I took Miss Maddie down to the Cat House Hotel and she uncomplainingly trotted into her usual junior suite and settled down. It's so great to have a confident cat who doesn't freak out when we want to go away!
Bob and I took off at 6 PM, Monday evening, drove down the coast, and made it to LAX by 8 PM. We turned in our rental car and took the jitney to the wonderful Tom Bradley International Terminal where we wandered around, admiring all the art and snazzy cafes. We sat at a high table at Vino Volo and ordered small pizzas and flights of wine, as we figured we wouldn't get dinner until 1 AM.
We're flying EVA Air, the national airline of Taiwan, and boarded our 777 jet at 11:45 and settled into our comfortable premium economy seats with plenty of leg room, cruised through the TV offerings and found the first two episodes of the last season of Downton Abbey which we hadn't seen yet and a pretty good variety of movies and other shows.
We finally got dinner and drinks and then both got quite a few hours of sleep. Two hours before we landed in Taipei I ordered the Chinese breakfast and got a large bowl of congee ( rice porridge) with shrimp and a packet of "fish floss", quite amazing semi-sweet dry fish fluff!
After our 14-hour flight we had three hours to explore the amazing Taipei airport. Between each gate was a different educational/decorative exhibit: orchids, Hello Kitty, Taiwanese aboriginal peoples, glass flowers, among others, which passed the time very easily. We re-boarded the same jet, same seats, and took off for Bangkok where we're to stay two nights.
The plane landed at noon on Wednesday, we whisked through immigration and customs, grabbed our bags and walked to exit 4 where a Novotel Hotel van was waiting for us! How convenient was that! We were driven the short distance to the hotel where we stayed four times during our Thailand birding trip in 2010.
We lounged, napped, and sorted our luggage until it was time to go to dinner. The fantastic buffet that we remembered from our previous stay was just as amazing. I started out with a plate of sushi while Bob got corn soup. Then I had a bowl of noodles that a lady cooked up for me with pork dumplings, onions, and chili sauce, while Bob got a plate of spare ribs. There is such a variety of dishes that one could eat all night! I got fruit and cheese and then hit the dessert table. Quite a feast, and we managed to stay up until ten PM
Greetings! Your travels sound very smooth which is excellent. Also sounds as if taking full advantage of the Novotel buffet may be a good thing prior to camping etc in Bhutan. As far as Eva food, what IS fish floss? Very strange!
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