Custom Tour: Classic Thailand and Cambodia for Laura & Lisa
31 May 08 Bangkok - Arrival
Catch your flight - arriving at 22:50.
Arrive in Bangkok where you will be met by your Guide and transferred to your hotel.
Meals Included: None
Overnight at Silom Serene Hotel - Deluxe
01 Jun 08 Bangkok - Day at Leisure
Have a free day to explore on your own.
Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight at Silom Serene Hotel - Deluxe Room
02 Jun 08 Bangkok - Public Transport Tour
You will be met by your guide at your hotel at 9am before transferring to the Skytrain. Enjoy an elevated view of central Bangkok before boarding a river express boat to the Flower Market. Enjoy the sights and smells before taking an exciting tuk tuk ride to Wat Pho to see the famous Reclining Buddha.
Enjoy a thirty minute massage from the temple’s near by traditional Thai massage school. Break for lunch at a local restaurant, and then head to the pride of Thailand, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew housing the Emerald Buddha. Take a stroll down the street to a local Buddhist amulet market before boarding a river express boat to the Skytrain station and return to your hotel.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Silom Serene Hotel - Deluxe Room
03 Jun 08 Chiang Mai - Doi Suthep & City Tour
You will be transferred to Bangkok Airport for your flight - Bangkok Airways PG215 departing at 08:00& arriving at 09:45.
You will be met at Chiang Mai Airport and transferred to your hotel.
You will be transferred to visit Doi Suthep, the most important Wat in Chiang Mai. Perched high above the city, it offers wonderful views of the city and countryside below. Have lunch with your guide at a local restaurant. Visit some of the more famous Wats, within the city walls of Chiang Mai, Your guide will discuss Buddhism and the role it plays in everyday life as well as showing you the many details of each temple.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel - Superior Room
04 Jun 08 Chiang Mai - Elephant Riding & Trekking
You will be picked up from your hotel at 8:30am and driven in an air-conditioned van for a little over an hour to an elephant camp. Here you will take an hour and a half elephant ride before setting off to walk for about 40 minutes to a Meo Hill Tribe Village. Continue on to a Shan Village for lunch and then drive to a local Karen village from where you can walk another 15 minutes to a waterfall. Enjoy a swim and then take a bamboo raft down the Mae Win River. Return to Chiang Mai.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel Superior Room
05 Jun 08 Chiang Mai - Cooking Class
Wake up early and your guide will escort you into Chiang Mai. Visit the Tapae Gate and witness the traditional Buddhist food offering to monks. Take a rickshaw ride from here to the Chiang Mai Gate to visit the morning market and see the Chiang Mai people go about their daily lives. Finally, visit Wat Srisoda to see the local monks in Morning Prayer.
Take a half day Thai cooking class. You will be taken to the market to learn about many of the fruits and spices. After getting your ingredients you will be taught to make several Thai dishes before enjoying a huge feast together to celebrate your newly acquired skills!
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel - Superior Room
06 Jun 08 Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai
Have the morning at leisure and in the afternoon your driver will pick you up and take you on the three hour drive to Chiang Rai. Once there check into your hotel and then enjoy exploring the city.
Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight at Laluna Hotel & Resort - Superior Room
07 Jun 08 Chiang Rai - Visit Hill tribe
You will be met at hotel in Chaing Rai then drive to take a long tailed boat along the Mae Kok river to visit the traditional Karen Ruammitr hilltribe village.They originated from Burma and forms the largest hilltribe population in Thailand.
After lunch continue by van to Yao and Akha hilltribe village. The visit to the Akha and Yao hilltribe allows visitors to sample th village lives of the Akha, who originated from Tibet and are among the poorest of Thailand's ethnic minorities. The Yao are from China and are still influenced by Chinese traditions. Then return back to the hotel.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Laluna Hotel & Resort - Superior Room
08 Jun 08 Chiang Rai - Golden Triangle and Opium Museum
Your guide will meet you at your hotel and take you to the Queens Opium Museum, a fascinating look at the history and culture of the opium trade in the Golden Triangle. Then on to the Golden Triangle itself where you can see Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. In the afternoon head to the Thai Burma border and visit the market there before returning to your hotel.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Laluna Hotel & Resort - Superior Room
09 Jun 08 Siem Reap - Arrival
Transfer from your hotel to Chiang Rai Airport for your onward flight - Thai Airway TG131 departing at 15:30 & arriving at 16:45
Catch your connecting flight - Bangkok Airways PG909 departing at 18:20& arriving at 19:40. You will be met by a Journeys Within representative and taken to Journeys Within Bed & Breakfast. Head into town to enjoy a traditional buffet dinner and dance show in the evening.
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight at Journeys Within B&B
10 Jun 08 Siem Reap - Angkor Wat
This morning head to Angkor Wat in an air conditioned car, or if you choose by bike, with your guide. Explore this majestic temple throughout the morning while it is still cool and has fewer tourists. Return to Journeys Within for lunch and a nap or refresh with a swim.
In the afternoon head to Angkor Thom, the famous walled city and see the many temples within its borders, including the fascinating Bayon temple with its many magnificent faces smiling out. There are several beautiful spots from which to watch the sunset. Discuss with your guide where you would like to be and then relax and enjoy a memorable end to your day at the temples.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Journeys Within B&B
11 Jun 08 Siem Reap - Beng Mealea and Other Temples
Enjoy breakfast at Journeys Within before leaving the crowds behind and heading to Beng Mealea, a temple only recently opened to the public; about one and a half hours drive from Journeys Within. After an hour you will leave the paved road and get onto a beaten track running through rice fields and villages of rural Cambodia.
At the temple our guide will help you imagine how it once was as you pick your way through the rubble now surrounded by jungle. Enjoy lunch at local restaurant. Later in the afternoon head back to the temples where you will visit Banteay Kdei and Ta Prohm, two of the prettiest temples in the complex. Watch the sunset from inside Ta Prohm or from the Angkor Wat promenade.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Journeys Within B&B
12 Jun 08 Siem Reap - Banteay Srei and Tonle Sap
This morning set off with your guide to Banteay Srei, the intricately carved temple just 30 km beyond Angkor Wat. On your way back to town stop at the Land Mine Museum, a rather humble look at the land mine problem, past and present, in Cambodia.
After a rest or swim drive through rural Cambodia to the Tonle Sap Lake where you will take a boat ride to visit the floating village and a Cambodian fish farm. As the day ends choose to climb Phnom Krom and see the ancient ruins high on the hill and watch the sun set over the lake and rice fields below or relax and watch the sun disappear below the horizon from your boat on the lake.
In the late afternoon visit the Wat Chork School sponsored by Journeys Within and benefiting disadvantaged youth. Meet the students and help them practice their English.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight at Journeys Within B&B
13 Jun 08 Siem Reap - Village and Departure
Set out for our Journeys Within Village Tour. Our village guide will take you to his village showing you rice paddies and typical homes along the way. At his village enjoy a fresh coconut drink and meet his family and neighbors. Walk from here to West Baray Lake where you can take a local boat to an island with some picturesque ancient Khmer ruins. Return to shore where your car will be waiting for you. From here head to Pua District and visit the Artisans de Angkor silk farm where many local women are trained in the art of silk weaving.
Transfer to the airport in time to catch your flight - Bangkok Airways PG909 departing at 19:35& arriving at 20:45 .
Catch your connecting flight - departing at 23:55.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Tour Rate: $ 2,055 per person based on 2 people traveling.
Price includes:
- Air tickets Bangkok - Chiang Mai / Chiang Rai - Bangkok - Siem Reap - Bangkok
- Boat tickets as specified above
- Accommodation as specified above.
- Air-conditioned car with driver
- Licensed English speaking guides
- Tours and admission fees as mentioned above
- Meals as specified in itinerary
Price excludes:
- Personal expenses
- Visa fees
- Airport tax
- Alcohol and meals not mentioned in itinerary
- Tips