before i start, no one mentioned in the Thailand thread that you need cash
i will. you need cash! very few places take cc. just a heads up.
Day 1(wed): flights from TLV>ZHR>BKK>CNX (day 2)
DAY 2 (thurs): We arrived around 9am and we got our luggage quick and easy. i followed fellow ddfers advice and DID NOT book a taxi. The taxi at the airport was 120 Baht (around 3$ or so. the hotel wanted 500 baht). We booked the Le Meridian Chiang Mai on 14000 points for 4 nights. i emailed previously and got the suite on the 11th floor. we settled in and walked to the chabad. everyone says that 7-11 sells sim cards, that is false, the only place who sells is across from the chabad.
We ate a quick lunch at the chabad (very good food) and we said our hello's and went next door to 669 tours (israeli guy). it was already 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and Yisrael wanted us to make the 1:30 mae se elephant show. as AJK mentioned it was possible to do all the shows in one day. so i mentioned this to yisrael and he said no prob. he called over Yahalom (his driver) and said to me 600 baht for the whole day with Yahalom, and i can pay in CC.
Yahalom got us there in time for even the pre-show. after the show yahalom also pulled strings to get us on the elephant riding. After that, we went down the block to the snake show. (I hate snakes, its my jewishness in me), but it was def an entertaining show. after the snake show we went to the monkey show. that was def a fan fav for me. After that we went to the long neck tribes. (personally it was dumb, but it a must see - even though its the most expensive admission). Then we went to Tiger Kingdom, we did hire a photographer for 500 Baht and we did the big tigers. It def was an amazing sight t see up close and personal. by now it was already 630.
Yahalom drove us back to the 669 and we paid and we went to chabad for dinner. since it was pouring out we just skimmed thru the night market right outside our hotel.
Day 3 (friday): went for a late breakfast at the chabad, and just explored chiang mai. massages are pennies in chiang mai so go for them...or as often if need be. we arranged with the hotel before hand that we will be coming back from shul late and we need someone to walk us up to our room and walk us in. In addition to come pick us up in the morning (which meant opening the door for us to our room). Fri night at chabad was very nice! 300+ ppl were there. food was decent and def a doable shabb.
Day 4 (shabb): went to chabad for shachris (much less ppl) and meal was very nice. After the meal there was a mincha. walked back to the hotel, with the same drill. and back for maariv. We were told from ppl at the meals that, we must go to the sat night market. We went, and it was horrible. Its def diff from the regular nightly market and sun night market. its very long and just useless junk. We got back to the regular market just about 1130 when the real hándling can go on. (ill write my theory how to do it well later), but found great mitzeos arguing with them for great prices
Day 5 (sun): we arranged with yisrael to do Eagle Track Zipline. the other 2 he said was a bit more challenging and my wife as it is not a huge sports type. We did eagle track and my wife loved it! they picked us up from the hotel and brought us back. We were finished by 5 ish. we then went to chabad for dinner, and walked over to Yisrael one last time to pay and also get Yahalom to take us to the airport the next morning. From there we walked straight to the sun night market. it def was very good and found great stuff there.
Day 6 (Mon): we took an 8:20 flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket. very short flight and not bad. Since we were flying Biz, our bags came out the first and we were on our way. i tried to get Boss to taxi us, but he didnt answer. so i just took a taxi from the airport. *Just to note: everything in phuket is a bit more pricy than chiang mai, bec (i think) its a resort town* anyways after a nauseous 40 min ride we pulled up to our hotel/resort. we were greeted like a king and queen. We got to our private villa, and we ordered from the chabad food for dinner and lunch and dinner for the next day as well. We also paid more for the chabad to double wrap it. There was a library on campus to rent DVD's and also our villa came with a spa room to get massages.
Day 7 (tues): We scheduled with the hotel a phi phi island tour the night before. when i got up at 630 am to daven it was pouring, so we cancelled the tour for the next day. instead we just chilled around for the day (which ended up being real nice). The resort manager said it happens alls the time. At night we decided we'd go to the chabad to eat, which was nice.
Day 8 (weds): It was on and off in the morning with the rain. Dolphins Asia (tour) picked us up at 730, and drove us to the marina. we got all geared up and we were on our way (an hr speed boat ride to the islands. be prepared for seasickness). the tour was amazing and unreal. The weather cleared up with-in the first 25 min of our boat ride. the waters were green and the beaches gorgeous white. Our tour took us to, Maya Island, Phi phi island, Bamboo Island and Monkey Island, as well as snorkeling). I paid thru the hotel (double points on ink) instead of straight to the company. It cost around 3000 Baht pp (around 100$). It was well worth it. We ordered from chabad, and we packed for our 4 flights coming up the next day...
Day 9 (thurs): We chilled and had breakfast in the morning. our villa had a private pool as well (i forgot to mention), and then we left at 10:30 am to Phuket International Airport. Our luggage was being sent straight to Israel, but we only got boarding passes till our third flight in Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul... (day 10)
Day 10 (fri): flight from IST>TLV bh all went well. Hocker had it arranged for us to be ballabatish and pick up a car from hertz and we were off to jlem back home for shabb!
I will try to write up piece by piece a detailed TR... i.e. what method i think is the best to haggle. where i found the metzios. where not to go and so on
Ask away if need any further assistance.
