Inspired by your TR I've jigged the itin and booked Ha Long overnight cruise - Indochina Junk suggested Dragon Legend as cabins are big enough to add a single for 12yr old. Great comms from them - very good first impression.
Hanoi, Hua Hin, Bangkok and some SQ Suites
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yld200
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Awesome!! You'll love it.
yld200
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Let's continue...
After some reading and a swim by the pool we took the shuttle down to the Village Market which is just a small shopping centre in Hua Hin. We had a quick bite down in the food court just to keep ourselves sustained but were planning to eat at the Cicada Market. We shared a pad thai which was 55 baht, it was ok but nothing special - oh also had a donut. At this food court you have to purchase a pre paid card so no cash is exchanged with the vendors.
After a bit of a walk around the shopping centre, we then took a tuk tuk to the Cicada Market. The Cicada Market is a more arts and crafts market with vendors selling handmade paintings, clothing and various other knick knacks.
The Market has what I would call the 'main area' which is all of the genuine stuff for the market, then theres a back entrance which is like another smaller 'local' market with other food options and some people selling stuff too. We didn't discover the back until after we had eaten but oh well.
For food and drink at the Cicada Market, you have to purchase vouchers at various values to pay for your food. Again, it's annoying but means no cash exchanges hands with the vendors.
I had some grilled calamari and the wife had some grilled chicken and rice. Both were very tasty and spicy.
Some other photos
The Cicada market is cool and a bit different from the standard Thailand markets so it was nice to have a wander and look at some the interesting crafty goods. It's a bit overpriced but worth a visit. There's also a band playing some music if you want to hang out and have a few drinks.
After some reading and a swim by the pool we took the shuttle down to the Village Market which is just a small shopping centre in Hua Hin. We had a quick bite down in the food court just to keep ourselves sustained but were planning to eat at the Cicada Market. We shared a pad thai which was 55 baht, it was ok but nothing special - oh also had a donut. At this food court you have to purchase a pre paid card so no cash is exchanged with the vendors.
After a bit of a walk around the shopping centre, we then took a tuk tuk to the Cicada Market. The Cicada Market is a more arts and crafts market with vendors selling handmade paintings, clothing and various other knick knacks.
The Market has what I would call the 'main area' which is all of the genuine stuff for the market, then theres a back entrance which is like another smaller 'local' market with other food options and some people selling stuff too. We didn't discover the back until after we had eaten but oh well.
For food and drink at the Cicada Market, you have to purchase vouchers at various values to pay for your food. Again, it's annoying but means no cash exchanges hands with the vendors.
I had some grilled calamari and the wife had some grilled chicken and rice. Both were very tasty and spicy.
Some other photos
The Cicada market is cool and a bit different from the standard Thailand markets so it was nice to have a wander and look at some the interesting crafty goods. It's a bit overpriced but worth a visit. There's also a band playing some music if you want to hang out and have a few drinks.
yld200
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Our last full day in Hua Hin today. Standard breakfast again in the morning and decided to have (overpriced) lunch at the hotel today which cost around 800 baht.
That night we ventured into town again to visit the local Hua Hin Market in the main street.
The market starts around 6pm but isn't very busy until it gets dark.
We had dinner at Lung Ja - Had some grilled prawns, grilled calamari, a papaya salad and 2 soft drinks for 570 baht.
The market is your classic Thai market selling knick knacks, shirts, dresses and other souvenirs.
My favourite - Banana pancake!
That night we ventured into town again to visit the local Hua Hin Market in the main street.
The market starts around 6pm but isn't very busy until it gets dark.
We had dinner at Lung Ja - Had some grilled prawns, grilled calamari, a papaya salad and 2 soft drinks for 570 baht.
The market is your classic Thai market selling knick knacks, shirts, dresses and other souvenirs.
My favourite - Banana pancake!
yld200
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The following morning we had breakfast and checked out of the room to head back to Bangkok.
I found Hua Hin to be nice, it isn't very touristy and is a relaxing place where theres nice food in the centre of town. Rest Detail was a nice resort, but we felt restricted by the over priced food at the resort. We've realised we prefer to be able to roam and find our own food so if we were to do it again we would definitely stay closer to town.
We paid our room service bill with my 28 degrees card and when they gave me the receipt it was put through in Thai currency - I raised it with the manager on duty saying that I would have liked to have been asked which currency to process the payment with so they promptly cancelled and re-processed it in AUD. I checked my statement when we got back and I saved $10 by doing it in AUD.
Our driver organised through TA was waiting and off we went back to Bangkok. This guy was a much better driver and got us there is a bit over 3 hours. I had booked a twin room at the Amari Watergate Hotel across the road from the fashion mall.
I booked the room using Hotels.com which was listed as a twin room with 1 twin bed. During checkin they told us it would be 2 single beds, whatever that's fine we just wanted to get to our room. We had to wait an hour despite being there at 1.30 and check-in being time being reported as 2pm. Eventually made it to our room with 2 single beds.
The room was spacious and the beds were comfortable but that's where the positives end. The shower was mouldy and we could hear whenever our neighbour went to the bathroom because the flush sounded like a jet engine firing up. In the middle of the night pppppsssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The noise was ridiculous and felt like those toilets could swallow up anything. Room service knocked on our door at 10pm asking if we wanted our room cleaned - wtf!
yld200
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The rest of our Bangkok stay wasn't very eventful mainly because it was hot and sticky and we were both run down.
The first night we ventured out to MBK to do some shopping. For dinner we found a Japanese fried chicken place on level 7 which was great! After dinner we took the metro to Patpong which is one of the main red light areas in Bangkok. We just wanted to have a laugh and see what it was like. There's a classic Thai market that runs directly in parallel with some of the seedy shops which meant there were all sorts of people there including families with kids.
We sat down to have a drink and just watch the people walk by which was fun. The waitress tried to pull a quick one by giving me my 80 baht change in 20 baht notes and 2x 10 baht coins below the note hoping I wouldn't notice and leave the 20 baht as a 'tip'. I new exactly how much change I was expected so noticed straight away, the waitress gave us a shifty smile.
Every 5 meters or so there seemed to be guys selling tickets to some table tennis but they kept calling it a ping pong show
On the way back to the hotel we walked through some Christmas decorations they had infront of one of the malls. There were lots of you people just hanging out here and taking photos.
The first night we ventured out to MBK to do some shopping. For dinner we found a Japanese fried chicken place on level 7 which was great! After dinner we took the metro to Patpong which is one of the main red light areas in Bangkok. We just wanted to have a laugh and see what it was like. There's a classic Thai market that runs directly in parallel with some of the seedy shops which meant there were all sorts of people there including families with kids.
We sat down to have a drink and just watch the people walk by which was fun. The waitress tried to pull a quick one by giving me my 80 baht change in 20 baht notes and 2x 10 baht coins below the note hoping I wouldn't notice and leave the 20 baht as a 'tip'. I new exactly how much change I was expected so noticed straight away, the waitress gave us a shifty smile.
Every 5 meters or so there seemed to be guys selling tickets to some table tennis but they kept calling it a ping pong show
On the way back to the hotel we walked through some Christmas decorations they had infront of one of the malls. There were lots of you people just hanging out here and taking photos.
yld200
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The following day was again a bit of a chill day, we just hung around the malls near the hotel to do some shopping. I bought some plain casual t-shirts for $8 a pop which I though was good value.
For dinner we went to a place close to the hotel called An Ong. The main dish they service is boiled chicken and rice which is pretty darn tasty. They serve it with a bowl of soup and some sauces on the side. For 40 baht each, you cant go wrong here.
After food we walked to the neon market and had a wander through. Wifey found some chips served with cheese which she loved.
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yld200
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Our last day in Bangkok was pretty laid back, we had some brekky at the fashion mall across the rd from the hotel and then checked out our stuff at 11am. We didn't have much planned so just wandered through the malls spending our last bit of money. We ended up in MBK and tried to catch a taxi back to the hotel, tried with 2 guys and they weren't having a bar of it. The first taxi we got into I asked him to turn the meter on and then said Amari hotel which is probably on 2 or 3 kms away, he played dumb and ignored me until we had enough and got out. The next guy said 200 baht, I told him no thanks so we just caught the metro 1 stop for 12 baht each and then walked to the hotel.
We grabbed our bags from the concierge and summoned a taxi. This driver was great, he bypassed the traffic and knew exactly how to navigate through the traffic. We made to the airport in around 35 minutes and I gave him a nice tip - The trip cost around 240 baht.
Check in for Singapore is via aisle K for those interested. We headed to the J check in counter and we were served straight away. Bags were tagged with suites tags all the way to Melb and our boarding passes to SIN in J were handed to us along with our Suites boarding passes, TPR invite and express pass through immigration.
Express pass worked well apart from a family with young kids that had no idea what they were doing. The SO bought something from duty free and we were off to the lounge which is down concourse A. Just follow the SQ girls.
The lounge feels small due to the partitions between the seating but there's quite a bit of seating.
Food a drink options were good. There were stir fry options, curry, rice, sandwiches, noodles and some cheese and crackers.
A pretty comfortable lounge to spend an hour or two before your flight. Wifi speeds were good but there's nowhere to sleep if you have a long transit and there isn't a toilet or showers in the lounge - toilets are a short walk from the lounge.
On of the staff came around and let us know that there was a gate change and updated our BPs which I felt was good service.
We grabbed our bags from the concierge and summoned a taxi. This driver was great, he bypassed the traffic and knew exactly how to navigate through the traffic. We made to the airport in around 35 minutes and I gave him a nice tip - The trip cost around 240 baht.
Check in for Singapore is via aisle K for those interested. We headed to the J check in counter and we were served straight away. Bags were tagged with suites tags all the way to Melb and our boarding passes to SIN in J were handed to us along with our Suites boarding passes, TPR invite and express pass through immigration.
Express pass worked well apart from a family with young kids that had no idea what they were doing. The SO bought something from duty free and we were off to the lounge which is down concourse A. Just follow the SQ girls.
The lounge feels small due to the partitions between the seating but there's quite a bit of seating.
Food a drink options were good. There were stir fry options, curry, rice, sandwiches, noodles and some cheese and crackers.
A pretty comfortable lounge to spend an hour or two before your flight. Wifi speeds were good but there's nowhere to sleep if you have a long transit and there isn't a toilet or showers in the lounge - toilets are a short walk from the lounge.
On of the staff came around and let us know that there was a gate change and updated our BPs which I felt was good service.
RB
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Every 5 meters or so there seemed to be guys selling tickets to some table tennis but they kept calling it a ping pong show
I hope it is not still the same people that were playing table tennis/ping pong when we were there in 1989!
Actually there were quite a few old players then
yld200
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We were flying out of BKK to SIN on SQ981 which is on an A330 aircraft.
The gate was the very last gate of concourse A which was a good way to stretch the legs before our flight. Arrived shortly before boarding and when called priority boarding worked well. The J cabin is a 2-2-2 lay out and we were sitting in the second row which was actually Row 12. Haven't really noticed and maybe haven't paid much attention but there is no Row 13 - The rows went 11, 12, 14. Found it weird that the rows didn't start at 1? Also just remembered that our hotel in Bangkok didn't have a level 13 - we were staying on 14.
The seats were comfortable but angle flat only, so good for a short haul flight but not so great if you're on a longer flight. I did stretch out with the seat fully flat and did not find it very comfortable.
Seafood entree salad was enjoyable and fresh.
I went with the chicken option which was pretty average and I didn't even finish it.
The wife had the snapper and enjoyed it.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and pretty smooth sailing. Despite leaving 20 minutes late we still arrived in SIN on time at 12.40am.
The gate was the very last gate of concourse A which was a good way to stretch the legs before our flight. Arrived shortly before boarding and when called priority boarding worked well. The J cabin is a 2-2-2 lay out and we were sitting in the second row which was actually Row 12. Haven't really noticed and maybe haven't paid much attention but there is no Row 13 - The rows went 11, 12, 14. Found it weird that the rows didn't start at 1? Also just remembered that our hotel in Bangkok didn't have a level 13 - we were staying on 14.
The seats were comfortable but angle flat only, so good for a short haul flight but not so great if you're on a longer flight. I did stretch out with the seat fully flat and did not find it very comfortable.
Seafood entree salad was enjoyable and fresh.
I went with the chicken option which was pretty average and I didn't even finish it.
The wife had the snapper and enjoyed it.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and pretty smooth sailing. Despite leaving 20 minutes late we still arrived in SIN on time at 12.40am.
yld200
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I had booked the transit hotel in T1 due to our long layover. I had emailed all of the transit hotels and T1 was the only one that had availability for an M style twin room for 110 SGD for a 6 hour block.
We landed at gate A21 and walked and sky trained it straight to the hotel which is near Gate D41 in terminal 1 which is shown on the below map. There are also signs showing you where to go.
Once you check in there's a door in the back right corner that takes you through to the rooms. The hallway is quiet and dark.
We were in room 29 which is down the very end of the hall way. The room was quite impressive with two very nice comfortable beds, a TV and a very nice clean bathroom.
We had a great 5.5 hr snooze in the room which was quiet, no construction noises and didn't hear a thing. After a quick shower we were out the door and made a bee line to TPR! It's a 15 minute walk to the main area of T3 from the T1 transit hotel if you catch the sky train along the way.
Brekky was nice in the TPR and I just sat there for a while relaxing while the SO went off and spent our Changi Dollars.
We landed at gate A21 and walked and sky trained it straight to the hotel which is near Gate D41 in terminal 1 which is shown on the below map. There are also signs showing you where to go.
Once you check in there's a door in the back right corner that takes you through to the rooms. The hallway is quiet and dark.
We were in room 29 which is down the very end of the hall way. The room was quite impressive with two very nice comfortable beds, a TV and a very nice clean bathroom.
We had a great 5.5 hr snooze in the room which was quiet, no construction noises and didn't hear a thing. After a quick shower we were out the door and made a bee line to TPR! It's a 15 minute walk to the main area of T3 from the T1 transit hotel if you catch the sky train along the way.
Brekky was nice in the TPR and I just sat there for a while relaxing while the SO went off and spent our Changi Dollars.
I had the misfortune of staying at the Amari Watergate on a work trip about 10 years ago. Similar issue with the beds - except mine was 2 single beds pushed together (with a king sheet covering them both so I couldn't push them apart if I wanted to). Also the sheets had what looked like cigarette burns in them. And the shower was lower than my head.
This combined with the fact my luggage ended up staying on the plane to London while I had a client meeting the next morning made for an interesting start to the trip!
Sorry to see the hotel doesn't look to have improved at all.
yld200
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I would definitely recommend keeping away from this place if possible.
yld200
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Time to finish off this TR - Final leg SIN-MEL SQ217
Boarding had already started when we arrived at the gate and there was a small line of people upon arrival. At Changi you go through another security checkpoint as you enter the gate which was fine. Followed the signs to suites and we were quickly seated in 3C and 3D again
A quick check of the seat function and this time everything seemed to be working fine!
Settled in with a glass of Krug, but with my sore throat still affecting me I didn't really get to enjoy the bubbles.
Amenity kits were handed out with pyjamas shortly after take off. The kits are the same as the outbound leg but just in a different bag for the male kit.
One of the flight attendants went around and took everyones lunch orders. They advised that normally lunch is served around 12.30 but they also gave you the option to advise if you wanted food later on in the flight which was a nice touch. Lunch Menu below.
Boarding had already started when we arrived at the gate and there was a small line of people upon arrival. At Changi you go through another security checkpoint as you enter the gate which was fine. Followed the signs to suites and we were quickly seated in 3C and 3D again
A quick check of the seat function and this time everything seemed to be working fine!
Settled in with a glass of Krug, but with my sore throat still affecting me I didn't really get to enjoy the bubbles.
Amenity kits were handed out with pyjamas shortly after take off. The kits are the same as the outbound leg but just in a different bag for the male kit.
One of the flight attendants went around and took everyones lunch orders. They advised that normally lunch is served around 12.30 but they also gave you the option to advise if you wanted food later on in the flight which was a nice touch. Lunch Menu below.
yld200
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The wife had the crab salad and I had the traditional caviar entree - Both were delicious
Both had the carrot soup. I'm not a big soup fan but this dish really hit the spot, it was amazing, smooth, full of flavour and so easy to eat.
I had a steak ordered from BTC and the wife had the steak off the menu. Both were average and a bit tough - a bit over for my liking.
Both had the carrot soup. I'm not a big soup fan but this dish really hit the spot, it was amazing, smooth, full of flavour and so easy to eat.
I had a steak ordered from BTC and the wife had the steak off the menu. Both were average and a bit tough - a bit over for my liking.
yld200
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The pear tart was next up and that was delicious.
and finished off with the cheese platter - what a meal!
After lunch was done, we finished off our movies and then decided it was time for a nap, so we had the beds made up
Managed to get around an hours sleep which was the best sleep I've ever had on a plane. I'm 6'2 and struggle on planes because I've only ever flown in Y, but being able to stretch out and relax was simply amazing.
When we woke from our nap we put our duty free orders in to use our vouchers we had received on the SYD-SIN flight - Thanks again SQ =)
Before arriving into MEL, a snack was served which was a chicken sandwich. The sandwich was nothing special, I think I ate half.
Final cabin shot as we approached touchdown in MEL.
Landing was smooth and we were at the gate before you knew it. Getting through immigration was quick and then our bags were within the first 20 or so coming off the belt. Used the express pass to get through customs and we were home!
Suites was an amazing experience and something I'll never forget. Hopefully I'll be able to do it again some day Special shout out to CruiserElite for all of the tips and tricks that I've read in other posts while getting ready for this trip.
Thanks for following everyone!
and finished off with the cheese platter - what a meal!
After lunch was done, we finished off our movies and then decided it was time for a nap, so we had the beds made up
Managed to get around an hours sleep which was the best sleep I've ever had on a plane. I'm 6'2 and struggle on planes because I've only ever flown in Y, but being able to stretch out and relax was simply amazing.
When we woke from our nap we put our duty free orders in to use our vouchers we had received on the SYD-SIN flight - Thanks again SQ =)
Before arriving into MEL, a snack was served which was a chicken sandwich. The sandwich was nothing special, I think I ate half.
Final cabin shot as we approached touchdown in MEL.
Landing was smooth and we were at the gate before you knew it. Getting through immigration was quick and then our bags were within the first 20 or so coming off the belt. Used the express pass to get through customs and we were home!
Suites was an amazing experience and something I'll never forget. Hopefully I'll be able to do it again some day
Special shout out to CruiserElite for all of the tips and tricks that I've read in other posts while getting ready for this trip.Thanks for following everyone!
yld200
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Thanks JohnK
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