Travelling to Bangkok

27^th February 2018

I had spent the night at Benni’s and awoke early as Benny rose and prepared for work; I did not really get back to sleep before my alarm went off at 6:30 (it was also set for 3 minute intervals thereafter just in case….)

I enjoyed a couple of early cups of coffee courtesy of her coffee machine, a more sophisticated version than mine, and called to order a taxi.  I enjoyed the delights of my phone reminding me of my flight, my hotel booking in Bangkok and confirmation of my just ordered taxi.

After the last hectic few days of packing, (getting the house ready to rent and myself ready to go away) it had been nice to sit and have a drink with Benni the previous evening after a meal at the midway point pub.  It was also nice to get ready in a leisurely way that morning.  I went out to put my bag with bits that were not coming with me into my car and found the taxi waiting for me … more than 15 minutes early.  The Korean driver was not too phased about waiting while I attended to the few things I still needed to do, and we headed to the airport in rather less traffic than there might have been. 

I arrived at the airport with loads of time to spare and check in … I had not been able to check in online as I’d booked myself into extra legroom seats … the exit row seats.  Check in took next to no time, although I was asked about batteries in my luggage.  I had checked online and they were allowed, so I thought I had put them in my case, but could not find them easily so concluded maybe I hadn’t ...

With over an hour before my flight left, I queued for a coffee and found a table to sit at and enjoy it while doing some of the computer based jobs I’d not had time for over the previous few days, including a heap of TAG preparation for Gifted Awareness Week.

Then the announcement came … the flight was delayed by half an hour.  A trip to the ladies lost me my table, but I found a seat at another that was occupied by a lone lady, but had to defend it against others as I removed the dead coffee cups … No, I was not vacating the spot, merely cleaning it.   A further announcement came about another delay;  at least I had 3 hours connection time in Melbourne so although I would need to collect and recheck luggage, there was no need to panic yet.

I continued with my computer tasks and set one mail to go out, but got a delightful message to suggest that time travel was difficult, please schedule for an advance date.  Amused, I felt the need to share this and it did also make my table companion smile.

Eventually we boarded.  Seat 1A seemed like a decent seat, even with Jetstar and I was told that I had a $10 voucher to spend, would I like a glass of wine.  Given that my total food intake to that point had been one tiny Nashi pear, I thought food would be a better option and ordered the chicken salad.  Well, chicken and pasta… cold.  I guess that made it salad, although I was not convinced.  It wasn’t too bad for airline food.

I collected my luggage in Melbourne and relocated it to the international terminal, having remarked to an inquiring taxi driver that I thought it a bit far for him to take me all the way to Bangkok. 

I had to queue again at the check in counter, along with families with small children and lots of extra luggage, but an inquiring assistant quickly checked me through one of the self check in points after I told her all I needed was a visual that I had the requisite number of legs, arms and eyes to sit in an exit row seat. 

I did a quick check of duty free with the intent of buying a 200 ml bottle of Bombay sapphire but when my inquiry about whether the duty free shop was associated with the one for which I get membership benefits was met by a response that suggested I was speaking a foreign language, I went looking for another and decided I could not be bothered so went and ordered a glass of bubbly instead to accompany further computer work and rushed emails back and forth suggesting that others might need to finish what I had started. 

The flight to Bangkok appeared to be leaving on time, so I sent a quick message to the Lilac Relax Residence to let them know and to tellthem I still wanted to be met.

The plane seats were not very comfortable for my still uncomfortable tailbone.  And the plane was COLD.  My scarf and merino really were not enough.  I spent a couple of hours wondering why it seemed to be getting dark over West Australia at about 4pm local time when I realised that my window was tinted; consultation with a flight assistant revealed the intricacies of its controls. 

The flight passed directly over the Indonesian archipelago… it was evident that there are lots of undeveloped areas.  I thought it might be a real possibility for exploration at some stage, it looks beautiful.  My view of Indonesian has been coloured by Bali, a destination that sits low on my list of things to do!

I spent some time spent looking at lonely planet for things to do in Bangkok, focusing on some of the less visited areas and museums. Maybe Chinatown.  Definitely the Royal fabric collection. 

The second round of meals was eventually served.  I had ordered a snack in the meantime.  My meal of what seemed a tiny serve of fried rice did fill me better than I expected. 

I spent some time spent jotting down ideas for the reading program, still with no real idea what I would be doing once I got to the school.  At least that morning I had received a bit of an itinerary; we would have little time in Thimphu before being taken to our schools.

9 hours seemed a long time for a flight, but eventually it reached Bangkok and it was only moments after disembarking that I discarded my scarf and merino.  My luggage was retrieved without incident, and customs looked at the fig cutting I had brought for Dorji but without concern and I proceeded to find my collection point for transfer to the hotel. 

The car was there to collect me within minutes of my connecting with the waiting attendant and the ride to the hotel was reasonably quick;  I did notice a rather interesting area on the way, with a multitude of decorative buildings and statuary and I made a mental not to try to find out what that place was.

I checked in and was take to my room.  My body told me I was fairly tired but I was also hungry.  An assault on the room service snacks was enough to deal with that and I retired for the night, glad to have a refreshing shower and get horizontal.