Japan

Thailand

 

And so it begins. I haven’t been back to Thailand in 4 years - the longest ever since I left the country I used to call home. This time around I’m bringing with me some folks - the mister, the mister’s parents, and 3 friends. Talk about diversity! One thing for sure, it’ll be a very long awaited time off from work, and that alone is worth day-dreaming about.

Step one: Dates. This portion wasn’t so difficult. We’ve split up into 3 groups - A: me and linc, B: the parents, C: the friends. All of us will have slightly different iteneraries, coming and going at different times depending on everyone’s availability. This makes it a lot easier - no compromise needed. We’re off to a good start.

Step two: Flights. For the past 10 years I’ve always relied on BJ Travel (1-800-878-559) like a loyal little puppy. I’ve already spent many hours shopping around for tickets to Thailand and unless there are super duper deals offered directly from the airlines, your best bet is always a Thai travel agent. See list here. Most agent speak enough english to get by, but I’m not sure if they’ll give you the same discount if you are not Thai. For December departures, always book your flights by August. We got ours for $1165 RT with stop-over in Japan. Cha-ching.

Step 3: Decide what to do in broad stroke. We’re going to be in Japan (mainly Hokkaido) for 7 days, then continue to Bangkok. We’ll use BKK as home-base and spend another 6 days down south. For the purpose of blogging useful information without derailing, I’ll just cover our itenerary (A) and mention only briefly the others when applicable.

Japan

Photo by Jevaun

Note to all travelers to Japan. If you plan on traveling by air domestically, it is worthwhile to buy your INTERNATIONAL ticket on a Japan carrier (JAL or ANA). Can’t read Japanese or don’t know where to start? JTB - Japan Travel Beureau will be your best bud. With a JAL international ticket, you can opt to purchase any domestic flights at heavily discounted rate. Plus they do all the work for you and the prices are good.

Because we’re continuing to Bangkok, we didn’t do this, and so we had to endure the $270 RT cost on ANA from Haneda (Tokyo domestic airport) to Chitose (Sapporo international airport) on top of the most obscure online booking interface ON THE PLANET. Need to buy domestic ticket from your American living room? Go here, and good luck. Make sure you write down the 3 digit reservation code on a piece of paper. If you do ANYTHING wrong, you won’t be able to click the BACK button. This means “start over”. Engrish instruction doesn’t help either. Once you’ve figured the whole thing out, remember to select “email itenerary” option. The system will not send you confirmation email if you do not do this. Once you paid in full (recommended), and receive all the emails, be sure to check and print out how to redeem your ticket. (shortcut link for you here) Why? well, because once you get to the Haneda airport you’ll not only have to find this check-in machine, but also use it. There’s no English option on the machine so it helps to print out the English instruction and play guessing game later. What a nightmare.

After squaring down our tickets, we now had to book hotels in Tokyo for our few days of layover.

We had visited Tokyo before in 2004 and stayed at Tama Ryokan. It is a modest and tiny little house - not quite a ryokan - in the heart of Shinjuku (Takadanobaba Station on Yamanote Line). For about $80 a night per couple, you get traditional tatami room, nice basic futon, and all the basic amenities you would expect if you were sleeping at someone’s house. We especially like this because it’s cheap and it’s a more personal experience closer to typical Japanese lifestyle (as oppose to tourist lifestyle). Don’t miss their ofuro style bathroom. Michael (Tama owner) is American and does all transactions via email, making reservations very convenient.

Now that we have our Tokyo stay and Hokkaido flight, the next step is to get to the mountain. Our goal is very simple — snowboarding. Yup. That’s it. I started the search process by hitting up Snow Japan, browsed through various different region and picked a spot that had ample sized mountain that’s guaranteed to have decent snow by mid December. 2 names made the final list: Niseko and Furano.

According to various reviews on Snow Japan, it looks like Niseko could be a better choice with more things to do off slope. Most of the peeps that go to Hokkaido are Aussies. I wonder why? Outfitters like Niseko Powder Connection or Ski Japan all assumes you’re either an Aussie or coming from Australia. We only want the land package so this wasn’t a big deal. I have to admit I didn’t do a lot of research on this leg. Most of the places listed on the outfitters’ sites have rather mediocre pictures and descriptions. The best looking option if you’re heading out there is to go with a big group and just get a private condo (labeled “self contained”). There are only two of us on this leg so we’re stuck with either a lodge or a hotel. We opted for Niseko Park Hotel with Ski Japan. Our package came out to about $920+ USD per person. This includes the nice tatami room at the hotel for 5 nights + 4 day all-moutain pass + RT airport transfer. We were also quoted for about $650+ for an equivalent package at Lodge Uranaka. Not sure if Niseko Park is worth the 300+ difference. I guess we shall find out soon.

We also debated heavily on whether we should lug our gears with us on this trip. I for one, am adamant about my board. It would be so much better to ride in my own gear. Alas, the thought of hauling such load for one month straight going from country to country simply outweighted the appeal of 4-day usage. Swift search confirms that rentals of demo quality gears will run about $160-$200 for 4 days. Bite the bullet.

This about wraps up the main essentials in Japan. We decided not to get the JR RailPass, which is the all-you-can-ride train pass for tourists. If your plan involves going from cities to cities by land, it is highly recommended that you get the railpass. JTB can arrange that for you. As far as whether you should get the “regular” or the “green” — GO FOR THE GREEN. You’ll thank me later for this. I had this dilemma on our 2004 trip and someone told me to get the green pass (raji-san thanks!). This is the one few item that is worth the splurge.

The only item on our to-do list in tokyo is to visit the Studio Ghibli, which sadly was closed when we tried to stop by in 04. Otherwise, we’ll likely eat, meet up with friends, and let spontaneity take us wherever.

Thailand

Photo by Mr.Mark

Ahh, the motherland.

Planning for this leg is very much a breeze to me. However, others on the trip have taken subtantially more time. We already have the flight dates so the first thing we need to square down is determine where in Thailand we’ll be. The hard part here is to satisfy the needs of 3 very different groups while making sure I don’t sign myself up for a non-vacation vacation.

For the most part I picked the general destination choices and had each group make their final decision themselves. I try to arrange the domestic travel dates so that the groups can overlap. I’m a big fan of the south largely because my family came from the south. The beaches there are magnificent. The food is awesome (tho I shall say southern Thai cuisines are not for the faint of heart). And I just love that beachy feeling of a true vacation. Some would say, what about Chiangmai? I’ve been to Chiangmai once when I was a child and also a few provinces in that area a few more. Chiangmai in winter is cold (~40 - 50F) and feels very much like spring time in northeast USA. There are lots of pretty western flowers (tulips and daffodils and whatnot) and mountain scenery. If I don’t already live in a cold-ass place with tons of spring flowers blooming at every corner deli, that might sound enticing. But I do, so I go south. When ask “what about elephant riding?” and “what about those totally cool and weird mountain tribe people?”, here are my answers: First - elephant riding is cruel. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. Sure you can pet them, feed them, marvel at them and all that. Riding them is a whole different story. The elephant-man controls the elephant by sticking a giant metal hook in its ears. This allows the man to “tell” the elephant what to do and where to go. Would you want a giant hook in your ears? Second - those tribes folks may look exotic but they dont’ shower a lot and are kind of smelly. Obviously this isn’t to poke fun of the locals. If I live up in some cold mountain town with hardly any insulation in my home let alone hot water I wouldn’t shower often either.

Ok, enough dissing of Chiangmai. I’m sure it is many people’s cup of tea. It’s just not mine.

On this leg, our three groups all have slightly different motives. Linc and myself prefers “off the beaten path” type stuff. His parents (group B) are more of a genuine 5 star resort dweller. Our three friends (group C) are the party seekers. I had some help planning southern Thailand portion from an agent in Thailand name K.Khamrop from In Siam Travel (lame website alert). He doesn’t speak english but he can communicate effectively in english via email. K.Khamrop has worked with my mom before so he was referred to me to help build out the tours and trip for this leg. At first I was a bit skeptical. I’m not a fan of “tours”. However, I was told (and I shall find out soon) that most of what K.Khamrop organizes are small group of personalized trips with private guides. That sounds pretty neat. Here’s a break down of what we are all doing. Flickr, believe it or not, is a fantastic way to see all these destinations. Why go for the postcard pictures when you can look at people’s vacation pics?

Group A: Trang - Krabi (7 days, 6 nights)
Overnight train from BKK to Trang. Agent will pick us up. First stop is the Emerald Cave, then snorkeling among series of trang islands via private speed boat including Koh Rok, Koh Kradan, Koh Mah, Koh Cherk, and Koh Ngai. We’ll be staying at Koh Ngai resort for portions of the stay and Amari Trang Beach resort for some. Following that, a van will pick us up and shuttle us to Krabi. Along the way we’ll visit a few places such as the hot springs and the emerald pond. Once in Krabi we will be meeting up with group B and C to do a tour of Krabi islands, including Koh Phi-Phi, Koh Phai (bamboo), and a couple of bays. I’m hoping to squeeze in some sea kayaking and rock climbing at Railay Bay also. We have our hotel reservation at Railay Bay Beach resort, which is a convenient beach front property private enough but is still quick to get to Ao Nang (town center) for food and booze. We contemplated staying on Koh Phi-Phi. It would have been a pretty good choice there as well. More info on Krabi here.

Group B: Krabi Only

Group C: Samui - Krabi

Because we are heading there at peak season, everything becomes excruciatingly more expensive. We were quoted 39,000 BHT for our package (hotels + transfers + tours + most meals included). On a normal week the prices can be as low as 2/3 this. For a moment during planning this stage, my anal-retentiveness kicked in and I tried to see if I could get a better deal than that of K.Khamrop. One of the most important lesson learned from that is if you are planning on going in December, you should have your Krabi hotels booked by August. Most nice places around there also prefer if you stay a full week (as oppose to 6 nights like ours). By the time I got around to this it was already October. We didn’t end up finding anything better than what K.Khamrop had to offer because everything was simply booked. Short of growing more gray hair, we called it a day and moved on to other planning.

Now that the south is done, we just have to work around the dates for our BKK stay. A lot of people say that when you go to Thailand, spend as little time in BKK as possible. I was born there and grew up there for a good chunk of my life so I guess I see it differently. We are going to be staying at The Montien Hotel — and old world charming hotel that exudes traditional thai aesthetics all around. Good news is it belongs to a good friend of mine from college so reservations and what not was a breeze. You could also book directly online at the hotel’s website as well. Prior to this I’ve also looked around for a more stylish boutique style dwellings normally seen in fancy magazines — just for kicks and giggles. If it were not high season, I would highly suggest going there. Not for me tho — we are going during peak and I can already think of a million better things to sink my hard earned cash on. A very interesting website to start browing boutique hotels around the world is the CoolHunter. They also have an article about the world’s best spas — oh my.

I didn’t have any great activity details planned for BKK for the crew. My mom was nice enough to get us a van reserved for 1500 BHT / day from her factory. This will save us a buttload of what would otherwise be enormous amount of taxi fees. (Yes, taxi is one of those things in BKK that’s just a tad more expensive than it needs to be) Aside from the usual tourist attractions, I’m hoping to swing by the Vimarnmek Palace, which I think is simply magnificent. If time allows, a speedboat tour up the Chao Praya river to the old capital Ayuthaya sounds pretty neat as well. The rest of the time in BKK is most definitely best spent eating, shopping, drinking, and hanging out with friends.

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The last section here is dedicated to a small bullet list of things to take when going to Thailand that people otherwise might forget.

- Insect repellent cream for those herds of mozzies.
- At least Hep-A shot. Consult your doctor. Some folks also consider Hep-B, Typhoid, and Malaria (tho this isnt that common in metropolitan areas)
- Sunscreen. Lots o Sunscreen.
- Converter or adapter for your electronic gadgets.
- Your health insurance card. A few fancy hospital in Thailand accepts US insurance. Otherwise, should anything happen you can at least file a claim. Don’t worry, BKK has fantastic medical facilities if you have the money.
- Long pants - required for temple visits.
- Oil blotting paper for your face. You *will* sweat. All day. All the time.
- Get this over there –> you should carry a small thinggy of tissue at all time. This comes especially handy for bathroom as much as for street-side restaurants.

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I wont be blogging while I’m on the trip so the actual trip notes will come when I return. Until then, have a safe and fantastic holidays.