My wife and I boarded a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 Registration 9V-SRL at Brisbane International Airport on Monday 19th March 2007.
The plane departed from Rwy 01 on a ROMA SID and I was intrigued to see such flap extension for a takeoff. Conditions were VFR consistent, no rain, but those flaps were at about 30-40 deg by my guess. (typically 2-5deg for a takeoff for the smaller 734's and 738's).
I already had a full flight plan printed off (using uSoft FS2K) based on GS of 424knots which turned out to be fairly close to the mark.
Having a K seat allocation I was on the starboard side window just back behind the wing. I kept the Warrego highway (? BNE-Toowoomba) insight but we must have overflown Toowoomba (YTWB). I did end up seeing Dalby quite clearly and we kept alongside the highway to Chinchilla right up to Roma.
At Roma we turned slightly to starboard (my boyscout compass in hand kept me informed) and continued on the G326 High Level Route through to Tennant Ck and then onto cross the coast at GUNAM waypoint. (The High Level Route G326 commences at Brisbane - Roma - Tennant Ck - ONOXA - Bali)
SIA 777's come with entertainment unit fitted to the back of each seat. You could watch the journey and be updated with flight info. Interesting to see that we were travelling at GS (Ground Speed) of 923 Kph which converts to 500knots. This explained why we arrived at GUNAM 20 mins earlier than my flight plan indicated. Photo is of over flying the WA coast and off into the wild blue ocean.
I wasn't sure about the route and planned for a turn at ONOXA that took us east of Bali. This was not correct and we overflew Bali on the G326 at about 4hrs 50mins into the journey. I managed a photo of the island just east of bali.
Flight from Bali was basically straight to WSSS (Singapore). We turned off the G326 and onto the G463 high level route. Altitude was FL360 (10972m showing on the display). Weather (WX) was clear. Merchant shipping could be seen below traveling the straights and I couldn't help but wonder how many pirate vessels we overflew.
Landing at Singapore was uneventful. First time to Changi.
Wait for some 2 hrs and then onto another SIA 777 Reg 9V-SQK bound for VTBK (Bangkok). (not sure about the code VTBK.. did it follow to the new International airport??)
Takeoff with all that flap again. Night arrival at Bangkok. New terminal lit up like a xmas tree and quite spectacular. Reminds me of a centipede with its connecting canvas awnings and steel window structures.
Customs was closed and we just walked through into the waiting throng of taxi drivers pushing and shoving in their rush to fleece another tourist.
Turning down the generous offer of a trip to Sukhumvit of 900B we took a shuttle bus for 150B each.
Stayed at the Woraburi Sukhumvit Soi 4 (nana). A bit pricey for what you get. $42AU/night inc continental breakfast (about 1050B).
Woken up at 1am on the 2nd night to sounds of renovation going on immediately above. Night curfew hours are non existent for construction jobs in Bangkok. Take some ear plugs along with your aspirin.
Public transport is excellent. Sky train daily ticket costs 120B ea. Else each trip is 20B ea. Underground subway is similarly priced (interesting to see black plastic smart tokens used for entry/exit to platforms)
Buses are plentiful and very cheap. Watchout for pickpockets on all forms of public transport. We heard some horror stories that armed us before we left for Bangkok.
Would love to include some photos but haven't worked out how to do it yet.
