A taste of Xiamen summer & Qantas First and several bites of the Pier - 2018

[NSun]

In light of the travel restrictions right now I've been looking back on some of the trips I've taken in years gone by. For my first AFF trip report here is one of the more intriguing I took - to Hong Kong and Xiamen in July 2018. I fell in love with Hong Kong visiting in July 2016 and this was the third year in a row that I went back. But I decided to spice things up and book a side trip to a mainland Chinese city that was not too far away from Hong Kong. I had only been into Shenzen and Guangzhou as part of a day trip from Hong Kong so was keen to see more of the country. I settled on Xiamen, a city in the Fujian province that's an hours flight away from Hong Kong.

Qantas put the A380 on the SYD-HKG route for the school holidays and had reasonable fares in premium economy so I booked that. But on the way back I ended up in the first class cabin because I upgraded to business and during the period Qantas didn't sell first class as first class - they just treated it like part of business class and let WPs like me sit there. For hotels I did the Cordis in Hong Kong and the Pullman in Xiamen. The trip begun boring but it gets more interesting as it goes along. Here's an appetiser from my time in Xiamen...

 

[NSun]

At 7am on Friday July 13 2018 I got to Sydney airport. I'd only been minted as a WP for the first time back in April - it was only my second time in the Sydney F lounge. That morning we saw a rare sight of 5 QF A380s on the ground given the HKG seasonal flight and for some reason the inbound QF82 and/or QF81 to Singapore was an A380 too. Sadly couldn't get a photo with all of them at once because one was already being towed to maintenance and the sun was quite bright. Had a simple breakfast of toast & yogurt.

Simple breakfast of yoghurt and toast plus the fruit smoothie of the season.


Our aircraft - VH-OQI (David Warren). Didn't think much of it at the time but it is now the most special A380 to me because only a few months later it took me to Europe for the very first time. As of March 2020 it still hasn't been repainted but just got sent to Dresden to get refurbished.


Didn't get a picture of my seat but I sat in 24A which has great legroom. Even better no one was next to me - the cabin was only about half view. We had a great view of Sydney before taking off.

 

[NSun]

Fairly uneventful flight. Lunch was beef with mushroom sauce and pre-landing snack was fried rice (I didn't get a pic of).

We were all forced to shut the windows for most of the flight which I find annoying on day flights up to Asia - of course ultra long haul eastbound flights like QF2 LHR-SIN & QF7 SYD-DFW are different kettles of fish.




On our descent I noticed the bridge being built between Hong Kong and Macau. Ever since the sight I've been keen to try it out and visit Macau although I wouldn't be able to this time.



Anyway, landed and caught the airport express (the train service, great as always) then a confusing bus service to my hotel - the Cordis Hong Kong.

 

[NSun]

The Cordis brand is in the Langham group of hotels although there's not that many outside Hong Kong and Auckland. There is a separate Langham branded hotel in Hong Kong that I'd be keen to try at some point.

Didn't get too many high quality shots of my room but used the gym which were quite large for space-constrained Hong Kong.



The buffet at breakfast was good although as much as I like the options I'm a light eater at breakfast - just had a pastry and yogurt.



As tends to be the case with hotels in Asia, they had out water bottles like candy. Appreciate it when they have separate baths and showers rather than just "shubs". I quite liked the sink design.





Being right in the middle of the wet season I did not see blue sky during my 24 hours in the Fragrant Harbour. This shot of the pool shows you as good as it got - was monsoonal rain every other minute. The pool was cold so I didn't use it - oddly it was not closed when other Hong Kong hotels close their pool in this sort of weather.

 

[NSun]

Checked out of the Cordis at 10 and went on a walk around the city for a couple of hours. I ended going up the ICC tower which was a good view but weather remained poor.




By 1pm I was bored and went to the airport even though my flight to Xiamen was not until 5. As a WP I knew I could access the Wing and the Pier and had heard great things about them but now was time to see them for myself.

 

[NSun]

So first I stopped by the Wing. While the Pier is the better lounge the one thing it has going for it is the cabanas. I'd heard rumours of them being hard to get but was able to get one immediately today and would only a couple of days later. I spent about half an hour here.

 

[NSun]

Then went off to the Pier which is at the other end of the airport. I was amazed at the design of the lounge it feels like an upscale apartment.




Now I went to see if I could get a massage and was given a buzzer. In the end waited 2 hours and got a foot massage. OK, but worth waiting 2 hours for - probably not.



I quite liked the daybeds and particularly with an A380 parked right outside, particularly one we don't ever see in Australia in the form of Lufthansa.

 

[NSun]

But before the flight I was keen to get something to eat as I had no idea what I'd get, if anything on a 1 hour Cathay Dragon flight. The restaurant area again impressed in it's design.



Menu...





To drink I had the Cathay delight and a glass of port - my favourite drink.




I started with the duck...



Then went for the beef...



And finished with ice cream...



They all tasted good but was impressed with the presentation. Although I did have to wait a couple of minutes for the ice cream to defrost enough to be eatable.

Then I boarded my Cathay Dragon flight to Xiamen. I didn't get any photos onboard but it was an A330 and I was the only westerner onboard. Yet a flight attendant came by with a bottle of water and my China landing card for me as a Oneworld Emerald. Nice touch.

 

[NSun]

Now I have only a couple of photos until the next morning because that was the least of my concerns given the uncertainty I faced having had Blacklane cancelled and unable to download the Didi app (the Chinese Uber). After complaining to Blacklane they ended up giving me a US$50 voucher which I used later in the year.

I landed at the airport. Immigration counter took about 10 minutes which worried me, they were speaking to each other in Chinese but not addressing me. Surely my visa was valid. Sure enough it was because I was eventually stamped into China.

I withdrew about 100 RMB from an ATM hoping that'd be enough for a taxi ride to the hotel and back - and indeed it was.

Having heard of taxi scams in China (i.e. fake ones that overcharge you or drive off with your luggage) I photographed the car before I got on. The driver did not speak a word of English but I said 'Wo qu...' then pointed to the address in Chinese. And 20 minutes later I ended up at my hotel. Staff at the Pullman spoke OK English but no one else in Xiamen did. Now of course this is far from the only place in the world where this is so but I had to get used to it.

I had downloaded 3 VPN apps to stay connected and the first one worked so that was enough for me. I had a very comfortable bed and a pizza with room service but went to bed wondering why I'd bothered to visit.

 

[NSun]

Woke up in the morning to a beautiful sunrise and thought maybe it wasn't such a bad call to visit after all. Was very humid - 27 degrees and stayed like that the entire time I was there. Went on an initial morning walk for an hour or so to the surrounding streets.



July 2018 was around the time the bike sharing craze reached its peak in Australia. Now I know this picture doesn't show it but I did see people using some of them and none were dumped in the water.



One of the few western brands I saw during my time in Xiamen...Bentley.



Had French toast for breakfast - from room service.

 

[NSun]

Then around 10am I went on a 3 hour walk around the city. I had aimed to visit the Gulangyu Island but the queues were too long so I gave up. I saw some interesting architecture around the city.







When I first saw this I immediately thought it was some exotic seafood place. But it turns out it was the entrance to an aquarium.

 

[NSun]

Afternoon was uneventful, I had a nap then listened to the football though the Triple M app - it worked without a VPN.

Next morning was time to head back to Sydney via Hong Kong. On the taxi ride (which was 40RMB - $8) I saw more of the city.







In China you have to screen your bags before you get to the checkin. I was asked at security in addition to liquids if I had an umbrella which I didn't. Got a full body pat down - curiously by a female officer. Doesn't seem to be a rule in China that pat downs have to be done by an officer same gender.

Had lounge access but it was poor. Although I was given a guide to Cathay's Hong Kong lounges by the check in agents.



Another uneventful 1 hour flight. This time it was an A320 and there was one other westerner - the pilot who had a British accent. Half the flight was some school group.

 

[NSun]

We parked at the remote concourse in Hong Kong so I had to take a bus over to the main concourse. Was relatively quick - highlight was coming right up close to a FinnAir A350.



Headed to the Wing and had another dip in the cabanas. Then had a bite to eat. They have a sit down restaurant but it was not as comprehensive. Had the pork neck which tasted better than it looked. Then put together my own dessert from the buffet.

 

[NSun]

Still feeling hungry I ducked over to the Qantas Hong Kong lounge and managed to secure a seat in the F cabin that was technically still business class. Had the 'Chi Chi' pineapple-based coughtail and their signature beef dish.



Now this was filling.



Conveniently, the Deck is right across so I decided to check that out too.



It was here I noticed our aircraft had only just landed - 40 minutes late. I popped across to our gate to see it park. This one was VH-OQK which was only repainted a few weeks prior - I'd never been on a repainted bird before so new livery hadn't yet grown on me.



I was one of about 5 people taking photos of the plane - such a shame they are seemingly on the way out.

 

[NSun]

With the delay I dashed off to the pier to get some dessert. Got ice cream again.





Also stopped by the daybeds - this time it was an Emirates A380 sitting at the adjacent gate.



Anyway, by the time I got back to my seat it was time to board. I had seat 2K. Now because this was technically just business class there was only one aerobridge for the lower deck so all the economy passengers walked on past so everyone looked at me.

Despite this just being business class - and a full cabin; the flight attendant snuck me a full first class amenity kit and set up the full bedding which I didn't get a picture of. I went straight to sleep after take off. Ex-HKG red-eyes are a bit easier than out of Singapore although still tougher than out of the US.



Yogurt and a smoothie ('guava and strawberry energiser') for breakfast.



We left 40 minutes late and made up no time en-route - landing 40 minutes late. But I didn't mind because it wasn't the end of holidays for me just yet.



I was whisked away to the Blue Mountains for a few more days getaway. I think this picture sums up how sharp a change it was from humid mid-summer China.



The end.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Interesting choice for a first visit to China! (was it a first visit?) I'd recommend Shanghai next time.

 

[Stewey]

I would recommend Shanghai too for a first visitor to China, I was lucky that my brother lived there for a number of years and was an excellent tour guide
He is back in Australia these days but we always try to have a boys long weekend in Hong Kong but that is sadly on the back burner at the moment

 

[NSun]

Interesting choice for a first visit to China! (was it a first visit?) I'd recommend Shanghai next time.

Second time visiting mainland China - first time was two years prior as a day trip from Hong Kong to Shenzen. Have been to Honkers about half a dozen times.

 

[craven morehead]

Excellent first up TR and some very good use of the lounges, cheers

 

[Chicken]

To drink I had the Cathay delight and a glass of port - my favourite drink.

View attachment 213358

Is this kale juice?