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7/23 Continued – Fifth Freedom for the Win

At Hanoi airport, we had to wait a few minutes for Qatar check-in to open. Once our bags were checked, we had a fast trip through security and immigration and went to the lounge.

Hanoi has one lounge for all biz class passengers in the international terminal. It’s not a Priority Pass lounge unfortunately, but it’s quite large and has an interesting food selection. There was pho and various other Western and Asian food on a buffet. There was also self-serve alcohol (nothing top shelf) and tea/coffee/soft drinks available.





We passed about 90 pleasant minutes in there and then headed to our gate close by where the OneWorld liveried 777 had come in. The international terminal is basically one long building with the lounge right in the middle on the upper level. The views of the runway and taxiways are great.



We boarded a few minutes late and pushed back about 10 minutes later than scheduled. I’m pretty sure our pilot was French based on his accent. The seat was extremely wide and comfortable. The 2-2-2 configuration on a 777 is noticeably wider than on an A330.



We had a choice between a cheese plate or chicken shwarma and chips. I had the schwarma and she had the cheese:





There were about 5 people in business class and about 6 flight attendants so the service was very attentive. We both watched 15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood’s movie about the terrorist attack on the Amsterdam to Paris TGV train). While we appreciate the idea of putting the real guys in the movie, the acting was predictably terrible.

We landed in Bangkok about 10 minutes late and had a rather long walk to immigration. We had fast track cards, so luckily we missed the long lines. Our bags arrived fairly quickly and we headed to door 2 to meet our ride from transferbkk.com. Before we got there, I nipped down to the lower level and found one of the good currency exchange places where I got +2 baht to the dollar compared to all the places in the arrival hall. Since I changed $400, it made a difference. We found our driver at door 2 and headed into town. We were staying at the Millennium Hilton on the river and the ride took about 50 minutes at that hour (8pm).

The hotel was very stylish and the building has a distinctive profile on the river, although the quickly rising IconSiam development to the south will soon overshadow it. When we checked in, we got a quick “thanks for being a Diamond member” and that was about it. I had requested a paid upgrade from the app when I checked in (it was only $13/night), but there were apparently none available. The front desk staff seemed like we were annoying them by checking in.

The room was refurbished and quite nice, but I cannot understand the point of putting a glass window with blinds on the bathroom. I suppose you can keep it open if you are staying alone so you can see out the window, but it seems fairly pointless. We did have a nice unobstructed view on the north side of the hotel.





We checked out the lounge and the outside views up there, and then went to bed pretty early.

7/24 – Temples Galore

We were up around 6am and decided to have breakfast in the lounge. It was decidedly not as good as the one in Hanoi. Again, we felt a little bit of the cold shoulder from the staff, who were pleasant but did not seem to want to go out of their way for anyone. Morning view from our room was nice:



We grabbed the first hotel river shuttle boat at 7:30 and headed to the central pier. From there, we took the orange express boat to the Grand Palace.





We were among the first in line and got in before the crowds arrived. It seemed that only the temples were open inside as we tried to walk around and go inside the palace but kept running into locked doors or security telling us to go around the other way. The temples and shrines were beautiful though.







We left the palace and started walking to Wat Po, but a tuk-tuk driver stopped and we negotiated a ride for the rest of the way. We enjoyed taking pictures of the reclining Buddha from different angles. It’s quite a sight to see.





From there we took another tuk-tuk over to Khao San Road and walked it back and forth. My wife bought some of those elephant trousers for her and the kids that everyone seems to buy in Thailand. It was a bit worn-down over there and I can see why it mostly just attracts backpackers. Of course, I’m sure it’s hopping at night, but that’s not our scene.



From Khao San Road, we walked all the way to a ferry stop and crossed to Wat Arun. At this point, all the walking had done in my wife’s ankle so she was hobbling along a bit. She did not want to climb up Wat Arun, so she sat this one out.



Then we decided to go to one of the wet markets, Khlong Toei. In order to get there, we had to take the BTS from nearby the central ferry pier and then the MTR from Si Lom. It was a neat market, but it was a terrible idea because my wife's ankle couldn't really take much more.



Admitting defeat, we took a cab to the central ferry pier and caught the free shuttleboat to the Hilton. The ankle was really not doing well by this time.

We grabbed some light snacks in the lounge and my wife went back to the room to rest. Our dinner reservations weren’t until 9:30 so we had plenty of time. I decided to take a ride over to Wat Saket – the Golden Mount, as it looked like one of the more interesting temples in Bangkok.

I used Grab and round trip was under US$10. There were a lot of steps up and down the Golden Mount but it was worth it. Great views over the city.







Back at the Hilton, we hit up the free drinks and snacks at happy hour, carefully saving room for dinner. Another annoyance: the lounge staff wouldn’t let us take a can of Diet Coke back to our room. Really? Nice sunset views from the balcony up there though.



Around 8:30, we took a Grab to Gaggan, our dining experience for the night. It’s a 25 course tasting menu, but all you get in the beginning is a sheet of emojis.



Only after your meal do you get more of an explanation of what you ate. Of course, some of the food can be identified, but some (like monkey brains) can’t. I’m not going to post every course here in pictures, but I’ll put up a few of our favorites.







The experience at Gaggan is also very fun and casual. I wore nice shorts (it’s summer in Bangkok after all), and the waiters cracked jokes and had a great time with the diners. We also had a couple of glasses of wine with our meal. A wine pairing is available, but we were so full after dinner, I’m not sure how anyone can do that as well.

After dinner (around 12:30am), we asked the host to call us a cab. When the cab arrived, he tried to claim it was a “mini-cab” and he had no meter, but the towel covering the meter was extremely obvious. He wanted to charge us 300THB for a 150THB max ride back to the Hilton so we got out and eventually ordered a Grab to take us back.

Gaggan was a great experience, but not cheap for Bangkok (or anywhere really). I highly recommend you go before it moves to Japan in 2020 as I would expect the price to go up accordingly.

7/25 – Last Morning in Bangkok

Despite our late night, we were still awake at 7am. We decided to try the restaurant for breakfast as we had plenty of time. One annoying thing was when I asked for iced coffee, they told me “it’s not included.” So, I just asked for coffee and a cup of ice. I could get iced coffee in the lounge so I’m not sure why there’s a discrepancy.

After breakfast, we had about 90 minutes or so before we needed to head to the airport so we walked around the local market right next to the Hilton. It was a good way to spend a bit of time without having to actually go anywhere far from the hotel.

We checked out around 9am in the lounge and ordered a Grab to the airport. We were flying Bangkok Airways to Chiang Mai. There was no wait for checking bags or for security at that time of the morning, and since we were flying domestic, there was no immigration to pass through.

There’s a Bangkok Airways lounge in Concourse A, but our flight was out of Concourse B, so given the wife’s ankle issues, we just decided to wait in the gate area.

Next up: Chiang Mai Food, Elephants, Massage and More Food.

jmj9905

Great tr. Can't wait for the next post. By the way, what was the cost of dinner at Gaggan?

pjs

jmj9905

Thanks. We have spent more as well. However, that sounds like a reasonable cost for that dinner.

RoamingGeek

I am very fond of the bathroom window a lot of hotels there have just because it makes the room feel bigger and lets more light in. When I build my own home, it is something I plan on implementing.

pjs

7/25 – Continued – Another Food Tour?

PG217 BKK-CNX 12:25-13:45

Our Bangkok Airways flight boarded on time. This flight from BKK-CNX was $41pp, which included a free checked bag, an assigned seat and a meal, along with decent legroom.



We had a decent enough meal (tasted better than it looks) served right after take-off. Coffee and tea was also offered. These FAs work hard on what is basically an hour flight.



We landed about 10 minutes early in Chiang Mai. I tried to order a car with Grab but it wouldn’t let me select the right pick up spot, so I gave up and just use the airport cab desk for 150BHT.

When we got to the Le Meridien, I was curious to see whether we would get upgraded as I had written to the GM about my “almost-Platinum” status (combined 50 nights SPG/Marriott but still Gold prior to merger) and he had promised lounge access and possibly a suite. Well, we got a great suite on a club floor, beautifully decorated for our anniversary (two months prior lol).









By the time we got settled, it was around 2pm and our food tour was scheduled for 5pm on the other side of town. We decided to take a slow walk across town (in the rain) and explore on the way. We walked through the gate and generally in the direction of our tour meeting point, while stopping at shops and temples along the way, including Wat Chedi Luang, which is around 600 years old and quite a sight.





We met our guide at Wat Lok Moli and waited for the other two tour guests, a couple of teachers from Germany who live in Beijing. The tour was called A Chef’s Tour and we highly recommend it. Our guide had a red truck for us to travel from place to place and we enjoyed a variety of food locations just outside the walls of the city, including Chinatown and an amazing market.

We tried various bugs, pig brains, and all kinds of weird stuff, along with roast pork, chili dips, curries and other staples.













We were dropped off at our hotel after the tour and we had a walk around the night market, which is literally outside the Le Meridien.

7/26 – Elephants and More Elephants

We had breakfast in the restaurant as the lounge offerings were not nearly as expansive. We were picked up by Elephant Nature Park at 8am. We had a minibus with 12 guests from all over the world, although of course my wife made fast friends with a couple from Philly (she’s from South Jersey and a big Eagles fan).

It took about 90 minutes to get up to ENP, with some nice mountain views on the way once we got out of the city. We met our guide on arrival and she first took us to feed the elephants.



Then we walked around and met various groups of elephants while hearing some stories about them.





Lunch was served buffet style and was quite good. After lunch, we walked down to the river and watched the elephants bathe. ENP used to allow guests in the river with the elephants, but stopped this practice a few months before we visited. My daughter’s friend was in Thailand around the same time as us and went to a different elephant park. She went in the water and ended up with a nasty eye infection afterwards. Remember, they “do their business” in the water as well so that’s what you are swimming in.





We walked around and met some more groups of elephants, including some babies, which were protected very well by the older elephants and thus, hard to photograph. By this point, it got a little repetitive and tiring, as we were just out in the sun for a long time.





We headed back to town around 3pm on the same minibus and in the interest of fairness, were dropped off at hotels in reverse order. We went up to the lounge for a drink, but were the only ones there. That evening, we went to the night market and had street food nearby. First though, my wife went back for some more pig brains in Chinatown.

7/27 – Massage and Yes, More Food.

I had left this day open so we could decide on the day whether to take a tour up to the mountains or not. Given the low clouds and on and off rain, we decided to make it a relaxing day in town instead.

We had breakfast in the restaurant again. Today was a Thai holiday, so alcohol sales were prohibited, but many of the stores in town were running huge sales, like 100THB for everything in the store. We managed to stock up on some T-shirts and other souvenirs.

We booked a 10am massage at Fah Lanna Massage near our hotel (recommended on here by someone so thanks). The one hour massage was the equivalent of about $8 and was very intense, like climbing on my back with their knees intense. It was enjoyable, but I am not a massage fan generally, and one was enough.

After the massage, we split up for a couple of hours. I went off in search of the Khao Soi place made famous on Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix. I managed to find it after comparing the pictures on his blog to the place in front of me. The Khao Soi was excellent.



We met back up and walked around a holiday flea market, randomly running into our new friends from Philly at the same place. The rain was starting by now so we headed back to the hotel for a rest in the late afternoon.

I had expressed some interest in a cooking school experience, but my wife had zero interest. She encouraged me to go if I found an open spot for that evening and she would go back to Chinatown for more bugs and pig brains.

I found one spot in Thai Akha Cooking School, which was highly rated on TripAdvisor, so I grabbed it. They picked me up from the Le Meridien in a red truck and we ended up with 12 people, again from all over the world.

We cooked 11 courses over the course of 3 hours, although it was more like we made about four ourselves with the chef/guide making most of the food and us helping, given the limited time. We made curry, pad Thai, soup, etc. and some Akha dishes. Akha is a tribe in Northern Thailand/Myanmar and interestingly, many of them are Christian. This being a Thai Buddhist no-alcohol holiday, it did not stop me being able to buy a beer to enjoy with my curry.







We were all driven back to our various hotels after the class, which I recommend if you are looking for a fun activity in Chiang Mai.

7/28 – Clogging up our day

Around 3am, we got a frantic call from our daughter that there was a flood in our house. Turns out, her dumb friend clogged the toilet and did not tell our daughter out of embarrassment. The toilet overflowed and water went through the ceiling into the kitchen. Lovely. We told her and my mother-in-law to call a plumber, who called an emergency water removal company. I put a claim in with our homeowner’s insurance, and there was not much more we could do from halfway round the world.

Needless to say, we could not fall back asleep. We went down to breakfast at 6am right when it opened and then grabbed a taxi to the airport at 6:30am. It was 200BHT because of the early hour. We checked in with Bangkok Airways. In contrast to our BKK-CNX flight, this CNX-USM non-stop was $300pp as there are only 2 flights per day and Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on this route as they own the USM airport.

When we checked in, we were asked if we wanted to volunteer for a later flight with a connection in Bangkok. We declined as we had a reservation at the Conrad in Koh Samui and did not want to waste time getting there. I have no idea how much they were offering.

We found the Bangkok Airways lounge before security and sat in relative peace and quiet. I think most Bangkok Airways passengers do not realize this lounge is for all passengers.







Someone from the airline found us in the lounge and again asked if we wanted to volunteer, but we again declined. I also noticed we had been moved to exit row aisle seats, which was fine with me.



Up next: Conrad Concerns But Ultimately Amazing Koh Samui

RoamingGeek

I had that same feeling when flying from KBV to BKK. There were a decent amount of people waiting at the gate with only 5 people in the lounge which was right next to the gate. I am a huge fan of a thing they call "iced chocolate" that they usually have in the lounge.

Madone59

What a great trip, thank you for sharing ^^

RumPatrol

Beautiful trip report. Brings back some memories, the Hong Kong section especially as it reminds me of my first HK visit, almost beat for beat. I stay at the IC any time I can. I really need to stop in Vietnam for a while instead of just passing through, every time Vietnam shows up in the trip reports forum I get insanely jealous.

jeff191

Was in Bangkok last Christmas and my regret was not trying to make a reservation early enough at Gaggan to get it. Our hotel was literally 200 ft. up the street. Where in Atlanta have you spent more? I'm here as well and have eaten at most of the nice places but haven't had the price go that high. I'd be interested to see what sort of meal that kind of money buys here.

pjs

I think Bacchanalia may have been a little less, but I seem to remember Seeger's being more than that (and not enjoying it nearly as much). We made reservations about 6 months in advance at Gaggan.