PeterRS

Haha! I'd actually be more scared in Laos which is the most bombed country in history. For the Americans, the whole Vietnam War episode basically started in Laos which Washington 'experts' thought would be the first Asian domino to fall to communism. The covert war in Laos started in its northern jungle where the CIA built a secret air base at Long Tieng. For some years it was the busiest airport in the world and often since called the "most secret place on earth." But it was the cluster bombing of the country that led to its dubious distinction of having more bombs dropped on it than in the entirety of World War 2. American aircraft dropped over Laos a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes of every day for 9 years - 9 whole years. It is estimated that 30% of those bombs (roughly 80 million) failed to explode on impact with the ground. After the end of that war, 10% of the country's population had been killed but the communiststill controlled virtually the same land area they had occupied when the CIA started it all. Virtual stalemate. Those unexploded bombs covered around 37% of agricultural land and have since continued to kill more than 50,000 Laotian people, the majority children. As President Obama said when he visited the country in 2016, "At that time, the US government did not acknowledge America's role. It was a secret war, and for years the American people did not know. Even now, many Americans are not fully aware of this chapter in our history, and it is important that we remember today." Little wonder it is still called "The Secret War". https://abcnews.go.com/International/bombing-laos-numbers/story?id=41890565

A couple of interesting points in this article. 1. For long haul, ANA has chosen the 787-900 aircraft of which it plans to have 120 in its fleet by 2030. Even though it has 29 777s presently in its fleet, it has avoided the 777X, Boeing's latest commercial disaster. This larger model of the company's best selling wide-body has been beset by problems after problems. Testing has now resumed after the latest problem caused it to be halted for 5 months, but it has still very far from certification by the FAA. The first delivery of the 777X was supposed to be in 2020 but there is no chance of that happening until 2026 at the earliest - and airlines with large orders including Emirates (205 on order) and Qater (94 on order) have not only expressed their fury in no uncertain terms, they are also spending billions upgrading the interiors of their older models while at the same time not enjoying the fuel savings Boeing promised with the 777X. The two variants of the 777X are intended to have seating capacities of around 400 depending on internal layout. This should give airlines another 40 or so seats over the older largest 777 model with longer range and considerable fuel savings. In the meantime, ANA clearly believes that even with expansion, the smaller 787-900 with a three or four class capacity of around 250 or so works for them. As can be seen in the list of 777X orders in the link below, clearly without the Emirates and Qatar orders totalling 62% of all existing orders, the 777X would never get off the ground - literally! Emirates has now confided that the airline has doubts about Boeing being able to start deliveries of the 777X in 2026 with even 2028 being a possibility. And even if deliveries do start in 2026, stand by for the law suits which are bound to flow! https://simpleflying.com/emirates-dubious-boeing-777x-by-2026/ 2. For short haul, it has gone for a mix of the Airbus A321 Neo and the Boeing 737-800. Although it has a small number of 737 Max jets in its fleet, I wonder why the new order is for the much older 737-800 series when the 737 Max jets would have given the airline greater fuel savings and extra seating. Is this an indication that the public's perception of the 737 Max problems remain an issue for them?

Even in my many dozens of visits before and after I lived there, I rarely ate in hotels unless breakfast was part of the overnight package. Sometimes friends recommdended tiny restaurants virtually in apartments where a couple of guys had set up their own restaurants with excellent food at much cheaper prices. These places rarely accommodated more than 16 diners - and were often full. One good tip for those who wanted more than just Japanese food was to go to more fancy restaurants at lunch time. Many would have prix fixe menus far cheaper than one would pay for the same dishes in the evenings. Portions might be slightly smaller, but they were great value. Not sure if this still exists.

Japan is Japan and trying to divine Japanese logic is all but impossible! I have always said that of Thai logic which in many senses is different from western logic, but I think Japan is even more difficult for westerners to comprehend. We forget that for over 260 years Japan was a totally closed society, this at a time when western countries were looking outwards. The west has often had difficulty understanding that other countries and societies have experienced different histories and different cultures which result in habits that we have difficulty explaining. I thoroughly recommend anyone interested in trying to understand modern Japan to read "Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan" by Alex Kerr, published by Penguin Books. Kerr lived for most of his first 40 years or so in Japan and continues to spend much of each year working there. To quote one review - "Alex Kerr's Dogs and Demons succeeds like no other account of Japan in conveying the tragedy of a scrupulous and well-intentioned people cursed with a headless system of governance." Kerr's first book written in Japanese Lost Japan won Japan's highest literary award for non-fiction. He was and remains the only non-Japanese author to win this prestigious award.

Merely to amplify one point in the above article. Sal Mineo finally came out as gay and was in a six year relationship with Courtney Burr III at the time of his death. He was obviously a deeply confused young man - as so many were then. Tennessee Williams, in one of whose plays he had appeared at the age of 12 and who remained a good friend, wrote of him after his death – "He cared deeply about so many things: acting, art, photography, life, spirituality. Because so many had extracted sex from him either in the form of abuse or desire, sexual favors and flirtation was a currency he understood and offered most freely. “Sal was not a degenerate. Sal was a gentleman, greatly misunderstood, desired, used. When he was murdered—underground and in the dark—rumors and speculation arose about his dark life and sordid associates. This is how we pervert homosexuality; this is how we allow ourselves to believe that queers invite their destinies, their deaths. A so-called merciful God exacted His judgment on Sal in the dark garage in West Hollywood, and on we go."

@daydreamer is correct. Business class passengers entering the Kingdom have now to go to the main Immigration areas where there are Priority lanes. I have no idea how these work as, being over 70, I qualify for the special Fast Track lanes. These rarely have more than 2 or 3 people queueing at each desk and you get through quickly. Fast track is available to a number of groups including those over 70, Thailand Privilege members and others I cannot now recall. I'm not sure how the Priority Lanes look if there are several aircraft arriving at more or less the same time. Presumably the queues would be longer than that experienced by @daydreamer

I'm sorry to disagree again but I rarely pay more than ¥1,200 - ¥1,500 for a meal and that usually includes a beer. Sure, western-style restaurants like the one that became my favourite and was near my apartment, the long-established Chianti's in Nishi-Azabu, were very much for expense account clients (I heard that it might have been a victim of covid - very sad!). But in Japan if I am on my own and not being entertained by clients I usually eat Japanese style in inexpensive to modest eateries. There you can get a wonderful variety of dishes. Another ploy for those who really are on a tight budget is to go to the basement supermarkets in the main department stores. So many individual counters will have ladies offering you samples of their specialities. In my younger years I would often sample as many as I could (while being as unobtrusive as I could) and enjoy a rather pleasant evening meal! Now I feel slightly more guilty to try that again!

I'm not certain. I know that in the USA I did need the vouchers. In some countries no. I just liked to have them with my travel papers - in case there was anything that went wrong.

I shouldn't either. Some years ago I was starting from DMK on a round-the-world trip starting with stops in Hong Kong and Tokyo. These were the last days of physical tickets. At the CX check in for its mid-morning flight, I was told the plane was full and I'd be upgraded to first class. Deciding to board the plane early, I was sitting there with a glass of champagne when I thought I'd use the time by changing currencies and getting the HKG hotel voucher from my travel wallet. I looked in my backpack. Not there. I got my trolley bag down from the locker and went through it. Not there. Must have missed it. So I went through them again. Then panic. Definitely not there. And that wallet had some of the various currencies I'd need, all the hotel vouchers and other paraphernalia. It was obvious I had left it at home! With no one else yet in the cabin, I had to tell the purser that I'd have to get off the aircraft. She could not have been nicer. She had one of the ground crew take me back through Immigration, they re-booked me on the late afternoon flight (but not first class) and kept my suitcase at check-in. On the way home I just could not think where the wallet could be. Once back, there it was sitting on my desk! How I missed it, I still have no idea. Returning to DMK I called a good Thai friend and told him the saga. "I'm really stupid," I told him. "No you're not," he replied. You're just getting old!"

5-year delay? That's nothing new for Thailand. No doubt politicians, civil servants, army generals and other top brass were busy buying up all the land as soon the project was mooted internally. Now no doubt there's haggling going on about the massive profits each should be making. Plus ça change! 🥳

As often happens that Wikipedia quote is a little out of date. Just last month the Japanese government authorized a big increase in the number of take offs and landings at Narita. The problem is basically that Haneda is already beyond its latest design capacity. Certainly the number of international flights at Narita gradually dropped after the decision was taken to drastically expand Haneda. In 2002 Haneda for example had 2,121 international flight movements. By 2019 that number had exploded to 44,429. Added to that has to be the number of domestic movements which in 2019 was 184,755. The domestic movements only increased by little more than 30% during that time. At Narita, the number of international movements in 2019 was vastly larger at 104,611 but with just 28,015 domestic movements. With it being so much easier to get to Haneda from central Tokyo, once it expanded and opened up to many international carriers, inevitably it became more popular. Although, as @a-447 pointed out above, anyone thinking of arriving or departing for a stay in Japan during the 3-hour morning and evening domestic peaks could be in for long waits. For connections, there should be virtually no problems. The big problem for Narita has always been the nearby farmers who have an extremely active lobby that not only delayed the airport's construction decades ago, but also significantly delayed the opening of the second runway. Because of that lobby, there is a curfew on night flights. Presently Narita has a daily cap of 300,000 movements but this fiscal year only 250,000 are expected. With the rapid increase in travel demand, that is expected to reach the daily cap by next year. With Haneda no longer capable of further expansion, hence the increase in the cap at Narita to 340,000. The majority of the increase is bound to be international flights. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15581638 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/narita-airport-farm-takao-shito-farmer-vows-protect-ancestral-land-japan/ https://japanaviationhub.com/traffic-data/tokyo-haneda-airport/ https://japanaviationhub.com/traffic-data/tokyo-narita-airport/

It remains one of aviation's most extraordinary mysteries, one that vast amounts of cash and years of searching yielded nothing but a few bits of debris off the coast of Africa. No one could or can explain exactly how or why it happened. Given that there are still people searching for the plane in which Amelia Earhart is assumed to have met her death all the way back in 1937, I suppose it was inevitable that a search for the remains of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 which totally disappeared of the face of earth and sea almost exactly 11 years ago would at some future time be restarted. And that is what is now happening. A vessel from maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity was spotted in the South Indian ocean on 23 February. It has now been confirmed that it has resumed the hunt for the missing plane and the remains of its passengers. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/26/mh370-search-resumes-malaysia-airlines-ocean-infinity

Is he perhaps the youngest of all gay icons? Even today we don't really know if the moody, rebellious actor with whom so many disaffected, misunderstood, sexually confused teenagers around the world of the 1950s identified so closely was really gay. He could have been bisexual, or even - horror of horrors! - straight. Yet James Dean is now regarded as one of the great gay icons of all time. In his first two films, "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without A Cause", the angst-ridden, complex, outcast misfits he played sprang out from the screen and gripped audiences in a way no other young actor had achieved. During his short career, Dean's name was linked to a number of actresses, notably Pier Angeli who would write lovingly of her "affair" with "Jimmie" before she committed suicide at the age of 39. For a while they dated in California. Yet when he was on a visit to New York after completing “East of Eden”, she surprised him by announcing her engagement to the singer Vic Damone. At the time, few had reason not to believe her story. Yet William Bast who had been Dean’s roommate in Los Angeles and New York for five years and was Dean’s first biographer, believes the relationship with Angeli was a mere PR stunt. Doubts only began to appear some decades later when it was realized how strictly the Hollywood studio system controlled the public images of their stars. If it could keep the openly gay life of matinee idol Rock Hudson secret for decades, partly through sham affairs and partly by insisting he was working too hard, it's surely easy to believe it would have little difficulty shaping a wholesome image for its rebellious younger star. Was he gay? Bast, who later came out of the closet, claims that he and Dean experimented sexually. In an article in Britain’s The Guardian he reminded readers that homosexuality then was so far off the suburban radar that someone like Dean could give off all kinds of gay visual clues without anyone realizing. When you look at the scenes in "Rebel Without A Cause" where he and the younger mid-teen, cherubic-faced Sal Mineo (who was 15 at the time) are together, many in the gay community now consider these could definitely be two gay young lovers, the more so as Mineo eventually came out as bisexual (in those days as good as saying he was homosexual). In their book Live Fast, Die Young; The Wild Ride Of Making Rebel Without A Cause, film critics Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel note that an earlier version of the movie’s script even featured a scene in which Jim (Dean) and Plato (Mineo) shared a kiss. It was cut only because the Hollywood self-censors of that time would never have approved the scene. Mineo was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscars for “Rebel Without A Cause” and later “Exodus”. He was murdered outside his home at age 37, almost certainly a burglary gone wrong and nothing to do with his sexuality. Elia Kazan, the director of "East of Eden", noted in his autobiography that Dean could not possibly have had successful relationships with girls. After spending several months in close proximity to Dean, surely he would be more likely to know than some of the early hagiographers who were paid to tow the studio line? Nicholas Ray, the director of “Rebel Without A Cause” is also on record as saying Dean was almost certainly gay. A dozen or so years ago the latest of a whole series of books that has placed ever more lurid so-called facts into the public domain was published. Elizabeth Taylor, his “Giant” co-star, stated to the press that Dean had told her he had been sexually abused by a priest after the death of his mother. In James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes the author alleges lurid sexual relationships with a host of well-known names, including Elizabeth Taylor and even the closet gay director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover! Inevitably, Dean's sexual escapades have been embellished as the years have passed and the growing worldwide gay community yearns for more gay icons. Who better than the fiery rebel James Dean whose good looks smoulder so passionately on the screen? Obviously much of what has been written is probably drivel; but as they say, can there be smoke without fire? Dean only starred in three feature films. On the basis of these alone, he deserves his place in the pantheon of great movie stars. Yet it was his untimely death at the age of just 24 that has resulted in his memory living on as more of a cult hero and icon. Five weeks before "East of Eden" opened and just after "Giant" had wrapped, he was driving his Porsche 550 Spyder in California when it skidded into another car. He was dead within seconds. That untimely death certainly added to his legendary status, especially amongst millions of grieving teenagers - of whom a good proportion were no doubt themselves gay and, these being the 1950s, still in the closet. Of his sexuality, Dean himself went as far as to say, "No, I am not a homosexual," adding almost conspiratorially, "But I'm also not going to go through life with one hand tied behind my back." In the early 1950s and with studio executives breathing down his neck, that was I suspect as much as he could possibly say. Some have suggested that like many hot-blooded young men he enjoyed experimenting with sex. Not so the feminist author Germaine Greer who wrote in 2005, "Looking back over half a century . . . the one thing that now seems obvious is that the boy was as queer as a coot." Whatever the truth, Gay Times' Readers' Awards had no hesitation citing him as "the male gay icon of all time."

Signage at airports can often be baffling, even for regular flyers. I regularly take China Airlines to Taipei from BKK. For whatever reason, it always seems to arrive at Terminal 2 but you have to go to Terminal 1 Immigration. There is usually a signboard in English, but sometimes it is blocked by a staff member or two directing passengers to another flight. I made a mistake once which was a real pain! But I guess that's the way to learn! Also at Doha's new terminal a year ago I first could not find the lounge access escalator. Then my gate was something like C12. There were large overhead signs directing passengers to all manner of gates including C1-11. Although I am quite used to navigating myself around airports, I simply could not find C12 (or whatever the number was). In the end I had to ask and the first two staff members could not tell me!

Great for those flying at the front of the plane. I'll bet economy passengers got a "sorry", long queue for rebooking, no hotel, no use of pool, perhaps a cheap meal voucher - and little more! Such is life at the back of the plane!

I loved Hanoi and for whatever reasons I prefer it to Ho Chi Minh City. Why would you be scared? Just be a little careful where you put your head when you visit the Museum!!

I think you need an assistant to organise your travel bookings LOL

Agreed. In the cirium data it came 9th. The only point to add here is that Cathay Pacific suffered most in Asia from covid19. With Hong Kong having virtually the most stringent lock down in the region, most of its planes were parked in deserts and many of it staff laid off. It was barely able to cope with a huge surge in traffic at the end of 2024. It is only now back to full pre-covid operation levels and based on pre-covid performance I'd expect it to move up the on-time performance chart this year, the more so as HK airport now has its new 3rd runway in operation. Just my guess! Japan Airlines All Nippon Airways Singapore Airlines Air New Zealand Thai AirAsia Vietnam Airlines Philippine Airlines Garuda Indonesia Cathay Pacific Qantas Airways

The location has always been lousy, but the train into Tokyo station takes little more than 50 minutes. Many trains continue on to Shinkjuku Station. It's interesting how we all gain perceptions and how often they can be incorrect. I know I'm as bad as anyone. But I'm sorry to say you are totally wrong in suggesting Narita has become mostly a low cost carrier airport. I have used it well over 100 times and most major airlines still operate from there. Want a list? How about the scheduled services by Air France, American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, all the major Chinese airlines (more than a dozen), Delta, Emirates, Etihad, EVA, Finnair, KLM, Korean, Lufthansa, Malaysian, Qantas, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, THAI, Turkish, United and others including JAL and ANA. Many like Cathay Pacific use both. It is still by far the more major of the two airports for scheduled international services in the Tokyo region. Haneda just isn't big enough to handle nearly as much international traffic since it also has to handle 90% of Japan's domestic flights - presently over 500 daily from Haneda - which account for around 40 million domestic passengers annually. https://tokyo-haneda.com/en/flight/flightInfo_dms.html

It used to be a lot more expensive. Sure it's more expensive than Thailand. But it has become a lot cheaper for international travellers. It is not that many years ago when the ¥ was below 100 to US$1. Now it is a fraction less than 150. And when you add in the safety factor, it's now much more attractive to a great many tourists.

Narita has been a hub for American, Japanese and some other airlines for many decades. I can remember when it was quite usual to see around 16 Northwest 747-400s at the airport. 8 would have flown in from US gateways and 8 from Asian destinations. Lots of passengers connected from one route to another. Last time I connected from the US was on JAL, but it was at Haneda.

A good friend has just returned from three months in Tokyo. He confirms that the nunbers of Chinese tourists has mushroomed recently, partly a result of the cheaper ¥ and partly because it is perceived as more safe than Thailand!

Not yet, but it's on my list. I actually preferred Hoi An. Just fell in love with the place.

Minimum connecting times are surely dependent on the airline, the airport and whether you are on the same or different carriers. Having been based in Hong Kong for decades, I was used to CX having short interline connections of around 40 minutes. In all my years of flying, I don't ever recall one missed connection. But . . . this year having failed to use miles to get me to Europe on my favoured Qatar, I had to get a ticket on CX via HKG. Not really a problem as it allows me a free stopover in HKG on my return. The issue which arose is that for my flight on Saturday, even 5 months ago the only seats available were on the last flight out of BKK at 19:15 connecting to the last flight from HKG to London at 00:15. In theory that alllows for 65 minutes connecting time, although at this time of year with the winter monsoon arrivals into HKG should be straight in towards the north thereby allowing an extra 5-10 minutes or so. But . . . then I heard that on January 17, the last flight ex-BKK departed 4 hours late! Had that been my flight, I would have missed my connetion, had to spend at least 5 hours at the airport and be connected on to the first London flight in the morning. That in turn would have cancelled my cheap onward flight from London as I would have been a no show. A new ticket would cost around £300. So using FlightRadar I checked that last flight ex-BKK and its departure times. I was shocked to discover that throughout January it was on average 1 hr and 8 mins late in departing. How many had missed their connections during that month I have zero idea. So . . . I phoned CX to get me on an earlier departure ex BKK. Sorry, sir, the only mileage ticket available is on a flight departing at 06:30 am!! And that would have meant around 14 hours stuck at HKG. Finally I got on to a manager, a pleasant young man who understood my situation, but told me that there were no mileage tickets on earlier flights. I then played what I hoped would be my ace card. What airline, I asked, schedules a flight that over a 31 day month has departed on average 68 minutes late? Every single day! By this time it was perfectly clear to me that the 777 operating that flight must always have arrived late into HKG prior to being prepared for departure for BKK. And it had probably come in from somewhere in Europe where flight times are longer due to being unable to use Russian air space. Since I rarely accept 'no' for an answer, I eventually beat this poor guy down. He finally agreed to put me on a flight departing BKK two hours earlier at no extra cost and I had the new ticket within minutes. Now of course my concern is the connection in London for which I have allowed almost 3 hours. But worrying about that will achieve nothing, so I will just wait and see what happens. In general, though, I totally agree with @unicorn. It's far better to plan for 3 or so hours between flights than accept a tight connection.

Another moved post from another forum. You will love Danang and the area. I started a 10 day trip 5 years ago just as the airlines were stopping flights due to covid. Hoi An just 30 minutes away is a glorious little town, with lanterns lit up everywhere in the evenings. Hoi An There is also at the west end a 15th century Japanese bridge In the centre of this area is the large city of Danang with its fabulously long beaches A little further north there is the old Imperial capital of Hue. The French destroyed much of it, espeically the imperial palace, but it is slowly being restored. This was the scene of a lot of fighting during the Vietnam War.