Thailand Tour
Review
My husband and I returned from a wonderful two week
excursion in Thailand. We had just over two weeks there (last week in August
& first week in September) and visited Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and
finished up in the Golden Triangle. The trip was just magical and we loved
every minute of it. Thailand is a very easy country to travel around – the
people are just so gracious and despite flying to four different locations
in two weeks, it was still as relaxing as can be. In all, we found air
travel in Thailand to be much less stressful than the US (we arrived 45
minutes before the flights and never had to wait in lines). All of our in
Thailand travel was on Thai Airways, all of which I booked online via
expedia. If I had to pick my favorite parts they would be Bangkok and the
Golden Triangle. Bangkok for all its traffic, craziness, pollution, was such
a fun city to explore. So much culture, nightlife, amazing food, and
shopping – I loved the Suan Lum night bizarre. The absolute highlight of our
trip was the Four Seasons Tented Camp in the Golden Triangle. The only way I
can describe it is the most beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. A
place that allows you almost complete isolation (there are only 15 tents on
the whole resort), perfect service and lets you play in the mud with
elephants! I plan to put together a full review for each stop but will start
with Bangkok and hopefully get to the rest soon.We arrived in BKK at around
midnight on Sunday after a trip that started Saturday AM from Washington
Dulles to LAX to Tokyo and finally to BKK. I booked one ticket using miles
on United so was forced to deal with the multiple layovers, but we actually
did not mind the stops – it gave us a chance to stretch and down a bottle of
water before boarding the next plane. I took melatonin throughout the trip
and pretty much slept like a baby. We were in United Economy Plus on the way
out and the extra leg room made for a fairly comfortable trip.
We arranged for the Peninsula to pick us up upon arrival at the airport. It
was late so the ride to the hotel was pretty speedy and uneventful –
although our driver kept pressuring us to book tours with him the following
two days. We tried to be as cordial as possible, but after he would not
relent – we pretty much told him we had been on a plane for 24 hours and to
just leave us alone – which he did. We booked a balcony room at the Penn and
the view was fabulous. The trip was over our second wedding anniversary and
the Penn had a nice little anniversary cake in the room waiting for us. We
really were not tired when we arrived so we showered, opened a bottle of
champagne and relaxed on our balcony. It was our first experience breathing
the Bangkok heat and pollution that I had read about in many other reviews.
The only way I can describe it is that we felt like we were constantly
surrounded by burning cinders. After that we were off to bed and slept like
babies the first night.The next morning we slept in, took the Penn boat
across the river and then headed to the Cotton House. My husband had a
business suit and two dress shirts made. I had a silk dress and a cotton
shirt made. The service was wonderful and we enjoyed the experience of
picking out fabrics and custom made clothing. I brought a picture of a dress
I wanted replicated and a shirt I already owned to be made in a different
color. Our initial visit took about an hour and my husband agreed to go back
later in the day for another fitting. By then we were starving so we headed
around the corner to Tongue Thai for our first Thai meal. I had read about
Tongue Thai on this board and it was one of the restaurants the Penn
concierge recommend to us (along with Harmonique) so we decided to give it a
try. I had a vegetable green curry dish and my husband had pad thai. Both
were delicious and the service and the restaurant was so charming. I quickly
learned though that I needed to ask for things to be extra spicy – although
the food was tasty; it was definitely not spicy enough for my tastes. After
lunch we headed to Siam Paragon mall for some shopping via the skytrain -
which was super easy to find and navigate. Siam Paragon mall was very nice
but very upscale. We enjoyed walking around a bit and I did a bit of
shopping. It was nice to be inside in the cool AC since we were still
getting accustomed to the Bangkok heat. We took the skytrain back and
stopped off at the State Tower building for a few sunset drinks. The bar was
great and the view is amazing. After that we stopped back at the Penn to
freshen up and then were off to Face for another Thai meal. We enjoyed the
atmosphere of Face – beautiful candles everywhere and the food was great as
well. I asked for the food to be prepared spicy and it was – but still not
spicy enough for my tastes. I should note that my husband has much milder
tastes and he thought everything was very spicy . I started with Tom Yum
Goon and then Cashew Chicken and of course Mango and Sticky Rice for desert.
Unfortunately, I think the jet lag finally kicked in and I had a terrible
time sleeping that night – which was unfortunate because we had a jam packed
day of touring with Tong. First off I have to say Tong is amazing and is
deserving of all of the wonderful raves she receives on this board. Yes –
you can definitely tour Bangkok without her, but it definitely would not
have been nearly as much fun and informative. It is also nice to be able to
go back to her nice air conditioned car between stops – with cold towels and
water. She even pulled out a diet coke for me when I was fading at the end
of the day and a Singha for my husband. Tong took us to the Grand Palace,
Wat Po (reclining Buddha), Wat Phra Kaew (emerald Buddha) and Wat Traimit
(Golden Buddha). Her detailed explanations of the sites and Buddhist culture
and traditions made our visits so much more meaningful. After that Tong took
us to lunch to a yummy little place by the Grand Palace called Coconut Palm
a restaurant she told us that many locals visit. Tong ordered a bunch of
different plates for us all of which we loved and I finally got the ‘spice
factor’ I was looking for. After lunch we had to run back to Cotton House
for another fitting. Unfortunately, my dress was not turning out the way it
looked in the picture. They were very gracious and agreed that the cuts had
been made incorrectly. They agreed to fix the dress and we would go back the
next morning for a final fitting. I should also note that everything was
turning out perfectly on my husband’s suits/shirts. After that Tong arranged
for a Klong tour (which was also a highlight of the trip) where we stopped
and fed what seemed to be millions of catfish in the Chao Phrya river. Tong
then took us back to our Hotel and I was literally exhausted. We had plans
to go to Bed Supper Club for dinner, but had to cancel, due to my
exhaustion. We ordered room service and were out within hours.The next
morning we had breakfast at the Penn and headed off to Cotton House for our
final fitting. Since this was not part of the original plan and delayed our
plans a bit, Tong agreed to stop by the Penn, pick up our luggage and then
meet us at the Cotton House. (We left detailed instructions for the Penn and
Tong’s card so they would allow her to pick up our things). The final
fitting at the Cotton House went well and the dress was beginning to look
more like my original vision. At the end of our trip we would have one final
day in Bangkok and Cotton House agreed they would deliver the finished
products to us then. After that we were off to the Jim Thompson house for
the tour – which was interesting enough - and some shopping at the gift
store – a nice place to pick up really nice silk gifts for family. We only
had a few hours before our flight to Chiang Mai and had planned to spend the
rest of the day at the Orphanages. Our first stop was the home for infants
and young children. We made a donation and spent the rest of the time
holding the healthy babies, visiting the sick infants and then playing with
the toddlers (there are so many children at this home). The home is really
in pristine condition, and the children are very well cared for, but it was
just so hard to witness so many healthy children without families. Tong
explained to us that it is apparently very difficult to adopt children from
Thailand. It was emotional, but overall the experience was amazing and we
are so glad that we found a way to fit this into our trip. The plan was to
visit several orphanages that day – however we never made it past the first.
After that we were off to the airport to visit our friends from DC that
currently live in Chiang Mai.
All in all we absolutely loved Bangkok and wish we had more time. We did
have one last day at the end of the trip at the Four Seasons Bangkok. The
hotel service and location was great but if we had to choose between the FS
and the Penn, we probably would have gone with the Penn. We just liked the
location on the river and the balcony view of the city was hard to beat. Our
last day in Bangkok we spent relaxing by the pool. Unfortunately, there is a
ton of construction going on around the FS, so the sounds of heavy machinery
kind of ruin the relaxation. After freshening up, we headed to the Sum Lum
Night Bizarre – where I could have spent hours shopping. I thought the
selection and quality of the items was much better than the night market in
Chiang Mai. I did the last of my shopping and then we were off to dinner. We
asked the concierge to make reservations for us at a newish Sushi restaurant
called Wasabi that is located in Q bar (which was recommended by my friend
in Chiang Mai). The sushi was just amazing and I would highly recommend it
if you are a fan of sushi– although the place definitely caters to the later
crowd as we were there at around 9:30 and the place was empty. It did start
to pick up by the time we left. After that we stopped for drinks at Q-Bar
and Bed Supper Club – both of which were extremely hip and made for great
people watching. We called it an early night because we had to catch a plane
in the AM back to the states. Since this review has gotten extremely long –
I’ll post more later on Chiang Mai, Phuket and the Golden Triangle. Would
also be happy to answer any questions in the meantime.
Cheers!
