Dear Duangkamol, Toy, and Poe,

 

I would like to start my e-mail today with the highest praise for Wild Thailand as a tour company, and for Toy and Poe as tour guides.  Each of you met the needs of Cottey College individuals above and beyond what was called for.  I want you to know that I don’t give such praise unless it is truly earned and deserved.  I have traveled many times with a variety of tour companies, twice to New Zealand with two different tour providers, twice to Italy with two different tour providers, Panama, Jamaica, and other destinations but I must give each of you the best marks of all the tours I have ever traveled with!  Congratulations for offering exceptional services to your clients.

 

I had never traveled to Thailand before this trip with Selena and the students.  My role was more with the campus administration and the fact that I have traveled abroad with students in the past and knew the College protocol.  I had some initial concerns about student safety while in Bangkok, which came primarily from our campus community members.  Upon meeting and talking more with Poe and Toy at the beginning of the trip it became very clear to me that student safety and learning was also their main priority.  I knew our students would be well taken care of and given good information to make informed decisions.  Poe retains a wealth of information that he shared with all of us during the trip and this base of knowledge encompasses all topics.  Toy’s knowledge base is like an encyclopedia or maybe like the internet in regards to Thai culture and history.  I enjoyed talking and listening to both of you and know that our students absolutely loved you and that you made our tour into something even more special.

 

Here are my opinions about our actual tour/itinerary:

The Best Activities/Opportunities were: ( In no particular order)

• Elephant Nature Center
• Cooking School
  
• CBT Village
  
• Grand Palace
  
• Flower Market
  
• Koh Talu (absolutely an amazing island!)
  
  

 Activities that were okay:

• Museum of Siam
• Train ride in afternoon of Day 5 on itinerary (I liked the first part of the train ride and living like a real Thai and seeing the countryside but the last part of  the day was really hot and the ride back seemed to take a very long time.)
  
• Only visit Ampawa Floating Market if open/market day
  
• Bencharon Royal Ceramic- while they had beautiful things the tour was short and students would have preferred the time as rest/or free time I think.
  
• Ancient City- Poe and Toy tried to discourage us from it this year but we had a couple of students who really wanted to go and see it, so we went.
  
• Lunch on Day 6 of the itinerary was not as tasty as other lunches provided.  All other provided meals were good.

All of our accommodations were quite nice and I loved the trendy décor of the last night hotel in Bangkok. 

I would like to thank each of you again for assisting both Selena and I to offer an exciting and safe learning experience for our students.  It was truly my pleasure to meet and to learn a little about Thailand from each of you.

 

Kind Regards,

Karen Polon

Professor / Cottey College

March 10-23, 2013 Trip