Narita to Bangkok on Thai Business

Narita to Bangkok on Thai Business

This is exciting, my first time on Thai Airways new A380 from Narita to Bangkok!
Managed to book this seat as part of an itinerary from Seattle to Bangkok, the first leg being on ANA's excellent business class product.

Here is Yukata Bear at Narita airport.
Narita airport is nice but feels a little claustrophobic to me because of the low ceilings.

On boarding, there is a two level air bridge walkway to the upper deck of the A380.
Thai airways uses the same "mini-suite" business class seats as ANA but with a totally different colour scheme as shown.

There was also a small amenity kit left on the seat.
It was filled with products from Crabtree and Evelyn.
The pouch is actually a really small nice size and I use it now as my toiletries bag on travel.

The business class seats are fully lie-flat with automated controls on the side.

Some of the drinks available which were served on a trolley cart.
I don't drink but it is nice to see there is a decent variety available.

Appetizers were first and I chose the Steamed Sea Bream as my main course.
The food quality was just average, not as high quality as other airlines business class offerings.
Finished off the meal with a cappuccino.
It is a nice surprise to see that cappuccinos are available.

Service wise, the crew did not really stand out, maybe it was due to the large number of pax on an A380, but not close to the attention and service provided by other Asian airlines like ANA or Korean Air.

The IFE system was quite good, a decent selection of movies and short films.

After an uneventful 6 hours, we arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport.

ANA Business NRT to SEA

ANA Business NRT to SEA

Check in time for NH 1078 to Seattle.
After security, I went to check out ANA's business class lounge.
This lounge is on one floor above the departure level and the place is huge!

 Decor was very nice, modern, clean and with wifi throughout.
The food itself was quite a disappointment though.
With such excellent in-flight meals, I had expected the same of the ANA lounge.
However, the lounge only had some fast food quality meals.
There were also sandwiches available but no desserts.
The offerings were much less in quantity and quality than say, Thai lounge in BKK.
These noodles and chicken were just passable.

There is however a "hidden" noodle soup bar around the corner.
It was not well advertised and they offered 3 varieties of noodles.
I chose the udon noodle soup which was quite nice.

The various food courts in NRT airport offered much better quality food.

 As in ICN airport, there is a small section at NRT which showcases Japanese culture and pax can make various Japanese cultural items there.
It was not available all the time though as I did not see it on my previous trips.
This mini cultural center is just in front of the main immigration counter.
I feel NRT should make this a permanent fixture like the ones at ICN airport.
Something fun to do and learn about Japanese culture.

NH 1078 was originally scheduled to be the new 787 but due to its problems back in February 2013, it was switched to a 777. Quite disappointing.
However, the first class section of the 777 is sold as business on some routes, with lie flat seats.
Thanks to the peeps at flyertalk, I learnt of this and snagged 1K which was lie flat as compared to the normal slanted business seats.

After take off, we started off with appetizers and I chose the Japanese meal.
The presentation and quality of the food was top-notch!
I really like this aspect of ANA, they serve amazing in-flight food.
The seafood was excellent and the black cod fish was very fresh and tender.
Much kudos to ANA.

The chocolate dessert was one of three desserts by rotating international renowned chefs.

The sauce was a bit too tangy for my taste but the rest of it was quite good.


Before we landed, we were served breakfast.
Again, I selected the Japanese option and was not disappointed.

In-flight entertainment had a good selection of current movies, short films and documentaries.
Watched a couple of movies but I do wish their non-English movies have English subtitles rather than just Japanese subtitles.

There were no amenity kits back in Feb 2013, though I believe that ANA now has added amenity kits.
However, I did get to keep a set of pajamas and cardigan.
Not great quality but a very nice memento.

Just before landing, the purser came by and gave us some hand made origami!
She was one of ANA's in-flight customer service trainers and as her title showed, she provided simply amazing service.
Smiling all the time, with very prompt service.

Service by the flight attendants on ANA is very very good.
Other airlines can certainly learn from ANA!

Did I mention I love window seats?
The Olympic mountains are shown in the 2nd pic.

Coming in to land at Seattle.
Port of Seattle and the West Seattle peninsula.

Thank you for a great experience ANA!

Kozunomori Onsen and Narita town

Heard of an onsen near Narita town about 10 minutes train ride away but never actually been there.
So I thought this would be a great time to go, with about 10 hours layover before my next flight.

The tourist counter staff at NRT airport didnt have a clue where the onsen was but I knew the name of the town, Kozunomori, so off I went to get a ticket.

Food display at a restaurant at NRT airport.

The train station was directly below the airport, so after getting some Japanese yen from the ATM, I went to get a ticket.

There was some confusion over which train I was supposed to take.
The train station guy pointed me to a train which I boarded and turned out to be an express train that overshot Kozunomori town!
Fortunately, I got off at the next station and somehow managed to get on the right commuter train back.
Whew!

After getting, it was about a 10 min walk from the station, down a main street to the onsen.
Cant post pics of the onsen interior but it was a really nice Japanese bath.
There was a bath section for women and one for men.

Like many Japanese places, they use a vending machine to buy the entrance tickets and whatever else.
Unfortunately, everything was in Japanese.:)
The attendant helped me to buy the right ticket, inclusive of a towel and soap.
It was very reasonable at about 1000 yen.

The bath onsen itself had an interior swedish sauna(hot dry) with a bucket of salt to smear on yourself.
Not sure what salt marination does for the body though but I tried it anyway. :)

There were three small pools inside the building as well as two outdoor pools.
Interestingly, there was also a huge jar like soaking tub for a single person.

They also provide a massage service but I didnt get to try it out.

This is the onsen that I went to.
http://www.hananoyu-narita.com/english/

Highly recommend it for anyone with a long layover in Narita!

This is the Japanese section that I went to, taken from their website.

Waiting for the train back to Narita town

On the traditional looking street leading to Narita temple.

Narita temple
I like how traditional it looks.

Narita mountain garden.
A nice garden behind the temple.
Good spot for cherry blossoms in April.

 This is a tea house actually.
There is a friendly dashund usually running around but he wasnt there that day.

 

Narita town train station.

Having to back to Narita, I proceeded to check into NRT airport.

Hope you had fun reading this!

ANA Business from BKK to NRT

ANA Business class to Narita

This is a short layover in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport to Narita(NRT) on ANA business class.

I had a few hours to spare in BKK waiting for my next flight on ANA.
This was also my first time on ANA's business class so I was really excited to see how it would be like. ANA has such a good reputation for in-flight service.

Walking around the airport with Pp the alpacasso.
Really like the super wide walkways at the airport and the open concept.
Makes the airport feel much bigger.
Changi T3 and Hong Kong's airport are similar in a way.

There is this huge dragon sculpture in the airport.
Quite interesting.
Wish there was a signboard to explain the cultural significance.
Oh, this is Yukata Bear.

Time to check out the Thai Airways lounge for Star Alliance pax.
There are actually two lounges so if one is really crowded, u can go to the other lounge.
When I was there, the lounge was packed! 
Had a hard time finding an empty seat so I ended up going to the next lounge which was relatively empty.
There is a decent selection of food, drinks and wifi.
I would say the food selection is very good compared to other business class hub lounges.
Way better than United at SFO and ANA at NRT.

The wonton soup was delish. 

Came time to board NH 916 red eye to NRT.

This flight was marketed as an Air Japan flight using a 767 in a 2-1-2 config.
The center seat is actually really nice, having both aisles available and no one to climb over.
My seat was 1K at the first row.

The 767 seat was quite comfortable although it was not that wide.
 It was not fully lie flat, though it did not bother me.
Seatmate, a Japanese business man, was sound asleep through the flight.

IFE had a good selection of movies, dramas, documentaries and so on.
Selection wasnt as comprehensive as say on SQ or KE.
Some of the non-English movies that I felt were interesting, unfortunately, only had Japanese subtitles.

We started off with a nice coffee and some snacks.

 Later on, I chose the Japanese breakfast meal.
ANA certainly did not disappoint with the meals.
This Japanese meal was a seafood type porridge with miso soup, fruit and fish/egg/prawn seafood.
Their business class meals are better than first class on some carriers.
 Is there a way to have this delivered to my home daily? :)

Service by the ANA flight attendants was really good.
Very attentive, always smiling and never missing a beat.

This is why I love window seats!

Coast of Japan, near Narita

 Has anyone ever taken one of these business jets?
Wonder what it is like.

 Back again to NRT after a long absence.

I have the next 10 hours off before my next flight to Seattle.
It was supposed to be a 787 but they got grounded back then.
Have to make do with the normal 777.

Off to Narita town and try a local onsen!