After following this board for many months and getting great advice to we just returned from our first trip to Asia. I thought I would share our experiences for the benefit of other newbies like myself. I'll post in segments.

Flights:
We used FF miles on American to fly first class so we did not have the most convenient flights. JFK to DFW and then DFW to Tokyo-Narita on AA. Then Narita to BKK on JAL arriving at midnight on Sun 11/20. The AA first class is definitely not great, my husband thinks that BA business class seats are more comfortable. The JAL business class on the upper deck was quite comfortable, there were only four others in the whole section and the service was great. I would recommend trying to fly the whole way on JAL if you have AA FF miles to use. On the return flights we did the JAL redeye from BKK to Narita in business class upper deck - once again highly recommend booking the upper deck - very cozy. Then we had a 13 hour layover in Narita before of flight back to JFK on AA.

BKK to SR - flew Bangkok Air - great service, new clean planes, on time quick flight

BKK to CM - flew Thai Air - also great service, clean planes and on time flights

Bangkok - Four Seasons

We stayed at the Four Seasons Bangkok, couldn't beat the corporate rate. It is a nice hotel, with a spacious room, but definitely seemed to cater more to the business traveler. The first day we did a klong tour on a long tail boat. We took the skytrain down to the river and then went into the Shangri-La hotel to hire a boat from the concierge. We did a two hour tour traveling down klong bangkok yai and then looping back out to the river and stopping at Wat Arun. We really enjoyed the klong tour, everything we saw was so visually stimulating. We were really intrigued by the spirtit houses that every home seemed to have. The drop off at Wat Arun was a little confusing as the boat pulls up to the pier and drops you off quite abruptly. After touring the temple, you then return to the pier and have to flag down your boat again. Unfortunately we were unable to visit the Royal Barge Museum because of flooding or high tide (at least that is what they told us). We then finished up at the Oriental Hotel where we stopped for lunch at Sala Rim Nam buffet. The food was really good and we appreciated the air conditioning after a couple of hours on the boat. Next stop was the Oriental Place (OP) for shopping and a visit to check out Premier Tailor which was recommended by a colleague. After this we were pretty exhausted from jet lag, so we returned to the hotel by taxi. This is when we learned that the Four Seasons is in one of the most traffic congested parts of the city (always leave plenty of time for travel). After a nap and a workout at the really nice gym at the hotel we decided to stay close by and had dinner at the Spice Market restaurant in the hotel. We also really like the food here, but we were both so tired that we creashed immediately after dinner.

Day 2 - We made arrangements to have Ratt pick us up at 8am to tour the Grand Palace, Wat Po, return visit to tailor for fittings, Jim Thompson House & lunch, and Vimanmek Palace. Let me just say we absolutely LOVED Ratt! She was so much fun and so focused on ensuring we had a good time. She aranged to have her friend Jackie provide a tour at the Grand Palace, they did a very smooth hand-off by cell phone. Jackie was a real kick, very spunky and funny. The Palace grounds were beautfiul and extremely impressive. We were just beginning our love affair with Asia. Next stop Wat Po - we got a little lost on the grounds here but particularly enjoyed the large Farang statues and obviously the recling buddha. Ratt dropped us off here while she parked the car but gave us a cell phone so she could stay in touch with us. She finally found us and we headed off to our next destination - the tailor. We spent about an hour picking out fabrics and discussing tailoring options. My husband brought to shirts to be copied. Ratt waited the entire time and watched the proceedings. Then it was off to the Jim Thompson house for lunch and a tour of the buildings. Once again we had a good meal and really enjoyed the tour of the houses that JT had built. Our final destination that day was Vimanmek palace, and we were pushing the time. Ratt kept us moving and got us in just before the closing time. We loved the teak mansion, it was so homey and comfortable - what a nice summer house that must have been. At this point we returned to the hotel hot, exhausted and ready for a nap. That night we had dinner at Bed Supper Club which was pretty cool. My jet lag got the best of me though and I actually fell asleep on the bed which was kind of funny. The food was really good and the people watching was terrific, we had an upper level bed seat. We made our reservation by internet about a month in advance.

More to come........

Day 3 - Ratt picked us up at 6:30am to take us down to the floating market at Damern Saduak. We loved the drive down as we got out of the city and the landscape changed. Ratt explained how the salt farms and prawn farms that we passed worked. We made a quick stop at the Benjabopit china factory on the way down which we loved. We saw the artists painting the China by hand and making really beautiful peices. They don't have a lot of items for sale directly, most pieces have to be ordered and shipped to you at home. I decided to buy some teacups and a bowl for my mother in law. I really loved the work it is so delicate and pretty. Highly recommend a stop here. Next it was on to the floating market. Ratt arranged for a boat rental and accompanied us on board. This was really fun, but definitely a mix a real live market for Thai people with a heavy does of tourist stuff. Our favorites were the boats that contained all the local produce or the cooks that were preparing meals in their floating kitchens. We bought some shadow puppets for the neices & nephews, but much of what was for sale seemed kinda of cheap. Regardless this was one of our favorite experiences and we are really glad we took the time to make the trip. On the return, Ratt took us to a cobra show (very sleazy and I am sure not very humane in their treatment of the snakes). I am personally terrified of snakes but it was pretty interesting in a creepy sort of way. We also visited a big wood working factory where we watched them carving furniture and wall hangings. After a half day outing we headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon at the pool. How nice it was when the pool attendent walked around with popsicles. Late afternoon, I had a massage at the FS Spa which was amazing! Jet lag reared its ugly head again and we ended up crashing and ordering in room service. I never experienced jet lag this bad before and was pretty surprised.

Day 4 - We followed the Fodors guide recommendation and took a walking tour of Chinatown which was fascinating. We started at the Nakhon Kasem Theives Market and wound our way up & down the streets. The sights and sounds particularly in the food markets were incredible. At one point we found ourselves on the live poultry market street, which was the one place we did not want to be given Avian Flu, which made us laugh. We visited the golden buddha which was pretty spectacular. Then we decided to walk back to the Oriental to go back to the tailor. It did not look that far on the map and we live in Manhattan and are used to walking. Lets just say that it was a long, hot, dirty walk. We arrived at the OP looking like drowned rats and the logic of using a driver became very clear to us. We finished up our fittings and had lunch at the Oriental on the Terrace, ( food and service were terrific). That evening which was Thanksgiving we decided to have dinner at the Madison in the hotel because they were serving a traditional Thanksgiving meal. The next morning we were departing for Siem Reap.

Siem Reap - Amansara

Let me start by saying that we loved our visit to Cambodia. It is the most amazing place my husband and I have ever visited and the people & places really moved us. I also now understand why people become Aman addicts, because this was simply the best experience I have ever had a hotel. We were picked up at the airport by two Amansara employees in a vintage Mercedes Limo from 1967 which used to belong to the King. It felt like time had stood still. On the drive from the airport you pass these amazing rice paddies with incredible views. The roadside is peppered with stands holding glass bottles full of yellow liquid. Our drivers explained that these were gas stations, that the locals use to gas up their motor scooters. There are hardly any cars, most of the traffic is on motor bikes, which surprisingly can carry 4-5 people. Suddenly down the road Angkor Wat comes into view and it is astounding. It is just right in front of you, no gates or parking lots or anything just this amazing view of the temple. We were hooked! The Amansara is located just behind the Raffles hotel but is not marked and is behind a gated wall. It currently has 12 suites but is expanding to add 12 more pool suites and a spa which were scheduled to open this month. The ambience at the resort was lovely, intimate and relaxing. The suite was large, spacious with minimalist design. Buddhist monk chanting was playing on the cd and the room looks our over a little private walled in terrace. All the rooms are in a u shape centered around the pool area. There is a separate library stocked with books on the area and temples and a large circular dining room. We arrived early (10am) but they showed us to our room and served us coffee & tea. They explained we would have a driver at our disposal. The rates also include a guide and driver for two excursions per day. We decided to do some shopping before lunch so we went to Artisan's D'Angkor where they train local children in traditional handicrafts and then sell the merchandise. The work they do here is really lovely and we bought quite a few items including handwoven silk shawls and laquered bowls and wall hangings. Our driver (a motor bike pulling a remork) took us back to the hotel for lunch. We tried the Khmer menu which was excellent. That afternoon we met our guide Dinay who brought us out to the Roulos temples. We were entraced by the history and landscape. On the way home Dinay asked if we would like to take a detour on a country road to see how the locals lived. We jumped at the chance. The simplicity of the lifestyle that the Cambodian people live is eye opening. All the children would run our their huts and wave and say hello. Then our jeep broke down as the sun was setting. The whole village came out to help us try and push start the car. We were trying to speak with the children and they were laughing and smiling. Dinay took our picture with all the children which I was able to show them on the digital camera. They were amazed, they kept looking and laughing and looking again - about 20 little kids. We finally realized that the car was not going to start so we began to walk back down the road until they were able to send someone from the hotel to pick us up. It was great because we got to see the evening commute, all the young adults riding home on bicycles from their jobs in Siem Reap. A truly memorable experience!

Siem Reap - cont.

Upon returning to the hotel, we discovered that the lights were dimmed, candles were lit, soft music was playing and a warm bath had been drawn with lotus flowers floating on top. What a nice and welcome surprise! We received an invitation in our room to hear Professor Roland Fletcher an archaeology from Sidney Univ. give a talk on the use of radar imaging to determine the boundries of the Angkor civilization. This was held in the libray and only one other couple joined us. We found this extemely interesting and learned so much from Roland about Angkor then and now. He invited us to join him and one of his students the following evening on a trip to visit the ruined temple of the island in the West Baray. After the discussion we had dinner at the resort and once again chose the Khmer menu. This consisted of four different entrees all served at the same time in little pots with plenty of rice. We really enjoyed the Khmer food, it was so fresh and flavorful with lots of herbs. As someone who does not do spicy very well, I actually preferred it to the Thai food if I was forced to choose. We turned in relatively early as the next morning we had an early wake up call for our next temple excursion.

Nice report, Chelsea. As I was reading, I was getting hot and tired. You kept up a pretty brave pace, considering the head and humidity!

I have not stayed at Four Seasons but I have been there, to Biscotti, for dinner once. Yes, traffic in that part of the city is crazy! I love to stay near all the activity in that area though.

Carol

great report...i look forward to more

Siem Reap -

As I realize I am getting quite long winded I will just summarize other experiences

Day 2 - 6:00 wake up/6:30 departure to visit Angkor Thom, Ta Nei, walk through the jungle. Meet a local foraging for his lunch consisting of wild mushrooms and tarantulas - he has a plastic bag full of them. Dinay has him show us and proceeds to pull out about six of the big hairy black spiders. The man is very psyched because he is going to have a good lunch. Then on to Ta Keo which we loved - even after the long climb up. Finally the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom. Back to the hotel by 10:30am.
Mid Day Break - lunch and hang by pool, walk into town for some sight seeing and buying school supplies for the kids
Depart 5pm tour for afternoon excursion with the Professor. Amansara rearranges our intinerary to accomodate and packs an amazing wine & cheese & fruit basket and sends a server & Dinay our guide to go with us. We hire a local boat to take us out, listen to Roland explain the site and then have a sunset picnic with Roland and his students from Australia- remarkable evening! Dinner at Khmer Kitchen in town - extemely cheap and really good. Order the lab chicken and fresh spring rolls.

Day 3 - rise at 4:30/depart at 5:00 for sunrise at Angkor Wat. Arrive at back entrance to be met by pack of barking stray dogs and climb to the top of the temple in the dark. Await the sunrise - very peaceful and unspoiled by hordes of other tourists. After touring the temple we head to another local country village to explore the local market and give school supplies to the children. Back to the hotel for a late breakfast and massage.
3pm- Dinay takes us to visit a local family of rice farmers to see how they live. They kindly invite us to see their home - a one room hut on stilts. They are very proud of their black & white tv which is run by a car battery. We find these experiences to be very rewarding as we are getting the chance to meet the local people and while they don't have much they seem to be so hopeful. Then on to Visit Bayon (our favorite temple) in the rain and then on Temple in the Jungle. We are there at closing as it is getting dark and are met by two security guards with rifles - very happy our guide is Cambodian and can speak with the officers. Our final night at Amansara - they have invited the local orphanage to give a apsara dance performance at the pool. The children are wonderful - they do four dances for use which we enjoy very much. They are training the children in traditional dance so they have employment when the come of age. We have our last dinner at the hotel and are very sad that our visit will end the next day. We have learned so much, met so many wonderful people particularly our guide Dinay, this experience will always be close to our heart.

Next day it is on to Four Seasons Chiang Mai

Wonderful report Chelsea - don't shorten it too much - its very interesting.

Day 8 - Fly SR to BKK and then switch to domestic terminal to fly Thai Air to Chiang Mai - we are really relieved when Bangkok Air explains they will check our bags straight thru to Chiang Mai. We are picked up at the airport by hotel in a nice Mercedes - it is about a 35 minute drive to the resort. After being in Cambodia, things suddenly don't seem nearly as exotic as they did when we were in Bangkok. The FS resort is beautiful, the landscaping is really breathtaking. Our room is in the last unit so we are taken to our room by a buggy ride. We have a lower level Rice Terrace room. We love the outdoor Sala with a view of the rice paddies and the pool. At 5pm, when the gardeners finish work for the day they head to one of the rice huts and play a song on local instruments. This lasts for about 2 minutes and then stops, so I thought I was making this up on the first day, pretty neat. We have booked the adventure package so the first night we get a thai jet lag massage at the spa. A buggy arrives to drive us over and we are very impressed. The spa is lovely and the therapists are first rate. We have dinner at Sala Mae Rim at the hotel, the food is okay but we are not overwhelmed. The view is lovely though and the weather is much cooler which is a nice relief after SR.
Day 9 - Guide & driver pick us up at 9am for a trip to the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp. On the way we stop to see paper made out of elephant dung. There is a short show where the elephants bathe in the river and then move logs. After that a 90 minute elephant ride up & back on the stream bed to a Lisou hill tribe village (kind of touristy). My first elephant ride, it is the strangest motion to get used to at first I was holding on for dear life! Next we have a picnic lunch from the hotel packed to take on a bamboo raft ride up the river. There are two polers and the ride is very peaceful although the scenary is not much to look at, I think the floods earlier this year may have washed up a lot of debris. On the way back to the hotel we stop at an orchid & butterly farm - was out of season so not much to see. That night we head into town for dinner at Whole Earth (food good, service very slow) and shopping at the night market.
Day 9 - 9am pickup for our city tour to visit the major temples. At one of the temples we take advantage of the "Monk Chat" program to speak with some of the monks. This was really fun and I highly recommend it. The monks are trying to improve their english and are willing to talk with you about anything. We chatted for about 45 minutes then bought our monks and their friends some food so they could eat before noon. Next we went to a real local restaurant with our guide Angie and the driver. This was some of the best food we had so far. We really loved the Chiang Mai noodles! On the way back we stopped at the gem factory - a real tourist racket and a lacquer factory but did not buy anything. That night we were exhausted so we had room service on our outdoor sala - very romantic thing to do for the honeymooners.

Day 10 - We had a 7am wakeup for a local food market tour with a guide from the cooking school. This was really fun as we learned about all the local produce and curries. Our guide bought lots of stuff for us to sample before we headed back. Then it was a half day cooking class "The Secrets of Thai Curries". The cooking school at the FS was great. Even though we do not cook much they make it so easy and it was really fun! You eat everything you make which is a lot of food. The hours flew by and you then you eat lunch and get graduation certificates. We spent the rest of the day hanging by the pool and relaxing.

Next day back to Bangkok

Bangkok - Final Night

On Friday morning we fly back to BKK for one last night at the Oriental in a garden view deluxe room. We arrive around noon and are show right to our room which has a great view of the pool and the river. One more trip back to the tailor to pick up my husband's shirts and my Silk jacket. We are very pleased with the results! That afternoon I head to the spa for a massage and I have to say I prefer the spa at the Four Seasons. Dinner at the grill on the terrace is great and we really appreciate the beauty of the river at night - ahha this is what we were missing! The view from our room at night is spectacular, I love the way the boats light up at night.

Last day - we have breakfast outdoors at the terrace buffet, a nice way to start the day. Then head to pool to lay around in one of the cabanas until check out time. Our flight is not until 10:30 pm, so the hotel provides us with a "shower room" for an hour before we leave. A "shower room" is a regular hotel room that they make available to you for a short time which was really nice. However as much as I liked the Oriental and its location, we can't help feeling that the service at the FS was somewhat friendlier.

In summary - Our trip to Thailand & Cambodia was a great experience, the people were extremely warm and friendly, the food is fantastic and we can't wait to come back!

Wow, it sounds like you had a fantastic trip. Thanks for sharing with us!

We are planning on staying at the FS in Chiang Mai for our honeymoon, so I would love to be able to pick your brain about specific details.

You said your pavillion was at the very end? Do you remember the number? How private was it? We are trying to decide which type of room to stay in, and we want it to be very private and excluded. I am a planner, so any details you can provide would be great.

Also, did you hire your driver/guide from FS or did you arrange a separate service?

Again, thanks for sharing your report with us!

Nevermind. I see that you already answered my question on a different post from awhile back. Thanks for the info!

Great report - it is nice to know that there is much more to do than temple viewing in Siem Reap if you keep an open mind. We are not staying at the Amansara but will try to get there for a meal (from the Khmer menu) when we visit in February.

Thanks for the super report. We're off to SR in two weeks. You made it seem so wonderful. Just doubled my anticipation.

Wonderful trip report! Thanks so much.

thanks again for this very comprehensive report...

I enjoyed writing it, it was like reliving the experiences all over again!

Is there any chance that there will be pictures to share? It sounded like you had a lot of unique and wonderful experiences, and I for one would love to see the footage!