Thailand: Tour with Tong

While in Bangkok, we had the opportunity to do a private day tour. After a lot of research, we decided on Tour with Tong. With just 2 of us, we wanted to keep the prices as low as possible while getting the most out of our day. What's great about Tour with Tong is that you can customize your own tour from their menu. For us, we wanted to see things outside of Bangkok since we knew we could do Bangkok by foot or public transit. We chose the following activities, which cost 7,500 Baht for 2 people (~$235).  Our driver and tour guide (JJ) picked us up from our hotel at 8am. We were dropped off at around 6pm.

Maeklong Train Market

I tell my friends this and they are completely puzzled as to what this entailed. It's a train moving through a market. No, really. I'm not kidding, you read it right. It goes through a farmer's market. The train has passed through this market for more than 30 years. Vendors move their items back a few feet when the train goes through and put it back in place when the train passes. They usually get a 3-minute warning to do so as soon as they hear the train whistles. We were told that the train is usually not on time which really added to the excitement! One minute we were on the train tracks, the next we were being shoo'ed by our guide to move back.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Unlike the floating market in Bangkok, this market is open everyday. This used to be a mean of commerce but now it's mainly fueled by tourists like us. The traffic while you're on the long tailboat that takes you around the market is heavy. Keep your hands and feet inside the boat at all times. The chances of your boat crashing into another is highly likely (almost 100% of the time). You can tell by looking at the side of the tail boats. It is all filled with nicks and dents. We had our lunch and snacks while on the boat. Our tour guide took us to her favorite vendors while telling us which ones to avoid due to its high prices. The floating market is a great place to see.
Tip: If you're going to buy any goods, make sure you barter for 50-70% off the asking price. If they don't budge, it's not worth it to buy.

Elephant Bath & Ride*

This was and will be the ONE thing about this trip that I will never forget. It's one thing to ride on an elephant while sitting on the sedan (chair) on top of the elephant, but it's another to ride an elephant bareback in your bathing suit. We start this leg of our trip by offering our elephant food - about 10 pounds of fruits. This was our way of letting her know that we were safe and not harmful. We then walked and fed her all the way to a lake where we proceeded to bathe her. Imagine trying to bathe someone who is about 20 times your size and weighs half a ton with these tiny brushes. It's hard work, even with 2 people! It's really hard work. Every time she was excited, she would spray us with water. We managed to bathed just 1/16 of her body. After the bath, we rode with her back to camp.

Our day concluded with lunch at a local restaurant. I wish I knew what the place was called but if you do the Tour with Tong, you're bound to end up there at the end of your trip. It was the best Thai food we've ever had. I (Thien) still dream about it now and then, especially their green curry.

We highly recommend doing a personal private tour with Tong. Our tour guide (JJ) was fantastic and extremely knowledgeable. It really was an unforgettable experience.

*Note: We understand the mistreatments that elephants may endure in certain camps, especially ones that rely heavily on tourism. Sometimes, they are not properly cared for and are abused by those who are trying to "train" them. We had this in mind when picking a tour. This tour promises to support "good elephant camps to help locals and to keep the elephants away from the concrete world the best we can". While we are not 100% certain, we tried our hardest to only find a tour that would give us this promise. We understand that this can be a touchy subject as we are both animal lovers. If you would like to learn more on how to protect these endangered species or would like to make a donation, we suggest you visit the Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival (EARS) Foundation's website. 

Photolog: Tour with Tong