Thailand with 68 year old father
 

Hi Folks,

I am taking my dad on a father-son 9 day trip to Thailand as he has never been to an Asian country. He is a keen walker and young and active for his age (68). We will be flying into Bangkok on the 29th November and then I am unsure of what we should do from there. I would like him to see:
1) Bangkok - assumed 3 - 4 full days to see the sights, sounds, and some culture. He will love the street food :-)
2) One of the islands, ideally somewhere less touristy and without the "working girls" for 3 days or longer if there is things to keep busy rather than just sitting on the each reading a book. I would be keen to do some hiking (bush walking), snorkeling etc.
3) something else if it makes sense....Kanchaburi, Chiang Mai, other??

I have been to Thailand with my wife a number of times, but the last time was 2005 (pre-kids) and I know the islands have changed a lot, so am not sure where to head.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. He is a camper so does not need any luxury, but it may be nice to spoil him somewhere luxurious for a few nights.

Thanks
Ian

this 69 y.o. is off to asia today and bkk in 2 weeks.. I never eat street food.

I went to Thailand a few years ago on a Friendly Planet tour. You could check out the itineraries there (www.friendlyplanet) or in some guidebooks for ideas. Street food is fantastic! I loved being able to buy fruit 5 seconds after I felt like eating it :) I particularly enjoyed the long tail boats and going to different temples- Reclining Buddha was incredible. We also went to Kanchanaburi and Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was beautiful and the ruined temples were haunting. Personally, if I return to Thailand, I'll go back to Ayutthaya and spend more time there.

If your dad is a history buff-especially of WW II-then Kanchanaburi may be right for you. Take the morning train from Bangkok, stay overnight, and then take the afternoon train back to Bangkok. In Kanachanaburi you can visit the Bridge over the River Kwai, K. War Cemetery, WW II Museum, JEATH War Museum, Hellfire Pass, and so much more. There's also Erawan National Park. You could also do this as a long day trip.

www.visitkanchanaburi.com

www.renegadetravels.com Go to destinations, Thailand, then Kanchanaburi. This website gives train info, short videos-lots of good info.

www.tourismthailand.org Click to Kanchanaburi under where to go.

www.kanchanaburi-info.com

www.seat61.com Click on Thailand as destination country, then under train times & fares for popular routes select Bangkok-Kanchanaburi-River Kwai Bridge-Nam Tok

wikitravel.org for Kanchanaburi

You may want to consider a day trip to Ayutthaya.

www.ayutthaya-history.com Walking tours

www.local-bangkok-tours.com Offers a few options.

wikitravel.org for Ayutthaya

www.bangkok.com Offers several choices of day tours.

Oriental Escape offers a lot of different tours.

Tour with Tong does several tours.

Or you could do a DIT day trip to Ayutthaya.

Chiang Mai is also a good option but IMO I think you don't have enough time to do justice to this area.

For 9 day trip not counting travel time to and from Bangkok you could do 3 full days Bangkok, 1 full day for day trip to Ayutthaya and/or 2 1/2 days or 1 full day Kanchanaburi, and the rest relaxing at the beach.

Have a great trip with your dad!!

Sorry for the typo. DIT should be DIY or do it yourself. That's what happens when you don't proofread!

Trains across T'land very poor and currently many under track repair which closes the line completely.

Chris has given you some good advice. Choose one day trip and divide the rest of your time between Bangkok and the beach.

Unless your dad is a WWII buff, I'd highly recommend the day trip to Ayutthaya. The best of the day trips involves a boat one way. It's been long enough since I did this, that I don't know who is running the boats now. But I notice one of the tour sites Chris gives has such a trip. Generally, I don't recommend you book any tours in advance, and the only tour I'd recommend is the Ayutthaya one. Avoid the elephant shows and wildlife tours - the animals are treated very badly. Most of what you want to see in Bangkok, is IN Bangkok, so you'll want to take public transport - the water taxis on the river and the skytrain. Use taxis judiciously, as traffic is bad and you don't want to spend your vacation sitting in traffic. But taxis are cheap.