Twelve Nights in Southeast Asia

This is part one of a two part six week trip.

• Part 1: Twelve Nights in Southeast Asia
• Part 2: From Singapore to LA on Carnival Panorama

Introduction

A year ago, I booked a free room on Carnival Panorama sailing from Singapore to Los Angeles. In this portion of the trip, I flew out to Southeast Asia two weeks early to visit Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

This was my first trip anywhere in Asia and all of my final flights and hotels were booked within a week or two of travel.

Getting There

Getting there was an adventure. I actually booked, canceled and rebooked three separate business class transpacific flights, including the longest commercial flight in the world, before settling on a Japan Airlines flight.

Japan Airlines

• Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo (NRT) to Singapore (SIN).
• 85k Alaska miles fully refundable.
• Arrives 2 weeks before cruise.

The main advantages of this flight were that it:

• Gave me exactly two weeks to explore before the cruise.
• Cost less than my fully refundable Aeroplan bookings.
• Left from Seattle which is an easy positioning flight.

The downsides were that it:

• Required a grueling 24-hour travel day.
• Arrived in Singapore where I wanted to end the trip (not begin).

Ultimately the time and price considerations won out.

Show me the other flights

For my original flight, I booked the longest commercial flight in the world, Singapore Airlines Flight 21 from Newark to Singapore. This flight is unusual in that over half the plane is business class with the remainder being premium economy. There is no economy or first class and this means you can often find business class seats for around $3,500.

Singapore Airlines (4 weeks early)

• Newark (EWR) to Singapore (SIN).
• This is the longest commercial flight in the world.
• 87k Aeroplan miles, about 15% more refundable.

A conflict came up and I ended up canceling that flight in favor of a closer in booking that would allow me to break up the flight with a stopover in Japan.

Japan Airlines (3 weeks early)

• San Francisco (SFO) to Osaka (KIX) to Bangkok (BKK).
• This flight had a few days layover in Osaka and the plan would have been to visit Kyoto.
• 92k Aeroplan miles, about 15% more refundable.

San Francisco proved a difficult city to position to from Columbus, both in terms of flight and hotel costs. Given that I preferred to leave a little later, I kept on searching and ended up settling on the later flight to Singapore.

Positioning to Seattle

After some American Express head aches, I chose to fly out two days early using 25k American miles to fly direct in Alaskan domestic first.

There had been comparably priced options same day direct arriving four hours before the transpacific flight, or with multiple hops very late the night before. However, if anything went wrong in either case, me or my luggage would very likely not be making the transpacific flight. Likewise, with a 24 travel day coming up, a leisurely positioning trip was more attractive.

The Original Botched Amex Booking

I found the perfect flight arriving in Seattle just over 24 hours before the transpacific, but the only sane way to book it was as a cash fare.

Naturally I turned to the American Express Travel Portal, selecting to pay with points (1cpp) using my Amex Business Platinum. This card gets a 35% rebate on points when used to book premium cabins or any cabin with your preferred airline. Because these are cash fares, you earn airline miles and loyalty points on the flights and they often end up being competitive with award bookings, at least domestically.

Unfortunately, when paying with points in the Amex portal, an error popped up saying Amex was unable to deduct the points but was still able to charge my card. The error message told me that if I still wanted to pay with points, I needed to call an Amex support number. So I had just effectively been forced to pay cash for a cash fare which was absolutely not what I wanted to do. Ugh.

Airlines and travel agencies are required to refund the original purchase method within 24 hours, so rather than call Amex I decided to cancel the flight and try again. The cancellation happened immediately, but the pending charge did not immediately go away, and about ten minutes later, points were deducted from my account to cover the now cancelled ticket but a credit was not applied to my credit card statement. At this point, I had no ticket, no credits, and had charges paying for it in both cash and points.

This is not the first time I’ve booked flights this way, and my guess was that the pending charge would eventually go away and then I’d receive a credit for the points payment, with a 35% rebate coming later. I could try to fix this by contacting Amex support but my confidence in their ability to resolve it was very low. Likewise, I didn’t want try again since I wasn’t sure how the current situation would resolve.

As a result, I chose to book a flight two days early and stay two nights in Seattle. In retrospect, this made the 24-hour journey and time adjustments a little easier.

Because I now needed two nights in Seattle, I booked the first night in the IHG Crowne Plaza using a 40k free certificate. This hotel often prices around 40k points (in this case exactly) and they usually provide a nice room upgrade.

For the second night, I stayed at the Hilton Motif. This wasn’t a great deal, but they did have a (waived) resort fee that included a (not waived) food and beverage credit on top of the normal gold credit.

Crossing the Pacific

I flew Japan Airlines business class across the pacific from Seattle (SE) to Tokyo (NRT) and then on to Singapore (SIN) after just a two hour layover. While technically lie flat, both segments were in a 2-2-2 configuration and fairly cramped. While the first leg had narrow dividers between the seats with separate aisle access, the second leg lacked both privacy and a way to get in and out without climbing over your neighbor. I didn’t get any sleep, but the food and service was excellent on both flights.

Arriving at midnight local time, after 24 hours of sleepless travel, the plan was to spend the night in one of Changi’s airport hotels before flying on to Kuala Lumpur late the following afternoon. This would give me time to explore the legendary airport after some much-needed rest.

Changi Airport and the Jewel

Singapore’s Changi Airport is a destination unto itself. The airport has plenty of art installations, but the centerpiece is Jewel, an attached rainforest mall with gardens, a giant waterfall, high ropes courses and much more.

Changi Crowne Plaza

For my stay, I chose the IHG Crowne Plaza for 36,000 points. This luxury hotel sits land-side in the center of the airport in terminal 3. The rooms are beautiful and the hallways are open air and lined with water features. Rather than a boring rectangle, the outdoor pool is an oasis with planters and semi-private tubs interspersed throughout. One gets the feeling that Changi was designed to be the jewel of southeast asia and the Crowne Plaza was intended to be the perfect place from which to experience it.

The Crowne Plaza is located right next to the bridge to Jewel and only a short walk to the train into the city. Singapore’s train system is superb and together with Jewel, this makes the hotel a legitimate choice even for longer stays in Singapore, particularly if you don’t want to haul your luggage around mass transit.

Malaysian Business to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok

After an afternoon exploring Changi, I flew on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysian Airlines business class. This was booked via Alaskan Airlines as a flight to Bangkok with a four night stopover in Kuala Lumpur. The total price was 15k Alaskan miles plus $81.70 in fees. This first leg was a little over an hour flight time with much better service and seating than you’d get in domestic first class.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

From the Airport, the KLIA Ekspres is a quick 30-minute train ride into the heart of the city. From there, you can easily get anywhere a tourist is likely to stay. My hotel, the Alila Bangsar, was just one stop away.

Alila Bangsar, by Hyatt

Alila is arguably Hyatt’s most luxurious boutique hotel brand. There are only three in the US and they tend to be among the most expensive and hardest to book hotels in the country. Internationally, they retain some of the brand mystique while being much easier and cheaper to book. Alila Bangsar is just category 1 making it the cheapest possible Hyatt stay, available for 5,000 points per night. This makes it an excellent place to stay for anyone wishing to tick another box on their Hyatt brand explorer bingo sheet. I applied a suite night upgrade certificate ultimately enjoying $1,350 hotel stay for just 20,000 points (6.75cpp).

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. The hotel is located on the upper floors of a skyscraper. This gives everyone a great view, but has the disadvantage of requiring two elevator rides to get to street level. Globalists are treated to a tasty international breakfast buffet rich in Indian, Malaysian, Chinese and British cuisine. All the floors have snacks in the elevator lobby and the top floor has an excellent pool area overlooking downtown KL.

In terms of location, this hotel is one stop south of KL Sentral, the main metro hub. You can buy a multi-day pass at the nearby rail stop and this is the easiest way to travel throughout the city. The hotel also offers a limited chauffeur service to a few key destinations (including KL Sentral).

Batu Caves

Anyone that visits KL should visit the Batu Caves, and this was one of my first stops. From KL Sentral, there’s an air-conditioned line that goes directly to the caves making it an extremely easy destination.

These limestone caves house many Hindu temples most of which seem to date back to the 1800s. The 43-meter golden statue next to the steps depicts Murugan, the Hindu god of war. Monkeys surround the caves and vendors sell tourists bananas and other food to feed them. If you visit, be prepared to remove your shoes before entering any temples. Also, it’s best to bring cash for the local vendors. You’ll probably want a drink after climbing the 272 steps to the cave entrance.

Around the City, KLCC and Petronas Towers

The rest of my time in KL was spent recovering from jet lag and exploring the city. These pictures are from the day I spent exploring the area around the KLCC park, Petronas Towers and the nearby aquarium.

Overall, I found Kualu Lumpur to be an extremely American-friendly city full of friendly people, nice affordable hotels, great cheap food and excellent transit. English is mandatory in K-12 and used by default for law and a lot of business. Culturally and logistically, I found it easier than a trip to Paris or Rome. I could easily imagine spending a month there.

The one major downside is that it is very hot and very humid. On the positive side, it has an excellent metro system and all the trains have air conditioning. In addition, there is an indoor shopping culture to Southeast Asia, and KL in particular, where you can often walk long distances through air-conditioned malls, markets, bridges and tunnels.

Bangkok, Thailand

After my four-day stopover in Kuala Lumpur, I completed the second part of my Alaskan itinerary arriving in Bangkok on Malaysian business class. The flight was excellent and uneventful. With a digital arrival card already filled out, it only took about 10 minutes to pass through customs. I’ve heard you can purchase expedited customs, but I suspect this would generally be unnecessary.

Transportation to the hotel was a little more difficult. Bangkok has two different rail systems (MRT and BTS) with different payment options, and the train to the airport may require a separate ticket. It was going to take a few trains and a hike to get to my hotel, so I instead opted to take a 30-minute taxi ride. In Bangkok, all taxi rides are price-negotiated and cash only. As a foreigner, you’re likely to be quoted a much higher price than a local, but still very reasonable by American standards. My plan had been to withdraw cash upon arrival but my first two ATM card were declined. While the third worked, I would recommend arriving with some Thai Baht in hand.

Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok

For my hotel, I chose to stay at the category 3 Grand Hyatt in the heart of Bangkok.

As a Globalist, the service at the Grand Hyatt was the best I’ve experienced at any hotel to date, and it felt almost magical.

I arrived around 6:50pm and was immediately handed off to a checkin agent that handles globalists. Unbeknownst to me, the lounge meal service was about to end at 7pm. Wasting no time, the agent directed me to follow her up to the lounge to complete checkin there. Then somehow, without any obvious coordination, I was greeted by name by three people as I stepped off the elevator. One offered to take my bags to my room, while another asked for my passport and credit card to complete checkin, while a third walked me to a table in the lounge and took my drink order.

This level of service was pretty consistent throughout the stay. On my second night I was surprised with a complementary mango sticky rice sent up to my room. It included a card with a note and drawing that referenced a brief conversation we had in the elevator. Even the doorman would sometimes greet me by name and I have no idea how.

I had three nights in the Grand Hyatt, purchased for 36k points, again using a suite night certificate to upgrade my room to a suite. The retail price on the suite was $1143 resulting in a 3.2cpp redemption.

The only negatives are that traffic around this hotel can be pretty awful. Also, it’s one of the most expensive hotels in town so if you do take a cab, you may be starting off at a disadvantage in your price negotiation once you name the destination.

Lumpini Park

My first day in Bangkok, I started off by walking to Lumpini park, a large lush city park full of water monitors. It’s only a 20-minute walk from the Grand Hyatt, and from Lumpini, you can use any tap to pay visa card to hop on the MRT over to some of the more famous temples.

Wat Pho Reclining Buddha

Wat Pho is the home of the famous reclining Buddha, a must-see for most first time travellers to Bangkok. It depicts the Buddha just before he passed into the afterlife. The temple grounds are also beautiful. While I was there, a crew was painting the exterior walls and I suspect there is always some maintenance happening to keep the temples looking perfect.

Around the City

These photos are a mix from around Wat Pho as well as areas near the hotel. The large temple, Wat Arun, is directly across the river from Wat Pho and appears on Thai currency. Some of the other pictures show the nearby MRT station and museum of Thai culture.

Jim Thompson Museum

Jim Thompson founded the Thai Silk Company and is credited with saving the Thai silk industry. Their silks were popularized through use in the King and I, which was based on book Anna and the King of Siam, which was written by Margaret Landon who was a friend of Jims.

He was apparently well liked in part because they employed women and allowed them to work from home as opposed to having a factory setting. Before founding the silk company, he worked for the OSS which was the predecessor to the CIA including work on Thai independence from Japan toward the end of WW2.

His house, which he designed, sits in the middle of Bangkok’s business district, and is considered something of a novelty. It is actually the combination of six different homes that were relocated and merged into one larger construction. He broke a lot of Thai conventions, like bringing the staircase inside, having a ground-floor, and flipping the window frames around.

In 1967, Jim went missing. The last anyone heard of him was a set of solo footsteps walking off the porch. Some theorized he was eaten by a tiger, fell into a ravine or pit trap, abducted by communists, defected to communists, or murdered by the CIA. There was an enormous manhunt even involving former CIA colleagues, psychics and aborigine trackers.

Framed above his desk are two horoscopes, one predicted good luck in 1959, the year he chose to move into his new house. The other warned of bad luck when he was 61. He went missing on March 26th, five days after his birthday.

Singapore

Thai Airways Business

On the way back, I booked a business class Thai Airways flight via Aeroplan for 20k miles and $53. This included access to the Thai Airways lounge in BKK which was quite nice and extremely large. Seats and service on the flights back were on par with Malaysian airlines.

Peninsula Excelsior Singapore, by Wyndham

During the dates I wanted, most nice hotels had pretty high cash rates and astronomical points prices. However, the centrally located mid-tier Peninsula Excelsior was available for just 15k points per night. I stayed four nights for 54k points after the 10% rebate from my Wyndham Business Earner card.

Around the City

I spent one day exploring the waterfront, walking from my hotel, to Gardens by the Bay. This is a great way to see the city, and the Sands hotel/resort/casino/mall is a nice air-conditioned break point with a particularly nice food court. While great to see during the day, I’d recommend returning to the Merlion and Supertrees at night when they are all lit up. Everything is just a few metro stops away.

Flower Dome

Gardens by the Bay features two vast domed gardens, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. Admission is around $60 SGD for both, roughly $45 USD. The Flower Dome features gardens with plants from different countries, often with a conservation message. There are also seasonal displays and an inside gallery which featured an interactive Monet exhibit.

Cloud Forest

The Cloud Forest is the more impressive of the two domes. It features a large artificial mountain and waterfall. After walking around the base, through gardens full of orchids, you take an elevator up to the top and then walk down on elevated walkways that wrap around the mountain. Inside, they have a number of interactive exhibits with a conservation theme.

Summary

A great trip overall, Bangkok and Singapore were both nice in their own ways, but I could see myself spending an entire month in Kuala Lumpur.

Flights

• 25k American + $5.60 - Alaskan CMH to SEA
• 85k Alaska + $19.10 - Japan Airlines SEA to NRT to SIN
• 15k Alaska + 81.70 - Malaysian Airlines SIN to KUL, KUL to BKK
• 20k Aeroplan + $53 - Thai Airways BKK to SIN

Hotels

• 40k IHG cert - 1 night Seattle
• 69k Hilton - 1 night Seattle
• 36k IHG - 1 night Singapore
• 20k Hyatt - 4 nights Kuala Lumpur
• 36k Hyatt - 3 nights in Lisbon
• 54k Wyndham - 4 nights in Singapore

Keep reading with part two of this trip.

• Part 1: Twelve Nights in Southeast Asia
• Part 2: From Singapore to LA on Carnival Panorama