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THE PRE-CRUISE TRIP-TOKYO TO VANCOUVER ON THE SS MARINER


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Today is the last day here in Hong Kong, the car service pick us up at 11:30 this morning.  Got to the airport in normal time without the traffic you have here.  The airport was busy but check- in went smooth.  We’re flying on Thai Airlines on one of the new 350’s business class on a two class airplane.

After check-in we were taken to immigrations priority line, then on to security and on the other side in minutes.  However after many escalators and a pretty long walk, two trains we got to the lounge.   Every lounge had its good points, so it was a place to be until are flight was called.

 

Boarding the plane was a breeze; a crew member took us to our seats for the flight.  Within a short time they passed out newspapers and your choice of beverages.  The seats are pretty big for business class with full lay down beds for this 2 ½ hour flight.  Anyway the service was very nice and the food was good on Thai Airlines.

 

Just an FYI for those that visit Bangkok, they have an airport service you can book in advance (which we did); it’s called Air LOT Service.  If you don’t know it’s a long, long walk (min 1 mile) from your plane to passport control and that can take an hour or more.  With this service they greet you at the gate, put you in an electric cart and drive you though the airport to passport control and walk you through within minutes.

 

They have another person waiting for you to take you to luggage and retrieve it.  Take you to your waiting car and off to the hotel.   Thai traffic was a mess.  Arriving at the Royal Orchid Sheraton was a nice experience, your luggage taken, and off to special check-in desk.  Desk staff offered you a beverage of your choice, and then you were taken to your room for check-in.  Luggage was waiting in your room; the room itself was a nice suite with a full River View from left to right.  So far everything is going in the right direction, very nice.  Of course you’re in Asia, fresh flowers, fruit and chocolate candy of course.

 

Next a hot shower, change of clothes and across the River to the new shopping center for dinner and a little shopping.  This isn’t any shopping center, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen—it’s very high end, like want to buy a new car, 8th floor.  Fountains, waterfalls and a river inside with a floating market, and as we were leaving full water show shooting a few stories high with color and to music.

 

Ron did go to the LV store and yes he got a new bag.  That put us over our amount that is allowed when returning to the US for customs for both of us.

 

Back to the hotel for a good night sleep, tomorrow is cooking school they pick us up around 1:00PM.  We’ll be cooking our dinner and getting back around 7 tonight.  We’ve done this school last year, its hands on and a lot of fun. 

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50 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Today is the last day here in Hong Kong, the car service pick us up at 11:30 this morning.  Got to the airport in normal time without the traffic you have here.  The airport was busy but check- in went smooth.  We’re flying on Thai Airlines on one of the new 350’s business class on a two class airplane.

After check-in we were taken to immigrations priority line, then on to security and on the other side in minutes.  However after many escalators and a pretty long walk, two trains we got to the lounge.   Every lounge had its good points, so it was a place to be until are flight was called.

 

Boarding the plane was a breeze; a crew member took us to our seats for the flight.  Within a short time they passed out newspapers and your choice of beverages.  The seats are pretty big for business class with full lay down beds for this 2 ½ hour flight.  Anyway the service was very nice and the food was good on Thai Airlines.

 

Just an FYI for those that visit Bangkok, they have an airport service you can book in advance (which we did); it’s called Air LOT Service.  If you don’t know it’s a long, long walk (min 1 mile) from your plane to passport control and that can take an hour or more.  With this service they greet you at the gate, put you in an electric cart and drive you though the airport to passport control and walk you through within minutes.

 

They have another person waiting for you to take you to luggage and retrieve it.  Take you to your waiting car and off to the hotel.   Thai traffic was a mess.  Arriving at the Royal Orchid Sheraton was a nice experience, your luggage taken, and off to special check-in desk.  Desk staff offered you a beverage of your choice, and then you were taken to your room for check-in.  Luggage was waiting in your room; the room itself was a nice suite with a full River View from left to right.  So far everything is going in the right direction, very nice.  Of course you’re in Asia, fresh flowers, fruit and chocolate candy of course.

 

Next a hot shower, change of clothes and across the River to the new shopping center for dinner and a little shopping.  This isn’t any shopping center, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen—it’s very high end, like want to buy a new car, 8th floor.  Fountains, waterfalls and a river inside with a floating market, and as we were leaving full water show shooting a few stories high with color and to music.

 

Ron did go to the LV store and yes he got a new bag.  That put us over our amount that is allowed when returning to the US for customs for both of us.

 

Back to the hotel for a good night sleep, tomorrow is cooking school they pick us up around 1:00PM.  We’ll be cooking our dinner and getting back around 7 tonight.  We’ve done this school last year, its hands on and a lot of fun. 

I love reading your trip report and look forward to each installment. We will be in Bangkok overnight as part of our cruise in December and will be staying at the Sheraton. I am looking forward to going across the river to Iconsiam   Where did you eat dinner in the mall?  We’re also taking a class at Blue Elephant cooking school   Which cooking school are you going to?

 

Bonnie 

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9 hours ago, greenolaker said:

I love reading your trip report and look forward to each installment. We will be in Bangkok overnight as part of our cruise in December and will be staying at the Sheraton. I am looking forward to going across the river to Iconsiam   Where did you eat dinner in the mall?  We’re also taking a class at Blue Elephant cooking school   Which cooking school are you going to?

 

Bonnie 

Thank you so much.  The cooking school we'll be taking is Baipai Thai Cooking School.  We did this last year and enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again.  They pick you up at the hotel which is a good thing because its pretty far out, and down some odd tiny streets.  I think even if you had a map system you wouldn't be able to find this place let alone get back to the hotel.

Last night we had just gotten in, so we ate at the floating market place in Iconsiam, it's food stalls and little boat on a river in the basement area.  Good and you get to pick and choose, it's not a Food Court and it's kind of fun.

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This morning was kind of take it easy day.  As I get older year by year we have more of these morning or full days of doing nothing. 

 

However we did book before we left home The Baipai Cooking School, something we enjoyed a lot last year.  This school is more hands on, few things are prep for you so you have a lot of cutting, chopping and you even have to make your of chili paste for cooking.  This why we really don’t cook much Thai food at home because it’s really a lot of work.  Fun here in Bangkok, but work at home! 

 

They picked us up at the hotel, was greeted and welcomed at the school.  The School is a lovely garden with ponds and inside/outside cooking areas.  Some of the food we grilled, some using a wok! Everything you cook you eat, plus you get to sample what the chef cooks then you duplicate same dish.  Which means you get to see how you did with your dishes?  Both Ron and I did a pretty good job, so much so we won’t b going out to dinner tonight.  Yes it was that good if we say so ourselves.

 

We took some photos of the dishes we cooked and ate, no leftovers. 

Photo #1 Satay Chicken with dipping sauce

Photo #2 Savory Prawn Salad (made the dressing also)

Photo # 3 Pa-nang Curry with Chicken

Photo #4 Stir-fried Beef with Chili (using the Pa-nang Curry Paste we made).

Photo #5 Chef Noi

 Yes it wasn’t easy but it was fun and really good.  This is something we’d say book a cooking class, not just here but where travel takes you.  We’ve done it in a few places, every time we’ve do it we’ve had a great time.

 

And we’d like to thank follow CC member and poster “Forgap”, reading their post about Bangkok we went to Magic Hands Massage near the Royal Orchid Sheraton.  Very clean, very good and priced like what else should we do.  It’s only a 3 minute walk from the hotel.  Thanks again for recommending this place, another reason to follow CC post.  Trust me we would have never walked down that street, except for the 7-11 to purchase some Gatorade (it is hot here).

Chicken Satay.jpg

Prawn Salad #1.jpg

Chicken Panang Curry.jpg

Beef Chili.jpg

Chef Noi.jpg

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I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts.  We have been to Thailand and different regions use different spices but I for one love spicy.  Thai people are very family oriented and we were referred to a local restaurant in our area while in Phuket.

We tried learning but the prep work can be tedious and I am not fast with knives. 🙁.

 

Your presentations look beautiful.

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Your pictures are beautiful.  We were in Bangkok two years ago on a Regent cruise.  It is truly a magical city, albeit very HOT.  Taking a cooking class is a great way to learn about the local culture.  Have a wonderful rest of your trip.

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5 hours ago, forgap said:

You are very welcome!   My husband is not keen on massage but he LOVED magic hands!  

 

It was so good we're going back late this morning as we leave tomorrow for Tokyo, really what a great place.

Thanks again.

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3 hours ago, MalbecWine said:

I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts.  We have been to Thailand and different regions use different spices but I for one love spicy.  Thai people are very family oriented and we were referred to a local restaurant in our area while in Phuket.

We tried learning but the prep work can be tedious and I am not fast with knives. 🙁.

 

Your presentations look beautiful.

Tedious? Hard work after pounding those herds and peppers to make a paste for what was like 20 mins - I asked if this type of paste comes in a jar, after a look of disappointment on her face I kept pounding.

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Really enjoying this thread and are looking forward to your cruise.  Bangkok is one of our favorite places in the world.  We have spent more time in Thailand than anywhere else (even more time than England which is my DH's home).

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1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

Really enjoying this thread and are looking forward to your cruise.  Bangkok is one of our favorite places in the world.  We have spent more time in Thailand than anywhere else (even more time than England which is my DH's home).

Thanks, Thailand is one of our favorite places to visit.  The problem is we buy too much stuff because we love the art here, this time we didn't buy that much.  But we did eat  lot here, the Thai food is nothing like at home.

We're looking forward to getting on the ship, besides everything Regent has to offer-the best is only having to unpack once, after that pure enjoyment.  We leave for Tokyo in the morning for two days before the cruise.

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Mouthwatering photos!!

 

For the person taking the class at the Blue Elephant - it is a very good cooking school.  I took a course there about 12 years ago and I doubt it has changed.   Another really good one is at the Oriental Hotel (have taken a few classes there because we always stay at the Oriental...)

 

RonRick - is this tour something you put together yourself or is it via Regent?   Sounds like a "one off"... and very well planned!!

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2 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

Mouthwatering photos!!

 

For the person taking the class at the Blue Elephant - it is a very good cooking school.  I took a course there about 12 years ago and I doubt it has changed.   Another really good one is at the Oriental Hotel (have taken a few classes there because we always stay at the Oriental...)

 

RonRick - is this tour something you put together yourself or is it via Regent?   Sounds like a "one off"... and very well planned!!

This is something we put together ourself just to have a little fun before we get on the ship.  We'll be leaving for Tokyo very early tomorrow morning as we want to get to the hotel before dark.  We will fly out on Thai's 380, great plane with great service.  We have to check in at 5AM if we want to do the Thai Airline Spa before the flight.  Here at the Thailand airport Thai has their own spa service staff and a super lounge.  Plus we did a little shopping here so we need to stop at the VAT Booth for the tax refund.  Two nights in Tokyo and on the ship.  Glad your enjoying the post---thanks for reading.

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We are flying out this morning from LAX into Haneda.  We are currently sitting in the new AA Flagship lounge in LA.  It is a vast improvement over their old lounges.   Floor to ceiling windows looking out on Bradley Intl, charging at all of the seats, and a full breakfast buffet.  

I wish everyone safe travels and we will see you Saturday.

Terri

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Greetings from Tokyo Hilton. Wow what a long day! JAL flight went off without a hitch 👍🏻 Excellent service! 

The Hilton room is very clean , on the small side, we love the firm beds.  

Our tour is this afternoon, thank goodness, ,  we can rest til then👍🏻

Karen 

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Got to the airport and yes Thai Airlines is something else.  Royal First Class entrance #1 is to the left as you enter the terminal; a Thai Staff member takes your bags and escorts you into a private check in lounge.  They take your passports, bring you water, coffee and check you to your flight.  Next they take your carryon bags and walk you just a few steps to passport control and a private security line.  Then on to the lounge where they have a full restaurant for table service, private waiting rooms with TVs.  You can order what you wish, service couldn’t be better and the staff takes care of anything you may need.  After a light breakfast we headed to the Spa for a back, neck and foot massage.  Then back to our room in the lounge we had a last cup of coffee before taking us to the gate.  We walked right on the plane, was shown our seats.  After a welcome drink, amenity kits passed out, small box of candy and we were on our way for the 6 hour 30 minute flight.  Food service was great (see photos); first meal was fruit, breads followed by the main course. I had the lobster; Ron had the rack of lamb.  A few movies and  a second meal was serviced before landing,  We both ordered the Pad Thai followed by fresh fruit and a Thai sweet tart. (Sorry but lighting was dim on plane).

 

Next we landed in NRT for a super long walk to luggage, and wouldn’t you know it a Thai Staff had taken our luggage, placed it on a cart and off we went to customs getting on the other side in no time at all.  The car service was waiting and we just missed most of the traffic getting to the Hilton in just a minute or so over an hour.  Checked in, and they upgraded us to a nice suite.

 

Since the Hilton lounge is closed for remodeled they set up a pop-up lounge for Hilton Members.

 

That’s about it for tonight, tomorrow will be a little resting, shopping and getting organized for the cruise.  We do have dinner plans tomorrow night for some of that 5A Wagyu Beef in the Ginza area.

 

Just another two nights until we are done, packing, unpacking, going to the airport, going to a hotel.  Even thought we really had good fun times, great food, good flights during this pre-cruise trip it will be so good to unpack once, not getting into a cab to go to dinner.  Just doing whatever we want for the next 19 nights.

fruit1.jpg

lob.jpg

lamb.jpg

pat.jpg

des.jpg

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