Hello From Pattaya, Thailand, December 2, 2015

Hello all; I arrived at my hotel here about noon, after a taxi ride down from hotel at Bangkok airport. The Air Canada flight from Vancouver was great,(and for me to say that about Air Canada is a first) . The aircraft was the newest plane flying, the Boeing 787-800 series. We had a very smooth flight of 11 hours even, landing in Seoul, South Korea on schedule, then after some confusion, another good flight with Korean Airlines to Bangkok. The new Seoul airport is at Inchon, a peninsula out side of Seoul. They have two terminals, connected with an automated underground train. Passengers, including me found directional signs to be lacking, and no one around to ask questions. When the flight was called, they gave the usual boarding announcement in five languages. This included the order of boarding. As soon as they called for the first group of passengers, everyone got up, and into line and on board they went. There was lots of jostling for space and luggage, etc. The aircraft was an Airbus A330 series. This aircraft holds about 350 people, and most seats were filled. The seating on this flight was 2, aisle, four, aisle then 2 for eight abreast. I had a window seat, passenger next to me had aisle. His seat video did not work, so I offered to change seats, as I do not watch video, but do follow the flight tracking. He went into a tirade, stating that he chose that seat so that he would not have to disturb others when he went to the washroom, etc, etc. He said if I wanted an aisle seat, to go find one. He totally missed the point. End of conversation. When they handed out the customs forms enroute, he did not have a pen, so, after doing mine, offered it to him. He took it, but no "Thank You". I had the last word. As we were taxing in to the terminal at Bangkok, I showed him where the ON button was for his video. It was a six hour flight, so he had fidgeted all the way, with nothing to amuse himself. I want to say a bit more our Banff experience. Although Calgary was dry and no snow, Banff had received about 15 inches in the week before we got there. They had cleared the streets, but had not removed the snow, so there was no on street parking available. The gondolas were not operating yet, at either location, so we did not get to go up either mountain. The bunny hill was the only slope in use, and that was more than I cared to try.....no ten year old kid is going to show me up. We drove out to the Hope slide, but that road at the site was also closed for the season. We found Vancouver to be a very expensive city for fresh produce, and most other things. It seems that prices went up for the Olympics four years ago, and just stayed there. We compared prices at a Loblaws Superstore with the one we use back home, and found all items we use to be much higher. I am going to just relax here and take it easy for a few days, then head north. I went out after getting settled, talked to a travel agent, and will start north on December 12. I was going to have some Thai food for lunch, so went walking, and ended up having some.....chicken nuggets and frys at a Mcdonalds. While walking, I noticed that a lot of the Russian signage has been removed . That means less of them here....and to me, that's a good thing. Will update in a few days./Don