Thailand???

[pewee9196]

I have the opportunity to go to Trang Thailand to visit a girlfriend who moved there. Anyone with any input? it is not a typical US tourist location but is supposed to be amazing. It is southern Thailand.

Any input would be great!

[emmjay]

My husband spent about a week in Trang when we were in Thailand - he said the beaches there are really beautiful. He mostly just went fishing and to the beach. It's actually just south of Krabi and Phuket and other tourist destinations, so it's fairly developed but definitely not as popular as those.

How long will you be there? I really enjoyed the less-touristed areas of southern Thailand, so I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what. Especially since your friend will be living there - I'm sure she'll have tons of stuff planned. I'm sure you can do fishing and snorkeling trips, probably sea kayaking too.

ETA - I'll ask my husband if he has any details to share. I wasn't in Trang myself (just nearby), so maybe he'll have some better info.

[pewee9196]

Thanks!! My friend is not overly thrilled with Trang itself (no hot water at all- none...YIKES) She was headed to the Islands this weekend. I am definatley going to get Scuba certified before I go!

My girlfriend and I grew up in a foreign country together so we are happy that it is not touristy! I am really excited! Now I just have to decide when to go!

[Shapsgrl]

Bumping. I am going to Thailand late January and would love some tips on where to go/what to do

[Rosebud]

Shapsgrl- If you don't get lots of advice here, I highly recommend going to the Asia boards at Fodors.com (http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27)(then just narrow it to Thailand at the top of the page). Two of my closest friends just returned from their second trip to Thailand and they absolutely swear by the Fodors boards for tips and advice on that region.

Do you know what general areas of Thailand you'd like to see? I can ask my friends for their advice if you have any locations narrowed down.

Some trip reports from Thailand that may help you in the meantime:

Trip Report from Bangkok, Penang and Chiang Mai (http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=34904681)
Report: Nine Days in Thailand (http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=34789769)
Honeymoon in Thailand and Cambodia (http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=35089020)
Report from first trip to Thailand: Chiang Mai, Phuket, Bangkok (http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=35085000)
Trip Report: Phuket, Bangkok, Siem Reap (http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=35092859)

[emmjay]

shapsgirl - I spent 2+ months in Thailand in 2003 and I visited several cities and towns throughout the whole country. If you have any idea of the part of the country you want to visit, I might be able to help. Maybe not with hotels because DH and I are seriously low-budget travelers and most people here on CC don't seem to like staying in $5/night places! But I can give you some restaurant recs and general info if you know the cities you want to visit.

[Rosebud]

Just adding some more, general Thailand information to this thread which may be helpful...

Frommers.com Destination Guide: Thailand (http://frommers.com/destinations/thailand/) (this is a great, very thorough resource)

Let's Go Guide to Thailand (http://www.letsgo.com/destinations/asia_pacific/thailand/)

Article on Thai festivals (NY Times) (http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/travel/08journeys.html)

Article on travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand (LA Times) (http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-chiangmai11mar11)

Travel + Leisure's Top 50 Hotels in Asia (http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2007/results.cfm?cat=hotelsasia) (this is the real luxury stuff)
Thai hotels on this list:
Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Amanpuri, Phuket, Thailand
JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, Thailand
Banyan Tree, Phuket, Thailand
Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai, Thailand

[Shapsgrl]

Wow, thank you for the replies. I have been to Bangkok before on business, but never for pleasure. We were considering Phuket and Chiang Mai, but we are pretty open.

I am booking all of our flights from Hong Kong when I arrive at the beginning of Jan, so any general ideas on where to go would be appreciated. I guess that as far as hotels go, any ideas would be helpful also - although we may have more limited availability once I go to book.

We like luxury, but we're not the type of couple that likes to sit around all day either.

[emmjay]

If you haven't been already, I would recommend eating at Baan Kanitha (www.baan-khanitha.com) in Bangkok. It's located on Sukhumvit Soi 23 in a beautiful building. The food is superb.

In Chiang Mai, one of the more popular things to do is take a cooking class. Most of them are located in the city, but the one run by Kavil Guesthouse is run on the owner's organic farm in the country. I would highly recommend it if you want to take a cooking class! First you go to the city market to get some ingredients, then you go out to the farm and pick additional produce for the class. The cooking and prep work are all done in an airy, open building so you aren't crammed into a hot kitchen, and everyone gets their own stove (sometimes that isn't possible in some of the other classes). Then you eat in a little pagoda over a stream by the garden. It's run by a couple - the husband is Thai and does the class, and the wife is Belgian and runs the guesthouse. You don't have to stay at the guesthouse to take the class (it's dirt cheap, so probably not your cup of tea!). They don't have a website but you can find the address/map on Google.

Also if you want some adventure, you can take a rafting trip on the Mae Kok river for 3 days/2 nights. It's a big bamboo raft and you sleep one night on the raft and one in a village, and you can do a couple of hikes. That goes from a little town near the Lao border to Chiang Rai - you can easily book this from Chiang Mai. It's pretty rustic but we really enjoyed it.

I'll post again if I can think of more ideas!

[kalogrias]

Yay, a Thailand thread!

DH and I are leaving for Thailand in about a week -- we're spending 4 days on Koh Samui and 3 days in Bangkok. We'll be staying at the Imperial Boat House on Koh Samui (DH is in the Navy, I couldn't resist the old teak barges for him) and the JW Marriott Apartments Mayfair (I think that's what they are called) in Bangkok.

I'd love any recommendations for things to do on Koh Samui besides the beach, pool, and bars, and also, if anyone's stayed at either of those places -- what did you think??

[Rosebud]

Passing along a few tidbits from my friends' travels in Thailand that may be helpful.

In Chiang Mai, they stayed at the Baan Rai Lanna hotel, which is outside the city limits. Here's what they said about it: This gem of a hotel, well off the beaten track, is constructed of 6 villas surrounding a quaint rice paddy set against the backdrop of the mountains. We could stay here forever. We unpacked, and then were treated to a delicious Thai lunch. We then enjoyed a dip in the beautiful infinity pool and relaxed in the sun for the first time on our trip!

From there they went to an elephant nature park. Their comments: At lunch, our wonderful host Scott told us he would take us out to the Elephant Nature Park, the ONLY local camp where the elephants aren’t paraded around on leashes for tourists to gawk at and ride on. The drive there was gorgeous! This is what we came to see—gorgeous countryside jungle vistas and not a person in sight. Driving into the park was amazing and we were quickly greeted by 3 adult elephants and 4 baby ones. Our jaws dropped—this is no zoo, folks. [Note: This place is appointment only- definitely make an appointment.]

Dining room at their hotel
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23404/104537/f/692849-Our-dining-room-0.jpg

At the Elephant Nature Park
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23404/104537/f/692886-Parting-is-sweet-sorrow-0.jpg

Also in Chiang Mai, they did some shopping and highly recommend a place called Crossroads Asia:
The store is owned by a guy named Josh, an ex-Pat Australian who has been residing in Chiang Mai for 15 years. His really sweet manager took us through four buildings worth of showrooms, filled with stuff.

They also went to the following temples: Wat Pra Singh, Wat Chedi Luong, Wat Chiang Man and Doi Suthep.

Doi Suthep
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23404/104918/f/695588-Pagoda--Doi-Suthep-0.jpg

They also took a cooking class in Chiang Mai and went on for ages about how much they loved it. A little of what they had to say:
Kanchana, our cooking teacher was unbelievable! She’s the most amazing person we met here so far…she started our journey by taking us to the local market to introduce us to how most Thais shop for their food. The cooking school itself was beautiful. The school was an immaculately designed set of indoor and outdoor spaces complete with a full herb garden! First up, we worked our way through our 3 main courses: chicken with cashews, fried fish with a delicious thick red curry, and steamed fish in banana leaves. Each course was decadent and beautifully prepared and we learned how to slice and dice and wok food correctly. After cooking the three main courses, we moved on to one last course, SPICY drunken noodles. We wokked them up and took our last dish into the garden where we ate by candlelight (it was almost 8 PM by then) and had a fascinating dinner conversation about politics, culture and traditional customs!

Oh, and they also stayed one night in the city before leaving. Their hotel there was Tri Yaan Na Ros Colonial House.
We finally got a piece of French Colonial Asia! Each room was housed behind these heavy stained teak doors and the central area, an outdoor gazebo overlooking the pool contained the perfect outdoor seating area.

[Rosebud]

My friends also went to Phuket, but just briefly before they continued to a resort on Phi Phi island. They LOVED this part of their trip and said it was incredibly romantic and relaxing. They stayed at Phi Phi Island Village. Their comments on Phi Phi:
We pulled up to our dream-like resort, Phi Phi Island Village, after about an hour’s journey on the open sea. There’s not much to say except that this place is paradise defined. You’ve never seen such crystal-clear, brilliant, emerald green water in your life! The pictures seriously cannot even do it justice. You keep pinching yourself every other minute to remind you that yes, indeed, you actually ARE in this place.

Phi Phi photos:
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23404/105501/f/700943-View-from-our-deck-0.jpg

http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23404/105501/f/700950-Home-Sweet-Home-0.jpg

[Rosebud]

Also, some notes from their time in Bangkok.

DAY 1: We arrived at the Old Bangkok Inn. Our place is quite cute, one of 4 two-story rooms. We spent some time washing up… then headed out into Bangkok. Never having been here, we quickly got lost on the way to the klong stop (narrow boats that transport people along the rivers like buses) and once we finally found it, were pleasantly surprised it only cost 40 cents to go 3 stops. We headed toward MBK, the craziest mall we’d ever been in. It’s the Mall of America mixed with an Asian night bazaar. We were totally keen on trying the Pan-Asian food court and we trolled around the mall for about 30 minutes in a total daze! Afterwards, we traveled via the Sky Train (the elevated subway in Bangkok) and headed 6 stops to the Sukhumvit area to find our delightful spa, Face. Face was exquisite. The service was unreal and we had the most amazing massages we’ve ever had in this beautiful teak hut surrounded by two lily-laden dive pools.

DAY 2: Words do not do justice the Grand Palace, some 33-odd buildings done up in the traditional guilded and gold-leaf Thai style. The centerpiece of the compound is the Temple of The Emerald Buddha, a Sistine Chapel-like cathedral where the most famous and sacred Thai Buddha sits atop a grand throne. Next we hit Wat Pho, another incredible temple where we found the most amazing Buddha yet! There’s a giant Reclining Buddha, almost 45 meters in length, and it’s one of the most famous Thai artifacts. After our tour of the national monuments, we moved on to Siam Paragon, one of the nicest malls in Bangkok. We couldn’t pass up the air-conditioning of course! They sell Ferraris—no kidding. We ate at the Orangery, a restaurant that came highly recommended. Failing to find a taxi, we threw caution to the wind and took a tuk-tuk to River City, the VERY expensive antiques boutique containing relics from all over Southeast Asia. We grabbed some dinner in the Artist Colony at the whopping cost of $6 for both of us (love this city!) and then headed across the river for a drink at a really beautiful restaurant/lounge overlooking the Grand Palace complex and Wat Arun (yet another stunning temple!).

Reclining Buddha
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23404/103101/f/681934-Reclining-Buddha-0.jpg

[Shapsgrl]

I was in Thailand in January with my H - we split our time between Bangkok and Phuket.

In Bangkok we stayed at the Millennium Hilton Bangkok (http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/BKKHITW-Millennium-Hilton-Bangkok-hotel/index.do) which is situated on the river up the way from the Peninsula, and across the river from the Shangri-La and Oriental. The hotel was tastefully decorated with a modern-Asian feel. The room was comfortable, and the bathroom was nice. My company paid for my room, but had I been paying I would have splurged and spent just a little more to stay at the Peninsula.

The hotel's buffet breakfast was excellent. The night that we arrived, we also dined at the buffet dinner which was extraordinary, but not cheap, especially by Thai standards.

While in Bangkok, my h arranged a private tour one day to the Floating Market, Grand Palace, and Flower market.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/floating.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/IMGP0547.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/lunch.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/lotusblossoms.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/fm4.jpg

In Phuket we stayed at theMoevenpick resort in Karon Beach (http://www.moevenpick-hotels.com/hotels/Phuket/welcome.htm) . We did splurge here, and stayed in one of the Plunge Pool penthouse villas which included a private plunge pool and deck on our roof. We loved this resort. The grounds were immaculate, the pools were quiet, and the staff was incredibly friendly. We also loved that we were less than 5 minutes from town where we could grab a bite to eat.

In Phuket we did the Phuket Thai Cookery School (highly recommend), The Hong by Starlight tour (Highly recommend) and a more generic boat tour of Phi Phi island which I would not recommend. I haven't uploaded the Phuket portion of our trip photos, but will try to add some when I get around to uploading.

Overall, we loved Thailand and can't wait to go back!