Hi all:

After a year of hard work and scrimping I am heading back to Asia to upgrade my skills at Wat Pho massage school and then just travel around to places we haven't seen yet. Does anyone know of a reliable travel agency in Bangkok?
We also were thinking of taking the train through Malaysia (from KL back to Bangkok). Any comments, experiences other than those I have read on this board already would be welcome.
Thanks for any help,

regards,
Lynn

Lynn, what do you want to use a travel agent for? I do have an agent in Bangkok who I have used for well over a decade to get hard-to-buy airline tickets. And a friend recently reported that he was able to get a good rate for her at the Anantara at the Golden Triangle. But I book almost everything myself on the web.

Almost all air tickets now are easily bookable on the web, and for accommodations, I use www.agoda.com or www.sawasdee.com (Thailand only).

In terms of the train from KL to bangkok... it's a long ride. Unless you are a train buff, it will much faster (and probably cheaper) to take a budget airline line Air Asia.

If you need to contact a travel agent in Bangkok I use Eddie at the Bangkok American Express agency, [email protected]

For info on the train trip through Malaysia see http://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm. I just booked a ticket from Butterworth (Penang) to Bangkok using Thailandtrainticket.com. Kathie's TA only handles planes, not trains.

I think riding the train is a great idea (although the long distance buses in Malaysia are very good), but I would break the journey at least at Butterworth. And do book second class - you really don't want a long trip in third! (Been there, done that...)

Train travel in Thailand is a reasonable way to travel although as kathie points out it is along ride and is not necessarily cheaper. We have travelled quite a bit by train in both Thailand and Malaysia and would recommend it as a great way to meet the local people. It is easy enough to book tickets either in BKK or KL for accurate info on timings and fares see www.seat61.com. I would recommend going first class as it is not a lot more expensive and is far more comfortable than 2nd or 3rd class. As with most places, take care of your belobings on the train. buy food at the local sations or eat in the rstarant car and not from teh guards who will try and sell you v. expensive beer and not v. good food!

If you have the time, consider going part way by train and part by boat. It is relatively straight forward and makes for a nice trip. We did this in reverse by getting the train from BKK to Had Yao, stopping a few nights on Koh Libong then a ferry to Langkawi and another ferry to Penang and then a VIP bus to KL (train is also possible. Sound a lot more complicated than it actually is but a nice trip. we booked all tickets ourselves as we went but any travel agent will sell you an end to end ticket for a "small" commission.

Thanks so much for the replies. We got lots of information from the websites you recommended.
One week til departure. I think I feel a trip report coming on. We will see.

Thanks again everyone.

regards,
Lynn

Great! I'll look forward to hearing about your trip.

Have a great time. Looking forward to your report.