Well, we have finally adjusted to the time change after our adventure and are really feeling the cold here in Wales, so this is a good time to remember our much warmer days in Thailand.

We left heathrow on a sunday night flight with Thai airways jan 13. This was a risky 200 mile run, as my husband didn't finish work until 12.30 and we needed to drop off the car with a friend near heathrow and check into terminal 3 by about 7pm. fortunately, all went like clockwork and we made it in plenty of time. flight out was uneventful, thank goodness. thai still doesn't have back-of-seat Tv's but we can live with that. what they do have is great leg room.

Arrived at the new airport, very stylish! but our transfer didn't seem to be there (strike one against virgin holidays). Eventually found a helpdesk, who tracked down the agent from pacific western (previous transfers have been with toureast, who are a much more professional outfit). Eventually we got underway; the problem was that we did not appear on their pick up list, but they managed to deal with us. Would have been much quicker I think to have just gotton a taxi ourselves, but as we had a transfer included......

Arrived at the Bel aire princess in short order. We had never stayed there before and thought it was great. Lovely neighbourhood and very close to the skytrain. It's basically across the street from the landmark, but that side of sukhimvit is much more 'seedy'. the amari boulevard was on the same soi, but in an even better location. Also on soi 5 was a great restaurant called gullivers and we ate their most of the time.

Poor planning had left us with 4 nights in bangkok, will reduce this to 3 or even 2 next time. Still, we found things to do! We had a very early start the first day, as Pacific Western phoned us at the hotel at 7am. They were waiting at the airport to collect us, and we were not there (no, we were in the hotel where they phoned us). Still, it got us up. first stop, off to get new glasses. We used Washington Optical in amarin plaza following a recommendation from someone on the forum. My glasses are okay- my first pair of varifocals but my husband peter reports his aren't as good as those we had made 2 years ago in koh samui. The other bad news was that it would take a week to produce the glasses, as oppposed to 2 days in samui, which meant that we would be picking them up on our final night in bangkok, leaving no room for any problems. Also, peter was leaving his frames for new lenses so he would be without prescription glasses for virtually all of our stay.

After Washington Optical we reboarded the skytrain to National Stadium and had lunch at my favourite place, Jim thompson's house. I have always loved it there and this time they had a wonderful exhibition of burmese fabrics in the gallery (free entry). didn't tour the house this time but visited the shop. Most of the silks are beyond my means but I love the greeting cards there and they are so cheap, about 30-40 B so we use them for all occasions. After a couple of very enjoyable hours there, we decided to come home via the canal.

Do check the canal routes in case your hotel lends itself to this. We simply walked to the canal behind JT's house and boarded the boat when it came, travelling to Nana stop. i think the fare was 12 Baht- unreal!. We had to change boats at one point, everyone off of the first and onto the second. I have no idea why, but it worked out okay. Then back to the hotel, getting lost en route, something we specialise in.

Our second full day we had booked a day tour to Ayutthuya, up by coach and return by boat. We had mixed feelings about booking this, but it was lots of fun. The most fun part for me was the stop at Bang Pa, the summer palace. There was so much to see there, and we rented a golf cart for an hour and simply tootled around, stopping to look around various buildings. As we don't golf, we hadn't used these before and we really enjoyed it. Then on the temple ruins of Ayutthaya, which were very beautiful. However, we had previously been to sukhothai which I thought was much more impressive. then on to the pier and a leisurely cruise with lunch down the river, finishing at River city. We then took the skytrain back home.

On our final Bangkok day we went first to MBK to look around and pick up a few things, and then took a taxi to sampang lane, in chinatown. I have become an avid quilter so am always on the lookout for fabrics, and the internet told me that this is the place to do it in bangkok! boy, was this ever true. within about 10 minutes I had purchased 35 yards of fabric ...well, it was only sold in 2 yard lengths, and I saw so many that I liked. My husband thinks I'm crazy but he loves me so has learned to live with it! again, this area is very close to the big river, River Landing 5, so we took the water express bus to central and skytrain again back home. By this time Peter was beginning to worry about our weight limits flying home, so we left all the fabric with the hotel to collect later. Of course leaving it in bangkok would have no effect on the weight of our bags returning to the UK, but at least we didn't have to carry it around the rest of thailand.

next morning back to the airport for a morning flight to phuket for 3 nights. this was the leg which had caused the greatest angst as we really did not know where we wanted to stay. At first we were locked into the virgin hotel listed for our tour (and we had to buy the tour, that was a fixed thing) which was the karon beach resort which in fact looked okay. then virgin said that hotel was unavailable but we could buy another of theirs (for a lot more money). finally they agreed we could do our own thing and they would just provide the transfers- Yes, freedom! then we couldn't decide what to do as we stayed in phuket before and loved the hotel (karon central village) but didn't like the built up ness of phuket.

In the end we decided to stay in khao lak, especially as our next leg was in the khao sok jungle which is next door to khao lak. We stayed in the Orchid, and it was without any contest the best hotel and location we have ever used. Before that our favourite had been the Anatara in the golden triange, but we liked the orchid even better. Just about 50 rooms, built so that all rooms face the sea, beautiful freeform pool with orchid islands, pool bar etc. And a big lawn with lots of loungers and little hut things for sunbathing, napping, reading etc. and of course it is beachfront. technically there is a road between you and the beach, but it doesn't go anywhere, we saw one scooter and a couple of bikes most days. No loungers on the beach, just pristine beauty. We walked for about 30 minutes in each direction before reaching the next building. If you did need to see some activity, the hotel had a shuttle into town throughout the day and evening for 50 b each person each way. we took it into town for dinner most nights.

After 3 nights of paradise, well, except for peter deciding he didn't need sunblock while in the hut with a sort of thatched roof, and ending up with terrible sunburn (and this from a man who wears factor 60 while visiting my family in massachusetts and spending his time at the beach club sitting underneath the pavillion). I think it was just an excuse to spend a day in wonderful air conditioning.

Refreshed and relaxed, we were duly collected by siam safari for our 3 nights at elephant hills camp in khao sok. Now this is really a wonderful place, although when I got home and saw the price of it, I was really shocked- it didn't seem so bad when hidden within the price of a tour. full of soft adventure. we were collected at 10.30 and were very glad we had stayed in KL, as the 4 Phuket people had been collected about 7.30am and been travelling up to get us.

Got into camp an hour later and checked into our tent. well, technically it is a tent, but what a tent it is! Wooden bedstead with mattress- later discovered it was a coconut hair mattress, rustic furniture, kettle and tea etc, and an ensuite bathroom with toilet, basin and shower. all very tastefully done, with a little paved area out front and lounging chairs. There is also a nice lodge where they light a fire every night and you watch dusk (and dawn) happen in the jungle.

After lunch we were taken down a river in canoes, which came complete with a guide to paddle, your contribution was to simply sit in the canoe and watch things!, followed by a couple of hours on an elephant trek. this was a little tamer than last time where we were in mahout school and sat on the elephant's head. This time it was in a chair and was a lot more comfortable. Then back to camp for a nap and dinner. met some very nice people for UK and USA. Early night as we were exhausted. Glad there was a fan as I felt quite hot that night. Also be aware the jungle is noisy all the time (I know, it should be obvious but somehow I expected quiet).

The next day was river day. Taken into the mangrove swamps, about 8 to a motor boat with a guide, saw too many snakes for my liking but everyone else enjoyed seeing the python and so on...then onto a junk for a quick drink, then into kayaks to paddle yourself up a side shoot of mangrove, back to the junk for lunch then to a secluded beach for a hour of quiet and swimming. then back to camp. whew!!

Final full day we were taken to a huge lake created by a dam and driven around it. heard lots of gibbons and saw a couple. There are some floating houses on the lake- you can stay in them- we were taken to a few floating huts for lunch and a short rest. The scenery was out of this world, it looks like the pictures of going down the yangste in china and is the same mountain chain. Great plan to lie around and read in.

Our final morning was trekking from camp, not very far and then lunch was cooked for us in the jungle. I enjoyed the walk and we learned a lot. back to camp for a shower and check out and our transfer to the next destination, krabi, for 3 nights.

Krabi was where we nade our fatal mistake. we booked the Lai thai Resort as it was coming up as number 1 on trip advisor when we booked it. How could this happen!!! It was not very nice at all, and was by far the most expensive hotel of our trip. we did try and move the next day, but virtually everything we looked at was full for the next few days, so we were stuck. I have since discovered that it is being sold, so that might explain the poor customer service and run down nature of the place. However, it did cause us to view quite a few other hotels and get some ideas for next time, because there will be a next time in krabi, as we really liked the place. the other places we looked at, and liked the look of, were the somkiet buri, Vogue resort and spa, Tipa Resort, Ao Nang villa resort and the Princeville Resort. These are all along one end of ao nang; we also like a few hotels the other end but felt they were the wrong end for us- these were krabi thai village resort (the virgin holidays hotel that was also full) and pakasai resort. krabi thai village did have a real 'wow' factor when you went in but a little remote from things.

Can't remember what we did in krabi but relax from our exertions in the jungle. Made the hotel especially disappointing as we had planned to spend a lot of time there relaxing but it was not particularly pleasant. The whole place needs a refit, and breakfast was very disappointing as well. Had some massages in krabi, the best place was on the upper story of a 2 story little shopping area called the sea-of-love. this is just across the street from macdonald's outside the vogue resort. very pleased with the tuk tuk situation in krabi, there is a fixed rate of 20b each person to go anywhere in ao nang (or 40b if only one person travelling).

On to krabi airport and 2 flights up to chiang mai, and back to our old favourite the royal princess. here we were upgraded for our 4 night stay. We always find it invigorating to be in CM and enjoy the liveliness; but this was the first time we visited at the end of a journey rather than the start of one and we did wonder how we would like it that way. It was great!

We had prebooked a day at cooking school on day one. A taste of Thai is where we went and I can recommend it. there were 9 students, american, canadian, uk, french and swiss. We cooked 6 dishes and were they ever good. midway through the day we were taken to a local market and all the ingredients shown and explained to us. i never knew there were so many kinds of rice. the brochure says, don't eat breakfast and it is really good advice. Didn't do a lot in chiang mai except wander around, saw some nice wats and found some fun restaurants. Peter had a suit and two waistcoats made and they look great. As usual the night market was fun and there is a new indoor night market with food court and nightly traditional dancing (free). which was great fun. Peter is a computer addict, and there is a whole shopping centre just a block from our hotel which has nothing but IT stores in it. He was in heaven. Two new hotels looked nearly finished near the royal princess, the meridian and the shangri la, both looked very impressive. meridian is in the better location, right in the night market.

It was with a heavy heart (as our time away was drawing to a close) that we returned to bangkok 17 days after arriving there, but it felt like returning to an old friend back at the bel aire princess. Retrieved our left luggage, but our room wasn't ready so we told them to bring our bags up to our room when ready, and we went out to do our errands.
Returned to washington optical and collected our glasses, then had our only other sort-of disaster. I had decided to return to sampang land and peter said I should go on my own. we found a taxi and put me in it- once getting the driver to understand my destination peter left me as the taxi pulled off. However, the driver pulled over just a few yards after that and said 'mister not coming?' I said no he wasn't and the driver said 'I will take you to a nice place', I said no, I needed to go to sampang lane. The driver said ' I take you there later', then 'I take you to the river, then you take a boat'. At that point I left the taxi, and stayed on public transport-eg the skytrain to the pier, then to landing 5 etc etc. at least no harm was done.

Eventually I made it back to the hotel to discover we had been put into an enormous room on a very high floor- it was bliss. We were able to really enjoy the room as well because our morning pickup wasn't until 10.3am. We spent an hour or so that evening packing and weighing our cases, after the alloted 20 kilo we just put everything else into hand luggage as they don't seem to weigh that. Then went out for a final dinner at gullivers which we enjoyed but it's funny how your views change in just a couple of weeks. When we arrived in thailand we though gullivers was so cheap, but after 2 weeks in other places, we then thought it wasn't very cheap at all! At least not in comparison to the lunch we had had that day in the amarin plaza (where washington optical is)- where we had duck with rice, pad thai and 2 smoothies and still had change from our 200 baht food card!

This was our fourth trip to thailand and our trip was as good as ever. General comments: we liked all our hotels bar the lai thai (DONT GO THERE) and can especially recommend the orchid in khao lak.

We had a lot more massages than previously, and they were of a variable quality. the ones we had on soi 5 near the hotel were not so good and we had the bruises to show for it. We had none in KL or the jungle; 3 different places in krabi, the best by far in the upstairs shop in the sea of love plaza (you gotta love that name). However, Chiang mai wins the massage stakes as always. Leave the royal princess, turn right and there a number of massage places along that road. we have tried several and they are all good. next time I might try massage school for a few days.

Cooking school was great and we will be visiting 'A Taste of thai' again. elephant hills was good, but not good enough for the price they are charging. the website shows about £300 each for 3 nights- for that price we will have to do day trips from KL and krabi instead, although the tents and beauty of the jungle are fun. I did miss airconditioning and a pool though. Excursion to Ayutthaya was okay but once done, not interested in doing it again. On a previous trip, our 2 night trip to river kwai resotel/floating rafts hotel with side trip to tiger temple was probably better, as was a previous stay in the elephant conservation centre in lampang. Jim thompsons was wonderful again and I recommend it to all my friends. None are disappointed. And finally,I was thrilled to discover sampeng lane- that will definitely need a return visit. I did find a road with lots of material shops in CM as well, different things as they supply the tailors, so lots of striped cotton for mens shirts for example. did find some blues with gold/silver flecks for 28B per yard- unreal. If I didn't already have 35 yards waiting in bangkok I would have bought 10 yards each of those!

Our flight back to london was better than ever as we had the first row of seats in economy - eg with a wall in front of us so lots of legroom. The real downer is arriving in heathrow with no warm clothes. We had also taken the precaution of booking the travelodge in reading services so as not to have to drive the 200 miles home after a 12 hour flight, and we were very glad we did, as we were very tired! So all was well, Peter wore his flight socks and I got some sleep. Took me about 2 weeks to sort out the jet lag and here i am, still up at midnight. Couldn't have done this last week.

Thanks to so many here on the forum with so much helpful advice. let me know if I can help out with anything.

Sue ... I have just read your post-holiday report - UNREAL!!! You certainly did fit a lot in for only a 3 week holiday. And you did a lot of things that are (I guess) off the tourist trail. They give us first-timers a lot of ideas to ponder for future Thailand trips - THANX!
Yes ... back to reality is a drag ... but you gotta do it! It must be especially hard to go from tropical weather back to England winter.
Thanx for your report - Kitty

Sue
i really enjoyed that and thank you for sharing.
i was thinking of you both as we arrived back at Gatwick from Cuba as I remember you saying about changing the date of your flight.
took me right there with the writing especially as we have stayed in the bel aire princess, eaten many times in Gullivers and been to Krabi.
hanks a lot

Jackie

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Thanks Sue, what a great read.

Absolutely brilliant read!

Only point on which I would disagree is the number of nights in Bangkok. There is so much to see that I think 4 nights is a minimum unless you have done it all on previous visits.

I do agree that eating out seems cheap until you have done it in otehr parts of Thailand!

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Alison

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It's Better to Burn Out than just to Fade Away!

Thanks Sue
Really enjoyed the read.I have also stayed at the Bel Aire Princess and eaten at Gullivers so your JBR brought back memories.
Cheers laurs

Hi Sue,
Good to hear you had a great time, we were in Krabi in November and stayed at the Somkiet Buri and loved it. We will also be back but we thought we may stay at the Golden Sands Resort on the beachfront, did you see it? When you get to the beach where you pay for the longtails and turn left, it was one of 2 resorts along the foreshore. Did you see all the beach massage places just past there on the way to the Last Fishermans Bar? It was a fun place to spend the day.
I have a few questions about Khao Lak. Is the main town area reasonably built up with plenty of shopping and eating options as there are at Ao Nang? Is there a really nice beach within walking distance from the town? I presume the beach would be nicer than AO Nang, but is it as good as Phra Nang or Railay beach?
Hopefully you get over the post Thailand blues soon, I have been back for 3 months and I am still struggling. I need to start planning my next trip or I will go insane.

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I love Thailand this much

love khao lak! Hard to know your idea of 'built up'. Much less built up than phuket or chaweng, or lamai, etc and much less also than ao nang (much, much less in fact). Many hotels are right on the beach- such as the orchid where we stayed! If staying in town then it would be a trek to the beach. We did see that many people had hired scooters and went to the beach on these. for example, several people had parked these along the road which lead to the orchid hotel, under some trees, and as the road adjoins the beach, they had used the beach in this way. But remember, our hotel was several kilometers from town. Khao Lak had quite a few eateries, we used two, one was good, one not so good, but there seemed to be quite a lot, just need some advice as where to go! some limited shopping, but would advise do main shopping elsewhere.

Beach was the nicest I have ever seen, and I grew up on a beautiful soft white sandy beach in massachusetts, so I appreciate these things! Much nicer than ao nang, or chaweng, which was my favorite before this trip.