Yangon and beyond

[LadyC]

It all started back in April, when brads92 kindly shared his spectacular find of super cheap business class fares ex-RGN. Sitting at my desk at work, I couldn't believe what I was reading! I telephoned the gentleman - "do you think I should buy some tickets? How about Christmas in Europe? What's the worst that can happen - cancelling the tickets I suppose"

So after keeping my fingers crossed for about 6 weeks, waiting to see if the tickets would get cancelled, waiting for my credit card to be charged, reading and re-reading the thread, I finally felt confident enough to actually start planning our Christmas holiday. Month by month, I've slowly booked some tickets here, hotels there and now we are three days out from a whirlwind journey to Yangon and beyond.

Over 19 days, we will be travelling MEL-SIN-RGN-CDG-FCO-ZRH-CDG-SIN-MEL and a few airports in between. A night in Singapore both stops, a night in Yangon, Christmas in Rome, New Year in Paris and a few nights in Zurich in between. Flying a mixture of Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Silk Air, Swiss and Lufthansa, all in business class - with Qantas upgrades to First applied for (fingers crossed the Upgrade Fairy comes through!).

The journey begins in Wednesday......

 

[Danger]

Sounds very exciting.

Can you advise of few points. Who is the ticketing carrier? Which online agent did you use? And RGN-CDG, does that mean AF? And have you thought about where you're going to put your miles?

 

[LadyC]

Sounds very exciting.

Can you advise of few points. Who is the ticketing carrier? Which online agent did you use? And RGN-CDG, does that mean AF? And have you thought about where you're going to put your miles?

A few separate ticketing carriers - Qantas for MEL-SIN return. Silk Air for RGN-CDG return (flying via SIN and getting on a Singapore Airlines flight). Singapore Airlines for SIN-RGN. Intra Europe flights are Swiss and Lufthansa. I booked directly with the airlines except for intra Europe - that was booked through Expedia. Is that what you were interested in knowing?

Miles will go to Qantas FF or Singapore KrisFlyer (already have some points with both programs).

 

[Danger]

A few separate ticketing carriers - Qantas for MEL-SIN return. Silk Air for RGN-CDG return (flying via SIN and getting on a Singapore Airlines flight). Singapore Airlines for SIN-RGN. Intra Europe flights are Swiss and Lufthansa. I booked directly with the airlines except for intra Europe - that was booked through Expedia. Is that what you were interested in knowing?

Miles will go to Qantas FF or Singapore KrisFlyer (already have some points with both programs).

Yes, thanks. Having had some (as the term is used on Flyertalk) 'skin in the game' of all three rounds, I was particularly interested in your experience. Round 1, by and large, seems to have gone off almost entirely unscathed. I start mine next week.

 

[LadyC]

Mine are round 1 tickets also - missed round 2 and already have other holidays planned so skipped round 3.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Hope you have a wonderful stress free trip ma'am

 

[Danger]

Mine are round 1 tickets also - missed round 2 and already have other holidays planned so skipped round 3.

Then the changes you've also skipped a massive headache.

 

[amaroo]

This is shaping up as a real beauty....enjoy

 

[LadyC]

This is shaping up as a real beauty....enjoy

I'm hoping so - it's also the honeymoon

 

[LadyC]

The journey has started well - the day before departure, the Qantas upgrade fairy came through with the goods and we got our upgrade to First class. we were both very excited as neither of us had flown QF F before. The plan was to get to the airport about 3.5 hours before the flight to maximize our F Lounge time.

The gentleman was working that morning, so I did some last minute things around the house before calling the taxi. In the cab, taking forever down Punt Rd, we arrive at his work and he come out with luggage in tow. I notice his winter jacket - stomach drops, face palm - I realized I had left my jacket at home and we needed to go back and get it! D'oh!

After that false start, we arrive at the airport with about 2.5 hours to spare....more than enough F lounge time! Being newbies, we completely missed the curb side check in, went around in circles until someone from Qantas directed us to the right place. Whizzed our way through check in and customs and we were finally on our way to the F lounge

It was the first time for both of us in the F lounge - not having had lunch, we went straight across to the restaurant section and settled at a table by the window. It was fairly busy in the restaurant section and the bar also so service was a little slow. I started with a glass of Delamotte (not too my taste, a little too acidic) and the gentleman went for the Veuve Cliquot (much nicer IMO). Food wise, I ordered the Caesar style salad followed by spinach pasta with feta and almonds in burnt butter. The gentleman went for the known favourites, the salt and pepper calamari followed by the burger. After that, I was happy to save myself for the tasting menu, so went with a hot chocolate, but the gentleman was keen to try the chocolate sponge with strawberry salad. All the food was very enjoyable and I am looking forward to trying it out again.

Not long after we finished lunch, it was time for boarding.

 

[LadyC]

QF9 MEL-SIN F

After some issues with one of the seats - the gentleman and I were seated in 3K and 4K. It was our first time on the A380 and the First Class section seems very nice! So much room! Lie flat seats! Pyjamas! Awesome

Whilst the rest of the plane was boarding, we were able to indulge in another glass of champagne (Taittinger) with some almonds and olives. The cabin was very full (1 spare seat) and this was representative of the whole plane. At check in, QF staff said it was almost completely full and would only get worse each day leading up to Christmas.

The main F cabin staff came and introduced themselves to us and before long it was time to be seated for take off. After a short delay due to seat belt issues in an economy seat, we were up in the air on our way to SIN.

I decided to go and sit with the gentleman for dinner so was sitting in his guest seat. After perusing the menu, we both decided we would order from the a la carte rather than have the tasting menu. The gentleman ordered the pea and pancetta soup, the prawn coughtail and then the steamed blue eye. I decided to have the prawn coughtail, the asparagus and burrata salad and then the veal cutlet, or so I thought!

We both had the canapé starters - a pumpkin empanada and an ocean trout crostini. The ocean trout was nice but the pumpkin empanada was a bit plain for my liking. It did come with a little salsa but I still thought it was a bit average. The gentleman enjoyed it however, so I think it was just a personal taste thing.

So the first meal to arrive was the soup for the gentleman. I thought maybe the asparagus salad would come out for me but it didn't. Maybe it's just the way they order the food, I thought. Next came the prawn coughtail - very retro and very tasty. Then the blue eye for the gentleman and the asparagus salad for myself arrived. The gentleman enjoyed the blue eye - it was steamed with some greens, chilli and steamed rice. The asparagus and burrata was also lovely. So we finish those dishes and the FA comes over and says would you like anything else? Would you like to see the dessert menu? I look at the gentleman and he looks at me and we both realize they completely lost the veal cutlet order. I contemplated asking for the veal cutlet but I knew it would take 20 mins to come and the gentleman would be waiting for me to finish and so in the end I shrugged my shoulders and said " sure, let's order some dessert".

As the gentleman was full, having had lunch and dinner in relatively quick succession, he opted out all together. I however, still being hungry, decided on the rice pudding with poached fruit and a hot chocolate. The rice pudding was very nice, which I was almost surprised at, as I would normally never order it.

(I will post some photos of all this when my Internet access is more better).

 

[LadyC]

QF 9 MEL-SIN cont.

One of the things I found a little odd whilst eating was that as I was sitting in the guest seat, I could quite easily look directly at the person in the seat behind. I don't think she realized there was a privacy screen so she didn't need to look at me! A few times, I think it looked like I was looking at her but I was just naturally gazing in a forward direction, so that was a little awkward!

After dinner, I decided to try and get a quick nap for a few hours before arriving in SIN. So the FA kindly came and made my bed. I was very impressed with it all. Firstly getting changed into pyjamas. Having a flat bed with a sheepskin mat, doona, blanket, pillows. I managed to get 2 hours sleep and thought it was very comfortable. I imagine long haul to Europe would be really good if you could sleep for 8/9 hours.

So after my nap, I decided it was time for a little snack. The gentleman was in agreement, so after asking the FA for his recommendation, the Moroccan chicken pie was decided upon. 20 minutes to heat up - not a problem. 15 mins later, another FA comes up and says, we put the wrong thing in the oven - do you eat Mac and cheese? Hmmmm...okay, I say yes, as I really just wanted something to eat but I'm getting a little unimpressed with the food service at this point. The gentleman says no, don't eat Mac and cheese, so in the end 2 beef stroganoff pies come down from J for us to eat - topped with mash, a little spicy and very tasty as well.

After finishing my snack, it's time to get changed out of my pyjamas and get ready for landing. In the blink of an eye, it's almost time to land and my QF F experience is over

I had a good time - except for the food service issues. Nothing too dramatic but I just thought they would be a little more polished. We've applied for an upgrade for our return flight, so if we get it, I will be interested to see if the experience is the same or different.

 

[LadyC]

After a quick overnight pit stop in SIN, it was time to head back to the airport to fly to RGN. We were flying SilkAir from Terminal 2. The lady checking us in was fairly taciturn and asked for a copy of our return flight out of RGN. I gave her a copy of our super cheap flights, holding my breath a little, but no comments, so okay so far! As we were flying J, we had access to the SilverKris lounge. The lounge was nice, not too crowded, a reasonable size kitchen/food area. We stayed in the lounge for an hour or so before heading to the gate.

We flew to RGN on an A320. A very different feel to the A380! We were flying in J, so seated up the front in 2A and 2C. With big leather seats and a drop down screen at the front of the plane, it felt a little dated but was comfortable nonetheless for the journey of around 3 hours. We were served some drinks and snacks early in the flight followed by lunch. The options were fish or chicken - I went for the chicken and the gentleman had the fish. The meal was reasonable - nothing earth shattering expected or provided.

Arrival in RGN was very straightforward and we were processed through very quickly. We had organised visas before we arrived, so I can't comment on the Visa on Arrival system. Immigration was very quick - the lines are split between Myanmar residents and Foreigners. There were significantly more Myanmar people there so we only had to wait a few minutes before passports were checked and we were through to Customs and the out into the throng of people. After ascertaining that a cab should cost no more than USD$10, the gentleman employed his bargaining skills to get us a cab for $7 and we were off and on our way into the city.

We have 1 day in RGN before we get on our ex-RGN tickets to CDG via SIN.

 

[mella2007]

Really fantastic review so far...very enjoyable to read

 

[amaroo]

Well done on the upgrade.

Pretty disappointing food service......one error is forgivable however, after that - it's just disgraceful.

 

[LadyC]

Qantas F Lounge lunching


Caesar style salad


Salt and pepper calamari


Spinach Pasta


Chocolate sponge with strawberry salad

 

[LadyC]

QF9 MEL-SIN F


Champagne anyone?


The tray table is set


The delicious prawn coughtail


Rice pudding with poached fruit and a hot chocolate

 

[LadyC]

Silverkris Lounge and MI518 SIN-RGN


Silverkris Lounge seating


Silverkris kitchen/dining area


Poorly lit photo of MI518 lunch - it was chicken with roast potato and mediterranean vegetables by the way!

 

[LadyC]

So we had 24hrs in Yangon before heading back to the airport to head to CDG.

We stayed at the Traders Hotel which is part of the Shangri-La chain. It is a large hotel and appears to host a lot of UN meetings and workers, based on some of the signs there. There was even a dedicated UN desk!

We did a little bit of sight seeing whilst in Yangon. We went for a little walk around at sunset - down to the Sule Pagoda and around Sule Pagoda Road. Lots of street stalls on the road side - locals having dinner, buying fruit and vegies and even spotted a monk choosing a copy DVD! We visited the Shwe dagon Pagoda which was amazing. Lots of locals there as well as tourists.

I didn't have much of a sense of what Myanmar would be like before I went. I thought it would be a little more war torn and run down than it is. It reminded me a lot of Thailand - not surprising as they are neighbours!

We headed back to the airport to check in for our SIN/CDG flight. Check in was a breeze and I was surprised to find there was a little lounge. I was even more surprised when I realised later that there was a fellow AFF member in there! Hi!

A couple of photos from the Shwe dagon Pagoda

 

[LadyC]

MI517 RGN-SIN

The flight to SIN was fairly uneventful. We were flying on an A319 so only 8 seats in J. Dinner was served - I forgot to take photos (i'm not so good at this trip reporting!) - I had the fish curry with rice and greens and thought it was better than the meal I had on the way over to RGN. Silk Air serve some snacks prior to the full meal. You can have pringles, peanuts or cheese pretzels. The cheese pretzels are great - in an evil cheese twistie style but crunchier

Once we arrived in SIN, we needed to change terminals and then went up to the SilverKris Lounge. We arrived there at about 9.30pm and it was already fairly busy filling up with the European and Japanese overnight flights. We both managed to have a shower in the facilities without waiting too long in a queue. By the time we left, the lounge was very full with few seats available.