to tour or not to tour.

ok. The tour thing is not bad.. hmm..

I personally don't want the tour though, haha. Coz erm when I first thought of a trip, it was supposed to be "backpacking" across a few places haha.. and I want the experience of planning my own trip and see what happens when we get there, whether we'll get lost etc. (haha ok this sounds crazy but yeah). and I think tours does not allow to fully experience the culture sometimes.. (like without taking the public transport, eating the street food etc.)
and I'm just wondering, this tour will have other people right? I mean it might be a bit strange if it is us + Vietnamese families. and will the tour guide speak in vietnamese? (haha no offence to the Vietnamese here, just a concern that I have)

then Van maybe you can check whether we can just stay in Bangkok (dun take the flight back to Hanoi) and whether they can reduce the price if we do so. oh and the available departure dates as well.

but yes I agree that the tour will make everything so much easier and from the look of it, we do have some time to wander around by ourselves.

As a comparison , this is what I am thinking of doing if we dont take the tour

1. Take the afternoon Air Asia flight to Bangkok, reach bangkok at ard 4-5 pm, take the bus to pattaya (approximately 2 hrs), then after dinner can walk around randomly at the walking street thing..
2. Morning go and do the water activities.. afternoon... (hmm will find smth to do in pattaya, haha), then night watch the transvertite show..
3. Morning leave for bangkok, afternoon can go to one of the temples/museums on the east side, and shop/go to the night market afterwards
4. Morning till afternoon look and the grand palace, national museums, the jade temple etc (it's all in one area), then evening can go watch some cultural performances if you want to, or go shopping again, or walk around somewhere.. haha..
5. morning: Chatuchak market!! haha.. then fly back home..

since the hotel i'm thinking about (for bangkok) is in the west, mode of transport to the east will be the boat (yes!) and we can take mrt/skytrain around in the east side (it's only available in this side). hmm guess will have to take taxi at night.

the option above saves on air ticket (US$30) but will have to pay more for acommodation coz spending 2 nights in pattaya (assuming we're going for a better hotel)

another option will be

1. Leave Hanoi in the morning, reach pattaya in late afternoon. walk around and go for the transvertite show at night.
2. Morning do the water activities, leave for bangkok in afternoon/late afternoon. night can go shopping or do smth else..
3. here i'm thinking we can go to ayutthaya (also near bangkok, 1.5-2hrs), but the things to see there are also temples and palaces. apparently can take a boat up the river to go there (haha i'm obsessed with boats). or if not then we can go to the zoo/chinatown/floating market/other places of interest in bangkok.
4 & 5 same as above

this option means we have slightly more time in bangkok.

hm ok so everyone VOTE!!!!!! must state your preference. and if you vote for "No Tour" you must choose hotel in Bangkok and Pattaya (refer for a few posts below, it's labelled "trip")

just vote on the tag board if you cant blog.