Novotel Fenix Silom hotel, Bangkok Stay: May, 2016
A nice welcome and attentive, efficient staff made check-in a joy. My flight arrived very early, and I was at the hotel before 7am. Although they didn’t have a room for me then, I was safely ensconced by 9am – which is an excellent five hours before normal hotel check-in time.
The hotel is located at the far end of Silom, closer to Surasak BTS (sky train) station than to Sala Daeng, which is at the heart of the Silom / Patpong tourist area. Continue reading Review: Novotel Fenix Silom
I flew in to Bangkok on Sunday morning. There’s a lot to write about, including comprehensive reviews of the flights and airport lounges, which will appear in due course.
For now, though, there are pictures. Not the best pictures ever of this fascinating city, nor even the best I’ve taken of it, but a selection taken over a couple of hours in one day to give you a taste of this place.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of photographing cats in the wild. By which, I mean domestic cats on the streets of big cities, in small town, at beaches, near famous monuments and anywhere else I can find them.
Despite the fact that they are a growing phenomenon — with about 60 in Tokyo alone, and many more across Asia and Europe — I haven’t yet been to a cat cafe.
First up: a disclosure. I have an issue with Munich Airport. It’s a bit boring, so it’s at the end of this review, but I thought I best declare it in case it somehow influenced this review. I don’t think it did.
One of the best benefits of frequent-flyer scheme membership is access to airport lounges. They certainly enhance the trip — to the point where some travellers prefer the pre- (and sometimes post-) flight experience to the flight itself.
My flight-cruise adventure began properly in the Etihad Premium Lounge at Abu Dhabi airport. Or, more correctly, lounges — because I sampled both the Terminal 3 Premium Lounge, where I’ve been many times, and the Terminal 1 Premium Lounge, which was located closer to my departure gate. Continue reading Lounging around
It took a while for me to get around to my first flight on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, but it was certainly worth the wait.
Sweetening the deal on my Etihad Airways flight from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi was the fact that I was upgraded from business class to first class. (Yes, this has been happening to me quite a bit lately. I try to explain why here.)
It’s becoming an embarrassingly common occurrence. I rock up to the terminal gate with my ticket in my hand, the attendant takes it from me and a little red light shows up on the scanner.
She presses a few buttons on the keyboard and then says: “Oh, you’ve been upgraded. And, just like that, seat 5E becomes seat 1A.
I’ve just scored a hat trick with Etihad Airways. For the third time in a row, my business class seat has been upgraded to first class. On a long haul flight (from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne in this case), it’s simply the best way to fly.
The experience was, of course, luxurious. The seat is huge, even for a big bloke like me and makes for a comfortable bed, and there was plenty of attention from the cabin crew, including the onboard chef, who made me a marvellous steak, — and, remarkably — the same person who looked after me on my previous flight, from Munich to Abu Dhabi (She said: “I know you; the last time you were wearing a very colourful shirt.”)
As I’ve written before, I don’t really know why I’ve been so lucky to get these upgrades. However, I think being happy to share the experience is definitely part of the mix.
So too are these common tips (after photo):
Etihad first class seat
+ Be polite and cheerful in all your dealings with airlines staff. That really shouldn’t have to be said, but a lot of people do get grumpy when they’ve had to queue, or they are tired or running late. I’ve done it myself. The trick is to try to snap out of it when you’re face to face with the person who can make your life more enjoyable (or miserable).
+ Be a frequent flyer with that airline.
+ Be flexible. I once got an upgrade and 20,000 Etihad Guest points and a US$300 voucher because I changed flights — it cost me all of 10 minutes in terms of arriving at my destination.
+ As I’ve already said, spread the word and say thank you to the airline, which is easy to do in this age of social media.
The only problem, as I’ve also said before, is that you might just get hooked on the experience.
I’ve been part of an on-off conversation, in person and over social media, about the pros and cons of vegetarianism and veganism.
As usual, especially in the internet age, it’s easy to find scientific “evidence” to prove the worth of any dietary whim. The latest is that lard and butter are better for you than some vegetable oils, which may cause cancer, and that three glasses a champagne a day can stave off dementia (it’s a shame that I only drink to forget).
I can certainly understand the argument that eating meat involves animal cruelty. But that is one of the unpleasant truths that I and other carnivores choose to put to one side, or simplistically explain away (“they were bred to be eaten, and as long as they have a nice life out in the paddocks don’t suffer too much when they’re slaughtered, well, that’s OK”).
If people have made a conscious choice to eschew meat for that reason, more power to them. But, like the religious fringe-dwellers who knock on suburban doors on the weekend, they should not expect too many of us to convert to their way of thinking.
What I don’t buy, however, is the argument that vegetarian or vegan diets are actually better for us. Maybe I’m not meeting the right people, but all the vegans I’ve ever met have looked incredibly pail and frail. And, as far as I know, there is no evidence to suggest that they are healthier than the average person (although, as I said before, Google will surely turn something up that favours that proposition).
For better or worse, humans have adapted to being meat eaters. There is even some evidence that eating meat made us who we are (again, for better or worse), giving us an advantage over all other species to the point where we dominate the planet. But, once again, I got that from the internet.
What is demonstrably true, however, is that I personally am not a perfect specimen of human health and fitness. I eat too much, drink too much and exercise too little. I suspect this may even be the case if I were a vegetarian.
Anyhow, whatever you do, don’t take this post as me preaching about my lifestyle, which clearly is not superior.
But I would appreciate if somebody could answer one burning question: why do vegans create food that looks like meat? If you’re committed to a plant-only diet, why sculpt processed food into the shape of sausages and burgers?
Chief Wigggum and a doughnut from The Simpsons. Copyright Matt Groening.
A little while ago, a friend noticed this caption on a picture attached to an Australian newspaper report about overweight police: “No doughnuts: Top cop wants to build a slim blue line.”
My friend asked: “From which comics or TV shows do they get the idea Aussie cops eat doughnuts?”
I guess whoever wrote the caption (or “blockline” as we used to call them in the old days) was thinking of police chief Clancy Wiggum in The Simpsons, whose fondness for doughnuts has been a part of popular Western culture for the past quarter-century. (Although it probably predates that.)
So an observation made by a humourist in America, and perpetuated on a popular TV show, gets somehow transferred into real life in Australia.
The danger is that it becomes accepted as an Australian stereotype, even though it isn’t true. I would venture to suggest that, if Aussie cops are indeed getting fat, it’s more to do with more popular fast foods such as burgers and fried chicken — all be they also largely American — rather than doughnuts.
In a world full of horror and pain, this sort of thing probably doesn’t matter very much — except that, sometime in the future, what is distinctly American will be mistaken as global, and what is uniquely Australian will be absent altogether.
Is this the ultimate “coals to Newcastle” story? The US-based Domino’s pizza chain says it is taking on the Italian market.
Apparently, previous attempts by outside players have failed to lure Italian consumers away from the original product, but Domino’s has a cunning plan.
Apart from using local ingredients and different recipe to tempt Italian palates, they are going to install an efficient home-delivery system as they have done elsewhere in the world.
In other words, I guess, they are betting that customer laziness will overcome the questions of quality and authenticity.
This is something of an unusual post for me. Usually, I write something here and the post the link on Facebook (and other social-media platforms). This time, I posted a simple question on Facebook and got such a big response that I decided there must be a blog article in it.
So, what happened was a discussion over the brunch table on Friday about the value of tofu, which, according to Google, is “a soft white substance made from mashed soya beans, used chiefly in Asian and vegetarian cookery”.
For many people, tofu is in the category of a “faux meat” — a substance that has been created artificially specifically to create some psychological comfort in people who have become vegetarian but, deep down, really want to be carnivores.
For others, it’s a kind of wonderfood.
Anyway, after some robust debate around the table, I posted the following short sentence on Facebook:
Table talk. Tofu: food or not food?
Here are some of the responses:
“Abomination!”
Food! Absolutely! Korean style teriyaki tofu is one of the tastiest things on the planet.
Delicious. What would a good laksa be without it?
Funny, you never see meat advertised as tasting like tofu …
Disgusting muck. (This was from a quite well known food and beverage writer.)
Paper. Food or not food?
Yes, buried in a stir-fry, it’s all well and groovy but I think we need to accept that tofu — unadorned by various sauces, soups and condiments — does not stand up to the the stand-alone taste test. One could cover a sock in peanut sauce and make it delicious.
Add soft tofu to scrambled eggs. Takes a pedestrian dish to another level.
Food. Icecream, flour, candles, yoghurt — all a bit suspicious!
