Yangon and beyond

[LadyC]

I would be the opposite. I'd remember the bloody taxi incident long after I'd forgotten what food I'd had

Well the moral of this story is always organise your transport in advance!!!

At least we can laugh now but we certainly weren't then.

 

[LadyC]

So it was time to leave Paris and head back to Singapore before heading home to Melbourne. Our very efficient private car arrived to pick us up at 7.30am and take us out to CDG. The weather seemed to be turning for the worse so it was the right time to be leaving.

A quick check in at the J SQ counter and then we were off through Immigration to the Star Alliance J Lounge up on the 2nd floor if I recall correctly. The lounge was adequate but a little disappointed considering how many airlines were sharing it. It soon filled up quickly as there were a few flights heading to Asia and the USA. There was free wi-fi and some basic food and drinks available. We loitered about there for an hour or so before heading towards the gate for boarding.

 

[LadyC]

I'd better get this trip report finished! I've been having some issues uploading photos, so was delaying finishing this report but I will get it done and upload photos at a later date if I can get it all working.


SQ333 CDG-SIN

So we headed towards the gate to board. Even though we had 'premiuim' passes, security still seemed to take a long time. Once we were through, we were able to board the plane fairly quickly. We were due for an 11am departure but we were delayed due to late boarding and got relegated to the back of the queue.

As it was a morning flight, I order a mineral water before take off and got settled in for the flight. Both the gentleman and I were seated in the upstairs cabin in J, 21A and 22A if I recall correctly. Take off was smooth (the A380 really is quite lovely) and soon enough the FAs were moving around the cabin offering the signature satays as a taster. I thought they were quite delicious and polished them off rather quickly. Then it was time for lunch - due to our early start we didn't have breakfast before we left the hotel and the offering at the Lounge left a little to be desired so I was ready for a full meal. There was an antipasto starter, followed by main options of pan fried beef fillet, Thail style red curry chicken, Herbs pan-roasted lamb fillet and a braised fish fillet with oriental black pepper. I went for the lamb which was nice enough but nothing spectacular. Dessert for me was a parisien style cafe gourmand which according to the menu was a combination of little eclairs and tarts. Again, nice enough but not stellar.

After lunch, an attempt was made to try and sleep for the rest of the flight, to at least try and get the body clock into the right time zone. Unfortunately, that was not to be, and even aided with a sleeping tablet, I was back awake within about 3.5 hours. It had been about 10 years since I was last in Europe, so had forgotten how difficult the leg home could be! Knowing I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, I figured I may as well have something to eat! So I asked one of the FAs if I could have some of the chicken noodles. I probably said this before, I love the saltiness of the instant noodles, served with a bit of chilli and soy. Not for most people - but delicious for me!

The FA took about 5 minutes to bring them to me and was apologetic about the delay when they arrived! The staff on this SQ flight, whilst reserved, were very polite and attentive. Thumbs up for them.

After playing various iPhone apps to while away the time, it was soon time for breakfast. Juice, fruit salad, lots of bread and pastries and I had the Warm French Waffle with berry compote and marscapone. And some coffee. All quite reasonable and certainly lots of food on offer.

Breakfast was cleared and we were soon descending down for a late arrival at Changi.

 

[LadyC]

I love Changi airport. I know that is probably a bit boring but from exiting the plane, clearing immigration to getting in a taxi, it took us 8 minutes. In total. Awesome! One of the bonuses of having hand luggage only.

 

[jetlagger]

I love Changi airport. I know that is probably a bit boring but from exiting the plane, clearing immigration to getting in a taxi, it took us 8 minutes. In total. Awesome! One of the bonuses of having hand luggage only.

Well done.. That is superb.. I usually have a gate to taxi time of around 20 mins.. though HLO.
Past few times I've been through it was the immigration that was the issue.. lucked out behind one of the ubiquitous tour groups - though the rest of the Changi airport experience is always wonderful.
As mentioned many times,,, I just wish any of the Australian International Airports could replicate even 50% of Changi Airports efficiency stake.
Look forward to your photo additions..

 

[LadyC]

After a quick cab ride into town, we arrived at the hotel and went straight to our room for a shower. We had organised for early access (around 7.30am) as we had been caught out before and I am not a fan of hanging around for 6 hours waiting for the room to be available when I am tired and cranky. Both the gentleman and I were jetlagged and spent the next few hours trying to sleep as the time zone changes were catching up with us.

We were staying at Wanderlust hotel in Little India, a small and slightly unconventionally styled hotel. We have stayed there before, like the location and it's a good price (as I find that hotels are quite expensive in Singapore).

The main reason for the stop over, other than to break up the flights, was to visit one of our favourite restaurants, Waku Ghin. Waku Ghin is at the Marina Bay Sands and is Tetsuya's outpost in Singapore. We have eaten there twice before and were blown away both times with the food. Mainly seafood based, a 10 course degustation menu, small dining rooms (8 people max) and a lot of it is cooked at a teppanyaki style grill in front of you. High end ingredients, cooked seemingly simply - the gentleman and I really love it. When we were there last, which was almost exactly one year ago, I had original made the booking for the gentleman's birthday (and had advised the staff there that it was a birthday dinner). When then ended up going on holiday with some friends, who are also foodies and who came along to Waku Ghin with us. They too were blown away and we had an amazingly fun and delicious time with them. There were in Singapore in mid-December and unfortunately we couldn't time meeting up with them to have another dinner together (they are based in UAE).

The gentleman and I got all dressed up and ready to go, all excited about our awaiting dinner. We went down to reception and got them to order a taxi for us. It was a typical Singaporean early evening, absolutely pouring with rain! And so we waited for our cab....and waited.....(recognising a theme here?) Once the rain subsided a bit, we were able to get a cab and arrived about 20 minutes late for our dinner reservation. We were sharing our dining room with a family from Swan Hill, who kindly weren't too grumpy with our delayed arrival.

We settled in to start our meal with some sparkling water at the ready and awaiting the wine list to order some champagne. The sommlier comes out with a bottle of champagne in hand (Larmandier Bernier for those who are interested - it is very nice) and a card. It was a card from our friends in the UAE. It was a most lovely card. I mentioned early on in this trip report, that this was our honeymoon. And our friends in UAE, as a wedding gift to us, had paid for our dinner at Waku Ghin! Both the gentleman and I were completely gobsmacked! Very surprised and thankful to our lovely friends, we spent the next 10 minutes in shock. It was a wonderful wonderful surprise.

The dinner was delightful, as expected, and I will post some photos if I can ever get it working! The menu went as follows:
1) Gillardeau Oyster with Ginger and Rice Vinegar
2) Marinated Botan Shrimp with Sea Urchin and Oscietra Caviar
3) Slow cooked Petuna Ocean Trout with Witlof and Yuzu
4) Australian Abalone with Fregola and Tomato
5) Grilled New Zealand Scampi and Vanilla Oil
6) Braised Canadian Lobster with Couscous and Tajine Spice
7) Japanese Ohmi Wagyu with wasabi and citrus soy
8) Consomme with Rice and Snapper

They then served the gyokuro - which is a japanese green tea that is served at room temperature. A palate cleanser before you are escorted to a larger room with tables to have dessert and after dinner drinks.

The dessert menu consisted of:
1) Cold soup of strawberry with lychee and coconut
2) Montblanc
3) Chocolate mousse cake with vanilla and macadamia
4) Coffee, tea and petit fours

We went with the champagne for much of the menu and then followed up with a few glasses of burgundy (Volnay-Robardelle 2009 - Domaine Rossignol-Cornu et Fils). Highlight dishes were the sea urchin and the wagyu (both signature dishes). It was all wonderful though. Including the fact that the restaurant had remembered from last year that it was the gentleman's birthday around this time and sent one of the dessert plates out with a lovely chocolated enscription of 'happy birthday' on it. The service here is exceptional - very muted but fully attentive. Your glass is always being filled, cutlery reset, napkin refolded but you barely notice they are there, it is not at all intrusive. And extra credits for remembering the birthday too

We had a magnificent evening - really fabulous - and even managed to get a taxi back to the hotel in less than two hours!

 

[LadyC]

We were due to fly out on QF10 at 20:50 on 5 January and as luck would have it, the upgrade fairy had been kind to us and we had managed to snag an upgrade to F for our final leg home.

Still feeling jetlagged, we had organised for a late check out from the hotel and spent most of the day lounging around and trying to get some sleep - as we were struggling to sleep for more than 3-4 hours straight. We got a message early in the afternoon that our flight was going to be delayed by about 1.5 hours. We checked out of our room at about 17:30 and headed off to the airport. After heading to the premium checkin area, we were advised that the flight was going to be delayed for a further 2 hours, meaning it would not depart until 00:20 or later. We were then offered to transfer to Emirates to fly home instead, meaning we would be departing at 22:25 instead. We happily took them up on that offer and we escorted over to the Emirates desk to receive our boarding passes. Apparently there was a medical emergency on board the Qantas flight and it was diverted to DXB.

Boarding passes in hand, we proceeded through immigration, via duty free and with about 10kg of chocolate in tow, we proceeded to the Emirates Lounge. The lounge was of reasonable size and is shared by both business and first class passengers. I have been in three different Emirates lounges now (SYD, BKK and SIN) and they are all pretty much the same. There was a wide selection of food and beverages on offer, regularly restocked and staff moving around cleaning up and generally being attentive.

The lounge started filling as a few flights were due to leave within 2 or so hours of each other but still space for more. We were definitely looking forward to getting on the plane and going home at this point. Even though we were about to experience Emirates F for the first time, we were still jetlagged and just wishing we could be in our own beds.

 

[LadyC]

EK404 SIN-MEL F

We boarded quickly and I was soon in my seat like a little kid, checking out all the buttons and looking in all the drawers. I was seated in 1E with the gentleman next to me on my right. I inspected the mini bar and poured myself a water. Perused the snack bowl but nothing took my fancy. We received our pyjamas and slippers and amenities bag before take off. The gentleman was not so happy when his mini bar had an empty water bottle in it (not a big deal but you think staff would have checked). I was planning on going straight to sleep, until I read the menu. I couldn't help myself - even though I didn't need it, I decided that some champagne (Dom Perignon 2003) and caviar and prawns would be in order. So a light supper was had after take off and then I tried again, unsuccessfully, to get some sleep. The bed was comfortable enough but I found the cabin overheated and got very hot. Again, with my stiff back, I found it hard to settle and only managed to get about 2.5 hours sleep. Seeing as the flight is only around 7 hours, I probably wouldn't have got more than another hour, but was really beginning to feel the pinch of erratic sleep over the last few days. The gentleman had the same problem and decided to watch a movie - I attempted to complete Angry Birds and we waited for breakfast to be served. Breakfast consisted of some fresh fruit, cereal, yoghurt and some bread/pastries. Washed down with juice and coffee, I was fed and itching to get off the plane. Even though we were late taking off, we gained some time flying home and arrived close to on time.

We were delayed disembarking as a passenger, in J I believe, was unwell and they needed to get the ambulance crew on to see to him before anyone could disembark. It appeared to be a young guy, looking a little pasty and probably dehydrated but thankfully didn't appear to be anything too serious. Our run through immigration, sadly, was not as quick through Melbourne airport as it was through Changi, around 15 minutes waiting at passport control but as we had hand luggage only, straight through customs and out to a taxi on our way home.

 

[LadyC]

So, all in all, we had a fun holiday. Lots of eating and walking and experiencing premium airline products. Whilst I was impressed with the QF F cabin, I am not so sure about staff and service as yet. My SQ J ticket was definitely value for money! It was an impressive J product and I hope to have an opportunity to experience their Suites at some stage. I had been looking forward to trying Emirates F and had the opportunity sooner than I anticipated. I hope to have the opportunity to try the A380 and the showers one day.

One of the best things about it all, is that I have managed to convince the gentleman that J/F should be de rigueur for travel now so I'm looking forward to some more great travelling experiences!

 

[drron]

Really enjoyed your TR.Flying in premium cabins and eating at good restaurants are very definitely amongst my favourite things in life.Hope you have many more travel adventures.

 

[parsonstrish]

thank you Lady C for a most enjoyable TR and great way to just chill after a 'moon is full' work week. Well done, very descriptive and the photos were amazing.

 

[NDiddy]

Great TR LadyC. Been looking forward to reading how the rest of your trip went. Takes me back even though I wasn't there that long ago

 

[LadyC]

Really enjoyed your TR.Flying in premium cabins and eating at good restaurants are very definitely amongst my favourite things in life.Hope you have many more travel adventures.

Thanks drron - life is too short to eat bad food I say! I love food - so finding interesting places and trying local food is always part of the holiday. Even the simple things, like enjoying a good French croissant - delicious

 

[LadyC]

Great TR LadyC. Been looking forward to reading how the rest of your trip went. Takes me back even though I wasn't there that long ago

Thanks NDiddy - we seemed to be running a parallel holiday for a few days there - I was wondering whether I would bump into you at CDG!

 

[Mgjdubs]

Some beautiful images of Paris - thanks LadyC!

 

[NDiddy]

Thanks NDiddy - we seemed to be running a parallel holiday for a few days there - I was wondering whether I would bump into you at CDG!

Europe AFF meet - I like it

 

[Magpie10]

Great TR LadyC made for lazy Saturday afternoon read. What a holiday and fabulous dining experiences I am so jealous.. V

 

[Foreigner]

Thinking that Yangon may be worth a short break.

Saw this link in another thread:

http://www.cntraveller.com/recommended/amazing-journeys/burma-travel-guide/viewall

 

[LadyC]

We were only there for one day but definitely worth a short visit if that interests you. I would like to go back and spend a bit more time there.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes, and go as soon as you can. Burma is changing quickly; not necessarily for the worse, but coming out of it shell, like Cuba, it will lose some of its appeal. Visas are now very quick and easy (eVisa on-line), credit cards are accepted more and more and internet is improving (some temples even have hot spots!).

Both drron and I did trip reports last year which included Yangon. I'd suggest at least 3 full days for Yangon but you'll have to plan to go back, to do fabulous Bagan and Mandalay, at least!