LA, Thailand & A Day in Tokyo
Dec 27, 2017, 8:42 am
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MRY - CNX - TXL
Programs: UA 1K / *G / Marriott PE / Expedia Gold+ / Hertz PC
Posts: 7,058
Good to know about Koh Samui. I went to Phuket and really liked it, though we spent most of the time at our hotel. The Phi Phi islands though were full of garbage so I did not go swimming there. Wanted to go to Krabi but was told they have a lot of mosquitos there. Is Chang Mai really worth it for someone like me who is not interested in elephants? I did not like Bangkok. Thanks for your interesting report.
Just kidding...In all seriousness there are going to be mosquitos everywhere. It's SE Asia, it's hot, lots of standing water. Luckily though when it is cold in the north at night they are not that bad.
I don't recall lots of trash at Phi Phi but I'm sure depending on where you go there can be some. I went on one of the smaller, more expensive boats and we had time to snorkel around the back/cliff side of some of the islands.
Between Hua Hin, Krabi, Phuket, Koh Samui I would think I like Krabi the best. Though I need to visit Koh Tao and Koh Lipe.
I've spent 5 months in Chiang Mai, so yes I would say there is plenty to do if you don't like elephants.
Dec 31, 2017, 9:02 am
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MRY - CNX - TXL
Programs: UA 1K / *G / Marriott PE / Expedia Gold+ / Hertz PC
Posts: 7,058
Been with family in Tahoe I forgot to tidy this up and post about the long journey home.
Turning in the scooter I had a bit of time to kill to walk around Chiang Mai. Luckily the weather meant I could wear my pants/shoes without becoming drenched in sweat or the next two flights.
Inbound an hour late, we were about 40min late which put my connection down from 1:50 to just over 1h.
We arrived at the far end of A, but I made my way up and through security to still visit the J lounge to get a bite of rice and curry because I planned on sleeping as much as I could on the flight.
I was a little too long for the A330 bulkhead J seat. I needed about an extra 1-2". I did manage to get about 3h of off and on sleep and then had the khao tom pla which was pretty good.
I had to enter Japan no matter what as I planned to go to Ginza in the morning. At CNX the lady had said that "Japan won't allow Thailand to check-through" meaning I had to get my bag and re-check it myself at NRT. I thought it was BS but I really didn't fight it, maybe it was the 12h15m connection?
In any event while waiting for the bag I asked the lady at the counter if it would be okay to check it around 6:45am for the 5:30pm flight. She was super friendly and looked a bit incredulous as to what I had to do based on the TG agent.
I actually ended up getting there before counters opened so I took the time to go back down a flight on the escalator and use the $10/30min showers.
Well worth it. Would not hesitate to use these again on any earlier flight where I may not be able to get into the hotel room for a while.
Plans were to take the NEX into Ginza, look for some Yohji and stop by Dover Street Market and then get tonokatsu with a friend.
Didn't find any Yohji I liked, DSM was nuts with all these kids there for some Supreme crap and Saturday lunch in Ginza meant waits and waits before I had to get the 2:04 NEX back to NRT. Ended up getting some pre-made in the train station.
Our in-bound was from BRU and came late which put us about 35min delay. Very light flight, 4 in the back J, probably 6-7 in the front, couldn't have seen more than 75-100 people go in the back.
I look forward to the meals on ANA so much. To me it is the perfect experience to calm me and yet fill me with a sense of anticipation. It has the familiarity of air travel matched with the exoticism of a non-Western culture.
But all of that came crashing to a halt when we arrived at SJC. 40min we were being kept on the plane because of a backup at immigration. Once let off were kept in the hallways but luckily they came and told us with Global Entry we could go and use the kiosks. That threw one guy into a rage. Once at bags there was 1 person taking the customs cards. If I didn't have GE it probably would have been 2-2.5 hours. It was a Volaris, Air Mexico, Air China arriving before us. Unless they expand I don't plan to do an INTL arrival into SJC anytime soon.
And so it went Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Tokyo to San Jose to Carmel to Lake Tahoe.
Turning in the scooter I had a bit of time to kill to walk around Chiang Mai. Luckily the weather meant I could wear my pants/shoes without becoming drenched in sweat or the next two flights.
Inbound an hour late, we were about 40min late which put my connection down from 1:50 to just over 1h.
We arrived at the far end of A, but I made my way up and through security to still visit the J lounge to get a bite of rice and curry because I planned on sleeping as much as I could on the flight.
I was a little too long for the A330 bulkhead J seat. I needed about an extra 1-2". I did manage to get about 3h of off and on sleep and then had the khao tom pla which was pretty good.
I had to enter Japan no matter what as I planned to go to Ginza in the morning. At CNX the lady had said that "Japan won't allow Thailand to check-through" meaning I had to get my bag and re-check it myself at NRT. I thought it was BS but I really didn't fight it, maybe it was the 12h15m connection?
In any event while waiting for the bag I asked the lady at the counter if it would be okay to check it around 6:45am for the 5:30pm flight. She was super friendly and looked a bit incredulous as to what I had to do based on the TG agent.
I actually ended up getting there before counters opened so I took the time to go back down a flight on the escalator and use the $10/30min showers.
Well worth it. Would not hesitate to use these again on any earlier flight where I may not be able to get into the hotel room for a while.
Plans were to take the NEX into Ginza, look for some Yohji and stop by Dover Street Market and then get tonokatsu with a friend.
Didn't find any Yohji I liked, DSM was nuts with all these kids there for some Supreme crap and Saturday lunch in Ginza meant waits and waits before I had to get the 2:04 NEX back to NRT. Ended up getting some pre-made in the train station.
Our in-bound was from BRU and came late which put us about 35min delay. Very light flight, 4 in the back J, probably 6-7 in the front, couldn't have seen more than 75-100 people go in the back.
I look forward to the meals on ANA so much. To me it is the perfect experience to calm me and yet fill me with a sense of anticipation. It has the familiarity of air travel matched with the exoticism of a non-Western culture.
But all of that came crashing to a halt when we arrived at SJC. 40min we were being kept on the plane because of a backup at immigration. Once let off were kept in the hallways but luckily they came and told us with Global Entry we could go and use the kiosks. That threw one guy into a rage. Once at bags there was 1 person taking the customs cards. If I didn't have GE it probably would have been 2-2.5 hours. It was a Volaris, Air Mexico, Air China arriving before us. Unless they expand I don't plan to do an INTL arrival into SJC anytime soon.
And so it went Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Tokyo to San Jose to Carmel to Lake Tahoe.