Testimonials
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We are a family of 4, my wife Kerry, Joel (10), Caleb (7) and myself that travelled to Thailand in June 09.We had been many times before but this was the first time that we had booked the services of Tong for a full day trip to the Floating Market and Kachanaburi. She came highly recommended from members at the Fodors travel site so we thought that we would diverge from our normal method of independent travel and use a guide for the first time.
We had arranged to be collected from the hotel at 7am. We had breakfast as part of our hotel room rate, but all that was available when I got down there at 6.45 was coffee and juice. This was all I really wanted as I knew that the trip to the floating market would include a lot of wonderful Thai food, so I settled down with a steaming hot cup and waited for Tong. About 5 minutes later I saw a beautiful lady of approx 30, with a smile so wide that it instantly made my spirits soar, approach me.
“MISTER SHANE ?”..She enquired of me. Why did I feel like giving her a hug? I have heard so many great things about Tong, but nothing could have prepared me for the instant connection that I felt with this energetic, warm hearted women. I had high expectations of this day and this generally leads to various degrees of disappointment, but in that instant, I knew that this day would be special.
We spent the next hour, oblivious to the Bangkok traffic, taking in the amazing scenes and listening to Tong talk about religion and politics and history and salt farms and fish sauce factories. It didn’t really matter what she was talking about, it was the fact that it was coming from her that made it so interesting.
Our first stop was the Train Track Market. This place is really much more fascinating than I ever imagined, especially with Tong explaining about all the array of fruits, vegetables, spices and various kinds of protein, many still moving, that were for sale on either side, and in some cases, actually on an active passenger rail line. Apparently, due to the very cheap rent in this section of the market, many of the vendors choose to pack and unpack their produce up to 8 times a day to let the train go past. Tong times the visit to perfection so as we get to the end of the market, we hear a train coming and watch the frantic activity as a market rapidly turns back into a train track to allow a very large steam train to pass. This is an absolutely astounding sight and as the train moves away at high speed the vendors instantly begin to reconstruct their stalls and continue on with the day’s trade.
The pace of the train is now matched by Tong as she grabs both the boys by the hand and whisks them away and we are left in her wake. She is determined to get us to our next destination before the bus loads of tourists descend so to maximize our enjoyment. Tong has purchased some little pancakes filled with coconut and spring onion for us and popcorn for the kids and we devour these as we drive to the Floating Market which is only about 10 minutes away.
Many people visit the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market but I feel that very few would get the full experience that you get when you travel with Tong. She has already called many of the food vendors to arrange where to meet and collect her pre-orders of the freshest and best produce. She chooses a more authentic boat which is paddled manually rather than the noisy diesel powered long tail boats that many of the other tourists take. We feast on Noodle soup and BBQ chicken and coconut pancakes whilst sipping ice coffee in a plastic bag. Kerry and the boys make a few souvenir purchases with Tong assisting with the negotiations. I sit back, totally absorbed by the sights and the smells.
We leave the market area and float past many local residences, some reasonably luxurious, to take in the local lifestyle around this now highly tourist orientated market. We pull up at another food vendor, next to a boat filled with early teen Thai school girls. The exchanges between the girls and Joel and Caleb, translated both ways by Tong, are priceless. We will have to watch the boys more closely on the next few trips.
After the market, we briefly stop in at a large handi-craft factory where many skilled wood carvers are at work producing masterpieces. This is a nice little stopover and there is certainly no pressure to buy anything but I will one day return and fill a shipping container with some of the magnificent hand crafted furniture.
The next stop will be the Tiger Temple and we settle in for an hour plus drive with Tong putting on a movie for the boys. As we approach, Tong stops the movie to give us some history of the Temple as well as lay down some safety guidelines for the boys. She answers all of our questions and openly discusses some of my concerns about the “conservation vs. commercialism” approach of the temple. She shares with me her personal opinion, that out of respect to her I will not commit to print, but she encourages me to draw my own conclusions.
The first thing that strikes me about the Tiger Temple is the huge numbers of these magnificent animals that they have on display. Some are chained, some walk with monks, all look to be of perfect health and I cannot see any outward evidence of mistreatment. The staff and a small army of foreign volunteers all seem to have the best interest of the animals and the visitors at heart.
We choose to treat the kids with an additional experience and pay an extra 2000 baht on top of the 500 per person entry fee that will allow them 45 minute feeding and play time with 4 eight week old cubs. This is undoubtedly the highlight of our visit as they share this time with only one other couple, the main keeper and a few of the volunteers that all seem to be in awe of these youngsters as much as our boys are. They get to play with all of the cubs and they each bottle feed one of them. The only restriction is that they are not allowed to pick them up.
There are a multitude of up-close photo opportunities and Tong is always getting us to the best position and to the front of the line. She uses her friendship with many of the staff there to our advantage. She has brought along bags of popcorn for the staff and milk tablets that we hand feed to some of the juvenile tigers.
There are many other animals that roam free in the Temple, like deer and water buffalo and wild boar. They are currently making many improvements to the centre and you can certainly see where some of your money is going.
Is it commercial? Certainly. Is it good for the Tigers? Probably not, but with the wild tiger in Thailand on the verge of being hunted to extinction, I feel that it does have the capacity to do good. Whether it uses it’s position for the good of the species or not will remain to be seen, but I certainly wouldn’t discourage or encourage people to visit. Make up your own mind. Would I return? Probably not, but the kids really enjoyed it and they leaned more about the tigers plight than they would have if they had not gone.
It was going to be difficult to top this experience, but our next stop won first prize for the highlight of the day. We had been on many Elephant rides in our previous visits to Thailand but this promised to be a little different, and it certainly lived up to its promise. The price seemed a little steep at first at 500baht for each of us, but I would pay at least four times this price to have this opportunity again.
We arrived at the Elephant camp and changed into our swim wear as the majority of our time with these beasts would be spent in the river. Tong rounded up the Mahout’s and they took us to meet our elephants. I cannot remember their names in Thai but they translated to “Full Moon” and “Beautiful Women”.
The Mahout’s presented us with 2 large bags of bananas that we got to hand feed to these immense creatures. I had fed elephants before but on this occasion we were encouraged to get so close and personal with our animals that I could feel their tongues caressing my palm as they took the fruit from my hand.
As I was feeding Full Moon, I noticed Beautiful Women’s trunk reach over my shoulder and lift the other bunch of banana’s, plastic bag and all, from the step behind me. Apparently, one banana at a time is not the way an elephant prefers to eat. We wrestled with her to try and retrieve the bag, but to no avail. The Mahout did not share our concern, and we found out why when Beautiful Women spat out the bag without a trace of the several dozen bananas that it once contained.
We then moved to a platform and thought that we would wait there whilst our two girls had basket’s placed on their backs for us to ride in. What happened next surprised me a little as these very large animals were walked up to the platform straight away. It would seem that we were about to ride down to the river bareback. I could see the horror in Kerry’s face. I was not all that worried about myself but I was a little uneasy about the kids being able to hold on. I would have been even more concerned if I had been able to see how steep the descent down to the water actually was.
In the ten minutes or so that it took to get down to the river, I held on to our elephant with my thighs whilst I held on to Joel with both hands, not daring to turn around to find out how Kerry and Caleb were doing. It was a great relief to make it down to the river and I finally had a chance to gaze around and see how surreal the surroundings were. We were sitting on elephants, who were two thirds submerged in the waters of one of the most breathtakingly beautiful stretches of the River Kwai that one could possibly imagine.
Next the Mahout took out two large brushes and handed one to each of myself and Joel. He then proceeded to empty the contents of a bottle onto the back of Full Moon as he sang out “SHAMPOO….SHAMPOO…” So we all scrubbed away at our elephants whilst the Mahout inspected our efforts. Full Moon assisted the process by constantly spraying her back, and us, with many gallons of water freshly siphoned from the river.
After we got our girls clean, from head to tail, the Mahouts showed us how to climb up onto an elephant by using their trunks as an elevating platform. This of course presented an amazing photo opportunity and luckily Tong was busily snapping away with my camera from the bank. The next trick was to try and sit on the Elephants neck, holding its ears, whilst they swayed and rolled their heads trying to dislodge us. A Pachyderm rodeo of sorts. This was the highlight for the kids who tried in vain, on a multitude of occasions, to stay on their beast, but on every one of these attempts they ended up being flung into the water. We were all convinced that both Full Moon and Beautiful Women enjoyed this game as much as what we did.
After at least an hour in the river, we climbed back onto our animals and rode back to the Elephant camp, much more confident this time, and bid a sad farewell to our extremely large friends. While we got changed, Caleb showed his joy by thanking me to bringing him to “paradise” and asked me why we didn’t live in Thailand.
Tong had anticipated our desire to end out day with a good feed and had ordered ahead to one of her favorite local restaurants that was close to the Elephant camp. We all shared a feast of Fried Rice, Tom Kha Gai and Crumbed Shrimp washed down with an iced cold Chang. A wonderful way to end a memorable day.
We parted ways with Tong in Kachanaburi at the V N Guesthouse, our humble abode for the next two nights. It was an emotional farewell to our new friend, but we have no doubt that we will spend some time with her again.
Shane Koelmeyer & Family.
June 2009
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A trip to the land of smiles is a must for everyone at least once in his or her life. But having Tong's guides to show you around the place is the difference between having a good time in Thailand and having a GREAT time in Thailand. Owing to Tong's ever growing popularity , I contacted her FOUR months before my travel at the end of November. To be honest I was NOT suprised that she responded saying that she was already booed for the dates I would be there. But she agreed to accomodate my requests. Since I would be travelling alone, I was attracted by her policy of price per guide/car and not per tourist. I wanted to be all by myself and the guide with me since I do have the tendency to talk a lot and ask a lot of questions. I realized it would seem I was monopolizing the guide's time if I were part of a group. Anyways... after a few emails back and forth, we settled on my itinerary.
On the day I landed (at morning 7AM), I was received at the airport by a driver in her employ and when I reached the hotel, I met the guide for the day named Get. As earlier agreed with Tong, it would be a day of a "general tour" around Bangkok in the car itself. The guide Get took me around and I saw from the outside, places I would be seeing the insides of in the coming days. It was wonderful being with Get because she was able to answer all my questions and has a friendly nature. Lunch at the S&P near the grand palace was my first real introduction to Thai food and I loved every bit of it (not just the food but the whole script of how to order, how to use the utensils, the names of foods, the table etiquette etc.).
On Day 2, we had agreed on using public transportation. It was beter this way to avoid the legendary Bangkok traffic. The previous day, were stuck in traffic a few times. Get took me to the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, the Chatuchak Market and a floating market that has not yet been discovered by tourists. All were great places! At the floating market (not so much of floating going around), I sampled street food for the first time. Wow! What tastes and smells and sights and feel and sounds. All 5 senses were pleasurably assaulted and I knew that it would great days ahead (so thus my sixth sense was also activated :) ). Get was a blessing for me at Chatuchak or else I would have been lost!
On Day 3, again using public transportation, Get took me to Wat Benjamaphobit, Vivanmek mansion. I enjoyed the latter more than the former. We had started off the day at the flower market, Yaowarat and Phahurat. All were great places and I just indulged myself in the questions to Get and eating yummy fruits, stall food and finally dim sum and shark fin soup at Yaowarat.
On Day 4, since I would be going out of Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, Tong assigned me a driver cum guide named Charlie. What a guy! What a guide! What a day! While I highly recommend Get's service, Charlie was even more great! Here is a history buff who can really explain a lot to you. Not only that, he talks a lot (some people have previously complained he talks too much and that he has a strong accent), but not for me! I really enjoyed his company. Well actually, it worked both ways. I was saying soooo many jokes to him on the way, that he pleaded me to stop coz his eyes were watering up with laughing and he could not drive properly. He has such a great sense of humor that you never get bored with him. We first visited the train market. I couldnt spend as much time as I wanted to because of the tight schedule for the rest of the day. Damnasadouek floating market was next. Owing to my peculiar circumstances, I could not do much shopping in Bangkok, so just seeing the market around was the highlight of my visit there. We then visited the Tiger temple. What an experience! Not just being with the tigers but also making jokes about tigers and wild animals with Charlie ("Hey Tony! Now you go lie with tiger, but dont get her pregnant!"). He took me to a restaurant nearby and I had the opportunity to meet another one of Tong's guides named Nui. I had read much about her in the website reviews and by coincidence she was lunching with a tour group then.
I highly recommend the services of Get and Charlie. While both are knowledgeable, friendly and very supportive, each has their own special characteristics. Thank you Get, Charlie and Tong for what you did for me and making my stay in Bangkok a memorable one!
Tony Thomas
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Our first time to Thailand and my husband and I couldn’t have been more happy having Kung as our guide - she has amazing cultural knowledge and passion, a fun sense of humour, warm and sweet personality and incredible ‘trigger happy photo finger’!!!
Kung and Mr. Nope arrived at 7am to collect us from our hotel to set out on our way to Kanchanaburi, approximately 2 ½ hour drive from Bangkok. Kung was amazing right from the start, not only telling us all about our tour, but all the wonderful highlights of Bangkok including the “do’s and don’ts” – invaluable seeing as though we had only arrived in Bangkok the day before! The long journey actually flew by very quickly. We especially loved Kung’s personal touch in sharing her knowledge about our country and her list of Aussie words and phrases - thanks mate! We also appreciated Mr. Nope’s clean and well maintained vehicle and his expert driving, which made for a very comfortable trip.
I soon learned via communications with Tong that there is much to see and do in Kanchanaburi and that such a long trip should include as much as possible. We really only wanted to visit Tiger Temple, as this has been on our list for years. Tong convinced us that we should definitely include other attractions and finally we decided to add Elephant Village also, but quite frankly we were happy to leave it all in Tong’s capable hands. WELL, we got much, much more than we anticipated and couldn’t be more appreciative – you guys really know your stuff!!!
Firstly we arrived at the War Museum and Cemetery, which were both really quite moving. Then onto Bridge over River Kwai where we not only got some lovely photos and took in the gorgeous scenery, but thanks to Kung we actually played with and fed a leopard cub from the local zoo – AWESOME!!!
We then moved onto Tiger Temple. Although we had wanted to do this tour for quite some time, initially we were apprehensive due to some of the unpleasant reviews we had read. In the end the positive reviews, along with the comprehensive information provided by TWT website and then of course lovely Kung, helped us feel very at ease and happy to form our own opinions. It was an incredibly hot day and when we arrived at the temple, Kung and Mr. Nope provided us with some icy cold drinks and towels to cool down. Kung was so incredible, as she was able to arrange for us to be first to do EVERYTHING, which really helps when there are hundreds of people in the canyon in sweltering heat all vying to get up close and personal with the gorgeous tigers and get that special photo. With “Kwik-Draw-Kung” on the photography case, we got the best photo opps possible! My husband opted to have a photo with the tiger’s head in his lap. Incredibly, Kung arranged for this to happen a second time with me in the photo as well – outstanding!!! At this stage we felt like royalty, as Kung whisked us away for a special lone encounter with the tigers left behind at the top of the canyon. As we were moving away, it was evident that many of the tourists still waiting in the HOT canyon were extremely jealous. We got some great photos and video with a special moment feeding one of the older cubs – too cute!!! Kung made sure that we were well hydrated the entire time and that we were well shaded, but due to the wrong attire, I was “purple” by the end and really feeling the heat, so we moved on. Our conclusion was that, like ALL cats, the tigers are exhausted from the hot sun and activities from earlier in the day - they absolutely need their sleep! There were still times where they would get a little agitated with the goings on, but all in all they were purely resigned to the days events and the monks do a very good job at respectfully keeping them in line. Final conclusion – UNFORGETTABLE!!!
We headed off to what Kung referred to as being a “5 star” restaurant in the middle of nowhere. WOW! The food was fantastic, with gorgeous surroundings and prompt service. We were led to our own private table and were made to feel like the only ones there. A great place to sit back, continue to rehydrate and cool down, but most of all relax and take in what we had just experienced.
Next stop would have been Elephant Village had we been left to our own devices… On the way there we stopped off to buy peanuts and bananas. Just around the corner and to our surprise, there were wild monkeys coming down from the jungle to the side of the road for feeding. What a great experience! Elephant Village was next. We were able to get up close and personal with the elephants. We fed them bananas and got some more great photos! We rode the elephant through the jungle and river and Kung arranged for the keeper to take photos and video of us – invaluable seeing as though he didn’t speak English. My husband was able to move down and take position on the elephant’s head – FANTASTIC!!!
Sadly the end of the day had arrived. We were exhausted, yet exhilarated! A BIG THANKYOU to Kung and Mr. Nope for one of the best and most memorable days we have ever had!!!
Patrick and Michelle Allchin
Melbourne, Australia
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As we travelled with our 5 year old daughter, we decided to go to Ayutthaya from Bangkok by private car. Looking around in the www, I quickly found "Tour with Tong", recommended by many people. We contacted Tong just 1.5 day in advance and it worked perfectly well. In the morning, Pai, our guide was waiting in the lobby. We are German, but asked for an English speaking guide.
What a perfect surprise, as we and especially our little daughter found out, that Pai speaks a very good German, which Tong didn t told us in advance.
we really appreciate spending the day with Pai, who gave us deep inside not only into Thai history, but also in Thais everyday living. We went to a very nice local market project, had a perfect lunch in local restaurant not mentioning the beautiful summer palace and the impressive ruins of Ayutthaya!
For those interested in the hard facts. The car was in a perfect condition, the driver drove smoothly all day long and was a very polite, nice Mister. He even took care after our daughter, as she was exhausted from visiting temples, so that we had the chance to see even more of Ayutthaya.
In total: we spent a perfect day with "Tour with Tong"
Frankfurt
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