BKK

Shockingly, in the midst of travel hysteria, my entire process of getting to Bangkok was probably one of the most pleasant travel experiences I have had to date. In hindsight, it’s precisely for just that reason. After my initial budget flight on China Eastern got canceled, I had to re-book on Etihad, which was nothing but absolutely painless (try to say that United). The plane was new and empty, so I had an entire 4 seat row to myself. A couple of Xanax later and I woke up in Abu Dhabi.

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Abu Dhabi had a choice of lounges, was essentially deserted, and even had a serviceable sparkling wine. I took my first ever shower at the airport (seriously game changing), and was on my way to BKK. Middle East airports are the best.

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Allison opened La Cabane, the best wine bar in Hong Kong, her own restaurant My House, a bar in Cambodia, and now runs the beverage program for a group in Kuala Lumpur. She just so happened to be in BKK the same exact day I was, so we met for some time by the pool, a delicious crab omelet, cocktails at Zuma, and some natural wine at Oskar’s before she had back. Who knew Bangkok had natural wine? And Jamsheed on the list everywhere – well done, Gary!

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All I wanted out of this 1 day layover was a papaya salad; something so spicy it made me cry, and a freshness you can’t find outside of Thailand. Found it, cried spicy tears of happiness, had a quick sleep and was out the door again.

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There was another canceled flight from Bhutan Air (foreshadowing for the week to come), which I suspect is because they only had 5 passengers on board. They rebooked us onto Druk Air, the state owned airline of Bhutan, and we were off. A had a quick touch down in India, some very questionable curry, and here I was, in beautiful Bhutan…

 

 

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