Review of Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Bangkok in Economy

For the second time in this series, a very warm welcome to everyone!
This part will cover my second flight from Doha to Bangkok, Thailand with Qatar Airways.

Trip Overview

- Part 1: MUC > DOH | QR058 | B777-300ER => CLICK HERE!
- Part 2: DOH > BKK | QR834 | B777-300ER => YOU ARE HERE!
- Part 3: BKK > DOH | QR833 | A380-800 => CLICK HERE!
- Part 4: DOH > MUC | QR059 | B777-300ER => CLICK HERE!

Intro

This time it is another B777-300ER review between Doha and Bangkok.
Qatar Airways flys quite ofen between DOH and BKK per day so i had quite a few options.
When I booked that flight back in June I did not know, that flight QR834 is quite a special one.
QR834 departs DOH, arrives at BKK and after about 2 hours QR834 departs BKK for a 5th freedom flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Additionally at the bottom of this report I have added another special with a lot of pictues I took in wonderful Bangkok.
Enjoy and have fun! :)

Flight Data

General Info
Date: September 20th 2018
Flight No.: QR834
Equipment: B777-300ER
Registration: A7-BAP (about 7 years old!)
Seat: 43A
Flight time
Boarding planned: 12:40 am
Boarding actual: 12:48 am
Push Back: 01:40 am
Departure planned: 01:40 am
Departure actual: 01:56 am
Arrival planned: 12:40 pm
Arrival actual: 12:24 pm
Arrival Gate: 12:30 pm
*Note: All times are local times!

Pre Flight @ DOH

So as I mentioned in part 1 there were not many people onboard QR058 from MUC to DOH, so it took me just about 20 minutes to get off the aircraft and pass the security checks.
After that I still had plenty of time to get to my connecting flight which was luckily not too far away.
Can you spot my next flight? ;-)

As usual when you have a layover in DOH, you have to visit the huge Teddy Bear in the duty free area.
Short walk and a obligatory photo.

It was my third time connecting at DOH and for the third time and once again I did not feel like the airport is overcrowded like it is @ DXB or AUH ….
Obviously most of the people can be found in the duty free areas near the big Teddy Bear.
Anyway after a short stop at the Teddy, I bought something to drink and then proceeded to my gate.
Everything is quite easy to find at DOH.

When I arrived at the gate …. it was downstairs …. so a remote gate for the first time for me @ DOH.
There was already a huge crowd in the waiting area.
Funnily QR offers two flights to BKK within 20 minutes or so and on this day boarding for both flights took place at the two remote gates downstairs next to each other.

Flight QR834

Boarding started on time and the biggest bottleneck was - as usual - to get all the 300 to 400 passengers into busses and then to the aircraft.
I took quite a while but the bus frequency at DOH was quite good.
When I arrived at my aircraft outside - it was still bloody hot at 1am local time in DOH - I had a wonderful view of the B777-300ER engine! <3
Thats pure engineering! Awesome … you gotta love that huge engine!

Another perspective.

The aircraft is about 7 years old so this timeI had the "older" Economy seats.
Overal the comfort was quite the same.
View from my seat - 43A - another B787 was prepared for her flight to anywhere in the world.

Push back was on time and while we taxiied to the runway we got the annoucement that we will have to wait another 5 to 10 minutes.
But the delay was not too problematic as we expected some good winds!
With a delay of 18 minutes - full thrust - we roared into the night sky of Doha!

To be honest … from above DOH looks amazing! I guess a 1 or 2 day trip to DOH would be quite awesome for some sightseeing - maybe even ideal with a stoppover!
After we left DOH tbehind, the first part of the flight was quite unspectacular, just a little bit bumpy over the Persian Gulf.
About 1 hour after departure a light snack was offered - standard snack as so often seen on QR flights.
Nothing special to mention - just a pastry with some chicken filling and a muffin.

I took another Whiskey and then rested a little bit.

When I woke up we were already over India - quite a northern route that day.

The windows blinds were down as the sun rose quite quickly outside.
And when we entered the Gulf of Bengal, "brunch" was served.
Three options were offered:
- Roasted chicken in ginger and soya sauce with vegetable fried rice
- Stir-fried prawns with egg noodles
- Sugar doughnut with strawberry compote with vinallia sauce
I choose the roasted chicken option which was not bad and really a good portion!
Here is the complete tray.

Main course - Roasted chicken

Weather over the Bay of Bengal was awesome!!! <3

I love this view … I could watch it for hours and it never gets bored. :)
Here is our flight path so far.
Getting closer to BKK.

Finally land was in sight!

Just about 15 minutes until touchdown @ BKK.
Golf course from above.

We passed Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport on the west side - can you see the airport behind the clouds? ;-)

Over the sea we made a U-Turn to line up for landing @ BKK.

Seconds from touchdown …

… Touchdown! Hello Thailand … Hello Bangkok!! :)

Very smooth touchdown, one of the best I have experienced and I guess the conditions were not that easy.
There were quite some adjustments on the final approach necessary.
Taxiing took about 6 minutes - thats quite fast on such a huge airport.
During my stay in Bangkok I got the information that BKK will be extended over the next few years to handle more passengers!
Another huge gateway to Asia and Australia is coming up?! ;-)
Philippines Airlines A350

Special B777 Star Alliance livery!

And finally parked next to a Air China - A319?!
Looks too small for a A320!

Post flight @ BKK

Disembarkment took quite long … but as I mentioned, flight QR834 is quite a special one as the next segment BKK to HAN is a 5th freedom flight.
There was an announcement that the crew will be changed and all passengers with final destination HAN have to stay on the aircraft.
During disembarkment and before you were able to enter the airport area there were airport personel who checked the names of the passengers who disembarked with a list.
Just to make sure the right persons exit the aircraft with final destination BKK and everyone else stays on the aircraft.
As I never was on such a flight where the next segemtn is the 5th freedom route, it was quite a nice experience to see how that situation is handeled.
The only other 5th freedom flight I was on, was in 2014 MUC > MAN, but back then I boarded in MUC and not in SIN to get the experience!

Pictures from BKK

Contenu masqué : Cliquez pour afficher

Hotel in BKK
BKK has quite a good public transportation network with the Airport Express Train, Sky Train and Metro Line.
I chose a hotel near Phaya Thai station which is the terminal station of the Airport Express Train and offers good connection to the Sky Train.
All sights were quite easy to access via that transport and the price … well to be honst … for Europeans it's a joke.
I have paied 30 cents (!!!) for a one way ticket from the airport to Phaya Thai station!
But also Sky Train and Taxi or Tuk Tuk is not really expensive.
My hotel was the Anajak Bangkok hotel, which was very nice and modern.
Rooms were quite huge and well equipt, the bed was excellent and just a 50m walk to the station.
Hotel from outside - it is located in a small road.

Lobby.

My room and bathroom.

My SQ Teddy's always follow me, they will never leave me! :D

Phaya Thai station.

Trip Ayutthaya
On my first full day in Thailand I visited Ayutthaya. A historic place and the former capital of Thailand.
I booked the tour via Expedia and it was not too bad.
At every sight there was plenty of time to walk around by yourself and check everything out.
First station after a 1.5h drive from BKK was Bang Pa-In Royal Palace.

The area was huge and as you can see the weather was picture perfect. :)

Second station were the ruins of Ayutthaya.

The famous Buddha Head in Tree Roots.

Another Buddha at Ayutthaya.

Third stop of the day was Wat Lokayasutharam, where you can see the huge reclining Buddha.

Then we headed to another temple and finally a combination of a bus and boat ride brought us back to BKK.

Sightseeing in Bangkok
During the other days I stayed in BKK and visited all the famous sights you might have seen on TV, in the internet or inside any travel guide book.
I bought a Lonely Planet pocket guide, as I did for Melbourne earlier that year, and found a lot of usefull informations.
Basically it is quite easy to get to every place you wanna go … of course Taxi can be sometimes a little bit difficult as the taxi drivers do not understand English very well or the traffic jam is just … ridiculous!
Victory Monument is not far from Phaya Thai station - just one Sky Train station.
But it is also easy to walk to the monument.

JJ Market on the weekend is a must visit!!!
Make sure to have enough time to visit all shops. I bought quite a few souvenirs for my family.

Of course there are a lot of Shopping Malls in BKK.
MBK Shopping Mall @ Siam Square is quite a big one.

Terminal 21 at Asok is also great … every level is a new destination … so you can travel around the world without leaving the building. ;)

I was also at the Mega Bangna, which is a little bit "outside" of BKK.

There was a pet show in the Mega Bangna shopping mall … well, I have never seen a dog pulling 4000kg - before!

I also visited Sukhumvit party area … you can find lots of bars and all kind of stuff there.
I am not going into detail what was all offered there … crazy! ;)

Of course you have to visit the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha which is inside the big walls.
I was there on Sunday late morning when most of other tourists had the same idea.

It is beautiful inside there …. unfortunately it is forbidden to take pictures of the Emerald Buddha.
But the Emerald Buddha is inside the building on the right side - you have to believe me. :p

Finally the Grand Palace.

Next stop for me that day was Wat Pho which is just a few minutes walk away from the Grand Palace.
Well … just a few minutes … it was so damn hot and humid that day … :D
But it's great … walking along the walls of the Grand Palace.

Finally at Wat Pho.

Inside of Wat Pho …

… and the big reclining Buddha.

After Wat Pho I started my way to Wat Arun which is on the other side of the Chao Phraya river.
Thankfully there is a ferry at Tha Thian.

For basically "nothing" (0,1€!!!!) you can pass the river within 5 minutes.

Wat Arun ….

When I was at Wat Arun the skies got darker …

As I had still some things to see, I hurried and crossed the river again … took a Tuk Tuk and arrived at the Golden Mount.

When I walked up the stairs it started to rain a little bit ….

… when I was on top … it got darker and darker …

… and seconds later the hell broke loose … monsoon for about 15-20 minutes. :D

Food in Bangkok
Alright … now you have seen quite a lot from BKK … but how about some food? ;)
I am getting hungry just thinking about Thai food!
Let's start with some basic Shopping Mall food … there are huge food courts and you cannot decide what you wanna eat.
Here is some duck …

… and some chicken with rice in a frying pan.

When you are in Thailand … you have to try seafood in Chinatown!
Usually I am not that seafood fan … but that was awesome!
I have never eaten calms before, but they were awesome!!

Som Tam - Papaya salad is also very famous in Thailand. Sometimes it can be very spicy.

I love Korean BBQ and Korean food … so when I was at Mega Bangan and found a Korean BBQ restaurant … I had to go in. :D

And some Korean Bingsu as dessert!! <3

On the last evening I was quite exhausted and ate some Satay and Chicken Curry at the hotel restaurant.

To sum it up … if you love food … and I guess everyone does … go to Thailand and eat, eat everything you get!
(But be careful it can be spicy sometimes. :p)
I can also reccommend Mango and sticky rice … I never thought that combination would taste good … but it really does!
Give it a try if you be in Thailand next time!