Three Week Trip Report - Thailand and Cambodia
 

First let me thank all those who have helped me plan such a wonderful trip during the past 9 months. Your thoughts, suggestions and guidance were much appreciated.

We left for Thailand on January 30th, only 2 days after closing on our home in Florida and with only 12 days notice of the sale. It was not an easy task packing up our home, storing furnishings in various places, but we managed to leave with a great sigh of relief, knowing that we would be homeless when we returned. (Ok...not that bad...we have a vacant condo to stay in temporarily until we find a new home) We flew Korean Air in steerage class. When I ask my DH why we don't fly first or business class, he tells me that those are not his people and that I would be more comfortable in the back of the plane. Being my first trip to Asia and after hearing about the difficulties in flying for so many hours, I was a bit concerned. However, let me tell anyone that is not fortunate enough to fly business or first class, that Korean air is a first class airline no matter where you are. The service was impeccable and the leg room was amazing. The seats were comfortable and not cramped and there were individual tv monitors with on demand movies and games. The flight went by very quickly. The food was tasty and it was fun trying Korean food. There was a choice of a western meal or Korean for those who are not adventurous.

We arrived shortly after midnight and took a taxi to the Centerpoint Silom Serviced Apartments, went to sleep immediately so that we could awaken early to take in a full day on Saturday. The Centerpoint Silom was perfect for us. The price which is normally around $80 was reduced to $60 due to the recent political turmoil. The location couldn't be beat - only steps away from the river and at the end of the Skytrain. The room (an efficiency) was quite spacious and the washer and dryer is an added bonus, especially for those traveling lightly as we do. We stayed for 8 nights and appreciated being able to throw a wash in before traveling on to our next destination. Our room overlooked the River and it was pleasant to watch the river traffic go by. The complementary breakfast buffet was the best we had on the trip, changing daily and consisting of both Asian and Western choices. It was a great way to sample various Thai and Chinese dishes and what a great way to start the day, sampling the titillating foods. The lobby was decent, the staff was quite nice and there was free (I think) internet in the lobby. We couldn't ask for more. There was also a nice pool, although we were too busy and never used it.

Since our first day in Thailand was a Saturday, we decided to go early to the Chatuchak weekend market where we spent several hours wandering around the stalls. We are not big shoppers, but we did enjoy looking at all the merchandise and especially looking at all the street foods. The prices amazed us...everything was so cheap. After several hours we hopped on the Sky train and went to the Jim Thompson House for a yummy lunch and a worthwhile tour of the home. From there we headed for the Erawan Shrine, wandering through the Central Market area, briefly going into the Siam Discovery Center and the Siam Paragon Center where we got a view of the more upscale modern markets in Bangkok. After becoming thoroughly worn out, we returned to our room in the late afternoon to clean up and rest for a short while before heading out to dinner and the Flower Market that evening. After 10 hours of walking, my feet were thoroughly worn out and it was time for a reprieve. We called it an early evening in preparation for our big day out with Tong which was scheduled for the next morning. More to follow tomorrow if I have time to write after house hunting.

June

Before I forget, I want to add that one of the biggest challenges we faced on our first day was discovering how to cross the chaotic streets. We began by shadowing the native Thais until we were confident enough to leap out in front of cars, holding up our hands to assert our right of passage. This was our typical experience throughout our trip and as I am told, throughout Asia.

Great start to your report! Welcome home. I'm looking forward to more.

Another quick observation - I didn't find Bangkok to be as foreign as I had imagined although we were surprised how few people spoke English. This never was much of a problem though. As we were told, the Thais are extremely hospitable and helpful so the language barrier was never a problem. What surprised us most was that we found the Cambodians to be even friendly than the Thais and it seemed that many more people in Siem Reap spoke English.

Very nice start to the report. It's good to hear about Korean Air. They often have the cheapest flights.

Tong picked us up at 6:30 AM on our second day in Bangkok. From the moment she entered our lobby we knew we would have a wonderful day with this very vivacious and special woman. Our itinerary included the Floating Market, Railroad Market and Secret Fishing Village. We also stopped along the way to make Merit with the Monks and we stopped at a Wat, although for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. The day was an eating bonanza with Tong introducing us to many Thai dishes and fruits that we probably would have missed out on had we been on our own. Learning about fish farming, feeding the monkeys, riding through the mangroves and having lunch in a stilted house were rare and special treats. Although this was a rather expensive day (just over $200) I highly recommend the use of Tong's services or of any one of the guides that have been trained by her personally. Tong filled the day with non-stop chatter and the time passed by only too rapidly. We arrived home in the late afternoon with just enough time to rest for a bit before going out once again to explore the town. I believe that it was actually this evening - rather than our first night as I previously stated, that we went out to explore the Flower Market. We had intended also to take a walk along the river, although we were unable to find it and when asking for directions, we found no one who understood English. We could not believe that we were so close to the river and could not find its location! Although a bit frustrated by this, we decided to call it a night as it had been such a long day out and we wanted to get an early start the next morning. The Flower Market is huge, but to me a disappointment. We had read that one should see it either early in the morning or late at night. I do not believe that it is worthwhile to make a separate trip just to see the flowers at night. They can be easily seen while going to China Town and quite frankly, after seeing the flowers for just a few moments, you've seen enough. There seemed to be endless amounts of flowers, but most of them were the same. It was this evening that we had our most harrowing experience with a tuk tuk driver. It seemed odd to us that many of them did not know where we wanted to go, even when we showed them the location on the Nancy Chandler map. (This map, in my opinion, was a wonderful aid - especially if one studies it ahead of time to determine in advance where you want to go and which sites to lump together) In this particular case, despite our having shown the driver our hotel location and a card with the address written on it, he seemed totally bewildered. He must have stopped to ask at least 3 other tuk tuk drivers if they knew how to get to our hotel, then he drove off like a crazy person in the opposite direction than we needed to go. He only realized where we wanted to go after my husband started shouting at him to stop. We really felt like we were being shanghaied (sp?) by a madman. Ah...but it is experiences like this that we look back upon so fondly, laughing at what had occurred.

On our third morning, at long last we finally set out by public Water Taxi to see the Grand Palace, Wat Phrae Khao (the Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho and Wat Arun. For those who are not aware, there is a free English guided tour at 10:00 AM daily. I suggest that you arrive approximately 1 hour beforehand to gawk at and take pictures of the Grand Palace sites if you are a photo buff. We were happy that we did. After the Grand Palace complex which includes the Emerald Buddha, we visited Wat Pho (the reclining Buddha) which is also amazing. From there, we found our way to Coconuts for a delicious lunch. (Incidentally, on our first night we had gone to Harmoniques - also very delicious) Thank you Fodorites for the recommendations. It was wonderful to sit down for a reprieve and the lunch was delicious. Once done with lunch we headed back to the river, took a short water taxi ride across to the other side and visited Wat Arun. I will not elaborate on any of these sites as they are simply a must do while visiting Bangkok. My only disappointment on this day was that I passed up the opportunity to get a massage at Wat Pho as my husband does not enjoy getting massages (actually he has never had one - so what does he know!) and I felt guilty about making him wait around for me. Oh well...by this time we were exhausted anyway and needed a bit of a reprieve from the heat. We returned to our room for a rest before heading out for an evening at the Siam Niramit show, which we had read was another "must see". More on this later.

While the Siam Niramit show is a spectacular performance of Thai arts & culture with amazing special affects, it put both my husband and me to sleep. I heard the same from another traveler we met during our travels as well. I do not know if it was from fatique or jet lag, but it was a show that while impressive, we could have easily missed.

Day 4 - We set out for China Town, stopping by Wat Traimit, however the Wat was not open yet so we never did see the Golden Buddha inside. We were becoming a bit Watted out anyway. We spent the day wandering around the streets of China town, then set off to find May Kaidee, a vegetarian restaurant recommended – in the Banglamphu area. While we are not vegetarians, I had heard that the food was wonderful and we totally agreed. I definitely recommend this restaurant for a tasty meal in a casual setting. We were served by May Kaidee herself. After lunch we spent some time wandering the streets of Khoa San Road, the infamous backpackers quarters - a lively and interesting place. Dinner this night may have been at Cabbages and Condoms, a place worth having a look at for the interesting condom displays, but the food was only mediocre. (the days are all blending at this point)

Day 5 - we took a public train out to Bang Pa In, the royal summer palace, which we thought was nice, but in hinds sight, we should have skipped it, gone on directly to Ayuthaya and taken the boat trip back to Bangkok. We did not book the return boat trip back as we were afraid we would not have enough time. The transportation between cities was via two moto-scooter taxis as there were no taxis, buses or tuk tuks in sight. There is bus service, but there was no one who could communicate in English to tell us where to pick it up. Fun ride. The ancient ruins at Ayuthaya were spectacular. We hired a driver to take us around as all the sights are widely spread out. This was very inexpensive and well worth it.

Day 6 - Went spent the day visiting other tourist sites including the National Museum, Vimanek Palace, Wat Benjamabophit (the Marble Temple) and did more wandering around. Note - there is a free tour of the National Museum - I think around 10:00, but am not sure. (not my favorite day, but we checked off these sites which I had listed on my to do list)

Day 7 - We finally took a klong tour on our last day in Bangkok, something we had intended to do from the start, but never seemed to fit it. The ride along the klongs was interesting, well worth doing and a slight reprieve from the oppressing heat. This was our lazy day. Following the klong tour we set out to the Orient Hotel to enjoy their magnificient lunch buffet which was a bit pricey by Thai standards, but well worth splurging for. My DH went to relax in the hotel after lunch while I finally got my long awaited for massage down the street. Don't know why I waited so long. We spent our final evening setting out early to Lumpini Park where we spent a late afternoon and early evening wandering the park, watching the people and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. I highly recommend spending a few hours at this park - Bangkok's equivalent to New York's Central Park. We wandered around the night market, checked out the boxing which we considered going to (but opted out as it was quite hot inside) and checked out the Puppet theatre, which was closed for a special event, however the puppeteers and puppets were on display. I was sorry that we missed their performance. As this was our final evening in Bangkok and we had an early flight out to Chiang Mai, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel early.

I was glad that many of you convinced us to spend as much time in Bangkok as we did, as there is so much to see and take in. While it was not as foreign in some respects as I had anticipated, the people are lovely, the food is delicious and it is easy to get around. The Sky train and river are wonderful (although we wish that the river taxis would run later at night) and the tuk tuks are fun, if not the safest mode of transportation. This was a wonderful introduction to Asia for me and certainly a city that I would be happy to return to.

More to follow...

WOW...you did the perfect first visit to bangkok tour....what a trip!!

looking forward to your reporting on the rest of the trip...

Thanks Bob. By the way - Tong speaks very highly of you!

Our next destination was Chiang Mai where we stayed for 4 nights. After much debate between the overnight train and flying, we opted for the plane, arriving - unfortunately, only moments after the Flower Festival Parade. Nevertheless, upon arriving at the Baan Orapin Hotel, we dropped off the bags and raced into town in an attempt to see the tail end of the festivities. We missed the parade but saw the beautiful floats which were set up in the Buak Park. They were quite a site - very extravagant. We spent the rest of that day wandering the streets of Chiang Mai, visiting various Wats along the way, watching the people, and examining the street foods. I was surprised at how spread out Chiang Mai is. Unfortunately, I had not purchased a Nancy Chandler Map, so I was not familiar with the layout of the city in advance. Chiang Mai is not a beautiful city and in my opinion lacked some of the charm that Bangkok has. Our hotel was quite charming though and the owner and staff were very helpful. Our biggest complaint however, was that I felt it was a bit out of the way and we had a major problem with mosquitos. I do not say this lightly, for after showering each night we would spray ourselves with a heavy dosage of insect repellent which we slept in for fear of getting bitten. Why we didn't complain to the staff is beyond me, but we didn't think there was anything that could be done. When we later spoke to others we met in the hotel and who we followed to Cambodia, they told us that they had had no problems. For breakfast each morning there was a limited selection of choices on the menu, which I thought were perfectly fine, although my husband would have preferred a buffet. I would say that Chiang Mai grew on me while I was there and I relaxed after the first day, enjoying the night markets and street bazaars. What I enjoyed most though was the Sunday market which was as crowded as anything I had ever seen and which I felt compared to my experience as a child at the Worlds Fair in NY. And, it was amazing to see the number of people out each night eating at the street markets and spending family time together.

Day Two - we spent visiting the Doi Suthep and the very beautiful and not to be missed Phuping Palace. We had heard that Doi Suthep was the highlight of being in Chiang Mai, but I was actually a bit disappointed by the Temple as the Chedi had major scaffolding around it. On the other hand, I was greatly surprised at the beautiful grounds of the Phuping Palace which was the highlight of the day. The gardens are as beautiful as any we had ever visited and we could not decide if they were even more beautiful than Bouchard Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia.

Day Three - While I had hoped to spend a full day in Lampang at the Elephant Conservation Camp, my husband was not interested in getting his feet wet and bathing with the elephants. Instead we opted for the more commercialized experience and took a tour, which ended up being a wonderful day. This full day tour included time at the Maetaman Elephant Camp where there was time for several foto opportunities with the elephants, followed by a short show (somewhat comparable to a circus performance), then a 45-60 minute ride on the elephants. After feeding the elephants we were driven by oxen pulled carts to a buffet lunch, followed by a relaxing river raft. The elephants seemed well cared for and we enjoyed our time with them, although it was limited. All in all, it was a wonderful day. The people who shared our tour were lovely and since we were finished early enough, the tour guide asked if we would like to go to the Tiger Temple. While we had not planned on this and knew of the controversy regarding the Tiger Temple outside of Bangkok, we decided to go along with the rest of the group, for it is hard to resist an opportunity to actually touch a tiger. Upon our arrival we were asked if we wanted to spend time (15 minutes) with either the baby tigers, a group of 7 month olds or adults. We chose the 7 months olds. While it was nice to be able to say we had done this, I would not recommend this experience to others. There were 3 tigers together in a cage to which we were admitted. Basically they just lied there while we sat next to them to take pictures. It was most disappointing. We were told that they are lethargic in the the afternoons and play mostly in the evenings. Our first instincts were probably correct - we should not have gone. We do not know whether they were drugged, but in any case, had they been active, I am not sure how safe this is. Since returning from Thailand, I did read that there was a recent incident with the tigers and that someone required stitches.

Day 4 - On my last day in Chiang Mai, I ditched my DH who would not accompany me to the Thai Farm Cooking School. He opted to roam the streets of Chiang Mai, which he enjoyed. The cooking class was great fun, the food was plentiful and I was even kind enough to bring part of my food back to share.

More to follow...

loving it all

I apologize for the wordiness in this trip report and will try to abbreviate the rest. We spent 4 days in Chiang Rai, arriving by VIP bus which was very nice and also very inexpensive. We stayed at the Legends Hotel which was just out of town and lovely. It has a beautiful pool and what looked like a nice spa area, although we did not avail ourselves of either of them. The food was buffet style and plentiful. I definitely recommend this moderately priced hotel. Upon our arrival we hired a tuk tuk to visit the White Temple which was one of the highlights of Chiang Rai. This unusual temple is a must see in the area. We hired a taxi to visit the Doi Tung Royal Villa and the Golden Triangle area. First, let me correct my previous post regarding the Phuping Palace in Chiang Mai. While the gardens there were lovely and we enjoyed the visit more than Doi Suthep, it was the gardens outside the Doi Tung Royal Villa that are extraordinary and comparable to Bouchard Gardens. The Golden Triangle was interesting, but in my opinion, not worth more than a few moments look. On our third day we hired a guide named Tony. I don't have his contact number with me now, but I will post it later. We spent a wonderful day with Tony visiting several of the hillside tribal villages, including the Karen long necks. While this is controversial and I realized that we were not seeing the "real thing", but rather a group of tribal villages that catered to tourism for their living, our guide was so sensitive and kind to the villagers that they were extremely responsive and welcoming. I can't say enough about our guide Tony, whose name we got from Jermsak - a gentlemen who's name we had heard of many times on travel forums, but who was unavailable. We were invited into several of the tribal villagers' homes and we spoke for a while with various villagers. In fact, my husband sat down and played a "sort of" guitar with one of the woman and we all had a wonderful time. This day was definitely one of our highlights. It also taught me the difference between hiring a taxi driver and hiring a guide who was well recommended. On that same day we also visited the Maesalong area which is famous for its tea plantations. This was also very interesting. Chiang Rai itself was a bit dissappointing and the Centerpoint Night market had only a fraction of what we had seen in Chiang Mai. I did not purchase anything in Chiang Mai, thinking I would get gifts in Chiang Rai, but I was unable to find what I had seen previously. However, we happily happened upon the Saturday Night Market which was a bit out of the way and separate from the nightly market. This was a wonderful market, extremely lively with music, food and vendors that went on forever and we had a great evening there. We could probably have cut out our last day in Chiang Rai, or at the very least, done it differently. We decided to take a boat trip between Thaton & Chiang Rai as we heard the river is lovely. We took an early morning bus to Fang, where we transferred to Thaton, then took a long boat back to Chiang Rai. It was about a 4 hour boat ride and a 2 hour bus ride. I suggest as an alternative for those wanting to ride along the river to take a tour to Thaton from Chiang Mai, stay the night in Thaton and then catch the boat (only one at 12:30) to Chiang Rai). This can only be done if you have limited luggage. Anyway, it was a lazy day and a pleasant way to pass the time on the river.

Our next stop was Cambodia which I think I will post separately under Cambodia.

keep going here for consistency....it helps us the readers to follow your journey

Appreciate your report, and looking forward to the Cambodia section since we are going there later this year. Don't worry about being 'wordy', it gives us a better feel for your experiences.

May I make a suggestion? If you break it up with paragraphs it would be easier to read. Looking forward to more...

Bob & Dan - thank you for your responses. I will heed your advise.

We left Chiang Rai at 8:50 AM via Air Asia, which was on time and an easy flight. While we had debated over going via the land route vs flying, we ultimately decided upon flying (which I am glad we did after seeing the roads in Siem Reap) My husband on the other hand is still disappointed that we did not experience the adventure of the overland route. Since we had no choice but to fly Bangkok Air and the flights were tight (Bangkok Air had an 11:35 flight and a 3:30 pm flight), we opted for the later flight. Upon arriving at the international airport, we ran to the Bangkok Air desk and were pleased that they accommodated us by allowing us to fly on the earlier flight without an additional charge. (Note - we were originally told the flight was closed out, but when I told them we had only carry on luggage, we were allowed on the flight)

In Siem Reap we stayed at the Bopha Angkor Hotel, which is perfectly located just outside the main town. It was only a 3-5 minute walk. The facilities were lovely, the pool great, the rooms pretty and the price cheap. I did not want to stay in a standard westernized hotel and this fit the bill perfectly. The breakfasts which came with the room were tasty, although again, my husband was disappointed that there was not the large buffet breakfasts with many options. Instead, one had a choice daily of a Khmer style, Oriental, Western or Healthy breakfast. To me they were all good - (Ok, admittedly I never tried the Healthy breakfast, but the others were good) I did note that the juices and fruit were not as delicious as in Thailand. What I can't figure out is why we don't have such a wonderful selection of fruits like the Thai people have - the mangasteen and jack fruit were so yummy! My only complaint about the Bopha Angkor Hotel is that the restaurant is not air-conditioned (Note - it is in a lovely though) and there is no air-conditioned lobby. The air-conditioning would have been especially helpful on the final day of our trip when we would have enjoyed resting by the pool in the afternoon and then leisurely changing and relaxing in a nice lobby prior to departing that evening. I would further hesitate to stay at the Bopha Angkor if you go during the more oppressively hot months for AC is a definite bonus. All in all though, we enjoyed our time there.

We spent 6 days in Siem Reap and absolutely loved it. While we thoroughly enjoyed Thailand and the people were fabulous, in our opinion, Cambodia was far more foreign to us, far less developed and the people, even friendlier than the Thais - if that can be believed. This is changing very rapidly though - one can see the progress, the new roads, hotels and building everywhere, so I highly recommend that given the chance, get there sooner than later. Cambodia was not originally in our plans and we are so grateful to those on this travel board that encouraged us to take the time to go there.

During our first day we just wandered the town and acclimated, used the pool, made arrangements for a guide and relaxed. My husband and I had debated as to whether to use a guide or not. While I wanted to prearrange a guide, my husband preferred to wing it and he was more inclined to hire a tuk tuk and go on our own. Many of you may remember that my DH is the one who wanted to bicycle to all the ruins. I cannot thank you all enough for your words of discouragement - especially Dogster who really got through to my husband! We did not pre-book a guide, but used one that I had seen recommended on the Trip Advisor forum. The guide we selected was Leng Tek ([email protected] (Tek) Cell : + ( 855)12 714 790
Cell : + (855) 15 714 790). Tek was a nice young man, whose English was decent and who had a wealth of information about the various ruins, the history of Cambodia, etc. He was extremely helpful in showing us where to climb up, helping me down the steeper steps and in showing us where to get the best pictures. For those who want a great deal of information, Leng is perfect. We initially arranged for Tek to take us out only on the first day so that we could determine if we wanted to continue with him or go forward on our own after that. I was disinclined to continue using this tour guide but deferred to my husband who decided to use Tek for the next 2 days as it was convenient to have a guide and driver. Personally, Tek was a bit too serious for my taste and held me back while I respectfully listened to him talking about the ruins. I would have preferred a bit more time to wander and reflect on the amazing ruins before me. (Of course I didn't feel rushed, but sometimes I felt like there was information overload) I must point out though that my husband enjoyed the time with Tek more than he did with Tong who I adored.

I am not going to go into the actual sites that we visited as there are countless guidebooks and guides to tell you about them. All that I will say is they are amazing. We spent 3 full days at the temples but I could have done more., although I think my husband was templed out at that point.

We did not eat lunch or dinner at the Bopha Angkor, although the atmosphere is just lovely in a garden setting and many people had recommended it. My husband was not inclined to eat there as he did not enjoy the breakfasts. We had a wonderful dinner on our last night at the Shinta Mani Hotel. This hotel is in the old French Quarter and looked fabulous. The pool area was wonderful. The dinner was buffet style and while it was pricey by Cambodian standards, we felt it was well worth it. It gave us an opportunity to try various dishes which we had not had before and they were all well cooked and delicious. Best of all, we had a choice of dining outside in a garden setting or inside in air-conditioning. Surprisingly, we were the only ones inside, but we were so happy to get out of the heat. (Note - we looked at the buffet at Raffles and it did not look half as good as the one that we ate at)

We mostly ate on Pub Street, eating several times at the Khmer Kitchen which was so cheap and yummy, the Soup Dragon and Amok - all good. Dogster - I wanted to go to Samots but was afraid to try it as my DH is very particular with his foods - won't eat pork or shell fish and needs to avoid spicy foods. Of course we tried the Blue Pumpkin for ice-cream and we enjoyed sitting upstairs in the lounge area (lots of big pillows and a comfortable place to hang out for a bit)

Down town Siem Reap is a very small area which can easily seen in a short time. We spent our evenings there and I spent my afternoons there getting massages while my husband napped. Great massages for only $6.00 per hour. The night market was very good and I was able to purchase the rest of my gifts there. Note -There is a movie theatre near the night market with 3 documentaries on the Landmines, the recent Khmer History and Snakes and the theatre is air conditioned!

We spent a day walking the riverside, looking at the various hotels and wandering the streets to see some of the Cambodian lifestyle away from the tourist area. Cambodia is still a very impoverished nation and it was sad to see how the people live. There are many children begging on the streets. Most have postcards or bracelets for sale ($1 for 10 postcards) and they each ask "Where you from" and can re-site the name of the capital of your country and the president. The children are adorable and were happy to pose for a picture. It is hard to resist them when they tell you they need money for school or food. After speaking to one girl in particular and telling her, "sorry honey...I don't want postcards at this time" - she told me "no money no honey". At the various ruins, be prepared for the children and adults to bombard you with requests to purchase their postcards, bracelets, shawls and guidebooks. In general though, the people were welcoming and were a joy to spend time with. We were most surprised by the fact that many more Cambodians in Siem Reap spoke English than in Thailand.

On our last day in Siem Reap we took a tuk tuk to Chong Kneas where we hired a longboat to take us around the floating village on Tonle Sap lake. The tuk tuk out to the lake took us via an unpaved and dusty road with lots of bumps. The ride was great fun and we had the opportunity to further see the lives of the people living in villages on the way out there. Our driver stopped several times for photo opportunities. The lake ride was very interesting, although it would probably have been even more interesting in rainy season. It was sad but enlightening to see the lifestyle of those living on the lake or in stilted homes besides the lake. We stopped in a floating store to purchase supplies for the Vietnamese school on the lake and then had an opportunity to bring school books and pencils to the school children. It was interesting to see them being dropped off to school by their parents by longboat.

Cambodia has come a long way in the past several years and I believe that with tourism and and the advancement of their education they will come far. We were so glad to have this opportunity to visit both Thailand and Cambodia at this time and look forward to future travels to this region of the world.

June

great story june....and how about those bikes---wouldn't that have been fun!!!???

Thanks for the great trip report June! I am heading to Chiang Rai in a few weeks and would like to contact Tony, please post his contact info. when you have time.
Thanks again for such a detailed report.

My pleasure Daiseemae. It's the least I could do after getting all my info from this forum. My guide Tony's email address is [email protected]. His tel/fax number is 053-744762 and his mobile phone is 081-9985769. I can assure you that you will enjoy your time with Tony. His kindness and generosity to the tribal village people he deals with are endearing qualities, his English is very good and he is a pleasure to spend time with. Please let me know how you enjoy Tony's company if you get the opportunity to spend time with him. Enjoy your trip - June