Hello all,
I am new to this forum and have just finished planning my first trip to Thailand for September 2007 for myself and my GF.

We are flying from UK to BKK on 1st September with Qatar Airways and then have 3 days in BKK staying at the Mandarin hotel in Silom area. We then fly onto Koh Samui and stay at the Malibu Resort in Chewang for 9 days before flying back to BKK and straight onto the UK flight home on the 14th.

So questions:
1) Does anyone have any reviews / opinions on the accomodation in both BKK & Samui? - I have done the usual web searchs for reviews.

2) Although we are new to thailand we have travelled europe a fair bit but the thought of a totally new culture has me excited and a little nervous... is there any general advise or warnings to follow?

3) When in BKK I plan to do a day following a 'tour' that I have found on the web - starting on the river and working way up to the Grand Palace and the more popular Wats before making way up to Koh San Road and along to the Golden Mount and then onto a canal boat back into the centre.... I have all the instructions - hopefully it will all go OK... again - Any advise or things to watch out for?

4) We also hope to have a night cruise / meal on the river one evening ... is this something that easy to book once over there? or should I look to book something before we travel?

5) Finally - the flights... has anyone flown with Qatar? if so - any info on the service / stop over in Doha etc? and then once in Bangkok... is the airport easy to navigate etc.... I hear that at the moment both new and old airports are in use again ... hopefully flying with Qatar and then Bangkok Airways we will just be using the NEW airport !!!

Anyway - as you can see - lots of questions... (mainly due to excitement but also a little aprehension at a first visit to a new place)

Any help / advise / tips or warnings will be much welcome.

Cheers in advance... John - Leeds / UK.

So questions:
1) Does anyone have any reviews / opinions on the accomodation in both BKK & Samui? - I have done the usual web searchs for reviews.

Sorry, don't know either but sure someone will be able to help.

2) Although we are new to thailand we have travelled europe a fair bit but the thought of a totally new culture has me excited and a little nervous... is there any general advise or warnings to follow?

As with any new place, keep your wits about you , but a smile will get you quite a way in Thailand. Personally, i have not gotten into any tough situations (looking for wood to touch!) but as with any place, don't put yourself into anything that looks dodgy.

3) When in BKK I plan to do a day following a 'tour' that I have found on the web - starting on the river and working way up to the Grand Palace and the more popular Wats before making way up to Koh San Road and along to the Golden Mount and then onto a canal boat back into the centre.... I have all the instructions - hopefully it will all go OK... again - Any advise or things to watch out for?

Sounds great, we did the same without the help of a tour, and managed to find our way about. My wife is not the most adventurous of people (i will give anything a go), but she enjoied this more than she thought she would, and is getting more relaxed now.

4) We also hope to have a night cruise / meal on the river one evening ... is this something that easy to book once over there? or should I look to book something before we travel?
Lots of options once you get there, this could definitely be arranged through your hotel or tour rep if you can't find another option.

5) Finally - the flights... has anyone flown with Qatar? if so - any info on the service / stop over in Doha etc? and then once in Bangkok... is the airport easy to navigate etc.... I hear that at the moment both new and old airports are in use again ... hopefully flying with Qatar and then Bangkok Airways we will just be using the NEW airport !!!

No help on this one either, sorry.

Hope that my answers help a bit though. Enjoy the build up, and i did a fair bit of reading before we went so that i knew something of what was to be expected, it was far better than expected though. We leave on Friday for our third visit - it does have a hook on us.

Thanks for the answers Wayne... I will keep reading up and trawling the forums.

I really cant wait to get going.... I keep having to pull myself back a little bit so as not to wish the full summer away