Thailand Vacation

[pazham]

Hi,

Looks like you had a good trip to Thailand. We are leaving this coming week to Thailand for a 4-night 5-day trip and wanted to get some of your thoughts on the plan. [/quote]
Sure

[quote]
2 main things - How did you manage the transport between Airport and Hotel and Bangkok and Pattaya? [/quote]
My itinerary included all transfers. they took me from Airport to Pattaya, Pattaya to Bangkok and Bangkok back to airport. They had arranged a big van. We were grouped with 1-2 families from Airport to PAttaya. They arranged a car with a driver to commute from Pattaya to Bangkok. We had a van to take use back to Airpot for return flight.

[quote]
You have mentioned that you didn't have any problems with vegetarian food at all. Can you please list the Indian veggie restaurants that you visited so that it would help us too? Did you happen to go to Woodlands Inn and if so how is it? [/quote]
I did not visit the Woodlands Inn. I stayed in Hotel Ambassdador in Bangkok and Beach Hotel in Pattaya. If you are staying close to Nana Market in Sukumvit, Bangkok, there is a hotel called Dosa King. This had very good South Indian and Punjabi food. This is a pure Veggie hotel.
In Pattaya, we had pongal and dosa at Madras Darbar. This was ver close to our hotel. There are starbucks everywhere:emwink:

[quote]
What was the climate there? Should we carry umbrellas/ponchos etc?
[/quote]
You dont need ponchos. This is a rainy season for Thailand. But is rains and stops within 30 minutes. Weather was absolutely fabulous, compared to the horrible Chennai. You see lot of greenary and flowers all over the place. Absolutely gorgeous. you font need a ponchos, an umbrella should be sufficient. you can get one there too.

[quote]
I have made an itinerary (some borrowed off your plan earlier). Can you please look at it and let me know of any changes you would suggest:

Day 1

Hotel Check in -10.AM
2PM ChatuChak market
Planning for next day
[/quote]
Did not go there , so cant comment on it.

[quote]
Day 2

Grand Palace
Wat Phra Kaew - Temple of Emerald Buddha
Wat Arun - Temple of Dawn
Wat Traimit - Temple of Golden Buddha
Wat Pho - Temple of Reclining Buddha
Wat Benchamabophit

Is this too much to cover in one day or should this be split over 2 days?
[/quote]

This is actually half a day trip. Emerald buddha is closed for some festival, you can only see it from outside. Golden Buddha is under construction and you cannot see it. But you can go to these temples and see other things. These places have lot of beautiful architecture that you can see and enjoy.

[quote]
Day 3

Rose Garden
Floating Market

Looks like Bangkok to the Floating Market place is 90 to 110Kms. Is this trip worth it or are there better ways to spend the day in Bangkok itself?
[/quote]

this is the best part of our trip. Floating market is out of the world. worth every penny. We loved it so much. I will PM you the links to our pics. Rose garden is actually a small garden with a Thai cultural show. You can see Thai marriage, monk procession, Thai boxing etc. It was OK.

[quote]
Day 4

Bangkok to Pattaya in the morning

Nong Nooch
Beaches
[/quote]
Nong Nooch is a tropical garden. Are you going there by yourself or using a travel guy. You can spend 3 hrs there. It is very beautiful. If you are using a travel guy make sure that you tell him not to take you to the Gems gallery. It is a waste of time. Your time could be spent at the Nong Nooch. The elephant show there is very good.

[quote]
Back to Bangkok late night
[/quote]
This will be very hectic

[quote]
Day 5

Pantip Plaza
Free to Explore local places until 1.00PM
5:30Pm Flight back
Thanks,[/quote]

Are you are travelling by yourself, add some time to bargain and figure things out. you have travel guys sitting at each hotel, you can book day trips that you need from them. Make sure you tell them not to take you to Gems gallery. If you opt for a group tour (I did), it is highly likely that they take the group there. They get commision from them:emwink:

If you ahave kids and are interested in Safari World/Marine Park, you can take them there. I have seen Safari's in US and Canada. This beats them all. This takes one complete day. There are shows similar to Seaworld and Universal Kingdom, 20 min each(Dolphin show, sealion show, Wild Wild West show etc). The Safari is the best.

I did not know that Cambodia is only an hr flight from Bangkok. Had I known that before, I would have visited Siam Reap

HTH

[akila]

Hi Leha Leha,
We are planning on going to Hong Kong with kids next week. Need more travel info. Food availablity, shopping etc?
Thanks
Valli

[poofygoogle]

Are there direct flights from Chennai to Hong kong? Any references for a good travel agency for Hong kong trip?

akila / leha - did you get to visit Hong kong. If so , pls. send the approximate cost per flight ticket, places to visit , any B&B / hotel recomedations. Was it tiring for kids?

[poofygoogle]

Any references for Hong Kong packages?

[Sai_R2I]

Any references for Hong Kong packages?

Sent you a PM with some details - hope it helps.