Welcome back Dee! Would love to get a report on your experiences in Thailand -- particularly Chiang Mai and Northern Thiland. How did things work out with Poon? Where did you go? Any particularly interesting "not to miss" things to see or do? Where did you take the cooking class?

aloha carol....
poon was great...she met us at the airport in
chiang mai and took us to our hotel. we talked over the phone and set a tentative
schedule for our 3 nite / 4 day tour. we wanted to cover as much ground as possible so it was quite ambitious. poon
borrowed her husbands jeep cherokee...leather seats, air con, music,
comfortable for 4 of us...and our massive amounts of luggage (which grew at each stop as we loved the shopping)
we left chiang mai and headed north...

we took our cooking class with alot of thai...
with yui . it was great she only takes max
4 or less....and takes you to the market and you get a cookbook (her husband is a graphic artist and everything is well done)

i will get it together and start a report of my trip. poon went beyond being a driver/guide, she became our friend.

what are your plans with her???i will script
our itinerary and the things we did and saw...

when do you go? what is your itinerary??
can i go with you??

lol....
dee

Glad you had such a great time. We're going in mid January -- BBK, CM, Phuket & Koh Lanta. In CM area we're planning an overnight at Lanna Farm with a visit to an orchid farm & Queen Sirikit botanical gardens on the way. Also want to spend time at the Thai elephant conservation center in Lampang & visit the temples and ceramic workshops & shops in Lampang, so we'll need a car & driver for that and Doi Suthep & to get to SKP Rd for shopping. Also thinking about Doi Inthanon (?) national park or a cooking class, or any other ideas. How did you learn Thai? Languages generally come easily to me & I got a tape and thought I could learn a few phrases, but this was mind-boggling! Can't seem to get past hello and thank you!

hi carol....
i bought a lonely planet thai phrase book and pretended to know what i was saying.

it was quite funny when we ordered food as
many times what i said to them translated
differently that what i wanted. still good tho.
poon helped us with our thai...giving us helpful phrases to remember and use.
hello and thank you are by far the most important phrases.....

we used poon for 4 days...probably 1000 kilometers of travel...she drove us from
chiang mai to tha ton....then onto mae salong to mae sai. the next day we went to myanmar (burma) to shop for gems...she
helped us with our negotiations and i know we got better prices because of her.

later that day, we drove to sop ruak....thru the hilltribe country...we saw tribespeople finishing their days work...walking home in their colorful clothes. we made it the golden triangle....where we took a sunset boat ride
(she does not like boats by the way) and even visited a post in lao...before heading south.
next on to lampang... si satchanalai and sukhothai....poon took us to the kilns and then to a pottery farm nearby where they use the same materials and designs from the 14th and 15th century. we bought incredible souveniers and they all made it home, undamaged. great finds, excellant prices and wonderful memories.

we ended our 4th day with poon dropping us off at midnight in ayutthuya....where we
explored on our own the next morning before hiring a taxi to take us to bkk airport for our flight to siem reap. by this time...i think poon had had enough of us as she made a hasty exit to bkk on her own ( her son lives there) and we were about 3 hours later than expected.

all in all,,,she went out of her way to help us..

i would be glad to talk to you directly if you'd like....lets figure out how...

dee

Wow, you did cover a lot! If you have an e-mail address post it & I'll contact you. We were interested in Mae Salong but didn't think we'd have enough time with other places we are visiting -- wanted a slightly slower pace with more time in each place so, we'll save it for next time. Do you have a contact # or e-mail address for Poon? How was her English & was she also helpful in explaining what you were seeing and understanding the culture and religion? Thanks! Carole

hi carol...
email is [email protected]
i have her phone number...actually my
daughter does so i will get it for you.

you can also email ratt and she will call poon (poon does not have a computer.)

im still working on a travelogue...cant wait to go back again...we are already planning for next year...

aloha
dee