3 continents in 3 week - F adventure

[mmchow]

JFK Terminal 7 feels like a domestic lounge to me - somewhat dated compared to TBIT. Boarding calls and we were the first F passenger on the plane.

A little history before getting into the flight details: +1 was initially booked into J and 3 days before the flight, F availability came about. CX generally release the remaining of the unsold seat closer to the flight as award seat. Called QF and secure the seat. An extra 50K for an enjoyable 20hrs flight.
Champagne (Krug) and Aesop amenity kit was offered. The content of the kit was OK, nothing special. Love the PYE pyjamas though and the size fit perfectly - one of the best of all three (EY and EK).

A fairly heavy load with 5/6 seat taken.
The seat

Massage panel, control and more storage

A big closet - I could fit my duffel and backpack in there

 

[mmchow]

The flight came in from YVR and the same crew are working on this flight back to YVR. All of the crew on board are based in HKG. The CSM and the two crew working in F were fantastic. We chatted quite a bit in the 6 hours flight. Alright, back to the service. They offered dinner on this short flight
Promotional wine from Germany


The standard drinks menu

 

[mmchow]

Menu for the night

Once taken off, we were offered warm nuts with our drinks. I continued with Krug while +1 had a Johnny Blue. +1 skipped the meal and I ordered the tomato basil soup, followed by the chocolate coffee cake. +1 had a mouthful and went for another . I ordered the HK style milk tea to go with the cake and was a little surprised that they serve it on a teapot

It was really good after all. Had to order a second serving, blaming +1 for eating them all
The aftermath

After all the food, we asked for the bed to be made. The toilet was spacious.

Came back with the bed all ready for me.

 

[mmchow]

We arrived into YVR 20 mins earlier. Ex-YVR pax including the 3 F pax get off while the cleaners came in to refresh the plane. We were watching the cleaners as they go through every corner/ seat. Poor crew as they can't leave us unattended and have to wait till the next crew came on board. While waiting they served us an amuse bouche consisted of crab, which was tasty

30 mins later, the crew bound for HKG came on board and shortly after, boarding commenced. The flight was fairly full.
The drinks menu are the same but the food is different


Instead of eating, I went straight to bed and slept for 5 hours. Awaken and feeling peckish, I started my meal without +1 as he was still sleeping.
Caviar with Krug

Cathay served the caviar from the tin and all the sides are on a separate bowls. Instead of metal cutlery, you are given a mother of pearl spoon to scoop the caviar. Cathay do the best job in this regard. Have been eating western food for the last 12 days and considering we are heading to Asia, Asian food will be my approach for the remaining of my holidays.
Double boiled conch and fish maw soup

The soup reminds me of mum - flavoursome and fulfilling

 

[mmchow]

For the main, I went with stir fry lobster, Chinese broccoli and steamed Jasmine rice

I went with the recommended drink - 2011 Dr.Heidemanns-Beegweiler Riesling
For dessert, apple crumble tart with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce

and finished with some praline

I could move at this stage so watched a movie and went back to sleep <Pig>
Woke up 2nd time round and feeling hot, ordered a coffee and ice cream. I had ice cream served rock hard many times on CX but I was surprised to find mine scoop-able.

90 mins to landing , breakfast was served
Fresh fruits with a berry smoothie and coffee to start followed by black cod and mushroom congee

The turnip cake and preserved meat goes well with the congee.
We arrived into HKG and a bid goodbye to another fantastic crew.

 

[amaroo]

I like CX F ... 6 seats - total bliss! Booked another trip today, HKG-LHR for the two of us ... poor kids have to slum it in J

 

[mmchow]

Our first night is at Intercontinental HKG, thanks to the free night certificate from the IHG Accelerator promotion last year. We took the train from the airport to Kowloon station and a taxi to the hotel. There is a 7-11 in the station and we got ourselves a SIM (China Mobile $80 Pre-Paid)- $48 deducted for 1.5GB, valid for 5 days.
Upon arriving, bellman are on standby with baggage assistance and another associate with the door. As we arrived early (8am) we wasn't expecting the room to be ready but to our surprise, it was. The associates that assisted us with check in was thorough, attentive, friendly and warm. We were upgraded to a Deluxe room and was given 2 drinks voucher in the lounge. She even acknowledge that we must be tired from a long flight and must be eager to get to the room for some rest. After checking in, she walked us to our room (first time ever, not even at St Regis) and explained the layout of the room, light switches and the amenities available. The level of service shown was faultless.
The room was spacious with a walk in closet and a large desk and chair, and plenty more room in the corner
Shower, bath and a separate toilet

The comfy king bed

The pool view

and a welcome fruit platter (on the far right) and a Handy phone

There's a selection of welcome tea that you can order - brewed fresh and brought up by one of the staff. Ordered the Bird's Tongue Jasmine

 

[mmchow]

I like CX F ... 6 seats - total bliss! Booked another trip today, HKG-LHR for the two of us ... poor kids have to slum it in J

Lucky kids slumming it in J. What a life .
Both of us like CX too. Spacious seat, delicious food and good service. What more could you ask for? Maybe a shower but that's pushing it a little

 

[LadyC]

Looks like a great trip. I still haven't been to New York but it is definitely on the list. How was the oyster po boy?

 

[mmchow]

Looks like a great trip. I still haven't been to New York but it is definitely on the list. How was the oyster po boy?

We did enjoy NYC and its a place that we will go back for sure. The oyster po boy was good - crispy battered oysters, with spicy mayo and some greens on a crusty baguette (not the french style). Missed out when I was in New Orleans, otherwise there is a point for comparison between the two.

 

[rogerkambah]

Tell us more about the free handy phone pls. Great TR BTW. Much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[mmchow]

Tell us more about the free handy phone pls.

It is coming I promise

 

[mmchow]

While +1 is freshening up, I put the Handy phone to use. You get unlimited local and international calls to UK, USA, China Singapore and Australia. I used the phone for a local call to SQ reservation center - an earlier flight became available so I changed it to a day time flight back to MEL from SIN. The main features that I'm interested in were the GPS and Google. They fired up pretty much the same with Google Maps and Safari. There was an advertisement that stayed up on the screen displaying offers available around the area i.e. 10% discount to Ocean Park etc. Tried the tethering function but it didn't work. All in all, the Handy phone is a great addition to hotels in Hong Kong. Also found out that some hotels offer portable wifi and would much prefer the latter.

I was hungry so it was time for some breakfast. Growing up in Kuala Lumpur, I'm very accustomed to street foods. When you are in Hong Kong, that is the kind of food to go for. On the CX flight, I was watching a Hong Kong mini series, whereby this taxi driver takes you to the local places. The episode was in Wan Chai so our first stop for breakfast was at Kam Fung Cafe.

This place was packed and there was a line for a table and for takeaways. While waiting, an old man sweeping the floor mumbled in Cantonese which translates to "WTH. People queueing for bread. This is not the only bread shop around. This is silly". We all laughed.

Once seated, we ordered their specialty milk tea (tea with evaporated milk and sugar). Some places make them with condensed milk, which is nice as well. We also went with the egg tart and chicken pie - nom nom nom.
p/s struggled with the ordering (no English) as I could only speak but not read or write.

Their pineapple bun was fresh from the oven

and we had it with a slab of butter - it was good

All up, the bill came to $HKD51. It was a cheap yet delicious eat. We ended up coming back a few times during our stay in HK.

 

[mmchow]

Next up, G2000 in Causeway Bay. +1 always get work wear while in HK so it is a must pit stop. Ding ding aka tramway

Iconic flats in HK

To continue our street food journey, we headed over to Shum Shui Po for lunch. This place (King Wo Dou Ban Chong) is famous for their tofu


Ordered a mixture of tofu dishes; clockwise from top left - steamed rice roll with sesame and soy sauce, soya milk drink, silken tofu and pan fried tofu stuffed with minced fish

 

[mmchow]

Wandered through the market and saw this cart selling charcoal grilled sweet potato and chesnuts

A shop that only sells umbrella - they'll have any size, colour and shape you want

+1 bought some light bulbs - surprised there was a street dedicated for light bulbs only in HKG.
We went back to the hotel and drop off the shopping. Weather was great on the day we arrived so we decided to head up to the Peak before sunset.
Took the Star Ferry across to Central ($2.50)

View from Star Ferry over to Hong Kong island

We saw the queue and we were gobsmacked. Waiting time for the tram was at least 1.5 hours. We waited for a bit considering it was still early till we saw a few tour buses came by. They have priority and skipped the queue, which mean even longer waiting time. We headed over to the taxi stand and seeing that many people queueing to go to the Peak, taxi driver hiked up the rates to HKD400. Hell no we are paying that much for a ride up so we headed back to Central station and caught bus # 15. $9.80 and 45 minutes later, we're there. We didn't pay to go to the Sky Terrace 428 as the view outside of Peak Market was good enough

 

[mmchow]

Dinner was at Mak's Noodle. Ordered wonton noodle soup and it came with 4 wontons (hidden beneath the noodle)

The queue back down was also bad. Had to wait 30mins before getting on the bus back to Central

It was a long day and I slept the entire bus journey back to Central. A quick metro ride and we're back to IC.
We were given 2 drink vouchers in the Lobby Lounge so we had a drink each. +1 ordered a house wine and I had a Hong Kong beer
The view from the lounge

There was a live band and the ambiance was good.

 

[mmchow]

Breakfast was at the same cafe - ordered the set menu (can't read so IM sis for help). +1 downloaded the google translate and it somewhat worked from time to time. Just have to gestimate

consisted of a drink, instant noodle with satay beef and egg, and a pineapple bun with butter.

On the way to the ferry, oldies are out and about with their exercise regime.

Took the ferry ($2.50) back to TST

and walked to HK China Ferry Terminal to get our Macau ferry tickets for the next day.
Christmas decorations at 1881 Heritage

 

[mmchow]

Checked into Sheraton HK (luckily it was just opposite of IC) for the remaining 4 nights. To our surprise, our room was ready (10am) so we could drop our luggages in our room. As a Platinum member, breakfast in the restaurant, 500 points and access to the Platinum lounge are included. Happy hour is from 5:30pm to 8pm.
The room

We caught the minibus #40 ($10.8) from Causeway Bay to Stanley and the ride took 35 mins

We wandered around the Blake Pier

and Stanley Market


For our journey back, we took the scenic route (bus #6; $7.80), and the ride took us along Repulse Bay and Tai Tan Country Club before arriving back in Central. This was a longer ride and it took us 50 mins.

 

[OATEK]

Always enjoy our pilgrimages to Stanley, usually on a N0.6A from Central - will have to try the Causeway Bay option next time, although I guess it probably also goes through the tunnel. A good lunch along the beach front, and a wander through the markets makes for a very pleasant outing. The market seems a bit more up-market these days though.

 

[Pushka]

I really enjoy the double decker bus trip to Stanley too. And the markets.