Tour with Tong - Bangkok
 

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has used Tour with Tong and if they would recommend or not. There is a group of 4 of us traveling to Thailand, 2 for the first time and 2 who have been before. After our experience of visiting the tourist areas with a big group, we felt rushed and thought this would be a good opportunity to do things our way!

If anyone has used them then any information would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

i have used her a number of times and i think she is among a handful of top notch guides in the world, and she is a warm nice person too.

Thanks so much. Do you have to go with her or can you organise where you wish to go and just have the driver take you on the day? We would much prefer to do our own thing.

You tell her where you want to go, or work out a plan based on what you'd like to do. Going with 4 people is great as you can do whatever you want, and split the daily cost.

Touring with Tong is like spending a day with your funny friend. Two of us were old hands at Bangkok, two were on their first trip to Asia. None of us are "tour group" types.

We told her we wanted to sample some great local/street food, do a little charity, walk around some interesting areas, and go out to the secret place ( boat trip, feeding wild monkeys, touring the clam and oyster beds, then a fabulous private meal at a stilt house in the bay.

Even though I was suffering from Bangkok Belly, it was one of my most fun traveling days. We laughed and laughed, ate really well, accomplished all our goals, and ended our long day still laughing.

The issue with Tong is always getting in touch with her. Keep trying!

she is totally flexible, as are her assistants, but i would arrange special requests in advance

We spent one of our best days with tong. She is amazing! The floating market experience with tong is like no other you will experience as she will introduce you to an array of foods.

LMF ~~ A day spent with Tong (or one of her team) will be a memorable one for you. We have toured with Tong several times, and she has become a valued friend. Other Fodorites speak equally highly about her team members.

TwT has several "canned" tours but with enough advance notice she will develop a personalized tour based on what you want to do. In fact, you may want to spend more than one day with TwT guides.

As lcuy says, however, getting in touch with Tong is sometimes hard. Keep trying ~~ and trying ~~ and trying, if necessary. She is very busy, but she will get in touch with you. Also, think ahead! TwT is usually booked several weeks ~~ even months ~~ ahead.

Good luck, and get ready for a special day!

Sandra

We got in touch with Tong tours thru Facebook. I know everyone loves Tong Tours, but we were not so fortunate with our guide. We didn't have Tong as our guide and thought the person we got, Chi, was not listening to us and adjusting per our needs. He tended to focus on minute details and refused to slow down and give us time to process and enjoy the sites at our speed. But I realize we are in the minority on this board at least re Tour with Tong.

Tong sent us Jerry as a guide for a day with a driver and he was excellent, perfect English, fun to spend time with.

I have to agree that not all of the guides that work with her are first rate. Tong is a lovely person, though.

Hi another guide worth considering is Wandee, Good company to be with a relaxed easy manner and she knows her city and surrounding areas well. We have hired her a couple of times now. Most recently this year. We consider her pricing is fair, always on time. Her response times times on e mail are good usually max 2 days. She does ask for a small deposit but we have never had a problem here and do understand why she requests one.

Our first time with Wandee was a city tour which took in all the sights we wanted and a long tail round the Klongs. The fishing Village tour was fantastic fun. This year we did some tours with her and she dropped us off in Kanchanaburi- We had some time to spare so we went to a Safari Park with her. The Park was ok- good animal shows but the real treat was a Tigress and her Cub outside for visitors to meet. They very strictly only allow then out for Public meetings for 1 hr in the morning and 1 hr in late afternoon I got the feeling that they really cared for their animals Fabulous
Any way I ramble on Wandee well recommended by us [email protected] or www,wandeetours.com

The war of Tong or RATT. Well Tong has a licence which having used both guides turns out to mean little except in 2 places Ratt because she never took the exam has to turn you over to a guide at 2 temples. But in 4 trips to BK when I told RATT I want her and none of her staff, though they may be good, I got her. With Tong I made the same request but got stuck with one of her staff and was not pleased. Their rates are within $5 USD per day so that is not the deciding factor. I would decide, read Fodor's Guide and Lonely Planet. yes it is more comprehensive, and you map out where you want to go. Since you have 2 first time visitors and the floating market is worth the visit if you arrive there by 8:30, leave BK by 7:45, you nreed at least two or three 9-10 hour days partially because of the traffic. If you are there on a weekend obviously the weekend market is well worth a visit from 10-12:30, before that many are still setting, and after that witgh the heat and humidity you need to get into A/C.Many go at 8-9 but only 50% is operating.Ratt took us out to the suberbs where they painted tea cups and tea pots. Some where amazing. They were backloged on ordered but we wanted a certain tea pot ($75) but had to wait 4-5 weeks. The next challenge was how to ship to us in NJ. Well RATT's sister was coming to BK in 2 months from Boston and RATT was going to have her carry it back and UPS to us. All went well and the UPS charge was $27. The teapot is worth about $300-$350 so I am told by local Asia ceramic dealers.