Valda - that's a great report and I really enjoyed seeing the pictures. My, you did and saw and experienced a lot. Oh my God! Your photo of you with the tigers! Crikey! And I really envied you the swimming pool at your resort.
Valda, you have a great traveller's eye. I have one suggestion for future travellers. Thailand is one of the most user-friend destinations for travellers that I have visited. You'd have to take an ad out in the newspapers to find a rude person. Public transport - trucks, boats, tuktuks, taxis, trains - is wonderful and inexpensive. And the food is heavenly, always prepared in a healthy way - lots of light sautées. One eats 5 times a day and comes home thinner. One can even book trains now long-distance. Therefore may I recommend that travellers not join a packaged tour to visit this wonderful, hospitable country. As for the language problem, make it a game. I learned about 20 words, including "not too spicy or I will die" . In restaurants faced with a totally inaccessible menu, I would get up and indicate to the waiters dishes that others were having that looked good to me. The trip report convinces me more than ever that we should not subject ourselves to packaged tours with their hotel karaoke buffets, especially in a country with one of the best cuisines in the world. Lastly, an independent traveller will have all the more contact with the Thais. What an attractive, friendly people. Once we were lost on Soi Lang Suan in downtown Bangkok, looking for a certain restaurant. An office lady seeing us walking back and forth in 35°C noonday heat took pity on us and came out of her aircon building with a glass of iced water for us. I wanted to marry her! (And I am not even gay.) (Yet.) She even led us back to her aircon office and searched the phonebook and made phone inquiries to help us find our restaurant down a sub-sub-sub-soi. Every time when I come home to Paris from Thailand, I find myself smiling all the time - to no one, for nothing, in particular - until I noticed that people around me, especially on the metro, looked really scared by me.
Americana, you are quite right! Thailand is all the things you say with the Thai people as the jewels in the crown.
Your criticism of package tours has always been mine and that is why, in my 66 years, I have only ever been on two of them (both 2 weeks in length) and I've visited every continent.
You are certainly correct in saying that independent travellers have much more opportunity to mingle with the people of the country but often this contact is very superficial and can't really count as getting to know the people well. Often these contacts happen on organised tours, too, as we experienced on our trip. A lot depends on the way the tour is organised and how big the group is (ours was only 10 people) and how much the traveller him/herself seeks time and space to reach out to the local people.
Yes, the food factor in Thailand was disappointing until the participants of our tour group took things into their own hands and after two days said something to the effect of "Thank you but no thank you. We'll find our own places to eat and experiment" when offered a buffet meal. Once again, this depends on how the group reacts to the "safety net" of meals organised by the tour company. We were fortunate in the fact that, after the first couple of days, most of our group wanted to try everything edible - except the rats! I have to admit that the two karaoke buffets, in what was otherwise a fabulous resort, were excruciatingly painful! But we did notice that the Thais absolutely love karaoke wherever we went - so, in actual fact, the experience was very "Thai"
We, and I'm sure lots of other people, go on a group tour as an initial, exploratory venture and as an overview of a place with the intention of going back as independent travellers "next time". This is what we intend to do with Vietnam and Thailand.
Often package tours are great value for money and fill the needs of older people who are over wanting to organise and plan all the transport and accommodation in places in which they feel out of their comfort zone. Some people of a certain age can't physically cope with independent travel any more (this is not our case..........yet!)
We often say fervently, "Travelling can be hard work, worth it in the end but often exhausting". And so, even slow travellers like us, sometimes like to just relax and let others do the hard work.
even slow travellers like us, sometimes like to just relax and let others do the hard work.
Valda, I did not mean to criticize your choice. I was trying to be reassuring to future travellers that in fact independent travelling in Thailand - and organizing the trip - is much less daunting than it seems. The tourist infrastructure is efficient and well run. The predominantly Buddhist people go out of their way to help one, without even aiming for a tip or anything like that - or maybe the big tip in the afterlife. And I do not recommend independent planning for everyone for every trip. I am not an FI - a fundamentalist independentist. The funny thing is that you ended up ditching a good part of the "package" and struck out on your own any way, at least meal-wise, but having read your previous posts, I expect no less from you.
Originally posted by valda: ... But we did notice that the Thais absolutely love karaoke wherever we went - so, in actual fact, the experience was very "Thai" ...
Not only is karaoke very Thai but buffets are very Thai. I travel a lot to Khon Kaen and there are almost uncountable buffets ranging in cost from 69 baht to 159 baht. The food is Thai and some western so you have your choice. They are generally packed with people and families. Almost all private parties have a karaoke also. The Thais love to sing both pop and folk (tarditional).
Valda ... welcome to the tiger petting club. I pet my tiger at Samut Prakhan. It is an experience I'll never forget.
Posts: 663 | Location: Palmyra, NJ, USA | Registered: 29 July 2003
Avvocato, I was referring to packaged tour hotel buffets. Karaoke is popular in Asia, yes, but not with everyone. Now more and more diners want the karaoke partiers to be confined in a private room - sort of like smokers in the west. Btw that is one beautiful big pussy cat. He is a buffet all by himself.
I found your report on the Everything Else forum and just had to come here to post a comment.
I thought your report was wonderful and I really enjoyed reading about your experiences in Thailand. Your photo with the tigers (wow!)and your description of the elephant ride and the beautiful Grand Palace was so great. Did you do a photo album? I'll go check.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Kathy
Posts: 689 | Location: California | Registered: 19 September 2004
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. I would have been worried sick about food poisoning, the snakes, the spiders and the toliets. 
