This is the return portion of my trip to Bangkok on 24th March 02. Looking at the frequency of my MH flights, its a wonder why I didn't give meself the nick "MH Guy" or something! Anyway, here is the LOOOOONNNNGGG report.
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BKK-KUL, MH783, Golden Club Class seat 9A/6K, B772 (9M-MRF)... eventful!
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My journey to the airport began in Sala Daeng at 1400H, where my hotel was situated. A traffic jam and 45mins later brought me to Bangkok Int'l Airport (BKK).

Alighting at Terminal 1, where Malaysia Airlines flies out from, I found check in row 6 easily and surprise! new check in desks (white washed fiberglass ones replaced the old brown wooden ones) were in the process of being installed in the dark and drabby terminal.

Check in was handled by a cheerful Thai lady with an interestingly genuine American accent. First and Golden Club Class shared the same check in line. Looking up at the ticket-tape monitor, this message was flashed across the screen: MH783/TG4701, Kuala Lumpur, Delayed 1755H. Huh?

Apologetically, the check in agent explained to me that the aircraft had a late start due to mechanical problems. However, she pointed out that luckily I was in Business Class so I could spend my time in the Royal Orchid Lounge! hehehehe... She even suggested that I go to the lounge situated in Terminal 2 because that one has a view of the tarmac while the other two didn't. Thanks lady!

Heading up to the viewing gallery, I saw that BKK was as usual busy at that time of the day. Parked at the gates were a Lauda B763, Thai B772, A330, and a Turkmentistan B752 (pushing back). An Indian A320 and a LH B744 were taxiing they were soon joined by the Turkmentistan B752. One after another, these jets rumbled into the skies. Out of the blue, a QF Nalanji B743 sailed down for a landing! It was an awesome sight...  An SAS A340, splendid looking bird, lined up behind the QF jet and sped off for Singapore.

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Photo © Josh Rawlin

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Photo © K W Chui

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Photo © Sam Chui

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Photo © Andrew Hunt

Meanwhile, I was snapping away on my digital camera. I noticed that traffic between Thailand and Taiwan must be bursting with loads of pax. A CAL A340 landed followed by a EVA B744, while there were no less that one EVA B744 and two CAL B738 parked at Terminal 1, and another CAL A340 thundered off soon after for HKG and TPE. A TG A330 at gate 33 was boarding for TPE as well. A Bangkok Air B717 in the Angkor Wat livery scuttled past for takeoff, wow! It must be my day!

In between these busy Taiwanese traffic, the ATC managed to squeeze in the departure of a Finnair MD11, 2 x PB Air F28s, a Thai B773, SQ B744 and an Air Andaman F50. That was a lot of traffic to take in. At 1545, another surprise was in store for me before I decided to make my way to the immigration and the lounge. In a distance, lights of an a/c on approach soon manifested into a QF Wunala B744 from Frankurt!

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Photo © David Morrell

Ah... what a day it's been. I made my way past immigration and begain looking for the Royal Orchid Lounge. Since MH has no lounge in BKK and this was a code share flight, I was invited to use TG's. TG has three lounges strategically located throughout both terminals in BKK. I proceeded to the one in Terminal 2 and found it rather small and basic. Catering was the usual sandwiches and pies, nothing fantastic. But it has an excellent view of the ramp! QF's Wunala and Nalanji were seen parked side by side at gate 33 and 35 and I must have snapped so many pics of it that day, simply because you do not get an opportunity where those two color schemes end up together in the same airport! The Nalanji B743 soon pushed back and departed for Melbourne and Sydney.

At 1705H, MH784 from KUL roared past the window with flaps and reverse thrusts fully deployed. Finally the a/c has arrived! Straining my eyes to look at the B772 as it taxied past, I realised that it was 9M-MRF! The same a/c that I flew up on! Could the funny sounds in the engine I heard on my outbound flight caused the "mechanical" problem in KUL? One could only speculate...

Nevertheless, the B772 parked at gate 24 and was ready for boarding in 20mins ! I can imagine the cleaning crew rushing to get the plane clean... Anyhow, I made it to the gate at 1730H and the holding area was already empty. Wow, looks like they wasted no time in trying to get this flight going. Walking into the airbridge, I walked into bridge A and a lady tried to stop me.

"Business Class only, sir!" she said sternly. Err... hello? I showed her my boarding pass and continued into the plane through Door 1L. A stewardess greeted me and ushered me into the Golden Club cabin while she handed me over to another steward, Anderson. Walking to my window seat 6K on the right side, I found it occupied. I told the man in it that he had my seat. He refused to move, however, and told me he wanted to sit beside his friend. His aisle seat was available though... I told Anderson I didn't want an aisle seat so he went off looking for another window seat . Meanwhile, I told the man in my seat that he would have to move if one by the window wasn't available.

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Photo © Alexander Y.A. Kueh

Surprise, 9A was available and here I was, back in the same seat in the same plane as on my outbound trip from KUL! The view from 9A looked exactly like tha pic attched above. This is my 3rd time in 9A in less than 6mths! I was here on the following sectors: KUL-BNE MH 135 Oct 01 (trip report posted through SQ772), KUL-BKK MH 784 2 days before and now.

Before we took off, Anderson walked over to me and apologised about what happened, and that he had tried to tell that man to move back to his seat before. Sigh, but I felt like a nice guy so I told Anderson that it wasn't a problem, as long as I received good service later in the flight... Hahahaha!  

An announcement came over the PA that there would be a further delay because there was VIP traffic movement. Sheesh...   Another stewardess, Fion Wong, walked over with drinks and a hot towel. The doors were finally closed at 1757H and pushback commenced at 1810H.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we would be screening a safety video shortly. As this aircraft may differ from others which you may have been on, we suggest you pay full attention. Thank you..."

Nothing happened. Waited, nothing happened still...

"Cabin crew, to your stations now for manual safety demo. Thank you..."

Uh oh, the video decided to fail at this instant when the crew was rushing to prepare the late flight. The in-flt supervisor started safety announcements before another stewardess, Rohana, could stand in position next to my neighbour...

"Oops, I am too late..." she giggled as she fumbled to demonstrate how to buckle and unbuckle the seatbelt. Sigh... looks like this flight was a little screwed up. I sympathised with the cabin crew who had to rush because the flight was already late and still had to squeeze in time to do a manual safety demo.

After the demo was completed, there was a line of a/c waiting to takeoff, no thanks to the halt on ground movement earlier on. Hence, we stood in line and didn't line up till 1833H. Inching towards the takeoff position, the RR Trents spooled up and the same knocking sound I heard previously on my outbound flight from #1 engine became audible again! Tok.........tok.....tok..tok-tok-tok-toktoktoktok... We got airborne eventually and sped towards KUL, 1hr 30mins behind schedule. The sounds, like back in KUL, subsided as we stabilised on a climb.

Fion came down the aisle and handed out the headsets and menu and these were the choices for the evening...

Appetizer: Sesame chicken breast
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Grilled Chicken Breast with Honey Plum Sauce
Accompanied by potato slices with onion sugar snap peas and carrots

Or

Fried Kurau Fish Fillet with Lemon Grass
Served with spicy onion sauce, steamed rice and fried french beans

Or

Beef Szechuan
Stir fried beef with cashewnuts and dried chillies cooked in oyster sauce and soya sauce, accompanied by chinese fried rice and stir-fried mix vegetables
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Chocolate Banana Gateau

Bread Selection

Fion and Anderson pushed the cart down the aisle and laid out linen on my tray table.

"Here comes the good service, Mr Soh! What would you like to have?" inquired Anderson cheekily... 

I chose the fish which was adequately tasty, but the dish having been in the plane for so long, was a little dry. And it was SPICY   Knocked me off my seat... Appetizer was so-so and the gatueau was tasteless. Nevertheless, the flight continued uneventfully over the Gulf of Thailand, Songkhla and Ipoh, a more direct route as opposed to Penang as the last reporting point before descending for KUL, which began at 2047H.

After departure from BKK, the crew looked rushed when serving. Some of them even looked flustered, probably by the late start of the flight. However, they gradually relaxed their pace after dinner and took a breather, and began smiling more. I chatted with Fion and Anderson outside the galley, by Door 2L as the flight progressed and they admitted that they were indeed rushing! Since they were doing only a turn-around flight, they had only less than 20mins to prepare the cabin for boarding after the late arrival from KUL. Poor things... 

We soon descended to KUL in a darkened cabin, landing on Rwy 32L. While taxiing for disembarkation, the captain apologised for the delay in BKK and hoped that the cabin crew made up for it by providing good service. Aww... Fion, who stood by the drawn curtains bid me farewell and thanked me for flying with MH. Anderson did the same at Door 2L, all this while greeting me by my name. Very personal. I didn't at all feel angry by the delay because the excellent in-flt service surely made up for it! 

My connecting flight MH627 was scheduled to depart at 2245H from gate A6. Meanwhile, I proceeded to the expansive Golden Club First Class Lounge to chill after that eventful flight. I was ushered into the lounge by Shirley, who greeted me at the entrance. Now this ushering is a first for me in KUL! I had a meal of smoked salmon sandwich and hot savouries before making my way to A6, not a lot of time for me to enjoy the lounge.
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KUL-SIN, MH627, First Class seat 1A, B737-400 (9M-MMQ)
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Photo © Andrew Hunt

Boarding was quick and I was greeted at the door by Ravitha, a sweet looking indian lady. I settled in 1A and was almost immediately offered a drink by Herman, another steward who would be serving in First Class together with Ravitha.

Pushback was on-time at 2245H was we taxied for takeoff from Rwy32R. Lifting off into the night skies, 9M-MMQ turned right and took a southerly heading, flying past KLIA, that was soon hidden beneath some heavy cloud cover.

Hot savouries were served accompanied by a fruit bowl and guava juice. Ravitha was all smiles as she served me and was sincerely sorry when I told her about the delay in BKK. Too bad that it was only a 45min flight because it was way too short to enjoy such wonderful service.

Singapore was covered with approx 6 octals of clouds and the magnificent view was constantly interruputed. We hugged the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia and flew further south towards Batam, before lining up for Rwy 02R.

The 737-400 shuddered as the reverse thrust were deployed and we were soon taxiing for F councourse in Changi Airport Terminal 2. We parked at gate F30, the gate I departed from when I left! What is it with this trip?? First it was 9M-MRF, then it was seat 9A, now gate F30? 

Sigh... I had a good trip. Now I can only look forward to my next one. Ciao!