Thailand trip report
 

Thankyou to everyone on this forum for your help both directly and indirectly in helping with planning for our trip.

My daughter and I departed Sydney 25 March on BA to Bangkok - flight seemd SO long (even though I know it's not as far as you guys from the US travel). Took taxi to hotel - easy to arange on arrival - cost about 300 baht I think, including tolls. Don't listen to the touts inside the airport- they charge double the rate. Go straight outside to taxi queue and pay at the little booth. Taxis are airconditioned and in you're in one before you know it.

First 2 nights stayed at Saladang Place Hotel as organised by Shein Li from KSS Wise from Trekthailand.net. As it was Easter and this was a last minute trip, Shein found us great accommodation at a great rate, in a very central location. My 20 y.o. daughter and I stayed in a twin bed N/S studio at 2810 baht per night plus taxes. Opposite hotel is a cute modern Thai restaurant and just down the street (2 min walk) is Silom Rd and Saladaeng station on the Skytrain and Silom underground station.

First morning (Sat) headed to Chatachuk market. We could have taken the skytrain but as my daughter tore ankle ligaments only days before our departure, we took a taxi after first having a Starbucks coffee in Silom Rd. By the way there's also a good little supermarket next door for all those snacks, extra drinking water etc.

What should be the first thing a young person buys in Thailand...DVDs? Tshirts? Silk? No, not for my duaghter....hubcaps for her car! So for the rest of the trip 4 hubcaps took up the space reserved in my suitcase for purchases!

Chatachuk markets are HUGE! So much to look for and choose from - quite different to Suan Lum and Patpong markets. Though Suan Lum are my favourite -more later on.

After returning purchases to our hotel and a quiet lunch in Thai restaurant across the road headed to the tailor I have previously used at 199 Sukhumvit Rd - Queen Thai Silk, near Soi 15 (behind Harry's the mens tailor) - by taxi, although again we could have easily used skytrain with fit ankles.

Went shopping at Robinson and Central Chitlom mainly because we hadn't been there before. Thoroughly recommend the food hall on Level 7 (I think) in Central Chitlom. You enter and are given a card. Everything purchased is recorded on the card and you pay as you leave. I had a wonderful smoothie at the smoothie and juice bar.

That evening we ventured towards Patpong just down Silom Rd and unknowingly ended up in a known gay area. Sat outside at The Balcony where we enjoyed a drink and watched the passing scene.

Our hotel had computers avaiable so made use of the ready internet access.

Easter Sunday I got up early and by 6 am was in Lumpini Park only a 2 min jog from our hotel. At first I was a little hesitant about going there in the dark but as soon as I walked inside the gates I knew my fears were totally ungrounded. There were people EVERYWHERE - in groups doing Tai Chi or something similar, all dressed in that groups coloured t-shirt or running/walking around the many paths. I really couldn't get over the crowd. Fat, thin, old and young. Thank goodness I took my camera to prove the size of the biggest aerobics class I've ever experienced held outdoors near the gates on the corner of Rama IV and Rajadamri Rds.

Back to the hotel and packed to head north to Mae Hong Son.

Part 2

We gave the taxidriver to the airport the nickname of Nigel Mansell - 180kms/hr on the way - a little scary!We got there in plenty of time for our flight to Chiang Mai where we changed planes. Time for a foot massage in transit lounge due to flight delay - can thoroughly recommend these ladies!

By the way, airfare Bangkok to Mae Hong Son with Thai Airways was THB2935 plus THB110 taxes , Y class, and return M class was THB2645 plus THB110 taxes.

On arrival at Mae Hong Son we were met and taken to our accommodation at The Fern Resort with the afternoon free to sleep or relax by the pool.

We had 2 days touring with On from T.N.Tour Ltd in our own airconditioned van. She was GREAT. Saw the morning market, went on a long tail boat ride towards Burma on the Pai River, visted the Long Necked Karen Village and Big Eared Karen village, went on an elephant ride, lunched in town and tasted local dishes and visted 2 of the local temples.

Next day my daughter's ankle was giving her grief so she stayed and relaxed at Ferm Resort while I went on my own escorted tour of the Lod Caves, clambering around with only a kero lantern to light our way, visited 2 more Burmese villages including a Lisu village and also saw a fish cave - although nothing too special the setting was lovely and cool and green with local children splashing in the local watering hole.

On was able to accommodate all our needs, including a quick stop at a camera shop to download my full memoroy stick to CD. I would certainly recommend her.

Our domestic airfares, accommodation and guide were all organised by Shein Li at KSS Wise.

The next day we returned to Bangkok. As it's the end of the dry season, all the farmers slash and burn in readiness for planting. As a result the air is so full of smoke that the first flight from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son is often cancelled. This is what happenend to us, so we spent the whole day getting back to Bangkok - more foot massages in Chiang Mai airport.

As it was peak hour in Bangkok we decided to get a limo this time to our hotel instead of a taxi. Also easy to do. Just go to the limo counter inside the aiport and prepay. You will be given a slip of paper which is taken by the driver. A good thing we did get a limo as our trip to the Marriott Resort and Spa took nearly 2 hours. (I think the cost was about 1200THB)

I wouldn't recommend staying at the amrriott Resort and Spa, even though it is a very nice hotel. Yes, the boat across river does run every quarter hour and takes about 15 mins, but as was always the case, we just missed it everytime, so add on at least minutes of waiting time. My poor daughter not only had to contend with her sore ankle but she got seasick on each boat trip. Taxis in town also refused to take us to the hotel so we HAD to use the sky train and boat to get back.

On our last full day in Thailand we finally got to Jim Thompsons House after first taking the skytrain and making a wrong turn. When coming off the train at National Stadium get off on the north side of the road, opp to MBK and then turn left towards Kasam San 2, not right as we did.

As we were there how could we pass up looking in MBK the shopping centre locals go to?

Back on the Skytrain and my duaghter headed back to our hotel while I made my way to the Jim Thompson Fabric outlet. I got off at Saladeng and made my way down Silom Rd to Soi 10 and walked through a local market to Surawong (I think that's the name of the rd). Although the outlet sells mainly furnishing fabric, upstairs there is a selection of printed silks and plain 1 and 2 ply silks. Prices were between 285-350THB per meter. I thought it was definately worth it.

On our last day I picked up my glasses made by an optometrist in Silom Rd. I needed new lenses in my glasses and had been quoted AUD280.00 to replace them. I took a copy of my prescription over and had a pair of prescription sunglass lenses fitted and also a new pair of glasses made for 10,000THB (about AUD330) in total. I think this was my best purchase while away.

Hope this helps anyone else planning to go. Have a great time.

For some reason my editing of the above didn't work, so apolgies for the spelling errors.

We also saw the Suan Lum night markets on our last night and had dinner at the restaurant by the puppet theatre. My daughter enjoyed a 1 hr full body massage in the building nearby, while I browsed the markets. We again couldn't get a taxi to take us to our hotel, so found the underground station and went to Silom where we changed to Skytain and finally got the ferry back.

Getting a taxi from the Marriott Resort and Spa is no problem, it is only trying to get one back when we encountered problems.

It's interesting to know about the taxis refusing to take you back. We stayed there last month, went out by ferry and come back by taxi almost everyday. We just showed the driver printed directions from the hotel and had no problems. Was it during a particular time of day with this problem?

It sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the report.

great trip report....i too have never had one single problem getting a taxi to take me anyplace....you just have to be assertive....if they hesitate i jump out and get the one in back...

i push for the marriott as i think it is a perfect bkk location....getting back is never a problem even in high traffic times on the bridges...i do know that some drivers in the high tourits areas like grand palace often refuse everything wanting only to take you to a jewerly shop to make money...just walk over a street or two and there is no problem...sick on the boat??? was the wind blowing and causing the boat to blow around??

The "M" fare on Thai Airways means it is valid for 3 months, so this suits almost everyone, you say $8-10 but there is no benefit buying the Y fare unless you were to be not returning on that sector for more than 3 months.

Greetings from Lucerne again. I'm checking email and fodors before turning in for the night. This is a great trip report. Thanks for posting.

Bob, I'm about 50% sure I'll be in BKK for about 10 days from May 16-26 or there abouts. I'll buy the chili!!!

RhondaZ... what was your daughter's favorite place in BKK? You said she got hubcaps but what else? Did you find some nice things at Suan Lum? I particularly like that night bazaar.

Glad you liked the Loft at Central Chit Lom. I posted on a restaurant thread that I really enjoyed that place for lunch. You should too, since you have positive things to say about the place. Good fresh food, and plenty of choices.

Carol

We had taxi drivers refuse to take us to the Marriott Resort and Spa from the Suan Lum night markets at about 11 pm. I must admit we also experienced problems getting transport from there to the JW Marriott last Dec.

The additional time taken to get into town either by boat or taxi is enough for me to stay elsewhere next time. You really need to add at least half an hour of extra time in each direction. When taking the boat across, we always seemed to just miss one so waited at least 10 minutes before the 15 min.ride and then the sky train .

As for Y or M class on the flights, that depends totally on what's available at the time of booking.

Unfortunately, my daughter is not a good traveller, so I found out - she was not only sick getting off the boat on journeys across the river, but also after the bumpy flight to Mae Hong Song. She left me all her stuff on the plane and just made a mad rush for the exit. Amazing what you learn about people whom you think you know when travelling. As a child she never had this problem! Maybe next time she should look at taking some travel sickness preventatives.

I think another trip to BKK is in order for my daughter to find her favourite place Carol. Unfortunately, not being terribly mobile and with only a couple days there, there's so much we didn't do or see. There's so much yet to discover! As well as hub caps she bought the usual gifts for friends - silk , t shirts etc etc and fell in love with a highly decorated 'antique' pewter urn with lid at Chatachuk markets.
At Suan Lum markets I tried to find the same stall holder where I bought a great top last year, but failed. I did find the exact place where I bought shirts for my son and went back to get another for him -his favourite light white cheescloth. Nothing exciting I'm afraid. If I could, I would've bought a painting from an artist near the end of the row down the arty end of the stalls (Opp end to the road taxis drive in on)

I contacted both Ratt and Tan as recommended by others here and both responded very fast and were available for our last full day in BKK. We were going to use Tan but my daughter and I both decided we'd cancel and just take the day at our own pace due to the pain in her ankle. Tan sounded VERY nice on the phone and understood our predicament.

I'd also recommend both Tan and Ratt if you need a guide and/or car and driver also.

Tan:
[email protected]

Ratt:
[email protected]
www.ratservice.com