Tours
 

Any recommendations for group or private tour companies in Bangkok? Thanks!

a bit different from the usual mass-tourism:

Bangkokvanguards - Experience Thailand on a deeper level

Thank you! This looks interesting!

I can personally recommend Jaturaporn Tony Tepkom. He goes by Tony. I used him as a tour guide and he's amazing. He will do a private tour for one person or a group. He will customize the tour for just Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand. His email is [email protected]. You can tell him Audrey gave his info. I don't get anything we've just kept in contact since I toured with him in 2018. I was with a group but these two guys were so much fun.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0474d94791.jpg
Tony, Jeremy (also a tour guide for Malaysia and Japan) and me!

Thanks Audrey! Looks like you had a great time!

Were you about to have a Thai tongue riveting experience? I suppose it’s better than waking up at 3.00pm the next day with an “I ❤️ Dee Dee”, or whatever, tattooed across your forehead!!

In my travels I have found personal guides very good and it gives you a degree of flexibility as to what you do. Nothing depresses me more than seeing large groups herded into an awful buffet at lunch to enjoy their genuine Thai meal. Or going to the 10th temple that looks exactly the same as the previous nine. I once had a long discussion with a tour guide about those last few sites; he was adamant we had to go as they were on the itinerary he was paid to do. Fortunately I was the only person in the tour and we came to an agreement but had there been others I think we would have had to visit yet more identical tombs.

Tony may now be someone I might use (albeit absolutely no tongue rivets will be involved)!

I have visited probably 200-300 temples in Thailand during all those years and still discover new ones, that are totally different, than all the ones I visited before
and the most miserable visit was the first and last private tour during my first visit in Thailand 33 years ago with a very lousy guide with very limited english.
have done all other trips and tours since myself and I also do so in other countries

LOL! No, we were just having a laugh. Actually sitting on the steps in a Buddhist courtyard being a bit bored with the others in the group and started just acting silly. This was an organized group tour and Tony was the company guide for the full 30 days 4 countries. So when in the group he was very professional. We had a lot of on your own time during the tour. Tony was great about suggesting non-touristy places to visit. It was much appreciated by some of us and we had great fun taking his suggestions. He even personally took us to some local eateries (places he went to eat on his off hours). It was an eye opening tour for me, especially Cambodia.

Jeremy was taking the tour to see if he wanted to add a few other countries (and probably contract with the tour company). Jeremy was a happy, hilarious (and knowledgeable) person. Tony was much more reserved but when you got ,the three of us together all bets were off! They are two amazing people I've kept in touch with, so that's saying something. I don't call them close friends but am sure if the 3 of us got together tomorrow we would be having a laugh no matter where we were. That's important to me.

Personally, my preference is for small group tours.