MUGA Day #12: Bangkok to Tokyo on the Airbus 380

I got up at 3:30AM after a good five hour sleep.  The Luxury Collection Sheraton Grand Sukhamvit insisted that I leave by 4AM, as I needed to be at the airport three hours before my international flight at 7:35AM.  I left at 4:15 by catching a meter taxi.  The cost, with all toll charges, was 210 baht (around $7).  The airport limousine coming into town a few days ago cost me 2100 baht ($70).  Mind you, the sun is not close to rising, but when I jump out of the taxi, my glasses immediately fog up.  The high today in Bangkok will be 105 F.  I'm not unhappy to leave.  Incidentally, if you ever have this choice, bypass the secure service, even at midnight, and catch their meter taxi.  It is safe and ten times cheaper.

I might have mentioned that the traffic in Bangkok is again bad.  They have two metrorail systems (the Sky Train to the left, and the other one on the right) that don't talk to each other...with a lot of stops throughout the city...and the tuk-tuks have been replaced by a lot of cars and more motorbikes...meaning that the air pollution is not good, but not as bad as before...but the roads cannot today accommodate all the current traffic.  At 4:15AM, it was okay.  So I get dropped off at their international airport at 4:40AM and find that the Thai Air desk is closed until 5AM.  So much for checking in 3 hours early.

However, the first class check-in is incredible.  You don't stand in line but sit in a lounge.  A few minutes later an attendant walks you through express immigration and customs.  A fancy golf cart then whisks you to the First Class Lounge.  I'm there by 5:15AM.  The first question I'm asked is:  would you like to start with a massage?  I decline.  Why, I'm not sure.  Later I learn they have a full spa here.

The huge room sits at least a hundred, maybe two, with private areas, but I'm the only passenger with a dozen staff I can see.  This is not one of those airline lounges where you fix your own drink and pick from a buffet.  You interface through your contact, who comes with an iPad for you to order what you want from their kitchen.  I settle on a Thai fish soup with rice to which I ask for a dollop of Johnny Walker Black Label, plus a Bloody Mary.  In a few short weeks I'll be in DC, which is now 6:30PM.

So here I sit in uber ultimate luxury, pecking at my computer, awaiting my first experience on an Airbus 380.  It is 6AM and there are three people enjoying this decadence.

The Thai Airbus 380 sits 467, with 12 in first class.  Business class has fully reclinable seats for sleeping.  If you want more room to survive Economy, Singapore Air only sits 371, total.  United Airlines does not plan to use this plane.  Emirates already flies 31 (with 59 more in the pipeline) and Singapore Air has 19.  Here is my plane:

And my seat:

How was my flight?  Disappointing.  The problem was that I was expecting a Kings's Throne with a 60 inch 3D TV screen.  Great Expectations can ruin Reality.  The service and food were like United Airlines First Class, passable, but not fabulous and lacking in cultured solicitousness, which prevailed on the Thai Sydney to Bangkok leg.  A nice touch midway was duck soup with Thai noodles, topped with slices of grilled duck, which I enhanced with some Johnny Walker Blue Label.  The champagne was Dom Perignon, but there was no ceremony.  No caviar, but it was breakfast.   Also, I realized later that I really don't like Thai food because of the fermented fish intestine sauce added to everything.  There was an external camera, which gave you an added view of the outside.

Tomorrow?  Lunch with President of Tokyo University of A&T, Tadashi Matsunaga, at Les Creations de Narisawa, the BEST restaurant in all of Asia.

-

PEARL'S ASHES: #15--GRAND PALACE

On 5March2011 I found myself at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.  If you like gold and want to be awed by ostentation, this is a must for you:

There was very little natural beauty here, so the best I could do was this scene, where I had my 15th ash tossing ceremony:

I took the above photo today.  Plus the following:

This is the most popular tourist attraction, and includes the Emerald Buddha, almost a foot and a half tall:

Except for one problem, it is jadeite, not emerald.

-

MUGA Day #11: Bangkok: Saying No to Shark Fin

I've been eating too well on this trip that my conscience finally got to me.  There is an art show here in Bangkok entitled 100% Shark sponsored by Fin Free Thailand.  For those new to this matter, I've of course expounded on this issue numerous times, including very recently, and also only a month ago, where I reported that sharks kill, oh, five of us each year, but we decimate up to 100 million of them.  Of course, it can be worse, as the world consumes 50 billion chickens/year...and how many them are known to murder a human?  Well, there is that avian flu appearing to be returning in China, but blame the virus.

Why do we kill so many sharks?  Shark fin soup! It is a delicacy in China (and any Chinese community) and provided to impress guests.  A major business deal is a typical occasion.  It is a must at many weddings and an 80-year old birthday party.  At one time only emperors and nobles could afford this extravagance.  Now, many more citizens can.

There could be up to eight fins on one shark:

Bet these are the largest ones you've ever seen.  For fishermen, compare less than a buck per pound for the average catch versus $50/pound for dried fin.  High quality fins are purchased by the best restaurants for $1000/pound.  But there is very little taste, for it is in the "mouthing" or texture of the collagen, and the psychological value of added virility.  Culture, symbolism and profit are difficult to abandon.  Consider religion, for example.

However, major state dinners in China are now beginning to avoid this soup, and both Yao Ming (basketball) and Ang Lee (film director) have joined the anti-forces.  Take the pledge:

-

MUGA Day #10: Bangkok--Eat Me

This is the 10th day of my ultimate global adventure (MUGA), so let me take stock of what has happened thus far.  Sydney was restful, with Est approaching an ultimate meal.  

Bangkok is steaming, with temperatures exceeding 100 F at high humidity.  But the night life is colorful. 

I thought I would try to get to Japan earlier to see the remnants of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, but I couldn't find a seat on the Thai Airbus 380.  I want to experience that plane.  

There remain concerns, first about Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, whose best shots at an American base are Japan and South Korea.  It doesn't help that I posted a kind of spoof about him.  

Then, I just read this morning that Shanghai, the stop after Seoul, announced two new bird flu deaths, triggering emergency measures.  Also today, a UK journal reported that the China smog was linked with 1.2 million deaths in 2010, and it has only gotten worse.  Thus, 25 million years of healthy life was lost in the country just that year.  China is currently accounting for 40% of global deaths by air pollution.  Also, think of Korea and Japan, where face masks are becoming normal.  Then, when you are aware of all their food scandals, plus severe water pollution, you wonder why anyone goes there.

I'm having a 3PM lunch/dinner today, so splurged on the Sheraton Sukhumvit breakfast buffet, which is a lot more expansive than the Tokyo Westin version.

There are half a dozen international stations, including one for meats, where I ordered steak and eggs.

Getting to Eat Me Restaurant and Gallery was an adventure.  While the walk is only around ten minutes from the Sala Daeng Sky Train station, 100+ F and the obscurity of the site were challenging.  My room is freezing, even with the setting at 30 C.  Then, when you step out, it's like an oven.  When you board the Sky Train, you freeze again.  Then, when you leave the train, you immediately go blind because your glasses fog up, and this can get dangerous.  So from freezing to broiling, there is no middle ground.

Eat Me is supposedly the 19th best restaurant in Asia--nahm, see lunch yesterday, is #3--not bad considering that there are more than 3,000,000 eating establishments, and most are in Asia.  Frankly, I've been to at least 50 better Asian restaurants in my life.

Anyway, I was the only diner at 3PM, and a couple came in when I left an hour and 45 minutes later. The place must sit at least a hundred.  The artist being displayed was Luigi Fieni.

The music was American and New Age jazz.  I ordered a Singha beer and Saffron Bloody Mary.  The warm sourdough  bread was excellent.  I ordered only one course, beef cheeks and potato chips:

The potato chips were wedges and double french fried...I hope not because they were re-cycled.  I also tried to get a dish of truffle risotto, but the waiter recommended only one of the two.  He was right.  I couldn't finish that one order of beef cheek, nor the potato.  Apparently one ox cheek (facial muscle) can serve up to six.  My experience with cheeks has to do with fish, and they get as large as a thimble.

I finished with a coconut and raspberry salad topped with pomegranate, plus an expresso and a glass of Calvados (apple cognac):

The set was a perfect ending to an excellent meal.

It turned out that I did not bring a credit card, and only had about a thousand baht.  However, I had a 10,000 yet note, which the owner was gracious to accept.  The entire cost above was $70, so I left a few bucks to my waiter for negotiating the money exchange.

-
The Dow Jones Industrials rose 89 to 14,662, again, a record high.  The Dow has gained 12% this year.  The S&P also reached an all-time high, now at 1570, up 10%for the year.

-

MUGA Day #9: Bangkok--nahm

Nahm (or nahm) is the only Thailand restaurant on the Pellagrino Best 50 restaurants of the world, coming in at #50.  As I look down the list, I see: 

  -  French Laundry at #43, and there remains a chance I'll dine there when our group golfs in Napa Valley next month.

  -  Narisawa at #27, where I have a reservation when I get to Tokyo.  According to all reports, this the best restaurant in Asia.

  -  Pierre Gagnaire is at #17, but that is the Paris version.  I might go back to PG in Seoul, hoping that Young Leader Kim is only capable of barking.

I asked my concierge what was the appropriate attire for nahm.  He frowned at what he saw of my definition of smart casual, and inquired if I really had a reservation there for lunch today.  I was wearing long pants and real shoes, so I thought I'd be allowed to dine there, and, yes, I had a confirmed reservation.  Both turned out to be unnecessary.  First, at no time did this large restaurant of more than a hundred chairs get half full.  Second, they warmly welcomed a diner with slippers, shorts and a Harvard underwear t-shirt. 

I would not recommend taking the Sky Train, then walking to the restaurant.  A half mile at High Noon in Bangkok when the temperature peaks past 100 F in sweltering humidity is suicidal.  I did this partly because on the way was the Thai Air office, where I wanted to shift my departure a day or two earlier for Tokyo.  Can you believe that I was the only person in first class on Thai coming from Sydney, but there was nothing available in first class on the Airbus 380 to Tokyo for days?  So, I guess I'm "stuck" here for a couple more days.  Not a bad life, actually.

The nahm decor is upscale and service formal for a Thai restaurant.    The Master Chef is David Thompson, who also has a Michelin 1-Star establishment of the same name in London.  There is a tendency to spell the place nahm.

The power behind all this is 54-year old  Christina Ong, who last gave an interview twenty years ago.  While known for fashion, she has become a leading luxury hotel baroness.  Both nahms are in her hotel property, which in Bangkok is the new Metropolitan Hotel, located in the same driveway as the Banyan Tree Hotel, which once was a Westin.  With her Singporean husband, she is listed among the Forbes' billionaires.  Not sure what is happening, but a Metropolitan room for $472 can be had today for $150.

Ah, but this posting is mostly about food.  First came the free appetizer:

Very artsy and tasted okay, although I forgot what it was.  I ordered their set menu and started with a  Monsoon Valley Columbard from Hua Hin Hills (Thailand), which was excellent, and a Granmonte Sakuna Syrah Rose from Khao Yai (Thailand):

From a long list I could select two appetizers and three entrees.  Actually, I had no choice, for all the other dishes included shrimp in some way.  The first plate had southern grilled mussels and spicy pork with mint, peanuts and crunchy rice on betel leaves (you pick it up and eat like a sushi):

I guess this leaf comes from the same plant as the stimulant, betel nut.  I added a Glaetzer Shiraz from Barossa Valley (Australia) to accompany the entrees:

These dishes were hot and sour soup of chicken with straw mushrooms, lemongrass, chili and lime (much too salty and really, really spicy hot, which was then okay with me--but I suffered eight hours later); deep fried grouper; and stir-fried Kurobuta pork with yellow beans and ginger, which was excellent.

I was getting filled, but the dessert was spectacular:

The concoction combined coconut, tapioca, longan, etc.  I normally hardly touch the ending sweets, but this combination was terrific.  They could have done me some good service by serving a half portion.  Note that S. Pellagrino sparkling water, which was symbolic for nahm being #50, but I was disappointed by the $10 charge.  Yet, adding to the meal cost this bottle, wines, tip and taxes, the total bill was less than $100, about what an appetizer would cost at Robuchon's.  A very good value for a superior meal.

-

MUGA #8: Sydney to Bangkok

I love departing at 11AM because you can wake up without stress.  Why I fly west is that this 9 hour flight will arrive in Bangkok at 4PM, and I fear finding my way to my hotel late at night in a foreign town.

No, that's not a Dubai building.  The first noteworthy experience today was almost running into that $168,000 Penfolds 2004 Block 42 being exhibited at the Sydney Airport.  Only twelve were bottled, although the appropriate term for this elixir is ampoule.  This is a Cabernet Sauvignon, and only 12 were ampouled.

The Air New Zealand Lounge was average.  Interesting, though, that the breakfast buffet was exactly the same as at the Sydney Westin.  They're in a rut here.

I was led to my seat, and was informed that I was to be the only passenger in first class:

While still on the ground, this fabulous service began with Dom Perignon:

In the air, the meal began with appetizers and a sherry:

The next course was caviar with all the trimmings, plus frozen Stoli:

Two salads followed, which I had with a California Chardonnay and French Chablis, which comes from the same Chardonnay grape:

Next came two beef filets with French Burgundy (a Pinot Noir) and Bourdeaux:

I had a portion of a wide assortment of desserts, with Kahlua expresso:

The cheese tray was all for me:

I hope they have an effective recycle system.  I had those cheese with an apricot and a date, plus a port and remainder of reds.  Try this:  with port, any red wine tastes something similar to water:

I later had a chicken satay, followed by a tortellini enhanced with chorizos:

That rose is a wine-dyed towel created by the stewardess, who indicated that agricultural restrictions prevent them from using orchids.  There was, of course, the obligatory Johnny Walker Blue Label on rocks:

I watched a Thai comedy.  Something to do with aliens in the form of a one-eyed green slug.  There was much over-acting and silliness.  I then attempted to survive another comedy made in the Middle East.  Same thing, so bad in fact that I gave up after half an hour.  Both these movie-producing regions are in the early stages of development and will eventually become more professional.  My audio-video system allowed me to program 72 songs on my playlist, which I listened to while reclining:

How could I sleep and waste this indulgence?  The service was impeccable, cuisine outstanding and drinks over the top.  The ULTIMATE in MUGA (my ultimate global adventure) certainly was demonstrated here.  If I gave this flight a 9 rating, United's from SFO to Sydney would be a 3.  My flight to Tokyo will be Thai Air on that huge Airbus 380 (left), which will be a first for me.   

I was picked up at the Boeing 747-400 door by a Thai Air greeter, carted the mile distance to immigration/customs and whisked through an express system, all within 15 minutes.  Unfortunately, it took another 15 minutes for the suitcase to arrive, but I made it to the Sheraton Sukhamvit in about an hour and a half from landing, only because the traffic to the hotel was horrendous.

I always seem to get this view of Benjakitti Park, with the Queenn Sirikit National Convention Center in the background.  Well, the timing is perfect for my free evening cocktails in the Library.

-