finally visiting motherland(s)

[Kahuna1]

finally visiting the motherland(s)

Hello all,

I am in Tokyo now as a student. Class goes on break in about three weeks. My girlfriend suggested we try out Thailand for the first time. We will be in Bangkok for a month (April) and then I will go to Cambodia alone for a month (May). I had a couple of questions for you if you don't mind.

A. Airfare

I have been searching for a while yesterday and it seems like for my situation, buying three separate one way tickets is cheaper.

- Tokyo to Bangkok

- Bangkok to Phnom Penh

- Phnom Penh back to Tokyo

Using Air Asia, the prices I saw were around $550. BUT since I have also read that Air Asia is very dangerous, I ran a search that would include ANA, Bangkok National Airlines, and Bangkok Airways. I think these are all very safe. But the price then jumped to about $850.

Question #1: Any advice for my travel plans. I would like to purchase these tickets today and would grateful for any thoughts you have.

B. Accommodations

We are, of course, going to be together for most of the time but what we want to do is different.

Her desires:

- cook a ton of food using the best freshest ingredients available in Thailand

- ride elephants

- eat out once a week to taste the best Thailand has to offer

- visit countryside to experience the authentic local areas/villages/etc.

Me:

- get involved with orphanages, work with the poor

- actually try to learn Thai language via immersion since I'm half thai (other half is black and Cambodian, yes, I'm a mutt)

- if I can get a free moment, then go out at night to party but only at local spots since I don't want to speak English. I want to have fun but I also want this trip to mean something special to me.

With all that said, I was wondering what area is best for us to live in while in Bangkok..? Or even is Bangkok really where we should be visiting? We are both from big cities so have absolutely no problem going to the country if it is a better fit.

In regards to Bangkok though, I was thinking of a location that is most beneficial to what we would like to do. Maybe Sukhhumvit? As for the place, I was thinking a studio would be just fine. And it does not need to be fancy either. The only essentials that I can think of besides location are:

- full kitchen with oven

^ I have read though that it might just be cheaper to buy one or two gas burners but then you violate your rental agreement if you use it.

- very safe/secure and clean (this refers to physical clean as well as not getting scammed/robbed in this apartment rental transaction)

- if possible I'd like to do this in English but if it's safe then I wouldn't mind doing this Thai also.

That's it. For finding a place, I have been looking on these two sites:

Mr Room Finder and 9 Apartments

Are there other sites that I am missing? If so please post them even if they are in Thai since I can speak it a bit.

Question #2 - Any thoughts regarding accommodations?

^ Cheap as possible is the best but not over $1000 if possible. If not possible, then over $1000 probably could be ok.

PS - Any Cambodia experts, feel free to address this post as it pertains to Cambodia please since I will be there after Thailand and again I will be try to only speak Khmer as much as possible.

Lastly, visas. 3/26-4/25 and 4/25-5/24 are the dates for both countries so I should not have any issues with visas even though my tickets are one-way. But do please let me know if I have overlooked something please.