TH: The Meeting

Today is the last day of he meeting. It has been a tiring four days for me. The meeting starts at 8.30am in the morning and finish just before lunch and in the afternoon, it's my turn to be one of the trainers for the staff. 

Luckily I have been to Bangkok before, hence, I don't have much grievance if I didn't manage to discover the city. On the second night of the meeting day, I joined my office mates at Lebua Hotel (State Tower if I am not mistaken), at its open bar on 64th floor. Nice view of Bangkok. The fact that I went at night, I just see buildings with lights, without knowing much what I am looking at. 

Overall, it was an eye opener for most of the staff since this is the first time ever the office fly them out of the country for a meeting. They also have a chance to meet their counter part from other Far East area offices. 

Some people left today and most will leave tomorrow morning. As for me, I will be leaving on Sunday. Extend one more night since Izam is coming to join me for a weekend. 

~ MT @ Thailand

~~ Plaza Athenee, Bangkok

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: KUL - BKK

This is my first time flying Thai Airways. Am going to Bangkok for my firm's Far East Area meeting. This is our first meeting since the area integration on July 1 this year.

The flight was so-so with turbulence after one hour took-off from KUL. The flight was pretty empty, so I opted for last row in that TG heavy, hoping that I can relax a bit. However I was wrong. There was one Arab family with three kids. One of them crying as loud as she can 15 mins before landing.

Overall flight was not that bad. Food was great compare to MH meal box (TG still serve hot meal). But the crew was not as I expected, meaning, what you see in the advert is not what you see in flight :-) Well, I guess same goes to other airlines as well......

Landed on time in BKK and was greeted by the hotel representative. There are four of us and we are driven in a luxury Toyota MPV to the hotel, Royal Meridien Plaza Athenee, a place to call home for the next six nights......

~ MT @ Thailand

~~ Plaza Athenee, Bangkok

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

TH: ALA-BKK-KUL

Woke up at 6am to freshen up and had breakfast. By 7am, I was already at the lobby and the driver was already there. I was with another candidate who is traveling back to Jakarta. However, she was to stop overnight in Bangkok to visit some friends.

We reached the airport around 7.35am and immediately approached by the “baggage handler”. This is the same concept as you experience when you arrived in Jakarta airport (at least, based on my experience). I could not have a chance to say no and our luggages were already on the trolley. These people are quick. At first there were two of them and inside the terminal, another guy joined. They asked for 5000 tenge. I said no tenge. Then, they asked for USD5. We disagreed. Later, my colleague just paid USD2, one dollar each.

Almaty airport is small with 20 counters for check in. Six counters are dedicated for Air Astana, and the remaining for other airlines plying Almaty routes. This morning, there were flights to AMS with KL, FRA with LH and a chartered to Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt. Although there are no passengers at all at the Air Astana counter, they cannot checked us in. The reason – you have to wait at least two hours before boarding time. It took me around ten minutes to get the answer because they were busy talking to each other. We managed to checked in at 8am with no problem at all. Luckily the check in agent that I dealt with was polite and friendly.

We went through the immigration and soon, find ourselves in the duty free area. This duty free area also play a role as a holding lounge. You cannot go to the gate until your flight is being called. There was one drink outlet, an open bar concept with a very long queue. I wonder why and I walked towards the counter. Apparently, there were two bar tenders, and one of them was sleeping at the counter. Yes sleeping… The same goes to the duty free shops. When changing the shift, the outgoing staff will close the outlet and the new shift staff will open it later.

On the last day in Kazakhstan, I successfully connected to internet. At the airport. Chatted with my friend, AAH in Doha for a short while.

At 9.30am, the boarding started. Three security counters were opened. Do not worry if you bring any liquid or two big hand luggages. They didn’t care. If no issue to you, bring it on board. This time the flight was pretty full. The aircraft used is Boeing 767-300 registered as P4-KCB. I believed this is ex-KLM flight based on the interior. We pushed back on time and in seconds, we were air borne. The bar service started about an hour after take off. Lunch was served and I opted fish with potatoes instead of beef. The food was just so-so. Moreover, I was so hungry. There is no PTV and I was not seated at a good seat to watch the front screen. They showed Just for Laugh, I Didn’t Know That – both are 30mins show, then two movies, No Reservations and Transformer.

This time, the path taken from ALA to BKK brings us via Tashkent, Lahore, Delhi, Varanasi, and Yangon. 

I managed to get a short sleep in between movies. One and half hour before landing, a sandwich was served. We landed at BKK at 6pm, 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I was so happy because this will give me ample time to shop for duty free. Some top brand outlets are having sales.

Checked in for MH flight soon after I disembarked. Said goodbye to my Indonesian friend and I off for prayer and shopping. Boarding for MH flight to KUL started at 7:30pm. This was a light load, 50% of economy class only. Flight is boarding now….

~ MT @ Thailand
~~ Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~