I just talked to Tong this morning and she told me that Reed, the fisherman that lives in the village, went to some tv stations and is trying to get them to come out and help him advertise his tours. So soon it might be very different than it is now! Hopefully everyone here can experience it before it becomes too popular!

you never know...they may not come and it will be all our secret...it would not take much to ruin it...like one bus load of people

We're touing with Tong for 2 days next month - still deciding on our itinerary with her (we have two others days in Bangkok - she wasn't available)

Is this trip part of visiting the Floating Islands? There are a couple of recent negative comments about them - hoping that this is something different?

Thanks

Ooops - sorry - floating markets!

you can do the floating market the same day you do the secret fisherman village i think. its a one time kind of experience i think. we will not be back to the floating market, but i know some people love it!
Tong also told me that she has a few new spots to visit, you might ask her what she thinks. Maybe also consider the tiger temple????

hi travelduo - we definitely want to go to the tiger temple - any other suggestions would be great - thanks!

I loved the Tiger Temple! Actually, I really enjoyed Kanchanaburi. I stayed in town for 4 nights, rented a motor bike and rode all over the area. It is absolutely beautiful!

Elizabeth, is this your first time to BKK or have you been there before and already seen most of the highlights? that will help figure out what else to do with tong.

First time there

I should add that we'll be coming from Hong Kong and Siem Reap and on our way to Luang Prabang.

We are very interested in cuisine and want to explore some out of the way places to dine - also the small canals sound interesting to us. While we will visit the main attractions in BKK I'd like to get a sense of some off the beaten track areas. Neither of us like to shop at all so that's not important (going to food markets is different however - unfortunately we're not there on a weekend for the weekend markt)

Thnx!

You've piqued my interested. We will have 3 days in BKK mid-Jan and have planned to "wing it", no guide. Is this a mistake? How does one get Tong and what does a guide for the day cost?

babbylou, Is is a mistake to wing it? No. It just depends on what you want to see/do/experience. I've been to Bangkok 20+ times and have never used a guide. I prefer to go on my own. But if you find the description of people's time with Tong to be irresistable, then contact her. There are zillions of posts about her - do a search and read what people have done.

Re the "Tiger Temple " out of Kanchanaburi - Fodor's Guidebook "Thailand" has instructions how to get there, which don't sound too daunting. However, they don't actually recommend it, perhaps for fear of getting sued if something goes wrong. Apparently the tigers are let out at 3pm daily. Some towndwellers are not too happy about this.

babbylou, We're in tokyo now on our way back from thailand and cambodia. We had two full days in bkk without a guide and had no issues getting around and doing everything we wanted to do - grand palace, wat pho, wat arun and massages on day one; klongs, jim thompson house and mbk mall on day two, plus brilliant meals and plenty of time for shopping and relaxation. we had booked tong to go to her special place on the third day but mutually decided it would be too much because we had to be back to catch a flight to siem reap. Will post more in our trip report when we return.