1ladyrep

HI All, unfortunately I think that my desire to use Tong for our Bangkok tour is not workng out. I am having a terrible time communicating with her and that just doesn't work for me.
I understand that she is probably really busy with the high demand for her services, however, I am not good at not getting responses to my e-mails or postings on her facebook page either.

That being said do you have any suggestions for alterative guides. We want someone for two days of the four we will be there. In addition to this request I have some questions that possibly can be answered:
1. Should we use the guide with a car and driver or public transportation for seeing the main attractions that are within the city? It actually sounds like fun to combine, the Skytrain, river taxis, etc.for day one. But what about the heat and humidity.
2. Day 2 we will do floating market, train market and was going to be something else with Tong, so now I do not know.

Thanks as always

crellston

Sorry to hear you are having problems contacting this guide. Like you, I have no time for people or businesses who do not respond to attempts to contact them. No matter how busy they may, or may not be, there is no excuse. It is, quite simply bad business practice and bad manners.

Do you really need a guide for Bangkok? A good guide book, Nancy Chandlers excellent map and a BTS map will get you to most of the major sites. Taxis are plentiful, although slow. The river taxis are great for riverside location and the breeze provides welcome respite from the heat. The Sky trains also have air on albeit sometimes icy cold! Most people get used to the heat after a day or two. A car is not generally the best way to get around Bangkok.

The train market is easily reached by BTS. We combined it with a ride into the country by train and then a bike ride around some villages which was great fun. We used http://www.absoluteexplorer.com/

Some other ideas -

http://www.fodors.com/world/asia/tha...m_alpha:a.html

thursdaysd

I agree with crellston that a guide is unnecessary for Bangkok. And that you are better off avoiding cars or taxis whenever possible as the traffic is truly awful. Bangkok is not my favorite city partly because of the traffic, the pollution, and the heat and humidity, there are many other places in Asia that I prefer. However, there are definitely sights worth seeing.

A good guidebook, a good map, and an awareness of the local scams are all you need. Do make use of the river boats whenever possible. You can also take a day trip (your hotel should be able to arrange it) to Ayutthaya - bus up and boat back.

Kathie

I'm another person who recommends no guide for Bangkok. I use the Skytrain, water taxis and an occasional taxi to get around town. We are from Seattle, so not really heat acclimated, but we do fine in Bangkok. Limit your walking as much as possible to early morning, be aware of where there is shade, and where there is air conditioning.

I'm also not a fan of the floating market. I consider it a tourist trap, though most of those who go with Tong seem to like it.

With just four days in Bangkok, I'd spend them all in the city.

shelleyk

I agree with the above about using the Skytrain and a guidebook to get around Bangkok. We used a guide for one full day out of town, going to the Prasart Museum and the floating market. It was a very long , but worthwhile day. I loved the floating market, not for the goods being sold, which for the most part are tourist junk, but for the many photo ops, and the experience of seeing it. We used a driver named Ratt, who others on this board have also used, and we were more than satisfied. Unfortunately, I do not have a contact number for her, but if you ask on this board specifically for her contact info, maybe someone will answer and have that for you.

hawaiiantraveler

We have used Ratt with success in Bangkok. Very personable and reliable. You can get in touch with her through her website

http://www.ratservice.com/

Aloha!

valtor

As Havaiian, we used Ratt. She is a driver, but knows well Bangkok, her English is good and she is a very nice person. We were happy to have it with us, it was very nice to have all the time a car with A/C, to go directly to all the places we wanted to visit, etc.
We contacted her by mail and together made a plan of what we want to visit each day (we had her with us for two days).

1ladyrep

Thank you all. We are from LA and also not used to the heat but will have spent two weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam so should have aclimated. My DH Is not as flexible as I am and likes to know exactly where he is going where as I do not mind getting lost. We have had some communication with the guide and selected the tours but now r not getting response to final plans which is frustrating.

Thanks for the info on RATT and I guess I will contact her. I did buy the Nancy Chandler map and it is great

dgunbug

Don't give up on tong. While she is very busy and does not respond to emails as one would hope, she does come through and a day spent with her is a wonderful experience. While you could go to the floating market on your own, if you go with tong, she will introduce you to foods that you would never have sampled on your own. The railroad market, feeding the monkeys, and a ride through the mud flats were all great fun and lunch out on the water was very pleasant.

Touring Bangkok on your own is really very simple. Bangkok is one if my favorite cities and it is easy to get around. The food is delicious.

Have fun.

rhkkmk

are you using [email protected]

1ladyrep

Rhkkmk regarding e-mail yes I am using the yahoo account. I finally got something on Facebook saying to call her, but that does not make sense as how do you know when she is there. Then I finally received a "response " today from message sent Jan 10 that says use g-mail as yahoo does not work. So confusing. What e-mail do you use as you seem to get responses. I assume the g-mail is [email protected]

rhkkmk

no "s" on tour...

i use yahoo

BillT

Go with Ratt- she is the one, the original- accept no substitutes. Remember its not that you need a guide but a driver in Bangkok. Yes you can get around without one but having a driver gets you around in a lot more comfort.

rhkkmk

tong has now told me to use both the

[email protected]

and


[email protected]

addresses when addressing her as she says she is having trouble with yahoo.

thursdaysd

"having a driver gets you around in a lot more comfort."

Provided you don't mind sitting around in traffic jams.

mediakzar

Even though we've been to Bangkok often enough to get around on our own, we love going out with Nook Tourguide. She is an excellent guide and a nice person. Her email is [email protected]. She is also active on facebook as Nook Tourguide.

We did the train market trip with her using a car and driver and for a trip outside of the city, that's the way to go. However for tours within the city, we prefer to use public transportation or taxi as it helps orient us when using the same when we're on our own.

One of the best parts of the train market trip was Nook walking us through and helping us sample from the myriad food stalls in that area. See http://www.se-asiatravel.com/thailan...-train-market/ for additional info and a video link of a train market trip

BillT

Ratt usually knows how to get around the traffic so that was not a problem on our first trip

rhkkmk

with a driver we have not been in any traffic clog that last more than 5 minutes... they know how to escape...

taxis, yes tons of traffic jams

Guenmai

As for the heat, I don't know when you're going, but I'm from L.A. and depending on the time of year, the heat isn't that much different. Yes, it can be more humid in BKK than in L.A. depending on the time of year, but I haven't found it a major problem. However, I've been going in November, December, January, August, and the last week in March. The last week in March was the most humid, but I survived it and I was out walking the entire time and using the skytrain for a whole week.

I say study the Nancy Chandler map, use the skytrain, and hire Ratt. I did once hire Tong for one day. It was a Christmas gift to a friend flying from Denmark to meet me for vacation in Bangkok as I wasn't going to freezing Denmark for vacation in December. So, we agreed to meet in Bangkok for 3 weeks. But, I used Tong to take us out of Bangkok to areas difficult to get to and then when we got back to Bangkok, we did a couple of Bangkok things like the Reclining Buddha and I needed to get to the alley where the monk, alms bowls are hand made and also needed to get to a particular hardware store to buy pintos.

Happy Travels!

dgunbug

Buying and studying the map ahead of time helped us tremendously. I believe the map can be purchased on amazon.