Thailand is still amazing!
The 747-400 for the short hop to Bangkok had a special livery with children holding hands and having fun in order to demonstrate that Cathay Pacific airlines was in favor of such things. I had seat 2A again and once again we had the Betsy seats. Service was impeccable on this leg. Once again three supervisory levels of stewardess introduced themselves to me. Krug Grand Annee was once again served on the ground. I ascertained that the decaf I had been drinking was in fact instant. Points for United for having brewed Starbucks light (much better than regular Starbucks) decaf on all their flights.
The flight was delayed an hour on the ground in Hong Kong due to engine maintenance. The Australian captain kept us well informed of the progress with announcements every five or 10 minutes while the crew kept our glasses full in First Class. Finally we took off for the 2.5-hour flight to Bangkok. They passed out menus that curiously had food for this segment and the next, which I wasn’t taking. I ordered assorted dim sum, which was excellent, and some tomatoes and mushrooms to accompany. They had ricotta cheesecake but I passed, being a couple pounds overweight.
We landed and taxied to a real gate, which was a special treat in Bangkok. Passport control was a breeze and the First-Class bags were first off the conveyor belt. While waiting for them I looked up at the huge “Amazing Thailand up to 80% off sale!” posters and was glad to see that Thailand was still amazing. I wheeled through the green line and found my brother Mike smiling waiting as promised. (He had sent me an email saying he’d be the one smiling and waving.) We found the driver for the Sheraton Royal Orchid and they were happy to put us in an airport limo, mark up the price by 150 baht ($4), and bill it to my room.
Happily there was little traffic on the way to the river. We arrived and were personally greeted by a beautiful Thai woman in a pink silk dress who ushered us directly up to the 23rd floor and into the room they had blocked for me, the Uthai Thani suite, where she sat down at one of the two desks and checked us in personally. The two-room suite had a full view of the river from both rooms, a king bed, 1.5 baths, and a giant in-room safe. Not bad for $85/night. The hotel also had a Towers floor and three Starwood Preferred Guest floors above where I was staying.
I was refreshed from the club in the Hong Kong airport so Mike and I went right out exploring. We took a taxi to the Skytrain station and then rode the beautiful air-conditioned train to National Stadium (25 baht or 65˘) where we got off and took the walkway to MBK mall, the biggest shopping mall in Thailand. MBK stands for Ma Boon Krong, which is spelled several different ways. This mall had any junk you could possibly want to buy, from stuffed Chinese cartoon characters to bondage equipment. There must have been 25 restaurants spread across the eight mammoth floors. Our main goal was to get some walking done in air-conditioned comfort and eat at an OK Japanese restaurant on the top floor. Mike had sushi and I had some pretty good beef sukiyaki.
After that we decided to ride the Skytrain the length of the route. The turnstiles reminded me of the Washington Metro, complete with orange plastic gates and ticket-eating machines. We rode down to the last stop on Sukhumvit, past the Sheraton Grande where I usually stayed. The Royal Orchid is older but still very nice. The Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit is closer to the airport, newer, and has butler service and a phenomenal breakfast buffet.
Weather was muggy but not overly hot in Bangkok today. Despite it being the rainy season, Mike said it hadn’t been raining the last few days. We rode back to a stop in the middle of the city and then took a long walk back to the river. I was exhausted from staying up so long but felt great to get the exercise. We went down to the Eight Bells bar on the riverside at the Sheraton and had a couple of overpriced drinks (220 Baht each or $5.65). I had a “Temple of Dawn” in honor of our plans for tomorrow. It was pretty weird with lychee juice, gin, and blue Curacao. Mike had a frozen margarita that looked great. We sat in the cool breeze by the muddy river and relaxed. The restaurant there was having their nightly Thai Culture show with dancing in traditional Thai garb. I relaxed a bit too much and fell asleep a dozen times so I announced to Mike that I was afraid I was through for the night. I hugged my brother goodbye and went up to crash.
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