Dear Diary: Turtlemichael and TMSO’s travel year

[turtlemichael]

Lumpini Park

Contrary to popular belief, Bangkok is not just Patpong and ping pong balls. It is a fascinating and complex city which defies easy understanding by mere visitors like me. One aspect worth mentioning is the joy of Lumpini Park in the mornings.

About 15 months ago I decided my sedentary life was not good for me. So I started, with the freedom of having more spare time, to walk in the mornings. Now it has become something of an obsession and I walk between 8 and 12 kilometres each morning. It’s rare to miss one and I feel frustration when I do. I have a route through the northern beaches of Cairns when at home. The side benefit, with a more sensible diet, has been a weight loss of around 22 kilos though I’m sure a couple of them have come back with this trip.

So in the 15 months I’ve had early morning walks in a lot of interesting places. There are not many more interesting than Lumpini Park.

The park is a major part of the lungs of Bangkok being 140 green acres in the centre of town. It’s in good condition, with lakes and canals and a long jogging track around the circumference. The length of the track is 2.543 kilometres, according to the marks on the path. When the gates open before sunrise there is an invasion of all sorts of people mainly committed to exercise. By the time I get there around 6.30am, just after sunrise, it is usually packed. There could be 10,000 people in the park, maybe more.

About half there are devoted to various forms of tai chi. There are many separate groups standing, lying on mats, bending and swaying. Some just have their hands and others have threatening swords. Many of the groups have their own music and Thai military type music also blares out from loudspeakers. Cleary, some leaders are more popular than others and groups can range in size from a few to many hundreds. Participants come in all shapes and sizes and ages.

The other half of the crowd appears dedicated to getting around the 2.543 kilometres in various ways. Last Saturday there was an organized march by the nurses of the army, air force, navy and police - maybe 500 of them marched in step round the park to their own fifes and drums.

The most intimidatory group travels to the sound of their continuously hooting claxon horns. They number about 40 and appear to be entirely composed of gentlemen of mature years. The youngest looked about 70. They jog along in tight formation at marginally above strolling place sounding that horn. You get out of their way or suffer the consequences of this exercise of Thai geriatric power. Their t shirts have a picture of a horn on the back.

On the subject of t shirts the dominate colour is of course yellow which signifies loyalty to the much loved and respected King. However, last week the King came out of hospital after an extended period and he happened to be wearing a pink shirt. Pink is apparently the colour of good luck so pink t shirts now blossom all over the park and city and rival the yellow, at least for the time being.

There are other groups. Some walk the path backwards. It must be to exercise different muscles but when you combine the standard Thai road sense with looking the opposite way to what you are traveling, you are asking for trouble. There are the transsexuals on their way home from a late night out. High heels, fading make-up and disheveled wigs are de rigeur here.

There are the future Thai Olympians, determined to get round the track in record time then do an exorbitant number of chin-ups at the park’s Muscle Beach. There are the old men and ladies recovering from strokes and illness who get out of their wheel chairs and take a few tentative but proud steps. And there are literally thousands sitting round drinking green tea or breakfasting at the numerous food stalls around the perimeter.

Wild life is in abundance too. The lake is full of turtles and huge water monitor lizards and there are many birds above. Finally, there are a few westerners taking all this in and even more fascinated by the Thai way of life. All is friendly, safe and chatty. On your way out, you can even buy bottles of snake blood to help you through to the next day.

 

[turtlemichael]

Bangkok

Nine nights in Bangkok for vacation can be excessive. However, this was not all vacation, at least for TMSO who is here to give some lectures. This is an annual event for us. We have been in Bangkok at this time of year for the past seven years and now know it fairly well.

My mattress run fixation was given free rein in Bangkok; two nights at the InterContinental, one night at the Holiday Inn next door, back to the InterContinental for two more nights and then to the Narai in Silom for four nights. Doing a mattress run between the IC and HI is the easiest thing. You don’t even need to venture outside – you just walk across the corridor between the two hotels. Those 5 nights earned just over 40,000 Priority Club points, enough for a free night at almost any IC around the world, or a couple of nights at a HI. If only QF gave us a free flight for every 5 paid.

At the IC we booked a grand deluxe room and were allocated to one of the new rooms on the 19th floor. These are a very classy design and super comfortable. There’s a good mini bar too and complimentary Club access with my Royal Ambassador status. At the HI we had booked a junior suite and were upgraded to an executive suite, one of three on the top floor. Great bed and bathroom but otherwise it’s just a fairly ordinary HI. The club here is spartan compared to the IC. This is not surprising of course. Back at the IC for the second time we were again given club access. The club has to one of the best in the IC chain. Excellent views across Bangkok, good breakfasts and evening canapés and good variety of booze. The Narai, in Silom, is a different story. This is the hotel of choice of TMSO’s conference organizers and the less said about it the better. And no points!!

Tourist type things in Bangkok are not always obvious. Here are two things we did which I would recommend to anyone who thinks they have done everything there is to do in Bangkok. First, M.R. Kukrit’s Heritage Home is worth an hour or so. It’s a 10 minute walk from Chong Nonsi Skytrain station and is open Saturdays and Sundays. The fee is 50 baht. The house, now incongruously surrounded by huge high rises, is the classical home of a revered Thai politician who died 12 years ago. It is 5 separate one room teak houses attached to a platform open verandah. It’s beautiful and totally out of character with the rest of Bangkok.

The other thing we did was to visit Nakhon Pathom. You’ll need 4 or 5 spare hours. The city is about 60 kilometres west of Bangkok along a good road but subject to lots of congestion if you are really unlucky. We weren’t and the drive, in a hired car with driver, took about 75 minutes each way. The cost of the hire was a pricey 2000 baht but maybe not too pricey for the good car and driver we had. The city is home to the largest and most stunning pagoda in Thailand. It soars out of the plain as you approach and, not being on the regular tourist track, is not overrun with aggressive vendors. It’s a great photo opportunity and very easy to spend a couple of hours exploring the buildings.

After 9 quickly passing days we headed on to Hong Kong for some retail therapy.

 

[turtlemichael]

Hong Kong

My disillusionment with Cathay shorthaul regional business class grows. CX754 BKK-HKG was I think one of the worst J flights I’ve had. The cabin was nowhere near full, but service was haphazard, the food truly awful and the B777 seat like a rock. The crew’s main concentration was on selling duty free. And horror of all horrors, the wine was off.

However, our two night stay at the Hong Kong InterContinental was more than enough to make us quickly forget CX. We had booked a Club weekend package in a harbour view room, and as befits a Priority Club RA, we were first upgraded to a junior suite a couple of days in advance of arrival and then to an executive suite on the 17th Floor on arrival. The huge room had a stunning view of the harbour, and all facilities. It also had a great mini bar. Any mini-bar, included in the package for a Royal Ambassador and replenished daily, which has eight miniatures of four different scotches including a couple of single malts, and 12 other miniatures plus all the other usual things, is not to be sneezed at. We have done a good job of demolishing it. The HK IC club is also amongst the best in any IC.

TMSO is now coming around to appreciating mattress runs and hotel loyalty programmes seeing that the free night we had here, using a weekend certificate, would have cost around AUD900 if we were paying for it.

All up, a top end to the first Asian leg of our year of travel. Now it’s down to Sydney.

 

[turtlemichael]

Hong Kong to home

We got to the CX Wing at HKG well in advance of departure time. Time for a good dinner, more than enough wine and emails. I find HKG-SYD an awkward length. Dinner and breakfast on QF128 leave, for me at least, not enough time for a decent sleep or, as decent a sleep as you can get on a plane. So eating before the flight was intended to leave longer sleeping time. I can’t it was a successful plan. The OBM (one big mistake) this day was neglecting to reserve seats and to leave it up to Qantas. The middle and aisle back row downstairs in the Business cabin are not the best seats on the plane. Still there are better than all the seats behind them. 24 hours out Expert Flyer told us that the various Business booking classes had 9+. I obviously checked before the upgrades happened so it was J0 when we boarded. The man in the other aisle seat had no difficulty sleeping. Of this we are certain having listened to his vibrating soft palate and uvula for most of the flight.

So what else to do but have another dinner, some more wine, Muscat, watch the movies (working) and doze to Sydney. Next time I’ll go for the Upper Deck. The penalty will be even greater need for exercise to lose the Asian kilos.

Three nights in Sydney were at the Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour. We got a decent upgrade but the hotel is a come down after the ones we had stayed in through Asia and even a comedown from most of the Holiday Inns. I am definitely getting spoiled.

In the three days we saw a very enjoyable Billy Elliot at the Capitol which officially opens mid-December and did a quick trip to Katoomba to see one of the elderly in-laws who had broken her hip while we were in China.

So, thus ends stage 1 of this DONE4 and year of travel. We now have a little break before some domestic travel in January and February. It won’t be quiet though as we are moving house in the next few weeks. Downsizing means a substantial reduction in possessions. The two settlement dates have not coincided so it will mean the best part of 4 weeks in the Holiday Inn Cairns. That will be an experience. The RSL next door does a mean roast lamb apparently.

This Stage 1 has meant 16 nights in IHG hotels earning 115,600 Priority Club points. We have flown 7 segments of which 5 were part of the DONE4, one was on QFF points and one was separately paid, earned 18094 QFF points and 440 Status Credits and had a damn good time.

Some hotel pics can be found here.

 

[Keith009]

Just finished reading this today. Great effort, turtlemichael! Look forward to part 2.

 

[Shano]

I agree about the awkward length of the HKG-SYD (night) flight.

I actually took to day flight back to MEL this time (QF30) and much prefer this to the night flight. Got home at about 10:30pm, showered and went to bed.

QF188 is the day flight to SYD but is operated some days by a 763 .

 

[littl_flier]

turtlemichael, congratulations on finishing stage 1 of the trip. I thoroughly enjoyed your trip report and your literary flair.

I'm looking forward to the next stages.

And enjoy the Holiday Inn, though four weeks may be a little excessive.

 

[turtlemichael]

Cairns restaurants


Today is the last day of a four week stay at Cairns Holiday Inn. Lest some think that this is the equivalent of self inflicted stab wounds, it has actually been passably pleasant. Over that period you get to know the staff and get little extra favours – more shampoo – no problem, a bowl of fruit – have some peaches etc We also have had a comfortable room with a modernized though small bathroom. The best thing about the room is the excellent view of Cairns foreshore and its mudflats which I am learning to appreciate and love. I’m being serious! And the hotel does have great staff.

Living in a hotel in your own city gives you a different perspective. We are actually between house moves and the new place was not ready. As it turns out it’s still not ready and we look like a few more days next week at the HI. I’m trying to think of the points I’ll earn.

I thought it might be useful to others to give some views of the numerous restaurants we have eaten at over the past month. One of the things about eating in Cairns is that it is hard to avoid the traditional tourist traps which are many and varied. We were not totally successful in that objective unfortunately.

I’m also limiting myself to those you can walk to in town. My real favourites are out of town – Vivo and Nu Nus in Palm Cove and Salsa in Port Douglas.

Over the four weeks we've eaten I think in about 20 different places and here are some.

The HI actually has a passable a la carte menu at its restaurant, Atriums. They also have a seafood buffet for $41.95 which varied from good to average. There are some reasonably priced high quality items on the a la carte menu and I have eaten a lot worse for more dollars elsewhere. The other cheapy for a different sort of meal is the RSL club. It is economical, does excellent steaks and good roasts and has some great display cases of war memorabilia to look at. There are aslo lots of slot machines next door. This is a long way from fine dining but fun and interesting.

A new small cheapy is Banana Leaf on the Esplanade. They described themselves as serving modern Asian food. Although it is dumbed down a bit when it comes to the chili, it does have some really authentic flavours still. It's pleasant street dining. A Thai restaurant which I rate highly is Khin Khao next to the Old Ambulance Station. We had top notch reasonably priced Thai food there.

Covering the disappointments, first is an old Cairns restaurant called La Fettuccine. It’s tourist heaven with large serves of overcooked disintegrating pasta and indescribable sauces. Yuck! Red Ochre used to serve inventive cooking but now really seems tired and passed its use by date. The major disappointment was Mature Yogo at the Pier. It's also called M. Yogo. It has a good reputation and has won recent prizes for inventive cooking but we had the most off hand and almost offensive service, tired pre-prepared amuse bouclé and small serves of very ordinary Japanese influenced food. What the numerous Japanese tourists there using pre-paid vouchers thought I shudder to think.

We loved a new restaurant in the Harbour Lights building on the boardwalk called Olano’s. It’s strongly Italian influenced modern cooking in a nice outdoor setting. I expect to eat there a lot more particularly as its only 100 metres from the new abode. In the same building up the boardwalk is an old Cairns institution called Dundees. It’s in about its third or fourth location and, although geared to tourists, serves very good but pricey seafood, steaks and safe things. We had a great Christmas lunch there. Next is Tamarind in the Sofitel Reef Casino. Not over the top expensive but really consistently good Asian food that comes as near as you get in Cairns to fine dining. Next and last is Fettas. Not surprising it’s Greek and has just moved to larger premises in Grafton Street near Rusty’s market. As Greek food goes this is very good. Again, it’s not overly expensive with such things as a set menu of about 8 small courses for $30.00. They have some good Greek domestica as well. It's not a plate breaking restaurant but it is a little on the noisy side.

As I said it takes a little bit of doing to avoid the tourist traps here. I can remember years ago having good meals at places such as Barnacle Bills and the Raw Prawn on the Esplanade. Now you pay $40.00 plus for main courses and I feel, for the quality, it’s a big rip off. But they are full every night, so what do I know.:shock:

As always, YMMV.

 

[turtlemichael]

With all the budding Pulitizer Prize winners posting in this forum, certainly those here have given a great literary account of themselves. To me, reading what's been posted has been most illuminating and I'm in awe of the skills displayed.

I've been quiet in such company. Over the past three months most of my travel has been domestic and, although its been interesting to me, it does not make gripping reporting. It's been a mixture of QF awards, DJ and QF cheapies and some of my DONE4. I've been to Adelaide to the Test watching probably the tamest match of the series against India and to Toowoomba via Brisbane for a 60th birthday. I've been to Melbourne to catch up with the relatives and friends and to Sydney to do the same thing.

On the non-domestic front we've been to Kobe and Osaka on a JQ *class cheapie. It was enought to make me decide to want to go back. Kobe was fascinating and Osaka only marginally less thrilling than Tokyo which ranks as one of my current top 10. My opinion of JQ at the front of the plane has even gone up but that would not have been hard to achieve.

But the next stage of the DONE4 is at last here and that is something I'm really looking forward to. Starting from tomorrow, after a few days in Sydney for a 90th birthday, it's off to the US for a Civil War tour. TMSO and I will be there for 5 weeks driving round the south east and doing a few other things. This is something that I've wanted to do for many years. The planning has been a major effort and now it is about to happen. My thanks to several of the regulars here for their invaluable advice.

After the Sydney visit we head to JFK next week. By the time we go down the airbridge we'll have been waitlisted for an F upgrade on QF107 for 89 days. At the moment Expert Flyer tells us it's F7A7 so the odds look reasonably good still. The other flight to LAX that day lists F9A9 so our hopes are up. We shall see.

I look forward to writing about Atlanta and Andersonville, Richmond and Petersburg, Appomattox Court House, Lexington, Winchester, Fredericksburg, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Gettysburg and several other places. I may even mention planes but no promises.