Farewell to Thai's Airbus 345: Penang to Bangkok

• Introduction
• Penang to Bangkok with layover at Novotel Bangkok Airport
• Bangkok to Los Angeles
• Radisson LAX
• Los Angeles to Austin 
• Embassy Suites Townlake Austin
• Homewood Suites Round Rock 
• Extended Stay Austin Southwest
• Austin to Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Layover
• Flight back home - Los Angeles to Bangkok
• Bangkok Layover - Indra Regent Hotel

__________________________________________________________________________________

After saying good bye to Lydia who dropped me off at the airport, I made my way to check-in. The check-in agent at the business class counter took a wee longer than expected as she struggled with the paperwork needed for a US bound passenger. With boarding passes collected and bags tagged to Los Angeles, I made my way through immigration and to the MAS lounge that Thai uses in Penang. The lounge was surprisingly crowded with passengers on MAS early morning flight to Kuala Lumpur in the lounge. I gave the rest of the family an early morning call before enjoying my usual hearty nasi lemak for breakfast.

(Click here for pictures of the MAS lounge from my previous visit).

This would be my first time flying in economy on Thai's aging and "colorful" 737-400 (previous flight was in business). Not sure if it was because of my Star Gold status but I had an empty seat next to me giving more room to wiggle around. In economy class, a snack box consisting cold sandwiches, juice and some fruit was served. The attendants also went around offering hot coffee or tea.

We parked at the domestic terminal where we had to be bussed to the international terminal. The good thing about bus ride is that we got dropped off close by to the immigration counters. I was shocked at how long the lines were! The line extended out of the immigration hall to main terminal. It took me a painful thirty minutes before I made my way out of the airport and onto the shuttle to the Novotel.

The Novotel

Restaurant

Lobby

The rooms were fairly modern except the tiny CRT TV with furnishings similar to Novotel Kuala Lumpur. Love the open bath room and bath tub.

I caught up on work but couldn't do email since internet was not free before taking a break with a run in the gym and a dip in the pool. The gym was large and well equipped where as the pool was large enough to do laps.

The highlight of the day was the buffet lunch paid for by Thai as part of the day room. I was supposed to be on a diet (thanks to the copious amount of drinking and eating from the holidays and previous trips) and the extensive buffet definitely did not help! The buffet had a large selection of both Western, French and Thai options. They had a pretty good tom yum soup which I helped myself with two servings. Dessert was also really good with cakes, macaroons, ice cream and pretty good cheeses on offer.