I will be in Bangkok from Dec. 19-25 & Dec 29-Jan.2 and will be in CM from Dec. 25-29. Anyone else going to be there at that time?

I will be in Bangkok from Dec 9-26. Will visit Cambodia and Vietnam in between those dates. Do you have any recommendation on a hotel? I will be traveling by myself and are looking in mid-price range. thanks.

Well, I hope that I will be! I’m in India at the moment but I am certainly going back to Thailand in a week or so, but the question is whether I have to come back here before Christmas.

I am digging in my toes and hope to be in Chiang Mai for Christmas dinner at The Pub. Email me if you would like to get in touch, [email protected]

We (my husband, our 11-year old granddaughter, and I) will be in Bangkok from 12/27 to 12/31, CM from 12/31 to 1/4, and Phuket from 1/4 to 1/8. We will be staying in Royal Orchid Sheraton in Bangkok, Jaiya Mongkol B&B in Chiang Mai, and Holiday Inn in Phuket. We will have Ratt take us to the Floating Market and River Kwai on 12/29.
Gloria, the hotel registration is under the name of Richard Hoffman, this is our first trip to Thailand and would love to connect with you there.

Pat

Pat--
I have rat on the 30th and 31st (as well as earlier in the month). I'll be at the Oriental so right near you and will be registered in the name Gloria Friedman. Hope we can connect.

Max-- are you looking for a hotel in Bangkok or Cambodia and Vietnam. And, what is your definition of "mid-price".

Tangata -- I'll email you separately but would love to get together. We don't get in until midnight on Christmas.

Glorialf,

I've just been given orders for home! I'm flying back on Thursday. I amy have to go to Bangkok for a few days, but I'll certainly be in Chiang Mai over Christmas, so do email me.

Our family will be in Thailand over the holidays as well. We are in Phuket from the 18th - 24th of December and then at the Royal Orchid Sheraton from the 24th - 29th. We also have Ratt booked on the 24th, 26th and 27th I think. We will be under the name of Kirby - maybe we will run into you there.

Kirby-- so you're the reason I couldn't have Ratt on the 24th! You must have booked her a year ago because I first contacted her in July!

My plans are:
Dec 27 - Jan 1, Bangkok at HI
Jan 1 - Jan 4, Chiang Mai at Sheraton
Jan 4 - Jan 7, Siem Reap at Sofitel
Jan 7 - Jan 8, Bangkok at Bob's Hotel
Jan 8 - Jan 10, Seoul at COEX Intercontintental
Jan 10 - Jan 13, Japan TBD
Jan 13 - Jan 15, Tokyo at Ryokan Shigetsu

I would enjoy meeting other fodorites. Please send me an e-mail @yahoo.com

We'll be in Bangkok (Landmark) Dec 19-26 and at Mansions at Roppongi Dec 27-30!

mrwunrfl; did you get bobs place via pl? i know you had bad luck and got the hi, but did you try again and got lucky?

have you stayed at shigetsu before? a big guy like you will feel even bigger if you take a single western room. its a great location. if you have a chance, go to maguro hito, about a 10 min walk from shigetsu for great kaiten sushi. 1000% better than genki sushi, or the safeway special. . also, just down from you, a 290y ramen shop. enjoy.

I got both at priceline. The HI will be ok, just my bid was high. After there, I go elsewhere and return to Bangkok for my last night in Thailand. Figured I ought to go back to priceline and (probably) get the HI. I hoped to get it for my 2nd Bangkok stay since that is where I planned to leave some luggage at the end of my 1st stay. But, I got Bob's place for $50 for that last night and will have to shuttle that bag of winter clothes (for Korea & Japan) between the two BKK hotels!

I am taking notes now, thank you: maguro hito, sushizanmai. Probably won't make it to U.T. Oishi-san, can you recommend a Japanese restaurant in Bangkok? I think the HI is not far from where the Japanese businessmen/tourists stay, no?

mrwunrfl - we'll be going from Osaka to Kanazawa on Jan 10 (flying back on the 9th from Bali). Join us? Kanazawa in winter is chilly, but Kenrokuen is, as always, gorgeous.

Well, that is an excellent idea, KimJapan! You are probably on a redeye from DPS (like the one I took last June). I arrive KIX at 8PM. My tentative plans were to visit Arima Onsen, maybe Kyoto, and then to Tokyo for sumo. Thought about asking you to check on bus schedules between Kanazawa and S-go. Was wondering a few weeks ago where in Japan I might go when my Yokoso! screen saver showed a shot of Shirakawago under a couple feet of snow and I thought that would be an interesting experience (but not so interesting if I got snowed in up there).

Exactly right about the redeye....departs DPS at just after midnight. We arrive KIX morning of the 9th and will return to Kanazawa the 10th after spending the night in Osaka...not necessary, we just enjoy the Hilton there!

There are 2 buses a day in winter from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go last I checked. There is a new highway now that has cut the trip time down to about an hour. We've been meaning to get to Shirakawago in the snowy season and just haven't made it yet - don't know why really since we have a car. Maybe this year will be the year.

e-mail me if y ou want detailed info or [email protected]

mrwunrfl; about five years ago, i stayed at the narai hotel on silom, and there was a jp restaurant bout ten min. away. it was ok, can't rec. it. i usually don't eat jp food in bkk, saving it for tokyo on my way back. my cousin s stays in bkk seven months a year, and has yet to find a good jp restaurant, but also, he doesn't put on shoes and get dressed to go to the four to five star properties where they may have a good jp restaurant.

you might want to try the emerald hotel's jp buffet. they have an assortment of sushi, and live prawn. you pick out how many you want from the tank, and give it to the chef and he will steam or bar b q it for you. go early cus they might run out of the fresh prawn.

question on pl again.. when you bid the fifty, did that give you a better chance at getting bob's, or you still could have gotten the hi?

i assume you already checked out the jp subway map and identified the hibiya line. don't forget to try the aburi toro. the sakana should be of excellent quality this time of the year. ut might be too far out for your short stay, maybe next time.

Not sure why I got Bob's on the $50 bid. My bid for the HI was $75, but at the time the rooms were only $80 or $85 on holiday-inn.com. I had been bidding 5* for $85, added 4* but only dropped my bid by $10 and that is when I got the HI. Maybe if I had bid lowere I might have gotten Bob's, but that place runs $120, so I wouldn't have thought so. I don't really know how to tweak pl to get the best out of it. Best to go to biddingfortravel.com as Bob hisself suggested. I think you can get an associate's degree in online bidding there.

My husband and I will be in Chiang Mai from the 24th till the 29th December. WE are staying at the Empress Hotel (first visit to CM) we have booked a tour with Sargeant Kai for Christmas Day and that is our only plans at this stage.

i think you made your error when you went from a 5 to 4 star level. a free rebid only works when you add another location that has no 5 star hotel, then bid for a 5 star in that location, so since there is no 5 star, your bid will only apply to the location with the 5 star hotel. unfortunately for us, all three areas in bkk on pl all have 5 star hotels, so the free bidding technique doesn't work. you got the luck of the draw. tell us about your trip when you get back.

Glorialf - I did book Ratt last Feb/March after reading so many good things about her on this forum - she is going to pick us up from the airport on the 24th as well - enjoy your trip.