WE MADE IT TO BANGKOK

The day started at the United Club with Bloody Marys and breakfast.  The Asiana plane arrived an hour late, causing a lot of worry because our connecting flight in Incheon was only a little more than an hour after our arrival.

Noticed that only a few wore a mask in the waiting area.

The flight itself was filled and fabulous, beginning with a goodbye to Honolulu.

Not having flown in almost three years, I kind of overdid it with too much to drink and three films, starting with champagne.

With the appetizer I had a sherry on rocks and Cass Beer.

There was a snack, then a second meal, with a lot to drink, although one of the dishes was a Korean shrimp something, which I had to return.

Not having gone to any movie theater during the pandemic, there was a plethora of good films to watch.

So I selected Top Gun:  Maverick, Elvis and Jurassic Park Kingdom.

• Top Gun Maverick, Rotten Tomatoes 96/99, with Tom Cruise and a bunch of returnees.  2 hr 11 minute of fun and action.

• 
  Elvis, RT 77/94, directed by Baz Luhrmann, with Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.  2 hr 39 min.  I sided with the audience.  The soundtrack was fabulous, and in some ways, Butler's impersonations were better that of The King himself.  What to me was particularly memorable was the stand he had at The International Hotel in Las Vegas, for I was there in the front table when Sammy Davis Jr and his entourage was just behind me in a booth. This particular sequence became an earlier documentary, That's the Way It Is, RT 92/93.  If you look closely, might see me.
• 
  Jurassic World Dominion, RT 29/77.  Yes, it was a weak film, but a worthwhile 2 hr 27 min effort.  Amazing special effects.

More than seven hours of intense viewing on our first leg was debilitating, especially when you add all those drinks.  Afraid to name a number.  

Most important of all (next to no crashes) was that we made the connecting flight Bangkok on an Airbus380. We were  saved by a helpful tail wind.  

We had to wait half an hour in our seats for the pilot to several times announce, they were waiting for late-arriving luggage, which was good news for us, as they included ours, and maybe only ours.  However, I was wiped out, so only had a meager meal and slept.

We got to Bangkok in 6 hours, landing at 11PM.  Caught the airport limousine service for $30 to the Sheraton Grand Sukhamvit, which was overbooked.  But they let us in.

The APEC meeting is a big deal, and a good number of sessions must be in this hotel, so that the entrance beginning today is just like at an airport, except there must also be a dozen policemen at the entrance. We finally went to sleep at 2AM and amazingly enough, woke up at 9AM refreshed.  Breakfast was the expected terrific.

Tonight we had made a reservation at Red Sky, a rooftop restaurant.  However, the forecast is rain, so we cancelled, and instead will have our free executive club drinks and probably go to Rossini's, an excellent Italian restaurant.  Otherwise we have nothing planned until we leave for Dubai on Wednesday.

I remember getting 37 Thai Baht per U.S. dollar the last time I was here, so our money weakened in the interim.

APEC 22,  their 29th summit, starts the day after I leave here, November 18.  President Jinping Xi is expected to participate.  What is APEC?  The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation with a membership pf 21 countries.  Veep Kamala Harris will represent the USA, which will host next year.  Interestingly, both China and Taiwan belong, plus Hong Kong.

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