Cheapskate month in SE Asia with status

[froggerADL]

Not Such a Good Day

I’m having a mixed sort of day today.

I decided to miss breakfast and treat myself to Peking Duck for lunch. I turned on the shower at 12:30pm to find that I had no hot water. I rang reception to be told that there would be no hot water between noon and 5pm, but I should have a letter in my room letting me know. Sure enough, there it was on the desk. If they’d left it anywhere else in the room I would have seen it :evil:.

I applied more than the usual quantity of deodorant and headed off to the Peking Restaurant at the All Seasons Mall.

Inside the Peking Restaurant from my table. I was seated at the back of the restaurant on my own, even though there were plenty of tables where the other diners were eating.


I ordered this:


Just half a duck of course. I wouldn't want to be greedy.

Two minutes later they returned to tell me they have no Peking Duck. So I left. I don't think they wanted me there. Maybe I was too smelly .

Instead of spending around THB600 (A$23), I went to the food hall at the rear of the supermarket to eat like a local.

The Food Hall


I had braised pork with rice and some green stuff.

Braised Pork


It cost 65 baht (A$2.50). It was very nice.

After lunch I returned to my room. I was using the WiFi quite happily when I suddenly started getting security warnings about untrusted Conrad security certificates and was unable to access any website or my email account. The same thing happened on my phone so I knew it wasn’t my equipment causing the problem. Anyway, after four phone calls the problem was fixed. Phew!

The hot water was back at 3pm so I had a shower.

I just hope they haven’t run out of Whiskey Sours and beer when I get to the lounge tonight. That would be really bad.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Not Such a Good Day

:idea: Cheapskate Tip: If a Bangkok taxi driver quotes you a fixed fare it will usually be three to four times what you would pay using the meter. Always use the meter but tip generously.

When taxi after taxi wants to scam and not turn on the meter you have to ocassionally give in (or at least bargain) to a fixed fare.

Oh and no tips apart from a few baht change to Thai taxi drivers. They do quite well scamming me in Chiang Mai. I miss Pattaya and how easy it is to get around on 10 baht songthaew trips Must buy a cheap car in Chiang Mai if we are going to be staying there more often.

 

[froggerADL]

Last Afternoon Tea at the Conrad

Today is my last full day at the Conrad so I thought I should have a Scone. I'm sure some of you have been dying to see what they look like .

Scone with strawberry jam and just a little cream.


Here are a couple of pics of some of the evening options that I've had during my stay.

Satay


Seaweed, tempura vegetables & fish. So much veg!


And some drinks.

Prosecco


Prosecco & Whisky Sour. I think they were trying to get me drunk this night.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Last Afternoon Tea at the Conrad

Ice. What the!!!


Ahhhh, that's better.

 

[froggerADL]

See Ya Conrad - It's Been Great

As I've said before, I love the Conrad Bangkok. Unfortunately I have to leave in a couple of hours.

I requested a 2pm check-out last night which was granted.

I bought two large bottles of Tiger beer on the first day of this stay and and as I was packing I remembered that I still had one in the fridge. That proves that the exec lounge meets my requirements with respect to adequate alcohol supply.

I'm now enjoying that last beer. Well, the last one until I get to the Cathay Pacific lounge at BKK.

 

[CMA222]

Re: Afternoon Tea - Again

Great TR FroggerADL. Had I known about this planned trip while in HKG at the lounge crawl I would have arranged to cross paths a few times. On leaving a tip in Vietnam of VND20,000, I stayed at the one hotel in Vung Tau for 7 nights on business recently and was given the inside information to tip the housekeeping staff VND100,000 on the first or second day. I did so and they looked after me like I owned the hotel, for the rest of the stay. A$6 well spent !!

 

[froggerADL]

Uber to BKK

I planned to leave the Conrad at 2pm. I wanted to use UberX to get to BKK. At 1.30pm I checked the Uber app to see if price surge was in effect and it wasn’t, so all good. I finished packing and checked out.

I then found a nice comfy seat while I booked the Uber. Price surge was on 1.6X! Fortunately I wasn’t in a hurry so I kept checking every five minutes. After 20 minutes price surging finished. I booked a car. If it hadn't fallen by 2:30pm I would have used Grab Taxi.

I always use Google Maps on these journeys to ensure that we are heading in the right direction. Google maps estimated a trip time of 32 minutes. It soon became apparent that we were not taking the quick route, we were on the route marked as taking 20 minutes longer. I think he was avoiding tolls, or maybe traffic. It took 47 minutes and cost THB400 A$15.30.

 

[froggerADL]

Going Home with Qantas

It was now 3:05pm and Qantas check-in was due to open at 3:25pm. To my surprise, they were already open. Check-in was a breeze and I was asked which lounge I would like to visit and before she had finished the question I said “Cathay please”. She smiled at me knowingly . My wheelchair arrived and I was whisked through immigration & security to the lounge.

I’ve visited the Cathay lounge in Bangkok before, but not since the renovations. I’d read a lot about this new lounge and I was looking forward to my visit. I particularly wanted to try the Wonton Noodle Soup. Here it is:

Wonton Noodle Soup. It was delicious.


CX BKK Noodle Bar.


I had been checking expert flyer to see how full the flight was and if my shadow would have somewhere to sit. I had selected 24 J which is in the first row of economy with a bulkhead. Y was almost full and we departed with a completely full J cabin. Expert flyer was showing that I had a seatmate for days, then at about T-3 hours 24K was showing as blocked. And it stuck. I had a shadow!

My seatmate. My kind of travelling companion.

 

[froggerADL]

QF24 Food & Booze

The service on this flight was pretty ordinary. Actually it was abysmal. As per usual on an overnight flight the crew seemed to hide once the meal was over. I was treated as an inconvenience for most of the flight, particularly when I used the call button to request a drink.

Meal presentation. The thing on top was a garlic bread roll.


The main was served with a stylish blue tinfoil cover.


It was Dory with vegetables. It was surprisingly edible.


I had two beers with dinner, neither of which was actually offered to me. I had to ask. After dinner I requested a Jack Daniels with ice and received a plastic cup full of ice and no more than 10ml of JD. I had 3 more 10ml JDs and when I requested another I was RSAd. I responded that each drink contained no more than 10 ml of JD and she replied that alcohol has twice the effect at altitude. She then said if I had some water I could have another JD. OK, I had some water. The next JD was actually flat coke, but because I was so drunk I didn’t notice :evil:. I gave up, as one must, in this situation. I think that they were just annoyed that I dared to use the call button. They won. I had now joined the esteemed company of JessicaTam, BlackCat20 and TomVexille in being RSAd by Qantas, although at least I managed to be airbourne at the time, rather than in the F lounge .

I watched three movies and a few Big Bang Theory episodes. I didn’t sleep and I blame that on the lack of alcohol :shock:.

Breakfast was a cheese and bacon pastry which was basically thrown at me in its cardboard box. I was also handed a tub of yoghurt. I had to request an orange juice. I opened the accompanying red pack to get the spoon which I intended to use in eating the yoghurt. There was no spoon so I asked the FA for one and he said "It's in the red packet", and continued serving other passengers. Fortunately, on further investigation, I found that the little red packet did indeed contain a spoon. The little kind that you use to stir your tea or coffee. I used it to eat the yoghurt. The pack also contained sugar etc for adding to tea or coffee.

About five minutes later the FA returned to hand out the correct red packs which did indeed contain a proper spoon which was well designed for eating yoghurt. He had been handing out the wrong red packs to everyone! Perhaps the packs need to be colour coded as well as being completely different sizes. I'd already finished my yoghurt.

As we began our descent the CSM arrived to welcome me on board and to let me know that she had been too busy to speak to me earlier. Gee, thanks. It would have been better if she hadn’t bothered. I was however given a useless arrivals express path card. I was the only person in Y that she spoke to before making a hasty retreat back to the front of the plane.

So, I will now compare my outbound QF23 with the inbound QF24. I had the same seat on both flights, 24J, with a friendly giant seatmate in 24K on QF23 and some cushions and blankets next to me on QF24. QF24 wins.

On QF23 the service was excellent and the food inedible. QF24 had quite nice food for Y but the worst service/crew I have experienced on any airline in quite a while, probably since my last QF International overnight Y flight! Not RSAd on QF23 which is always a bonus. QF23 wins. By a significant margin.

I'm glad I have my own Bose NC headphones as there was no way I was going to be offered any on this flight.

The only smile I received during the entire nine hour flight was from the beautiful little three month old girl sitting across the aisle from me. We struck up quite a relationship! She didn't cry once.

We landed. I was told to stay seated until everyone had disembarked.

 

[potm]

Re: QF24 Food & Booze

Thank you for all your detailed reports. Think you could do a summary of your costs and points earned?

 

[JessicaTam]

Re: QF24 Food & Booze

Wow, not good at all.

QF's consistent inconsistency strikes again.

 

[froggerADL]

Back to normal - Qantas are good again

My wheelchair assistant was the nicest Qantas staff member I had come across in hours. As she was pushing me towards immigration I asked if she would mind stopping at duty free so I could get some booze. She said “Yes, if you know what you want because I can’t push you around the shop while you make up your mind”. I thought that was quite funny. I bet that's happened to her before! I said “No worries, I just want two bottles of Jack Daniel’s”. A stack of JD twin-packs appeared before us. I pointed to them, she grabbed one and took me to the check-out. I paid and we were off. It took about two minutes from when I asked to stop until the transaction was completed. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had refused my request citing some Qantas rule, so I was happy.

Two * one litre bottles of Jack Daniel’s cost $76 plus $1.14 Amex surcharge. I used an Amex Connect offer to get a $15 statement credit for spending $75 or more at Heinemann Duty Free. I’m a happy cheapskate. That's 200 QF24 stingy pours for $62.14 or just 31 cents each. In non QF24 terms it's 97 cents per standard drink, or five bucks a shot .

An A380 had arrived a few minutes before my flight. Consequently, immigration was a zoo, but that doesn’t really affect one when one is sitting on one’s cough being pushed through the flight crew immigration lane .

My bag arrived within a few minutes so priority baggage worked. We got through Customs fairly quickly then headed to re-check my bag. A friendly, happy Qantas employee greeted me, and took care of the bag. The QF grumps from the flight were now a distant memory. I was being addressed by name again.

I then boarded my private bus for the trip over to the domestic terminal. The driver took me to QF gate 15 and made a call for someone to come and take me to the QF J lounge. Thirty minutes later I was still sitting there. Fearing I had been forgotten I stumbled up to the service desk to explain my dilemma. The lady made a call and someone arrived to get me within a couple of minutes.

The QF crew on the SYD-ADL leg were fantastic as usual. I still love Qantas. I was told that a wheelchair would be waiting on arrival and that I didn’t need to wait to disembark. I was wheeled to the baggage carousel, priority baggage worked and I headed off to Zone D where my son would pick me up. We arrived at the arranged pick-up point within 10 seconds of each other. I do appreciate punctuality.

I arrived home and unpacked. Here is my Conrad soap booty obtained over two separate six night stays.

Aromatherapy Associates Soap. 17 * 60g and 17 * 40g bars. Total cost = zero.


Due to my English heritage this soap will last for freakin' years .

On Monday morning I get to pack again and head off to sunny Canberra for work. On QF thank goodness. Life returns to normal. That's not a bad thing.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: QF24 Food & Booze

Wow, not good at all.

QF's consistent inconsistency strikes again.

Unfortunately, from my experience of QFi overnight flights in Y, QF are consistently cough!

 

[Fifa]

Re: Back to normal - Qantas are good again

Thanks so much for your entertaining TR froggerADL.
Now that you're home I'm really going to miss your almost daily posts.

Looking forward to your next trip so I can once again join you for the ride .

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Back to normal - Qantas are good again

Thanks so much for your entertaining TR froggerADL.
Now that you're home I'm really going to miss your almost daily posts.

Looking forward to your next trip so I can once again join you for the ride .

Thanks Fifa, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's been fun writing it, although quite stressful at times trying to keep out of the Grammar thread .

I started planning my next trip while I was away. I want to take my son on Safari in South Africa, J all the way, on points of course, probably next April or May. It won't be cheap, but it will be the best value I can make it.

But I'm sure there will be one or two impromptu trips before then.

 

[Buzzard]

Now that you're back, can you do Canberra as a cheapskate and report back? I really enjoyed your TR.

 

[froggerADL]

Now that you're back, can you do Canberra as a cheapskate and report back? I really enjoyed your TR.

Thanks Buzz but sorry, I'll be far too busy working. And eating and drinking.

Actually, a trip to Canberra is cheapskate paradise. I earn money while I'm there and come back with surplus meal allowance. It also provides QFF SCs at a cost to me of $0.00 each.

But oh, the personal sacrifice.

 

[froggerADL]

The Numbers - By Request

Thank you for all your detailed reports. Think you could do a summary of your costs and points earned?

OK potm, as you asked so nicely.

The points have posted for my last Conrad stay. 13,995 HH points and 2076 Avios.

I flew 8 legs on this trip:
ADL-SYD-BKK-HAN-SIN-KUL-BKK-SYD-ADL

Total distance flown was 13,738. Only 2942 miles in J .

Four legs were in J (3 redemptions) and four were in Y ($599 cash). Total cost for all flights, including $60 for the chucked Air Asia flight and all redemption taxes & charges, was $1145, 17,000 KrisFlyer miles and 9,000 BA Avios.

I earned 19,675 QFF points and 120 SC, and 8598 BA Avios (from Hilton stays). So I earned almost the same number of points that I burned, albeit that I earned QF and burned SQ. I nearly forgot the 76 Air Asia BIG points which credited even though I didn’t take the flight. I’ll need to be careful not to spend them all at once .

I had 31 nights at Hilton properties. I had free breakfast at all properties and exec lounge access for all but three nights. Total cost was $3413. Avg. per night is $110. These nights will get me over the line for HH Diamond for another year.

I earned 61,818 HH points plus the Avios I mentioned earlier. I will get approximately $1400 redemption value from these HH points. I can use those Avios on a QF ADL-CBR in J which would cost over $800 in cash.

Total amount spent on ground transport including Ubers, Limos, Trains & Taxis was $167.50.

Average cost per day for all hotels, flights & ground transport $152.

I spent less than $200 on food & booze. I ate and drank quite well. I tried to be generous with the tipping without getting silly. I probably spent $50 or $60 on tips.

Average cost per Uber trip in Hanoi - about 75 cents. That's my favourite stat.

If I’ve missed anything, please let me know.

 

[potm]

Re: The Numbers - By Request

Thanks for that. Incredible value on the hotels. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on these flash sales and points offers. I've only got gold though so it won't be as good. I need to do a couple cheapskate tours to get to diamond!

Your flights are also incredible, how did you get 4 flights for under $600 and generate nearly 20k points and 120sc!

 

[froggerADL]

Re: The Numbers - By Request

I've only got gold though so it won't be as good. I need to do a couple cheapskate tours to get to diamond!

Your flights are also incredible, how did you get 4 flights for under $600 and generate nearly 20k points and 120sc!

Gold is usually pretty good in SE Asia. Even if they don't upgrade you, you can often pay a little extra for exec level. But yeah, HH Diamond is well worth getting. I got it through VA platinum ( which I got through a status match to QF WP) in 2011, and I've kept it ever since at very little cost.

Qantas had a sale for ADL-SYD-BKK-SYD-ADL for $599. It coincided with a double points offer. I am also QF WP. I took a MH J revenue flight. It all adds up.