December 24, 2014
We have been flying for 27 hours and on the road for three days, but we are finally here in Bangkok, Thailand. Here is the view out our hotel window on the morning of Christmas Eve:
The view from the fourth floor of the Pullman Hotel in downtown Bangkok
I'm so buggy and jet lagged, all I can think of is the old fortune cookie chestnut I got in San Fran many moons ago; "Man who go through turnstile sideways, bangkok."
Full disclosure, I told Kathy I wouldn't make the trip unless I could go business class, so she called my bluff and booked me in what Thai Airlines calls "Privelege Class." Here is the view of my digs as I got on the plane at LAX on monday morning:
Korean Airlines Business Class Seats (yes, it folds down into a bed)
A better view of the environment (note my slippered foot at bottom):
A Korean Airlines Beauty handing out orange juice and, or, champagne.
The perks didn't stop with the champagne. Ten different newspapers were offered on a big rack. I chose the New York Times. An hour into the flight we were served one of the best lunches I have ever had in my life. First of all, they served top shelf wine. I chose a 2010 Merlot that was exquisite (I also rewatched "Sideways" later in the flight and laughed all over again at Paul Giamatti's charactor's hatred of Merlot). Lunch was served on linen tablecloths with real silverware and I had the seared scallop with yellow tomato coulis and crabmeat salad with proscuito rose and melon, and then Korean Bibimbap beef with Gochujang hot sauce. This was followed by a 3-cheese and crackers dish and Haagendass icecream. Ay Yi Yi. Amazing what an extra two grand will do.
Watched three movies: "The Giver" (weak), the one about the Indian restaurant opened in France across the street from Helen Mirron's place. Liked that. Also saw all the movies on the other screens of my neighbors which included The Expendables 3 (really? there was a call for two more?), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which had some cool sequences) and one American dude (the guy being served in the above photo) who watched nothing but Cary Grant movies and "High Noon" all the way to Korea.
The only negative was a small dog who yipped on several occassions and a Korean Airlines stewardess came to my bed and got down on one knee to apologize profusely for the dog yapping, as if I was a King who could flick my wrist and tell her to cut off his head. I told her I was fine. That was a rich little dog though.
The novelty soon wore off though and at the eight hour mark, one of my seatmates laughed and said, "Only five more hours to go!" We landed in Seoul, Korea at 2 a.m. our time, changed planes and then took off for Bangkok at 3:30, arriving in Thailand at 9:18 a.m. AZ time. Our son Thomas Charles and his wife Pattarapan picked us up and we had street Thai food before going to our hotel. We had spent some 30 hours door to door, but it was worth it.
"Be a messenger with a noble cause."
—Wassily Kandinskey
"Kingman boy who go through turnstile sideways bangkok."
—Old Vaquero Saying
