36. Kanchanaburi Accommodation - Booked

Well now, after a long time trying to make a decision about where to stay in Kanchanaburi, I finally did it and made a booking. So that's another place sorted. It was a toss-up between two places - I had been planning on staying at Pong Phen GH, but after reading so many mixed reviews and putting it all into perspective, I went for PLOY GH.  Their website doesn't seem to be working at the moment so it's sort of 'stuck' on one page. I do think the other one (Pong Phen) would be more lively and has perhaps more going on as far as noise and meeting other travellers, but the PLOY seems to have more satisfied customers.

I decided to go for the Category 1 - Garden Building A which has a fridge and is the one storey concrete building facing the private garden with the - get this! - the outdoor shower. I rather like the novelty of the outdoor shower which is only available if you stay in this building. The double storey building opposite charge 50 baht less for the downstairs rooms but what the heck - it's only 50 baht which in the scheme of things isn't all that big a price difference and this way I have a fridge in the room as well which might come in handy of I buy fruit or something.

Finding a street map
This isn't easy as the ones I found cover Kanchanaburi province when what I wanted was a street map of Kanchanaburi, the town. With this in mind, I've had to resort to using a Google map which is below.

View Kanchanaburi in a larger map
Above: Location of PLOY GH

35. Vang Vieng Accommodation Booked

After a long search, I have finally booked my one night's accommodation at Vang Vieng. A few places had been suggested, but alas their price outweighed my wallet! I had been advised to choose somewhere away from what is nick-named "tubing corner" as this is where a lot of drunken backpackers hang out.

I settled on Ban Sabai Bungalows which is a little further away than the pricier options I'd been looking at but not too far from the centre of town. It was a little cheaper booking online with one of those booking places and it cost US$36. Going through their website was US$41, although I heard later from someone that places will meet the same price as online booking systems.

Above: Ban Sabai Bungalows
The bungalows look quite nice. There's no television but it's only for one night.

Above: Deluxe
This is the Deluxe bungalow - funny how they don't show the standard models. Perhaps the decor is plainer and the view not as good. Who knows?

Above: River view
The above pics are from their website. I must say that view looks splendid.

Below is a town map of Vang Vieng. Due to the map length, I have done it in two sections. The first is the "top" part of the map.

Above: Vang Vieng town map
I have marked my accommodation with an "X". To the right along the main road is the bus stop, so it isn't too far a walk.

33. Bangkok Accommodation - Booked

I just booked my accommodation for my four nights in Bangkok. Yippee! I'm glad to have that out of the way - at least I know where I'll be. After weighing up the pros and cons, I decided on Bhiman Inn. Below are photos from their website.

Reason for Choice
Firstly, the location. Although the other two were closer to Khao San Road and cheaper, I realised the one located in KSR itself would be very, very noisy. Now I don't mind noise but seeing their check-in time as being 4.00am meant it could possibley be very noisy indeed plus I don't think the rooms would be as nice.

Secondly, appearance and atmosphere. New Siam II was my original choice but seems to lack a certain something in comparison. A friend advised that Bhiman Inn was in a nicer location and on looking at some maps, it's fairly close to the river and the river taxis.

Thirdly they offer a full breakfast and all rooms have a mini bar.

Above: Front of building

Above: The interior

Above: Map
It would probably be adviseable to print a copy of this to show the taxi driver.

32. Kanchanaburi Accommodation & Map

I have a few places in mind for my two night stay in Kanchanaburi,
PLOY Guesthouse
Pong Phen Guesthouse
and the Jolly Frog Backers. (No website)
Sugar Cane GH which has two - Sugarcane GH 1 and Sugarcane GH 2 The first one is closer to town, the other is 1 km further away. Guesthouse 1 is 2 kms from the River Kwai Bridge, Guesthouse 2 is 1 kms from the bridge.

There is a closer to town raft house called Sam's River Rafthouse but so far I haven't seen a good review.

Just noticed on a website, Sam's River Rafthouse is closed for renovation. Still no closer to making a decision.

I emailed Ploy GH and the Category 1 room is in the single story building and is more open and faces the private garden with the outdoor shower, plus it has a fridge.
The Category 2 rooms are on the ground floor of the two story building. This guesthouse includes morning coffee/toast and offers free pick-up from train / bus station. They don't have a restaurant.

If I choose Pong Phen GH, I'll go for a room in the guesthouse around 500/600 baht and I'd select the one with air con plus they have a balcony.

22. North Thailand and Laos

Northern Thailand

The above map shows the main attractions around Chiang Mai and rivers and roads to other towns. I'll be going from Chiang Mai>Chiang Rai>Mae Sai across the border to Tachilek (Burma), the Golden Triangle, back to Chiang Rai then across to Chiang Khong for the border crossing into Laos.



Laos

The main cities and towns of Laos. The border crossing Thailand>Laos, Chiang Khong across the Mekong to Huay Xai. From there I'll be sailing down the Mekong with an overnight stop in Pakbeng, then continuing the following day to Luang Prabang and staying there for three nights. Travelling down to Vang Vieng where I'll break my journey then next day on to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Staying here for three nights.
From there it's over the Friendship Bridge back to Thailand and train from Nong Khai>Bangkok.

Maps courtesy of Ian from Ginny Place