TRIP REPORT PROPER
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport – Singapore Changi Airport T1
TG 401
Airbus A330-321 (HS-TEC) “Bang Rajan”
Seat 69K
1940 – 2320H
Duration 2hr 40min
24 August 2010
Work done; now I can properly soak in the experience of flying again. Or could I?
There was only that much I could realistically accomplish given the nature of the project. I chose the last possible
TG flight out of Bangkok in order to maximize my time at the office. Bad choice…
Luggage was left with the concierge. Walking back to the hotel from my office, the dark skies looked like it was about to bless me with a tropical downpour so I made the walk a very brisk one along Surawong Road in a heavy drizzle. I hate the wet feeling in parts of your body where the sun doesn’t shine but I had already checked out of my room so a quick shower was out of the question.
It was almost 5pm by the time I managed to hop into a cab – I should’ve known better. We immediately got ourselves entangled into weekday evening rush hour traffic. Things were not looking good. Trying to get to the airport highway seemed to take an eternity as we slowly inched forward in the heavy rain.
In a moment of epiphany, “God, please… The last thing I need is for the canals to overflow and streets to flood. I have been a very good boy and didn’t venture into any seedy go-go bars or have a happy ending massage this trip… Please bring me to the airport in one piece without any mayhem and foolishness.”
And like a prayer answered, I suddenly remembered Bangkok’s first ever railway line to the airport opened just yesterday on 23rd August 2010– AIRPORT LINK. An immediate re-direction of the driver towards the train station in Makkasan followed, which is located within the city. Makkasan train station has a concept rather similar to
KL Sentral.
Perhaps like any other taxi driver who suddenly had his expected fare reduced to bits, I was promptly given a verbal lashing like no other and was even threatened to be kicked out into the relentless downpour with my luggage. My loins stirred… Saying he was absolutely seething with anger was an understatement. I was almost on my knees begging for him to go towards Makkasan and this close to pleading.
“I will do ANYTHING!” almost formed those erotic words at the tip of my tongue when…
… thankfully the bonnet of his Toyota Altis started turning towards the direction of the train station in question. Meanwhile, in the midst of never moving traffic the rain continued to patter down in torrents.
It rained like it had never rained before that evening. I tried to break the ice by asking the taxi driver about his life. Perhaps he did soften his stance towards me in the end. The traffic jam saw that I never made it to Makkasan. One hour later, on the taxi driver’s advice, I alighted one station before as this train line would get me a direct routing to the airport. Ever so grateful, I tipped him generously.
There is something about Thailand’s rail system which sees that handicapped people aren’t allowed access. There are no ramps, no elevators, and not even escalators at the part where I alighted. Eventually I managed to heave myself with luggage in tow all the way up the stairs to the ticketing concourse, not fun in 100% humidity utilizing a sheltered stairway which doesn’t really shelter in a monsoonal downpour.
The 8-station 25 min journey was a mere THB15. At first I misheard the counter guy and paid him with aTHB200 note. When I saw the amount of change I was about to receive, I had to re-confirm that THB15 was indeed the fare all the way to the airport. Wait, wait, wait… Here is THB20 in coins.
My goodness, THB15… USD0.50? There are condoms more expensive than that.
Finally settled into the train, I realized I had been up at 7am (when I had my last shower) and hadn’t eaten anything since lunch. So there I was perspiring buckets with sweat stains at embarrassing spots on my t-shirt, absolutely tired, seriously hungry, very stinky… I was well marinated from head to toe in pollution, sweat and perhaps a generous dose of acid rain. Mould would have started forming in my armpits if I stood still any longer.
The air-conditioned train ride was smooth and the scream of an approaching Hong Kong Airlines A330-200 passing overhead was a welcome indication I had finally arrived at the airport. Finally, my journey was almost halfway complete.
SUVARNABHUMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Train arrival concourse is pretty much similar to KLIA – location is amongst the underbelly of Suvarnabhumi’s main terminal building. Thank God there was no need to walk out into the open again. Time was tight as I had to quickly scan the upper levels for my check in desk.
Thankfully Suvarnabhumi being
TG’s hub, the concept of a common check in row for all flights was easy to find. After my challenging journey to the airport, the beckoning smile of the check in agent welcomed me with a “wai” as if to say I was safe in their hands now.
“Welcome, Sir. Where are you off to?” enquired Pranee.
“Sing… Err… Singapore…” I stammered while rummaging my man-bag for the e-ticket.
“I just need your passport, Sir. Frequent flyer card?”
“Krisflyer…”
TG has since not only done away with paper / e- tickets printouts, but apparently it was now ok to check in with just your passport. My travel agent in Singapore had informed me of this but printed an e-ticket anyway just in case. It looked like this method of check in was fully implemented as this was the case flying from Singapore as well.
“Sir, a window seat at the back of the plane?” she smiled.
Not only was she the epitome of how a check in agent should be, suggesting my profiled seating preference was definitely a plus point in my book.
I was seriously exhausted at this point and made a conscious note to dump my laptop into the check in luggage because I didn’t want to take a second look at it. Now relieved of it, I could finally breathe a momentary sigh of relief before the madness started in my office the next morning. But until then, I told myself to at least enjoy whatever was left of this journey.
Evening peak hour rush was evident at every nook. Both immigration areas were filled to the brim so it didn’t matter where you went, standing in line was inevitable. The immigration officer was obviously having a bad day and hollered at a family of 3 holding Indian passports to go fill up their departure cards. It was anything but a land of smiles.
I do not remember ever departing Suvarnabhumi after sun set so I managed to observe the surroundings in a different light. Enough has been said about how gloomy the airport looks so I will just let the pictures do the talking.
I don’t think I have ever been to an airport that had so much of nothing in it. Sure there were eateries and shops, but nothing was calling out my name. Is it just me? What happened to a tranquil flower garden? No water features? How about quiet serene-corners for transit passengers? I guess asking for an open air viewing gallery would be too much. It was stark, clinical and sterile; almost like a hospital. Because my gate was situated at a far end of the C concourse, a trek through the entire retail and F&B area was required. It sure took me a while to get to where I was going – Gate
C6.
According to my itinerary, an A330 was the ride home this evening. If only I could see it through those dirty windows! Damn Suvarnabhumi…
BOARDING
1930H: Boarding commenced with very strict adherence to status, class and row numbers. It was announced in both Thai and English but seeing how we also had a lot of Japanese and Indian passengers (plus a ship load of clueless passengers from Singapore); a lot of them got up and flooded the gate entrance anyway only to be rejected.
Perhaps it is nostalgia, but I feel there is something special about boarding a
TG flight every single time. The beaming smile, the “wai”, or maybe it is the elaborate uniform they have on complete with a fresh orchid brooch on their colourful silk sash…
Door 2L: “*wai* Dee-khaaa… Welcome on board… Mr. Soh? 69K is down that way…” coo-ed Suthee in crisp, pitch perfect English as she gently touched my elbow and pointed towards the inner aisle after glancing at my boarding stub.
Didn’t matter if I was a lowly paying economy passenger, my welcome was fit for a royal. Ever since
TG refurbished their cabin into this cheery looking multi-coloured kaleidoscope of candy like fabric, I thought things have never looked better. Compare this to the nightmarish over-ripened fruit salad that is Malaysia Airlines’ economy cabin, I think
TG tops the game here. Obviously I cannot resist a token swipe at poor old
MH.
Stationed along the aisle were more smiling crew ever-ready with a “wai”.
HS-TEC was manufactured in Aug 1994 which makes it rather “aged” by an Asian airline’s standard. Come to think of it, it is
TG’s 3rd oldest A330 on its inventory. However being newly upholstered, it looked well kept if it wasn’t for that strange streak of yellow lighting from beneath the middle luggage bins.
Somehow, I thought commencing the boarding process at 1930H for a 1940H flight was a tad too tight time-wise. True enough, we were still sitting at the gate pass departure time with a nary of an update from flight deck. No one seemed to be in a rush to go anywhere that evening. Didn’t matter if we were delayed, but passengers were still leisurely strolling in, crews were still gently “wai-ing” without any urgency to get everyone settled. An interesting observation though, the bunch of crew serving my area all had very heavy American accents. If I closed my eyes, this PTV-less A330 could very well be a domestic hop between
DTW and
ORD.
Perfumed hot towels followed by little packets of ear phones were distributed. I wonder what took the airlines so long to figure out these i-Pod kinds were the best to be used because older versions which looped over your head never really fit me well. Ear phones versus head phones, no surprise which one got my vote!
Similar headphones were distributed on the outbound flight from Singapore.
1950H: Cabin crew, doors armed!
Pushback occurred and finally the flight deck came on to inform us of traffic congestion that evening in the airspace above the airport. As a result, there was a long line of departing aircraft and we were number nth. I didn’t care if we were the 200th plane in line, I was just glad to be going home.
The
TG safety video has to be one of the BEST I have ever seen. It puts you so at ease like watching a video at a spa that I noticed myself dozing off. Those swooshing sounds accompanied by soft music made it all very hypnotic somewhat. Wait, maybe I was just fatigued.
Take your time to view TG’s full safety video here.
Cabin was finally darkened; we stayed that way for a while as we slowly crawled along the taxi way. The constant roar of departing planes seemed to go on forever. One
TG plane after another, perhaps a Bangkok Airways A320 plus another Malaysia Airlines 737-400 joined in the fun… One by one off they shot off into the dark skies.
When it was our turn to take off, a look back behind us saw a whole line of purple
TG tails which seemed to stretch into the horizon. It was surely a busy time at the airport.
DEPARTURE
2015H: Take off Runway 19L.
The lights beneath us glittered with Bangkok in a distance slowly fading away as we journeyed towards the coastline.
As soon as the seat belt sign turned off past FL100, perhaps one of the very rare occasions I opted to switch to an aisle seat. I had an overwhelming urge to be by myself and not to be sandwiched between my seat mate and the window. My seat mate looked every bit like a stressed out Japanese corporate person in a crumpled suit, crooked spectacles perched on his greasy nose bridge, and from a fat travel wallet he was brandishing about on his lap – I managed to gather he boarded a
TG flight from Kansai and was on transit in Bangkok on his way to Singapore. He would probably burst a blood vessel from my incessant photo taking.
Thankfully there were a handful of empty seats available in the middle block.
2040H: No time to waste, these hostesses with the mostest together with their male colleagues bowed and excused themselves as they hurriedly meandered meal carts out from the aft galley amongst a sea of elbows, heads and feet jutting out into the aisle. The last few rows (i.e. me) were served directly from the galley.
From out of nowhere, Tosapol - a marooned suited steward leaned over from behind and almost breathed into my ear…
“Sir, we have prawn curry with rice or beef pasta. What would you like?” he pouted.
He collectively went to several seats in the vicinity and memorized the orders before appearing with our choices. The way he spoke made the food seemed strangely seductive. In fact, for a moment it seemed ok to smear the prawn curry all over my torso like a go-go boy. Instead, they ended up on a spoon which headed straight into my mouth.
Drinks followed closely from the cart which was making its way aft.
If there is an in-flight catering benchmark, this was it. Bangkok’s catering has never disappointed and tonight was no exception. Prawns were as fresh as they could be, nicely chewy and sweet. And the curry… Oh my god… It was absolutely ORGASMIC! Bear in mind my judgments could have been impaired by hunger pangs at that point cow dung would have been a Gordon Ramsay delicacy.
But still, I wolfed the whole spread down in record time. I wasn’t done. I flagged down a passing flight attendant and asked if they had any extra meals because I seriously famished still. Looks of sympathy immediately washed over Pom’s face as she gently bent over and said “Ok Sir, let me see what I can gather…”.
No more than a minute later, Pom appeared from the front with a casserole dish on a tray and handed it to me, “Sorry Sir, all we have is the beef, not a popular choice tonight. Do you mind?”
How’s that for service?
“Let me know if you want more, we have lots of beef pasta left over.” With a smile which could only come from someone who genuinely cared, Pom sashayed aft into the galley.
When I arrived at check in earlier looking all disheveled and smelly, I knew I was going to be well taken care of. What just happened proved my instincts right. Tucking into my second main dish with a satisfied smile, the spread was a rather boring mix of beef with a red wine sauce and pasta. Make no mistake; the dish was of superb quality although I would not have turned down another helping of prawn curry!
Gosh, I was really hungry. If I continued eating, I would probably be gnawing at the trays. Pom walked by and cheekily asked if I wanted some more to eat. Tempting… Would it have been too much to ask if I wanted some ad-hoc meal fashioned out of Business Class leftovers? I decided to be an easy passenger and just smiled.
“I am very full now, thank you.” yours truly lied.
As much as I wanted to document more of this flight… I did what I seldom do on planes. I actually dozed off. When I was awakened for landing, I was leaning so far left if there was a passenger on that seat, my face would have been on his crotch. I do not even recall Pom or Tosapol clearing my tray.
“Seat upright please! Sir, seats upright please! Sir, upright…”
Not only did they have an American accent, they were yelling like one too.
I decided to go back to my original seat for arrival. My Japanese seat mate seemed strangely jovial now as he stood up and gave me a gentle bow to allow me back in. He even cracked a smile and attempted small talk.
“Shing-ka-po… hai hai hai….”
Our conversation attempts never progressed pass strange sounds and gurgles because I didn’t speak Japanese (other than vulgarities) and of course, he spoke no English (probably other than vulgarities as well). If this was a Charlie Brown cartoon, perhaps all you could hear from us was gwo-gwo-gwo-gwo-gwo. I am sure - like me, he has had one heck of a day leading up to this point and we silently shared a common platform of one tired traveler finding an oasis on board this wonderful flight.
ARRIVAL
As the both of us smiled and rested our tired eyes, the A330 gently kissed the runway on 02L.
It was a warm welcome over the PA by the lead stewardess and for once, I was glad to be home after a particularly stressful few days in Bangkok.
2220H: Gate C18, local time is now 2320H.
AFTER THOUGHTS
Growing up, I had a constant and consistent travel diet of
SQ,
TG,
MH,
CX and
GA. And thus, having a feeling of nostalgia holds very true for me especially when this airline is concerned. In fact, my very first flight as a screaming toddler was on a DC8 of
TG’s. Over the years, from the days of black and white photographs of smoky jets in Don Muang to present day’s multi-coloured nonstop editing using Photo Editor – my love for airlines remained constant (although wavering through varying degrees).
TG has always remained special in my heart and while they might have gone through several phases of service decline by design, the warmth of the crew in my opinion has so far remained intact. My patronage of
TG has slowly declined over the years but each visit still brings back fond memories of stories of me crawling around naked down the aisle into the arms of an amused stewardess – this is according to my parents, how true is this I do not know.
These two batches of crew I had on both flights are testament that time doesn’t need to dilute what the airline holds true - service from the heart. Nothing is too much of a request and everything can be accomplished not by a nervous Apple-compatible robotic smile, but with sincere empathy – even in economy class on a short hop between Bangkok and Singapore.
THAILAND IN TURMOIL
Thailand is still officially under “emergency rule”, although not enforced – apparently it is against the law to have a public gathering of 5 or more people. Bombs and grenade attacks seemed to be going off at regular intervals before my trip but it was strangely peaceful during the few days I was there. After my return on Tuesday, another bomb was set off on Thursday. My office facade, being located in the heart of town – was also vandalized in the chaos which occurred during the May riots.
I fear whatever resolution the Thais are seeking at the moment, it would be a long time before these two polarized sides would come together for a compromise. The elites versus the poor and marginalized, where do you even start to bridge this gap? The divide is too wide for a consensus at present so it remains to be seen what else is there to be done to solve the present stale mate.
Until that happens, travel advisories against travel to Thailand have been put in place for many countries. As much as I would like to say it is still safe to venture there, who knows what would erupt next? But until then, life goes on for the millions who are caught in between this political feud. I met up with a friend over lunch while I was there and she had an attitude of just “rolling with the punches”.
Her condominium along Sathorn had a bullet whizz into the living room, shattering a glass window in the process. The bullet hole on the wall is now a morbid exhibit of sorts. Moments like these, it makes you wonder how lucky we are surfing airliners.net in the confines of our comfortable and safe surroundings.
Thank you for reading!
Please feel free to look at a selection of my other trip reports:
1.
Sore! Sore! Sore! Ryanair Does Lionair
2.
S'pore Gerr, You A Gate Way To Fry... To Adelaide
3.
Final Piece Of The Puzzle: Indonesia Air Asia!
4.
Ryanair Does Emirates: G'day Melbourne & Adelaide!
5.
Bienvenue à La Xanadu: Air Asia X PER-KUL
6.
Now Everyone Can Fly Xtra Long! Air Asia X KUL-PER
7.
MH Is NOT Malaysian Hospitality. The Return.
8.
MH: More Than An Airline Code... SIN-BKI
