An oasis in the middle of town.
Yummy Korean fried chicken at Kyochon.
City skyline on a clear morning.
Namdaemun gate
Visited the hippy Hongdae Street, where the young and energetic Koreans hang out. The area is also near to the university.
Spicy Korean stew for lunch.
Cooling down with ice cream and coffee.
More street food. Egg on mini toast.
Wonderful grilled meat at the popular chain Hanam Pig.
Sweet ending from Osulloc.
It would be a long day of flying to get home. Arrived in the morning by the airport bus to Incheon Terminal 1 and checked in at TG's counters. TG has 3 morning departures to BKK, each flight within an hour of the other! There were no queues at the Royal Silk counters.
Boarding passes of both sectors issued.
Through immigration and security (there were no premium lanes for premium passengers) and into the departure hall.
Our aircraft could be spotted behind Jin Air's B772.
TG premium passengers were invited to the newly opened Asiana Business Class Lounge West.
There was a bar area near the entrance.
Comfortable ambience with lots of natural lighting.
However, most of the action were at the buffet area.
Buffet selection for breakfast was not too elaborate, but this was made up by the quality of the food. Overall a decent lounge experience.
Heading the gate after the lounge visit.
TG's B787-8 will be operating this flight. Noted an earlier TG A359 departing for BKK as well.
09 June 2019
Thai Airways
TG 657
Seoul Incheon (ICN) - Bangkok (BKK)
B787-8
HS-TQF
Royal Silk Class
Flight Time: 5H04M
Boarding has already commenced at the gate.
Welcomed at the door and directed to the front cabin. Royal Silk Class is configured in a 2-2-2 layout on the B787-8. It may not be the most private layout, but is more than acceptable for this mid-haul. The same seat model is also used by many airlines, such as United, KLM and a few others. Blanket/pillow and a fresh orchid was already placed on each occupied seat.
Seat pitch is good, an a pair of slippers was already placed at the footwell.
Seat controls and IFE controller.
View out the window.
Crew were offering pre-departure drinks, newspapers/magazines and hot towels. The set of crew in Royal Silk was more experienced, but service was very genuine and warm.
Selection of welcome drinks offered and I chose the Iced Tamarind Tea, one of TG's signature drinks. It was very refreshing!
Lacoste-branded amenity kit was also offered. Amenities for the flight. Headphones was noise-cancellation and of the older model, but of slightly inferior quality compared to other premium airlines. I understand TG has also started introducing new and better quality headphones on selected flights.
Contents of the amenity kit, which included toothbrush set, mouthwash, moisturiser, lip balm and a comb.
Business Class was only about half full.
Safety video played.
Checking out the contents of the IFE. The touchscreen monitor and handset were easy to navigate.
The inflight magazines.
Started the pushback.
Flight map. No camera views on the B787-8 though.
Taxied to runway.
Departure from Rwy34R.
Taking a look at the food and beverages menus. There were 2 separate menus for food and drinks.
Beverages
Food menu. Lunch would be served after departure, and afternoon tea prior to landing.
Climbing to cruise.
View towards economy before curtains were drawn.
Comfortable Royal Silk cabin.
Meal preferences were taken before departure, and crew were already preparing for meal service in the galley.
Visit to the lavatory at the front. It was just a standard B787 lavatory, stocked with some lotions and decorated with more orchids.
Starting my inflight entertainment.
Cruising above Korea.
An assortment of nuts were offered, along with another drink which I ordered another of TG's signature drink, Violet Bliss. It is a traditional Thai butterfly-pea with lime drink, and is delicious as well! Also had a champagne, which is served in a champagne flute.
Flight map could be shown on the IFE controller as well.
Lunch service commenced shortly after. Maybe due to the low load, all courses were delivered by hand from the galley, with no trolleys used as all. The starter course was presented, along with garlic bread and soft roll. The prawn starter was average, nothing spectacular.
Starter and bread course was cleared and the main courses were delivered on a separate tray. For the main course, my friend selected the Korean option of Chicken thigh in Korean sauce with steamed rice, along with Korean side dishes. Taste was pretty good.
I had the Samrab Thai option of Beef in Pa Neang curry, with a thai soup, egg and rice. This tasted rather authentic and was excellent as well.
Next was the cheese and fruit plate, which looked pretty disappointing.
The desserts, however, were beautifully presented. The mango ice-cream with sticky rice was very good, but the mousse was a bit too sweet.
Ending the meal with a cappuccino and a chocolate. A satisfying dining experience on TG.
Crew clearing the cabin after meal service.
20MB of free internet wifi access was provided to all Royal Silk passengers. Internet worked fine, but 20MB was used up in a flash. A bottle of water was also provided.
Cabin view
At the southern coast of Taiwan.
The seat can be reclined into a flat bed. Personally, I preferred to adjust the seat to be in a slight cradle, and managed to catch a few winks.
About an hour before arrival, I woke up while we were somewhere over Vietnam.
Afternoon tea was served, which consisted of a cheese and salmon sandwich and a warm fruit scone with butter and jam. The cold sandwich was forgettable, but the warm scone was delicious! And of course, I had another glass of Violet Bliss.
View out the window.
Nearing Bangkok.
While I started on a second movie.
Requested for more mixed nuts as it was so good.
Before arrival, an arrival video was shown.
Arrival gate and connecting flight info were also available. To my surprised, TG showed the information of my connecting SQ flight, as I don't recall SQ ever showing connecting flights on other airlines other than SQ/MI (correct me if I am wrong).
Route flown.
Descending into Bangkok. The crew actually came around and genuinely thanked us for flying with them!
Landing on Rwy19R slightly ahead of schedule.
Landed an taxied to the gate. We were allocated a remote stand, but luckily it was near the terminal building and taxi was short. Parked beside an El Al B772.
Last look at the comfortable seat.
Royal Silk passengers were allowed to disembark ahead of Economy, but there was no dedicated transfer bus for Royal Silk passengers. First-world problem, I know.
Tarmac tour during the short ride to the terminal for my 1.5hr transit. More Dreamliners spotted during the ride. There was also a lonesome Jet Asia B767 parked on the remote stand for quite some time already (saw it as well on the same stand less than a month ago). Anyone has any idea if it is still flying?
Since Thai aviation was downgraded to a lower level of safety by ICAO and some other organizations, the Thai authority decided to withdraw a lot of aircraft operating certifications including the one from JetAsia. So far among the number of airlines, only K-mile (cargo) and MJet (Private charter) made their come back. I highly doubt that Jetasia would make a comeback by now and I don't think this 767 would find a new owner anytime soon.