <BR><BR><BR><BR>

I would love to hear more about the kayak trip.

Hello Andy,<BR><BR>I'll be in Bangkok next May for 4 nights also staying at the R. Orchid (the end of a trip to China with Smartours). I'd like to hear about the restaurants that you dined in as well as the places/prices where you got your massages. I doubt I'll have the chance to get out of Bangkok.

In reply to Kay-SeaCanoe picked us up at our hotel, the Chedi and drove us to a pier on the Northeast side of Phuket. About 20 other tourists were also driven there from their hotels. We met briefly and proceeded onto a boat akin to a small ferry. It took us to Phanouk island where couples were assigned to a kayak with a guide. There were two couples that had arranged for a self-paddle and they got their own kayaks and a guide in a separate kayak.<BR><BR>The karsts are limestone islands that are essentially hollow. Erosion has worn the top of the center down to the sea. Think of a very tall donut with several independent holes. <BR><BR>As the tide falls, seacaves are exposed that allow for transit from Phang Nga Bay into the interior of the donut holes. Some tunnels are higher than others. My wife is claustrophobic so we passed on the tighter tunnels, but still had an opportunity to go into the interior through a larger tunnel. Our guide knew when the tides would be low enough for a wider opening. <BR><BR>The trip is sup[erlative. The limestone formations, some covered by orange oxidation are sculptural. There is a kind pof palm tree that seems to grow outward and downward. Egrets and the like abound. Some people saw &quot;monkeys&quot;. <BR>The couples were loaded back onto the ferry and taken to Hong Island. Offloaded and into a very large lagoon.<BR><BR>Back on the boat for a wonderful lunch of Thai food cooked on the boat and motor to a secluded beach for about an hour. Back to Phuket.<BR><BR>In reply to Monica-Massage. We talked to someone, a coordinator-type, at Wat Pho who was pointed out to us by our guide. My guess is that he won't be hard to find. We gave him our hotel, room number and time we would like the massage. It was 800 Baht for two hours. I strongly recommend two hours. It allows for the entire process to seep into occidental bodies. The women showed up on time and were very professional. We liked it so much, we arranged for them to return the next two days we were in Bangkok.<BR><BR>Restaurants-Dinner at the Thai restaurant at the Regent was vey good. Lunch at the Oriental was the best. We heard that dinner at Sala Thim Rap (hopeless spelling) at the Oriental was perhaps the best in BKK. You would need reservations for that. <BR><BR>As many of these posts report, grabbing food on the fly at stalls, like at MBK shopping center, is fun. The food is good, but not great.

Monica, although the massages described by Andy sounds great another alternative is the massage school at Wat Pho. They have traditional massages for 150B for 30 mins, 300B for an hour or a 45 minute foot reflexology massage for 250B. It's a nice break in the day if you are doing a lot of sightseeing.

Kris-the massages we got were through the massage school at Wat Pho. We opted for the hotel room price of 400 Baht per hour because we wanted air conditioning, a certain time(later) and were able to fit it into our meal schedule. We were told that it's best not to have eaten several hours prior to the massage.

Andy, it sounds like you found a great way to get a massage. I figured it was provided by the same people but what I thought was cool about the massage school actually at Wat Pho was that you could take a mini break from touring. By that time we had visited the Grand Palace and Wat Pho so it was a nice break before we were off to find dinner.<BR><BR>And you're right about the river location being convenient, traveling by river was the way to go, either by private boat arranged by the hotel or the public ferry. The skytrain was also great for heading to the weekend market or into the city.<BR><BR>Sounds like you had a great trip!

Andy:<BR>I am so glad you had such a good time. We are very jealous that you were there for the King's Birthday. Hoewever, we were there for the Loi Krathong Festival, which was very beautiful.<BR><BR>I had about three massages, wish I would have had time for more. We had every minute of the day packed with things to do and see, I am happy I even had a chance to fit three in. I had one while I was eating lunch in a restaurant in Chiang Mai - hehe (multi-tasking at its finest).<BR><BR>We loved the Royal Orchid Sheraton!! The view from our room was incredible. We were facing the side away from the Oriental - towards the temple of Dawn, Grand Palace. It is centrally located and looks very well maintained. <BR>The pool was smaller than what I expected, but is overlooking the river!<BR><BR>We found the energy-saver key situation to be annoying also. We would just take the key off the ring, so we could leave the air running while we were gone. <BR><BR>We encountered that same system throughout Egypt.<BR><BR>The Dusit Island resort was very, super nice. Did you have a chance to take a boat ride from the dock? The hotel looks really nice from the water.<BR><BR>The Grand Palace was sooooo crowded when we went, we found that to be the most annoying part of Bangkok. We went on a Saturday I - that may have been the problem.<BR>I managed to take an okay picture of the real emerald buddha through a window (pics. not allowed outside). I am so glad I took a digital camera - it is a must in the temples.<BR><BR>We also got some awesome short video footage of monks chanting in one of the temples. I am not sure what was going on, but there were many of them.<BR><BR>Did you happen to go to Patpong? HEHE we have a hilarious story about it...<BR><BR>Ingrid <BR>

Ingrid-I agree the Royal Orchid Sheraton was great. I'm a very light sleeper and I would watch the river traffic wake up each morning. The interplay of the crossing ferries with the up and down traffic was fascinating. Did you notice that the side of the hotel facing the river has several angles and the rooms can &quot;look&quot; at the river from different angles. Our room faced Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn.<BR><BR>Dusit Island in Chiang Rai was also nice. Hanging out at the pool was very relaxing. We did take a boat from the dock up the river to a Karen Village. There we bought food for 20 Baht and fed the elephants before setting forth on a 2 hour cross country ride. The up and down of hills was challenging because the platform on which we were seated remains parallell to the ground and there's a fair amount of hanging on. WE ended at a Yao village where our guide met us with lunch, after a walk around, we were taken to the obligatory waterfall. Thais are surely in love with waterfalls.<BR><BR>The Grand Palace was not that crowded. We were there on a Monday morning. We did not feel like cattle as one can at some tourist sites. The buildings and images of the Grand Palace may have been the highlight of our sightseeing. There was plenty of non-occupied space.<BR><BR>We did go to Patpong, but I lived in Nevada and was somewhat inured to the lurid details.<BR><BR>

Andy:<BR><BR>Yes, the ROS views of thew river were very interesting. I have video footage from our room.<BR><BR>You are very lucky you went to see the Grand Palace on a day that was not crowded. We were taken on a Saturday and it was crawling with people. It was ridiculous how crowded it was. Did you get to see the City Pillar? <BR><BR>Patpong was hilarious for us - of you read my post about what happened to us - hehe...<BR><BR>I am glad you guys had a good time as well.<BR><BR>We are currently reviewing websites and brochures for our vacation in September. Planning is actually the fun part of the trip for me...hehe<BR><BR>We can't seem to decide on where to go next. It's hard to find a place as exotic as Thailand and the Long-Necked Women Tribe....<BR><BR>Ingrid <BR>

Ingrid-I agree, planning a trip is an integral part of the enjoyment. Our recent process has been to daydream about places for a couple of months with no real attachment. Then, somehow one of the locations grows more interesting than the others. It's sort of like the fortune telling method used by the Thais at the temples, i.e., shaking a can with numbered sticks until one grows more prominent than the others.<BR><BR>Did you observe that the Thais are very interested in the day of the week on which they were born? It's used in the fortune telling process.

Andy:<BR><BR>Funny you mention that!!! We have a funny story about the fortune telling. We did the day of the week thing in the temple. You press a lever that begins to spin a set of monk bowls with days of the week on them. If you drop a coin in the bowl bearing the day you were born, you get a wish granted.<BR><BR>We also tried the stick shaking thing. I made the guide try it as a demonstration and he got a 12 - bad move!! He was very upset - haha - I Hope he is not dead by now!<BR><BR>I tried it and pulled an 8, kept the fortune, but am never going to have it translated - hehe<BR>It's going to sit in my scrap book forever!<BR><BR>I was fascinated by the fortune telling in the temples. How does that all fit in with Buddhism though????<BR><BR>Ingrid

Ingrid-When we had our fortunes told, mine was good, my wife's benign, but the guide's was not very good. I hope he did it often enough that he got a wide range of responses.<BR><BR>One of the things that we found peculiar was the focus on the day of the week on which you were born. I've taken an informal poll of my friends in the US and very few know the day of the week. <BR><BR>One wonders how the fortune telling interacts with the belief in reincarnation. In Buddhist metaphysics, it seems as if one's future lives are not predetermined, but based on one's actions in this life.<BR><BR>This and other cultural questions are why we found Thailand to be wonderful. Even though it was very tourist friendly, it did not seem like a theme park as do many European sites.

Andy:<BR><BR>You are right. They did seem very intesrested in the days of the week and birth dates - I happened to know I was born on Wednesday, so I participated in some of those fortune telling contraptions.<BR><BR>We have finally created the slideshow to present over X-mas, but I am still working on setting up a website with pictures. I would love to share them with people.<BR><BR>Do you have your pics listed anywhere? It would be interesting to see if we took similar pictures. Going digital was very liberating.<BR><BR>Ingrid <BR><BR>

Ingrid-Your pictures would be great. Unfortunately, we are cave people who used old cameras. However, I've provided some to my son, who has indicated that he will post them on his website. More later. our pictures entail lots of Wats, market shots and a bunch of shots of the limestone formations in Phang Nga Bay. <BR><BR>Did you get involved in the Shopping? We did a little, but observed many tourists in the midst of heated negotiations.

A comment on the key situation at the Dusit in Chaing Rai. We had the same thing happen at first, when I went for a walk or swimming while my husband stayed in the room for a nap. Then we asked at the desk for a second key. No problem. You left one in the &quot;keyholder&quot; that left the electricity on while you used the second one to lock the door!

At the Dusit Island, we did get a second key. I did note that the desk clerk acted as if I was the firat to ever ask for a second key. This impression was reinforced by the deposit of 1000 Baht. Perhaps I looked particularly suspicious.

Andy:<BR><BR>Yeah, we didn't even bother asking for another key. We just separated the key from the card thingy..<BR>We have seen this electricity conservation method in other countries.<BR><BR>We did some minor shopping for little things. I didn't have to buy anything, so it was very easy to haggle and walk away. I was able to get things down about 60%. We even thought about buying a teak sofa and had the price at $800 (From $6,000) before I CAME TO MY SENSES and walked away - haha<BR><BR>I felt bad about even getting that far with them, but sending a sofa back home would be a big hassle.<BR><BR>We have been so bushy at work, etc. that we just now finished putting a slideshow together of our best must-see pictures and it's 800 pics!<BR>We took about 4,000. Digital makes you go crazy!!!<BR><BR>We are now thinking about this year's trip - we think maybe South Africa..<BR>I may need an even better camera for the game drives..<BR<BR><BR>Ingrid <BR><BR><BR><BR>

Ingrid<BR><BR>If you post your pictures, please notify of address.<BR><BR>Shopping was fun. I'm an XXL-tall, so all clothes shopping was for my wife. The bargaining was made easier because there was nothing to which we were emotionally attached. My wife would select and I would bargain. No pressure because the dollar equivalent of the difference was relatively small. If we were paying an extra dollar or two, so what.

Thanks for the great trip report, Andy. It brought back good memories from our recent Thailand trip. I agree, Innovasian did a good job of organizing the trip, along with using our input. It made for a very positive experience. We are really missing the Thai massages these days. They were a wondeful way to cap off the day. I am glad you and your wife enjoyed the experience, as I know we did. Arlene