RHK's & GPANDA'S in Thailand
 

Friday Nov 13, 2009


Picked up the hertz rental van about 9AM…..Loaded our cases and drove to Boston to pick up Maureen (M) before heading to the sainted Cambridge for Andy (A) & Beth (B)… We left their house about 10:45, after andy forgot several things… Off to NYC.
Little or no traffic the whole way and we were in Queens in 3 hrs and 25 min. Lunch was set for the fabled SRI in Queens…. Fantastic as usual and A&B were blown away with it…Thai food…

An easy drive to JFK from there and we were at the Singapore air counter a couple of hours before it opened. We hung out.. Easy checkin after they opened.. We were almost at the front of the line…

While waiting in the lounger I was paged. Seems my seat is broken… Great… full flt, etc… they said the csabin staff will figure it out. We boarded early and cabin staff knew nothing about it…. This is the beginning of a few problems with Singapore…. Poor communications is lacking!!! What finally happened is that I took K’s seat and she moved to the middle when a couple left for two empty seats on the other side of the plane, which we should have been given…. Fine in the end as this segment to Frankfurt was only 7 hrs, 10 min. I had two seats to myself and K had an aisle in the middle… A, B, & M were further up in that pod but on the other side of the plane…. Bumpy ride until we cleared nova scotia… The plane was 1.5 hrs. late leaving JFK because of huge winds…. We were 25th in line to take off… On the ground the plane shook---747… We had row 64, the last in the window section… Good seats normally…

We arrived in Frankfurt about ½ hour late. Enough time to walk a bit and use the bathrooms. As we left the plane we were told the staff had been notified earlier about my seat and arrangements were to be made…..We were to use the same plane on to Singapore… Long and short nothing was done… I made a fuss and finally we were assigned new seats in the first coach pod….3 seats with a guaranteed empty between us… PERFECT… I will not go into the plane itself, but surfice to say it will be out of service by February..

So we reboarded in a very unorderly fashion and we were off. We liked our seats and took some sleeping pills so were able to sleep a significant time… The flt was just under 11 hours…

Singapore Air---- we were really looking forward to this, especially because the tickets jfk-bkk only cost $677, and because we had never flown the fabled airline before… At first we were unimpressed and I made it known… After that I was called Mr K….but they knew I was right..
The cabin staffs could not have been more attentive, polite and service orientated. They work as a superb team and with great speed and efficiency… We were impressed… We were feed a huge number of times as we had 3 flt segments. The food was good to excellent. There were lots of extras, like a sdilky bag containing a tooth brush, paste and a comfy pair of socks….menus….when do you get those in coach anymore?? Coats taken away and hung up in coach… I fault them on their communication---one work group to another and for the terrible facilities in Frankfurt…but other than these small things, there are still one of the top airlines..

Our flt to bkk from Singapore on a 777 was efficient and lasted just short of two hours, including yet another full meal--- I passed…

We arrived in bkk about 20 min early and were 2nd in line at immigration… Bags took 15+ minutes to show up and our driver’s rep was waiting just outside customs…. Tong had arranged a driver for us. A nice van and we were at the marriott resort and spa in 35 or so minutes---lite traffic on a Sunday at noon…

We had a discounted agency room for the hotel---About $145 net, not including breakfasts. I wrote them and asked that we all be upgraded to river view rooms…. They upgraded K & I, long term customers to a club room with all the club privileges, including breakfasts, but the others were only upgraded to river view rooms… I was amazed as I have never received more than a river view room in the past….. It is a bit awkward with the others, but we will work that out.


We are on the 3rd floor close to each other…

We hit the pool quickly and spent almost all afternoon there relaxing…. We had some lunch by the pool which was tasty, but expensive---pepsi for A, satay combos for K & B, Indonesian rice for me and later M had a salad plate… Boy, did that pool water feel nice after a 36 hour trip…

K & I had cocktails in the club and now we are going to Tongue Thai for dinner… Marriott boat then the Oriental boat…

A, btw, has or is getting over the flu, so lucky for us is quiet….in a day or so he will be his old self…

Dinner at Tongue Thai, in back of the Maderine Oriental hotel was excellent… we had two orders of cashew nut and chicken, a noodle/pork dish, papaya salad, rice and one or two other dishes… about 1100 B for 4.5 of us…

All enjoyed it and are tired so off to bed... It's sunday nite here

Welcome back Bob!

Bob was upgraded to the Club floor. Andy was not? Hmmm. . .
Anyone else think we may hear about this in a bit more detail pretty soon? I can hear Andy screaming from here.

Have a great time. Send the cashew chicken my way please.

PS
One year ago we had those same seats on SIA. Our seat too was broken. Talk about a bit of a delay in working a repair.

Nothing but admiration for your energy.

Congratulations on your Marriott upgrade. A & B will survive - the Marriott staff must be aware of their loyalty to the ROS...

Great to see that you have arrived and are "home" at the Marriott. Are you in the north or south building? Look forward to hearing how Bricco (if I remember the name of the new Italian restaurant) is doing and if there are any other changes at the hotel. Does club privileges mean that you get internet at the club lounge now and don't have to cadge it somewhere around the pool or pay the high in-room rate?

Looking forward to more.

CHicken and Cashew nut for first meal in Bkk? Lmao, are you nuts, Bob?? Sheesh. What's the plan for tomorrow- Pizza
Hut, spaghetti and meatballs? Please be more cuisinally responsible, will ya? lol

Good to hear from you and know the Panda is uncharacteristically subdued. Who knows, perhaps he'll lose his voice and the entire trip will remain a relaxing oasis of peaceful bliss? BTW, I spent last weekend in Montreal visiting family and have posted my trip report on the Canada Forum if you've any interest. Enjoy the remainder of your time in BKK and let us know if the Panda remains subdued or manages to infect the rest of your travel party....

BC

There's a Canada forum? Who knew?

Canadians, Rizzuto, Canadians knew. Also dual nationals like myself.


#-O


BC

After all of Andy's work getting the flights worked out, he didn't get upgrades too? I'll bet he was more sulky than sick.

Glad you are in asia though. Let the adventures begin!

the club rooms are regular rooms with club lounge add ons, plus lasundry, phone, internet, breakfast ...

not too many changes except 200 employees have moved on recently---some of our favorites too...

new rest. is brio... looks lovely but pricey... not sure we will visit... it is an improvement over former rests...

tonight we hired a van to take us out to pook's house for a visit and dinner....

we had such fun... i'm way too tired to report tonight but will soon... Leave it simply, there should be only one more coveted invite in thailand other than dinner with the king....

i can tell you they were thinking other names for you in the galley."$$#@&^%!!!" "Mr. K" for Mr. Kronic Komplainer.

its a good thing panda was sitting away from you or the stain would blot him also!

Are you kidding? Based on his appearance at the Boston GTG, I'd rather have dinner with Hanuman any time, forget the king! The dude knows how to dance and how to party!

A stain blotting the Panda? Pandas have spots already, so no stain could be detected. Sounds like he himself may be going under the alias Walter Whiner, though, with his cold/flu thing going on.

BC

Hey guys, sounds like your BKK adventure is off to a good start. I hope you find the time to stop by the Pickled Liver on soi 11. Maeng would love to meet you. I know NYwoman plans to return there at some point. You should join her!

Have a great time!

Carol

hoping to post tomorrow... K going to dentist tomorrow, so i should have plenty of time to write...

zoo has refused gpanda entrance based on his H1N1 status...

busy shopping day today..

dinner at brio, the new marriott italian rest... food excellent, service poor---general manager made a mistake and came to our table to introduce himself... he got an ear full from rhk... more later...

The hospital call today to confirm the appointment and I forgot to give them your number here.

Best Italian at the moment is Fuzio!

Bookchick,

I heard they dressed me in some weird s&m outfit for the GTG. Gpanda gave me a pink Speedo to wear for him but I said no.

<i>zoo has refused gpanda entrance based on his H1N1 status</i>

Was he trying to get in as a visitor or as a permanent resident?

Glad that you are all having a good time.