Comments on Tong Itinerary

Hi guys,

Tong has come up with this tour for me on the 1st of March, 2007. She is going to be out of the country, so we are going with a member of her team.

Comments?

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If you%26#39;re on the budget, I recommend you to pay lunch on your own and do it with normal sedan..not large one...the guide will be not young at face but young at heart.

Let me figure out...

This program;

- Local Benjarong..for taking pictures and toilet stop.

- Floating Market...take a paddle boat there.

- Royal Thai Handicraft...for taking pictures and toilet stop.

- Lunch on your own.

- The Bridge over the River Kwai.

- Tiger Temple.

- Bangkok.

Ok if a normal sedan + guide fee+gasoline + admission fee + boat fee = 4,850 baht for 2 persons.

If with a large sedan = 5,350 baht for 2 persons.

Comments on Tong Itinerary

Personally, if you just use the sedan which of course would be airconditioned that is a very good price especially with River Kwai and Tiger Temple involved. Enjoy. Plus the bonus is that all your tours are taken care of in one day only. Thats why we are doing the Tong one day tour as well.

Comments on Tong Itinerary

Thanks, I feel it is a good price too seeing as we%26#39;ve gone for the package option and only have to pay for our lunch.

We%26#39;ll probably just go with the normal sedan which I assume will be airconditioned too.

Questions... What on earth is at Benjarong? And, what is a %26#39;normal seden%26#39; in Thailand? I%26#39;m not expecting a BMW, but I%26#39;m hoping it is a bit more than a tiny, cramped Japanese import...

Hi Ashrich

The normal sedan in Thailand, I think Tong mean a Toyota corolla or Honda Jazz and yest it%26#39;s Japanese car and yes it is air cond. We live in hot climate so we need the air cond. : ) so don%26#39;t worry.

You can ask Tong for the type of car. I think she chooses the good car for you. You can make sure with Tong.

The Benjarong is a ceramic pottery with traditon Thai painting. You can look at this web site for pictures

http://www.benjarong.kaijewels.com/

Have fun

Celine

Thanks Celine!

I%26#39;m really excited about our trip! :-)

AshRich

Tong took me on a similar route in August and it was a great day. All stops were worth doing. You will have a wonderful time on this itinerary. Don%26#39;t be worried about going with anyone else on her team...they are all good and will keep you quite happy.

Don%26#39;t miss the Benjarong Factory. They do exquisite work. Pieces are for sale in the shop but it is far from the average ';factory tourist trap';. This small local factory makes pieces for the royal family. All hand made in the most painstaking detail. It%26#39;s facinating watching them work. And most importantly they have the cleanest public bathroom in thailand I think!

If you are going to organize your day with another couple, you need to be sure to let Tong know so she can get a van for you, because 4 people + guide will make for a cramped car. The price will also go up a bit for the van.

Otherwise going on your own (the 2 of you) you will be ok in either sized sedan unless you are very large people. A ';small sedan'; will be taxi-size like Toyota Soluna Vios/ Honda Jazz/Honda City. A large sedan will be Honda Accord, Volvo, Cefiro... something along those lines.

The cars may not be brand new in every case, and they are certainly smaller than the average american car...but I assure you the air conditioning will always be in good working order...bring a sweater for the road trip...haha.

The car will be adequate; the service will be outstanding. Go have fun!

See i wasnt bothered by the Benjarong stop, we didnt even go to the toilet there. I felt if i was being forced to buy something that i wasnt interesed in. We also didnt stop at the Thai Handicraft, it wasnt really our thing either. We used toilets at the petrol stations anyway that were perfectly fine, dont forget your toilet roll ;)

I wasnt that impressed by our guide that Tong provided us with, he was always saying ';you can buy'; %26amp; i really hate people looking at me like a walking ATM card. The guide we had was Charlie, i would ask for someone else if you can.

Sorry, i wasnt clear. if Tong suggests Charlie, i would ask for someone eles. We also had a lot of trouble understanding him, he spoke so quick but that isnt his fault!

Hi Plantie

I have read many good reports about Charlie so perhaps the two of you just weren%26#39;t a good mix? Anyway, I hope if you were unhappy with Charlie%26#39;s service that you forwarded your concerns to Tong. She is always very concerned about the happiness of her clients and the hospitality and integrity of the guides on her team.

I know Charlie worked at the US Embassy for years and is very highly regarded as an honest guide. It sounds out of character for him to pressure you into buying anything. I%26#39;m sure he said you could buy there, but I doubt it was with any ulterior motives.

Tong has saved me more than the price of her daily rate by bargaining for me in certain shopping situations, sometimes to the point of me feeling bad for the merchant! She considers it the duty of her guides to bargain well for her clients.

It%26#39;s too bad you didn%26#39;t see the benjarong factory or the handicraft place. I thought they were both great. I personally have a keen interest in local handicrafts, particularly when I can actually see the work being done and the work is of such high quality.

But everyone has things they like and don%26#39;t like. To each their own!

So I will just beg to differ and say that anyone with an interest in handicrafts should not miss these two places IMHO.

The bathrooms are just a bonus!! : )

Thanks for the comments!

Really looking forward to our day with someone on Tong%26#39;s team!

Im sure Tong is great as she has had so many good reviews %26amp; Charlie was a good enough guide, just nothing spectacular. Maybe he was saying ';You can buy'; instead of you buy but i didnt really need it pointing it out for me as its pretty obvious what you can buy in Thailand, everyhting for the right price ;) We couldnt find any reviews of Charlie before we went so we thought we%26#39;d chance it.

I am into local culture but i didnt like intruding into someones place of work %26amp; then the shop being specifically open so that we should buy something. It wasnt our thing %26amp; yes i%26#39;ll admit it. I would have personally spent more time at the Grand Palace.

We still enjoyed our day but just didnt feel we got our money%26#39;s worth. Especially as the aircon in the car broke %26amp; we were dropped home early.

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