Andy Chatman’s Thailand Adventure

Wow, what a trip. I don’t want to bore people with stories about flying, but i’m going to put some of it here anyway so I’ll have a reminder. By the way, I’m 12 hours ahead of EST. It’s midnight here, so it’s about noon there earlier the same day.

I had dinner in NYC last night with my Aunt Aliza to start the celebration of her birthday which is next week. After, I found myself seeking out another major bug in the software that needed to launch before I left. At about 11:30PM I had a breakthrough, and finally buttoned things up by 2AM.

6AM got up and soon left for the airport. My flight was at 9:15. Cathay Pacific shares a Security checkpoint with a number of other international carriers including British Airways, and the lines were enormous. When I got to the Cathay Pacific counter to check in, a worker asked if I was alone, and then took me around a corner to the First Class checkin (even though I was economy). That meant no line to check in, and no line for security! A nice way to start the trip. When I got to the gate there were hundreds of poeple standing in a line to board. Ugh. But I asked the gate attendant if I had to stand in line, and he said no, those were all Chinese Citizens and I could just walk on. Wow!

Our flight was about to leave on time, but had to go back to the terminal before takeoff for a mechanical problem. After repair and deicing, we took off 2 hours late, which didn’t bode well for my 1-1/2 hour layover in Hong Kong. I wondered what I’d do if I missed my connection, since I wasn’t sure if my cell would work in Hong Kong, and I didn’t have my cousin’s contact info anyway! I decided “so what” and just enjoyed the ride, knowing I’d deal with whatever happened. The Boeing 777 was jam packed, with 385 people. 9 Seats across with 2 aisles. I have to say that this is hands down the best service I’ve ever experienced on any flight. Every detail was taken care of. They had slippers and a toothbrush waiting on our seat, the meals were awesome, the wine was free and the entertainment system contained 100 movies (I watched X-Files 2 and also some CIA movie with Leo DiCaprio) and tons of video games (hours of BeJeweled). I slept about 6 hours on the plane as well. I definitely had a language problem. The plane was full of Hong Kong natives returning after the New Year, and none of the people around me spoke English. Whenever I said anything, they just laughed in that way that people do when they can’t understand you. At least I felt as if I was very funny for 16 hours!

We made up time in the air and I made my connection by 10 minutes (my luggage made it too!). The trip from Hong Kong to Bangkok was about 2 hours, and I watched Family Guy and slept. I have to say that the Bose Noice Cancelling Headphones that Kevin lent me are a miracle. The engine noise disappears! It didn’t work too well on crying babies though. I think I’ll wear them to Thirsty’s some night, there’s a lot of background clutter there I’d love to cancel out

My cousin Mike met me when I was standing in the Customs line, and took me with his driver and security detail to a different line that nobody was in. Nice. We drove for about 30 minutes to his apartment where I had 30 minutes to clean up — we were going out to dinner with a bunch of his friends. I met two of his dogs at his apartment: Lucky — a 4 year old (can’t remember the breed — but a very well trained guard dog) and Elvis, a 7-week old Malanois — so cute! He’s in a toothy stage! I got dressed in the only pair of slacks I brought with me and met Mike and Lek in the kitchen. Elvis promptly grabbed my pant leg, and yanked, tearing a pretty nice hole in the pants! I used a piece of tape from the inside to hold them together and we headed out to the Chinese Restaurant at Bangkok’s most famous hotel, the Mandarin Oriental. Mike and Lek’s friends are terrific company, and we had an 8 (yes 8 ) course chinese meal that had everything: fish, shrimp, beef, chicken, tofu, etc. It was awesome. Of course the ladies asked if I was available, and when I said yes they immediately called one of the women’s cousins, Holly, who is apparently very attractive. We’re all getting together tomorrow night to celebrate one of the group’s birthday. Woohoo!

We got back a while ago, and after handling another bit of programming work i’m writing this message and heading to bed. Nothing important to do in the morning so I can sleep in and let my body restore itself. Mike has his own workout setup upstairs so I’ll check that out. He told me that Friday he’s arranged a private tour of the Royal Palace in the morning, then in the afternoon we’ll go to his river house.

I LOVE the comments everyone, it’s a taste of home. Hope you enjoy my posts.

Andy