Traveling to Thailand

Monday, December 26, 2016
The Journey Begins

I apologize for not posting for almost a week -- my adjustment to Thailand time (15 hours ahead of Pacific time) has been slow, my energy level has been low, which translates to little motivation for writing (or maybe I have writer's block). Now my energy is returning even after two very challenging yoga classes, so here we go.

The journey from Los Angeles to Thailand starts for me with a flight on Korean Air from Los Angeles to Incheon, S. Korea. Incheon is a new airport for Seoul, about 30 miles west of Seoul. My flight leaves Los Angeles at 11:30 PM and arrives at Incheon at 6:00 AM Korean time after a flight of 13 1/2 hours. The flight to Bangkok leaves Incheon at 9:00 AM, arriving in Bangkok after six hours at 1:00 PM Bangkok time,  This is a pretty good itinerary, because by arriving in the daytime, I can use the Airport Rail Link from the airport to the Phaya Thai Sky Train stop for 45 Baht ($1.50) and then three stops on the sky train to the Chit Lom stop for 25 Baht (80 cents) less than 100 yards from the Intercontinental Hotel where I shall stay for just two nights. That is less than $2.50 to cover the almost 20 miles from the airport into town. A taxi would be a lot more expensive.

The evening started well, almost too well. I arrived at Los Angeles International at 8:10 PM, and was checked-in and through security before 9:00, leaving me with 2 hours until boarding to wait.

The sign at the gate in the Los Angeles International that KE12 to Seoul Incheon will leave at 11:30 on time. We did board on time, but due to "traffic congestion," there was a delay of over 90 minutes, and we finally took off at 1:00 AM. The traffic congestion ... caused by the wind. What, the wind? Because of the wind direction being off-shore, the runways were reversed, with takeoffs and landings to the east instead of to the west. It seems that when this takes place, only one of each pair of runways is used, dramatically reducing the number of flights that can takeoff or land and causing a lengthy queue.

Some of that time was made up, though, and our arrival at Incheon was only about 30-40 minutes late. Then it was on to International Transfer Security, and the lines were quite long. I easily made it to the gate for the flight to Bangkok, and that flight, too was delayed, but only by about 1/2 hour. The flight made it to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport by about 1:30 PM, and I was through immigration before 2:00 PM, even before the luggage from our flight arrived on the carousel. After getting my bags, I made the long walk to the Airport Rail Link, and after a short wait there, the train was enroute into Bangkok. Everything went smoothly, and 25 hours after being dropped of at LAX, I was back at the Intercontinental, tired, but happy to be in a familiar place where I can get some sleep (I do not sleep well on airplanes).

Here is the outside of the Intercontinental Hotel, brightly decorated for the holidays, but quite obviously more subdued than in past years because of the recent passing of the King. All celebrations and decorations everywhere were dramatically reduced or non-existant. The Thai people are reflecting on the long 70-year reign during which their late King served the people of Thailand well.

My hope was that I could go to the spa on the 36th floor and book a body scrub and massage for a very relaxing arrival in Bangkok. The spa was fully booked, so I booked the session for the following afternoon. I am only here two nights or one full day, and the idea of a spa session following a day of sightseeing was appealing.

With no spa session, I cleaned up, took a nap, and headed over to the Siam Paragon shopping center to find some food. There are several large, upscale shopping centers right by each other in this part of town, easy walking distance from the Intercontinental. All of them have very nice food courts in the lower levels. And there I found it, the La Monita Taco Truck. The owner is from San Francisco, and apparently wanted to revive the California-style taco truck in Bangkok. I ate there last year, and this year, it did not disappoint.
Here are my chicken tacos, some chips & salsa, and a Coke.











Back to the Intercontinental for sleep and the first attempt at adjusting to Thailand time.

Next: A Full Day in Bangkok or Just a Little Sightseeing