China to Thailand via Air
July 8 – the long travel day
Around 7:15am, Tom got up to explore the old town before the shops opened to get a feel for the city before it was ‘discovered.’ Quiet and beautiful he walked from one end to the other, returned around 8 to encourage the others to come out, which they did around 9am.
By then the shops were starting to open, but most of the tourists were still waking so the streets had a quiet feel to them, which is much more to our American sensibilities. While the kids did some last minute shopping, Tom arranged a driver to the airport, and Sue packed up our bags. At 11:15 we were walked to our driver who whisked us away to the airport 40 minutes away.
Our day would be long and challenging as our flight routing was LIJ-KMG; KMG-BKK; BKK-USM and at each stop we would need to collect our baggage and re-checkin. The leg in Kunming was the most difficult as we only had 90 minutes to make our connection. We decided to divide and conquer – Sue and Tyler would go ahead and stand in the check in line while Tom and Evie collected the bags. This ended up working very well and probably was the difference between making and missing our flight. Evie and Tom arrived at the check in gate just as Sue and Tyler we at the front of the line.
We nearly died when the agent uttered the phrase “the Economy cabin has checked in full” but our despair became elation when she finished her sentence with “so I have put you in Business class.” We were the last 4 passengers to check in.
We giggled our way to the gate and then nearly missed the final boarding when Tom and the kids tried to find the Starbucks. At 4pm, we boarded the flight for the short 3 hour jaunt to Bangkok. The kids were over the moon at the service in Business Class and we fear they may be ruined forever. When given the choice between going to college or flying business class, they both opted to forego their education!
We arrived our time in Bangkok and took advantage of our premium location to be first in line at the immigration line. After leaving 2 of our 5 bags at left luggage and checking in, we embarked on the final “to do” of the day – Starbucks and McDonalds! Evie got the vente mocha frappachino she had been craving and Tyler stuffed his cheeks with the Big Mac he had been longing for.
At 7:04 we arrived at the gate area and began the boarding process at 7:05. Along the way, we chuckled at the German family who literally sprinted past us to catch the same plane. While they panted and perspired, we sauntered past, smug in our casualness.
At 8pm we were in the air and at 8:45 we were back on the ground. At 9, we were being driven in the open air bus marveling at the humidity. The narrow streets of Koh Samui were a noted change from super modern China and after 30 minutes, we turned down the narrow alley that allegedly led to our beachfront hotel at Lamai Beach.
Arriving in a new place in the dark (very dark in this case) is always unsettling and this was no exception. We dropped our bags in our plain room and walked the 100m to the beach. The first sign we saw warned of box jellyfish. We strolled down the beach past the handful of beachfront restaurants and were pleased that none of them were blasting the thumping music Chaewang beach (the larger beach 2km noth of us) is known for.
Tired from the long day we plopped in our beds around 11pm. Welcome to Thailand, the last leg of our 5 week journey.