This was originally a business trip to Mumbai for 1 week, then a few days in Hong Kong, before coming home. After ticketing, my Japanese colleague asked me to visit Tokyo, so I then arranged a quick 2 night stay in Tokyo.
As I was trying to do it on the cheap, the 2 nights in Tokyo was a return via HKG rather than being able to come home direct from Japan.
Sydney to Hong Kong QF127 - 27 Feb 2011
In order to get to Mumbai for work on the Monday, I needed to leave Sydney on Sunday morning. The main thing I noticed is the Tourist Refund desk has moved to inside the duty free shopping area. The old area is replaced with a disabled toilet! I note that there are still plenty of disappointed people who don't read the rules properly, get to the desk and failed to get their GST back because they checked in the item and cannot show the person behind the counter.
The flight itself was rather uneventful - there was a slight delay (10mins or so) before pushing back to leave. I was originally excited because I got 13K. This was the furthest forward I had been in the upper deck of a 747. In the past, I've usually been shunted in row 17 or 18. From back there, I've been left to watch the service and attention lathered on the people at the front, and found it had usually run out by the time they got to me!
However, this time, I still missed out. There was no personal greeting, and for this flight, the service/drinks/attention started back at row 16 to 18, then came forward and started at the front, so row 13 was last!! (And it was A to K). The duck entree was rubbish, and I missed out on the "healthy option" of fish, so I was offered lamb shanks, but was given very mildly warmed up lamb fillets (maybe they had offered them all over the place first). Nothing else from the flight and service was new - the massage seat function was broken, the IFE was lousy, my new Antler rollaboard barely squeezed into the overhead locker (no good for side window locker), but I should be thankful that I got there in one piece.
The main highlight for me was a product discovery. The passenger in 13J had a pair of Calvin Klein CR1 reading glasses. These are tiny fold-up reading glasses. They would be great if you needed readers, sadly, I am short-sighted. I've done some research, and have not found them available for short-sighted people. I might buy one and get the lenses changed to suit me, but that can be a later project.
Arrival into HKG was ok, I managed to get out to public side for a quick walk (it's quick and easy when you are setup for the e-Channel). There was a bit of a queue with security on the way back in, but no real issue (at least I got extra credits towards renewal of the card).
Hong Kong to Mumbai CX685 - 27 Feb 2011
Having come back into the airport, I headed straight to the Pier near gate 65, as my flight was leaving from gate 68. The showers there were much nicer and more spacious than the Qantas J lounge at Sydney airport.
I had some lovely noodles at the Pier, although the portion size is small (snack sized, which explains why the people in front of me ordered 2 bowls each). I also note that when boarding, they did not search for liquids (unlike on the Aussie legs). I might stock up from the lounge for next time.
I got allocated 18D on a 2-class A330 and a very half-hearted or tired personal greeting from someone in the purple jacket. The headphones in my seat had a nasty squawk (Feedback from the NC?), but it was replaced quickly without too much fussing. This let me enjoy the fantastic IFE. It seems they are able to add episodes to their collection (not replace). There was heaps to choose from, which meant I was naughty and didn't sleep as much as I was supposed to.
New to the Cathay drinks list was the addition of a couple of dessert wines, and it was nice to have a glass - shame they didn't tell me which one it was (not that I cared).
At the other end, Mumbai airport was worse than usual. The baggage was delayed by 30mins or so. Priority bags did not come out priority either. Thankfully, there was no issue with the airport/hotel transfer. My gold QF smart tag was still attached and in one piece and not stolen/damaged.
Hotel - JW Marriott Juhu Beach.
I haven't actually stayed at another hotel in Mumbai, as I am pretty happy with this JW Marriott - food is generally good, and I've not been food poisoned or had the runs. I've even started eating salads/greens at this hotel! They offer the bog standard JW toiletries, which aren't anything to excite the missus. One wing has been under renovation for who knows how long... Due for completion later 2011 - I hope to stay in the new wing when it is completed. Hotel/Airport transfers were in the Camry - I missed out on the Merc :-(
Beautiful sunset from the hotel
Fussing over the dessert bar
Mumbai to Hong Kong CX684 - very early morning 5 March
One of the benefits of flying out of Mumbai on Cathay is that there are spotters on the kerb. If you're flying business, they help carry your luggage and get you through the first security guards, give you your hand-luggage security tags, and walk you through to the check-in counters.
Security was slower than usual, but that was okay as the Clipper lounge isn't exactly a place you want to spend too much time in. I ended up in 18K this time (on 2-class A330), and fell asleep after we pushed back, but before takeoff. I woke up about 25 mins later, stiff necked, everyone seated and wondering why as the seatbelt light was off. I did not remember a personal greeting, but I could have been asleep. I found the airport express ticket saves me HKD$20 buying on CX duty free compared to getting it on arrival. There was a bit of a screwup with payment and getting the receipt, which meant I left the plane after most of economy had departed. When I got to the carousel and it was pretty much empty, with my bag being one of the last ones there.
Hotel 1 - Mandarin Oriental HK
As expected, the rooms are great, the location is great (right next to the office), and it's like going home. The bed was a fair bit firmer than the JW in Mumbai, but you get that. In my case, it is on the company approved hotel list, and you aren't always able to get a room at the corporate rate. It is a lovely hotel to stay in, so if you do get the opportunity, it is worth your time and effort. It seems they have been cost cutting somewhat, as the original Hermes toiletries appear to have suffered a downgrade of sorts, being somewhat watered down and less citrus-like, the soap is no longer Hermes, but in-house branded. Due to my detour to Tokyo, I had to stay an extra night (as opposed to the original flying home that night), but they were unable to offer a room at an acceptable rate, so I had to spend the last night in another hotel.
Watch what you eat - I almost ate this fly in the salad from Pret. That's the last time I'm going there...
Hotel 2 - Hotel LKF by Rhombus (Wed 9 Mar)
Where do I start? It's right at the top of LKF in HK, which means you're in the middle of the expatriate nightlife area. The hotel itself is very nicely furnished, with Molton and Brown toiletries. However, as I had absent-mindedly approved an 8:30am flight, this meant I had to check-out quite early in order to catch the airport express train. This hotel leaves ear-plugs next to the bed (same orange ones as you get in the QF inflight bag). You need to use them, and you can still hear the "doof-doof" from the nightclubs. I would not willingly stay at this hotel again if I were to be in HK for business.
Early breakfast at The Pier
Hong Kong to Tokyo (Haneda airport) CX548 (Thu 10 Mar)
This is considered a short flight at around 3 hours flying time. Therefore there is no toiletries or toothbrush offered - this was annoying because I had very dry lips and was looking for the green tea lip-balm in the usual goody bag. I sat in 16D, lower deck of a tired old 747. At the time of check-in, I could not be bothered changing to upstairs, and thought it amusing to sit downstairs to see what it was like. I thought it was okay and got out before anyone from upper deck
Haneda airport seems to be very new at handling international arrivals - they do have a brand new terminal, but the bags took an uncharacteristically long period of time to show up - probably around 15mins, but everyone from economy had arrived to crowd out the area. The customs guy looked at me after flipping through my passport and politely inquired if the bags on my trolley were mine... The trip to the city was pretty easy once you figured out how to use the machine to buy your combined monorail/JR ticket. I was heading to Tokyo Station, so it took a little bit to figure out I needed to pay 670 yen. After that, it was easy to go upstairs to the monorail platform, waited all of 5mins for the next monorail, and sailed smoothly towards Tokyo. I had to change to a JR train at Hamamatsucho, which was easy enough, and after a crowded Yamanote-line train, alighted at Tokyo station.
Haneda monorail platform
Hotel - Four Seasons at Maranouchi
This is a lovely, small, exclusive hotel, hidden inside the Pacific Century Group building, right next to the train line. I was allocated a room facing the street, not the train line, and very thankful for that. It was also right nearby the fire stairs, which was good to know.
The Big Earthquake! I was on the 32nd Floor of our office when the quake struck, in a big meeting with around 30-40 people. It started as gentle swaying (I guess all earthquakes start this way), and escalated from there. The Japanese staff started getting edgy or nervous after 15 seconds and politely asked us to get under the desks, which we did for a while. Someone decided that it would be wise to open the doors (as they can jam shut?) but this started a mini-exodus out of the room. Strangely enough, the Japanese were not ever in full blown panic mode - I heard lots of 'sugoi' which I took to mean strange/massive, but no screaming. After a while, they realised I did not have a buddy, so they asked someone to pair up with me (I guess this was to help interpret the many alarms and annoucements that were made in Japanese). We ended up being told to walk back to our floor after 20mins by the floor warden.
When we made it back to 27th floor, they broke out the hard hats, and I was offered one as a visitor. We saw a large plume of smoke in the distance, and with more shocks, we hid under our desks again. I ended up hanging around the office (our building was only 5 years old) until after 7pm, as it seemed to be better suited/equipped for earthquakes than any older building. I had room service, as I was too nervous to go anywhere, and didn't really have a great sleep with the many aftershocks. I packed everything properly, made the required telephone calls, and set the room nicely so I could leave quickly if required.
Smoke...
Fire...
Cathay were nice enough to advise me that my 10:45am flight was going to be delayed by 12 hours and 5minutes, and the new departure time was going to be 10:50pm. The airports were closed for Friday evening, but I guess they planned that it would reopen the next day. The QF website showed I had a confirmed seat on QF128 on Sunday night as well as the original Sat night flight.
I went for a walk on Saturday morning, and found the station quite crowded, no food stores open, and those that were had little food. I ended up eating in the hotel restaurant and checked out at 2pm. I tried getting the hotel car, but it had left for Narita at 5:30am, and had not reached the airport at 11:30am when I inquired. At 2:30pm, the trains were not running to Haneda, so I had to catch a taxi. The roads were eerily quiet, not much traffic, and a very smooth run. It probably only took 25 mins, but still cost over AUD100...
No food in stores...
Tokyo to Hong Kong CX543 Sat 12 Mar
The service counter lady who was S... (Suisima?) Y... and pissed a few people off when she started ignoring the queue, and attended to the rowdy seagulls who were queue jumping. Very irritating, but I guess under the circumstances, I was just pleased to check in. They were unable to see my confirmed seat, and originally did not want to check my bag through to Sydney, but thankfully I had a revised itinerary on my blackberry, and she accepted this. My J ticket got me an invite to the Sakura lounge, which was a beautiful new lounge by JAL. Very spacious and lots of nice food. Much better than any QF J lounge I have had the pleasure of visiting. The downside was that there were further tremors/aftershocks throughout the evening, the TV was full of the Nuclear powerplant explosion coverage, the Tsunami footage, and the occasional alarm, with verbal warnings in English from the hostesses to protect your heads.
Our flight was on a 747, and delayed a more than the original estimate - we took off around midnight. I was given 16D again, and offered upstairs, but just wanted to be able to get off the plane ASAP, so declined. The gate area was CHAOS, no priority boarding, and it was because the S... Y... lady was there and unable/unwilling to control the rabble. I had left the lounge with a few other J pax, and we formed a wedge to make our way through the crowd to get to the gate and assert that we were entitled to priority boarding. I had a lousy flight - turbulence was very similar to an earthquake, and there was a bad cold breeze on this seat. Service was kind of poor, and I started to feel sick. No personal greeting today.
Once we got to HK, CX gave me a voucher for a night at the Regal Airport hotel, and a polite request at checkin meant I was allowed a late checkout of 6pm, and CX covered breakfast and lunch as well. I didn't crash until after 4am HKT, and did not end up sleeping much. There were 2 single beds, as opposed to the King sized beds I usually get in the business hotels. The bed I tried out was quite firm and the room was quite basic, but at least it was clean. I gave up trying to get sleep at 9am, and went to get some buffet breakfast, where I saw Air India crew, Thai? and I think Jet Airways crew as well. The main feature is that it is convenient if you don't have much time.
An unhappy incident: My Optus mobile phone was enabled for global roaming, and I have been able to receive phone calls (and been charged for them), but strangely, I was barred from making calls. I only found this out on Sunday, and it was very, very irritating when you are overseas, and cannot call out. I am quite sure I requested, and was told that I would have full global roaming, but Optus couldn't tell me why I was not fully enabled. For reference, the hotel charged ~AUD$6 per external call to my toll-free corporate calling card number. I will be considering a switch later this year...
Hong Kong to Sydney QF128 Sun 13 Mar
I was bumped to 13B on the 747 service, which was okay, but still did not get a personal greeting despite making Platinum after this flight. After the earthquake, I only cared to get home safely...
As I was trying to do it on the cheap, the 2 nights in Tokyo was a return via HKG rather than being able to come home direct from Japan.
Sydney to Hong Kong QF127 - 27 Feb 2011
In order to get to Mumbai for work on the Monday, I needed to leave Sydney on Sunday morning. The main thing I noticed is the Tourist Refund desk has moved to inside the duty free shopping area. The old area is replaced with a disabled toilet! I note that there are still plenty of disappointed people who don't read the rules properly, get to the desk and failed to get their GST back because they checked in the item and cannot show the person behind the counter.
The flight itself was rather uneventful - there was a slight delay (10mins or so) before pushing back to leave. I was originally excited because I got 13K. This was the furthest forward I had been in the upper deck of a 747. In the past, I've usually been shunted in row 17 or 18. From back there, I've been left to watch the service and attention lathered on the people at the front, and found it had usually run out by the time they got to me!
However, this time, I still missed out. There was no personal greeting, and for this flight, the service/drinks/attention started back at row 16 to 18, then came forward and started at the front, so row 13 was last!! (And it was A to K). The duck entree was rubbish, and I missed out on the "healthy option" of fish, so I was offered lamb shanks, but was given very mildly warmed up lamb fillets (maybe they had offered them all over the place first). Nothing else from the flight and service was new - the massage seat function was broken, the IFE was lousy, my new Antler rollaboard barely squeezed into the overhead locker (no good for side window locker), but I should be thankful that I got there in one piece.
The main highlight for me was a product discovery. The passenger in 13J had a pair of Calvin Klein CR1 reading glasses. These are tiny fold-up reading glasses. They would be great if you needed readers, sadly, I am short-sighted. I've done some research, and have not found them available for short-sighted people. I might buy one and get the lenses changed to suit me, but that can be a later project.
Arrival into HKG was ok, I managed to get out to public side for a quick walk (it's quick and easy when you are setup for the e-Channel). There was a bit of a queue with security on the way back in, but no real issue (at least I got extra credits towards renewal of the card).
Hong Kong to Mumbai CX685 - 27 Feb 2011
Having come back into the airport, I headed straight to the Pier near gate 65, as my flight was leaving from gate 68. The showers there were much nicer and more spacious than the Qantas J lounge at Sydney airport.
I had some lovely noodles at the Pier, although the portion size is small (snack sized, which explains why the people in front of me ordered 2 bowls each). I also note that when boarding, they did not search for liquids (unlike on the Aussie legs). I might stock up from the lounge for next time.
I got allocated 18D on a 2-class A330 and a very half-hearted or tired personal greeting from someone in the purple jacket. The headphones in my seat had a nasty squawk (Feedback from the NC?), but it was replaced quickly without too much fussing. This let me enjoy the fantastic IFE. It seems they are able to add episodes to their collection (not replace). There was heaps to choose from, which meant I was naughty and didn't sleep as much as I was supposed to.
New to the Cathay drinks list was the addition of a couple of dessert wines, and it was nice to have a glass - shame they didn't tell me which one it was (not that I cared).
At the other end, Mumbai airport was worse than usual. The baggage was delayed by 30mins or so. Priority bags did not come out priority either. Thankfully, there was no issue with the airport/hotel transfer. My gold QF smart tag was still attached and in one piece and not stolen/damaged.
Hotel - JW Marriott Juhu Beach.
I haven't actually stayed at another hotel in Mumbai, as I am pretty happy with this JW Marriott - food is generally good, and I've not been food poisoned or had the runs. I've even started eating salads/greens at this hotel! They offer the bog standard JW toiletries, which aren't anything to excite the missus. One wing has been under renovation for who knows how long... Due for completion later 2011 - I hope to stay in the new wing when it is completed. Hotel/Airport transfers were in the Camry - I missed out on the Merc :-(
Beautiful sunset from the hotel
Fussing over the dessert bar
Mumbai to Hong Kong CX684 - very early morning 5 March
One of the benefits of flying out of Mumbai on Cathay is that there are spotters on the kerb. If you're flying business, they help carry your luggage and get you through the first security guards, give you your hand-luggage security tags, and walk you through to the check-in counters.
Security was slower than usual, but that was okay as the Clipper lounge isn't exactly a place you want to spend too much time in. I ended up in 18K this time (on 2-class A330), and fell asleep after we pushed back, but before takeoff. I woke up about 25 mins later, stiff necked, everyone seated and wondering why as the seatbelt light was off. I did not remember a personal greeting, but I could have been asleep. I found the airport express ticket saves me HKD$20 buying on CX duty free compared to getting it on arrival. There was a bit of a screwup with payment and getting the receipt, which meant I left the plane after most of economy had departed. When I got to the carousel and it was pretty much empty, with my bag being one of the last ones there.
Hotel 1 - Mandarin Oriental HK
As expected, the rooms are great, the location is great (right next to the office), and it's like going home. The bed was a fair bit firmer than the JW in Mumbai, but you get that. In my case, it is on the company approved hotel list, and you aren't always able to get a room at the corporate rate. It is a lovely hotel to stay in, so if you do get the opportunity, it is worth your time and effort. It seems they have been cost cutting somewhat, as the original Hermes toiletries appear to have suffered a downgrade of sorts, being somewhat watered down and less citrus-like, the soap is no longer Hermes, but in-house branded. Due to my detour to Tokyo, I had to stay an extra night (as opposed to the original flying home that night), but they were unable to offer a room at an acceptable rate, so I had to spend the last night in another hotel.
Watch what you eat - I almost ate this fly in the salad from Pret. That's the last time I'm going there...
Hotel 2 - Hotel LKF by Rhombus (Wed 9 Mar)
Where do I start? It's right at the top of LKF in HK, which means you're in the middle of the expatriate nightlife area. The hotel itself is very nicely furnished, with Molton and Brown toiletries. However, as I had absent-mindedly approved an 8:30am flight, this meant I had to check-out quite early in order to catch the airport express train. This hotel leaves ear-plugs next to the bed (same orange ones as you get in the QF inflight bag). You need to use them, and you can still hear the "doof-doof" from the nightclubs. I would not willingly stay at this hotel again if I were to be in HK for business.
Early breakfast at The Pier
Hong Kong to Tokyo (Haneda airport) CX548 (Thu 10 Mar)
This is considered a short flight at around 3 hours flying time. Therefore there is no toiletries or toothbrush offered - this was annoying because I had very dry lips and was looking for the green tea lip-balm in the usual goody bag. I sat in 16D, lower deck of a tired old 747. At the time of check-in, I could not be bothered changing to upstairs, and thought it amusing to sit downstairs to see what it was like. I thought it was okay and got out before anyone from upper deck
Haneda airport seems to be very new at handling international arrivals - they do have a brand new terminal, but the bags took an uncharacteristically long period of time to show up - probably around 15mins, but everyone from economy had arrived to crowd out the area. The customs guy looked at me after flipping through my passport and politely inquired if the bags on my trolley were mine... The trip to the city was pretty easy once you figured out how to use the machine to buy your combined monorail/JR ticket. I was heading to Tokyo Station, so it took a little bit to figure out I needed to pay 670 yen. After that, it was easy to go upstairs to the monorail platform, waited all of 5mins for the next monorail, and sailed smoothly towards Tokyo. I had to change to a JR train at Hamamatsucho, which was easy enough, and after a crowded Yamanote-line train, alighted at Tokyo station.
Haneda monorail platform
Hotel - Four Seasons at Maranouchi
This is a lovely, small, exclusive hotel, hidden inside the Pacific Century Group building, right next to the train line. I was allocated a room facing the street, not the train line, and very thankful for that. It was also right nearby the fire stairs, which was good to know.
The Big Earthquake! I was on the 32nd Floor of our office when the quake struck, in a big meeting with around 30-40 people. It started as gentle swaying (I guess all earthquakes start this way), and escalated from there. The Japanese staff started getting edgy or nervous after 15 seconds and politely asked us to get under the desks, which we did for a while. Someone decided that it would be wise to open the doors (as they can jam shut?) but this started a mini-exodus out of the room. Strangely enough, the Japanese were not ever in full blown panic mode - I heard lots of 'sugoi' which I took to mean strange/massive, but no screaming. After a while, they realised I did not have a buddy, so they asked someone to pair up with me (I guess this was to help interpret the many alarms and annoucements that were made in Japanese). We ended up being told to walk back to our floor after 20mins by the floor warden.
When we made it back to 27th floor, they broke out the hard hats, and I was offered one as a visitor. We saw a large plume of smoke in the distance, and with more shocks, we hid under our desks again. I ended up hanging around the office (our building was only 5 years old) until after 7pm, as it seemed to be better suited/equipped for earthquakes than any older building. I had room service, as I was too nervous to go anywhere, and didn't really have a great sleep with the many aftershocks. I packed everything properly, made the required telephone calls, and set the room nicely so I could leave quickly if required.
Smoke...
Fire...
Cathay were nice enough to advise me that my 10:45am flight was going to be delayed by 12 hours and 5minutes, and the new departure time was going to be 10:50pm. The airports were closed for Friday evening, but I guess they planned that it would reopen the next day. The QF website showed I had a confirmed seat on QF128 on Sunday night as well as the original Sat night flight.
I went for a walk on Saturday morning, and found the station quite crowded, no food stores open, and those that were had little food. I ended up eating in the hotel restaurant and checked out at 2pm. I tried getting the hotel car, but it had left for Narita at 5:30am, and had not reached the airport at 11:30am when I inquired. At 2:30pm, the trains were not running to Haneda, so I had to catch a taxi. The roads were eerily quiet, not much traffic, and a very smooth run. It probably only took 25 mins, but still cost over AUD100...
No food in stores...
Tokyo to Hong Kong CX543 Sat 12 Mar
The service counter lady who was S... (Suisima?) Y... and pissed a few people off when she started ignoring the queue, and attended to the rowdy seagulls who were queue jumping. Very irritating, but I guess under the circumstances, I was just pleased to check in. They were unable to see my confirmed seat, and originally did not want to check my bag through to Sydney, but thankfully I had a revised itinerary on my blackberry, and she accepted this. My J ticket got me an invite to the Sakura lounge, which was a beautiful new lounge by JAL. Very spacious and lots of nice food. Much better than any QF J lounge I have had the pleasure of visiting. The downside was that there were further tremors/aftershocks throughout the evening, the TV was full of the Nuclear powerplant explosion coverage, the Tsunami footage, and the occasional alarm, with verbal warnings in English from the hostesses to protect your heads.
Our flight was on a 747, and delayed a more than the original estimate - we took off around midnight. I was given 16D again, and offered upstairs, but just wanted to be able to get off the plane ASAP, so declined. The gate area was CHAOS, no priority boarding, and it was because the S... Y... lady was there and unable/unwilling to control the rabble. I had left the lounge with a few other J pax, and we formed a wedge to make our way through the crowd to get to the gate and assert that we were entitled to priority boarding. I had a lousy flight - turbulence was very similar to an earthquake, and there was a bad cold breeze on this seat. Service was kind of poor, and I started to feel sick. No personal greeting today.
Once we got to HK, CX gave me a voucher for a night at the Regal Airport hotel, and a polite request at checkin meant I was allowed a late checkout of 6pm, and CX covered breakfast and lunch as well. I didn't crash until after 4am HKT, and did not end up sleeping much. There were 2 single beds, as opposed to the King sized beds I usually get in the business hotels. The bed I tried out was quite firm and the room was quite basic, but at least it was clean. I gave up trying to get sleep at 9am, and went to get some buffet breakfast, where I saw Air India crew, Thai? and I think Jet Airways crew as well. The main feature is that it is convenient if you don't have much time.
An unhappy incident: My Optus mobile phone was enabled for global roaming, and I have been able to receive phone calls (and been charged for them), but strangely, I was barred from making calls. I only found this out on Sunday, and it was very, very irritating when you are overseas, and cannot call out. I am quite sure I requested, and was told that I would have full global roaming, but Optus couldn't tell me why I was not fully enabled. For reference, the hotel charged ~AUD$6 per external call to my toll-free corporate calling card number. I will be considering a switch later this year...
Hong Kong to Sydney QF128 Sun 13 Mar
I was bumped to 13B on the 747 service, which was okay, but still did not get a personal greeting despite making Platinum after this flight. After the earthquake, I only cared to get home safely...
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