If I had to summarize our day with Tour with Tong in one word it would be “unbelievable.”  The entire day truly exceeded our wildest expectations and was, by far, the best day we had during our two week vacation in Thailand.Lily (our tour guide) arrived at our hotel promptly at 7am.  I cannot praise Lily enough.  She was energetic, friendly, helpful, outgoing… I could go on and on.  She also spoke great English, which was very helpful considering we knew no Thai.  She also knew what she was talking about and was able to explain things well and answer any questions we had.

Our first stop was the Maeklong Railway Market.  Coming from the states, this was pure chaos for us and vastly different from anything we had ever experienced.  Unlike the other markets we had visited in Bangkok, it was not geared towards tourists.  It was a market located on top of railroad tracks that sold anything and everything you could imagine.  Twice a day, a day train would come through and everyone would move their goods off of the track (by about an inch) until the train passed.  It was an unbelievable sight and definitely something we enjoyed.

Our next stop was the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.  Unfortunately this was geared a lot towards tourist and did not seem as though it would still function without them.  That being said, it was still different than anything we had seen before and worth the visit.  Lily took us in a boat down a side canal that got us away from the center and allowed us to see the typical day-to-day life of the locals.Our third stop was the Elephant Camp.  We got to ride bare-back on a large elephant, named Full Moon.  It was a GREAT experience and allowed for a ton of amazing pictures.  Full Moon was very gentle and well-behaved.  We rode her on a short walk to the river and then she threw us in.  It was an exhilarating experience and one that I would recommend to all.  It was also very scenic and Lily was able to take the most amazing, beautiful pictures.The last stop was the Tiger Temple and once again, an unbelievably exhilarating experience.  We got to feed and play with baby tigers, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and well-worth the extra fee.  The temple allows you to get right up next to huge tigers and take amazing pictures with them.The day was unbelievably exhilarating and such a great experience.  I would recommend Lily and Tour with Tong to anyone traveling to Asia.  It was one of the best guided tours I’ve ever taken and probably ever will take.

Lauren Gelber.