We decided to avoid the Bangkok traffic this time and decline our son's generous offer to drive us to the airport. Instead, he dropped us at Makkassan station from where there is a direct fast train to Suvarnabhumi International, east of Bangkok. The train journey took all of 15 minutes rather than the hour it would most likely have taken by car (and then he would have needed an hour to get back again). Swift, efficient, and super air-conditioned. Actually I have noticed that the air conditioning here in Bangkok is set at an over-compensated level. So while it may be 30 degrees centigrade outside, the air conditioning is set at 7 degrees centigrade inside. No need for that, dude. Set it at 20 degrees and we'll all be fine. I don't know if I mentioned before that on our first Shabbat in Bangkok, the shul at Chabad was undoubtedly the coldest house of prayer I have ever been in. OMG – it was freezing!
Anyway, we arrived at the airport only to discover that we were about 10 minutes too early for check-in. Arriving early was our plan so that we could spend time checking out the myriad stores in the airport's duty-free section - which is what we did until it was time for boarding. Of course, we also stopped in at Starbucks for some coffee.
The flight to Hong Kong was only 2 and a half hours, but we left a little late, so by the time we landed and disembarked in Hong Kong we had to rush to the gate for our continuing flight to Sydney. Now here's a stupid thing which seems to be customary in the east (I have come across it both in China and Japan before). You get off a plane, which, from a security point of view, is a sterile environment (from a health point of view of course, it's a hotbed of germs and other mar'in bishin) and you are in the transit area between gates which is also, from a security point of view, a sterile environment because you cannot get there without first having passed through a security check. So here you are in the sterile zone, and your departure gate is in the sterile zone. Now, you would think that you can walk in the sterile zone from one gate to another. But NO! You are forced to walk in the sterile zone to another sterile zone so that you can go through security in that sterile zone and then re-enter the sterile zone in which you already were, thus ensuring that you waste valuable time getting from your sterile arrival gate to your sterile departure gate. It reminded me of our departure from Livingston in Zambia. There we had to take off our shoes to go through security. So this is what happens there: you place your carry-on bags on the conveyor to have them scanned. Then you take off your shoes and walk past the scanner carrying your shoes in your hand, to pick up your now scanned carry-on bag. Once you have done that, you put your shoes on the floor and put them on your feet. Brilliant! Somewhere in the Zambian system someone said that shoes need to be removed – so they are! Fantastic! So the Hong Kong system truly fills me with as much confidence as the Zambian one. Ah well…
Our flight to Sydney was 9 1/2 hours and across 2 time zones, so we arrived 7 1/2 hours later to Sydney. This was the first time that I almost got no sleep on a plane. Usually, I get on the plane and shut my eyes and keep them shut, but this time my wife and I watched a movie together (on separate screens, clicking the VOD system at the same time to be watching the same thing at the same time.) Then we started watching separate movies for the second and third shows (VOD is a great thing on long flights, I must say). So I must have watched 4 movies on this flight, before I eventually fell asleep briefly before landing. The kosher food on both flights was great. Albeit they were Hermolis meals out of London but they must have been relatively recently produced, because the food appeared to be fresh, and was rather tasty. Also, there was a TON of food. The package is HUGE! So we had a light meal between Bangkok and Hong Kong, and then dinner after takeoff from Hong Kong and then breakfast before landing in Sydney. The flight staff was also VERY nice, very polite, coming to ask if we would like to break the seals or if they can do it so that they can heat the entrees. In general, the Cathay Pacific staff was superb.
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